CPTnet July 2, 2004 ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG: The killing of Geronimo Fobister,
part two

by Lisa Martens

"I want to explain cultural genocide without being racist towards Whites,"
an Anishnaabe man said to me, resting his head on the steering wheel. He
had driven up to our house that evening to talk through his feelings on an
upcoming Coroner's inquest for Geronimo Fobister, a relative of his whom
police shot on August 26, 2003.

He wants to explain to the six jurors and coroner at the inquest the context
of cultural genocide in which police killed his 19-year-old relative. In
doing so he will be addressing non-Indigenous jurors and attorneys who are
part of a non-indigenous legal system, responding to the report of a non
indigenous coroner who is trained in a non-indigenous medical system.

He wants to address them regarding the killing of his relative by a police
officer who is part of a non Indigenous police system and who has already
been found not guilty of criminal activity by a Special Investigations Unit
which is also a non-Indigenous entity.

The CPT members at Asubpeeschoseewagong hear and see Anishnaabe people
working, every day, for their own healing from violence. We say to our
non-Indigenous constituents that they are taking care of their business.

 We say to ourselves:five hundred years of genocide across North and South
America is a story that we who are Non-Indigenous are deeply stuck inside
for the time being. Let us work for the resurrection story that will
happen when those of us who are non Indigenous take such responsibility for
colonization that our police officers refuse to shoot Anishnaabe teenagers
in the head. Let us pray for the survival of the Anishnaabe Nation.