By Laurie Millar, member of the Peace Choir
I wish to tell my story and “perspective” of what I believe is going on in the world. We all have Free Will and must decide what is right for ourselves. My story is unique to me, my history, my bloodlines, DNA, how I was raised and the experiences I have had with peace and conflict over the years. Lately, my husband and I have been drawn to historical documentaries on the suffering, resistance and resilience of Black Americans in their past history and then the learning about the prolonged destruction of Native American cultural ways of life, family-group-tribal connections and people, and the deliberate seizing of their lands since the time of white man’s discovery of the Americas. It is still going on today.
I grew up with my parents and 4 siblings during the 1950’s, 60’s and early 70’s in both the Midwest and Los Angeles, California. As a young adult I lived in Hawaii, Wyoming (for 2 weeks), the Midwest once again—back to my birthplace on Lake Michigan–and eventually settled in California. I have experienced wars and conflict all my life, despite officially advocating for peace. Without too much detail, my parents tried to raise their children with tolerance for others, peace and love but they were not without their cultural and religious biases and thus, as an adult, I got to examine their perspectives and ask why.
In the 60’s I witnessed the L.A. Watts riots and was painfully aware that there was something underneath it all. It did not make sense– the stories we were told– that the Black rioting was due to “them attacking their own people and stores”. Shortly after this, we moved to Detroit where bigger, more dangerous “race riots” broke out in 1967. We could see the fires from our home at night! I was confused, scared and wondered why this had to happen again? I had the privilege as a teenager to go to a half black, half white religious camp where I made friends with people of color and realized they were just like me. Our church youth group helped black teens build a teen center in Detroit and my college thesis involved interviewing black senior citizens on their nutritional needs and practices. I parked in the worst neighborhoods in Detroit for my interviews and was not afraid, although several people told me I should be. My college days and research in nutrition brought the desire and opportunity to work with Native Americans at the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in North Dakota. Shortly before I was scheduled to go (with all my research completed) two white FBI agents were killed during a Native Indian Movement resistance activity on the reservation and my trip was canceled. I was crushed.
I mostly ignored the Viet Nam war during the 60’s and early 70’s but knew of friends’ brothers or boyfriends who had been killed. Then there was Kent State, not far from my home, where the war had come home to our own country and young adults. Young adults all over the country were protesting. Three leaders for peace were assassinated in quick succession, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Over the years I have been aware of the many wars our country has been involved in or started, especially the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq right after 9-11. My brother was in the Navy then and told me about his role as “protector for the Middle East and islands we knew nothing about like Grenada”. He couldn’t wait to get out! The whole thing seemed pointless to me, and I feared for his safety and his life.
Recently, the U.S. has been involved in first fighting Russia in Ukraine and then very quickly supporting the State of Israel against Palestine in the Middle East. This is NOT to excuse Hamas (whoever they may or may not be), but to look deeper at the history of wars begun by powerful State leaders who instigate and fund the endless creation of war as a “pretend” solution to conflict. Did we get to vote on this? Has this approach worked? Is one side any better off in the long run for the destruction of the people, places, resources and cultures of those groups of people they claim did something to them? Who really profits from conflict of any sort? For me, learning the history of groups oppressed as well as the oppressors’ role in escalating or starting conflict has been important– but more effective has been the acknowledgment of my own family history, trauma and that of people with whom I resonate. My first husband was part Native American as are my 3 children. Still in mid-life, after my first husband died, I met and later married a man who is half Japanese. Through his eyes and our shared history, I have learned of the trauma that thousands of good, contributing Japanese citizens of the United States suffered during W.W. II, being sent arbitrarily to “internment camps”, losing everything. As a young child I always resonated with the Native American culture, nature and the Buffaloes. It is a sad story, what happened to them, but what we see arising from our collective consciousness is that Native Americans are coming home to who they truly are, telling their stories and healing. How many of us have Native American blood within us? As they remember what happened and is still happening to them, they are becoming stronger and defining themselves as true “First Nation” people, contributing to our current cultural diversity in their own modern, organic ways and yet going back to their Native languages and customs. We, in turn, heal our ancestral karma so to speak by acknowledging the truth of our shared history with them. We are all spiritually connected to one another by our human nature and the conflict we see “out there” is also within us. Do not believe for a second that there will not be consequences for those perpetuating the continuation of violence, death and destruction toward minority groups of our fellow human beings. We have a choice. It is the choice to create peace– right here, right now in our own communities. We can decide not to pay taxes that go to fund the continuation of war as a business model. (Like the Quakers). Or, less drastic, we can open our hearts, listen to one another and learn from our shared history, including the last 3 years when someone else decided for us what constitutes good health with threats of punishment if we did not comply! We must be vigilant for more of the same in our own country which is likely to come again complete with all the many ways we are divided sister against sister, brother against brother. We have but a short reprieve. The war against human beings perpetuated by those in power as our only choice for conflict among races, nations, cultures and religions is universal. What is not known is that “we the people” have the power within and collectively to turn away from war, to resist and not participate and through working for peace create a better quality of life for all who desire it, including ourselves. Thank you for listening to my story and please check out the following references to learn more. You will find similarities in all wars and conflicts, even our own here in America. No one wins.
References:
“The 60’s Scoop in Canada”
“The American Buffalo” by Ken Burns
“The West” by Steven Ives and Ken Burns
“The Little Bird” PBS series
“Democracy Now”
“The Way of Knowingness” by Kim O’Neill