Winona LaDuke

We went to hear Winona LaDuke speak at U of Maine tonight on her community in Minnesota on the White Earth reserve. She spoke this afternoon about her community in relation to environmental issues, contrasting simple family teaching (like don't steal, clean up your mess before you make a new one, etc) with American politics....OUCH! Later on tonight, she spoke more specifically about sacred sites in Native tradition versus the American tradition of 'conquering'....VERY poignant. (Especially points about naming places....great comment about "I have a big problem with this whole thing about naming a big mountain after a small man" and listed a number of places that have been named after people responsible for genocides of native peoples throughout history...big OUCH!)

Another great thought was the teaching of her people that before a decision is to be made in Aboriginal tradition, one must think about the effects that decision will have on the people seven generations from now...she talks about how America, the richest nation in the world, has people living in extreme poverty, how most of them are Native, and how the people in her community are fighting to retain the natural resources -or at least what is left of them- in order to be able to generate a self-sufficient economy with less waste etc etc.

Anyway,I saw a lot in her to be very similar to the bloodline of early Salvos; determined to see justice happen now, to see the promises of eternity acted out on earth, and is digging into the spiritual roots of her people and willing to fight to keep hope alive for the next generations. And to see how God's responded to her prayers, too.....wow! If you hear this woman's in town, go and listen. She has a lot of things we need to hear.