Note - This is a lot more fun as a performance piece. Also, it's still raw. I wrote it at work one day, so any feedback would be appreciated.
I’d be lying if I said I hate Columbus Day because of Columbus
That fuckers dead
No, it only bothers me because of the people who insist on celebrating it
They say it’s because I hate America
How can that be
When every veterans day I thank the Native Warriors who were always more willing to fight for a land that was stolen from them more than the sons of those who stole it
They tell me that it’s because I can’t let go of the past
Which is ironic
Coming from the people who will not rewrite their history to include the truths of genocide and slavery of the original peoples from all corners of the earth
But we’re NDNs, remember? We’re the better storytellers
So I asked a biligaanaa to tell me his story
About where he was from
No really, where was he from
Could he go back if he wanted to
Had his borders moved since his blood left
Learn his language, his history
Find an ancestors name on some piece of paper
And track his trek to this country
Yes.
So I told him my story.
No.
That all changed for me when a colony was
Left
Left lingering
Left living
Left leeching
Here.
Our stories tell us to take care of the lost
The lonely
The helpless
So we prayed for your souls
And we gave tomatoes to the Italians
Potatoes to the Irish
And chocolate to everybody else
But we’re NDNs, remember? We barter!
So in return we got the short end of the stick
Which isn’t so bad considering that the short end of the stick isn’t so short when you have to write long words like
Syphilis
Influenza
Bubonic Plague
Small pox
Tuberculosis
Typhoid
Cholera
All over it before you place a flag on it and bury it under 518 years of history
Along with us
I can see them
Standing in line passing along tips for complete domination
From Columbus to Cortez
John Smith to Kit Carson
A lineage stretching from coast to coast
Painting lines with blood and bodies
A line straight from Columbus down to the Rio Grande
But we’re NDNs, remember? We know to read in between the lines!
Your lines are so straight and rigid
Following nothing but the imagination
Contorted over mountains and rivers
And from one line to another I can eavesdrop
And even the lines know that the only lines that matter
Are the ones you draw
This isn’t about Columbus anymore
It never has been because it’s always been about you
Your pride in a man that set the standard for mediocrity by getting lost
Your freedom to march around the streets waving flags like YOU actually did something
Your history that you only know one day out of the year
But we’re NDNs, remember?
And the only thing we hate more than Columbus Day
Is Thanksgiving
Saturday, November 13, 2010
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