Indigenous Americans celebrate unity
BY BILL NEVINS
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — Turtle Island, Aztlan, the Land of the People: these are all names for the sacred places where the varied indigenous peoples of the Americas thrived for untold centuries. Then the invasion came.
Europeans moved into this land, swords and guns drawn. Rape, genocide, strip-mining and theft were visited upon this land and its peoples. Indigenous resistance was courageous and strong, but ultimately futile. The brute force of the invaders and their corporate empires proved irresistible.
There has been much suffering since: mass murder, disease, enslavement, forced poverty, addiction and continuing attacks on the self-esteem and self-respect of these proud peoples.
Today, many indigenous people do not even acknowledge that they are descendants of the native people of this land. Some succumbed to resignation, even despair. Others have remained proud; maintained belief in themselves.
The Peace and Dignity Run symbolically unites the indigenous peoples of the Americas in a relay run involving hundreds of runners and thousands of their supporters. Peace and Dignity 2000 started simultaneously earlier this year north of the Arctic Circle and at the tip of South America, in Tierra Del Fuego. Runners will join paths at sacred sites in Mexico and elsewhere, just as they came together in celebration in Albuquerque at the native pueblos this August.
One way to join in the spirit of this very powerful peoples' celebration is to check out the special CD now available, Peace and Dignity 2000. It features artists such as Aztlan Underground, La Paz, Bulletproof and In Lak Ech. Order from Xican Records, PO Box 921776, San Fernando, CA 91342, USA or visit <http://www.xicanorecordsandfilm.com>.
This is very danceable music of celebration and pride. Venceremos!