I'm from Manitoba myself and the juxtaposition of the video showing great restraint by the officer with this quote from the article is my main reason for posting:
Leah Gazan, an Indigenous activist and University of Winnipeg professor, said the officer could've used less forceful tactics to restrain Kokopenace

I don't want to downplay the obstacles faced in the US by African Americans, but I feel really strongly that race relations in Canada between Aboriginals and the country is in a MUCH worse place.

In Canada the past and history between aboriginals and Canada still has been ignored more often than it has been met head on. For both good and ill reasons over our history, we've had a two tiered system of laws that treat separately with you based on whether you are native or not. Originally this was oppressive of native communities, but now it's often the other way around:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/judges-must-weigh-cultural-factors-in-native-sentencing-court-rules/article535585/

The greater problem to try and solve is Canada's native reserve system. Native people living on reserves are more often than not growing up in 3rd world conditions. The worst part is, proposing changes to that system is itself 'racist' against aboriginals. Our reserve system is systematically destroying generations of people based upon their race, and nobody seems to be able to fix the thing .

Yeah, i dont trust a single fuck with a badge or a gun or both and a uniform. That wasnt always so. At one time i was a pretty lame introverted nerd with the world as my oyster. Listening to Rage Against the Machine made me concerned, because it was too extreme. And then the iron fist of law enforcement thought theyd fuck with me and make me suffer for what was not my burden. And then it just gets worse and worse, a downward spiral of constant legal battles, jail time, mental illness, etc. etc. etc. Its all the same to me, govt, law enforcement, human resource representatives, executives, redcoats. Oppression creates terrorism. Always.

During the Philippine-American war, the events which lead up to our own soldiers commiting acts of genocide started with our disregard of the indigenous people, oppression, and penchant for disrespecting local men and harassing their women; as well, our ignorant and well documented philosophies of Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism. The family of the abused rise up and attack their oppressors. Terrorism will always be so as long as the mighty refuse to respect all ways of life and seek instead to instill their systems of government and create puppet governments whoch fail, destablizing entire regions.

Because now the game is bigger. You dont simply destablize a region: when you oppress people, you destabilize an entire zeitgeist, affecting far more people than ever before. People in America rise up to join forces that provide promises of liberty that America no longer offers. Even if those terror groups themselves lie, the broken people see it as a hope. The oppressed will crawl out of the woodwork and kill. There is no precise pattern when frank castles of the world do their deeds. Its just like the 4000 deaths per year from semitrucks, the trucking industry says 70% (debatable, likely a lower number) of accidents are caused by noncommercial vehicles. Impatient people weaving in and out of traffic and cutting off truck drivers oppresses them and sometimes even they to rise up and do terror.

So simple answer: Love, peace, and good will are what the government should promote. Of course, that would simply open them to being taken advantage of... so, we are fucked, always and forever. But maybe even if we cant promote true peace, perhaps we can at least avoid creating the terrorists we fear.

Sorry, it turns out my fresh install of my email client decided to sort Videosift emails into the junk folder, so I missed a bunch of replies.

Mainly I was ready to string these guys up for mucking around with historical artifacts. The sensitivity to it is because the current occupiers of this country already wiped out millions of indigenous people, and now the least intelligent among us have to drag what's left further through the mud with their buffoonery.

I also think the way the government has dealt with this is perfect, but, I still cringe when considering the disparity between how this was dealt with, versus so many recent, violent and unnecessary urban confrontations lately.

ive never been to the middle east, but for various reasons had friends from several different countries in and around the area. i think the answer is simple: muslims, like christians, jews, mormons are not all alike (ok not sure about the mormons!), and even if you have a st augustine or a ghazali saying thats how it should be there will always be those who disagree, vocally or quiet like. Hes right that the culture changed, and he's right that its tragic that arab scientists are basically the butt of a joke, but i think its difficult to ommit that the peak of arab science also coincided with a peak in their power and resources. How many african nobel prizes are there in that period? or from indigenous peoples? Im not saying they are stupid, just that its difficult to get an award for cutting edge top notch science when you are at a serious deficit in resources.

Now do you get why the "Angry Black Person" Stereotype exists?

Now do you get why a bunch of teens would riot & destroy their own community?

Stop trying to nullify, neutralize, invalidate the institutional oppression of People of Color!!

Non-whites will NEVER be treated with such kid gloves.

We see it OVER and OVER and OVER again. Daily. Weekly. Monthly.

People of Color are treated less than human, constantly.

Since the founding of the country!

The American Empire was build upon the suffering & oppression of Indigenous Peoples, Kidnapped Africans, Kidnapped Chinese.

White Privilege is the resultant REAL Institution of all that oppression and suffering.

Denying White Privilege is denying People of Color their humanity.

Denying ANY human their humanity makes you inhumane.

So FUCKING STOP IT!!

Read: "Let me talk outta my ass cause i'm not black and I couldn't care less either way."

You're exactly the indigenous apologist asshole type Stewart is referring to.

People that try to minimize everything into a level playing field..

When clearly there's a ruling class that own the field, all the players and still tilt the board in their favor.

As the only brown person on this site..

Seriously fuck off, dude.

See, Lantern. This is a sober comment from a reasonable perspective.

It's okay, buddy. We all worry about losing our job sometimes.

It's an interesting insight into your fears & frustrations, I guess..

Do you feel burned out, Lantern?
Do you feel like your mind, body ..spirit.. have been wrecked?

Do you LOVE being a Law Enforcement Officer.. but also you feel very.. resentful or disgruntled or bitter.. about?

Are you upset about..?

- How you're mistrusted/hated as a Police Officer by a seemingly huge group of people in this country?

- How you're portrayed to be "Bullies, Bad guys" or "Thugs" in the news media?

- How ignorant some.. most.. people are about how rough it is being a cop?

Does all that stuff make you want to yell & scream sometimes?





Because that's precisely what's it's like for ALL minorities:
Women, LBGTQQ, Indigenous Peoples, People of Color

Why is that lantern? I wonder why that is? Do you know?

You "get that", right?

Are we on the same page here? Because..

at 7:13, I totally had to double take...I was sure he said "...it's very personal, how and why I met these bitches."
I actually had to listen a third time before I got it. Oh. Maybe I have a spider in my ear.
Beautiful pictures, and great talk. Too bad there's the controversy about how he portrays some of the indigenous people, or the implication that their cultures are all slipping into oblivion.
*quality

Such a wonderful talk *doublepromote

The photos http://www.beforethey.com/tribes

-edit-
It does seem he has critics of his work http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/oct/29/jimmy-nelson-indigenous-people-survival-international

Hey Lantern, why don't you tell us how "totally not racist" you are..

while claiming that black people are inherently violent, underachieving, thugs & savages.

Oh but wait, you "have a bi-racial relative" so you couldn't POSSIBLY be an unapologetic racist.

Nope, you just believe the first biracial president is "unamerican" because he spent 4 years as a child in -*gasp!* - a "foreign" country.

[You know, like how Republican Ted Cruz is a Cuban-Canadian with an untrustworthy racist father]

Or maybe you can tell us how the "black community" conspired to make certain that open racism and discrimination in EVERY facet of life was perfectly acceptable until the 1960s.

Pssh, seems EXTREMELY racist to still benefit from the enslavement of an entire group of people..
- not to mention the whole murdering & subjugating the indigenous population beforehand -
..then blame that group for not being able to "fix their own problems", doesn't it?

P.S. - It does. Because it is. Because you're a racist.

Just like my hispanic grandmother.. oh, and she has TWO bi-racial grandkids.

So the fact that the Red Cross had to go to the reserves and declare an emergency means that it's better for the First Nations people? How about all the missing indigenous women that have had little attempts to figure out what's happening to them, or where they could possibly be?

Have you been on any of the reservations in the past few years? Have you talked to anyone about the conditions? You think they'd really fight any kind of change to improve the health and social services on the reserves? Most of the water services are worse quality than Walkerton, when the water was filled with bacteria.

Is it better than the small pox blankets, murder, and "correctional schools" we sent them to? Yes, but it's still substandard living on a lot of the reserves. Is it all of them? No, some are doing quite well, but those are the minority.

Let's also look at the prison population in Canada, where around 30% is First Nations. There's something rotten in the Dominion of Canada when it comes to living standards and treatment of Aboriginals.

I have to say that I was shocked at the level of casual racism in Australia (and to a lesser extent NZ) towards the indigenous cultures.

Yeah, it's great isn't it? The American people trusted their government, and in turn gained great wealth and land. Of course the indigenous people suffered, but they weren't citizens in the first place.

So in summary, bobknight33 tells us to trust our government, because they do great things for us.

Your video, Time-lapse of American seizure of indigenous land, 1776-1893, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

This achievement has earned you your "Pop Star" Level 213 Badge!

Ralph & Paul, What you're looking for is giving our allegiance to the long 1st Nation sovereignty here. Humanity's worldwide 'indigenous' (Latin 'self-generating') 1st Nations cultivated local power by organizing the 'economy' (Greek 'oikos' = 'home') through multihome living with critical-mass of 100 people in each Longhouse/apartment, Pueblo/townhouse & Kanata/village. Such grouping enables local livelihood economies of mutual aid multiplying time, resources & money for women-men intergenerationally. 70% of people in the USA & worldwide live in multihome dwellings but aren't organizing their livelihood economies because we are programmed as colonists. Here's a software development we're working on for neighbourhood web-based Human Resource Catalogues, Resource Mapping & accounting in a Community Investment & Exchange System. Lets become indigenous to our time & place. [url redacted]