Chief Joseph

Chief Joseph was an American Indian, specifically Nez Perce, who lived in what is now Oregon. He is well known in Western (Western as in the American West - not European) history. Born in 1840, he fought to maintain his life and culture amidst increasing pursecution and encroachment by "Americans". When that failed he led a group of his fellow Nez Perce on a failed attempt to escape to Canada.

When I think of Tibet, I think of the Indians.

I was traveling in a LandRover from Shigatze in Tibet when I first had this thought - that Tibet, and, really, China's West is deeply parallel to America's West. As I let that thought expand, I am filled with a great sense of sadness and shame. Let me be clear - I have no disagreement with the Dalai Lama in his statement that China is conducting "cultural genocide" in Tibet -but China has never acted with the brutality or dishonesty that America did as it expanded out into "The West".

Were I Chinese, I would want to explore the history of the American West - and from both sides. On one end you had the American sense of Manifest Destiny, opportunity, ambition, and individual liberty, ideas that are so much the core of what America was, is, and will be. On the other hand you had the Indians, incorrectly named by a white Italian explorer. Indians were really a host of different tribes with different languages, cultures, histories, and beliefs. The North American continent has always been a place of diversity. From the arrival of the Pilgrims, in the early 1600's, the fate of the Indians was in peril.

The American government, army and citizens slowly expanded out into the West. As they encroached on Indian territory some sought peaceful coexistence and this was often possible. All too often, however, the American pioneers were too violent, one-sided and stubborn to allow for any sort of rational peace between the two sides. Most never sought to understand Indian tribes - they thought them inferior. With the presence of great ignorance will soon come great tragedy. And it did.

Expansion resulted in one sided treaties that largely benefited the American pioneers. With very few exception, these treaties were not even respected. Good faith negotiations on the part of the Indians was often met with lies and manipulation by the government or army. At the same time, widespread violence took place. Indians most certainly committed heinous acts - sometimes to innocent people - but rarely was it not in the context of defense. A people pushed to the brink of extinction will fight with ferocity. I believe most Americans today associate the word "massacre" with the slaughter of Indians.

So Chief Joseph? His real name translates to "Thunder Rolling Down the Mountain". His fame stemmed from his the tenacity and valour of his fight to defend his people and his dignified surrender that was only met with lies by the American army. Before he ever fought though, he sought peace numerous times, finally with American General Howard.

These are said to be his words at the moment when he surrendered - himself, his arms, and the any possibility of maintaining a real scrap of the life he and his fathers led:

"I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

My own heart aches when I read this. I simply cannot imagine a man who has been pushed from his home where his ancestors are buried, sought to maintain peace at any cost but his life, fought for the sanctity of his people, and lost - lost to a white people who lie, who do not believe in respect for the nature or the environment, who do not believe in justice. It breaks my heart.

It breaks my heart to know that the state, Colorado, that I love with my soul - was taken from another, not bought, traded or given - taken.

I know of no nation in history that has risen to greatness without crushing another culture.

America crushed the Indians.

China is crushing the Tibetans.

I hope China can learn from the mistakes and injustices of America. I hope no Chinese person ever looks at his country with the painful sadness of knowing that greatness was bought through the destruction of another culture.