Emergency Meeting Update

I know many people have been asking how the Emergency Meeting went yesterday so I wanted to provide a brief update.  The meeting went very well and was very peaceful.  There were no disturbances and know that the meeting was well documented.  The conduct of the meeting was a breath of fresh air.  From what I was told people were allowed to ask questions and speak freely.  There was no intimidation or threats.

There is going to be a flood of misinformation being put out there probably even as I type.  Know that nearly 3 times the required numbers for a quorum of enrolled members signed into the meeting.  The rest of us that were in the vicinity of the meeting did not participate in the meeting but were there to support our family - our Mothers, Fathers, Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grand Parents etc.

I did not participate in the meeting so I cannot give any detail as to what exactly happened.  I can say the items on the proposed agenda passed.  If you did not see the proposed agenda you can read it here.

For those that did not attend I would say reach out to your family and friends that were there and ask them for details.  We need to support each other through this process and it will be a process.  It is not going to happen overnight.  There will also be a lot of work to do.

United We Stand - Divided We Fall.  A piece of string on its own is not very strong.  But weave many pieces of string together and you form an unbreakable rope.

It has been said Robert is going to run to the BIA first thing Monday morning to cry to them about our meeting.  I find it odd that Mr. Tribal Sovereignty is now going to go ask the BIA for help.  Robert refused to listen to the BIA when they recommended we be reinstated but now that a duly held Emergency Meeting of the General Council was held all of a sudden Robert - Mr. Tribal Sovereignty himself - wants help from the BIA.  What has the BIA been telling us for two years?  "It's a tribal matter, we're not getting involved."

Please talk to your families.  Reach out to other families.  Those of you that were there please reach out to others.  Don't let people get away with spreading their lies, gossip, and rumors.

A tribal member yesterday shared with me this story on the power of fear:

The Power of Fear

Legend has it that an old dictator, when he knew that he would soon die, picked two men whom he felt he could trust as potential successors to his throne. As he lay on his deathbed, he summoned the two men and asked his servant to bring him two birds.

When the two men came to his deathbed, he said, “I have called you here to see which one of you is worthy to be the heir to my throne. In order to prove yourself, you must take one of these birds and make it remain in the palm of your hand for five minutes without killing it.”

One of the men took a bird from its cage, but he held it so tightly, he suffocated it. The other man, determined not to make the same mistake, took out the other bird and held it firmly but made no attempt to restrain it. Therefore, it quickly flew away through one of the room's windows.

“Fools! I will show you how to do it properly,” said the dictator. “Bring me a bird!” he ordered his servant.

When the servant came back, the dictator took the bird, plucked out all of its feathers, then held the bird in his hands. The bird was now shivering without its feathers to warm him, and although he was unmistakably terrified, he did not fly away.

"Do you see it? It is now helpless. It is terrified. It is freezing. It is vulnerable. I have stripped it of everything, and now it is thankful for the warmth I am giving it in the palms of my hands," the dictator said.

The legend ends here, but the assumption is that this is how the dictator controlled his people—by taking everything away from them, then making them feel thankful for his protection. He essentially got those people to “play frozen,” just as the bird was “playing frozen” in his hands.

And he was able to take advantage of an emotion that all animals and human beings have. This emotion is fear. It is particularly important for autistic children, because fear is their primary emotion. And when you strip them of everything they value in an attempt to change them according to your values, as in an intensive behavior program, you are unconsciously using the control technique of that old dictator and relying on the child’s fear and helplessness to bend him to your will.

There's also a version of the story attributed to Josef Stalin

*NOTE:  The service I use (scribd) to post documents is down right now.  It's been down for several hours.  This has happened before and usually service returns after a while.