This article originally appeared on a previous blogsite September 13, 2005. I am reprinting it in honor of the life of Puerto Rican Independence leader, Filiberto Ojeda Rios. I’m reprinting it because it has been a difficult few weeks for many of us. My trip to DC for the International Haitian Tribunal was also emotionally draining. May those of us who are still here, continue in the struggle for what is just and true.
The other night I had a healing experience. I went to a screening of the film, “Follow Me Home.” The screening took place at The Uptown Meditation Center. The center runs a number of programs sponsored by the Peace on the Street, Inc. a not for profit organization in East Harlem, NYC. Classes offered include Astanga Yoga and Gentle Yoga as well as karate.
I personally felt it was no accident that I was there at this screening. It was no accident that the screening took part in the meditation room. It was no accident that I invited my daughter with me. Ever since that hurricane, I can’t help but think that something is coming, something that I can’t explain, but know. It was something in the faces of the people in New Orleans. Something familiar that we had seen before.
Many of us feel deeply in our hearts what Kanye West expressed. I stayed glued to my computer forcing myself to be a witness. Many of us could not believe that a nation like the United States would stand by watching people die. I don’t know why I was so shocked. I don’t know why any of us were so shocked. We live in a country that has taken many lives in this manner and worse. The people of the gulf states were the present day faces of the suffering people endured on slave ships through out the Diaspora, during Jim Crow, during Apartheid and at this moment on reservations that continue to house indigenous nations here in America.
That suffering was echoed in the cry of those babies that went hungry. It was the stillness of the feet peeking beneath a blanket someone had placed on the elders left for dead in wheelchairs. It was the sorrow of our family history past, present and future. It was the sorrow of not only New Orleans, but also the entire state of Louisiana. It was Mississippi delta blues; the part that could not be expressed in any recording any of us has ever heard. It was Alabama and the secrets she has kept. It is Red Lake and the suffering of a nation of indigenous people that the media has already swept under the carpet. America is a nation that consciously hides the condition of Black people, by holding up Oprah as the measuring stick. The story of the so-called undocumented people living in the gulf region is yet to be told. What will become of them? Will we ever know?
“Follow Me Home” is a bold examination of race and identity. The film was released in 1996. It is the creation of director and writer Peter Bratt with his brother Benjamin Bratt. The film is the journey of 4 artist representing the disenfranchised, on their way to DC from LA to paint a rainbow – a euphemism for the human race left out of the make up of the system of power in the United States. Along the way they encounter an African American woman literary holding a secret in her hands. They are forced to deal with the external oppression represented by men clad in Yankee uniforms. These men are on their way to a Civil War re-enactment. Revealed in the film is also, the internal oppression people can inflict on themselves as a result of colonization.
It was the third time in a week that, I had been in a place where an indigenous messenger came with a spiritual interpretation of the state of our world. It was clear that he was bringing us a message. Every thing that I’m recording here has been paraphrased from the notes I decided to take and my memory of the evening.
Peter Bratt talked about the indigenous communities returning to the ceremony as a way to address the needs of their people and the condition of mother earth. He began by stating that storytelling is the basis of all peoples. The director/writer considers himself a storyteller and uses film as his medium of choice. He added, had he not been a writer and filmmaker, that he would spend his time with medicine people. As a member of the board of Peace on the Streets, Inc. he believes in the mission of the organization to address the issues of violence on our streets by offering a variety programs treating the symptoms of oppression and healing the pain of wounded people. He has been going around showing the film in different community venues as a way to offer discussion and healing to communities.
One of the characters in the film is Abel, portrayed by Peter’s brother Benjamin Bratt. Abel is an angry wounded man hiding his pain in alcohol and pot. He displays the only power he owns by carrying an angry threatening demeanor, dishing out insults to strangers and loved ones alike. During the discussion Peter described those like the Abel character in our communities behaving in this manner as wounded and in need of healing. People need help he said. Organizations like Peace on the Street were important. Peter said it was important in any teaching to tell the whole story. He said that we lived in a society where often we don’t take time and often skim the surface of martial arts. He smiled as he talked about how wonderful it was to enter the community center observing the youth, taking part in a martial arts class. He noticed the children bowing to the teachers and to each other upon entering the room. He reflected on the respect and manner in which everyone connected to each other.
Peter was on a reservation in South Dakota when the events in the Gulf region took place. He said that the problem in our society was that we see people as less valuable. He said race was a spirit and it often brings up a lot of pain. That each of us in the room were not alone, and that our ancestors were with us. The concept of ancestral communion was an integral part of the film.
He continued to say that indigenous people were concerned about what is going on in the world and that lots of ceremonies are taking place to off set what is about to take place. He said that native communities were returning to the ceremony as a way to address the needs of their people and the condition of mother earth. He said many of his people come to the medicine man as a last resort. Usually when they are threatened with death. This is the point where we are in relationship to mother earth. He explained that in traditional ceremonies a woman brings water into the room because water represents life. Women bring life. The problem in the world is that the female has been left out. The spirit of the female (which represents balance) has been removed from the alters of many societies. He pointed out that many cultures believe we are all made up of woman spirit as well as man spirit. He said our bodies are just our earth suits. In our earth suit we have been disconnected from the mother, our earth.
He went on to say that there is no native word for nature because we are nature. We have to take care of nature. Everything that exists has the right to be, from the trees to the tiny bacteria.
He ended the evening with a story about a lesson he learned about himself. He had been critical of his spouse’s way of following the spiritual teachings. In being critical of her, he realized that he himself was not measuring up. He remembered to be the change you wish to create. I’m thankful for the film. I’m thankful for the wonderful work Peter Bratt is doing to make us reflect on how we can use the gifts we’ve already been given. By the way, that is also in the film. You have to see it to know what I’m talking about.
The Meditation Center will show the film to people who wish to see it as long as there is an audience of 10 to 15 persons. Contact them at 212- 426-4666.
For more info about the film and Peter Bratt go to
http://www.speakoutnow.org
/People/PeterBrattandFollowMeHome.html.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment