Sunday Search: SAR Update

As many of you may recall reading, I have been trying to find the time over the past few years to finally sit down, pull together all the documents, and submit my application to the local chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. Of course, up until last week I hadn’t even reached out to the SAR to get additional information so that was the first step that I had to take. So, out of the blue, I looked up the local contact information and gave the chapter a call. After a very nice, informative, and welcoming conversation I received some sound advice as to how I should proceed the most important of which was to start with the ancestor that I can most easily prove.

My goal when I made the call was to get everything pulled together over the next several weeks, two weeks if I was lucky. This seemed to be an agreeable and manageable arrangement for both of us and I was encouraged to attend meetings in the meantime while I was finishing up my application. By the time we ended our conversation I already knew which ancestor made the most sense. While the documents that I have in my possession are not enough for the Monacan Indian Nation, they are more than enough prove to the SAR that I am a descendant of John Redcross.

Well, somehow I finally found the time to get it done and I was able to submit all 200+ pages to the local chapter for review. This past week has been a time to review the application that I submitted and, surprisingly, a time for the chapter genealogist to condense the documentation down to only the items needed. We really do have more than enough to prove our lineage and, at the same time, not enough. Now we can focus on finding that final piece so that we can submit the same material to the Monacan Nation.

It is a great feeling knowing that this is done and that after this it will be a matter of adding confirmed patriots to the family history. Heeding the advice of the SAR, now I am going to move to the next easiest to prove which happens to be on the other side of my family. While we once thought it impossible, I have been able to trace back my mom’s side to the Revolution as well and have the documentation to support the findings as well. It is nice to know that basically no matter which family member I am talking to I can help them join the SAR (or DAR).

However, the most important aspect to this whole process for me is that it is a means to verify the research that I have spent the last few years conducting. The more lines I can confirm and revolutionary ancestors I can trace back to, the more information in our tree I will be able to verify. Having had so many questions about the family history growing up, I am looking forward to sharing with the family a history that has been not only researched by certified as being accurate. And, one day, I look forward to sharing this history with my son.

But Do You Have A Flag?

Columbus Day is almost over and it really made no difference to me. The only thing that I noticed was the fact that I couldn’t get a hold of everyone I normally would on a Monday. You couldn’t even take your cue from the government because they were closed already.

When you think about it and consider all that we have learned about Columbus over the years it makes you question why we even still have such a day. I personally think that it’s a difficult argument saying that you discovered a new world when there were people there to greet you. That’s like discovering a cabin in the woods that no one knew about, that wasn’t on any maps, knocking on their door and claiming the land as your own (if you survive of course).

To give you a little background, and save your finger from having to hit another button, here is the basic rundown from Wikipedia:

Many countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas, which happened on October 12, 1492, as an official holiday… Columbus Day first became an official state holiday in Colorado in 1906, and became a federal holiday in the United States in 1937, though people have celebrated Columbus' voyage since the colonial period. In 1792, New York City and other U.S. cities celebrated the 300th anniversary of his landing in the New World. President Benjamin Harrison called upon the people of the United States to celebrate Columbus Day on the 400th anniversary of the event. During the four hundredth anniversary in 1892, teachers, preachers, poets and politicians used Columbus Day rituals to teach ideals of patriotism. These patriotic rituals were framed around themes such as support for war, citizenship boundaries, the importance of loyalty to the nation, and celebrating social progress.

Many Italian-Americans observe Columbus Day as a celebration of their heritage, the first occasion being in New York City on October 12, 1866. Columbus Day was first enshrined as a legal holiday in the United States through the lobbying of Angelo Noce, a first generation Italian, in Denver. The first statewide Columbus Day holiday was proclaimed by Colorado governor Jesse F. McDonald in 1905, and it was made a statutory holiday in 1907. In April 1934, as a result of lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, Congress and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt made October 12 a federal holiday under the name Columbus Day.

Since 1970, the holiday has been fixed to the second Monday in October, coincidentally the same day as Thanksgiving in neighboring Canada (which was fixed to that date in 1959) (note that October 12, 1970, was a Monday). It is generally observed nowadays by banks, the bond market, the U.S. Postal Service, other federal agencies, most state government offices, many businesses, and most school districts. Some businesses and some stock exchanges remain open, also some states and municipalities abstain from observing the holiday. The traditional date of the holiday also adjoins the anniversary of the United States Navy (founded October 13, 1775), and thus both occasions are customarily observed by the Navy (and usually the Marine Corps as well) with either a 72 or 96-hour liberty period.

Today seems to epitomize the fact that, given time, people’s shortcomings are frequently overlooked and their feats accentuated by historical storytelling. Truth be told, Columbus was a man who got lost on a voyage, the Gilligan of the 15^th century if you will, who, once he was given power, proved to be a tyrannical ruler and proponent of genocide. So, happy Columbus day everyone!

Name Change?

This season (this actually started back in May) there has been some words exchanged between the United States Congress and the National Football League (recent Facebook posts have prompted this post). What have they been discussing? Well, as was reported by Mike Jones of The Washington Post, Congressman Eni F.H. Faleomavaega (American Samoa) sent a letter to Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder (along with similar letters to NFL Comissioner Roger Goodell and FedEx President and CEO Frederick Smith as well as the owners of the NFL’s 31 other franchises) urging the owner to change the name of his franchise. Joining Faleomavaega in the effort were fellow representatives and co-chairs of the Congressional Native American Caucus: Tom Cole (Oklahoma) and Betty McCollum (Minnesota) as well as Raul M. Grijalva (Arizona), Gwen Moore (Wisconsin), Michael M. Honda (California), Donna M. Christensen (Virginia Islands), Zoe Lofgren and Barbara Lee (both of California) and Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District.

Keep in mind that this is a letter from a politician so the original is quite lengthy. However, in summary the letter stated the following: " Native Americans throughout the country consider the 'R-word' a racial, derogatory slur akin to the 'N-word' among African Americans or the 'W-word' among Latinos… Such offensive epithets would no doubt draw wide-spread disapproval among the NFL’s fan base. Yet the national coverage of Washington’s NFL football team profits from a term that is equally disparaging to Native Americans… In this day and age, it is imperative that you uphold your moral responsibility to disavow the usage of racial slurs. The usage of the [“R-word”] is especially harmful to Native American youth, tending to lower their sense of dignity and self-esteem. It also diminishes feelings of community worth among the Native American tribes and dampens the aspirations of their people.”

This is a debate that I personally have gone back and forth on for some time now. On one hand you have the points outlined above but on the other you have the fact that the term, however vile it may be, which serves as a reminder of a people and a battle that is still being fought for respectability and, in many cases, simply an acknowledgement of existence (you can read more about that fight in a few of my previous blogs). We can’t bury our history and sometimes we need such abhorrent reminders of the work that still needs to be done.

For now, I think the name should stay with the hope that sometime in the future such a visible reminder is not needed. We need all the help we can get to keep the fight in the minds of the general public. This debate should serve as a stepping stone to bring to light the struggle for recognition and the need to expose everyone, young and old, to the history of a people blotted out of the textbooks. When that day comes, then I will support such a name change.

What is disturbing in this matter is not the debate at hand but the fact that so many members of Congress are shifting their focus away from the issues that this country is facing right now. There are many other things that need to be done and many other problems that need to be fixed. Add to the fact that there is such little support in the general population for a proposed name change (21 percent to be exact) and you have a waste of time. If this is truly an issue that you are passionate about don’t start by going after the NFL, start by recognizing tribes that represent thousands of people in this country that have been fighting for generation to be considered Indian (American Indian to be exact). If you want to impact the lives of the people you care so much about, that is the fight that needs to happen not this headline grabbing waste of time.  

Revisiting 1934 And Reversing 'Paper Genocide'

This past week I came across an article published by Michael Melia of the Associated Press that was both encouraging and disappointing. The story talks about the U.S. Interior Department’s attempt to overhaul the current rules in place for recognizing American Indian tribes (the draft is currently open for discussion until September 25th). However, by the second sentence, and I guess you could say it’s inevitable, the casino card is played as if it is the only reason why tribes desire federal recognition. Here is how the reporter opens the story:

His tribe once controlled huge swaths of what is now New York and Connecticut, but the shrunken reservation presided over by Alan Russell today hosts little more than four mostly dilapidated homes and a pair of rattlesnake dens.

The Schaghticoke Indian Tribe leader believes its fortunes may soon be improving. As the U.S. Interior Department overhauls its rules for recognizing American Indian tribes, a nod from the federal government appears within reach, potentially bolstering its claims to surrounding land and opening the door to a tribal-owned casino.

"It's the future generations we're fighting for," Russell said.

The rules floated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, intended to streamline the approval process, are seen by some as lowering the bar through changes such as one requiring that tribes demonstrate political continuity since 1934 and not "first contact" with European settlers. Across the country, the push is setting up battles with host communities and already recognized tribes who fear upheaval.

As a writer, I understand that you are trying to give the story a visual reference but the true basis of this argument can’t be in the material gains that potential changes could provide. The real reason is a recognized identity which has been withheld from countless people across the nation. The proposed changes recognize the governmental and regional neglect that has remained prevalent since this nation’s founding.

People who were marginalized and forced from their home and their land, encouraged to disband and sever ties with their native roots and join ‘the civilized world’ face a daunting task in establishing the existence of their own families across generations let alone the continuous continuity of their tribe. This is why the change in definition is needed. This is why the simple line in the “Procedures For Establishing That An American Indian Group Exists As An Indian Tribe” carries such great weight and the balance of that weight needs to be shifted to accommodate the historical burdens of segregation and persecution. Seeing this seemingly simple edit brings a touch of hopeful sweetness to the bitterness that has soured numerous attempts to be recognized. “Continuously or continuous means extending from first sustained contact with non-Indians throughout the group's history 1934 to the present substantially without interruption.”

  

It is a change that can help heal the history in a place such as Virginia where anti-Semitism and “The Racial Integrity Act” tried to erase not just the present American Indian population but the identities of Indian ancestors as well. It is a means to finally put an end to the work of Virginia’s longtime registrar at the commonwealth’s Bureau of Vital Statistics, Dr. Walter Ashby Plecker who wrote “...Like rats when you are not watching, [they] have been `sneaking’ in their birth certificates through their own midwives, giving either Indian or white racial classification.”

Supported by previous actions by Virginia’s government to force American Indians to register as free blacks in the 1850’s and 1860’s, Plecker’s eugenics based campaign continued to taint the identities of Indian children throughout the 20^th century. While Virginia repealed its racial definition and segregation laws in 1975 it was still a time consuming and emotionally draining process for families to appeal decisions made at birth which misidentified their children robbing them of their ancestry. Further hindering federal recognition efforts is the fact that state recognition of Virginia based tribes did not come into existence until the 1980’s when only eight remained (including the Monacan Nation). 

Contrary to what many people in opposition of this amendment have decried, this is not a matter of land or casinos; this is about identity and ensuring the historical integrity of American Indian tribes survives. It is about recognition and resurrecting what was once excised from the historical record. It is an act that would allow us to say “We Exist!”

Daydreaming And Driving

Most days and nights I fall asleep and wake up having felt I had just settled into slumber. I rarely remember dreams and the ones I do quickly blur and are taken over by the waking activity of my mind. I can’t recall the last vivid dream which flooded my nocturnal hours.

The dreams I can recollect are those that happen during the times of attention and activity. All my senses are occupied during these times of conscious aspiration and I hold those memories close in order to fill the void which the night brings. These waking wisps of imagination are the catalyst which fuels my motivation to keep writing and to keep pushing forward.

However, these too can escape my grasp on occasion which is why I have employed a dream catcher to hold those thoughts for retrieval at a later time, a time when my creative spirit may be lacking. My belief being that what is used to filter out the bad dreams from entering at night can hold onto the good dreams which blossom in the light of day. The only question was where do I put it? After applying an amount of thought and consideration normally reserved for a blank piece of paper, I found the place which would provide the most benefit. Hopefully the picture above was obvious enough.

As many of my dreams are birthed during the straight monotonous roads where muscle memory is more important than dedicated thought, I decided to hang this powerful receptacle in the back window of my car. With our increased travel lately, my mind has been working overtime during these trips to make up for what is absent during unconsciousness. This is the perfect position.

Will it work? I don’t know but being that my ability to create is so integral to my sense of self, I am willing to try. I have already come close to losing my ability to the void and I know how frustrating it is to have the wealth of life surround you but finding yourself unable to express those experiences on the page. I can’t lose that flame again.

I don’t just want to live life and experience as much as I can, I need to illuminate the world from my eyes, from my perspective. If nothing else, I want to constantly remind myself to dream and to keep pushing myself to create. I need to catch those moments and lock them tight within my words because without the fictional escape of sleep, written reality is all I have so I am going to make it as vibrant and beautiful as possible.