By Button Poetry
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Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:02
to be successful or to be a dominant
00:04
force you had to you had to get the land
00:07
and then there were people on the land
00:09
in order to get that land you had to
00:10
erase them by either killing them or
00:12
assimilating them after the war was done
00:15
they put all the men and boys through
00:17
their court system without a English
00:19
translator colonization is still
00:21
happening it just looks different daily
00:23
we’re still here we’re talked about like
00:25
we’re not like we’re go I see how
00:27
difficult it is to be a native man at my
00:30
friend’s cousin eight times it just
00:33
should not have happened it’s happened
00:34
one too many times they’re not releasing
00:37
the body and the idea that the
00:42
authorities are our adversaries is
00:44
something that I understand at the
00:46
cellular level the whole family and the
00:47
whole community is devastated this idea
00:49
not being human is still still alive and
00:52
well in 2017
00:59
Native Americans make up less than 1% of
01:04
the population of America
01:08
point eight percent of 100%
01:13
Oh mine efficient country
01:17
I do not remember the days before
01:20
America
01:22
I do not remember the days when we were
01:24
all here
01:26
[Music]
01:27
police kill Native Americans more than
01:30
any other race race
01:37
there’s a funny word had that happen to
01:40
anybody else never be in a servant
01:43
protect oriented entity can you believe
01:45
they treat any human being like that
01:47
what hurt it because that’s a kill shot
01:49
race implies someone will win implies I
01:54
have as good of a chance of winning as
01:56
who wins the race which isn’t a race
02:02
Native Americans make up 1.9 percent of
02:07
all police killings higher than any race
02:10
and we exist as point eight percent of
02:13
all Americans
02:15
sometimes race
02:19
means run right now his spirits on Oh
02:22
sir you got what 18 shots is bad
02:25
everybody loved him at school spirit
02:27
world barely scratching the surface when
02:29
you’re talking about police brutality
02:30
what’s happening today we are not good
02:34
at math can you blame us we’ve had an
02:37
American education we are Americans
02:42
and we are less than 1% of Americans
02:45
we do a better job of dying by police
02:49
than we do existing
02:52
when we are dying who should we call the
02:56
police
02:57
or our senator to get shot in the middle
03:02
of the day on the street where my nieces
03:06
and nephews play please
03:10
someone call my mother the day I have to
03:15
really explain there what happened and I
03:17
don’t look forward to that at all
03:19
I heard a grandma does is cry she
03:20
watched her son getting executed
03:22
Keva asking why do doctor help my baby
03:24
sad sick he’s sick he doesn’t know
03:25
what’s going on in heaven so fast like
03:28
new priests office in arithmetic and in
03:33
America divisibility has rules divide
03:37
without remainder at the National Museum
03:41
of the American Indian 68% of the
03:45
collection is from the US
03:47
I am doing my best to not become a
03:50
Museum of myself
03:53
I am doing my best to breathe in and out
03:58
I am begging
04:01
let me be lonely
04:04
but not invisible
04:07
but in this American city was all its
04:10
people
04:12
I am Native American less than one
04:19
less than hole
04:21
I am less than myself
04:24
only a fraction of the body let’s say I
04:28
am only a hand
04:31
and when I slip it beneath the shirt of
04:34
my lover
04:37
and disappear
04:41
completely
04:48
yeah so literally as we speak I was
04:51
scrolling through Facebook and my friend
04:54
posted on Facebook that a miner from her
04:57
reservation was shot by an officer and
05:00
he died and it says that he it was a
05:03
report of a male walking around Maple
05:06
Street carrying a knife and then a
05:08
deputy shot him and he was pronounced
05:11
dead at the hospital
05:13
when I say Jason you say puro Jason
05:20
[Applause]
05:22
thank you all
05:25
[Music]
05:32
[Music]
05:42
[Applause]
05:55
you
05:55
[Music]
06:07
you
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video