RESPECT FOR ALL

PEOPLE HATE WHAT THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND
Heinous crimes have been committed against people of color in our country: slavery, lynchings, police brutality and the excessive incarceration of young black and brown men. These atrocities are born of a hate-filled racism unfortunately at work in our country today. In 2019, the greatest danger to our social order is the millions of white people who hate a pluralistic, diverse democracy that promotes equal rights for all.

RACISM MUST END
Since 2017, the dishonest and racist behavior of President Trump has severely harmed America’s reputation around the world. Time magazine’s July 17, 2019 article, “Republicans Want a White Republic. They’ll Destroy America to Get It,” states that “because Trump promises Republicans a return to white dominance, he is more important to the GOP and its base than the country those in power took an oath to support and defend.” Republican leadership and Trump supporters are destroying America! There is no need to be a racist in the 21st century. Showing other people dignity, kindness and respect is essential to being a good human being. It is a critical part of maintaining important personal relationships. Learning to respect people's efforts, abilities, opinions, even their quirks, will help keep you happy and successful in your interpersonal life. Respecting yourself can help you move forward with the confidence to develop the habit of respect and share it with the people around you.

STOP RACISM. RESPECT ALL LIFE.
In his essay, “Whose Earth Is It Anyway?,” the late James H. Cone, eminent professor at Union Theological Seminary and founder of Black Liberation Theology, argues that the logic behind the racism that strips black Americans of their humanity is the same logic that strips nature of its dignity. He writes, “White racism leads directly to the degradation of the earth” and “…white racism not only exploits humans but also the earth itself. The fight for justice cannot be segregated but must be integrated with the fight for life in all its forms.” Professor Cone devoted his life and teaching to a justice that extends to all of God’s creatures, human and otherwise. He did not shrink from telling the truth. Yes, he wanted justice, not in the form of punishment but by the realization that justice requires a transformative change of heart by white people. “No threat has been more deadly and persistent for black and Indigenous peoples than the rule of white supremacy in the modern world. For over five hundred years, through the wedding of science and technology, white people have been exploiting nature and killing people of color in every nook and cranny of the planet in the name of God and democracy... The tentacles of white supremacy have stretched around the globe. No people of color have been able to escape its cultural, political and economic domination.” This is the problem: millions of white people do not respect diversity and do not respect our Earth.

People become more respectful when they can see: “What happens to you, happens to me, and what happens to me, happens to you. We have to embrace each other and embrace the wonderful things about who we are, as well as the problematic aspects of who we are. It is a give and take, a back and flow, and feeling respect means finding a way to connect to each other. It’s about joy. It’s about love. It’s about finding time to just see how deeply connected we all are.” —Otha Day, Community Builder/Drum Circle Facilitator.

SHOW LOVE AND JOY
Showing another person love and joy translates into a great way to show them respect. For example, you can show your love by helping another person with something they need, and in return you will feel their respect for helping them. Another easy way to show your love is when you are speaking with someone and you focus on closely listening to what they are saying. This will give you an opportunity to better understand what they are talking about which will result in respectful feelings all around. The 80/20 rule applies very well in a conversation where you listen more (80%), and talk less (20%). As for showing other people joy, it’s all about giving of yourself with no expectation of reward. It can be as simple as smiling with a happy greeting to a stranger, “How are you today?” With someone you know, you can surprise them with a little gift or a card that lets them know you care about them. As the saying goes: “It is better to give than to receive.”

“It’s no longer a black and white issue. You’ve got Hispanic folks... you’ve got Asian folks. This is not just the same old battles. We’ve got this stew that keeps bubbling up with people from everywhere. And we’re going to have to make sure that in our own lives, our families, and our workplaces that we do a better job of treating everybody with basic respect.” —President Barack Obama

The Two Wolves story comes from the 2017 award-winning film, ONE HEART-ONE SPIRIT, filmed at the three day Aboriginal Garma Festival in the northern territory of Australia. It introduces us to Native American Mi'kmaq/Mohawk performing artist Kenneth Little Hawk who travels half-way around the world to Australia where he meets legendary movie star, Jack Thompson. In North East Arnhem Land, Jack introduces Little Hawk to the oldest surviving culture on the planet: the 40,000 year old Aboriginal people of the Yolngu nation.

To learn more about the movie, visit OneHeartTribe.com.

“Americans have become less and less knowledgable about where their food comes from and how it’s grown. So, if people wanted to respect this earth, they should be purchasing food that has been grown with respect to the earth.” —Ed Stockman, Cofounder of Regeneration MA who has been an organic farmer for 47 years.

AGRICULTURE IS CAPTURED BY GREED
Right now, the EPA, FDA, and USDA are the government organizations responsible for our food production. Unfortunately, these agencies have been captured by industries who only care about their profits. The agro-chemical, biotech, energy, and pharmaceutical industries are all very influential in these federal agencies. It is a huge problem that will not be solved in the halls of government, but must be addressed directly by consumers: We the People! Global corporations have captured the policy agenda for agriculture and they must be stopped from further damaging the environment.

REMOVE THE CO2
What is raising the global temperature of the planet is the increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (C02). By educating consumers to reject products in the marketplace that produce a lot of greenhouse gases (i.e., Monsanto), we can not only reduce greenhouse gases, but actually remove greenhouse gases (C02) from the atmosphere. According to the United Nation’s Panel on Climate Change, capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide (C02) from agricultural soil is a way to restore soil health while returning carbon levels to those prior to the Industrial Revolution.

REGENERATION WILL REMOVE CO2
Regenerative agriculture practices improve soil quality, increase biodiversity, improve the water cycle and increase resilience to climate change. Healthy and fertile soil is the key to agriculture in the 21st century. Earthworms are an indicator of healthy soil that is produced by inexpensive organic management practices. These include recycling as much organic farm waste as possible (composting), crop rotation, reduced tillage, cover cropping, and well managed grazing.

“All life is dependent on all life. There is no separation. Everything lives for everything else. There is no separation. My Grandmother and Grandfather said that the animal, the vegetable, the mineral, the human, are all one. There is no separation.” —Kenneth Little Hawk, Mi’kmaq, Mohawk

NATURE HELPS US UNDERSTAND OURSELVES
“When you’re connected to nature, deeply connected with nature, there is a knowledge you can gain quickly that you can’t gain anywhere else. You learn to respect the signs of what mother nature is going to do. Listening to the sounds of the river and the wind, reading the sun and the sunset, reading the clouds and the mountains, is learning to read those signs in yourself.” —Otha Day

“Heal yourself with the love you give to all those around you. Love your family, your friends, and all the people you work with every day; love everything about your life and even love the people you don’t really like; Simply give your love to everyone you meet and send your love out to the entire world. Understand that love is the glue of life; love all that lives, even the millions of tiny living organisms in your body. Love all of nature, the Earth, and the entire Universe made up of trillions of stars.” —John Pritchard, Founder, One Heart Movies.



DRUMMING IS HEALING
Drumming has been used to promote healing since ancient times. From Native American medicine men to Mongolian shamans to West African healers, drums have been used as a highly effective form of healing to help people become healthier: physically, mentally, and spiritually. Current research shows that drumming reduces anger and stress, increases feelings of happiness, improves cardiovascular health, boosts the immune system, and even produces endorphins that naturally decrease pain in the body. Drumming also improves our intuitive nature. With group drumming and drum circles, extended periods of drumming (15 minutes or more) can increase a groups feeling of greater cooperation and community. When people drum together there is an increased production of endorphins which produce healing effects and happier, more joyful emotions. This is why Otha says, “We all just need to drum!”

“How would it be if you looked at me as brother?
How would it be if she looked at her as sister?
Elders as grandmother and grandfather?
And all of the children as our own?
How would it be if we looked at the Earth as Mother?
How would it be if we looked at Sky as Father?
How would it be if we really cared for each other?”
—Kenneth Little Hawk, Mi’kmaq, Mohawk

“People think that if we don’t talk about racism, than we are no longer racist. The problem is when we don’t talk about racism, that’s what’s disrespectful. That’s saying that my opinion, my position, my experience, doesn’t matter. If you respect me, you ask me what I think and then we can have an engagement about it.” —Otha Day

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT RACISM
Racism is real, but race is an invented concept. We are not so different. We may be different colors on the outside, but on the inside we are far more alike than we are different. It’s a matter of getting past the initial reaction that we are a different race so we are going to act racist toward each other. But, if we can see something joyful in one another that is meaningful, then we can move beyond feeling racist.

“My advice to all of us here is to sit in silence and listen. Sit for moments and breathe deeply... relax your shoulders and just listen. When you’re in conflict with someone else, don’t jump right in, just listen. Listen to the pain of their experience. Listen to the joy of their experience. We don’t always have to share our pain, our joy, but I think it behooves us to just open our minds, open our ears, and open our hearts, and just listen.” —Otha Day

“I hope that there will be a world where my future family members will have a place where they can live happily without fear of persecution, whether that be for their race, gender, or whatever that may be. And looking closely on the next few years, I hope that with the people that govern my life, and even amongst the world, that more love and respect can be cultivated... because the basic fundamentals of what makes a successful society are Respect, Self-awareness, and Love.” —Charlotte Sanford, High School Junior.

GIVE EVERYONE RESPECT!
Everyone deserves respect so give it! Give everyone the respect they deserve. There are many ways you can give respect and the simplest way is to just say “Thanks.” Thank people for their assistance and their support on a regular basis. It’s important to remember all the people who've helped you on your journey. Show respect by saying thanks. Even if there's not an obvious occasion for thanks, showing it regularly will mean a lot to people. To show respect for other peoples’ opinions, question them. Ask open ended, leading questions that show you're fully engaged with their ideas and that you're listening closely. If you want to show someone you are truly listening, repeat, in your own words, what they have just spoken about. This feedback process is an excellent way to clarify, in a respectful way, whatever is being discussed. RESPECT is one of the greatest expressions of LOVE.

“You have the power to make choices to live in harmony with other people and make choices to live in harmony with the earth.” —Beverly Little Hawk, Chairwoman, One Heart Movies.

“Kateri Tekakwitha {Mohawk), was made a saint by the Catholic Church because she turned no one away and treated everyone as if they were someone special. Everyone is special because what comes out of us can be that which came out of Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, and Chief Joseph. They were all human beings and had the same thing inside of them that we have inside of us. It’s not hard to bring it out, we just have to let it be.” —Kenneth Little Hawk, Mi’kmaq, Mohawk

In issues of race, we should educate everyone about compassion, just like we teach students how to read. And a big part of teaching compassion is encouraging people to take action. It is not enough to simply feel empathy towards another person by putting yourself in their shoes. Compassion requires action and you must do whatever you can such as protesting against racism in your community.

CONNECT WITH HUMANITY
Compassion requires us to be aware and think about other people. We need to understand our own emotions and be grounded within our self. Then we can reach out and feel connected to others... and find the joy. If we can find the joy through looking at someone’s smile, then we can feel a human connection that celebrates respect for all. As humanity moves forward, it is so very important that we make time to talk with one another... that we sit and listen, and ask good questions with all our heart.

“What you give, you get.
If you give love, you get love.
If you give space, you get space.
If you give respect, you get respect.
If you give big hugs, you get big hugs!”
—Otha Day, Community Builder/Drum Circle Facilitator

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