![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/cfcc.edu\/storyforce\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2021\/11\/Robert-O.-Bennett-262x300.png\")
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Robert Bennett was born in December of 1956 in the small town of Pirasens, Germany to a German mother and a Native-American father serving in the United States Army. Robert spoke only German until he moved with his family to the US. He moved around for years as a military brat, and after graduating from high school in Texas in 1975, he joined the Army.<\/p>\n
Robert was stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany where he was able to see his mom and grandparents every weekend. During his time in Europe, he traveled to 14 countries. Upon his return to the US, he served three more years. While stationed in Fort Lewis, Washington in 1980, he witnessed Mount Saint Helens explode. Robert is the father of seven daughters and is working toward his degree in history at CFCC.<\/p>\n
O<\/span>nce we roamed the open prairies<\/span><\/p>\n We were many and loved the land<\/span><\/p>\n The Buffalo was our way of life\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Our subsistence, our food and our lodges<\/span><\/p>\n The fur, our blankets, the bones, our tools<\/span><\/p>\n Our way of life was simple, it was pure<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many moons later, Inquisition\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Incas, the Mayans, the Aztecs too<\/span><\/p>\n Our brothers to the South were slaughtered too<\/span><\/p>\n Our women were raped and butchered<\/span><\/p>\n Women and children were their slaves<\/span><\/p>\n They take our Gods, in the name of greed<\/span><\/p>\n They take our food and starve my people<\/span><\/p>\n In the name of Christianity<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then the White man comes and steals our land<\/span><\/p>\n They buy it for pennies and build cities<\/span><\/p>\n New York, Boston, and more people came<\/span><\/p>\n First Mystic River they come in the night<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Again they slaughter my people\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The White man takes our trees the Creator provided<\/span><\/p>\n For my people and steal my land<\/span><\/p>\n Manifest Destiny it is called, in the name of greed<\/span><\/p>\n We roamed this land in search of food, to live in peace\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To raise our families, to pray to the Creator<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n They call us savages, yet call the kettle black<\/span><\/p>\n Yet, they want our land by any means possible<\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s Sandy Creek and Wounded Knee<\/span><\/p>\n They slaughter my people and jump with glee<\/span><\/p>\n They give us soiled blankets and keep us warm\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To see my people die from disease<\/span><\/p>\n They out us on reservations with bad meat<\/span><\/p>\n Not good to eat and watch my people die<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n They take away our dances to the Great Spirit<\/span><\/p>\n Our language and our prayer to my Creator<\/span><\/p>\n They take our children to learn the white man\u2019s way<\/span><\/p>\n They take our pride, they kill our chiefs<\/span><\/p>\n They sent them to prison or to far away lands<\/span><\/p>\n To teach them a lesson in the white man\u2019s way\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n We are the true Americans for thousands of years<\/span><\/p>\n We roamed these lands, a free spirit with the land\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We hunted the deet for their hides, we eat the meat<\/span><\/p>\n To feed our tribes, our women, our children<\/span><\/p>\n Our elders too, <\/span>we respect those who come before us<\/span><\/p>\n Their stories, their battles, their tribes\u2019 histories<\/span><\/p>\n From the beginning of time<\/span><\/p>\n The Apaches, Comanches, and the Lakota Sioux<\/span><\/p>\n The Crow, the Blackfoot too, the Iroquois, the Cherokee,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The Choctaws, The Kiowas too<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Our Pride is coming back to stand as one<\/span><\/p>\n To my Creator, to your God<\/span><\/p>\n We stand as one people, united for a cause<\/span><\/p>\n We are Americans, the last to vote<\/span><\/p>\n And Citizenship too<\/span><\/p>\n We were hunted like animals to no end<\/span><\/p>\n Women and Children too<\/span><\/p>\n By Custer, by Sheridan, by Crook, and Howard too<\/span><\/p>\n All we want is peace to hunt, to roam our lands<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is it too much to ask?<\/span><\/p>\n To respect my people, to give them dignity<\/span><\/p>\n Our language saved America in World War II<\/span><\/p>\n Ande defended it in every war<\/span><\/p>\n Yet there is no respect<\/span><\/p>\n Are we savages? The answer is NO!<\/span><\/p>\n Those who stole our land were the savages<\/span><\/p>\n In the name of Christianity<\/span><\/p>\n We want to live in peace and roam our lands<\/span><\/p>\n By Robert O. Bennett, United States Army<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Robert Bennett was born in December of 1956 in the small town of Pirasens, Germany to a German mother and a Native-American father serving in the United States Army. Robert spoke only German until he moved with his family to the US. He moved around for years as a military brat, and after graduating from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_expiration-date-status":"","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[330,525],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n