Bibooni-giizis (Winter Moon) - December 24, 2024
Why "Pretendian Hunting" is a modern manifestation of the wiindigoo plague, representing a type of lateral violence that is divisive and deeply damages Indigenous culture.
Boozhoo, aaniin! Biindigen miinawaa nindaadizooke wigamigong; enji-zaagi'iding miinawaa gikendaasong. Ninga-aawechige noongom giizhigad! "Hello my relatives, I greet you in a good way. Welcome back in my Storytelling Lodge, a place of love and knowing. Let's share a teaching story today!"
Ode'imin and his teacher Wenabozho were fishing at the lake. A gentle breeze filled the air, carrying joyful sounds of singing and laughter from the Anishinaabe camp across the water. However, as often happens in life, the peace and tranquility were short-lived. A Wiindigookwe (Cannibal from the cold North) ¹ left her home in the marshes and climbed a hill overlooking the lake where Odeimin and Wenabozho sat. From atop the hill, she shook her rattle and began to create a wind. Tayaa, this Wiindigoo Wind-maker woman blew forcefully! Her cold breath spread a toxic disease across the lake and the surrounding land, darkening the minds of the Turtle Island Anishinaabeg. Their hearts turned to ice, and they started to fight one another!
Wenabozho said to Ode'imin, "I will take my bow and arrows and climb that hill. If the wind blows so hard, the Anishinaabeg will harm one another. I will put an end to the bleak wind that creates division and drives the Anishinaabeg to madness!" "Gaawiin, nimishoo, daga, gego doodangen!" ("No, Uncle, don't do that!") Ode'imin begged, "please, do not shoot at the wind! If you do, you'll pierce the sky, and it will begin to hail! Let me take care of it. Let me use what you taught me. The only way to stop the wind is through the Mide way!" ²
And so, it was achieved. Ode'imin, the Heart Berry, took his rattle from his medicine pouch and began to shake it. He sang a sacred song with all his heart. After four days and nights of singing and shaking the rattle, Ode'imin and his teacher Wenabozho noticed that the wind from the hilltop started to calm.
Things went much better. The bleak wind from the hilltop had vanished, as did the Wiindigookwe, who retreated to her marshland abode. The Turtle Island Anishinaabeg ended their bitter conflicts. Ode'imin and his uncle resumed fishing. The weather was calm once more, with only a slight breeze…
Ow minik—That is all.
As is commonly seen with aawechiganan (parables), the "bleak wind of polarization" subdued by our cultural hero Ode'imin (meaning Strawberry, or literally: "Heart Berry") ³ highlights a contemporary phenomenon, a crucial issue that we cannot ignore.
The Anishinaabeg, along with all Indigenous people throughout Turtle Island, are facing a perilous trend. This trend can be likened to a monster, a contemporary wiindigoo that has nested in our bones and is gradually consuming us from the inside. Is this an exaggeration? Certainly not. This monster, this cannibalistic specter lurking on social media and causing turmoil in our hearts and minds, is a grave threat that should not be taken lightly.
I refer to it as the bleak wind of polarization.
Most people call it lateral violence.
Some have described lateral violence as trying to 'feel powerful in a powerless situation.' Such acts establish new power hierarchies within colonized groups that mimic those of the colonizers. Targeting others to promote a socio-political agenda is a clear example of lateral violence and contradicts the traditional teachings, principles, and values that our ancestors passed on to us. This wiindigoo behavior, a perfect formula for community cannibalism, stems from a mindset oppressed and controlled by centuries of colonialism. It is characterized by severe form of what I am tempted to call SBD: spiritual borderline disorder.
Wiindigookwe: a female wiindigoo; referring to the so-called 'Pretendian Hunters' who dedicate their lives to categorizing individuals—via 'pretendian lists'—as either meeting or not meeting their narrow criteria of being 'Native.'
Isabel Wilkerson argues in her book 'Caste: The Origins of our Discontents' that the racial tensions in the United States are more accurately understood through the concept of caste rather than race—a 400-year-old system that places people of European descent at the top and African American individuals at the bottom. I agree with her. This Indigenous lateral violence we encounter today? The hysterical "Pretendian" trend, which is the latest offshoot of the call-out culture tree?
It is merely another hierarchical structure that people seem driven to create over and over again.
Indeed, the era we live in is neither the first nor the last when Indigenous people encounter colonial disruption and the erosion of their cultures—physically, mentally, and spiritually—from external and internal sources. For many centuries, Indigenous societies have faced significant challenges in preserving their cultural heritage. Since Columbus's arrival, Indigenous cultures have been at serious risk. However, this should never deter us from upholding our traditions and following our ancestral teachings. The principles of humility and mutual respect should always remain central, both in addressing our own and in engaging with those we do not consider our own. Embracing these teachings is vital for supporting and preserving the web of social relationships, which is crucial for our survival as a people.
The current trend involves publicly and confrontationally calling out others on social media, often in a demanding and aggressive manner that is highly damaging. While cruelty is not new, the technologically enhanced shaming online is. Joining in with the crowd—howling with the wolves in the forest— has become the new standard. This could be the most significant modern threat we face—besides ongoing land theft, environmental poisoning, and the social deprivation and intergenerational traumas that have left deep marks of collective heartbreak and various forms of abuse and disorders in our communities. It is a negative, toxic behavior inherited from colonizers, leading only to further division and confusion. It fuels the climate of suspicion and hostility that is already prevalent on social media, seriously undermining trust, self-worth, internal communication, and all the positive values we so desperately strive to uphold and protect.
People who adopt this confrontational method, openly criticizing and shaming ("exposing") those who don't have some sort of tribal affiliation written on their foreheads or carry cards to prove it—or, even more so, those with lighter skin tones—believe they are justifiably defending their cultural identity as truth advocates. However, they fail to realize that their actions actually generate additional conflict, hatred, and self-shame, thereby significantly weakening the culture and values they are fervently attempting to protect.
This call-out culture is the contemporary wiindigoo.
It is believed that any type of creature—not just humans—can become a wiindigoo, and there have been numerous reports of a psychosis that invades the minds of creatures, causing sudden and intense sanity. This is known as wiindigoo psychosis.
No. Your culture never taught you to create division. It instructs you to carry yourself with dignity, no matter where you go. It emphasizes the importance of self-respect and respect for others, regardless of their skin or eye color. Instead of confronting those you SUSPECT of harming (or stealing from) your culture through harassment, public ridicule, or defamation reminiscent of 17th-century colonial witch-hunts, these matters should be addressed in the proper context. This involves engaging others (especially Elders!) with the traditional protocol of politeness, using respectful language, speaking to them respectfully, ASKING them privately rather than publicly DEMANDING an explanation, and involving them in a in a circular conversation to achieve the respectful communication our ancestors would have endorsed.
Do you strive to be a genuine Anishinaabe? Do you wish to be a warrior safeguarding Anishinaabe culture and principles? Do you seek to halt the cultural theft and end cultural appropriation? Do you want your community to heal from the traumas and self-loathing imposed by colonizers? Then stop embracing their ways of thinking and speaking.
Step out of their polarizing mindset. Move beyond their divisive way of thinking.
Start being a true human being. Be like Ode'imin— a person with a generous heart.
Start being a true human being. Be like Ode'imin— a person with a generous heart. Live, act, and breathe in alignment with the most essential Anishinaabe teachings: humility and respect. Humility and respect are the core values of mino-bimaadiziwin. These teachings are the only real values we have left. Adopting a self-respectful attitude might indeed repel those who do not share this mindset. However, it will also attract those who choose the same path and, hopefully, those who initially criticized or mocked you. Healing is impossible without humility and treating others with respect. You must embody respect in your thoughts, feelings, and actions, within your home, your community, in public spaces, geget, and even on social media. Respect is mashkiki, a form of medicine. Neglect respect, and you neglect self-respect. Without this mashkiki, our culture risks fading away, becoming just a minor note in the history books of the colonizers.
Mii'iw. Miigwech gii bizindawiyeg.
That's all, thank you for listening.
NOTES:
¹ Wiindigookwe: a female wiindigoo; referring to the so-called "Pretendian Hunters" who dedicate their lives to categorizing individuals—via "pretendian lists"—as either meeting or not meeting their narrow criteria of being "Native."
What is a wiindigoo? Numerous traditional tales of the Anishinaabe and Ininew (Cree) peoples revolve around this cannibalistic winter monster from the North. While it is possible to defeat a wiindigoo, it is believed they will remain until the world's end. But where do they originate? The elders who are still with us understand there is a direct link between the wiindigoo and the ice ages. Cannibalism is a legacy from beings that roamed the earth during the last ice age. Granting the wiindigoowag the power to cover the earth in ice indefinitely unleashed their inherent desire to consume their own kind throughout every era on earth; this desire will continue until the earth is consumed by fire and destroyed. It is also believed that any type of creature—not just humans—can become a wiindigoo, and there have been numerous reports of a psychosis that invades the minds of creatures, causing sudden and intense sanity. This is known as wiindigoo psychosis. ^
² The Mide way: This pertains to the Anishinaabe Grand Medicine Society, a spiritual and cultural assembly of healers and thinkers within a Lodge called Midewiwin. Midewiwin, meaning ‘‘Society of Those Who Are in A Sacred, or Unseen, State,’’ is a notable lodge or association of both male and female healers, philosophers, and artists. These individuals are esteemed as guardians and protectors of the traditional Anishinaabe way of life and ceremonies, which have been preserved for thousands of years. The Midewiwin aims to transmit the Great Binding Law of the Great Mystery, with a special emphasis on maintaining the principle of mino-bimaadiziwin, a collection of Seven Grandfather Teachings on human conduct and a spiritual approach to living. ^
³ Long ago, during a devastating plague that affected the Anishinaabeg, Ode'imin, a 15-year-old Ojibwe boy, was among those who perished. He entered waakwi, the Faraway Land of Souls. At the end of this celestial journey, the boy encountered manidoog (spirits) who appeared as ookomisag (grandmothers). Ode'imin begged these ookomisag to rescue the Anishinaabeg from the deadly epidemic. The ookomisag were so moved by the young man's selflessness that they restored his life and sent him back to earth with a mission of renewal and hope. Under the expert guidance of his supernatural mentor Wenabozho, also known as the Great Hare, who instructed him to learn about plants by observing animals, Ode’imin introduced the Midewiwin to his People, bringing with it the knowledge of healing. Ode’imin taught the Anishinaabeg about mino-bimaadiziwin, the Good Code for Long Life and Upright Living. This Led to the physical and moral recovery of the Anishinaabe people, who had been in dire straits at that time.
Ode'imin, the young boy who imparted a unique significance to the strawberry, is still remembered today as we gaze at the moon... ^
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