Guest Post from Marcus Winchester (Pokagon Band)

The Notorious Acknowledgement. It is B.I.G.

The entire debate over Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples Day is less about who discovered America, and more about America discovering oneself.

His story of the United States of America:

Manifest Destiny is a projection of guilt. The crux of having a superiority complex is that the only thing manifesting is self-sabotaged fate. Denial of guilt is a short term fix that leads to long term problems. Self consumption ensues as the guilt feeds displaced aggression in attempts to hide the grief.

The self-infliction started when historical tokens, past figures, and significant events were chosen worthy and highlighted in history to be the medium of collective conception boasting how the United States of America (America) achieved self proclaimed superiority. When there isn’t anything deemed worthy enough to highlight, those things were created.

This version of history is always partnered with a downplayed acknowledgement that his-story is even slightly interpreted to his chosen advantage; having been the one who provided the interpretation.

This self-righteous story of the past leading to the present ignores its bias and is given as a natural order of occurrences, events, and historical figures that established a pure, balanced, and finessed present state. 

Albeit, self-esteem development takes many forms; and they aren’t always positive. 

Doctrine of Discovery as self-serving consumption:

Christopher Colulmbus’ Life Matters™ 

That is, it matters to the extent of American fragility. Discussing Native American plights and ill conceived Western annexation is not being stuck in the past or trying to erase history. It is the exact opposite. Erroneous history is not erased, rather it is rendered obsolete.

The apathetic annoyance that America displays while being challenged to uphold its liability is a problem. Accepting accountability is always hard when the defendant refuses to understand the impact of their crime on the plaintiff.

Columbus Day is more than a catalyst for the world’s modern experience of Western luxury. It is also certainly more than a debate about cultural superiority or Columbus simply being a man of his times. 

Rather, the attempt to uphold those ideals symbolically through Columbus Day reflects the deep conflicting truth that America’s prerogative is narcissistic, arbitrary, and heinous towards the collective Native American psyche.

The challenges & problems that the United States of America is facing are:

Native Americans are the original problem. America’s psyche is struggling to conceive of such tenacity. Somewhere in America’s not so distant past, and hidden in plain sight, is an aggressive experience that transcends the present. The collective amnesia and dismissal that America projects towards the reality of the disenfranchised indigenous experience is haunting and debilitating towards America’s ability to mature.

Being the original problem, America’s relationship with their indigenous other is firmly rooted in the collective shadow. Straddling the line between being Native and being American, which is an external and internal struggle for both Americans and Natives, is one of the original uncomfortable dichotomies of this land. The whole thing is a paradox.

The impact of that is:

Naturally, because this relationship exists so deep in America’s collective shadow, the state of this relationship reflects the overall health of America as a whole. Notwithstanding the collective health of indigenous communities. 

That’s not meant to downplay the collective indigenous plight, rather it should illuminate the indigenous plight for its deep impact on America’s collective maturity and vitality. Therefore an upplay.   

America is contending with the reality that traumas hidden in the shadow control what is exposed in the light. The health of America’s relationship with cultural and ethnic plurality is contingent on its health with the collective indigenous psyche. 

So, how do we….

Make peace with this embarrassing and traumatic experience that exists in America’s collective shadow? How does America release its original sin back to the devil so that healing and growth can begin for all Americans?

Our approach to solving the problem is:

Shine light onto the indigenous experiences hidden in the collective American shadow, and receive the love and guidance that comes glimmering back.

Acknowledge that the conception of Christopher Columbus and his voyage as a pillar of advanced humanity is a paradox. 

Celebrating Columbus Day is the embodiment of celebrating the sweet taste of that first apple in the Garden of Eden. 

Celebrating Columbus day renews and upholds a God complex that pigeonholed Native Americans as inferior and sabotages their access to life, liberty, and their pursuit of happiness to this day. 

Let go of collective perceptions about the relationship between Native Americans and Western Culture. Support a platform for authentic indigenous experiences to be heralded and followed for what they are; original ways.     

The original way:

To be original is not synonymous with antiquity or nostalgia. Being original is a concept that embraces creation’s conception of life prior to the corruption of man.

Everything in Native American Culture(s) has a meaning and purpose that upholds order and authority for life. Native American Culture(s) is the source of health and happiness for Native American families, communities, and their subsequent nations.

This will not be at risk for the sake of American pride or an excuse for a paid day off of work. Native American Culture won’t be at risk to accommodate the arbitrary legacy of American heroes and their unworthy holidays. Alas, it most certainly won’t be risked because America needs a fabricated legacy at the expense of the malicious destitution that Native Americans have endured.