Lincoln Revisited

So I'm doing some reading over at the Angry Indian and run across what I'll quote in a few. The relevancy of this post is due to the numerous references to Abraham Lincoln by not only Obama but just about every talking head that has a microphone and a camera in their face. I will remind the dear reader that the Ghost had posted a piece on president Lincoln some time ago which featured such interesting tid-bits as:

"All the unoccupied territory...shall be reserved for the benefit of the white Caucasian race --- A thing which cannot be except by the exclusion of slavery."

A repost of a piece in the Mohawk Nation News by the Angry Indian serves as double duty. It pointed out that Obama's speech left out a group of people:

When Obama defined America as a nation of “Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus and non-believers”, he deliberately left out Indigenous peoples. We have our value systems. We have our knowledge.

I'll assume that the Mohawk Nation is using the term "Indigenous" to mean the first peoples of America. I would expand that term to mean those of us, aside from Hindus, who practice our native religions, be it Ifa, Juju, etc. Of course this comes as little surprise given that the inaugeration was a nice pagaent of colored folk and celebrities, with certain types activists (you know, the ones who make up the "or" of the either-or relationship America has had with the Civil Rights establishment left uninvited and as invisible as a black grandma of a Dominican family. Anyway, on the subject Lincoln, the Mohawk Nation News points out:

While Mr. Lincoln was earning a fake place in history, he signed the Homestead Act in 1862. This was a law offering huge tracts of our lands to foreign white settlement. It was put through without consultation, without consent and without regard for the rights and needs of our people. Eventually 1.6 million homesteads were granted on our land and 270,000,000 acres of our territories were privatized between 1862 and 1986, which is 10% of all lands in the U.S. In the conflicts that raged over this illegal action, thousands of Ongwehonwe men, women and children were killed and millions of acres of our territories remain unlawfully occupied. This has nothing to do with honesty, courage, fair play and tolerance. Obama’s speech demonstrates clearly his concept of loyalty and patriotism has nothing to do with respect for the Ongwehonwe of Turtle Island and our future generations...

Two days after Lincoln signed the “Emancipation Proclamation” in 1863, he signed an order to hang 38 Dakota Sioux in Mankato Minnesota. There were only about 40 adult men of fighting age left out of 400 “prisoners of war”. The U.S. agent refused to feed the Indigenous people and was selling the rations that were meant for them. The men begged for food for their people who were starving to death. He told them to eat grass.

They killed him and stuffed his mouth with grass.

It seems that a certain number of us are going to have to be diligent in the maintenance of history from the whitewashing and willful forgetfulness that is upon us.