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The Retribalization Of The World
by Thomas Ivan Dahlheimer
I am a 60 year old hippie activist who is protesting against Minnesota's
derogatory geographic place names that are offensive to Native American.
And I am doing this, by spearheading an international movement to revert the
derogatory name of Minnesota's "Rum River" back to its sacred Dakota
Indian name Wakan, sometimes spelled Wahkon, and translated as (Great) Spirit.
And I am also spearheading a movement to change 11 other MN
geographic place names that are offensive to Native Americans. MN Rep. Mike Jaros
recently let me know that he was going to order the bill to
change these derogatory names.
And I am also protesting against the industrial-technological society, by both
exposing what it is doing to the earth's life-supporting
ecosystems, as well as by promoting a revival of the hippie--retribalization of the
world--revolution. Years before I even knew that the
"Rum River" name was a profanation of the Dakota Indians' name
for the river (Wakan) I was telling people, including relatives, friends and
Catholic priests that I had a--worldview around the Dakota Indian word wakan--hippie
prophetic visionary ministry, and that I believed
that my extended kinship family, the Mr. and Mrs. I. C. Rainbow family, would bring
about the retribalization of the world, and in doing so,
complete the visionary work of the hippie revolution's - retribalization of the
world - mission.
And years before I even knew that the "Rum River" name was a profanation
of the Dakota Indians' name for the river (Wakan), I attended the
1983 Tekakwitha Conference, an indigenous peoples of the Americas Catholic Conference
representing hundreds of tribes, and heard Rev. Stan
Maudlin, a founder and leader of the conference tell the conference participants that
there was a worldview around the word wakan. A couple
of years ago Rev. Stan Maudlin gave his support for the effort to change the Rum
River name.
And it was not long after Rev. Stan Maudlin make the above statement that Fr. Matthew
Fox, the conferences key note speaker, and an
international leader of a strongly influenced by the indigenous peoples of the Americas
globalization movement, interviewed me for an
hour. During that interview I told him about my hippie-Catholic - retribalization of the
world - worldview around the word wakan -
prophet visionary ministry. He then asked that I stay in touch with him. A couple of
years ago he gave his support for my effort to
revert the Rum River's name back to it Dakota Indian name Wakan.
The "Sioux" (Dakota) are used to protray all American Indian tribes in Hollywood,
anyone wanting to see a "real Indian" wants to see a war
bonnet and tipi. Therefore, I believe that the world psychic views all American Indians
as Dakota; and that when people watch the traditional
Hollywood movies about American Indians they often hear the Dakota using the word wakan
(sacred), or the combined words Wakan-Tonka
(Spirit-Great). Hence, a lot of people throughout the world believe that the word wakan
and the name Wakan-Tonka are used by all
American Indians.
Then during the 1983 Mr. and Mrs. Rainbow family reunion, Don Rainbow, an uncle of mine
and vice president of a Christian college (after talking
with me about my experiences at the 1983 Tekakwitha Conference) addressed the 17 families
attending the reunion and said: "A Rainbow is a sign of
God's salvation plan, and I believe that we may be used to glorify God more than
any other family in the world."
In the 1960s, Richard Carter, a San Francisco leader of the hippie counter-cultural
revolution and friend of mine, was meeting and talking with
Stephen Gaskin, another leader of the hippie revolution, who now-a-days is the founder
and leader of a very successful hippie commune with a
worldview around the Indian word wakan. Stephen Gaskin wrote: "The word wakan has a
strong and universal concept and people all around the
world know something about it.
In the late 1960s, Richard, his wife, and I traveled from the San Francisco bay area to
hopefully start a commune/tribe in Wahkon, Minnesota.
It did not materialize, however, I continued on with our - retribalization of the word -
hippie visionary mission. In the 1970s, I came to
believe that we hippies should not have tried to complete our mission by separating from
our parents, grandparents and uncles and aunts and
forming into communes/tribes, but rather we should have taken our - retribalization of
the world - revolution back to them and the Christian
Churches, and in the process, tribalized those churches. I am currently trying to do just
that.
update news
And thanks to Daniel Quinn's books, some members of my extended kinship family,
the Mr. and Mrs. I. C Rainbow family, are finally starting
believe in my vision.
Daniel Quinn's books have been translated into several different languages and
his website receives 20,000 hit's a day.
His latest book is titled: Beyond Civilization. A review on the back cover reads:
"Beyond Civilization is the most solid, real, practical,
and you-can-really-do-it book you'll ever find on how to save the world. Daniel
Quinn has again proven he is one of our century's greatest
and most insightful thinkers. The re-tribalization of the world: what an extraordinary
possibility!"
On page 182 of "Beyond Civilization" Quinn wrote:
WHY THINGS DIDN'T END UP A-CHANGIN
"Lots of songs about revolution came out during the hippie era of the 1960s and
1970s, but the revolution itself never materialized, because
it didn't occur to the revolutionaries that they had to come up with a
revolutionary way of making a living. Their signature contribution
was communalism - a hot news idea from the same folks who gave us powered
wigs."
"When the money ran out and parents got fed up, the kids looked around and saw
nothing to do but line up for jobs at the quarries. Before
long, they were dragging stones up to the same pyramids their parents and grandparents
and great grandparents had been working on for
centuries."
"This time it'll be different. It'd better be."
