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<DIV><FONT size=2>Hi all,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I'm having a hard time figuring out what is so hurtful.
I think to most people a Brave was an Indian man who hunted and provided for his
family, a Squaw was an Indian woman who gathered food for her family, a Papoose
was a baby on a board on their Mother's backs. I see no disrespect
here. I can see how some over generations could change the meanings of
these words to be something hurtful. Two generations ago our society was
very different. My Grandmother's Grandmother was full blood Mohawk
Indian. My Grandmother never breathed a word about it her entire
life. Her sister only said something about it when she was nearing 100
years old. Our society didn't value those of different colors. I
however feel differently. I have taught my kids that it doesn't matter
what color someone's skin is, inside we all have the same red blood.
We are all people. It doesn't matter what color the skin is, there are
wonderful and evil men and women of every color. I suspect it is the "bad
guys" in every color category that change perception and word meanings.
Hopefully those who are taking offense can realize that many of us have much
more respectable meanings attached to these words.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>I attended a DNA seminar a few months ago. One of
the things that was interesting was that all human DNA was 99% the
same. All of our differences was in 1% of our DNA.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>By the way, Walt's picture takes up very little room. He
found some way to make it very small. There were a bunch of posts around 6
months ago on how to do this. It will be in the archives.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Ronda</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=DAVIESW739@aol.com
href="mailto:DAVIESW739@aol.com">DAVIESW739@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us
href="mailto:or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us">or-roots@sosinet.sos.state.or.us</A>
</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, February 11, 2005 11:05
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [or-roots] Aunt Charotte's
book</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 size=3>
<DIV>Both of these boys stayed with us a great deal. One, whom we called Jack,
hung around so persistently that Mother told him that he must stay away or
else be washed and dressed decently and keep away from the Indian camps. So
Jack came to live with us. He lived with us till he was a grown man. He was
just a "Siwash" but a kindly, honest, gentle-souled fellow, with the Siwash
mentality and the Siwash indolence.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Siwash in Chinook means Indian, but we came to use it to
differentiate between the coast Indians and the higher type from the
interior.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> The coast Indians were peace-loving, indolent and sickly.
They were not warriors and were even indifferent hunters, frequenting the clam
beds where a living was easy. The squaws gathered nuts and berries and canas.
Canas is a kind of lily bulb like an onion. They roasted it in pits and stored
it away for winter use. I used to rather like it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Our Indians were not thrifty and they never seemed to take a
lesson from the lean years. Their meager stores were always pitifully small
and the winter usually found them starving. At such times they could be hired
to work, but they were at best, indifferent helpers.Jack was a true Siwash,
but he belonged to us and of course, always had enough to eat and wear.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> When he came to us, he wore an old blue soldiers cap. It sat
well up from his head. One day Father noticed that it sat rather too high to
look natural. He lifted it from Jack's head and an avalanche of salt poured
down over his shoulders and spread around his feet. He had taken it from our
storehouse and was on his way to his old, blind Mother's teepee.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Father scolded him, and told him that he would "Punish
him severely if such a thing ever happened again." He made it quite clear that
taking without asking was stealing. Father also made it clear to Jack that if
he wanted anything for his Mother he was to ask for it, and if it were
possible she could have it.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> Many a sack of meal, and other things were carried to the
old, blind squaw, and never, to my knowledge, did the boy again touch a thing
that was not strictly his own, and I kept track of him even after he had
married and gone to live on the reservation with his own people. He died
quite young. Tuberculosis by that time was among them and was taking a heavy
toll. The tribe to which Jack belonged, is almost, if not quite extinct.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> The Indians who camped near us were called, Yamhills. I do
not know the origin of the name. They were friendly and very good to me. I
spent a great deal of time at there camp and learned to speak the Chinook
jargon with a fluency that in consideration of my dark eyes and skin, was not
altogether flattering to my family.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> I have never forgotten it, few of the Indians that are now
living, can even speak it. Now and then I meet one, who is very old, and the
words come to me as readily as they did when I was a child. The true Indian
accent with which I spoke it, always seems to mystify them.The Indians have a
certain native delicacy and they would hesitate to question, but once or twice
I've had them ask "Mika sitcom Siwash?" (are you half Indian) and my answer,
"Wake" (no), causes them to glance at me skeptically. An embarrassed Indian
always has immediate and pressing business elsewhere.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 PTSIZE="10" FAMILY="SANSSERIF"><B>Walt
Davies<BR>Cooper Hollow Farm<BR>Monmouth, OR 97361<BR>503 623-0460
<BR></B><IMG id=MA1.1108191932 height=93
src="cid:005601c51133$357e96a0$0300a8c0@Home" width=72 border=0
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