[dropcap]W[/dropcap]e have, both in the story of Pharaoh and the United States, empires that take the land of the people. The Egyptians received food in exchange, while for the Native Americans it was lies, sickness, and poverty. Here Brueggemann is talking about Pharaoh and his dreams:

[blockquote type=”center”]“The nightmare is about scarcity. The one with everything dreams of deficiency…As readers of the narrative we are permitted to watch while the nightmare is turned into policy.” (Journey to the Common Good 5) [/blockquote]

During our 400+ year history as a country, the concept of savages was never questioned, a co-existing solution never considered, and the taking of land continues today. Where in our American history has respect and humility ever been an attitude the government had toward minorities of any stripe?

The concept of a savage was a given for so many centuries. What concepts do we not question today? Why don’t we question? Why is it so hard to care? Brueggemann says the empire teaches satiation, it numbs us. He says we – citizens of empire – want safety and security, plenty of land, and the comfort of our own ways of life.

[blockquote type=”center”]”The gift of freedom was taken over by the yearning for order. The human agenda of justice was utilized for security. The god of freedom and justice was co-opted for an eternal now. And in place of passion comes satiation.” (The Prophetic Imagination 35) [/blockquote]

 

see full version at Films for Action

 

How can we be passionate about the problems of the world when all we want is cable TV and Whole Foods?

How could people be concerned about the plight of the Indian when they needed land? I mean come on, dozens and dozens of acres per person was just too crowded. America was made from all the Pa Ingalls, itching to move on to something new. Scratch that itch, no matter what you have to use. Scratch, scratch, scratch until you’re so comfortable you don’t want to get up.

Brueggemann talks about an eternal now, an unimagined future where we want our world to be never-changing, always the same. It’s comfortable that way. But of course that just means the problems and issues continue, and more importantly, we don’t dream about better ways.

[pullquote type=”left”]”Imperial economics is designed to keep people satiated so that they do not notice. Its politics is intended to block out the cries of the denied ones. Its religion is to be an opiate so that no one discerns misery alive in the heart of God. Pharaoh, the passive king in the block universe, in the land without revolution or change or history or promise or hope, is the model king for a world that never changes from generation to generation. That same fixed, closed universe is what every king yearns for – even Solomon in all his splendor.” (TPI 35) [/pullquote]

The United States has changed over the past 4 centuries, but it also has, at its core, remained the same.

White people are always in control. Anything that might threaten the status quo is expelled. The empire removes people who are standing in its way. And when the empire is built on the premise of Anglo-Saxon whiteness, anything that challenges that has to be dealt with.

With no hope in a closed world, how could anyone imagine anything better, different? How can we imagine anything different now when it comes to Native American relations?

[pullquote type=”right”] “The notion of human justice and compassion is rarely a foremost factor in ordering a community. Indeed, most communities find ways of treating it as the last question and never the first question about human reality.” (TPI 22)[/pullquote]

When has the empire ever willingly been sacrificial? When have white people ever granted rights and privileges, even life, to anyone else without a fight?

What would it look like if justice and compassion were the first things we prioritized as a person, a church, a society?

By the time of the Trail of Tears and other Indian removals, there had been 200 years of interacting with the Native Americans in the same way. No one imagined anything different.

[blockquote type=”center”]“Thus a truly free God is essential to marginal people if they are to have a legitimate standing ground against the oppressive orders of the day. But then it follows that for those who regulate and benefit from the order of the day a truly free God is not necessary, desirable, or perhaps even possible.” (TPI 23)[/blockquote]

We are numbed. We don’t care because we don’t feel. We are known for our non-empathy, known for our lack of compassion, and we don’t even know. We can’t see ourselves the way the world sees us because we can’t imagine living any other way.

Maybe it’s this way for all societies, all civilizations. Maybe we’re always caught up in our individual and collective addictions that numb the pain of reality.

But what if this independence streak that runs through our national veins isn’t all it’s cracked up to be? Is it possible that the focus on me and mine is misguided? Or, in a softer way, is there any chance, at any point in our history, that the American quest for ‘freedom’ has had a negative affect? And if that’s possible, who’s to say it’s not still possible, not still happening?

[blockquote type=”center”]”In the imperial world of Pharaoh and Solomon, the prophetic alternative is a bad joke either to be squelched by force or ignored in satiation. But we are a haunted people because we believe the bad joke is rooted in the character of God himself, a God who is not the reflection of Pharaoh or of Solomon…He is a God uncredentialed in the empire, unknown in the courts, unwelcome in the temple. And his history begins in his attentiveness to the cries of the marginal ones. “(TPI 36) [/blockquote]

What would this image of God look like in the context of Native American history?

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“The government believed that there were tribes that were ready to be part of main stream American society and no longer needed the protection of the federal government. Two tribes, the Klamaths who owned valuable timber property in Oregon and the Agua Caliente, who owned the land around Palm Springs were some of the first tribes to be affected by the policy. These lands, rich in resources, were taken over by the Federal Government.

In 1953 Congress adopted an official policy of ‘termination’ declaring that the goal was ‘as rapidly as possible to make Indians within the territorial limits of the United States subject to the same laws and entitled to the same privileges and responsibilities as are applicable to other citizens of the United States.’ (House Concurrent Resolution 108)

From 1953-1964 109 tribes were terminated and federal responsibility and jurisdiction was turned over to state governments. Approximately 2,500,000 acres of trust land was removed from protected status and 12,000 Native Americans lost tribal affiliation. The lands were sold to non-Indians the tribes lost official recognition by the U.S. government. Source

 

How could a bill containing an apology from the United States Congress to Native Americans for centuries of injustice be buried so deep and not make any public waves in either political circles or in the media?” Source

 

“From 1999 to 2013, Native Americans were killed by law enforcement at nearly identical rates as black Americans, tying them for the most at-risk populations in this respect.

The difference is that almost no one is talking about them.” Source

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“So just what is the state of Indian affairs today? Congress is again poised to significantly and negatively impact tribal lands via must-pass legislation.” Source

 

“The main problem with being non-federally recognized is that the aboriginal rights and sovereignty of non-federally recognized tribes and tribal groups are denied or not acknowledged. Now understand this: Aboriginal rights and sovereignty are not granted by any government, nor may they be taken away by any government. Such rights are granted only by the Creator/Apportioner of the Universe and are both innate and inalienable. The most a government may do is either acknowledge or deny aboriginal rights.

There are also problems with federal recognition, the chief one being that the United States demands each federally recognized tribe to govern itself in accordance with United States, Bureau of Indian Affairs standards rather than by the traditional values or standards of the tribe. Therefore, even for federally recognized tribes, aboriginal rights and sovereignty are only partially acknowledged and are, to a great extent, denied by the United States Government.” Source

 

“Some laws from the distant past undermined native land stewardship and may still conflict with sacred land protection.” Source

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“The federal government establishes the Courts of Indian Offenses to prosecute Indians who participate in traditional ceremonies such as the Sun Dance. The U.S. seeks to replace these ancient spiritual practices with Christianity. The court is one of various methods that the U.S. employs to try to restrict the cultural identity of American Indian tribes. Many political, cultural, and spiritual leaders are imprisoned.” Source

 

“Though some officers specifically discouraged the selection of Bosque Redondo as a site because of its poor water and minimal provisions of firewood, it was established anyway. It was to be the first Indian reservation west of Oklahoma Indian Territory. The plan was to turn the Apache and Navajo into farmers on the Bosque Redondo with irrigation from the Pecos River. They were also to be ‘civilized’ by going to school and practicing Christianity.” Source

 

“Indian people would be taught the importance of private property, material wealth and monogamous nuclear families. The reformers assumed that it was necessary to ‘civilize’ Indian people, make them accept white men’s beliefs and value systems. Conversion to Christianity was deemed essential. Schools were expected to develop programs of religious instruction. Emphasis was placed on the Ten Commandments, the beatitudes and psalms.” Source

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What other nightmares might we be putting into policy that we don’t even know about because we still haven’t learned the art of empathy and compassion? How does our consumerism that satiates our fear and anxiety numb us to the painful realities of the world? Can we begin to imagine a world that is different from the past?

If God is not free to intervene, if compassion is not a priority, then there is nothing and no one to hold the empire accountable.

What happens if God does care? What if he is actually on the side of the oppressed? What if God was truly free to do what he wanted? What if there is an oppressed group (or two, or ten) in America, and what if God is on their side like he was on the side of the Israelites in Egypt? What if he wants to be subversive the way the midwives were subversive?

What if we really are Pharaoh?

What then?

 

 

 

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Empire: The United States and Walter Brueggemann

   1. A Systemic Greediness

   2. Nightmare Into Policy

   3. Food as a Tool of Control

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