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| Rueben George |
Faced with the economic smallpox of oil pipelines, Rueben George says hold tight to your spiritual intention
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, November 2024
SEATTLE -- They never stopped fighting. Even when they cut off his grandfather's finger as a child in residential school because he couldn't speak English, even when they put them in jail for protesting the Trans Mountain pipeline, they never stopped fighting. Even when the appeals court decided that shipping the dirty tarsand oil was more important than the survival of the Orca whales, they did not surrender.
"Even though we're almost extinct, we are still here," said Rueben George, səlilwətaɬ, Tsleil-Waututh Nation.
"We're People of the Water. That's our First Mother," George said at the Salish Sea Assembly in Seattle.
"It was worse back then for my grandpa in 1899, and when he went to residential school in 1904 and couldn't speak English. He was 5 years old and they cut off his finger because he couldn't speak English. They said don't speak that language."
"He became really famous and was nominated for an Academy Award, won Golden Globes, his name is Chief Dan George, but he's a humanitarian."
"He never stopped fighting. When he was filming Little Big Man they pulled up to the village and everybody was dead and Dustin Hoffman said, 'Why Grandpa, why did they do this? They killed the whole village,' and he said it was because they're crazy."
"My grandpa started to cry."
The director came over and said, "What's wrong Chief."
Chief George said, "I see this, and remember."
Chief George remembered that there was a time when his people were 20,000 strong, in their territory in Washington and British Columbia.
"We went down from 20,000 to 13 people and it's such a recent thing," Rueben told those gathered for the Salish Sea Assembly.
"So even though we're almost extinct, we are still here and we're still doing something like all these people right here. All those people got up and did something and when things got hard, they figured something out."
"There's the law for the pipeline and fossil fuels and there's the law for everyone else."
"I still have a hard time talking about TMX. The taste is still bitter in my mouth, they finished the project and they are shipping oil."
"We did everything, we did a 1,200 page assessment, spill analysis a clean analysis we did multiple economic economic studies all based on our nation's law, our law, we took all that information, we won in the federal Court of Appeal, which is just below the Supreme Court, we won again, and we thought we're winning because they said, 'You know what, you're right, your economic analysis is right, Canada is wrong -- and we're like, oh we're winning."
'They said you're right it's going to kill all the Orca whales, you're right -- but we're going to build it anyway."
"My mom got arrested like three times, a whole bunch of young people."
"One young girl, she's like 20, started University when she's 15 and made good grades, she never broke the law, not a speeding ticket, didn't ever even drink or anything, and dressed up in a dinosaur suit and climbed the fence of Kinder Morgan and played badminton."
"An automatic 30 days in jail."
"I worked in town on the east side with the people, the homeless, and some of my clients had over 30 charges against them, and they've never ever seen a day in jail -- but there's two laws: There's the law of the pipeline and fossil fuels and there's a law for everybody else."
"No matter what we did, they continued to build it."
"You know it's pretty brutal that it takes two tons of Earth to get one barrel of oil."
"They just keep moving forward and scooping up Earth."
At the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center in Seattle, Rueben is surrounded by history of the resistance movement that resulted in the return of this land for the Indian center.
"There were a lot of people that passed away that were instrumental in informing who we are and what our laws are for indigenous people, Vine Deloria and Russell Means, whole bunch of really good people on the other side of this, one right here, and I'm glad Kanahus and your friends down here are doing what you're doing, because when we're down and feel crappy like this, we need to settle down and pray, and re-evaluate and pick ourselves up and start again that's what we do, brush ourselves off."
Describing the peoples reactions to the political elections, he said, "What they find out when they get in there, is they don't run nothing, like Obama sold more artillery in his last year than George Bush did in 8 years -- so it's like who we are going to vote for bad or worse."
Stopping the White Bill, Running on Bald Tires
"They went over and stopped the white bill that would have abolished all of our indigenous rights. They had no money, nothing to do it, they had a car with bald tires and it was the winter and they still drove all the way there and made it on a prayer, and that's how it always been for our people we've been down, but we pick ourselves up, been down and everything doesn't look good, but we continue to pick ourselves up and that's because of our prayer, that's because we pray, and we stick to our culture."
Spirit with Intention
Remembering offering prayers in Australia and in the jungles of Brazil, Rueben said, "All over the place, they use fire earth water and sky in every single ceremony that they do, and the idea is you take any two those elements fire and sage, or sweet grass, you put it together, smoke comes out of it, that's a spirit with intention."
"What it's teaching us is to have a connection to those things, fire, earth, water, and sky, to have a connection to it, and then when you receive Enlightenment in those ceremonies, we look at those things that gave us Enlightenment, that's fire earth water and sky and that's why we're up here talking about what we're going to protect -- it is what we love because we have a reciprocal relationship to the land, to the water, and to each other the people, that's why we fight, and that's how ceremony works, that's how it works for you."
"My son says, 'Dad, I'm not going to be the generation that stops fighting.'"
"That's a good, let's do it, let's go do something and figure it out and that's what prayer brings, with that Enlightenment, we figure things out all the things." He said the people with prayer had figured things out, "like Kanahus following the vision of the dreams of our ancestors to protect what we love."
"What it's teaching us is to have a connection to those things, fire, earth, water, and sky, to have a connection to it, and then when you receive Enlightenment in those ceremonies, we look at those things that gave us Enlightenment, that's fire earth water and sky and that's why we're up here talking about what we're going to protect -- it is what we love because we have a reciprocal relationship to the land, to the water, and to each other the people, that's why we fight, and that's how ceremony works, that's how it works for you."
"My son says, 'Dad, I'm not going to be the generation that stops fighting.'"
"That's a good, let's do it, let's go do something and figure it out and that's what prayer brings, with that Enlightenment, we figure things out all the things." He said the people with prayer had figured things out, "like Kanahus following the vision of the dreams of our ancestors to protect what we love."
The Economic Smallpox of the Pipeline
On the economics of the pipeline, he said you know it's going to take 20 years to pay off $7 billion of the original price $34 billion, they're never ever going to recoup.
"Now they're trying to sell it to First Nations and I talk to them and I say, 'You know what, don't take it, it's economic smallpox, they're giving you sickness you're never going to make money out of it, and they're tricking you, it's economic smallpox."
On the economics of the pipeline, he said you know it's going to take 20 years to pay off $7 billion of the original price $34 billion, they're never ever going to recoup.
"Now they're trying to sell it to First Nations and I talk to them and I say, 'You know what, don't take it, it's economic smallpox, they're giving you sickness you're never going to make money out of it, and they're tricking you, it's economic smallpox."
"But you know, they still are going to do what they're going to do, and we got to do what we're going to do, and in every way that we can, support each other and make things good with each other."
"Come over and have a meal with each other like this, this is really uplifting, this is really beautiful, we have some good food that feeds our spirit."
The Spiritual Ecosystem
Rueben describes the spiritual ecosystem, and says, "Look at a tree, a tree reaches up and catches the energy of the Sun and takes the energy, and takes the water, and creates sugar, and as the tree eats, and starts to grow, it relies on everything, and the byproduct of that process is our oxygen, because it's taking carbon and then it turns it into oxygen we can breathe."
"That tree has all the elements that we need," he said, "and that's what we do in our ceremonies and what we start to learn is a reciprocal relationship to spirit."
"A Spirit has a past present and the future, that Spirit already existed, just like ours already existed, and that's what we rely on to communicate to, to create our laws."
"Our law is why we protect our spiritual ecosystem and everything that we're connected to, everything in the water, we are connected."
Rueben describes the spiritual ecosystem, and says, "Look at a tree, a tree reaches up and catches the energy of the Sun and takes the energy, and takes the water, and creates sugar, and as the tree eats, and starts to grow, it relies on everything, and the byproduct of that process is our oxygen, because it's taking carbon and then it turns it into oxygen we can breathe."
"That tree has all the elements that we need," he said, "and that's what we do in our ceremonies and what we start to learn is a reciprocal relationship to spirit."
"A Spirit has a past present and the future, that Spirit already existed, just like ours already existed, and that's what we rely on to communicate to, to create our laws."
"Our law is why we protect our spiritual ecosystem and everything that we're connected to, everything in the water, we are connected."
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| Eelgrass habitat for salmon and other fish |
Bringing them back
"From a really young age we used to go out when the tide was out and we would pick up Dungeness crabs, we would pick up clams and oysters."
"They hand-tied eelgrass to the rocks all along the shore and it started to grow and populate, and for the first time herring came back, and for the first time ever, that I heard of in my lifetime, a gray whale came and ate the herring."
The salmon count went down 10 years ago, but one day last year there was 1.3 million salmon in the river at once because Native people have been rehabilitating the habitat.
"Elk was reintroduced in our territory, grizzly bears came back, wolves started completing the ecosystem, you know all these things that we do is because and not just one small little nation that we're doing this, to to make sure and our elders said that they can continue to grow with that reciprocal relationship, which is Spirit to those things that we love."
Tsleil-Waututh, are people of the water right around Vancouver. "That's who we are that's our first mother we love her already and that's why we do these things to protect her."
In Vancouver, they did a clam harvest with vision and idea and prayer.
"I really believe in prayer I really believe in prayer because this tonight is a good prayer to me to come see your faces and to come and have really good food."
With a reminder to honor the ancestors, and figure things out in an innovative way, Rueben said, "I'm thankful for being invited and I needed this uplift and I know I'm going to go home feeling better because all your love, and all your ideas and thoughts that we could come together collectively do something."
In Vancouver, they did a clam harvest with vision and idea and prayer.
"I really believe in prayer I really believe in prayer because this tonight is a good prayer to me to come see your faces and to come and have really good food."
With a reminder to honor the ancestors, and figure things out in an innovative way, Rueben said, "I'm thankful for being invited and I needed this uplift and I know I'm going to go home feeling better because all your love, and all your ideas and thoughts that we could come together collectively do something."
Listen to all Rueben George's good words at the Salish Sea Assembly, recorded by Govinda.
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| In memory, Chief Dan George, Little Big Man |
Article copyright Censored News.
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