Lakota Culture - Best of Coast to Coast AM - 3/18/23

that I work with in the radio station. I run that great leaders eat last. It's an effective way of understanding what proper leadership is. Again again you know the anous concept. It's not a leader, you don't you You can't identify him like you do a president or a governor or something. Right, He's just a caretaker, you know, and ceremonies. He didn't really approve appreciate the part about being.

You know, I'm putting titles on him. Yeah, you know, I get that human being who carried, protected and fed the people when they needed it. And he said, I've spoke for them, I've spoken or behalf. So you know, basically, you know, the the historians and all the moviemakers and whatever they try to equate our culture sacred culture. Was there what they what they identify as the way I left that they have, right, Nope, I get It's all I got. So, I mean it's I can do it

somehow is to try to see that equation. But it's a fair point. Yeah. And uh, they always, you know, they when they make movies and you know, different historians write books, they always call the savages and bloodthirsty killers and we raped their women and all the scalping them. And well, I hope we're past that. I hope we don't do that anymore. I mean I actually actually what they were doing is they're talking about themselves. Yeah, that's

interesting that, you know, Like I was telling you. You know, they said customer, his men happy, his men in command, had symphilist, you know, and stuff, you know, got the little big one, and you know, I always said, you know, wow, you know, I mean, these guys are trying to glorify this man for since eighteen seventy six. And uh, you know, I mean he I tell people, you know, I says, there's winners and losers, but in the end, the winners were the losers too, because they didn't call the division

to the end. And on the other hand is the downfall of our people. You know, it just kind of knows that, you know. And basically the government came in and they took away our ceremonies because they were they feared it. Yeah, I think it was the voodoo or you know something. But we could we couldn't use our ceremonies anymore until was reinstated in nineteen seventy eight. You know,

petitioned Jimmy Carter, he did it. But in the end around with Reggae's one who said he did but he really just took the became president and said he he did that. But actually was Jimmy Carter who was the guy they petitioned, and he, you know, signed it back into law that we can burn stage to our ceremonies, so you know, our spirituality is still intact. You know, they took an underground. A lot of these the elders, they talked about it. They showed us, they did everything.

I mean, even though they couldn't perform the ceremonies, they instilled it in the young so that we carried it forth, you know. And so when they re enacted it, didn't you know, it became the songs were still there, sacred songs and these ceremonies. But the difference between it then and now is back then the ceremonies or just year toward the men, and there was only one ceremony that year toward the women. That was then tea we call it. They live alone away from the camp because all the

whole the whole camp had teep pipes in there. And they live alone because that's during the minstrual cycle, right, all their bad sauce, bad trainers come out, and the scent didn't want to didn't want to they didn't want to infect the bowl of the pipe. So that's why they lived away. But they once a month they had this the women did, right, that's when or wisdom was enhanced,

where a man didn't have that. So we had to go into a purification lodge and scald ourselves of water to to understand just one percent of a value of a woman's wisdom, which was kind of like I said, you know, sometimes as you get older, you know, you start to know, you know that a woman's wisdom is so beautiful. You know that you know, But now I also see women who wanted to be like a man. They want to jump out the airplanes, go to war

care and gun kill people. And I tell him, man, I tell the young women at these schools, I said, you know, why do you want to be like a man. You're a life giver, You've given life. Why do you want to go to war and kill somebody? You know, somebody's child, you know. I mean, it just shocks me that women want to do this. But you know, the thing is you have to get the young men to understand the value of the mothers and the grandmothers and the woman you know, because you know, you have to

respect them for what they're worth. And one of the one of the best stories that my mother told me was my granduncle had a pipe there and she tell me the bowl of the pipe and then the stem, and she said, this is a very sacred instrument that a man carries. She said, you have to be responsible. You have to be humbled before you can pick one up and walk with it. She said, because on one side is very good, but it could be very bad.

On one side. She said, when you when you use this pipe to pray to the creator, you don't want to have unwonted desires in your heart when you're praying with it, because the spirit reads your heart, read your desires, so you don't want you want to have a clear mind when you pray with this pipe, she says, And she says she the ball, she says, represents the female,

the stem represents the male. And she says, when you connect it together, it's a sacred union, she said, because you can communicate with a creator with this, And she said, it's the same way with a man and a woman. The bullet represents the woman and the stem represents the man, and when they get together and they connect, it's a sacred union. From that comes children, she says. To carry this pipe, you have to be responsible to take care of the things you pray for. She says, the same

way with a man and woman. Will comes from that. You have to be responsible to take care of it. A child and a child is a sacred thing growing and you have to nurture, take care of it. Never go hungry, you never go cold, and share with it because it's a future generation of our culture. And you know, I've always remembered that, you know, she told me these things when I was six seven years old. And you know, I always looked at women in a way of their sacredness,

you know. But when I was in the military, I see guys didn't treat women the way that you know that Like I said, you know, all these things I experienced in my life, you know, they're their learning experiences, the dudes, and don't you know. And uh, I see how the American guys who treat other cultures and how they acted. It just kind of you know, made me step back. It says I'm not part of that, you know. I mean, I don't want to be part of something like that. And uh, in war, you know, the bad

things have happened that I've seen. It goes against the teachings of Canton cool and and you know, taking care of your adversary, you know, without having to kill him, you know. And you know, all the all the negativity that came from that war in Vietnam went against me. I think that's where my post traumatic stress come came from, you know. And I just felt, you know, but didn't I didn't prepare myself for that, you know, for for seeing that. So yeah, you know, they used to do

a ceremony and put paint on her face. Now, John Wayne, it's over. They're putting a war paint on. It's not a warpaint. It's a paint that protects your spirit that's in your body. And the same way with your horse that you ride, you give it that horse, you paint that horse, or that paint protects the spirit of you

and the horse. So when you go into not even babble, but you know, you go into a hunt, and you know, something that happened to your friend falls off a horse and million buffle around over and you're gonna pick up pieces of him. Traumatic event. But your paint protects your spirit because it's a most a vulnerable part of your equation, your human equation. And you pick up your friend, you bring him home and you say, well, that's what happened

to him. Me tell his story. And then you understand that his spirits moved on to the spirit world, and that you put his body back to his mother Earth. And then when you wipe out, you go to a ceremony, wipe off the paint, you're still the whole person, your spirits own wounded. But that's what happened to a lot of us who went to war. You know, a lot of I mean, actually ninety percent of the guys from

the reservation I was warning went to Vietnam. I mean most of them were airborne rangers, special Forces, Navy seals. I mean, I don't know why we did all that, but you know we're nuts, I guess. Yeah, well, part of a warrior tradition in that I thought we thought we should be what you might call it elite, but it was really actually nothing was elite. War is not fun, man, No,

it's not. Well, let me ask you about the role of of visions and dreams in both in your recovery um from ps PTSD and from perhaps drugs and alcohol, and the role of dreams and visions in your great grandfather sitting bulls life. Well, you know what was my great grandfather? You know his his uh, his role. You know. See, I'll take a step back. When a human being is born,

a young man is worn, a woman is born. If you have a certain the spirits, I already know you have a certain value in you, so to choose you. You know, some guys are choosing to be medicine man or spiritual man who conducts ceremonies. And when you're chosen to do this It is not an easy life. It is a hard life because you have to be neutral. You cannot be favored to. It's not talk like we're talking to each other here. You have to be always be humble, never speak the medicine man I worked with

you always. When when he's in a group like you were at the house here, he says nothing and you're asking him, what do you think of this? Yeah? Oh good, good, you know, and you know he says nothing else. No, I don't like it. That's all he says. He doesn't really say anything. But when him and I are together, he tells me a lot of things too. I think he was preparing me for what's what I have to do. So I think my mind was I have to be a messenger Obahoshi. He said, it's a guy who brings messages,

a message to the people. And that's my message. Is to understand the message before I give it to the people. I have to live with myself up, which is tell people to the god fear. I don't have fear. I mean, I don't fear nothing. And you know I look at people. I go out here and I mean I leave the house and getting a car, get on town. And man, I see these people and I could just sense it. Yeah, fear, you know, and why, you know, why are you so afraid?

And then what it is they're gravitating? They follow a man or a woman. I mean, they just follow them. It's like a bunch of cows at the slaughter house. The one goes into the slaughter house and the rest follow them. And at the end, you know, they come out on the other end, they're hamburgers at McDonald's or Burger Kinge or someplace. But they don't realize that, you know, they're following somebody into something. You know, you see examples of those Jim Jones guy, maybe all these guys boys

and stuff. And you know, I say, you know, how come they weren't taught like I was to be who they are. They're individuals who came here to learn as a spirit, not to follow somebody, you know, and thinking that somebody they're following is going to save them or whatever or help them or something. The first thing they're following is capitalizing on their fear and controlling them. Like you said at the beginning, you know, they know how to do this, and the basic entity that controls all

this is what comes shoot. You don't see this entity, but it's all around and if you if you have no fear, it can't touch you because you know, it's a coward. It's the biggest color, and it's not going to come around you because you don't fear them. And but if you show fear to it, it's going to capitalize on you. It's going to turn you to become you know, controlling, or envies or or greedy, or be

a racist. So you don't want another that you know, so you always got to stand in the center, you know. Like I was telling Brands before, I said, when I was in Vietnam, I was the only native guy in my in my company, we had Mexicans, we had blacks, we had white guys, and we go into the bush. Everybody got them blue. Were brothers who took care of each other. But when we came back onto a fire base or base camp, they split up in groups. The white guys are over here, the blacks are over the

Mexicans overre. In me, I'm over here, and I'd go see the Mexican guys and we'd sit around and eat helopeno peppers and listen to mariachi music and have a And then next day I go over to where the blacks were listening to the Four Tops, to Creames and everybody, and jam with them, smoke a little, you know, bowl, and I go over here to the white guys and listen to Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash and then and all that, and drink some whiskey with filmy stuff, and

I go on with all of them. I mean I I showed no favorite to them because of their skin color. I showed my friendship to them because they were brothers. You know, we were on the field, and I could never understand why they didn't like each other, you know, I mean, they just had this this animosity toward each other because of their skin color. Or I always thought, man, you know, how how can you be so ignorant? You look at the soul of the person, not at the outside.

So you know, I know the visions that we have, you know that I have, you know, to help me with PTSD. Was was the spirits told me to said I have a spiritual wounding and that they will help me. And but I have this in other words, you know, they're they're gonna help me do this, but I have to share this message with the world as many of people listen to me. Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at one am etern and go to Coast to coastam dot com for more