Power of Words, part 5001

I get so annoyed when I read articles like this...

No where does it state that these are stolen lands, illegally taken by America...

second paragraph: He looked at a hill behind the government school and saw Japanese soldiers descending on the settlement at the western edge of the Aleutian Islands.

government school - now what does that mean exactly? I guess I am in no mood to look at them kindly since to me it screams that we were uneducated before they came and built their school. Did they explain that our village was in a great place for military purposes? That it is a gorgeous and profoundly beautiful place? Did they say that we could not go back because of contamination? Yet coast guard people live there and I have not heard them growing 3 heads. Instead of giving us back our lands they put a tiny little piece of concrete \"for us\". Now this should be a no-brainer... do we want some meaningless piece of concrete memorializing we once lived there until it was stolen away or do we want our island back? I hate that they threw that in: government school. It implies so much negative stuff in a subtle way. Where we would feel silly writing about them saying government school instead of just \"school\". So we would feel it is petty and trying to be mean to say it should not be written in this way.

Do you want me to preface every time I mention Americans with \"the war criminals calling themselves Americans\"? the power of words is important. Little by little they try to justify their existence as war criminals by throwing in subtle jabs at indigenous people so everyone can feel they are needed.

Next paragraph mentions living in a sod house. Implies abject poverty, right? Instead of implying a clever way to build houses on an island with no trees therefore no wood, the clever and ingenious indigenous Peoples adapted naturally to their world without polluting or destroying it, unlike the Americans who followed afterwards. See, words can hurt, right?

The next paragraph says \"none would ever see their village again\". Makes it sound like it was destroyed, right? No, America wanted it for themselves. So they took the prisoner of war survivors and dumped them in other places, places that were unfamiliar and left them to their own resources. Instead of telling the truth they let it be implied Japan was somehow to blame for it. From what my mother told me about the Japanese, they treated them with respect and honored their culture, unlike the war criminals who call themselves Americans... It does not mention they tried very hard to get their village back and America kept saying no and refused to hear us and refused to let us take it to the united nations. It does not state that the Attu villagers finally had to ask the Japanese Americans (what a cruel irony!!!) who had been treated cruelly themselves by America for help. That the price for being left for dead by the Americans, taken prisoner of war and having their home stolen away while they were imprisoned and dumped unceremoniously in unfamiliar ground was about $12,000 each. Instead they say none would ever see their village again. So not true, I intend to fight for it, it is my home! help us regain it by commenting on this article saying to report the truth instead of how they wish it to be!!

It mentions those 3 as the only survivors, not stating that the rest were given horrible health care after enduring unimaginable times as prisoners of war, and suffering in ill-health and left to slowly sink into death, suffering the misery of being at the mercy of the war criminals who stole their home away from them and left them to die a second time. It does not state the their descendants would love to be back home!! It does not state anywhere in that paragraph that the descendants, like their parents, could not go home again because the war criminals calling themselves Americans feared it would start a trend in all indigenous villages on this hemisphere!!! It simply states they are American now, the only Americans to suffer such misery. But you know if it happened to anyone white the outcry and uproar would deafen the world! But since it was just indigenous Peoples, twas no big deal... compare 9/11 tributes to ours and see the huge difference placed on indigenous vs. Westerners...

They say they are meeting, the survivors and descendents... they did not say they cancelled us meeting on the island itself and instead they went there themselves and put up a concrete memorial as if that means anything... they think they can erase our history, it is not written down on paper to be burned, it is in our souls, our spirits and can never be lost or stolen, not matter what they try. They try to sound so noble, helping us before all is lost... Wow, imagine Hitler saying how much he was helping those sent to the camps!! You know instantly it is a bunch of bs, but read it in an American paper and it sounds so noble, what a great people you are, ugh!

It mentions books done by the national Park service, never once mentioning it is trying to steal these lands away for good by turning them into yet more national parks... So, propaganda perhaps? I wonder if it mentions the treatment of our peoples, the true treatment or if it is filtered with \"help\" by the same Americans who left us to die in the first place...

It goes on to mention how little is known about us or how our island was stolen by America. Gee, I wonder why. Would all the \"good\" Americans demand it be given back if they knew the truth? Would they demand honest reparations for America trying to utterly destroy us? Judging by how the indigenous in the lower 48 are treated, I say they have no worries, they prefer their own comforts too much to give them up and go back where they came from.

Will we have to resort to asking the Japanese to help us in our fight to get our island back as we had to ask their American counterparts to help us seek justice?

It mentions him living in a small uninsulated home, not saying the Americans forced them into their version of houses instead of the natural ones they had built for themselves. It does not say the us built them I bet either... So much unsaid...

It tries to appear balanced by saying how the indigenous were treated, in one paragraph instead of a book, mind you...

it ends in the true Unangan spirit though: \"I never found anything I could not do\"..

Smiles, I am sitting here both smiling and sighing at the same time. I hope the westerners know I do not mean them harm at all, I just want them to stop harming us... It is time to change, tomorrow is too late! so please instead of 'searching your soul\" or whatever it is you do, make a real difference. Constantly comment where and when you can about these type of articles!

Remember, they are not trying to fool the indigenous, we know the truth, it is only you \"westerners\"... They know you want our stuff so badly you do not mind what you have to do to get it and keep it. But that time of mindless grabbing is over. I will not let any pretend anymore. time to face the truth, we can do it slowly, facing it not the changing part... It is hard to see yourself as you truly are, war criminals or sons and daughters of war criminals. There is no kind way to say it, war criminal is as kind as it gets from now on.

The main problem is you have met us, studied us and know as a People we are decent and try to use that against us. it is like that scene in Captain America, I forget which one. They are on top of a building and the villain is telling Captain America that he knows it is not his style to throw him off the roof and Captain America smiles and moves to the side to show his friend who has no problem with it. My mother was kind, polite, considerate and horribly mistreated. I am Anger and my words will sting! I will step aside one day to let someone who can deal with you as you demand, if that is how it must be. I prefer this way if possible, the choice is yours...

Maria