In the late 1800's there were men vying to be the one to kill the last buffalo. They were encouraged by America’s destiny – our right as god-fearing white overlords to parcel and own all the land from sea to shining sea. Nothing was going to stop us. At that time there were perhaps 500 buffalo in the United States and maybe another 500 in Canada. For many policy-makers and expansionists though, the buffalo were merely a more expeditious means to a predetermined end: resolution of the Indian Question. By killing all the buffalo the white man forced the Indian (literally and metaphorically) into a corner. At this same time our far-reaching government also overtly encouraged us to “Kill the Indian, save the man.” This was the stated goal of our government’s residential school program in which Native American children were forcibly taken from their families and relocated to these schools where they were methodically stripped of their identity and culture. Half of the children did not survive the experience. The phrase (Kill the Indian, save the man”) was first uttered by Captain Richard Henry Pratt in a speech in 1892 during the National Conference of Charities and Correction, held in Denver, Colorado. Pratt was founder and superintendent of the Carlisle Indian School (founded in 1879) and his phrase became a rallying cry for those claiming and/or believing it a noble cause to civilize, Americanize, assimilate and educate. Kill the buffalo. Kill the Indian. For the sake of Progress, Power, Wealth, America. For the sake of the white man. Genocidal Patriotism.

Darkness flows, moving over, under and around a person. Light permeates, becoming a living part of a person. If darkness solidifies, it will not become a part of a person, but persons nearby are in danger of becoming a part of it. If light dissipates, surrounding light rushes to fill the void, leaving persons nearby in danger of becoming two-dimensional, character-less, formless. Darkness is most likely to solidify where light dissipates.

Like-minded groups, (such as the powerful and wealthy), who are disconnected from Humanity as a whole, create their own artificial light often spread, broadcast through rhetoric, (such as “kill the Indian, save the man”), to pretend they are keeping the darkness at bay.

Today I feel like our day-to-day existence is defined, driven, dictated by nothing but artificial light. We no longer even recognize and/or acknowledge the essence of light. Native, essential light has become foreign to our indoctrinated senses, and God knows we cannot consider anything that is different or that might require learning, growth, change.

So, when it suits us, we will practice Genocidal Patriotism. And when it suits us, we will further manifest our high-handed arbitrary destiny. And when it suits us, we will believe we have saved the world. And when it suits us, we will condemn Genocidal Patriotism. And when it suits us, we will know; with certainty. And when it suits us, we will pretend we are changing for the better. And when it suits us, we will say, “Let there be artificial light.” And when it suits us, we will declare that the light is good. Amen.