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By John T. Crestwell, Jr.
November 28, 2004
With assistance from Dave
Phillips
In 1776 when America went to war with England to claim their freedom
as a country, there were roughly some 10-20 million Native Americans
who had been in the land for more than 20,000 years… The Natives,
through their migration from the east, had settled in various lands
in America and broken themselves into small and large tribes like
the Sioux, Iroquois, Cheyenne, and Pawnee, to name a few. They never
formed a nation-state though, rather stayed in isolated groups and
warred with one another over varying issues of property, space,
resources (what humans fight over).
The new colonialists, by the time they settled in America, had grown
in population from a few hundred in Jamestown to now over 2-million
by the middle of the 1800’s. The early Americans also fought with
Native tribes over resources. A combination of disease and gunpowder
pretty much did the indigenous to the land in. But there was one
more thing that attributed greatly to the Native American demise; a
demise that studies show us has had long term ramifications in that
community. Today’s Native American population is around 1.8-million
(down from 10-20 million). The first thought that comes to mind is
that they were basically annihilated, and you are correct in that
assessment, but what also must be said is that for a group of people
to be annihilated, there are not just external forces at work; there
are internal forces in motion as well. These are the same internal
functions that allowed Africans who were captured in Civil Wars and
sold to Europeans during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, to be
dominated. What am I talking about? I am talking about tribalism
when it supercedes the ultimate loyalty humans must have with one
another—the loyalty for the universal brotherhood & sisterhood of
all creation.
Dave and I looked at tribalism for about a total of six hours
together and both concluded that there is no way a unified nation
can be overtaken by another foreign power if they are together. Now,
we understood that in the Native American psychology the concept of
unrestrained domination of land and resources did not exist, and
left them subject to their tribalism when colonialists began
aggressive expansion. But, if you think about it, if at some point
the indigenous peoples could have come together as a nation there is
no way some 10 to 20-million Natives could be overpowered. The fact
is the Native Americans and African tribes very much fractionalized
by their long years of tribalism and it left them disjointed and
vulnerable to a very powerful manifest destiny mentality.
I’m reminded of the famous Native American women SAGAJAWEA who
helped Lewis and Clark find a passage way to the Pacific Ocean. She
was sold into slavery by a rival tribe to a French-Canadian explorer
who was hired by Lewis and Clark to find the ocean. Now, Lewis and
Clark were working for President Thomas Jefferson and moving beyond
the “Louisiana Purchase” territory to distant lands only known by
Natives. And the irony in the story is that SAGAJAWEA helped them
weave through the Colorado Mountains to find an ocean that was
already found. Worst of all, her leadership led to more conquest and
Western expansion which of course did not help the American Indian
any. But the rival tribe that sold her did not see the big picture
and the long-term repercussions for selling her, or any of their
other rivals to early settlers. The tribe was loyal to its members
only. Tribalism, when it does not live at the level of the universal
brotherhood & sisterhood of all creation, gets stuck in the civil
war or family feud and does little to promote the inherent worth and
dignity of all people.
Gandhi in the 1930’s worked tirelessly to move the British out of
India. They eventually left and the Muslims and Hindus got together
and decided it would be best to separate India into Pakistan and
India (we are culturally different they said—really it was a power
struggle. If you have two countries you have to have two
governments, two presidents you see). Anyhow, Gandhi vehemently
opposed the idea and said we are all God’s children we are all
brothers and sisters. But he was out-voted and no sooner than the
split the two countries broke out in civil war. The family feud was
on!
Tribalism as Dave defined it this morning is a strong loyalty to
ones own tribe, party or group. Our thought is that the problem is
when there is TOO-STRONG a loyalty to a party or group. And your
loyalty is so obsessively strong that you sacrifice your human right
to think and analyze and rationalize. The herd mentality takes over.
You get caught up because you are afraid of being outside the tribe.
This happens whether we are voting for a candidate or supporting a
religion. It happens in our families, it happens to kids in school.
It happens in gangs. It is a peer pressure that never goes away
unless we become the master of it indeed! My thought is that we must
never surrender our conscience to the passions of the tribe, and
this is my first point today. You see the passions of the tribe or
group or party can cause you/us to sacrifice our humanity if we
aren’t careful. This happens on the job too when we do what we have
to do to protect our job and our reputation, even if it means
sacrificing another on the altar of principle. We are all
self-preservation creatures but we have something above that our
conscience that calls us to strive for the greater good.
Regarding Native Americans and Africans and all others, we know
conquering and destroying people outside of self-defense is almost
always wrong and we should never succumb to the belief that it is
good or moral. If we do, we are succumbing to the abusive tribal
structure and letting go of our humanity.
The universal brotherhood and sisterhood supersedes all. This is the
idea behind Davies when he said, “Here we are—all of us—all upon
this plane, bound together in a common destiny…” Or David Eaton who
said, “All people, those we love and those we know not of, are
united and share the same destiny.” We are all children of the
universe and must look beyond the tribe, beyond the exclusive,
particular and tribal “we” toward the inclusive, universal “we”!
Dave and I came up with a hierarchal structure of how human
loyalties play out. (look at the chart). Our thought is that if the
structure for life, from the bottom to the top, is stable then the
nation and even the world can be stable, but if one of the levels is
dysfunctional the system falters… So, first, there is the individual
who, as a child of God or human being must be valued as being worthy
of dignity and respect. Second, the individual is a part of a family
that must teach and support the individual’s right to be valued and
affirmed, but not over and against another group but as a part of
the whole. At this level respect for others must be taught, but
often times this is where that breaks down and we fall into petty
name calling, cultural prejudices and biases emerge, and tribal
separations occur. Third, all individuals and families are subject
to the laws of the local and state government and from this level,
politicians must also teach the “Golden rule”. We all sign a social
contract that we will submit to the laws and rule of the state, but
the state must edify the common good or risk revolt. It is a
delicate balance that must be managed. Then our schools must also
educate our children with an eclectic education that broadens the
mind and expands narrow viewpoints building upon the vision of
universal mutuality. Then there are race and gender loyalties,
church and political party loyalties, social clubs, and private
society loyalties we must answer to. These modern tribes must also
teach the concept of respect for the inherent worth and dignity of
all. These have far too often gotten stuck in dogma and anger and
self-interest. Moving up the next level, our nation (America) must
project this message and legislate accordingly to make sure we are
building a people-oriented society not a thing oriented society. And
the hope then is that if we model this perhaps the world would
ultimately project this peaceful reality. AM I OPTIMISTIC AND
IDEALISTIC? You bet I am! CAN WE DO IT? – I’m not sure about that,
ask me in four years.
But if we are ever to create a literal Beloved Community and get rid
of “these strange and foolish walls that separate us”, we will have
to restructure our loyalties from the ground up. I want to hear what
you have to say on this in a moment, but let me bring this message
home so I can hear from you…
Modern Tribalism… When you look at America based on the Electoral
College, you see a map of red and blue states and the media would
have us believe that this means there is a clear dividing line in
the country that is mostly north and south, with a few red Midwest
and western states, as if we are living in the Civil War era again.
But I believe this is not true, rather a few large tribal kings in
this country are creating this reality. What I mean is I think there
are a wealthy few in power, in various political and religious
modern tribes, at the national and local level, that are
promulgating propaganda to keep America separate and unequal. They
are attempting to keep our country living in a free and slave state
mentality, metaphorically speaking, when 20% make all the money
while 80% fight over the scraps. These spin masters with endless
bank accounts tell us that the world is being run by Evangelical
Fundamentalist Christians and Republicans only, which is not true.
It is quite exaggerated and I think it is being done to keep
everyday folk like us fighting with each other of the bits and
pieces while they get richer and richer. They would have us
believe that our President has a “mandate” or an authoritative
order, because of the election, to continue war. And we are also
being fed the lie that one party is right and moral and the other
one is wrong and immoral. We are being forced in a way to “choose
this day whom we shall serve” America or the enemy.
And this is wrong! I want to say to you in the spirit of King, Fahs,
Eaton, Davies, Channing, Parker, Emerson, Jefferson, and Murray, I
choose something above societies and clubs and racial loyalties, and
political parties and religious institutions, and governments. I
choose to edify the goodness and virtue of humanity and to work
toward creating a world of love and peace. I choose the universal
brotherhood and sisterhood that calls me to listen to my conscience
not my tribe if the compromises the universal truth of love and
respect for all. That is my measuring stick. If something you ask of
me does not promote a peaceful mutuality and the common good, I’m
not for it! This one modern religious tribe claims to be PRO LIFE
AND YET SUPPORT WAR and the destruction of people in a distant land.
This is hypocrisy! America, I want to be the first to say in this
church, your plan will not work, it will backfire. And will implode
from the inside out. History is not on your side! Ask Egypt; ask
Babylon, ask Persia, ask Greece, ask Rome, ask France, ask Spain;
you might as well ask England too. History is not on your side.
Eventually enough people in your own country will see through your
words to your real intentions. They’ll get tired of the bloodshed.
They will see profiteering and business deals not the edification of
the human spirit. And your bright light will go out. When the
loyalties are broken and the tribe is dis-united (like Native
American Tribes and African Tribes) the structure collapses from the
inside out and another power arises…
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