March 3, 2019

Dear Friends, Family and Everyone else reading this blog,
Hello!

I hope everyone is surviving this snowy, cold winter. Today in Wisconsin it is 8 degrees and there are big piles of snow on the ground outside! I am thinking of Spring, Summer and warmth. My first photo is a picture of Gladiola Flowers. These flowers were my Great Grandmother’s favorite. She used to grow them on her farm in Oneida. She also grew them for her Outing Family in New Jersey. Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School sent her to be a servant for ten years there.  Great Grandma Sophia Huff-Powless was an excellent gardener.

The next photo is a picture of Cooner’s Dance Hall in Oneida, Wisconsin. Sophia and my Great-Grandfather, Hyson Powless, used to go to this dance hall for an adult’s night out. One of the relatives babysat their children. Sophia and Hyson loved to dance. To try to makes ends meet, Sophia sold her Gladiolas to the Dance Hall to pay for drinks/food for her and Hyson.

My heart goes out to the migrant children taken from their parents and put into large migrant tent camps by our government. Here it is 2019 and things are pretty much the same for minorities, except the year. This reminds me of when Sophia and her sister, Lily, were forced to attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School in July, 1891. The government decided to punish my Great great Grandmother, Elizabeth Huff, by taking away her other eight children from her. Why? Well, they took the kids away because Elizabeth wanted to stay Oneida, speak Oneida, be Oneida. The government didn’t like this, hence, they punished Aliskwat (Elizabeth’s Oneida Name). She was called Elizabeth because the government said so. Anything indigenous of Oneidas or any indigenous tribe in our country was taboo and frowned on! Indians being themselves, indigenous, could result in punishment or death! The government wanted to save us from being the savages they thought we were. Here is a picture of Sophia and Lily in their Carlisle uniforms. Their Oneida clothes were burned and thrown away. Another photo shows Wounded Knee, 1890 compared to Standing Rock 2016, same racism, different year. To the government, Please free these migrant children. Where is your conscience and humanity? What if these kids were your children?

Congratulations to Lu White for having the Carlisle Indian School Farm House being put on Preservation PA. Preservation PA lists most endangered places in this country that need to be preserved. The Carlisle Indian School Farm House was also put on the list of Sites of Conscience, that lists places of historical significance. It is their goal to help preserve this farmhouse, to transform it into a place of healing and education for all. Here is a photo of the farmhouse and website.
https://www.gofundme.com/carlisle-indian-school-farmhouse
https://www.sitesofconscience.org/
Please consider donating to help save this Carlisle Farmhouse. Help to educate everyone about our true indigenous history, you weren’t taught in school.

I have never met Leonard Peltier. But, I have read that he has been imprisoned for 40 years. It is my hope that he will be free to go home soon. To me, 40 years in prison is more than enough time served for a case that has never really been resolved truthfully. Free Leonard Peltier!

I learned through researching my book, Sky Woman Lives in Me, that one of my relatives died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School. Carlisle said, “She committed suicide.” Relatives say, “No way would she kill herself.” Only Our Creator knows the truth. For Zachary Bearheels 2017 murder, I say #justiceforzacharybearheels. I can not put a hashtag for my relative who died at Carlisle Indian Industrial Boarding School, but I can for Zachary.

Lastly, Thank you for reading my blog. Feel free to share my blog if you wish. Here are two photos of my grandsons this past month. Hope these make you smile as much as it they do me!:)!