URGENT- First Nations Protests- Human Rights, Land rights, water rights

Martial Media, Culture and Other Arts Off Topic
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[QUOTE=Jimbo;1253649]The Ainu of Japan, who are the last remnants of the Jomon people, were given every bit as terrible treatment by the later-arriving Yayoi, as the Native Americans received from the Europeans. Now there are very few “pure” Ainu left, mostly on Hokkaido. Most with Ainu blood have been intermixed into the general population in varying degrees. And discrimination against those with Ainu blood is still very bad in Japan today.

Though it was never brought up, my father’s side of the family has very clear Ainu/Jomon physical characteristics, except my paternal grandfather was quite tall for his time (around 6’ 1" tall; he lived 80 years and died in 1951). That’s almost 4 inches taller than I am. Ainu were generally characterized as shorter as well as shorter-limbed than the majority Yayoi Japanese…neither of which describes our family. But I am proud of the Ainu/Jomon characteristics that I’ve inherited.

Ironically, many of the popular actors, athletes, and many well-known people in Japan have varying degrees of Ainu or Jomon characteristics, such as Tatsuya Nakadai, Sonny Chiba, Toshiro Mifune, etc. I say it’s ironic, because they are/were very visible to the Japanese public, and those characteristics contributed to their unique looks. Yet among many Japanese, Ainu characteristics are often considered something to be ashamed of or kept hidden.[/QUOTE]

I have heard the Ainu mentioned before- I was always wondering that about Japanese people- how many might have Ainu blood and such. It sounds a lot like the northeastern United States/ Canada, a lot of mixing up here too is evident with our (First Nations) people.
I am of mixed ancestry myself. And, that is not a bad thing at all- I am proud of my roots and proud of my heritage that has been passed on to me. Yes, the discrimination/misunderstandings has existed and will always exist against minorities which is a bad thing.
That’s a good point about actors like Sonny Chiba! Indigenous is beautiful, that’s why they have that camera charm!

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@ Syn7-
I agree we need to be progressive. We need to work together. We can keep our identities and still move forwards. No problem there.
What I would be concerned about is this, for example (getting off the original topic a bit but whatever)-
In Central and North America there are a lot of old ruins- temples, cairns, walls, effigys etc. etc. In Midwestern USA they simply call them “mounds” but they are really earthern pyramids (refrence the Cahokia Mounds). A lot of times these are not protected in any way from development and being destroyed. In some cases these places are even more massive than the highly publicized pyramids in Egypt, to give one an idea. Just as the Chinese had the concept of Feng shui, these places were designed with the same pattern of thinking and sophistication. You may look at a city skyscraper and think that’s more impressive- in some ways, yes. But these old sites that are still around have that Feng shui-like element worked in with the landscape that our modern works do not.
And hey, my grandfather was a steel worker, so don’t get me wrong- I’m not pointing fingers at anyone (you could say he was a stereotype Native who was not afraid of heights). I feel as much at home in the city as I do the country.
But lets say we are building a new highway- and we discover a cave. Do we blow it (the entrance) up, or do we find a new way to work around it so we can preserve this historical “national treasure.”

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all u need to do to save ur people is breed. if 1000 women are willing to have 10 children each, and their children willing to have 10 children, you can make 100k natives in 36 years. in 54 years u wll have one million natives.