MONICA CHARLES WRITES ABOUT ABUSE

I don’t think anyone has made a direct accusation of Red Cherries. It
bothers me that he used Portland AIM and Oklahoma AIM and the Oklahoma
Red Brotherhood to try to silence Eugene. I used this situation to
talk about a very real problem in our communities. DV and rape and
child abuse is too prevalent and  accepted in our communities. It is
at the heart of what is wrong. It’s introduced behavior. It’s not
Traditional. It is the teaching of our People that women and children
are Sacred! Women represent Mother Earth. Children are our future.
When a man beats and rapes a woman he is actually beating and raping
Mother Earth. When a man beats and rapes a child he is actually
beating and raping our future. That is spiritual law! Why isn’t Red
Cherries talking about this? It would do much for People’s perceptions
of his innocence if he spoke out against child abuse and domestic
violence and rape. Did you know that men are sacred too? The Creator
gave them physical strength to protect and feed the people. During
those first dark days of reservations our men could no longer do
either. They couldn’t protect us. Weapons were taken away. Our men
couldn’t even hunt. The white man wanted us dependent on him for our
food. Our men watched us starve and could do nothing. They dove into
the bottle to hide and stayed there for generations. The white man
made sure we were down. He stole power and dignity from our men.
During those dark despicable days when we were first put on
reservations our men turned and stole power from our women and
children. They began beating and raping those in their care. It was
what the white man wanted. The moral fiber of our communities were
destroyed.What was the strongest thread in our communities today can
be our weakest. It’s our families. Children can no longer depend on
their fathers to protect them. Sometimes the father is the biggest
abuser. We need to change that. We need to stand up as a community and
say this atrocity stops here and now. It is the biggest atrocity in
our communities. Men seem to think they are above everyone in our
communities because they have a penis. They use that penis as a war
club to keep everyone down. When I was a student we went to a Sun
Dance at DQU in California. It was an AIM  Sun Dance. It was announced
that the men  would eat first, then the elders, then the children,
women would eat last. Indian women are low man on every totem pole.
When it came time to eat men crowded to the front. My friend Sally
McCloud and I started making fun of the men. We said if the pigs
attack we will put the men at the center of the camp because they are
our most precious resource. We would put the children around them.
Then we would put the Elders around them. Us women would be the first
line of defense. The elders didn’t correct or stop us. They laughed at
everything we were saying. Most of the men were local boys from the
reservations. They knew enough to be ashamed. They quickly got out of
line. We then fed the children and elders, then the men. We did eat
last. Not because we are lesser than anyone but because it is our duty
to see that everyone is fed. There is a difference. AIM, the Red Bros,
and Red Cherries are still trying to bully everyone into silence and
steal our power. That’s wrong and will no longer happen. Do we have to
go to war with our own men to bring balance back to our communities?
Red Cherries could bring great healing to our communities if he would
use this as an opportunity to talk about this issue. Let’s takj about
where things went wrong and how we can stop DV, rape, and child abuse.

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