By Darren and Joyce Lynn I live on Native allotment land.

This means that land taken long ago from Native peoples by the U.S. government has been redistributed to the natives through native land management corporations. Of course, it must be noted that the U.S. government in this story sees itself as the Good Shepherd; after all, this is land that was purchased from the Russian government. On the other hand no one ever asked were the Russians got it from. Ill tell you. This is the story of a noble People. One day a community of happy families comes to the beach alongside the river were They have come for as long as there is a memory in the minds of this People. The melted ground is soft and pliable after a long winters freeze. The moss, algae and decayed natural mulch fills the air with the sweet smells of spring. The beach is filled with a thousand stories and tales of this People. Every stick on it has served as a tool or a toy as the People fished and the children played. Across the length of this beach are rocks, net anchors for these People for as long as They could remember. Up along the ridge the water pools form small ponds; here the Elders sit and bath in the sun warmed shallows, here old bone find comfort in the waters and in the memory of Their long history in this place. Small children play in pools under the watchful eyes of the Elders. It is here while the children are young that the Elders teach them about life, love, dignity and respect. This education has served to keep this People alive for generation upon generation. Their history is outlined in every story, recalled and retold, Some as early as last spring and some as old as there are beliefs. Everything that is seen, smelled and tasted is the canvas of this classroom. Every event is cause for the recalling and retelling of a valuable life lesson. There is security, balance, peace and harmony. Here the People are one with nature, and partake alongside it equally. Here on this beach They come to set their nets. The fish They catch will feed Them through the long winter. This is the bounty of God who is seen in the smallest grain and in the furthest star and there is more abundance then They could ever need. One season, a stranger came to the river and he fished alongside Them. They are happy to share with the new comer. There has never

been too little and the People could not comprehend that there ever would be a limit to Gods abundance. When They had taken what They needed from the river, the People sang and danced and said prayers to the God Who Saved Them. This salvation is the abundance, the keeper of life, be it a fish or a berry or game and this People gave Their best Dance of Thanksgiving to the Glory of the Savior. The winter came again and then the spring, and this People returned to the beach on the river. But there was a bar in Their way and a sign that said, "No Trespassing." This stranger, who had shared in Gods bounty with Them last spring, has now claimed ownership of the land. But this is impossible to comprehend, it is unnatural, a perversion of reality; for no one can own the land on which all things are born equally. This People can not understand why the stranger would steal what God has freely given to all living things equally. The People try to set their nets but the stranger forces Them out with violence. The stranger says this People can draw fish for him but not for Themselves. He offers Them things They do not need, things that will not feed the People or keep Them warm. He gives Them poison drink to cloud Their judgment. As a result, in the winter the little Ones starve to death. Now when the spring comes this People are no longer a happy People. They can not fight this evil stranger so They do not return to the land God has given. They move up the river to a place were things are not as good, a place where every stick is a stranger and the stories of the Elders are out of balance with the land. They watch as the strangers, now many in number, destroy the river and over-fish the sea to extinction. One day a holy man of the stranger comes to this unhappy People and tells Them all about the great loving God of his people. They all nod Their heads knowingly and verbally agree that this is a good God to have, but They are no longer ignorant of the strangers ways. They see clearly that his kind, including their holy man, are evil. The evil strangers do not respect what God has given to all that lives. They are self important, they go in to their holy buildings and pray to their God then they come out and destroy the earth and starve the People of the land.

Now, the people seldom fish, they are drunk and the stranger has given them welfare, they live in dwellings with heaters and are dependent on the stranger who requires them to buy and sell. They must be licensed to fish on the river of their ancestors. They live in the system of the stranger and their heritage and the continuity of their story is no more. I live on this peoples land, my land lord is a tribal leader. He lets me live here and he looks at me like I am a criminal. I am one of the strangers, my people raped this land and starved the People.