Hi, Pamela! I believe I do understand what you are saying and what you want me to have an open mind about. I don't begrudge anyone's black heritage mingled with red blood at all. I accept their Native spirits as much as I accept my own! But Turtlespath's article wasn't talking about that! It was talking about how the red man enslaved the Africian just like the whites did back then, and it inferred a negative aspect to the Indian's practice and tried to put the Indian in the same light as the Whites. I accept black Indians as much as you or anyone - I don't accept articles that seek to demean and ridicule Indians in the same light as the Whites; and Turtlespath's article did this. I think you need to reread the article and have an open mind about what it's actually saying between the lines about the Red Race. I am also fed up to the brim with how the Africans have been enslaved the past 40 or so years when they are actually ones who have been treated rather well in comparison to others who have been so enslaved! Remember the old saying, "Catch a Nigger by the Toe, and if he hollers, make him pay $15 everday!"? Well, that's what they've been doing for the last 40 years! They've been hollering and yelling and rioting and stealing and piledging and collecting handouts from the government ever since I've been born. How many Indian people do you know who have done the same? So don't besmirch me by telling me to have an open mind when you don't seem to be able to look at the facts behind what has actually been happening yourself. As a postscript to the above, literally every Indian Tribe and Nation I know took captives into their camps as 'slaves' to do their bidding; but the notion of 'slave' wasn't the same as it is tauted by the blacks today! As I have stated earlier, Indian wars yielded captives who would be taken back to the villages of the victors where they would eventually become adopted by them and become full members of the group. Many Indian raids would take place from time to time to capture 'new' women for their eventual wives, and this helped to assure a good, strong, gene pool that prevented mongoloids and deformities from intermarriages. A very good example of one such recorded occurrence is that made by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805 when they were able to garner the guidance of an Indian woman from one of the Tribes they found along the Missouri River. She had been captured by the Indians she was living with and had become the wife of one of the members. She was allowed to lead Lewis and Clark up the Missouri to where her original Tribe was located. This is well documented by Merriweather Lewis I believe, and I suggest you research the details if you want to learn more. By the way, I still like the idea of raiding a village and carrying off a woman for my lodge! It appeals to my native instincts, you know? You probably don't though! LOL I like the peacepipe picture you have below! Have a good day! Wa-Do, Black Crow, Messenger ----- Original Message ----- From: Pamela Ballejos <cherokeepam@earthlink.net> To: gwy <gwy@tellico.net> Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2001 12:47 PM Subject: Re: [MIXED-BLOODS-L] Fw: Black slavery is alive, by Walter E. Williams > Mixed bloods is just that weather it be black and red , brown and red , > white and red , she only presented what she had, she didn't withold or > edit, in other words she didn't censor it. There are many black indians > this is a fact. like it or not , just as we dont like the treating of us > in the past it still happened and you cant make it disappear just cause > you don't like it. You have to learn to put it in it's proper place , > not in your heart where it can do damage. please have an open mind to > understand what i'm saying. Have a great day. kwamala [pam] > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----