In Honor of Our Native American Indian Sisters → “Leave No Stone Unturned”
Watching the 1940 film “Virginia City,” circa U.S. Civil War, brought back memories of my visit to the actual Virginia City in Nevada – eerie feeling of a ghost town’s dead silence.
Braving myself, I walked slowly to the grave yard. At first glance, the earth appeared to be rejecting the solid pieces of concrete entrenched in her body.
Was it the stones willing themselves out of the earth? Suddenly, a strange feeling came over me. I felt an uncontrollable need to want to help pull them out.
The stones seemed to stand out at just the right angle where the sunrise shined its rays on the stones’ names.
I walked away reasoning it was an illusion and returned at sunset. Once again the sun’s light shone in the dusk. As I began to walk away reasoning it was an illusion, the screeching sound of a raven bid me back.
Sitting on top of a stone baked by the sun, the raven screeched was as if it beckoned me to “leave no stone unturned.”
“Winning or Learning”
Riding with my horse we have ridden beaches, snowy mountains and desert trails sharing sea, sky, and land views. We have yet to ride Montana’s “big sky country.”
Taylor Sheridan’s epic drama Yellowstone is no illusion. For me, Yellowstone is not a story but many stories in one where past and present seem to butt heads; Beautifully created stories by Taylor Sheridan, Eric Beck, Brett Conrad, John Coveny, John Linson, Ian McCulloch.
But don’t let my crush on Kevin Costner persuade or dissuade you from watching Yellowstone. Yes, his role of “John Dutton” is superb. Still, the reason I think this drama is so damn good is that it’s rich, raw, and bloody real as is its cast.
The film, “Virginia City,” centered around two spies during the Civil War, a Union Spy and a Rebel Spy. In the end, both men shared the same sentiment towards the people of the South and the need to bestow unto them the gold in spite of them losing the war, “Rebuild their homes and restore some of their pride.”
President Abraham Lincoln’s words, “No spirit of revenge in our victory…Our destiny is indivisible.” Lincoln’s words did not materialize. After the Uncivil War, few shared the President’s sentiment. Fewer today.
The year 2020 appears to have taken off where 1865 left off, defying the “better angels of our nature” or as John Dutton concludes, “All the angels are gone. Only devils left.”
White men from the north and south could not help each other “Rebuild their homes and restore some of their pride.” What makes the rest of us think they’d do the same for the Indian tribes they destroyed, North, South, East and West?
Shamefully, till this present day, thousands of Indian women, our sisters, have been reported missing. But few have honored them and set out to “leave no stone unturned.”
Retribution may come by way of the souls of Indians, natives of the land of Montana and other “united states” as they reclaim their torn homes and pride of over 11,000 years.
Some win and others learn riding into the sunrise or sunset. But in the end, we take a straight path to the grave we share with no one.
Right, “this is America. We don’t share.” Or as a tba episode’s title, “No Such Thing as Fair.” So for all you hostile trespassers AND occupiers, get out, Montana doesn’t want you.