From: news@hrd769.brooks.af.mil (InterNet News)
Newsgroups: news.groups
Subject: Re: soc.culture.native
Date: 14 Dec 1992 11:11:02 -0600
Organization: Armstrong Lab MIS, Brooks AFB TX
NNTP-Posting-Host: hrd769.brooks.af.mil

In article <1992Dec14.044749.13068@spdcc.com> 
> gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us (Gary S. Trujillo) writes:
>
>Sounds good to me.  We'll just need to get past the objections of those
>who feel that the more generic meaning of the word "native" is somehow
>being lost in the shuffle.  

  As I am not able to read/post into the alt.* hierarchy, I have removed it 
from the newsgroups.  I would willingly support this proposal.

  The recent trend, however, is to create a discussion group whose readership
is a mixed group to have a .misc group, instead of having discussion in the
'node' of a multi-group hierarchy.  To follow the herd, the proposal should 
(to appease the keepers of the name-space) be for a discussion group to be
created called soc.culture.native.misc, with the pre-established intention
of splitting the group into siblings as multiple groups make the .misc
group hard to use.

  Let's suppose for a moment (humor hats on please, this is supposed to not
                              be real).  Also, please excuse the regional
			      centrism, but I am from here.

 s.c.n.misc	- General discussion of First People's concerns, without
                  regard to locale.
 s.c.n.los-angeles - Discussion group of people who were born in L.A., rather
                  than moved to L.A. 
 s.c.n.modesto	- Discussion group of people who were born and work in Modesto, 
		  rather than those L.A. residents who reside there and work 
		  in the city.
 s.c.n.alaskan	- Discussion group for Eskimo concerns.
 s.c.n.plains	- Discussion group for tribal peoples of the Dakotas, Nebraska,
		  etc.
 s.c.n.oklahoma	- Discussion group for those tribal people indigenous to 
		  Oklahoma, as well as those displaced to the Oklahoma
		  reservations during the Long March(?).

  The L.A. group and the Modesto groups would have many concerns similar to
other 'native' peoples (I know, it's a reach, but I hope it is a light-hearted
one).  The point is that there are many people who consider themselves Native
to a particular region, and as such should not be limited from creating a 
discussion group to debate their concerns and vent their frustrations.  The
final group could be made up of two separate 'native' cultures, one 
superimposed over the other.  Another posteur (whose name I can't find) made 
a valid point, in that there are many levels of indigenous peoples and are 
often displaced in waves.  Take the Central American Toltecs and Aztecs.
Both groups were indigenous, but one overcame the other.  Such is the nature
of Mankind, I suspect.

  The .misc group would hold the discussion until the overbearing weight of the
discussion of the 'Native' residents of a region made it hard to hear other
discussions.  Once this happens, the split can occur to a group at the same
level, rather than a sub-group.  I am not really proposing this as such, 
primarily because I don't really like the .misc idea in the first place, but 
there will the name-space shepards who like to keep things tidy.  This is 
simply an offering.

  As a member of the United States Military, I have seen the tension caused
by cultural differences hurt the effectivness of many units.  I have come to
see that, left undisturbed, these differences often cause great harm, in terms
of lives lost and destruction of property.  The military is a cross-section
of the American situation, in mixture if not in composition.  Anything that 
can be done to help smooth the schisms that cultural differences sometimes 
cause and further the aims of Mankind as a whole is, in my opinion, a Good 
Thing and should be pursued with vigor and zeal.  

  soc.culture.native.*  is a Good Thing, whatever its name.

TSgt Dave Burgess
NCOIC AL/MIS
Brooks AFB, TX

  Note that the opinions expressed here are mine, and should not be construed
as those of the U.S. Military establishment as a whole, although I think that
most of the members of the military feel as I do.
Newsgroups: news.groups