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A call for peace: Burying U.S. weapons of war

Indian Country Today
March 16, 2007

by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today

Before the prophet known today as the Peacemaker brought his message
of peace to warring nations, it was a time of bloodshed and fear. The
Peacemaker, upon gathering leaders from the warring nations together
at long last, uprooted a great white pine and exposed a hole with a
river flowing deep inside. He instructed the warriors to throw their
weapons into the hole and let the river wash the tools of war deep
into the earth. This ancient story of peace has many versions, but its
message has remained clear for generations of Haudenosaunee, also
known as the Iroquois: Peace and unity were to be the law of the land.

How far we have come from that day. Today, America is again at war.
Mohawk and Onondaga ironworkers witnessed airliners destroy the World
Trade Center towers, buildings raised by the hands of their own
fathers, uncles and brothers. They were among the first responders on
Sept. 11, 2001. On March 21, 2005, a 16-year-old member of the Red
Lake Band of Chippewa killed his grandfather and his grandfather's
companion, and then continued on to school, where he shot and killed a
teacher, a security guard, five students and finally himself. Ten
people lay dead after the rampage. To date, as reported by
www.icausalities.org, 34 American Indian servicemen and women have
been killed in Iraq. Many more return home, their bodies wounded and
spirits broken. Violence is a mind-changer; it can steer good people
down dark paths and cloud cultural memory of peaceful ways.

Violence impacts all Americans. We find ourselves often united by
tragedy and sorrow, but we must also create ways to unite in peace.
Nongovernmental organizations working toward peace and conflict
resolution are increasingly picking up steam in this citizen-fatigued
time of war. The Peace Alliance, a nonpartisan citizen action
organization, is one of them. It is a grass-roots lobbying effort for
the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence. Its
legislation, the Department of Peace and Nonviolence Act (HR 808), was
introduced in February and is co-sponsored by some 50 members of
Congress with others expected to join the crusade.

The act calls for a cabinet-level Secretary of Peace, whose duties
would be to advise the president on peace-building needs and tactics
for domestic and international matters. The department would also
create several programs that teach alternative dispute resolution
techniques, peer mediation and nonviolent communication programs. The
department would work domestically and internationally for peace, an
arduous task that some Indian tribes and nations have both struggled
with and accomplished for hundreds of years.

Indian Country Today was introduced to the alliance's proposal when we
were invited to attend a Feb. 28 celebrity reading of the play ''A
Gift of Peace'' at the University of California, Los Angeles. Its
cross-country tour is a three-part project that ''aims to educate,
inspire civic action, and draw media and grassroots support.''
Involved in the reading were actors Ed Asner, Shohreh Aghdashloo,
Frances Fisher and Esai Morales, among many others. They played
Americans affected by fear and distrust: from a nervous school teacher
who drops to the ground when her young student reaches into his
pocket, only to see him pull out his homework; to the proud young man
returning from a tour of duty in Iraq; from a woman mourning her
mother, lost in the terrorist attacks of 9/11; to a passionate college
student who wants to make a difference. The message was stark: We are
a nation living in fear, and it is damaging our humanity.

There is a clear need for a Peace Department in the federal
government. War and violence are expensive. ''Bringing justice'' to
Iraq and Afghanistan, the rhetorical pastime of the warmongering Bush
administration, has cost the United States $400 billion to date, with
each passing day adding $200 million. For American victims of
bullying, school shootings, domestic violence, sexual assault and
rape, child and elder abuse, hate crimes and gang violence, there is a
clear and desperate need for a shift in priorities.

The Peace Alliance, to its credit, appeals directly to the purse - it
reasons that a Department of Peace could help conserve federal funds
by preventing conflict and its social, economic and political
consequences. According to the World Health Organization, violence
places ''a massive burden on national economies, costing countries
billions each year in health care, law enforcement and lost
productivity.'' With funding bills currently stalled in Congress,
citizens of Indian country know this all too well.

Violence and other related social problems occur in every corner of
America regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or age. [American
Indians were not specifically mentioned in ''A Gift of Peace,''
although Salteaux actor Adam Beach was among its cadre of performers.]
We continue to fight these battles in our communities, burdening the
perpetually underfunded Indian health care, judicial and education
systems. It is especially necessary for those communities trying
unsuccessfully to draw blood from a stone in order to undo damage
caused by violence. The peace proposal may be bold and idealistic, but
we know it is not impossible - remember the Indian enemies who once
accepted peace to form a mighty confederacy.

At the very end of ''A Gift of Peace,'' one of the actors proclaimed,
''The Department of War was created during peacetime. Wouldn't it be
ironic if we created a Department of Peace during wartime?'' Indian
affairs were once assigned to the Department of War, until the
Interior Department was established in 1849 and the bureau was
transferred. It would be ironic if Indian country's support for this
legislation meant sharing those ancient instructions for ''burying''
weapons and creating a great peace in times of war.

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