Copyright © 1999 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

o'siyo from this tsalagi gramma in anishinaabe country, this is in response to the many people who have e-mailed their moral and spiritual support to my husband, bernard, for speaking up and out about the traditional ways of our people and the reality of our people today.

i thank you all.

           my husband was born and raised in ponsford, minnesota on the white earth reservation. he is the grandson of wolf rock and a direct descendent of chief may-dway-aush, who the whitemen called flatmouth. he lived for a period of time with his maternal great-grandfather ahn-da-bi-tung in bravik, minnesota.

           he was educated in the catholic mission school in ponsford where he was punished many times for speaking his first language, ojibwe. he and his first wife, geraldine stone, did not teach their children to speak ojibwe, because they did not want them to suffer in the school as they had.

           my husband is a combat veteran who served two tours of duty in korea. during those two tours he was wounded 5 times in hand-to-hand combat and by mortar fire. he and pete spotted wolf of the sioux nation were m.i.a.(missing in action) surrounded by enemy soldiers they hid in a cave for two weeks where they both froze their feet.

           in november of 1951, on the day after thanksgiving, a mortar exploded over the bunker he was sleeping in, causing the tons of rock and dirt over him to cave in, crushing his face. after being in a coma for monthes he had to be taught to talk again, in english.

           he served his country proudly and although, he was discharged with a disability rating due to his combat wounds, he was not awarded purple heart citations from the united states government until 35 years later. he has never received credit from the u.s. government for single handedly capturing an enemy platoon. he was evacuated after getting the end of his thumb shot off, taking a rifle away from an enemy soldier in hand-to-hand combat. the powers that be assumed that when comrades stated that 'rock captured the platoon,' they were referring to a south korean soldier who were called 'r.o.k.' this is the same reason that the purple heart citations came 35 years late.

           my husband suffers from post traumatic stress disorder from his combat experiences. he is haunted by the spirits of the warriors: the north koreans that he killed in combat and the comrades who died fighting beside him in the battlefields. for many years he drank alcohol to keep the nightmares away. when he quit drinking over ten years ago, the nightmares returned. in 1991 he graduated from the first all native american p.t.s.d. treatment program at american lake vets hospital in tacoma, washington. three years ago he completed veterans service officer training. he does outreach and advocacy for native american veterans suffering from war traumas, helping them and their families understand p.t.s.d. and to apply for the benefits and assistance that they are entitled to. he does not receive any pay to do this, this is how he honors the memory of the warriors who did not return from the battlefields.

           bernard is enrolled on his mother's side in the leech lake pillager band. when we moved to the leech lake reservation four years ago, we were viewed as outsiders by many of the people who were raised here all their lives. this is one of the most damaging of the legacies of the american holocaust and the politics of u.s. federal indian policy, the divisions and separations between our own peoples.

           between us, bernard and i have 33 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren; and although the domineering culture tries to define and catagorize our family, we are family. we are not blended; there are no half children (all our children are whole); and we never 'step' on or over any of our children... we are family. geraldine stone rock has passed on to the spirit world and i am the only gramma rock many of these children will know. as grandparents we watch over the 'education' of the children... our grandchildren, our nieces and nephews, all the children in our community... because that _is_ our job.

           our family has been through much for many generations. we cannot go back and change the hurts of the past, but through our grandchildren we can heal by making life better for them. we believe that better life can be secured by honoring the struggle and the strength of our ancestors and returning to their traditional values and priorties.

           our ancestors were resourceful and creative peoples. they made the most of what was available to them. they adapted to their environments in a way that was good for the people and respectful to the gifts of the creator. this is how we view cyberspace and we chuckle at the mysterious coincidence that this tool of communication is available through an invisible entity called a world wide web.

           it is not our intention to offend anyone and we apologize to those who take offense at any of our words. and to you non-native people who truly are empathetic and concerned about our people, we need to say, that sometimes the best support that you can give us is to stand back quietly and let our voice be heard.

i thank you for listening to this gramma.

feather eaglerock, leech lake rez

english is a foreign language. reclaim the language of your people and send it to the future as your gift to your grandchildren's grandchildren. di-ka-ne'-tsv a'-qua-tse'-li ha-htv-gi, wa-do' do-da-da-go'-hv