Food for Thought

Posted on November 23, 2006, Printed on November 25, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/44661/

One indication of moral progress in the United States would be the replacement of Thanksgiving Day and its self-indulgent family feasting with a National Day of Atonement accompanied by a self-reflective collective fasting.

In fact, indigenous people have offered such a model; since 1970 they have marked the fourth Thursday of November as a Day of Mourning in a spiritual/political ceremony on Coles Hill overlooking Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, one of the early sites of the European invasion of the Americas.

Not only is the thought of such a change in this white-supremacist holiday impossible to imagine, but the very mention of the idea sends most Americans into apoplectic fits -- which speaks volumes about our historical hypocrisy and its relation to the contemporary politics of empire in the United States.

That the world's great powers achieved "greatness" through criminal brutality on a grand scale is not news, of course. That those same societies are reluctant to highlight this history of barbarism also is predictable.

But in the United States, this reluctance to acknowledge our original sin -- the genocide of indigenous people -- is of special importance today. It's now routine -- even among conservative commentators -- to describe the United States as an empire, so long as everyone understands we are an inherently benevolent one. Because all our history contradicts that claim, history must be twisted and tortured to serve the purposes of the powerful.

One vehicle for taming history is various patriotic holidays, with Thanksgiving at the heart of U.S. myth-building. From an early age, we Americans hear a story about the hardy Pilgrims, whose search for freedom took them from England to Massachusetts. There, aided by the friendly Wampanoag Indians, they survived in a new and harsh environment, leading to a harvest feast in 1621 following the Pilgrims first winter.

Some aspects of the conventional story are true enough. But it's also true that by 1637 Massachusetts Gov. John Winthrop was proclaiming a thanksgiving for the successful massacre of hundreds of Pequot Indian men, women and children, part of the long and bloody process of opening up additional land to the English invaders. The pattern would repeat itself across the continent until between 95 and 99 percent of American Indians had been exterminated and the rest were left to assimilate into white society or die off on reservations, out of the view of polite society.

Simply put: Thanksgiving is the day when the dominant white culture (and, sadly, most of the rest of the non-white but non-indigenous population) celebrates the beginning of a genocide that was, in fact, blessed by the men we hold up as our heroic founding fathers.

The first president, George Washington, in 1783 said he preferred buying Indians' land rather than driving them off it because that was like driving "wild beasts" from the forest. He compared Indians to wolves, "both being beasts of prey, tho' they differ in shape."

Thomas Jefferson -- president #3 and author of the Declaration of Independence, which refers to Indians as the "merciless Indian Savages" -- was known to romanticize Indians and their culture, but that didn't stop him in 1807 from writing to his secretary of war that in a coming conflict with certain tribes, "[W]e shall destroy all of them."

As the genocide was winding down in the early 20th century, Theodore Roosevelt (president #26) defended the expansion of whites across the continent as an inevitable process "due solely to the power of the mighty civilized races which have not lost the fighting instinct, and which by their expansion are gradually bringing peace into the red wastes where the barbarian peoples of the world hold sway."

Roosevelt also once said, "I don't go so far as to think that the only good Indians are dead Indians, but I believe nine out of ten are, and I shouldn't like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth."

How does a country deal with the fact that some of its most revered historical figures had certain moral values and political views virtually identical to Nazis? Here's how "respectable" politicians, pundits, and professors play the game: When invoking a grand and glorious aspect of our past, then history is all-important. We are told how crucial it is for people to know history, and there is much hand wringing about the younger generations' lack of knowledge about, and respect for, that history.

In the United States, we hear constantly about the deep wisdom of the founding fathers, the adventurous spirit of the early explorers, the gritty determination of those who "settled" the country -- and about how crucial it is for children to learn these things.

But when one brings into historical discussions any facts and interpretations that contest the celebratory story and make people uncomfortable -- such as the genocide of indigenous people as the foundational act in the creation of the United States -- suddenly the value of history drops precipitously and one is asked, "Why do you insist on dwelling on the past?"

This is the mark of a well-disciplined intellectual class -- one that can extol the importance of knowing history for contemporary citizenship and, at the same time, argue that we shouldn't spend too much time thinking about history.

This off-and-on engagement with history isn't of mere academic interest; as the dominant imperial power of the moment, U.S. elites have a clear stake in the contemporary propaganda value of that history. Obscuring bitter truths about historical crimes helps perpetuate the fantasy of American benevolence, which makes it easier to sell contemporary imperial adventures -- such as the invasion and occupation of Iraq -- as another benevolent action.

Any attempt to complicate this story guarantees hostility from mainstream culture. After raising the barbarism of America's much-revered founding fathers in a lecture, I was once accused of trying to "humble our proud nation" and "undermine young people's faith in our country."

Yes, of course -- that is exactly what I would hope to achieve. We should practice the virtue of humility and avoid the excessive pride that can, when combined with great power, lead to great abuses of power.

History does matter, which is why people in power put so much energy into controlling it. The United States is hardly the only society that has created such mythology. While some historians in Great Britain continue to talk about the benefits that the empire brought to India, political movements in India want to make the mythology of Hindutva into historical fact.

Abuses of history go on in the former empire and the former colony. History can be one of the many ways we create and impose hierarchy, or it can be part of a process of liberation. The truth won't set us free, but the telling of truth at least opens the possibility of freedom.

As Americans sit down on Thanksgiving Day to gorge themselves on the bounty of empire, many will worry about the expansive effects of overeating on their waistlines. We would be better to think about the constricting effects of the day's mythology on our minds.

AlterNet orginally ran this article on Thanksgiving 2005.

Robert Jensen is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin, and the author of, most recently, "The Heart of Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and White Privilege" (City Lights Books).

© 2006 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.

Save the Internet

Much at Stake! Global Warming in the YK Delta

Much at Stake...Global Warming in the YK Delta

Dear Friends,

In the monthly report I sent you earlier today, I promised to forward the attached maps that show how many communities and how much critical habitat near Bethel and Kotzebue are underwater if either:

• Sea level from global warming rises 4 meters (13 feet), or

• Sea level from global warming rises 1 meter, and you combine that with 3 meter storm surges (which many communities bordering the Bering Sea experienced last year).

As you recall, in a study published in the journal Science last month, a team of scientists estimated that a sea level rise of from 4 to 6 meters could be dictated if we continue to increase CO2 emissions dramatically through the end of this century. Completed by ACE's GIS Center at the request of Susanne Fleek (ACF), the attached maps show the more conservative estimate: 4 meters.

Indeed, these cartographic images portray a dire, unacceptable scenario -- one that destroys numerous rural, culturally rich communities and much of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge's critical habitat for geese and other animals -- as well as other National Park, Refuge, and Native Village Corporation land. This would be tragic, costly, and, in some instances would cause irreparable and irreplaceable devastation and loss.

These inundation maps portray vividly one more reason why we need to act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions now. We can avoid this level of loss -- and we must.

In the next few days there will be several newspaper articles published in Alaska featuring these maps. I wanted you to have them immediately.

My best,
Deborah

Deborah Williams
Alaska Conservation Solutions

http://www.alaskaconservationsolutions.com/

Tooth and Nail, Pt. 1: Battle over legality of dental therapists continues

Tooth and Nail, Pt. 1: Battle over legality of dental therapists continues

REPOSTED FROM KTUU: Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - by Rhonda McBride


View the Video

Anchorage, Alaska - America’s first dental therapists are trained in New Zealand to help save teeth in rural Alaska, where the rate of tooth decay is twice the national average. Today they’re fighting a lawsuit from the American Dental Association.

Alaska’s dental therapists say they felt right at home in New Zealand. It’s a land a lot like Alaska -- rugged and remote.



Toksook Bay, a village on the Bering Sea, is one of the first communities in the United States to have a dental therapist. Lillian McGilton spent two years in New Zealand learning to do what people here need the most: basic dentistry. Yet the American Dental Association is suing, to keep her and other therapists from practicing.



“They don’t know me, they have not been to Otago University and, a lot of them just go on what they hear, and a lot of that information just is not accurate,” said McGilton.

According to the American Dental Association, Alaska is the only state that allows this type of dental care. It is not the only one fighting tooth and nail; the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium is biting back.



The debate has spilled into the headlines, letters to the editor, newsletters and television ads. Both sides have spent tens of thousands of dollars to win in the court of public opinion. One of the few things they agree on is that this money won’t cure a single toothache.

Now the battleground has moved outside Alaska. The controversy made a splash at a national dental conference in Little Rock, Arkansas. It’s hard to imagine why dentists from all over the country would even care about Alaska’s dental therapy program, but in Little Rock, a piece of the puzzle is revealed.

“We owe a great deal to these intrepid young Alaskans for what they have done,” said David Nash, DMD, University of Kentucky.



Most of those in the audience are rooting for Alaska’s dental therapists. They work in public health dentistry, and the ADA’s lawsuit has raised their interest in the program.

Aurora Johnson, a dental therapist from Unalakleet, tells people what it’s like to work out of school woodshop turned into a makeshift dental clinic.



“The air, the cold air was just coming right through,” said Johnson.

Most of the people here have never met a dental therapist before, including the man leading the charge against them: Bob Brandjord, president of the ADA. Initially Brandjord wasn’t invited to sit on this panel -- not until the ADA agreed that nothing said here would be used in its lawsuit.



“This is the first time that anyone from the American Dental Association has heard a presentation about our program,” said Ron Nagel, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium.



The presentation is often sort of a Bush Alaska 101. The geography is hard to grasp, let alone how dental therapists fit into the picture. That’s why Dr. Myron Allukian organized this panel. He’s the former dental director for the city of Boston and he has taught at Harvard University.

“To me, we’re one dental family and we should be working together,” said Allukian.



But when it comes to expanding the role of dental workers, Allukian is often at odds with the ADA.

“I’ve fought these battles over and over with organized dentistry,” said Allukian.

Allukian got the American Public Health Association to pass a resolution supporting Alaska’s dental therapists. It’s his way of pushing the ADA.

“Any time there’s a new concept, they have a very slow learning curve. And they oppose these new concepts. Then 10, 20 or 30 years later, they’ll say, ‘Gee that’s a good idea,’” Allukian said.

Allukian says this battle is similar to one the American Medical Association fought years ago to block nurse practitioners and physicians assistants.

“You go to the AMA now and say, ‘We’re gonna eliminate all nurse practitioners,’ they’d fight tooth and nail to keep the nurse practitioners, because they’ve been a great adjunct,” said Allukian.

“I think we have been portrayed basically unfairly in most of the debate and we are not stagnant, we are not stick-in-the-muds about trying to improve our delivery of dental care,” said Brandjord.

The ADA’s main objection is that dental therapists are allowed to do what are called irreversible procedures, like fill cavities, do tooth extractions and pulpotomies, a nerve treatment similar to a root canal.

“If we could resolve the issue about irreversible procedures, we would have no problem. We support everything else in the program,” said Brandjord (right).

But it’s a program the ADA knows little about.

“I think they should go to New Zealand. I think if they went to New Zealand, they’d see how dental therapists work,” said Lyndie Foster Page, New Zealand dentist.



Page helped to train some of Alaska’s dental therapists, including Aurora Johnson.

“I just wanna seem them go and make a difference. Get out there and maybe just show some of the Americans that it can work, like we have in New Zealand,” said Page (left).

Dental therapy has a track record that goes back to World War I. They were called dental nurses back then and traveled New Zealand on horseback. Today they’re in every public school.

“New Zealand is not a very litigious country, but still there are complaints about dentists. There are complaints about doctors. So if there were serious complaints about dental therapists in the past, these would have been acted on,” said Page.

“Organized dentistry in America is very ethnocentric. I’ll put it that way. Our profession has certain attitudes and values. And now we think the time has come to be sure that we have evidence of what dental therapy is doing around the world,” said Nash.



Nash is heading up an international study on dental therapists, to find out how therapists might help millions of Americans who can't afford treatment.

“I think for the people of the United States, the future of the oral health of their children is at stake,” said Nash.

So in a handful of Alaska villages, a national experiment is taking place. It’s one that the American Dental Association says puts people at risk, and one that national public health experts say is full of promise.

Alaska and Hawaii Nations Challenge

Link to shadow report

http://www.aitc.org/news.htm