RIP Houston

[H2O Man]

13. Thank you!

It's curious how so many good people do not understand the significance of Native American issues. That there will not be social justice for some, when injustice defines US/state policies towards others.

I had an uncle, by marriage, who was a good liberal democrat. He taught at a university in PA, and President Carter gave him an award for his skills in science. In the early 1990s, there were "protests" in Seneca Territory, that included burning tires on a highway. I remember my uncle asking, seriously, if Paul and I were involved. I told him that Paul said, "They burn tires; we burn Sacred Tobacco."

My uncle said that he thought it was time for Native Americans to think of themselves as US citizens. He was Catholic, and so I asked if he thought that Jewish people should have thought of themselves as Roman citizens? He said, "That's different." I said it was the same.

We debated for about an hour; my aunt wanted to head back to PA, and kept trying to get my uncle to go. He said he couldn't go, until he "won" our debate (he was Irish Catholic). My aunt said, "Well, you can't win this one. He's right."