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Questions |
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What do we know of real Native Americans? |
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They’ve written little of their history. |
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We depend upon the words of the conquerors |
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to part the curtain of mystery. |
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Myths and fables and misrepresentations are |
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what we have as a result, |
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and all those western movies we watched |
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just might bear a little of the fault. |
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Geronimo is a familiar name, as is Quanah |
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Parker, Cochise, and Crazy Horse; |
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some of us have heard of Mangas Coloradas, |
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and many know of Chief Joseph, of course. |
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But tell me, what is the Trail of Tears, where |
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did it begin, and where did it go? |
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Was there really so much misery on that march? |
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Did that many tears actually flow? |
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Were the Seminoles really unconquered, and |
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from where did they come? |
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Were they the combined people of many tribes, |
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or were they always just one? |
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Why do I ask all these questions, why has my |
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curiosity become suddenly piqued? |
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Actually I’ve wondered ever since I discovered |
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‘Little Beaver’ was neither a Sioux nor a Creek. |
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He was really an Italian kid named Mickey, |
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and a favorite of my trusting youth, |
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when Red Ryder rode Saturday’s ranges, |
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and I took what I saw on the screen as the truth. |
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I knew little of Indian reservations, and less |
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about what happened there; |
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like most of my fellow Americans, |
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the truth is I didn’t really much care. |
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Maybe that’s why we readily accepted |
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a bogus ‘Indian’ weeping over the ecology; |
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and, after a brief spurt of interest, have |
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almost completely forgotten Wounded Knee. |
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A child is brutally beaten because someone, |
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a teacher, felt he didn’t belong, |
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and his parents only protested a little. Why |
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have we become so accepting of such wrongs? |
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So the world spins ‘round, we go our ways, |
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caught up in our own lives, but yet, |
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all is not completely forgotten for some; |
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that ancient trail continues to be wet. |
| © Thurman P. Woodfork 10/3/2007 |
