”
Lady, you really need to zip it. There is a time and place for
everything. Please admit that this is not the time or the
place,
”
wrote Bill Bigheart
“Lady, you really need to zip it. There is a time and place for everything. Please admit that this is not the time or the place,” wrote Bill Bigheart, kicking off the biggest mail storm I’ve ever experienced in response to a column. Three hours after last Thursday’s paper came out, the mail began pouring in and has not stopped. The purpose of last week’s column was to give a different perspective on the media coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre. My goal was to place it in more of an historical context, such as the larger massacres that have occurred in our nation’s history, particularly the Sand Creek and Wounded Knee massacres. Those who sent mail are Native American and non-Native American, and their voices are insightful, inspiring and heart-breaking.
Readers from other states wrote in: “Kat, I saw your article and couldn’t agree more … My wife had just made a similar comment to me right afterwards. How soon everyone forgets unless someone keeps reminding them. Thx. Another one that I keep hearing … ‘911 changed everything … it taught us that two oceans couldn’t protect us.’ Indigenous People have known this for 500 years.” – Tom DeHaas, Olympia, Wash.
“Excellent essay. Well-stated. Thanks.” – Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, Ph.D. ‘Founder and Director of the Center for Indigenous Peoples’ Critical and Intuitive Thinking, Associate Professor of Indigenous Nations Studies, University of Kansas.
Moms wrote in: “I actually got chills when I received a copy of this article through my e-mail. Not chills because of the Virginia Tech slaughter itself, but because this article is exactly what I was trying explain to my 23-year-old son as I was sitting there watching the evening news … I am proud to say I am full blood Kiowa descended from great Kiowa warriors and chiefs who fought fiercely for their rights as Native Americans and yes, whose lives were taken by the white man, many in the same manner as the Virginia Tech students, only by crazy white men with guns … I thank you for explaining in a much better way than I did to my son what my feelings as an ‘Indian’ are about the whole ‘mass murderer’ situation and how easily the news people forget who started it all in the first place, the White man, who brought his guns and evil ways to our native lands.”
From a Cherokee/Choctaw Elder: “Thank you Kat for your article. How soon they forget.” – Grandmother Red Leaf.
People from other countries weighed in: “Dear Kat, Thank you for writing this piece, it was sobering and heart felt and I am grateful for the lesson in history to our real Americans, the native Indians who suffered at the hands of the European founders of North America. Not to lessen VT or take away from the tragedy but to start placing perspective where it also belongs …” – Cindy Piccolo, Wallbach, Switzerland.
“I wanted to say thank you for writing your article of April 19, 2007. You have helped me to develop some of my thoughts on the issue of ‘worst’ massacre in US history. I am writing from South Africa … Peace and struggle.” – Ridwan Laher.
Students wrote in: “Hello Kat, I was forwarded your article by First Nations Student Services at the (University) of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. I am a student here in my first year of law school. I am also an Ojibway of the Pic River First Nation located near Marathon, Ontario, Canada, on the Northeast shore of Lake Superior.
“I just want to let you know how much I enjoyed the perspective you offered. Similar thoughts immediately came to my mind when I started hearing that this was ‘the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.’ I realized that only after about a day or two did CNN start referring to the shooting as ‘the worst in MODERN U.S. history.’ It seems as though many people have forgotten how the West was really won. To me this is very disheartening on so many levels for both Native Americans and the Aboriginal, Inuit and Metis here in Canada.” – Brandon D.
