E. Rios Montt and the US/Christian Culpability by Randy Woodley

A few days ago, former President of Guatemala Rios Montt was FINALLY convicted of genocide against Indigenous Mayan villages, land “needed” for development. Now, we in the US have culpability as well.

The Reagan administration should face charges of being accomplices to crimes against humanity. Reagan helped Montt in his genocide on many different levels including propaganda and cover up. The US trained military leaders, and the US & Israel supplied all the arms which were used to murder untold thousands of innocent people in the most gruesome ways including rape, strangling, cutting babies out of pregnant women, making whole villages dig their own mass graves, etc (sound familiar?).

Beyond this, I call for all Evangelical radio and television talk show hosts from the 1980s who both interviewed, defended and lauded Montt as a “born again” Christian in order to push the conservative economic (Reganomics) agenda, to repent publicly and attempt to make restitution to the families of the Guatemalan survivors. Otherwise, you continue to misrepresent Christ and as Paul says, “crucify him anew!” You Christian talk show hosts should show integrity and show your repentance so we can learn from our mistakes and help restore the villages and families who have lived through hell.

I remember well as a young radio announcer at KRKS in Denver broadcasting the programs who pushed Montt’s faith in Christ and the fight against non-capitalistic economic ideologies as if capitalism was somehow a prerequisite of Christianity.

Finally, I ask, what atrocities are we currently contributing to and covering up? We need to look at war, power, trade agreements and see what is really going on. Can we keep our heads buried in the sand and not be held accountable? I don’t think so. What true follower of Christ would want to?

Farewell, Uncle Richard

In Heaven
a circle of grass

Tread down
by the prayers of dancers.

Around it
A ring of drums
the smell of burning sage.

A light breeze and a warm sun.

“And now
We’re gonna sing an honor song
For our Brother Richard Twiss.”

The sound of
drums and voices lifted up.

Can you hear them Richard?

The saints sing to honor you.

Dancers enter,
clothed in buckskin and feathers,
Beads and shells.

Leading them all is one whose hands and feet are pierced.
the grass sprouts through his soles,
the sun shines through his palms.

Can you see him Richard?

The Son of God dances to honor you
and welcomes you home.

You stood with your people
And now you dance with our Creator.

I will miss you Richard.

My brother.

My uncle.

My chief.

My friend.

by Daniel Fan

Peace on Earth to Everyone, Oh, and by the way, Be careful who your enemies are…by Bruce Crawford

As the final days of 2012 wound down, I, like most Americans, found myself thinking a lot about the children and families connected with the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting.  It felt personal to me because I know what it is like to have experienced gun violence first hand.  I also know what it is like to have lost someone I love through the violent act of another.  So with this in mind, I would like to join this conversation.   Here’s my story….

Dear Santa, from Daniel Fan

Dear Santa,

Hi again. It’s me, Daniel. I figured I’d write early just in case my letter got lost or you saw my list and decided to procrastinate a couple weeks before starting (honestly, that’s what I would do). Oh, and it’s ok if you want to sit down before continuing. In fact, it would definitely be safer.

Okay, here goes.

Last year, I asked you to send me a producer or two and at least one major movie studio that would be interested in filming a powerful and moving epic about the formation of the Hawaiian Kingdom, based on true events, historical research, and interviews with indigenous sources. So you know that production part? Yeah, it sort of didn’t happen. I’m not saying I’m not grateful for the awards my screenplay won, but, as far as props go, I was kind of going for the kind you get after the movie gets made.

So, I kind of figure thatcha owe me.

And I think I came up with a couple of ideas that would be easier to pull off than motivating Hollywood to make a film that wasn’t just about white men killing each other, white men saving this planet, white men saving a different planet, white men romancing brown women, or some combination of the above.

I’d like to ask you to give me one of the following:

1. World decolonization: Sort of like “World Peace,” but better. Give back the gift of land—the gift that keeps on giving. I’m not saying “instantly send everybody back where they came from.” Fitting that many settler colonials in with all the presents you already have to deliver would be tough, even with your magical bottomless bag. And with my luck I’d be stuck between some kid’s soon-to-be pet hedgehog and a medieval re-enactor’s authentically spikey morningstar. But land reparations, or at least an honest offer of reparations has to be part of reconciliation with colonized peoples. I think you could even package it in gift wrapping that would say “Restoring the Land to its People: building relationships, not reservations.” See, I already did half the work for you.

This Week in Race: November 7

- by Bo Sanders 

Despite what the caller said on this week’s ‘Take Them to Task’ segment from the Smiley & West show said, race is still an issue in North America – not everyone is color blind. In fact, here are four stories that caught my attention in the past couple of days in the areas of politics, music, TV, and sport:

 Politics:  Much analysis is being done – and will continue to be done – about the U.S. Presidential election.  I had heard leading up to November 6 that if Gov. Romney was to win, he would have to do it with the largest percentage of white voters in recent history.

While he did not win yesterday, the ethnic breakdown was stark and is causing much consternation in conservative circles. Whites, and especially Evangelicals, reports say, voted over 80% for Romney. It is almost exactly the opposite (some reports say as high as 93%) of Latino voters went for Obama.

My only point is that if you think that the election of a Black president makes this a post-racial country, you have another thing coming. Race is still an issue and will continue to be an issue as we move to 2048 when Whites will not be a majority in America.

How will we lead? How will we transition? How will we hear new voices? 

Music: You may have seen the uproar over the music group No Doubt’s new video “Looking Hot”. Rolling Stone describes it this way:

The clip for the second single off their long-awaited new album, Push and Shove, featured a Wild-West theme, replete with tee-pees, feather headdresses and smoke signals. After releasing the video on Friday, No Doubt quickly drew complaints for using the stereotypical imagery, with threads such as “Appropriating Native American culture” appearing

The band did apologize and did remove the video. 

Tearing up the Letter: What could you ever trade your soul for? Jesus by Bruce Crawford

One of my favorite Native American authors is Robert Francis. I had the opportunity to meet Robert when he spoke at the Theology Of The Land conference at George Fox Seminary a few years back. His writings have a way of bringing life to my soul because they help me see the gospel of Jesus through the eyes of a Cherokee man. Robert is a Chickamauga Cherokee. I was recently reading one of his books when I came across a profound connection he made to a scene found in Mark Twain’s famous book Huck Finn. This is a story of a poor white boy named Huck and a runaway black slave named Jim whose lives intersect as they share a raft on the Mississippi River.

As they make their way down river, deep inside, Huck is troubled because he knows that helping a runaway slave goes against everything he had been taught in church. Eventually as the story goes, Jim gets captured and then gets locked up at Reverend Phelp’s farm. And so the angst in Huck Finn’s soul intensifies as he considers what he should do. His experience in church in church would have taught him that slavery was a God approved institution. He also knew that the fires of hell await anyone who would dare help a runaway slave. So Huck decides to repent, and writes a letter to Miss Watson, Jim’s owner, telling her where she can reclaim him. He must have breathed a huge sigh of relief knowing that by writing this letter his sins had been washed away by doing the right thing. But things aren’t always that easy… After writing the letter, Huck starts to think back on all the memories he and Jim shared their raft. He remembers a moment when Jim called him, “the best friend old Jim ever had in the world, and the only one he’s got now.” Jim’s words got to him. As Huck held the letter to Miss Watson in his hands listen to what he did next:

Knight Christoph, The Beast, and the Grey-Eyed Child: A Parable of Good, Evil, and Evil-Good by Daniel Fan

He paid not a hint of care to the foreign lands to his right or left, minding only the path which lay ahead and the familiar, steady hoof beats of the white steed beneath him.

She looked up from the emerald fields she played in to see a silver man on a horse. Her older sisters fled, but she was not afraid for she had seen these strange metal men before though none so shiny as this one. On his right he bore a lance called Mighty One and on his left he carried a great shield emblazoned with the rune of Justice.

The knight slowed as he saw the child stand fully erect, not even as high as his steed’s knee.

“Strange Sir, by whose welcome do you come to our lands?”

He regarded the child with amusement, “Justice needs no invitation. Tell me where the beast is, so that I might free your land from its scourge.”