The last of the traditional elders have a stark warning for America and the world

by Cyril Christo | Aug. 12, 2021 | Aug. 12, 2021

“This is the key to the problem that threatens all life on earth. If someone can uncover this information and bring it before the world, it might be possible to reverse the destruction of the native cultures that lies at the root of the devastation that now threatens our entire world.”

—Traditional Hopi Elder Martin Gashweseoma, 1990

Years ago, when Navajo spiritual elder Leon Secatero said he was preparing his people for the next 500 years, I asked him, “Will we be here in 500 years?” He answered “we will, you won’t!”

When traditional Hopi elder Martin Gashweseoma went to Santa Fe, the oldest European capital on Indigenous land, in 1990, it was to meet with the three-time Democratic Governor of New Mexico Bruce King. Gashweseoma wanted to emphasize one key point that “the modern concept of land title does not hold the key to peace. Instead because it is based on conquest, which is theft, it is the basic cause of the problems which now threaten to end life on earth.”

Gashweseoma added, “Regardless of differences in culture and tradition, true aboriginal title throughout the world is based on a similar relationship. To usurp that title, and replace it with a manmade title based on conquest, them build an empire upon that basis, is to oppose the forces of life, and ensure the eventual destruction of that empire. The United States of America has unfortunately become that empire.”

We know the story of America, its imperial narrative. There are those today who even deny it, but for Hopi elder Martin Gashweseoma, it is the story of a turn from an utter paradise into a world dominated by the police state.

“Before the White Man arrived from Europe, everything was in order. Our life was beautiful and clean. The land was green and there were plenty of flowers, animals, birds, and trees, rain and clouds. We lived in great happiness because we followed the simple life,” he said.

Gashweseoma told me that native title, having been abrogated, is the key to how our civilization has conducted itself. “The Spanish, the Mexican and the United States government have all fought over someone else’s land without consulting the original native peoples living on it, then created some kind of document. But what of the rights of the original native peoples? Who has the ability to look into this, and see that the basic rights of the Hopi and other native peoples are restored?”

What is happening right now in the Amazon, which is right at the tipping point of another climate entirely, the great forests of Indonesia, and forests over the world, even the tundra, and the Arctic are menaced because its caretakers have been either eliminated or lost their land to the colonial powers, to outside invaders. That means our entire life support system has been betrayed by those who had no knowledge of the land and who had no interest in being caretakers.

“This is the key to the problem that threatens all life on Earth,” Gashweseoma said. “If someone can uncover this information and bring it before the world, it might be possible to reverse the destruction of the native cultures that lies at the root of the devastation that now threatens our entire world.”

Gashweseoma wanted the world to understand that the U.S., and the way it invaded aboriginal sovereign land, committed theft and that those “who perpetrate such abuse and the countless modern people who thrive from it, truly have no land title. They build their power through resources taken by force, then use these resources to gain power to take even more. Since they consider the true aboriginal title to be worthless, they treat us like animals to be kicked around. But as the Purification foretold in our tradition materializes, they too will get kicked around. They will find themselves disrespected everywhere, just as they have disrespected others, and their power will collapse. Soon they will see how little power and authority they really have.”

“We hope they (the dominant society) will heed our warning for their own sake, and for the sake

of the Native peoples who want nothing more than to rule themselves peacefully without being dictated to by anyone else.”

Gashweseoma warned of great Earth changes years ago and no-one listened. Now that they are upon us, we have little time to mediate or moderate our ways. “If the task of purification is left to these natural forces, we may all be wiped out.” As the Atlantic current is fading, the Amazon passing the tipping point and the Arctic melting, the warnings of Gashweseoma and the Hopi elders have manifested. The dominant society that Gashweseoma mentions as the white brother, is us, and we will find “our survival threatened.” When Thomas Banyacya told the world in front of the UN to put down the nuclear sword, the powers that be didn’t listen. Could the hundreds of billions used on nuclear weapons been used for anything else? Lake Mead and Lake Powell have their lowest water levels in decades due to extreme drought. Wheat harvests are falling. Will a major dustbowl ensue in the Midwest? One thing is certain, America’s eating habits and cheeseburgers will never be the same again. Four million acres have burned in the West in the last few months. It is affecting the climate. More towns are burning to the ground. And still there are those who would deny the common man or woman the vote. The Hopi don’t know what democracy really means, if it means the conquest of the land and forcing of its citizens to pay for things like water that were once free. Free.

“Offers of money, jobs, a better life, and so forth, really mean signing away control over the indigenous peoples land and their life,” said Gashweseoma. That is what democracy did to the Hopi, and it is doing the same to everyone. “Such false democracy is being extended throughout the world. In the name of democracy, the U.S. government is taking control of Native lands, exploiting the mineral resources to produce great wealth, then using that wealth to bribe native peoples elsewhere into accepting contracts to deforest their land.” And those very forests, mismanaged, are going up in flames. America will never, ever be the same again.

As for the younger generation, the future, Gashweseoma says, “We know the Government would like to wash its hands of the schools, but instead of closing them it tries to put them in the hands of “progressive” Hopis who have already lost their tradition. We have no need to learn from books. We have better methods by which children can learn how to live in peace, identify plants and animal tracks and ultimately learn to keep the world in balance. The proof that this education really works is in the fact that we never needed jails, courts, police, hospitals. There was hardly any sickness because we lived only from the food we grew organically, without chemicals. Any sickness that did occur could be healed with ceremonies and heart. Even today there are old people so strong that when you try to follow them up a hill you can’t catch up with them.”

Have we kept the world in balance? Have we ensured the life force for the children seven generations hence? “Since most of modern civilization is based on such false entitlement, it can only destroy itself.

Our civilization has not listened to the Native elders and of late has not heeded the warning of climate scientists. Elders have told us for generations that our society was unbalanced and criminally neglectful when it came to the environment. The atmosphere cannot take it anymore. The severe problems that face not only humanity, but every form of life on Earth, should be evidence enough that a time of immense destruction is at hand. Greece is on fire. The Russian Arctic is on fire.

The Pacific West is on fire. Dante’s Ninth Circle of Hell is reserved for those who have betrayed the trust of someone close to them. One circle is called Antenora, named after the Trojan prince Antenor: it is a special place reserved for those who betrayed their political party or country. Today we have a very good idea who that is — the climate deniers. And does President Biden really need to allow the 2.6 billion dollar Enbridge Line 3 oil sands pipeline from Canada to rip through Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and Indiana? Already 307 incidents have occurred including a spill that dumped over 800,000 gallons into the Kalamazoo River. Isn’t this what the elders have been warning the dominant society about? The toll on the land is enormous. Winona La Duke and the Ojibwe underscore the enormous scar and emotional duress the project is creating throughout native communities. And America as a whole. And the entire biosphere.

Jason Goward a 37-year-old member of the Fond du Lac Ojibwe who got a high paying job with the pipeline to dig himself out of poverty said, “I had kind of an epiphany. Maybe I’m not on the right side of this. I began to think of the pipeline’s impact on our water and wild rice; that rice is part of the reason Ojibwe came to this area so long ago.” So one day after seeing the sandhill cranes flying overhead Goward had a revelation about the impact the pipeline was making as it destroyed his ancestral homeland and walked out on his job. He thought about his sons and their future and their ability to hunt and gather herbs and medicines from the land as they have done for countless generations. The lure of money was not enough. “I was so relieved,” says Goward. “I had so much guilt, embarrassment and shame hurting my ancestral lands.” It is something all of us should understand at this point in human civilization.

Will the current administration side with those who have betrayed the country and the world by siding with the oil cartels? They are the ones who enabled the world to burn. The world is now on fire or under water. We can no longer escape. We must trace this situation to its root cause. The theft of indigenous land and the abuse of the environment that continues to suffer. All over the world. As in the film “Bring Your Own Brigade” clearly shows, Native Americans treated their land with respect and knew how to manage the land and fires. The dominant society simply does not.

We totally, absolutely need to have all our ducks in a row soon. No suppressing the vote. No more oil exploration, no more coal plants and lots of carbon capture if we are to have any hope of surviving.

We have run out of time. The point of no return is upon us.

Learn more about Cyril Christo and Marie Wilkinson’s work at their website.