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Articles by John Kane
Eye Magazine | Review | Books received
Books received Compiled by Faye Dowling 365 AIGA Year in Design 22 Edited by Andrea Codrington AIGA, This year’s chronicle of North American graphics is designed by Chicago-based Studio Blue. To be reviewed in a future issue. A Type Primer By John Kane Laurence King Publishing, £17.95 The principles and practice of typography.
Let's Talk Native with John Kane
1 Uncivil 1+ y ago1+ y ago Monthly America is divided, and it always has been. We're going back to the moment when that split turned into war. This is Uncivil: Gimlet Media's new history podcast, hosted by journalists Jack Hitt and Chenjerai Kumanyika. We ransack the official version of the Civil War, and take on the history you grew up with. We bring you untold stories about covert operations, corruption, resistance, mutiny, counterfeiting, antebellum drones, and so much more.
Let's Talk Native with John Kane
ABOUT THIS PODCAST This show has one function and that is to provide a forum for Native issues. New episodes are uploaded every week. Like what you hear? Support us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/letstalknative Update frequency: every 18 days Average audio length: 58 minutes LATEST EPISODE A white supremacist came to Buffalo to kill Black people. But not all racists carry guns. SEARCH PAST EPISODES Search past episodes of Let's Talk Native with John Kane.
Let's Talk Native with John Kane
#548 - Cambridge Doubles Down (Feat. Heather Bruegl) The new school board in Cambridge, NY has decided to double down on the use of their offensive Native mascot. On the very day the latest right-wing board member was sworn in, this new board with their pro-mascot majority made it their priority to rescind a previous resolution that ended the use of the mascot and made it clear that they will continue to use their offensive mascot moving forward.
Times Up! Money for Nothing Ends for NYS from the Senecas
As the sun set on 2016, the world trembled in anticipation of what the Trump era of U.S. national politics would bring. Meanwhile at the New York State level, Governor Andrew Cuomo seems to be riding a surge in popularity in spite of on-going corruption allegations and a lack of any ethics reform, perhaps due in large part to the backlashes to Trump’s run up to his inauguration and his first two months in office.
WBAI "Talk back - Let´s talk with John Kane", @letstalknative
A two hour call-in show with Mohawk political and social commentator John Kane. "Let's Talk…" will take on city, state, national and international issues all with a NYC flare from callers and a Native perspective from the host.Topics will be picked from the headlines and will be picked apart live, on-air. The show will feature guests, our familiar Michael G. Haskins and maybe a few surprises along the way. Read more A two hour call-in show with Mohawk political and social commentator John Kane.
We won't be choked – we're right and you know it
Now that the NYPD has literally been caught on video choking a man to death for defying the most oppressive taxation scheme in the United States and then exonerated itself of any wrong doing, it’s time to make a few things clear. The Tax Foundation in a national study has determined that New York State is the highest net importer of smuggled cigarettes, totaling 56.9 percent of the total cigarette market in the state.
WHITIE Compliant? You are Kidding, Right?
On June 2, 2014, every “member” of the Seneca Nation of Indians (SNI) received a letter from his/her President announcing the launch of the Seneca Nation’s new Enhanced Tribal Identification Card (ETC) program.
The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave
“Like the miner’s canary, the Indian marks the shift from fresh air to poison gas in our political atmosphere; and our treatment of Indians, even more than our treatment of other minorities, reflects the rise and fall in our democratic faith.” – Felix S. Cohen, 1953 There is little question that what the white man found when he washed up on our shores was a free and fearless people.
50 Senators to the Rescue
The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) wrapped up its 13th session this week. Thousands of representatives of UN member states, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Indigenous Peoples Organizations (IPOs) as well as approved participants from academia and the media. The latter was how I got in. For two weeks hundreds of speakers offered statements and interventions, many of them coming from the Native people of Turtle Island.
We love what you've done with the place!
After spending the week in New York City attending the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and listening to dozens of speakers offering their interventions to the nearly 2,000 delegates and representatives, I have heard a few burning questions asked repeatedly. The first is: “What do want from the UN or the international community?” Well, that’s a loaded question because there is what we want and what we expect. Plain and simple, many want action.
Education and Conscience Versus Institutionalized Racism
Well, now that everyone can feel better about their battle and stance on unacceptable racism in the wake of giving the old “what’s for” to Donald Sterling, the racist owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, we can all go back to settling in with the institutional racism that keeps Daniel Snyder, the equally racist owner of the NFL’s Washington R-word, warm and safe at night.
Lucky 13 for the UNPFII
On May 12, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) will begin its 13th session at the United Nations in New York City. The session will run for two weeks and cover a broad range of topics. The event is not open to the public. Only confirmed and registered NGO and IPO representatives are allowed to participate. However, as a UN accredited member of the media, I will be there, too. Yeah, that’s right.
No Honor Among Chiefs or Thieves
I have to begin my column this week by stating up front that I am Haudenosaunee. I support traditional governance based on the Kaianerehkowa and a culture grounded with the Ohenton Karihwatehkwen (Words Before All Else) and the Tiohateh (the Two Row Wampum).
It's not Just the Pipe… It's What's in It
As this column hits the press, thousands are gathering in Washington, DC to take a stand against the Keystone XL Pipeline. During a week that a decision was expected out of the Obama Administration on this issue, the Reject and Protect call to action will set up camp near the White House and tell the President to reject the pipeline.
Who You Calling Formerly Colonized?
During the past week I have had more conversations about “decolonization” than I have had in my whole life. As I mentioned in one of my Facebook conversations, I am not entirely comfortable with the expression. Clearly as Native people continue to carve out our existence with the dominant societies, cultures and politics around us, we find ourselves getting caught up in the next word, policy or social theory of the day. Sovereignty became almost synonymous with Native rights.
The Unwritten Rules of the Cuomo Cabal
Three years ago a couple of “Let’s Talk Native…” regulars and I made the trip to Albany to try to get some straight answers to a couple of simple questions. Matt Hill, Paul Delaronde and I met with New York State Senator George Maziarz, Republican from the 62nd Senate District of New York, to see if a State Senator could get an answer to a question that the State’s tax department refused to give us.
Stirring the Ashes
One of the biggest challenges for any people is broad participation in the issues that affect everyone. And when you stop and think about it, there is very little from the smallest ripples in a family to major calamities in a community that occurs without impacting others. The notion of “mind your own business” or “let someone else handle it” has become commonplace in many cultures.
Embrace Our Sovereignty or Continue the Genocide?
“The most consistent theme in the descriptions penned about the New World was amazement at the Indians’ personal liberty, in particular their freedom from rulers and from social classes based on ownership of property.
Republican-Democrats, Liberal-Conservatives…What's the Difference?
Although I cannot embrace the rape of the planet and obscene support for the rich lords of capitalism that seems bound to Republican DNA, there is no question that some of the worst actions and most aggressive policies our people have seen toward our trade and commerce has come from a Democrat as Governor of New York State and a Democrat as President of the United States. Racism and the arrogant ignorance behind it seem to know no bounds.
"Sovereignty is not our Defense. It's what we Defend!"
On my “Let’s Talk Native…” radio show on Sunday, March 9, I announced my new campaign. No, I am not running for office. My campaign is about truth telling and clearing away false assumptions about what the United States and Canada believe they have reduced us to — namely, their subjects.
Economy? We Don't Need No Stinking Economy!
I haven’t weighed in much on Canada’s Bill C-10 issues but in the overall scheme of things it is no different than any of the others on the long list of anti-Native laws, regulations and policies that Canada and the U.S. have attempted to impose on our people and lands for centuries and, of course, this includes their provinces and states, as well. It all boils down to an attempt to control, marginalize and criminalize our people.
Remove the Dust for our Survival
I really like the expression, “Remove the Dust.” Its most basic meaning evokes the image of sweeping away the dust accumulated over years of neglect from our wampum belts or any other reminders of our shelved knowledge. We use it as an expression that is generally associated with maintaining our culture. But at some point the line between the survival of our culture, distinction and autonomy and just plain survival will be brushed away like a line drawn in the very dust we seem covered in now.
It's our Energy, not yours
Well, I’ll tell you how… First, it happens through blatant theft. That’s theft pulled off through fraud and extortion…with a little religion thrown in. Then we get the same theft continuing with a penny on the dollar’s worth thrown at an impoverished people and/or their corrupt leaders to, somehow, legitimize the theft.
A Tale of Two Cases
Last week two stories about the ongoing battle by New York State and the U.S. federal government against the Native tobacco trade hit the papers. In the state case http://trti.me/icyer, the government prosecutor joined with defense attorneys in a motion to dismiss felony charges against two men attempting to transport tobacco products from Mohawk territory to Seneca territory in March 2012. District Attorney Mary E. Rain told the St. Lawrence County Court Judge Jerome J.
Latent Racism and Blatant Racism
I am never quite sure if there is a real difference. “Latent” is defined as not visible or dormant. Well, to those of us who feel the effects of this sentiment, almost nothing is missed or ‘not visible.’ Even the dormant talk in their sleep. There is probably a third category that is simply ignorance. Of course, all racism is borne out of ignorance and when ignorance continues to feed racism, it is deplorable and condemnable. But the ignorance I am talking about is almost innocent.
Start Spreading the News
Over the past 11 years that WBAI-FM 99.5 in New York City has been airing “First Voices Indigenous Radio” (FVIR), the show’s host and executive producer Tiokasin Ghosthorse has slowly turned his weekly live one-hour radio show into an international broadcast with re-airings of this program on 45 stations in 15 states and one Canadian province.
30 Years and $33 Million
It’s not a prison sentence. It just feels like one. And I’m sure it feels the same to many others. It’s the cost for gaining “recognition” by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. And $33 million is what it cost the Shinnecock people. However, as exorbitant – and unbelievable – as this sounds they are actually the lucky ones. Unlike most that file a petition for federal acknowledgement, these guys actually got something out of it. In my opinion, it wasn’t much but at least it was something.
Back to Our Path is not a Trip Backward
Many of us are familiar with our expression Ohnkwe Ohnwe. It is what we use to describe ourselves as the original people of Turtle Island. The approximate translation is “real human being, forever.” There was never any question that we had a future. We were never tied to a spot on a timeline. We were never frozen in history. We were neither primitive nor at the end of our evolutionary scale. We continued to develop.
Here We Go Again
I’m sorry, but I can’t resist the temptation. As we rip open a new calendar I can’t help but reflect on the past year and the one that is now before us. I won’t attempt to list all those who completed their time with us in this last trip around our eldest Brother, the Sun. We have had people close and intimate to us as well as people we admired from afar who now serve us only in our memories and in whatever form we may have them recorded. We had people rise up from obscurity and gain the spotlight.
America's Greatest Public Execution
The story of the executions in Mankato, Minnesota that would be the final chapter of the Dakota War of 1862 seems to always miss the mark, at least for me. Thirty-eight Dakota men hanged the day after Christmas on an execution order signed by Abraham Lincoln has been characterized many ways even as this story, hidden from American history, began to gain attention leading up to the 150th anniversary last year. But, to be clear, most of this awareness is shared only among a very small number of us.
Pope Francis: A Gimmick or a Game Changer?
We are hearing much about this new Pope and his radical support for the poor, but the truth is there will remain a gaping hole in his posture until the papal bulls responsible for the Doctrine of Christian Discovery are addressed. Only a full repudiation of the papal bulls of Pope Nicholas V (1452) and Pope Alexander VI (1493) will keep the bold statements of Pope Francis from ringing hollow for Indigenous people.
There is No Victory for Us in U.S. or Canadian Courts
The embarrassing failure of the U.S. prosecutor in the Three Feathers Casino trial is not a win. It’s not even a draw! Surviving the persecution and prosecution of their law enforcement agents, lawyers, judges and juries is a good thing, but it is not justice. It is not justice when someone jams a stick in each of your eyes and his system forces him to pull one out. Kaneratiio and Rarahkwisere did not win in U.S. Federal Court last week with their acquittal in the Three Feathers Casino trial.
Stop Trying to "Solve" the Great Mystery!
When you pull up my blog online , this is my intro: “People are free to be consumed with contemplating their existence, their origins, the origins of the universe, supreme beings, controllers of destiny or anything else. But solving “The Great Mystery” is neither a requirement of being Onhkwenhonh:we nor does it provide a path to righteousness. I maintain that spirituality does not require faith or the leaps that faith requires, but rather, awareness.
It’s Not What You Say, It’s What You Do
Almost a year ago federal agents invaded the Kaniekeha community of Akwesasne, breaking into the Three Feathers Casino which had been closed for more than three months and charging members of the Men’s Council from the Kaianerehkowa Kanonhsesne (Longhouse). Rarahkwisere and Kaneratiio, duly appointed members of that Council, were arrested and taken into custody.
I Am Ready This Year!
Okay, I admit it. Last year when our special month of November rolled around, National Native American Heritage Month, I purposely kept quiet about it until December. I sat silently all month long and sure enough – nothing. So on December 2 I wrote, “November was what? Our month? Really? Who knew?” for my blog at http://bit.ly/1czz1ob. I won’t use this column to restate my thoughts from last year but by all means, check it out. But I am not sitting back this year.
We Are Not Alone
A few things are clear from the events of the past week. The first is that we are not alone. The Mi’kmaq who are standing against fracking for natural gas in Elsipogtog do so not just with the courage of their own convictions but also with support from places diverse in geography, culture and ethnicity. Social media have made it much easier to reach across time and space.
Change the Name or End the Genocide?
To suggest there are many and far more pressing issues facing Native people than being exploited and insulted by sports teams is an obvious understatement. Should the NFL franchise from the capital of one of the world’s superpowers change its name? Of course it should. As should all those high school, college and pro sports teams that appropriate their image of us as though we are a dead part of their history.
"Tewatahtawi” - "We carry ourselves"
In 1776, when a group of 13 British colonies broke off from their empire, there was more than just a battle that needed to be fought. First, there needed to be a rationale or philosophy that the rest of the world (Europe, in particular) could embrace for such a revolt. The rationale was laid out in the Declaration of Independence, which formed the United States of America.
The Big Lie: The Doctrine of Christian Discovery
Steven Newcomb is the author of “Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery.” He is the foremost authority on the subject. Steven will be a featured speaker of the University at Buffalo’s Indigenous Survival Day Speaker Series on Monday, October 14, 6 to 8 p.m. at 120 Clemens Hall. He will be a guest on “Let’s Talk Native…with John Kane” on Sunday, October 13, 9 to 11 p.m. EDT on WWKB ESPN Sports Radio 1520AM.
No, Really! It’s OK to Watch Al Jazeera America
I am amazed at the displaced loyalty to all things “American” that far too many Native people have. Whether it is getting all ”patriotic” every time 9-11 is mentioned or supporting American political candidates or voting in their elections or even enlisting in their armed forces. Have we forgotten that we are survivors of the most monstrous and prolonged act of genocide the world has ever known?
Rule of Law or Rule of Lawyers?
We often hear from the righteous voices of the U.S. and Canada when looking at countries and peoples they view as inferior, that the “ rule of law ” must prevail in these “developing” nations. “Developing”…? Excuse me! Forget the fact the U.S. and Canada have no culture or even a language of their own and barely a history, for that matter, compared to other peoples of the world. But what does “rule of law” even mean?
“Servants of the People”
Traditionally, this title was an honor bestowed on those distinguished both by willingness to serve and effectiveness in doing so. This was our concept — unique throughout the world but one with such a strong sense of rightness that many would claim it for their own. Of course, claims and reality are not necessarily the same. The crazy part of this story is that we don’t use this concept or even the expression anymore.
Time for the U.S. to Admit What It’s Doing-“Indian Fighting” with Terrorism Laws
The Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (CCTA) and its enhanced amendments through the reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act* are supposed to be tools to fight organized crime, violence associated with the illicit tobacco trade and the funding of terrorism through tobacco diversion.
Good “Indians”
Let’s be honest. Most people have no idea who Philip Sheridan is – or care. The infamous quote, “The only good Indian is a dead Indian” is attributed to him. Whether Sheridan really said it or not is like him – of little consequence. However, the quote is as entrenched in American racism as any opinion that was ever expressed.
The Sting and the Overreach: From Kansas City to Tonawanda, Ohsweken, Yakama and More
Last week, a 43-count federal indictment was filed in the Western District of Missouri. It named 18 defendants and while only a handful of were Native, this indictment and the “sting” that brought it is ALL about us. The elaborate Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) sting set up in Kansas City, Missouri was all about selling cigarettes to Native retailers on Native lands within the imaginary borders and, even more imagined, control of New York State.
Sekon!
Let me first say that I am honored to be a part of the Two Row Times inaugural edition. While I hope this publication maintains a high level of responsibility in its reporting, I hope it doesn’t play this so safe that it loses its purpose. As I make a commitment to contribute to the Two Row Times, it makes sense for my initial offering to be an introduction. I am a Kanienkehaka from Kahnawake.
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