W.A.S.P. Apology
Dear Tribal Peoples of the Americas,
My English ancestors arrived aboard The Mayflower.
You were enslaved, exposed to smallpox, forced to forfeit your land.
No longer able to hunt. Shot like animals, sent to reservations.
I am profoundly sorry.
Sincerely and in the spirit of repentance,
Amy Barlow Liberatore
Trifecta asked us to write a letter of apology in exactly 33 words, not counting the title, salutation, or signature. The was the best subject I could write about. All my friends know of my pride in the “shanty Irish” side of my family; however, my father’s ancestors can be traced to Richard Warren on the Mayflower. While some view this as a heritage to be proud of, I’ve been trying to live it down, both as an activist and as a woman who educated herself on the facts of the matter. A racist website by some cracker named O. Ned Eddins plays down the torture and displacement Native Americans. History, once again written by the winners… yet, had we stayed with indigenous ways of respecting the land and thinking seven generations ahead, we would not be ruled by oligarchy in a despoiled land. Amy
Sharp Little Pencil 