For current writing please visit http://www.vst.cape.com/~rch/meeting.html
from the MASHPEE COALITION FOR NATIVE ACTION
GREETINGS
Many of you received a letter from Senator John Kerry dated November 19 regarding Leonard Peltier. The Coalition has been hard at work formulating a response. We suggest that everyone (especially if you who received the letter) write back and make three points.
Write: Sen. John F. Kerry -304 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
- thank Kerry for his support
- ask him to clarify what his position is today
- ask him to assist Peltier’s lawyers in obtaining access to the remaining 63,000 documents being held by the FBI that are relevant to Peltier’s case. The Freedom of Information Act requires that those documents be available for the asking.
Meanwhile, on the west coast, Nilak Butler passed on December 26th. The Celebration of Life for her will take place in California in February. Please pray for her and her family. As a teenager, Nilak was one of the young people who helped found the American Indian Movement. She dedicated her life to working on native issues and was a survivor of the Pine Ridge shootout. To read more about this incredible woman go to http://www.johntrudell.com/inmemory.html. Please consider making a donation to help the elders from Pine Ridge make the journey to the celebration of Nilak's life. (e-mail rch@cape.com for address)
Also, for Cape Codders, while the initial event has been canceled, plans are still underway to bring Peltier's daughter, Marquetta Peltier, to the Cape to speak. Also, Richie Havens will perform at Cape Cod Community College on February 1st.
Finally, word has just come that Standing Dear, an Oneida/Choctaw American Indian who in 1978 exposed a government plot to assassinate Leonard Peltier in Marion federal penitentiary has been killed. In spite of the wretched prison conditions and failing health Standing Deer continued to do all he could in the struggle to free Leonard Peltier and save Mumia Abu-Jamal. He was released last year and assisted in organizing Houston events and radio programs dedicated to Leonard's freedom. Visit Anna Standing Deer's web site to read some of his essays and view some pictures of Standing Deer at http://www.geocities.com/standingdeer1/index.htm More recently, Standing Deer joined the LPDC's Board of Directors and was an active member.
For more information on this and other issues related to Leonard Peltier please visit http://www.freepeltier.org.
From Rachel
Wednesday; January 22ndDear Friends of Justice and Freedom,
Unfortunately I didn't know Nilak. I have though, this month lost a friend for whom I cared very deeply. Abe, a hatmaker in his 80s, died January 1st. He had the ability to connect with people soul to soul, conveying unconditional love. He was exceedingly generous and wise with a strong sense of joy and a bit of quirkiness. His smile brightened any room.
Recently, I listened to a Donovan concert recorded in 1994 and heard about a visit that he made with Mia Farrow, the four Beatles, and a Beach Boy to an Indian guru, after which he wrote the song “Hurdy Gurdy Man”:
"Histories of ages past
Unenlightened the shadows cast
Down through all eternity
The crying of humanity,
'Tis then when the Hurdy Gurdy Man
Comes singing songs of love
Then when the Hurdy Gurdy Man
Comes singing songs of love."It seems that George Harrison also wrote a verse to that song, which
was not originally recorded:"When the Truth gets buried deep
Beneath one thousand years of sleep
Time demands a turn around
And once again the Truth is found
Awakening the Hurdy Gurdy Man
Who comes singing songs of love.
Then when the Hurdy Gurdy Man they
Comes singing the songs of love."Abe was a "Hurdy Gurdy Man", as was my brother Trey, who died last April. I wonder what kind of person Nilak was deep inside. I would have liked to have known her. From what I see from those who loved her, she too was an incredible human being.
Two months ago I had a major premonition that came true. Now I seem to be hearing another: that we are teetering on the verge of an apocalypse. It feels like we have been preparing for this long and difficult journey and now we are about to actually get underway, take that first step. Once we start there is no turning back. I hope it isn't true. I really hope and pray that I am proved to be a false "prophet," for this will involve a lot of suffering, sort of like childbirth. As we begin we will find ourselves at a crossroads. We will be given a choice. We can either choose to evolve or devolve. Evolution sometimes progresses slowly, but sometimes it takes a leap. Are we ready? I feel we are being pulled into the warm, safe embrace of the infinite love and light of the Eternal One. Time (this extraordinary point in human development) is demanding a turnaround; a change in our perception of reality. Who is going to wake up? What does this evolution look like? "Hurdy Gurdy" people can show us a glimpse of a better world by reveling to us elements of this higher state, including real peace; an inner, spiritual serenity and strength. They can help "midwife" the birth of our true selves.
Just as love does not blossom from acts of hatred, peace cannot be achieved through acts of war. Yet even though a large majority of the world's people oppose it, the Bush leaguers seem to be taking us towards war. Another aspect of an evolved state of being is a commitment to justice based upon truth. The war and fear mongering and the fact that Peltier remains in prison indicates that this country has chosen the devolving path. But what about each of us? Will you and I make some effort on Peltier's behalf? Will you and I stand firm against the rhetoric of war? Will you and I encourage that beautiful Light of the Eternal Spirit to infuse our lives and the world and to take us to a different plane?
"Today this world is a lesser place. Today the next world is a better place. While we grieve Nilak's leaving this reality, the ancestors rejoice at Nilak's arrival in the ancestral reality. Nilak was, is and will always be a part of us. In the way of spirit, we are fortunate in that we now know the name of one of our spirit helpers, Nilak Butler. The circle continues."– John TrudellLife is full of perils yet the lives of Abe and Nilak and my brother can be examples for us. They are within the circle or in the book of life. What about you and I? Once the bombs start to fall, many people will turn away. They will hear but not understand, see but not know. They will turn away from love; unaware that their thirst for security and comfort breeds a greed that interferes with the higher state of consciousness. We must be willing to let anything go that's not of the pure Spirit (including ours and other people's irrationality) putting our trust and faith in that which can only be found in true justice, in righteousness, and in our Creator.
May our prayers lift us and our world to the beauty, love, joy and courage of those who have gone before us. May the memory of the righteous live on for a blessing.
Sent to you with Love and a prayer that our sparks may illumine the world,
Rachel
A Bounty on their Heads; A Suffering in their Hearts
The Climate Today in New England for Native Peoples as They Seek Federal Recognition
by Rachel Carey-HarperI'm A Racist
- "When police shoot and kill unarmed people of color what are the consequences for these officers of the law? In Cincinnati they may be get up to 6 months in prison, in New York nothing, in Mashpee Massachusetts they are paid $75,000. David Hendricks, an unarmed Wampanoag, was shot seven times, the last five at point blank range through the driver side window after his car had stopped May 1, 1988...."more
by Rachel Carey-HarperA Call to Friends
- "Hello, my name is Rachel and I'm a racist. No, I'm not secretly a member of the KKK, rather I have come to admit that my attitudes and assumptions around race are unmanageable in a just society and I look to a Power greater then myself to restore me to sanity....."more
by Rachel Carey-Harper
- "A prophetic call has come to Friends to recommit ourselves to take action to end ignorance and discrimination against people of color. We are asked to seek God’s power to root out the racism that still resides in ourselves and our Meetings...."more
previous messages are still at http://home.cape.com/rch/rmm.html.
P.S. Please sign or simply post your comments in the guest book (http://pub.alxnet.com/guestbook?id=2025519).
P.P.S. There is a ongoing Quaker Meeting for Worship happening at
http://home.cape.com/rch/entryway.html
Looking for information on peace activism resources? Check out the Friends' committee on National Legislation (FCNL).
(all material pertaining to the Solidarity Fast for Peltier, Peace and Justice, which was uninterrupted for almost two years, can be found here. These include monthly messages that speak to the a range of spiritual and political thought brought on by this extensive and often intense action.)
