Big Game Management on Tribal Lands-One Tribal Perspective
remixed by Marichriaddi
Seriously, that was the weirdest stuff I ever read. The way people word things is so funny to me. I cracked up and had to read this sentence out loud to my dad and cousin, “Unfortunately, oral traditions are not well documented in the literature, making it difficult for Western scientists to incorporate traditional knowledge in their theories, much less their management implications.” That's funny to me for some reason. People are funny when they try to write about Native people. I feel bad that there are college students who read this stuff and that is all they ever learn about Native people. It's sad, but kind of funny to me. I sit here, day after day, and I am supposed to learn all about white people. I always wonder why I have to learn this stuff. Then, when the topic relates to Native people, it's half ass. It doesn't stimulate my brain, it almost bores me because I feel like I've been hearing the same recycled information about Native people I've disagreed with since elementary school. No wonder people don't want to learn about Native history or understand why Native people believe some things are important. It's really hard to be a Native person, expressing yourself in this funny language to a person who really doesn't give a crap about your struggle and sees no connection from them to me.
I never was one of those Indians who was all-knowing or mystical or a medicine woman or anything like that, so what I say isn't really that important to people. I am not telling you what I think because I want to change your mind or tell you what to think, I just want to tell you what I think about what I read in this chapter. All I know is that the reason I believe that management of wildlife is important can't be traced to a “spiritual connection” or my belief that it is a “source of life” for me, so does that make me an Indian still? Hey, you know, I believe that we are all connected. This whole planet, solar system, universe...It's all connected by strands, invisible to my eye and stronger than a spider web, of energy so dynamic and mysterious that if one thing suffers or succeeds, the affect is felt by all eventually. Everything on this planet, biotic and abiotic, connected to one another, depending on one another for survival. Without animals or plants, how will people live? It's one of those questions that are like, “DUH!”
Some people just don't really get it though. They walk through life with their hands over their eyes, screaming at the top of their lungs about their thoughts and beliefs, and destroy objects out of sheer boredom or entitlement. They remind me of children who may have been abused in so many ways, crying out for help, acting out destructively because they lack the words to express their sadness and despair over their losses. Those children need to learn that, hey, you can't change the past, but you can change what you do today and tomorrow by making the right choices and choosing to do so for a greater good and higher purpose. I remember being mean to my little sister when I was a kid. Now, her and I are so close. Everyday, I am so grateful that I have a sister. Having a sister is one of the best gifts given to me by my parents, besides my own gift of life, of course. I try to remember when I stopped being mean to her. It seems that I can never recall or trace back to a specific event. All I know is that a change took place and that is all that really matters, in the end, right? These abused children, so close-minded because they didn't learn to trust that the world was an okay place, need to be reassured that, as people, they have a lot of power to make things happen. They need to understand that they are good people, but it is their behavior that is unacceptable. To put it kindly and simply, they need guidance. For some reason, I am reminded by a quote from the movie, “Thunderheart,” when the old man says that, “Mr. Magoo needs to go up on a mountain and focus.” Yeah, that's it, go focus people. Sit up high on a mountain, real or imagined, and focus on what is really important. Those people who don't understand why Native people regarded the animals so highly may not understand the history of those tribes because of the lack of stories being written down.
Before European immigrants came strolling along the land of this country, Native people were very meticulous. The time of the year played a huge part in how Native people obtained food. There were a number of different sites and methods for gathering food so that resources weren't exhausted. It was basically a matter of survival. However, I believe that Native people were operating on a very elevated level of consciousness and awareness of the world around them to survive in a good way for a higher purpose understood by all members of the tribe on some level. Not only was gathering food a very basic need for survival, it was a task that people were grateful to have been given. Native people's outlook on life was positive, they saw the only patch of blue in every cloud filled sky. Life was hard before white people came along. Life is hard no matter where you are or who you are. How you deal with problems faced and cope with struggles endured defines you as a person. Attempting to be happy and grateful no matter what the situation may be through prayer, meditation, sweats, sundances, and eating contributed to an overall psychophysiological coherence.
The stories I have researched are about famines, floods, costly mistakes made by people, and monsters. The point in most of the stories of conflict and hardship is that a lesson is learned. When the people talked about in the stories were suffering, they prayed. In some expression of compassion by the Creator, the people were given gifts of the sweat lodge, medicine bundles, and sundance ceremonies. Some tribes of people were given gifts of special food, like corn, bitterroot, and squash. Herds of buffalo disappeared into a mountain because Native people were hunting the animals disrespectfully and wastefully. Sweet Medicine is given a medicine bundle and instructed by spirits how to stop the famine by teaching his tribe to give thanks to the animal for giving its life. Native people had to learn this type of consciousness over time. This process is what led to the way Native people did things. Through very costly mistakes, documented by oral traditions, Native people had to learn the hard way to survive in the world. With numerous individuals comprising tribes with this type of coherence teaching their children the same things created a very harmonious and coherent population. Stories speak of a period of equilibrium where the world is good. However, it is also told in the stories that this period of goodness will end and as told by Sweet Medicine, “light skinned, bearded men will arrive with sticks spitting fire. They will conquer the land and drive you before them. They will kill the animals who give their flesh that you may live, and they will bring strange animals for you to ride and eat. They will try to make you forget Maheo, the Creator, and the things I taught you, and will impose their own alien, evil ways. They will take your land little by little, until there is nothing left for you.” With European contact came disease that wiped out many would-be experts in all fields of education. Every individual had their own stories to tell, knowledge to share, and lessons to teach others. The knowledge lost as a result was devastating. The ones with a lot of wisdom about the world fell victim to disease. More importantly, the life givers, women, were the main victims of wars and disease. Now, it seems that through education, people are attempting to fill that void of the knowledge lost. To reclaim our identity in this world is a powerful thing. It is part of the process of change that is taking place.
One huge disagreement that I have always had is how scientists claim that Native people are descended from Asians. Why can't scientists and other “experts” agree that all people are different. The main reason I believe we are all different, is because we were all put to live in certain parts of the world. To survive, people had to adapt to their environment. It is hard for me to accept that people got a wild hair and decided to chase wholly mammoths across an ice bridge until two continents are full of Asians. That makes NO SENSE TO ME. There are no stories about such a thing taking place. I have yet to find a story that even remotely resembles such a thing. Scientist theories conflict with me to the point that I don't have any desire to ever look at any of their studies about such an event taking place. I was made here, my ancestors were made here, and when my people were created a long time ago, they were put to live at a certain part of the earth to live for a reason.
If the more diverse ecosystems are the better, then is it okay to look at this entire world as one ecosystem? The variety of people, animals, and plants make this world beautiful. Why wipe out all of the buffalo to make room for cattle? Why go through the trouble of attempting to exterminate a culture's beliefs to forcefully instill one's own beliefs? I would like to think that people on this country are beginning to learn about this great land. I would like to believe that an appreciation of this country's landscape and importance of animals is being felt by American citizens. However, when I read about what is going on in the media and government, it doesn't seem like the right people are making the right choices for the right reasons. As long as chapters like chapter 14 are written in textbooks distributed throughout the country and Presidents are elected because of their financial ties, big-game management and wildlife management by tribes need to contain educated, well-rounded individuals that know what they are talking about so as to make a change in the mentality which will eventually be felt by all.
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You don't need to be all knowing or have healing powers to understand life and how to put things into perspective. The Native Americans were very intelligent and had respect for life and their environment. They lived off the land their mother Earth taking only what they needed. They utilized everything from an animal and gave thanks to it for giving its life for them. They had respect for the land and had great social values. To native tribes family was important, they worked together and raised their children with a massive group effort. People today are too easily distracted and our priorities are all out of whack. Sitting on the top of a mountain puts things into perspective. We are just minute tiny beings in this vast world and it gives us the insight to forget about the everyday hassles and focus on the self. The stories that the natives told to explain why the sky was blue or why there are mosquitos
are ways of dealing with the unknown. Man has told stories like this since the beginning of time to bring comfort to the unknown. Humanity as a whole strives for knowledge we just get distracted to easily by material things.