Imagine this scenario and think about what the verdict would be after the Rittenhouse and other verdicts. Imagine a Black man from Tennessee went to Charlottesville, North Carolina with his AR-15 assault rifle which had been bought by his friend. He goes to a white racist parade. The members are carrying clubs and probably guns under their robes. He sees some of the people in the parade hit some of the bystanders. When the leaders of the parade get within yards of him he jumps out into the street. Some of the paraders start to raise their clubs while others start to charge him. Firing from the hip he shoots three. One is hit in the back.

            This is almost an identical situation except the shooter is Black. Would he be found guilty or innocent?

            America seems to be experiencing a breakdown in societal responsibility. Americans are openly breaking laws just because they think or know they can. Americans have lost respect for law enforcement which is the main reason most forces are understaffed.

            Most states have laws against vehicle windows being too dark for police to see inside when approaching a stopped vehicle. I often sit at a stoplight for a couple of seconds because people are going through intersections on red. On long interstate drives I may drive three to five miles over the limit while being passed by those driving more than ten over.

            Some governors are openly defiant of the Federal Government unless they need money after some disaster. A vote is sacred in a democracy but several governors have signed laws allowing them to change the results of an election in their state.

            Federal and state Covid mandates for masks and shots are defied by people who are politically motivated or just stupid from looking at internet conspiracies. Instead of helping to save lives and keep them and others working, they don’t care about the common good.

            Flag waving and religious organizations are supposed to pull people together instead they are causing the rift to widen. We have an ex-president who often wrapped himself in the flag and conned the religious right into supporting him only to intentionally widen the rift to benefit him.

            For America to survive we must close the rift.

            We like to go to the Rockies for vacations. We often stop at the tribal museums and talk to the locals while viewing the exhibits. I have had many conversations with tribal members from Northern Sioux to Apaches in Arizona. We talked about culture, history, and how they see themselves being treated today.

            A Navaho man who retired after 20 years was the most eloquent and open. We stopped at his wife’s shop that was a little more than a lean-to with shelving and a counter displaying silversmithing craftwork. He and I talked about many subjects. One was his life as a rancher on a small ranch we could see from the back of the shop. It was in a canyon just off the little Colorado about 300 feet down from the shop. He is a retired 20-year Army Veteran.

            This is the essence of his and his tribe’s viewpoints. One, they like the term Indian and not “First Nation” or “Indigenous peoples,” which they oddly consider names invented by the white man to further eliminate their culture. (The only Indian I talked to who liked those two names was a young Sioux.) On the subject of sports teams using Indian names, he said villages played other villages and tribes played other tribes. He said using their Indian names and logos kept their culture alive outside the tribes and shows respect. Eliminating their name from teams and logos is another way of forgetting them.

            He thought the movie “Ghost Whispers” helped to make the Navaho more visible by fighting with instead of against the white man.

            If Indians have no problem with the names and logos, why do white people? Do we want to bury them farther?