‘Poet Warrior’ Joy Harjo Wants Native Peoples To Be Seen As Human
‘Poet Warrior’ Joy Harjo Wants Native Peoples To Be Seen As Human
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Joy Harjo, the nation’s first Native American poet laureate, has a very clear sense of what she wants to accomplish with her writing.
“If my work does nothing else, when I get to the end of my life, I want Native peoples to be seen as human beings,” she says.
Harjo, who lives in Tulsa, Okla., is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. Her new memoir, Poet Warrior, tells the story of her sixth-generation grandfather who survived the Trail of Tears, the 19th-century forced march in which the U.S. government moved Native people from their ancestral homeland in the Southeast to territory that later became Oklahoma.
Harjo’s memoir is also a personal story about how she learned to find herself in the spiritual world. She’s had several dreams that have marked major turning points in her life — including one in which she carries her seventh-generation granddaughter into the world.
“It was one of those dreams that I know that it happened, it is happening or it will happen,” Harjo says. “The world that we live in is not just the 3-D physical world, but we live in a world that’s so multi-dimensional and it’s so deep and it’s so mysterious. … There’s always something to learn.”
Interview highlights
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On respect being key to her beliefs and center to her work
I’ve come to realize that what has motivated my art-making is really a strong need for justice, for “people” to be treated [with respect.] And then when I say people, I also mean animals and insects and the birds and the earth and the earth person that we are all part of — that there’s a key element and that’s respect. And my work has always been motivated by that need for respect.
On how her ancestors were forced off of their lands in the Trail of Tears
President Andrew Jackson went against Congress to remove Southeastern Native peoples from the lands there into Indian territory, or what became known as Oklahoma. Of course, we did not go willingly. There were several scuffles and fights and even massacres against this illegal removal. But we were force-marched from our homelands.
I think a lot of America thinks it was only the Cherokee — or the so-called “five civilized tribes,” that included the Muscogee (Creek) — but these kind of removals or forced migration or marches happened all over the country. We were moved because a lot of people wanted those lands. They were very rich, the Southeast [lands], were very rich in resources and water and animals and plants and so on. But we lost probably at least half of our peoples on that march due to hardship, freezing, violence, rape, all kinds of things that happened on those different removal marches.
I think a lot of America, when they think back in history and see Natives, we were hiding out in the woods, wearing rags and so on, but we had huge societies. I have a great, great, great uncle who had the largest horse-racing establishment on the Eastern Seaboard, a Muscogee (Creek) man and half Irish. And they wanted that, they wanted what we had.
On the Native empowerment movement of the ’60s
In the late ’60s, I was at Indian boarding school in Santa Fe, New Mexico, not your usual boarding school, but it was an arts school, and I remember hearing about Martin Luther King being killed and all of that was on the news. And we were all young Native artists there, from eighth grade to two years postgraduate, and we were working on art and we’d stay up late nights talking and making art together and talking about what it meant to be a Native person and about history and about how our art was part of history making.
On her early activism
I remember sitting as a young person, as a student, sitting in on meetings with coal companies, uranium companies in the Southwest, with Native peoples attempting to get a voice in or attempting to turn the story towards respect for the Earth, the respect for the people, to take care of the quality of water, the quality of people’s lives. And I remember at one point going out to do a story, just after the [1979] Church Rock uranium spill, and there were children out playing in the water and in the livestock and the Navajo speakers were saying, “We need a word.” How do we come up with a word that will tell the people that even though you can’t see it, there is something dangerous here that can harm you and you can’t use these waters, when it was the only source of water for their livestock?
On loving books as a child
The only book we had in our house, I think, was the Bible. And I liked the pictures, often there were pictures in those books, or at least the one we had. And when I went to first grade, when we started to learn how to read, I was so thrilled about what happened with symbols and that suddenly it opened up a world to me. I read all of the books in the first grade classroom and was sent into the second grade, and it became like a hunger for me. I liked the sounds, of course, I like the sound that words make. I like the percussion, the percussive elements and the images and so on. Just like the same kind of thing I heard in my mother’s song-making. But the more I read and the more the ability grew, the deeper I could read, the more stories and I could be transported in — much the same way that I could be in that kind of visionary dream world when I was younger. And when we get to about 7 — and I think this happens to a lot of us — we forsake those realms of knowing and understanding, and reading helped give that back.
On her belief that babies are born with help from their ancestors
I don’t believe that we come into this world alone. We have assistance from, I guess, what people call the “other side.” There’s interaction that goes on. I’ve learned this, especially being an artist of a writer, a musician, that there’s resonances. … I have always felt … my great grandfather, Henry Marcy Harjo, around me exactly when I needed him or his wisdom. And I think it’s true for everyone.
I have been at the births of several of my grandchildren, and someone always walks them in, so that when I was writing this memoir and I had a dream towards the end of writing it, and in the dream, I was carrying my seventh generation granddaughter into the world. It’s a ritual we all do, you know, where you open the blanket and you look at them and you admire them and you look at who’s coming in and you welcome them. And sometimes you can see their gifts and what they’re bringing in and you give them a blessing.
Lauren Krenzel and Thea Chaloner produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz , Molly Seavy-Nesper and Meghan Sullivan adapted it for the web.
Myanmar shadow government calls for uprising against military
National Unity Government calls on all citizens to ‘revolt against the rule of the military terrorists’ in every corner of the country.
Myanmar’s shadow government has called for a “people’s defensive war” against the country’s military, prompting a flare-up in fighting in borderlands, according to media reports, as several powerful ethnic groups expressed support for the call to arms.
Duwa Lashi La, the acting president of the National Unity Government (NUG), formed by the elected legislators who were deposed in a February 1 coup, issued the call for the nationwide uprising on Tuesday.
“With the responsibility to protect the life and properties of the people, the National Unity Government … [has] launched a people’s defensive war against the military junta,” he said in a video statement posted on Facebook.
“As this is a public revolution, all the citizens within entire Myanmar, revolt against the rule of the military terrorists led by Min Aung Hlaing in every corner of the country.”
Myanmar has been in turmoil since Senior General Ming Aung Hlaing seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi just as the new parliament was about to sit. The coup triggered widespread protests and a civil disobedience movement to which the military has responded with deadly force. More than 1,000 people have been killed, according to the monitoring group the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners with thousands arrested.
The crackdown has, in turn, triggered armed resistance to the military’s rule, especially in Myanmar’s borderlands, with opponents joining ethnic armed groups and forming People’s Defence Forces (PDF) to fight back.
Tens of thousands have been displaced in the violence.
Diplomatic efforts to end the turmoil have failed to make much headway, however, despite sanctions from Western countries and pressure from Southeast Asian neighbours.
‘Avoid unnecessary travel’
In his video, Duwa Lashi La accused the military of committing “war crimes” against innocent civilians and called on ethnic groups to “immediately attack” the military and to take full control of their lands.
He also ordered the PDF militias to “target to control the military junta and its assets” in their respective areas.
Military-appointed bureaucrats must resign from the government, he said, urging border guards to “join with the people and attack the people’s enemy” and forbidding civil servants from going to work.
He also advised members of the public to “avoid unnecessary travel” and to stock up on supplies and medication.
“We will remove Min Aung Hlaing and uproot dictatorship from Myanmar for good,” he said, “and be able to establish a peaceful federal democratic union that fully safeguards equality and is long-aspired by all the citizens.”
A spokesman for the military dismissed the NUG’s call, suggesting it was an attempt to seek attention ahead of the United Nations General Assembly, which begins in New York next week.
“They are inciting [others] to commit more violence and for the public to become terrified and for instability,” General Zaw Min Tun was quoted as saying by local media. He called the NUG “extremists” and told the public they “do not need to worry”.
The NUG’s call was followed by reports of a flare-up in fighting, according to local media, with several ethnic groups including from the Shan, Kayin and Kachin states expressing solidarity with the shadow government.
VIDEO – Myanmar Now spoke to leaders of ethnic armed organisations and local resistance groups who have cautiously welcomed this morning’s (Sep 7) announcement by NUG that the people’s “resistance war” against junta had started. https://t.co/2HeVT6f2w8#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar — Myanmar Now (@Myanmar_Now_Eng) September 7, 2021
The Irrawaddy news website reported clashes between the military and Karen National Union troops in southeastern Kayin state. The website also said a firefight broke out between the military and the Kachin Independence Army in the northern Kachin state.
A firefight broke out between Myanmar junta forces and Kachin Independence Army troops in Homalin Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday morning, after the shadow National Unity Government declared war on the junta, according to Kachin State-based media.#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/skqPzKFHep — The Irrawaddy (Eng) (@IrrawaddyNews) September 7, 2021
The Myanmar Now news portal reported a bomb attack on a police checkpoint in Mandalay, the country’s second-largest city, as well as multiple protests across the country.
Throughout today (Sep 7), following NUG’s announcement, multiple protests against coup regime erupted in Mandalay, from women’s protest column, Aung Myay Thar Zan multi-school group, representatives of detainees and members of Sangha Union. Photos: CJ#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/ZLpsTYmwaR — Myanmar Now (@Myanmar_Now_Eng) September 7, 2021
In Launglon Township, Tanintharyi, women led the protest against Myanmar’s military junta today (Sep 7). Photos: CJ#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/O6A6RUonP6 — Myanmar Now (@Myanmar_Now_Eng) September 7, 2021
The portal also reported increased checks by security forces in Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon.
Following the NUG’s announcement of the start of people’s “resistance war” against Myanmar’s junta this morning (Sep 7), members of the military are conducting more checks in Yangon. Photos: Myanmar Now#WhatsHappeningInMyanmar pic.twitter.com/oRQcPfKeyu — Myanmar Now (@Myanmar_Now_Eng) September 7, 2021
Richard Horsey, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, said NUG’s call to war “has energised Myanmar popular opinion and raised expectations the revolution will now shift into higher gear”.
“Meeting expectations is the next challenge,” he said in a tweet. “Either war, military’s determination to hang onto power means future of violence, poverty for many”.
Others said the NUG’s call to arms reflected a failure on the part of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a 10-member regional bloc that recently appointed a special envoy to Myanmar to open talks between the opposing sides.
“ASEAN is seen to be a military ally and the envoy weak,” said Bridget Welsh, a research associate at the University of Nottingham’s Asia Research Institute Malaysia. The envoy, Erywan Yusof, Brunei’s second minister for foreign affairs, has “not respected the shadow government” in his recent dealings with the group, she told Al Jazeera.
“Most see ASEAN as not only doing too little too late but also too in the pocket of the brutalisers. ASEAN needs to do more to legitimise itself with the NUG and given the envoy’s lack of credibility this should come from member states who are less accepting of the junta’s crimes.”
Peoples State Bank promotes two longtime employees
WAUSAU – Peoples State Bank recently promoted two employees, Vicki Mauritz and Amber Gober, into leadership positions, the bank announced in early September.
Vicki Mauritz
Longtime Peoples employee Mauritz has been promoted to a customer service representative area manager and will be responsible for leading the CSR teams at the bank’s Rib Mountain and Wausau Stewart Avenue locations. She previously worked for the bank as the Rib Mountain branch manager.
“Vicki’s expertise in operations and customer service will serve her well in this newly created role,” said Kari Solomonson, vice president, retail team leader.
Amber Gober
Longtime mortgage lender Gober has now taken on the role of Rib Mountain branch manager. She most recently served as a business development specialist and mortgage lender in Peoples Rib Mountain location.
“Amber excels at helping our customers and being involved in our communities,” said Jeff Saxton, vice president – retail group leader. “She understands the importance of great customer relationships and will draw upon her 22 years in banking to help both retail and business customers in this leadership role.”