Healing Mother Earth Event

12/26/09

@ Nowa Cumig: I am Susanne Fachinger from Germany. I am just reading your book “Ojibwa Warrior” and I like it very much. I have read “Airlift to Wounded Knee” before and then googled “Wounded Knee”. There I found your website. Now I would like to come into contact whith you, if you don´t mind.
When I was a child, I was already very interested in American Indians. I liked to read the stories of Karl May which told of an imaginary Chief of the Apache called “Winnetou”. I guess, the name is a combination of “to win” and “Manitou”. Winnetou´s best friend is a german man called “Old Shatterhand”, Karl May himself, in his phantasy. All the good guys in these stories come from germany. There are also films about Winnetou and Old Shatterhand, which come once a year on german TV. The actor who plays Winnetou is a frenchman namend Pierre Briece. He does not only play Winnetou – he IS Winnetou. In the story told by Karl May, Winnetou dies young, shot by some evil guys. But Pierre Briece made a film of his own, called “Winnetous Come Back”. In that film an old medicine man has found out that Winnetou was not really dead an healed him. Pierre Briece plays Winnetou again, now as a man about 65 years of age.
For me, Winnetou is not dead either. That means, the American Indians are still there and they are still great warriors – only – some of them don´t know it. At wounded Knee in 1973, they could show that they had not lost their spirit.
To me, you are the real “Winnetou”. From your book I read, that your character must be similar to that of Winnetou whom I adored, when I was a child.
Now whe have 2009. What ist it like today? Is the government of the USA still as racist as it was in 1973?

Best wishes
Susanne Fachinger