The Western Shoshone Distribution Bill
Back in 2003, I wrote Georgia Senator Chambliss…
Dear Senator Saxby Chambliss,
Concerning the Senate’s recent companion bill to H.R. 884, i.e. S. 618 (“The Western Shoshone Distribution Bill”):
I hope that this letter has arrived at the right person within my government. A person whose eyes can distinguish truth from falsehood. A person who is not afraid to stand up for what is right even when right is neither popular nor fashionable among constituents. A person whose heart compels to justice. A person whose soul quickens to positive action.
We Have Never Dealt Fairly
What unbiased student of history would be foolish enough to dispute the fact that we have never dealt fairly with Native Americans? From the very moment that our founding fathers “discovered” this already populated, established and previously-visited “new world” we have never done so. In an oversimplified restatement of history, many Native Americans considered our founding fathers as guests, welcoming them with open arms, even proceeding to show them how to live off of the land. In trade, many of our founding fathers handed Native Americans mayhem, death, destruction and absorption — near-complete obliteration of their entire existence, no less. It is not disputed by historians that our founding fathers implemented relentless smear campaigns and murdered Native Americans en-mass. In one of the most hideous of ironies, we decorate and uplift these same persons as heroes. A sin is a sin is a sin — whether it be committed by total stranger or by next of kin.
To our own detriment, we don’t relay history this way. And, so, what a set of lies it is that we tell the children and propagate in fancy. How long shall we stand by and defend the untruth? When will we fear the committal of further sin more than we fear the exposure of sins in our past? Even though it is evil, it is convenient to tell this untruth today. It makes passing bills like S. 618 easier as public opinion on such matters is already duly shaped and an outcry to do what is right is preempted. But, not fully. There are those within government who are not afraid to say what is right. And they have their analog among the citizens.
Right here, right now, I ask, “when will we deal fairly with Native Americans?” With the conception of S. 618 in these ultra-modern and “civil” times, the answer may be that we clearly have no intention of ever dealing with Native Americans in a civil manner. So, this question, I pose to you, person to person: Senator, when will we deal fairly with the Native Americans? This is more than a rhetorical question Senator — the answer to which I have a right and do expect from you.
Please sincerely, sincerely ask yourself, have we not permanently taken (stolen) enough of the Native Americans’ land? Have we not already destroyed and displaced enough of their lives? Have we not already usurped enough of their natural resources? Those with the indecency to draft and support bills such as S. 618 must answer “no, we have not.” But, to that I say, we have and enough is enough!
Responsibility
In the history of Georgia alone, we have already forced cessations (euphemism for theft) of most all of the land of the Cherokee Nation. And, with the full bottom third of Georgia having been stolen by us from the Creek Nation, what more shall we take without right? Now, one could point to the past and take zero responsibility for land theft committed by forefathers (and, yet, at the same time, be living in the land, benefiting from those stolen resources, etc.). However, this modern day cessation of peoples’ land, without doubt binds us all into one collective, pre-meditated theft from which we cannot claim irresponsibility. No passing the buck. The buck stops here. That is you, me and the rest of the U.S., Senator. Our choice, our responsibility.
This letter clearly states my position as a resounding NO to theft.
Forgiven?
To what extent does God forgive the thief who neither admits his guilt nor asks for forgiveness, and, in fact, continues to steal? Or, do we think that theft should be simply forgiven? Negative. In the late 1990’s we placed Yazi, a Native American into an Idaho prison for, you guessed it, theft. He was caught stealing from a convenience store (strike 3). We swiftly dealt justice in that case. Yet, had he stolen the entire contents of every existing convenience store, it would not have amounted to the grand theft of Shoshone land that we have planned and outlined in S. 618. By law, planning to ‘take without permission of the owner’ is conspiracy to commit robbery, correct?
Will justice not be served in this case? Are we partial in our definition and application of justice? Do we think that our continued theft should be simply forgiven? Is God partial? God, Beautiful Weaver of the intricacies of the simultaneous weather systems of every planet and Whose Handiwork and Forethought we cannot begin to match on any level, slipping, asleep, partial? Is God ever aware of Yazi’s petty theft yet completely oblivious to our own, continued grand scale thievery?
Hopes
This letter makes it perfectly clear that I sanction no part of further theft of what belongs to Native Americans. I loudly and strongly object to S. 618 and any such other plans of theft that your colleagues draft. I hope too that you and I share the same position regarding theft (by any name). And, as the representative of the state in which I reside, it is your duty to let it be known that one or more of the folks that you represent objects loudly. I hope too that of your own accord and resolve, you object to this and any related bills.
Please, be not like many of the Senators (no need to mention any names) who lack the dignity and backbone to do what is right; who promise one thing to the people that they represent while at the same time fulfill diametrically-opposed promises to interest groups. If you feel ever so strongly about doing what is right then raise sand when other Senators are in support of bill S. 618 (and, rest assured, those in the pockets of the corporations that stand to profit will be in support of bill S. 618).
Senator, let neither corporate lobbying nor bogusly-conceived laws prevent you from adhering to and upholding one basic tenet: Though Shall not Steal. Oh, how basic. Indeed, our parents teach us this early on. But, greed and human frailty will attempt to legitimize even murder. So, let us not be among those who split hairs. Even the most sophisticated and re-badged version of theft is theft nonetheless.
You recently said (as others have said) that we are the leaders of the free world. I contend that we cannot rightfully claim such a noble position while simultaneously committing theft by snatching away the legitimate rights and property of Native Americans (or anyone else).
One Nation under God
It is completely disheartening that your fellow lawmakers outwardly pride themselves on adherence to Laws of God while so blatantly and thoroughly attempting to circumvent those very Laws with their own ill-intended laws. Will you be part and parcel to this circumvention by allowing S. 618 to pass? As clear as the sun is hot, this is no tough decision over which to mull and labor. This is not a proposition in which “either way somebody loses.” And, even if it was, right is right and wrong is evident and clearly distinguished.
I hope that this letter has arrived at the right person within my government. A person whose eyes can distinguish truth from falsehood. A person who is not afraid to stand up for what is right even when right is neither popular nor fashionable among constituents. A person whose heart compels to justice. A person whose soul quickens to positive action.
Sincerely,
Joel Hassan Davis
[Update: this bill was passed by Congress and unanimously by the Senate]
