Remembering Native Code Talkers.

navajo_code_talkersNiles Aserat, a Navajo veteran, would like a little help to see that Code talkers receive the honour they more than earned, and deserve.

As so often happens in our American history books, the contributions of a group of volunteer Native servicemen called code talkers, has been severely understated. Code talkers were our warriors doing what they have always been inspired to do – protect their homeland, families and culture. Despite having often been harshly treated for speaking in their Native languages, these warriors valiantly served for the United States and by using their beautiful Native languages these hero soldiers became pivotal in helping to win two of the most crucial wars in U.S. history – World Wars I & II.

The buzz this 4th of July is a petition to get a National Native Code Talkers Day on the radar of the U.S. Senate. The campaign was begun by Vietnam Veteran and Navajo Elder, Niles Aserat. Now a resident of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Niles grew up on the Navajo reservation in Sanders, Arizona. Niles joined the Army in 1966 and saw firsthand the brutality of war. He and only one other man in his brigade of 178 men, survived a vicious ambush at the infamous battle of Hamburger Hill.

After reading a book about code talkers, Aserat found himself inspired to spread the word about their amazing contribution and self sacrifice which turned the tides of war in the favor of the U.S. During WWII, military Marine Corp recruiters visited the Navajo reservation and understanding the threat facing their homeland from foreign invaders again, the first group of 29 brave warriors volunteered and developed a sophisticated code which was never deciphered by the enemies.

The story at ICTMN is here. The Petition: National Day for All Native American Code Talkers. The website for the petition: Native Code Talkers.

Ken Burns Talks Trump.

cbs_ftn_berns_race_150823c-800x430

Ken Burns speaks to CBS (screen grab).

In an interview with the Daily Beast on a retrospective of his films, acclaimed documentarian Ken Burn spent the majority of his time discussing the candidacy of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and what it says about America.

[…]

Discussing Burns’ film The Central Park Five — about five black teens who were wrongly convicted of assaulting a white woman in New York City — Burns recalled how Trump reacted at the time.

“He shamefully took out a full-page ad in all of the New York dailies asking for a restoration of the death penalty for two 14-year-old, two 15-year-old, and one 16-year-old innocent children,” Burns explained. “While New York State laws would not have permitted their execution, just the fact that there was a rush to judgment ought to be complete evidence of how temperamentally unsuited he is for the office he now seeks.”

Burns makes an excellent point here, in regard to Trump’s volatility. Trump is con man, always ready to twist in the wind, willing to change views in a heartbeat. All his viewpoints are on the repugnant side, which should be enough to scare people away, but it isn’t. Given that, people should seriously consider Trump’s eruptions into temper, and how that would translate in an office of high power.

“I find Donald Trump more of a super-predator. This idea that he can attack and attack and attack whole groups of people, and that we live in a media culture where that’s permitted to be tolerated—it’s the spectacle and not the truth of it,” he said. “An amoral internet permits a lie to travel around the world three times before the truth can get started, and we live in a place where lying is OK—where a lassitude develops where it doesn’t matter what the truth is—and that’s how it’s possible for someone like him to be advanced who is so clearly temperamentally unsuited and has no idea about governing.”

“The Republican Party has been extraordinarily successful at getting many groups of people to vote against their self-interest,” he continued. “Evangelicals are voting for Donald Trump. What part of Donald Trump reminds you of Jesus Christ? Trump lusts after his own daughter on national radio, talks about women’s bodies and breasts in such a disparaging way, and mocks them. How is this in any way Christian? When you make the ‘other’ the enemy, how is that Christian?”

Okay, that last question is silly. Christians are all about othering, it’s the lifeblood of their belief. If you don’t other, how you can get your self-righteous judgment on? (Yes, I know, #notallchristians.)

Full story here.

Elie Wiesel Has Walked On.

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and renowned Holocaust survivor -- Shutterstock

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and renowned Holocaust survivor — Shutterstock

Holocaust survivor and human rights activist Elie Wiesel died on Saturday the age of 87, reports Haaretz.

The Nobel Peace Prize recipient is best known for keeping alive the the memory of the Holocaust with his memoir “Night,” based upon his experiences as a teenager in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

[…]

Wiesel received numerous awards and honors over the years, including the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Grand-Croix in France’s Legion of Honor as well as being knighted as Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

In 1986 he was awarded the  Nobel Peace Prize for his role in speaking out against violence, repression and racism.

Night shook up my internal world when I first read it. Thank you, Elie, for that, and your tireless efforts to make the world, and the people inhabiting it, better. We have lost one of our warmest and brightest lights. If every day, we could be a bit more mindful, a bit kinder, it would be the best possible tribute to Mr. Wiesel.

Via Raw Story.