Re: "Tell Them They Lie"

[Dan Moonhawk Alford <dalford@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 8 Jan 2001, Dennis wrote:

> Dan Moonhawk Alford wrote:
> >  
> > > I saw this book in the Muskogee, Oklahoma, library, along with other
> > > Cherokee material.
> > 
> > I've read the book fairly closely, and beyond that, being part Cherokee
> > myself, they're relatives of mine. And beyond THAT, after 30 years with
> > Turtle Islanders 
> 
> Who are the Turtle Islanders?  I've never heard of them before.

It's what the Natives call North America. Picture Florida as a back
flipper, Texas as the tail, Baja as another flipper; pointed north.

> > I can only say that I would take a book like this
> > seriously no matter what tribe it was from; indigenes don't sit down to
> > write books for the Invaders unless there's a really good reason.
> 
> There is a reason.  Some oppressed ethnic groups go
> too far in trying to regain pride in their heritage. 
> Some Black Americans have written that the Pharaohs of
> Egypt were actually black.  I can't accept that.  They
> have the same reasons to write such things as did the
> authors of "Tell Them They Lie".  But they don't need
> to!!!  Sub-Saharan Blacks and Native Americans have
> plenty to be proud of without resorting to
> exaggeration!!!!!!  The Cherokee can be proud indeed to
> count a man like Sequoyah among their numbers.  

The other possible reason, of course, being that relatives want to set a
distorted outider's record straight with stories known to the family.

> > Has anyone ever found examples of Mormon "golden tablet" writing on the
> > web? I'd love to compare it to Cree.
> 
> http://www.Restoration.org/
> 
> there is a link to a replica of the Gold Plates:
> 
> http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/4893/plates5b.jpg
> 
> 	Robert tells me that the official LDS line is that the plates
> were in Hieratic Egyptian.  I have samples of both Hieratic and
> Demotic Egyptian in front of me.  The characters look closer to
> Hieratic than to Demotic, but they don't have the flowing character of
> either Hieratic or Demotic.  Or they may be nonsense symbols.  A much
> better Egyptologist than me would have to comment.

Hmmm -- a possible flaw in the Sequoyah relatives' story.

warm regards, moonhawk

Come the millennium, month 12, In the home of greatest power,
  the village idiot will come forth to be acclaimed the leader.
                                                  -- Nostradamus, 1555
;-)