The blog post below is a contemporary reworking of the classic celebration of autumn composed by John T. McCutcheon, first published in The Chicago Tribune on September 30, 1907.
Those raised in the Midwest may remember seeing the original publication each year on the front page of that newspaper until October 25, 1992. Perhaps, like it did for me, this piece inspired a sense of nostalgia in those innocent days before we grew out of the period of revisionist history that glorified the "Winning of the West" and of the childhood times of playing "Cowboys and Indians." The beginning of the usage of the phrase dates back to our beautiful New England, but from Wikipedia to the Old Farmers' Almanac, there is no definitive word about its origin.
I choose not to publish the original text, now considered offensive. I offer, instead, this reworking I composed at the dawn of the new millennium. I chose to begin the composition in the same plain-spoken homespun language as the original in an homage to the author who can be forgiven his use, in his day, of references which today might be considered at best unenlightened in writing about indigenous peoples.
The original text may be found at Injun Summer
Background on the original composition is at Chicago Tribune's McCutcheon
Yep, sonny, this is certainly the time that’s been called “Injun Summer” for more than a couple centuries. That’s the phrase people have been used to describe this time of year when warm weather returns after the first frost of Autumn. It was said that the spirits of the “homesick Injuns come back to play” and the burning leaves were the “campfires and the Injuns a hoppin’ ‘round ‘em” in the haze of the autumn nights. The red leaves of fall were seen as “jest another sign o’ redskins,” the red of the leaves being “war paint rubbed off an Injun ghost.”
But, y’ know, today it’s clear that term “Indian Summer” is a name full of contradiction. We appreciate the yearly return of the season we’ve named for peoples we have badly abused. It wasn’t that the Native American Peoples just “all went away and died, so there ain’t no more left.” You see, sonny, in the name of progress, the White Man drove the Native American peoples from their own lands, the lands of their ancestors. The greed and ambition of these rich land grabbers employed the legislators of Congress to make laws about where the tribes of the Native American peoples were allowed to live and sent its armies to back up the unjust laws against these people. In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act empowering Andrew Jackson to send General Winfield Scott, in an infamous enforcement of the law, to drive the five nations living east of the Mississippi from their rich rolling Appalachian lands to the dry flat Oklahoma reservations. The Cherokee, in particular, suffered greatly after successfully taking the law all the way to the Supreme Court. Though the court ruled in their favor, they were nevertheless forced at gun point from their lands. Placed under forced migration, thousands died along the route these people followed, which became known as the “Trail of Tears." These are remembered by those who count this devastation—along with Wounded Knee and the bloody retaliatory aftermath of Little Big Horn [the Battle of Greasy Grass Creek]—as significant chapters in the history of bias and prejudice against them as peoples who inhabited this land before the Age of Discovery.
The spirits of those dead do not rest easily. Indeed, their bones are not even left in peace as museums battle to hold on to what they call historical artifacts, while the indigenous peoples of this land must use the White Man’s legal system to sue for the return of the sacred remains of their ancestors. We need to rethink this Indian Summer, then. It should be a time for us to reflect on the spirits of those who are our models of environmental stewardship. The peoples who lived on these lands before Europeans arrived cared for the land because the Great Spirit had put them on it to care for it. In our time we need to look over our harvest fields and reflect on the spirits of those indigenous peoples whose environmental principles of respect for the land and waters of this great nation are only now being discovered and adopted as sane stewardship of the land. And while some tribes have discovered successful enterprise in the gaming industry, the white man’s attitude seems to be “How can we curb their success?” All the while peoples of all ethnic backgrounds flock to these palaces of chance to indulge what seems to be their addiction. Ironically, it was the white man’s addictive “fire water’ that was often used by unprincipled white traders and others to beguile their Indian customers into exploitative prices for trade goods.
It’s up to those who enter into this corrected Indian Summer reflection to begin creating an attitude that will allow the spirits of the ancestors of these proud and punished peoples to truly rest. Maybe it’s only with this kind of reflection that we’ll take the action to create a change in attitude that will replace reservation casinos with land reparations, paternalism with respect, and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs with a national council of indigenous promotion of self-determination. Then the imagined “homesick injuns” dancing around smoldering campfires will no longer need to long for their homeland. Then, their spirits, no longer restless, will not need to return from the happy hunting ground. Then, in that day, we pray, they will rest forever in the knowledge that justice and peace have been established for the indigenous tribes of this land.
______________
If you'd like to take an advocacy action on service to one tribe of indigenous people, join me in watching a 2-minute video of her work, and then go to http://heroes.cnn.com/ and vote for the Rochelle Ripley, one of ten "CNN Heroes of 2015." She is a descendant of the Lakota people and lives in my town of Glastonbury, Connecticut. Her dedicated service to the Lakota people benefits them with the results of her drives for goods, like toys, school supplies, library books, clothing, appliances and whole lot more. Voting for her makes her eligible to receive $10,000 for her work if she receives the most votes. You can vote once a day up to November 15th, for her or for any others of the 10 Heroes.
© 2000 -
John P. Wentland
