The Wild Reed

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Why Omar Fateh Is the Right Choice for Mayor of Minneapolis

Omar Fateh has worked with determination and strategy on policies that serve working people. . . . He is the type of leader we need at City Hall. He doesn’t flinch, he doesn’t fold and he doesn’t forget who he’s working for: you.

– Patricia Torres Ray

Patricia Torres Ray (pictured with me at right at the 2013 DignityUSA National Convention) is a former member of the Minnesota Senate whose district included parts of Minneapolis. Yesterday she had an op-ed published in the Star Tribune in which she makes the case for Minnesota State Senator Omar Fateh to be the next mayor of Minneapolis.

As a supporter of Omar and his mayoral campaign, I was happy to see Torres Ray’s endorsement, one that I share below in its entirety.

_______________

Minneapolis, let me tell you what I know about Omar Fateh.

I served alongside Fateh in the Minnesota Senate. From the very first conversation we had, I saw in him a determination and tenacious leader who refused to give up in the face of hardship or setbacks. He frequently reminded us of our duty to our constituents and the obligation to work harder to fulfill our campaign promises: to work harder for all of you.

Fateh came to the Senate determined to represent the voice of working people. He proposed to guarantee minimum wages for Uber and Lyft drivers who were getting poverty wages, to provide University of Minnesota graduate students with stronger union protections, and to make college in Minnesota not just affordable but free.

I supported these ideas, but I didn’t believe we could convince the majority of our peers to vote for all of these proposals. Fateh worked with determination and strategy on every one of these policies, and today they are the law for all Minnesotans.

He took on billion-dollar Silicon Valley corporations like Uber and Lyft, who were threatening to hold our state hostage, and won. Today, every driver in the state earns a living wage and has better protections.

He secured bipartisan support to offer free college tuition for students from working-class families. That is something few leaders anywhere in the country have managed to do.

Fateh wants to bring his political insight and tenacity to Minneapolis, and I believe our city needs his strength and political intuition to move us forward. He wants to build a safe Minneapolis where people can afford to live, raise their families, and start businesses. A place where seniors can keep their homes and age in place, and where all of us, despite ability, can access every corner of our city.

He wants to raise the minimum wage to $20 by 2028, listen to the voters and pass rent stabilization while still exempting new construction, and protect renters from eviction. These are real, tangible changes that can ensure families are not forced to choose between paying rent and putting food on the table.

Fateh believes public safety comes from care, not crackdowns. He secured $19 million for Minneapolis for public safety, which has remained untouched by the current administration. He will put those resources to work to implement consent decrees, diversify 911 responses and clear case backlogs.

I served with Fateh, have seen how relentless he is, and know he is the type of leader we need at City Hall. He doesn’t flinch, he doesn’t fold and he doesn’t forget who he’s working for: you.

– Patricia Torres Ray
“Why Omar Fateh Is the Right Choice”
Minnesota Star Tribune
October 14, 2025

When MAGA extremists attack us, and also, at times, the establishment Democrats, it’s because they’re scared. They’re scared of the multiracial, working class coalition that has been rising up in Minneapolis and in Minnesota. And they’re scared of having a city where ordinary people have real power.

– Omar Fateh

Also yesterday, Omar was interviewed by journalist Mehdi Hasan on his podcast, Mehdi Unfiltered. It’s a very informative 24-minute interview, though I wish people would stop reffering to Omar as "the Mamdani of Minneapolis." Yes, while it's true that he and New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani have similar progressive platforms, Omar Fateh is very much his own man. He deserves to be recognized and respected as such.

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
01:21 Switching roles from senator to running for mayor
03:53 George Floyd
05:42 Palestine and antisemitism
08:46 Campaign policies
10:09 Charlie Kirk, facing racism and Islamophobia
16:06 What makes you qualified for mayor?
18:07 Revoked endorsement
21:28 Standing up to Trump

Related Off-site Links:
Minnesota Sen. Omar Fateh Says He Won’t Back Down Despite Islamophobic Threats – Brianna Kelly (Bring Me the News, September 25, 2025).
Four Candidates for Minneapolis Mayor Weigh In on Major Issues Facing the City – Jon Collins (MPR News, September 19, 2025).
People “Are Tired of Backroom Decisions”: A Conversation with Minneapolis’s Omar Fateh – Peter Lucas (The Nation, September 5, 2025).
Omar Fateh Has All the Right Enemies – Alex Skopic (Current Affairs, September 5, 2025).
State DFL tries to disenfranchise the City DFL – David Tilsen (Southside Pride, September 3, 2025).
Minnesota Democrats Stab Omar Fateh in the Back – Concernicus (August 27, 2025).
DFL Reverses Omar Fateh Endorsement – Left Reckoning (August 26, 2025).
Democrats in Minnesota Revoke the Mayoral Endorsement of Omar Fateh – I Am Blakeley (August 23, 2025).
The State DFL Spits on the Minneapolis DFL – Steve Timmer (LeftMN, August 23, 2025).
Minnesota DFL Revokes Endorsement for Omar Fateh in Minneapolis Mayoral Race – Naasir Akailvi (KARE 11 News, August 21, 2025).
Rep. Ilhan Omar Condemns Party’s Decision to Throw Out Fateh Endorsement – Torey Van Oot (Axios, August 21, 2025).
How Did This Happen? – Ed Felien (Southside Pride, August 5, 2025).
Minnesota Democrats Endorse Socialist Omar Fateh for Mayor Over Incumbent Democrat Jacob Frey – AllSides (July 21, 2025).
Who Is Omar Fateh? Mamdani of Minneapolis Faces MAGA Abuse – Kate Plummer (Newsweek, July 15, 2025).
CAIR-Minnesota Condemns Anti-Muslim, Racist Hate Targeting Sen. Omar Fateh Amid Rising Political Violence – CAIR-Minnesota (July 15, 2025).
Minneapolis Gets Its Own Mamdani – Kayla Bartsch (National Review, July 15, 2025).
Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Omar Fateh Faces Racist Trolling: “Go to Mogadishu” – Times of India (July 14, 2025).
Omar Fateh Will Work Across the Aisle If Elected Mayor – Melody Hoffmann (Southwest Voices, April 2, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:

OMAR FATEH
• A “Racist and Factless Meltdown” Over Omar Fateh
• Omar | Jazz | DeWayne
• In His Efforts to “Build a City That Works for All,” Omar Fateh Secures a Key Endorsement
• Something to Think About – July 25, 2025
• The Longstanding Fault Lines Within the Democratic Party Have Surfaced Again in Minnesota
• Omar Fateh: “We Need to Meet the Needs of Working People”
• “Hopeful and Grounded”: Omar Fateh’s Vision of Democratic Socialism

DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM
• Martin Luther King, Jr. and Democratic Socialism
• Bernie Sanders: Quote of the Day – June 12, 2019
• Heather Cox Richardson on the Origin of the American Obsession with “Socialism”
• The Biblical Roots of “From Each According to Ability; To Each According to Need”
• Something to Think About – December 14, 2011
• Jonty Langley: Quote of the Day – August 17, 2011
• A Socialist Perspective on the “Democratic Debacle” in Massachusetts
• Obama a Socialist? Hardly
• Obama, Ayers, the “S” Word, and the “Most Politically Backward Layers in America”
• A Socialist Response to the 2008 Financial Crisis
• Capitalism on Trial
• What It Means to Be a Leftist in 2025
• Ted Rall: “Democrats Are Not the Left”

Photo of the Day

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Urbanscapes – 10/9/24
• Urbanscapes – 7/11/24
• Urbanscapes – 4/21/24
• Urbanscapes – 6/28/23
• Urbanscapes – 11/20/22
• “Smoke Plume” in Minneapolis
• Storm Clouds Over Minneapolis
• Ride to Sundown
• Moon Over Minneapolis
• High-Rise in Afternoon Light
• Photo of the Day – June 28, 2022
• Photo of the Day – May 20, 2022
• Photo of the Day – September 1, 2012
• Photo of the Day – May 8, 2010

Image: Michael J. Bayly (Minneapolis, 10/15/25).

Bruce Fanger on Jesus’s Theology of No Kings

Michigan-based digital creator Bruce Fanger has written an insightful and inspiring commentary on “the rebel Christ” and the “theology of No Kings” that he espoused.

I consider Bruce’s commentary to be a timely reality-check for all who claim to be followers of Jesus, myself included. Thank you, Bruce!

_____________

I do not believe Jesus was killed for being kind. Rome did not crucify gentle teachers or pious mystics. Crucifixion was reserved for one crime alone: insurrection. The sign nailed above his head didn’t say Blasphemer – it said, THIS IS JESUS, KING OF THE JEWS. That was not theology. That was treason.

We’ve been told to picture a meek lamb, but no empire executes lambs. During Passover, Rome staged its dominance – Pilate entering Jerusalem from the west on a war horse, iron and banners clattering through the gates like thunder. Jesus answered from the east, not on a stallion, but swaying atop a borrowed donkey, dust rising behind him like laughter at Caesar’s parade. It wasn’t humility. It was mockery. A counter-procession. A rival king with no army – but a crowd.

He wasn’t followed by philosophers or polite fishermen. One of his own was Simon the Zealot – Rome’s word for terrorist. Jesus didn’t gather a book club. He gathered men ready to die for liberation. And when he entered the Temple, he did not tidy altars – he flipped the tables. Silver exploded across stone like shrapnel. That was the financial heart of the priestly elite and Rome’s tax machine. It wasn’t a sermon. It was an act of economic sabotage.

They tested him next with taxes: “Is it lawful to pay tribute to Caesar?” He held the coin up – Tiberius’ face glinting like a false god. “Whose image is this?” Caesar stamped himself divine on the money. Jesus stamped God divine on humanity. “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s – and unto God what is God’s.” The coin goes back to the emperor. But you – made in God’s image – belong to no throne.

There it is: the theology of No Kings.

Let’s be honest. Jesus was not killed for preaching love. He was killed because his kingdom threatened theirs. Because his movement cornered both Pilate and Herod – empire and corrupt religion. Pilate feared uprising. Herod feared truth. One washed his hands. The other washed his conscience. Both chose order over justice.

“He took water and washed his hands . . .” Pilate wasn’t innocent. He was convenient. He condemned a man he knew was innocent because neutrality was safer. I see Pilate everywhere today – in judges, in pastors, in neighbors who whisper, “I don’t agree, but it’s not my fight.” Neutrality is empire’s favorite disguise.

What passes today as Christianity is not faith – it is endorsement. A golden calf draped in a flag. An idol with a Bible pressed in its grip. They bless border cages and call it law. They quote Christ and serve Caesar. They would crucify him again and hashtag it patriotism.

I refuse. I do not serve kings. I don’t care if they wear crowns or flags or corporate logos. “You cannot serve God and Mammon.” That is the line. If Jesus returned today, he would not be seated at their prayer breakfasts. He’d be outside the gates – with the migrant, the prisoner, the one empire has declared disposable.

That is why I stand with No Kings. Because faith without resistance is decoration. And silence in the face of empire is betrayal.

Which brings me to October 18.

They will call it chaos. Extremism. Disorder. Let them. October 18 is not about flames – it is about witness. We come not to burn, but to remember the truth Pilate could not wash away: you cannot kill a kingdom of conscience. I will not wash my hands. I will not call injustice “complicated.” I will not stand aside while kings devour the people.

Pilate took the towel.

I take the cross.

No Kings. No Idols. No Silence.

– Bruce Fanger
“The Rebel Christ: Toppling Thrones Then and Now”
October 11, 2025

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

An Autumn Walk Through the Neighborhood

Monday, October 13, 2025

Mark Sandlin: “Of Course Trump Wants Columbus Day Back”

The Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin (right) is Minister of Word and Sacrament at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in Greensboro NC. He also serves as co-host of The Moonshine Jesus Show and is the founder of The Christian Left, “a ministry for Christian progressives and their allies.”

Earlier today on social media, Rev. Sandlin shared the following to both mark Indigenous Peoples’ Day and comment on President Trump’s preference for celebrating Columbus Day instead.

__________________

Of Course Trump Wants
Columbus Day Back

By Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin

October 13, 2025

It’s not surprising that Donald Trump wants to turn Indigenous Peoples’ Day back into Columbus Day. That’s not irony. It’s the most predictable thing in the world.

Christopher Columbus wasn’t the hero we were taught about in school. He didn’t “discover” anything. He stumbled onto lands already full of life, story, and wisdom . . . and decided they were his. What followed was violence, enslavement, and genocide, all wrapped up in a shiny story about destiny.

And now, five hundred years later, another man obsessed with his own greatness wants to restore the holiday of the man who started it all.

Trump isn’t just defending a date on the calendar. He’s defending a way of seeing the world: where conquest gets called courage, and cruelty gets dressed up as greatness.

Columbus built his legend out of lies. When his voyages fell apart, he blamed others. When he was arrested for brutality, he called himself a victim. Trump does the same. Every failure becomes someone else’s fault. Every truth he doesn’t like becomes “fake news.” Both men have built their power by controlling the story and rewriting it when the truth gets in the way.

Columbus claimed divine purpose while enslaving people in the name of faith. He said he was spreading Christianity, but what he really spread was fear. Trump has learned the same trick. He waves a Bible like a prop, shouts about “Christian values,” and somehow convinces people that following Jesus means putting others beneath you. Both men use religion as a mirror that only reflects themselves.

Columbus ruled through violence. He treated human beings as obstacles. He punished resistance with brutality. Trump rules through division and resentment. He treats compassion like weakness and cruelty like strength. Both see domination as proof they’re right.

And both needed someone to blame. Columbus called Indigenous people “natural slaves.” Trump blames immigrants, Muslims, Black activists, and anyone who won’t kneel to his vision of America. Different century. Same sickness. Both build their power on white fear.

Columbus demanded titles and honors. Trump collects headlines and loyalty pledges. Both are fragile men pretending to be strong, desperate for devotion that feels like love but isn’t. When they talk about “greatness,” what they really mean is control.

They’re separated by centuries, but not by spirit. Both are ruled by a lust for empire. Columbus opened the door for European domination and called it discovery. Trump wraps the same logic in a red hat and calls it patriotism. The stories they tell are nearly identical: that the world belongs to the bold, that power makes you righteous, that violence can be redeemed by a good flag and a better slogan.

So, of course, Trump wants to “restore” Columbus Day. He sees himself in that mirror. He’s not protecting tradition.

He’s protecting the myth that built him.

The myth that some lives matter more than others.

The myth that might makes right.

The myth that history belongs to those who shout loudest and conquer fastest.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day tells a different kind of truth.

It refuses to keep worshiping empire.

It remembers the people who survived “discovery.”

It lifts up the voices America tried to silence.

It invites us to tell better stories, stories that make room for everyone.

That’s what really terrifies Trump. Not the loss of a holiday, but the loss of a lie.

The loss of a world where the powerful get to define what’s good, what’s true, and who counts.

So yes, of course he wants Columbus back on the calendar.

It’s not just about history.

It’s about holding onto a myth that keeps men like him in charge.

But the truth has a way of surviving, no matter how hard empire fights to silence it. That’s why Indigenous Peoples’ Day matters. It’s not just a different name. It’s a different way of seeing, one that says greatness isn’t about conquest. It’s about courage, honesty, and love that refuses to dehumanize anyone.

And that’s the kind of story worth celebrating.

– Rev. Dr. Mark Sandlin
“Of Course Trump Wants Columbus Day Back”
October 13, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
Stories of Resistance: Indigenous Peoples’ Day – Michael Fox (The Real News Network, October 13, 2025).
Trump Declares Columbus Day, Omits Indigenous Peoples’ Day Recognition – Native News Online (October 9, 2025).
This Indigenous Peoples’ Day, We Don’t Need Celebration. We Need Our Land Back – Krystal Two Bulls and Nick Tilsen (In These Times, October 12, 2020).
Noam Chomsky: World Indigenous People Only Hope for Human Survival – teleSUR (July 26, 2016).
The Real Christopher Columbus – Howard Zinn (Jacobin, October 12, 2015).
Five Young Native Americans on What Indigenous Peoples’ Day Means to Them – Sarah Ruiz-Grossman (The Huffington Post, October 9, 2017).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Kanipawit Maskwa: “The Land Still Remembers”
• Words of Wisdom on Indigenous Peoples’ Day
• Something to Think About – October 9, 2017
• Something to Think About – February 23, 2017
• Something to Think About – October 13, 2015
• Quote of the Day – September 27, 2015
• Something Special for Indigenous Peoples’ Day
• “It Is All Connected”
• Forever Oneness
• Standing Together
• Standing in Prayer and Solidarity with the Water Protectors of Standing Rock
• At Standing Rock and Beyond, Celebrating and Giving Thanks for a “Historic Decision”
• Come, Spirit . . .
• Exploring the Meaning and History of “Two-Spirit”
• Tony Enos on Understanding the Two-Spirit Community
• North America: Perhaps Once the “Queerest Continent on the Planet”
• The Landscape Is a Mirror
• “Something Sacred Dwells There”

Sunday, October 12, 2025

No Justice, No Peace

Following is my response to a Facebook friend who is celebrating President Trump as a “peace-maker.”

You can’t be a peacemaker without first being a justice-maker.

The common chant at protests, “No justice, no peace,” is not a demand; it’s a truth, one grounded in human reality.

In relation to the situation involving Israelis and Palestinians, a ceasefire needs to be followed by all parties coming together to facilitate Palestinian liberation, i.e., justice. Yet such liberation is anathema to Zionist* Israel, and the deal proposed by the pro-Zionist Trump does nothing to address the root cause of injustice: Israel’s brutal military rule and oppression of Palestinians – in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Again, no justice, no peace.

* In relation to understanding Zionist Israel, the following graphic is helpful.

Related Off-site Links:
A Ceasefire Deal, But Not a Peace Agreement – Democracy Now! (October 9, 2025).
“Celebration and Sadness”: Reaction from Gaza as Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Ceasefire Deal – Democracy Now! (October 9, 2025).
Palestinians and Aid Groups Express Cautious “Jubilation” as Ceasefire Deal Reached – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, October 9, 2025).
“We Must Keep the Pressure On”: Humanitarians Say Ceasefire Doesn’t Erase Gaza Genocide – Stephen Prager (Common Dreams, October 9, 2025).
Van Jones and the Moral Vacancy of American Commentary on Gaza – Ziyad Motala (Al Jazeera, October 8, 2025).
Israeli Government Approves First Phase of Gaza Ceasefire Deal – Democracy Now! (October 10, 2025).
After Gaza Ceasefire, “Massive Political Pressure” Needed to Prevent Israel from Restarting the War – Democracy Now! (October 10, 2025).

UPDATES: Israeli Historian Ilan Pappé: Despite Ceasefire, Palestinians Still Face “Elimination and Genocide” – Democracy Now! (October 13, 2025).
Ceasefire Sparks Fresh Calls for Global Media Access to Gaza – Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams, October 13, 2025).
From Gaza, Palestinians Have Reasserted Their Agency on the World Stage – Ramzy Baroud (Common Dreams, October 13, 2025).
After Two Years of Gaza Genocide, the West’s Moral Pretence Is Shattered – Ziyad Motala (Middle East Eye, October 13, 2025).
Can the Ceasefire Lead to Genuine Peace in the Mideast? – Michael Sean Winters (National Catholic Reporter, October 13, 2025).

Saturday, October 11, 2025

Quote of the Day

The Nobel Committee has decided to make the case for Trump’s war on Venezuela, giving its “Peace Prize” to María Corina Machado, a U.S. govenment-funded regime change activist who’s helped lead failed military coups, violent street riots, and has likely promised her country’s oil and mineral wealth to a consortium of MAGA aligned billionaires in exchange for financing her political arsonism. This icon of peace has even appealed to Benjamin Netanyahu to help her lead a military invasion of Venezuela.

María Corina Machado is a marionette for Marco Rubio, a creation of the CIA-sponsored Gusano Industrial Complex that has brought violent terror and siege to any Latin American country defying the Washington Consensus of privatization and austerity, and a would-be Pinochet in a skirt.

Machado has spent years lobbying for U.S. and E.U. starvation sanctions on her own country, resulting in waves of migration to the U.S., fueling the nativist resentment that gave rise to Trump. When Trump shipped Venezuelan migrants to a torture camp in El Salvador this year, Machado predictably sided with Trump, the main sponsor of her putchist career, over her countrymen.

Giving the Nobel to Machado is a green light for regime change war on Venezuela, and then Cuba. But the decision is consistent with the Committee’s role as a soft power instrument of Western empire. Just recall its award to Obama at the beginning of his first term, granting him infinite legitimacy in advance of his destruction of Libya, escalation of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and facilitation of Gaza’s decimation. Given that nothing has happened in Machado’s career without the support and guidance of Washington, the Committee’s decision must be seen as the result of another Western op – a coup in Oslo to pave the way for one in Caracas.

– Max Blumenthal
via social media
October 11, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
“Peace” Has No Meaning When Right-Wingers Like María Corina Machado Win the Nobel Prize – Michelle Ellner (Common Dreams, October 10, 2025).
2025 Nobel Peace Prize for Anti-Maduro Leader María Corina Machado “Opposite of Peace”: An Interview with Greg Grandin, Historian of Latin America – Democracy Now! (October 10, 2025).
A Beacon of Hope and Woke Bullshit – Abby Zimet (Common Dreams, October 10, 2025).
The Making of María Corina Machado – Caracas Chronicles (March 16, 2025).

UPDATES: Venezuela’s Opposition Used U.N. Meeting to Lobby for U.S. Coup – Joseph Bouchard (Common Dreams, October 11, 2025).
How Rescinding My Congratulations to María Corina Machado Was the Right Thing to Do – Rev. Karla (Spirituality Matters, October 13, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• CAIR Responds to María Corina Machado Being Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
• A Call to Halt an Illegal Invasion of Venezuela
• Jeffrey Sachs: Quote of the Day – May 1, 2019
• Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize (2009)

Image: Artist unknown.

Historian John Lestrange on the Meaning and Manifestations of Fascism, Past and Present

Friday, October 10, 2025

CAIR Responds to María Corina Machado Being Awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

In a media release issued earlier today, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) calls upon Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado to renounce her support for European fascism, Israel’s far-right Likud Party, and anti-muslim bigotry.

Following (with added links) is the full text of CAIR’s statement as shared via Facebook.

_________________

We strongly condemn the Nobel Prize committee’s unconscionable decision to award this year’s peace prize to María Corina Machado. Machado is a vocal supporter of Israel’s racist Likud Party and earlier this year she delivered remarks at a conference of European fascists, including Geert Wilders and Marie Le Pen, which openly called for a new Reconquista, referencing the ethnic cleansing of Spanish Muslims and Jews in the 1500s.

The Nobel Peace Prize should go to individuals who have shown moral consistency by bravely advocating justice for all people, not to politicians who demand democracy in their own nation while supporting racism, bigotry and fascism abroad. We call on Ms. Machado to renounce her support for the Likud Party and anti-Muslim fascism in Europe. If she refuses to do so, the Nobel Prize committee should reconsider its decision, which has undermined its own reputation. An anti-Muslim bigot and supporter of European fascism would have no place being mentioned alongside the likes of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and other worthy winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Nobel Peace Prize committee should instead recognize an honoree who has shown moral consistency by bravely pursuing justice for all people, such as one of the students, journalists, activists, medical professionals who have risked their careers and even their lives to oppose the crime of our time: the genocide in Gaza.

– Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
October 10, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
“Peace” Has No Meaning When Right-Wingers Like María Corina Machado Win the Nobel Prize – Michelle Ellner (Common Dreams, October 10, 2025).
2025 Nobel Peace Prize for Anti-Maduro Leader María Corina Machado “Opposite of Peace”: An Interview with Greg Grandin, Historian of Latin America – Democracy Now! (October 10, 2025).
A Beacon of Hope and Woke Bullshit – Abby Zimet (Common Dreams, October 10, 2025).
The Making of María Corina Machado – Caracas Chronicles (March 16, 2025).

UPDATES: Venezuela’s Opposition Used U.N. Meeting to Lobby for U.S. Coup – Joseph Bouchard (Common Dreams, October 11, 2025).
How Rescinding My Congratulations to María Corina Machado Was the Right Thing to Do – Rev. Karla (Spirituality Matters, October 13, 2025).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• A Call to Halt an Illegal Invasion of Venezuela
• Jeffrey Sachs: Quote of the Day – May 1, 2019
• Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize (2009)
• Doris Lessing Awarded Nobel Prize for Literature (2007)

Thursday, October 09, 2025

Kanipawit Maskwa: “The Land Still Remembers”

In response to President Trump ditching Indigenous Peoples’ Day and opting instead to proclaim Italian explorer Christopher Columbus as “the original American hero,” Kanipawit Maskwa shared the following earlier today via social media. (NOTE: Kanipawit Maskwa is the ceremonial name of John Gonzalez, a Taíno/Pimicikamak journalist,activist and filmmaker, which translates to “Standing Bear.”)

______________________

When I hear words like “Columbus, the original American hero,” I feel a heaviness in my chest – not because I am angry, but because I know how stories can wound when they are told without truth. Our people have lived on this land since long before that man ever dreamed of crossing the ocean. The rivers already had names. The stars already had songs. The people already knew the Creator. To call him a hero, and to erase the names of the ones who were here, is to speak only half a story – and half-stories have always been dangerous things.

When the leaders of a nation use their power to lift up conquest and silence the survivors, it tells me they have not yet learned the meaning of kinship. A true leader does not fear truth. A true leader does not need to erase others to stand tall. Our ancestors taught that greatness is not measured by how far you travel or how many lands you claim, but by how well you remember your relatives – all your relatives – the four-legged, the winged, the swimmers, the crawlers, and the human beings.

When I was young, the old ones told us that stories are medicine, but they can also be poison if told without humility. This proclamation feels like that – words dressed in honor but carrying harm. It forgets the women and children who suffered, the languages silenced, the songs that were not allowed to be sung. It forgets that this so-called discovery began a long night for our peoples, one we are still waking from.

I do not speak these things to divide us. I speak them because truth must be spoken if there is ever to be peace. We do not need to hate Columbus to honor our own story. But we must not let his name stand above the countless ancestors who greeted him with open hands and were repaid with chains.

Today, when the government once again chooses to remember the colonizer and forget the Indigenous, it is not surprising – it is just a reminder that our work is not done. We must keep teaching the children who they are. We must keep speaking our languages, planting our medicines, walking softly on the land that still remembers us.

So I say this: we will not disappear because a proclamation forgets us. We were here before Columbus, and we will be here long after the politicians are gone. The land remembers. The water remembers. The wind carries our names. And as long as we breathe, we will keep telling the whole story – the one that begins not with discovery, but with belonging.

– Kanipawit Maskwa

Today is a gift.
The Great Spirit’s breath still touches the land.
The sky glows with colors of fire,
The wind sings softly.
And for this, I say – thank you.

I am grateful
For another chance to live a good life –
To walk with kindness,
To use my hands to bring healing,
To speak with honesty and truth.

Sacred breath,
Fill me with patience,
Help me to listen deeply before I speak,
And to walk gently where my ancestors once danced.

Let my heart remember:
I am never alone.
My ancestors walk with me –
In every breath, every step, every beat of the drum.

Today, may I live with love,
With courage,
And with a spirit that helps others.

This is the truth:
The sun rises for all of us, not just me.
We are in this life together.

So keep going, my relatives.
Together, we rise.

– Kanipawit Maskwa

Related Off-site Links:
Trump Declares Columbus Day, Omits Indigenous Peoples’ Day Recognition – Native News Online (October 9, 2025).
Noam Chomsky: World Indigenous People Only Hope for Human Survival – teleSUR (July 26, 2016).
The Real Christopher Columbus – Howard Zinn (Jacobin, October 12, 2015).
Five Young Native Americans on What Indigenous Peoples’ Day Means to Them – Sarah Ruiz-Grossman (The Huffington Post, October 9, 2017).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Words of Wisdom on Indigenous Peoples’ Day
• Something to Think About – October 9, 2017
• Something to Think About – February 23, 2017
• Something to Think About – October 13, 2015
• Quote of the Day – September 27, 2015
• Something Special for Indigenous Peoples’ Day
• Recognising and Honoring Australia’s First Naturalists
• “A Mysteriously Charged and Magnificently Alive Archetypal Presence”
• An Australian Spirituality: “A Festival of Light and Rock”
• Australian Indigenous Culture and the Reality of LGBTI Lives
• Celebrating Mabo
• Matariki
• “It Is All Connected”
• Forever Oneness
• Standing Together
• Standing in Prayer and Solidarity with the Water Protectors of Standing Rock
• At Standing Rock and Beyond, Celebrating and Giving Thanks for a “Historic Decision”
• Come, Spirit . . .
• Exploring the Meaning and History of “Two-Spirit”
• Tony Enos on Understanding the Two-Spirit Community
• North America: Perhaps Once the “Queerest Continent on the Planet”
• The Landscape Is a Mirror
• “Something Sacred Dwells There”

Opening image: “The heart of everything that is” – Pahá Sápa, which is the Lakota name for the Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. (Photo: Michael J. Bayly, June 2013.)

The Wild Reed

Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Why Omar Fateh Is the Right Choice for Mayor of Minneapolis

Photo of the Day

Bruce Fanger on Jesus’s Theology of No Kings

Tuesday, October 14, 2025

An Autumn Walk Through the Neighborhood

Monday, October 13, 2025

Mark Sandlin: “Of Course Trump Wants Columbus Day Back”

Sunday, October 12, 2025

No Justice, No Peace

Saturday, October 11, 2025

Quote of the Day

Historian John Lestrange on the Meaning and Manifestations of Fascism, Past and Present

Friday, October 10, 2025

CAIR Responds to María Corina Machado Being Awarded the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

Thursday, October 09, 2025

Kanipawit Maskwa: “The Land Still Remembers”

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