Turtle Island...



This term was coined by a writer in the 80's and was quickly adopted by Native Peoples for some reason. Perhaps the collective memory of our people had no universal name other than a European one and the catch phrase Turtle Island was adopted. I just don't know for sure. But I do know North America is not an Island nor is it shapped like a Turtle nor did the People call the land after a pond reptile. It just makes no sense. there is no connection between the two. To clairify what makes more sense Trout Mountain or Trout Lake?



But what this land of North America was called by the People was Tanakiwinaki (Tana Ki Win Aki)



The literal translation is “homeland of the people”, but as in most Algonquin words more is going on in the word. A fuller translation of tanakìwinaki would be “the people being of this place and having the knowledge of that place”. The component of knowledge of the people is important when we consider that Algonquin is a knowledge based culture rather than a material culture; in essence, to know something is much stronger than to possess it. The root word “tana” is an active word and when combined with “kamig”, as in “tanakamigad”, means happening now, being now, reality in practice and aki being the root word for people and land. In understanding these relationships as they are defined in Anishnabemowin we can begin to understand that citizenship or proprietary ownership are not conditions that constitute “homeland”, but rather a complex relationship of knowing the land is essential to “people being at home” in the land.

Turtle Island My Ass

i agree wholeheartadly .... this is a term like "the red road".... an Elder told me that the term was coined after Nicholas Black Elk commented on a painting in a catholic church .... it depicted a man standing at a cross roads .... one road was running east to west ...the other north to south .... you got it .... one was black .... the other was red.

The 60's and 70's were turbulent times for indian people .... urban indians returning to the rez attempting to reclaim thier culture .... with many reservation indians wondering why they wanted to come to a place of poverty.

Today, many urban indians and non indians are reading all these "new age" books ... or books written by european authors .... to much mix and match .... this is why many older Lakota want to see our language and traditions revitalized ..... it establishes the "roots" that have sustained our people since the coming of pte san wi .... toksa ake

You have much wisdom Horseman. We must never lose sight of the past it is what we have in common. My people say "The past is in fromt of us and the future lays hidden behind us" We know our past we do not know our future, we have yet to make it a reality. We create the future based on the past if we stop remembering the past who will we build a future?

Another saying is "I will be what I will to be" meaning I am who I say I am not who you think I am. Opposite of I will be what I will be or I am what I am.

I claim no rights or accept any gifts from strangers. Any right the is given to me can be taken away so I chose to accept any. the only RITE I have is my rite to live. My only code is never harm another and never lie. Simple and correct so now I really do know all my rites and every law. If I pretend to be smarter than I am and think I know all the laws in the counrty and all the rights I have that they once gave me then I am fooling myself nobody else. The governments of Canada and the US do whats right nothing more. And I do not want to burden them with my wants. So I accept nothing from them and the expect nothing in return. I live and let live. A little land to grow food a roof over my head is all I need anything extra is want not need. I make sure my family wants for nothing and have all they need.

My people think they want to work and want big houses they need all these things... Look at America today people have no work losing houses. Why? Because they never owned a house and they work for a living... If my house blows down tomorrow I build a new one no body comes and takes it. I work for no one I do as I please. Work is somthing sombody else thinks for you to do and pays for your time. Play is what I think I will do for myself. WHo is better off? Man who must slave away to keep what he wants? Or me who does what he loves and can never be evicted from my home ? who has the security? Who has everything he needs. Who is happy? Wo is still a slave? Who is Free?

I keep telling people everything you need is rite here in the reservation everything you want is outside the reservation. In the rez everything you need is free outsidr the rez everything must be paid foe with you labor and sweat with your live blood. Too expencive for me. I will not pay that price for stuff I don't need. If I need eggs I go to the chicken coop, Apples I get off my ass and go pick them. Or you can go get eggs made off the rez and pay someone else for bringing them same with apples. Thast just being lazy men are always poor. I don't support people off the rez. If I am too sick one day to go fishing I will ask for some fish and they never take my eggs or apples in return SO when I am well again I can take a basket of apples and eggs and give them a gift at their door. I had more than i needed.

SO My friend you see Poverty and poor is only want and greed. And I need none of that. Think about the rez money each person gets each month. say a small rez of 1000 people got 1000 a month. thats 1 million a month 1 year 12 million. the reson the rez is poor is because the greedy send it off the rez to get things they want. Seal the rez and it will be full of money like a great lake of cash. The money just goes round and round like a great school of fish that never leave and every month one million more fish are added. That is the old ways with a new future.Why by apples from off the rez if I got apples? My apples are better than the can of applesuace has to be. And I love growing apple and raising chickens And I will trade then for money or a good apple pie

SOme of the people I call apples they are red on the outside but white on the inside. They want to live like the whites but see themselves as red. THey want others to do their work for them. If I want a house I go build it with lots of help from others. Why would I be stupid enough to get a stranger in and do it for me and be a slave for 30 years to pay for it when I could have done it myself??? That is stupid. I may be uneducated but I'm not stupid I fill my pond with fish not trade them for stuff I don't need its my natural resource and I look after it. And after a bit the fish will spawn now fish on their own which I watch with great interest

Say 7% interest that means the fish double every 10 years in a few generations your going to need a bigger pond. MAybe expand the rez and with all the cash swimming around imagine 1000 people with 240 million we gonna have a rich rez and what did we have to do to get it? Stop wanting and not be greedy and lazy. Who will not want to live in a place like we had in the old days? Rich and abundant self sufficient. How fun would that be watching money make more money and not having to do anything? I love fishing hahaha.

Then when the time is right you trade paper for land.... give away some paper and you get land in return Stop being greedy and the land will return to its people! The land left the greedy and returns to the needy. Make your own future based on the past. No Greed and all you Need and all the land will return one day.

while i agree with some of the things you write.... there are quite a few here that are indian, that have never lived or even been to thier perspective reservation. I do not believe that these people are greedy ... nor would i consider them "apples". But then again ... I myself live in southwest Missouri where there are no reservations .... i was not born here ... nor was i raised here.... but it is a place i call home.

usually i am writing to the L/D/N people on this forum, urging them to learn thier language....thier culture...thier traditions.... this way, our people will never be forgotten .... our ways will never be forgotten.... i also attempt to "educate" the non indians that we are still alive... that we are human beings, nothing more nothing less .... not these sacred romantisized beings many books have made us out to be.

sometimes my points have been taken as racist and arrogant ... but in reality, they are niether .... i am just a Lakota attempting to find out what draws non indians to this forum.....and why non L/D/N people that carry indian blood seek out the L/D/N people .... to me it is important to learn your language and your people to help your Nation.... weather you are a full blood or a 1/2 breed such as myself.

a heyoka once said...whichever way you face .... or not.....

toksa ake

Here it comes down to communication and understanding. When I speak it is important for you to know what I mean. If I say greed you must undertsand what I think it means not intrepet it to mean what you think it means... Know what I mean? Greed to me means having more than what you need. And to want more than you need is greed. Today its called ambition or getting ahead. And my word apple just means someone who is native that wants to live like the people outside our rez. ITs not meant to be dorrogatory.

What I find sad is that we have chosen to lable things and exclude things and people rather than include. The united States is the greatest nation ever there was on this planet and Canada its greatest ally. And it is our allies too. DO you think for one minute that if my tribe came to Lacota lands and going to take it over that when we came over the hills we would not be met with the largest army on the face of the earth??? Standing between us and lakota lands??? And to make matters worse the whole Lakota nation and their brothers? We could not even direct the traffic And the same if sombody came to Canada and tried to take our rez.

I go to a casino and I got lots of money in a few minutes I got no money then I think I can win it all back so I bet the farm... yup I lose the farm. Now who's fault is it? I ask for it back my family got no where to live. They don't care. Who's fault is it? SO they take pity on me I got 10,000,000 acres so they say ok here we will reserve you 1000 acres and never can it be touched for all time. SO I keep my house and 1000 acres and instead of being greatful all I can think of is the 9,999,000 acres I lost that I was not using anyways. And the dirty bastards that robbed me. No I realize its not exactly the same but its the same idea. Look at all the civilization that no longer exit we are lucky sombody else never found us sooner. The sad thing is now my children and grand children think the land I once roamed is their loss somehow. and hate the casino owners. Why would the hate the casino if I won? Maybe I didn't understand the rules or didn't know how the game was played. Buy nobody forced me to play I went in thinking I was going to win not knowing the odds were always stacked in the houses favor. But in I went.

Say I was going to attack the Lakota at night sneak in a fix them good and I go in burn the place down. I'll fix them Lakotas settling on my land. Then next morening I wake up feeling good about the raid and look around an there is 100,000 lakotas looking back at me! Oh oh now what? Am I going to start running my mouth off? WHat about asking for peace standing there knee deep in bodies? Holy crap I had no idea there were so many of the Lakota and their allies... Maybe I should have checked it out first? Now the Lakota kick my ass and then to make sure it never happens again the come to my rez and burn it down. But the CHies says ok enough you have lost enough you can keep this land but the rest is Lakota and because you are now weakened if anyone tries to attack you the Lakota will answer your call you are now our brothers. DO my children need to feel like they were robbed by a stronger people? or Should they be glad they were spared and given any land at all. The people of the US and Canada are not our enemies they are our brothers. The governments are made by the people do they work I don't know but anyone got a better idea? I sure don't. And I know they got better things to do than worry about a few indians on the rez. I am not the governments child I am a man who looks after himself not one to stand with hat in hand looking for handouts. crying poor me. They may think I'm poor but I think they are slaves. who is right? Who is the free ones? Me I pity them...and the ones on the rez who are never happy because they can't get what they want when they have all they need. If I was lazy and I had one acre of land and sombody gave me 5000 acres whould it matter? No just more damn land to look after I would be no better off. But If I had 1000 people with the will to improve the land rather than letting is waste now we have somthing worth while. Now maybe I can grow more apples than what the whole 1000 can eat and trade some off the rez and bring in more cash for the tribe to help fill the pond with greenback fishes. There is lots of land on our rez and 99% does nothing do we need more to do nothing? Be different thing if we had 1,000.000 people on 10 acres of land. But we don't. And people want to leave the rez why? because it is run by elected chiefs who are just burocrats. One I know built a house cost 7,000,000.00 and thinks he is great man. He has shamed us. People live in shaks he builds a castle. Everyone would have come together to build him one for free and saved the 7,000,000.00 for the people. A chief is measured by how much he gives not how much he has to show off. The rotten apple.

thanks for the communication .... internet is a hard place to see and understand what people are tryin to convey .... toksa ake