.JPG) |
| Stan Knowlton on the Glenwood Erratic C. Davis photo |
Stan Knowlton, Letter to the Editor
In order to properly explain the extreme difference of opinion, we have to look at the Official Canadian and US definitions of a hate crime and the systemic process of Denial involved:
“ Hate Crimes Statistics Act (1990) (U.S.*): "... crimes that manifest evidence of prejudice based on race, religion, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, including where appropriate the crimes of murder, non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, aggravated assault, simple assault, intimidation, arson, and destruction, damage or vandalism of property."
(Public Law 101-275).
Anti-Defamation League (ADL): A hate crime is "any crime committed because of the victim's actual or perceived race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender [male or female] or sexual
orientation."
The word "perceived" is important, because many vicious assaults are based on the incorrect belief that the victim is Jewish, gay, or a member of some other group that the perpetrator hates.”
(www.religioustolerance.org/hom_hat3.htm)
In Canada, “A hate crime is one in which hate is the motive and can involve intimidation, harassment, physical force or threat of physical force against a person, a group or a property.”
(www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/06/15/f-hate-crimes.html)
On the other hand, THE PROCESS OF SYSTEMIC DENIAL has moved from:
Desecration of the Glenwood Erratic, Destruction of a historic site, Vandalism of a Land Mark, Vandalism of a rock and a Core sample by a geologist.
The Glenwood Erratic is only one of ten sites in this area that has been targeted by vandalism, to outright destruction involving explosives because of the writings they contained. The identifiable group targeted are the Blackfoot, Piikani and the believers in the SUDANA tradition, to which I belong. The Sudan believers say that Sinaksin (Writing) was part of a sacred bundle that was given to the people from the six stars (pleiades constellation). As a member, carrier and practitioner of Sudana, it is my duty to teach and protect the integrity of these gifts. So far, I have instructed over five hundred people in the use of the Blackfoot Syllabarium, with at least fifty students having received credits from this course to enable them to graduate from the University of Lethbridge.
The Blackfoot Syllabrium is protected under code 10646 of the International Standards Organization.
By exposing these basic human rights violations all I was expecting was a simple, unbiased investigation which we did not get.
*Editor's clarification
Related links:
RCMP confirm no vandalism to historic site
Local history drilled out and washed away
Regarding the ten sites Stan mentions, we have photographs of those sites as well, which he says were dynamited in the 1920's. Large holes in the ground and a few large and small fragments of glacial erratics are all that are left at that site. We intend, as we stated in our article about the Glenwood Erratic, to tell that story too, because of its historical significance and the implications of that destruction. Before we can tell that story there is a great deal of research to be done. If you have information about that site, located on the Piikani Nation reserve (Brocket) we'd love to hear from you.
ReplyDelete- Chris Davis, Editor