Sunday, April 16, 2006
The Pudgy Indian's Story
My name is Eugene Johnson. I am also called "He Who Laughs A Lot." I am a member of the Siletz Nation with Alsea, Klickitat, and Lower Umpqua ancestry. I was adopted by the Blackfoot Nation. I am 42 years old. I started smoking pot about six or seven years ago.
I believe I got my current job because I smoke pot. During the interview I was asked, "why did you leave your last job?" I told the truth. I got let go because I wouldn't pass a U/A. I went into the story of why I chose to smoke pot. The interviewer informed me she grew pot legally for her son who is a medical marijuana patient. I got the driving job.
Because of my childhood traumas, I suffer from occasional breakdowns and depression. I refuse to do legal pharmaceuticals because of the damage they can do to my body, some of them being linked to cancer, and the pharmaceutical companies mark up the drugs thousndands of percent to profit investors and management. A little research taught me marijuana is less harmful than coffee, another one of my favorite drugs. Marijuana helps in stopping and reducing the effects of my trauma induced depression, as well as it makes me feel good.
I am a public figure in my community. I produce and host a Native American radio program for KBOO Community Radio called "Mitakuye Oyasin." I host a Native American television program called "Native Nations" for MCTV. I am a poet and recently published a book titled, "Tremble In Fear Before the Soft Pudgy Indian." I am outspoken about injustices going on outside my front door as well as globally. This type of behavior makes me a target.
An anonymous letter was sent to my workplace accusing me of being a pot smoker. This has resulted in me being pulled from my driving position (no accidents or tickets throughout my driving career there) and given a $3.09 per hour pay cut. To keep my job I had to sign an agreement with the company which stated I signed under my own free will, a lie. I signed for fear of losing my job. As well, I have had to quit smoking pot because sometime throughout the next year I will be given two randoms before I can be returned to my driving position and pay rate.
The reasoning behind this punitive punishment is that marijuana "is against the law," as the president of the company told me in a meeting with my boss and me. It is not against the law, it is against regulations. Violating this regulation can result in punitive punishment that can include life in prison. All of this for a substance that is safer than coffee and better for you.
As an Indian, as a high school graduate, as a self-educated layman of "the law," it doesn't take much research to discover that genocide is a crime that has been and is being used against indigenous nations in this country. Bringing this to the attention of the president of the company, he was unconcerned.
Since my current punishment for being a pot smoker, I have suffered a severe breakdown where I attempted to wipe the filth of the rape that happened to me at the age of five off of my body. For about five minutes I lost my self identity and was filled with desire to tear my face off. Everytime I go to work now, I become very depressed and often suffer minor breakdowns.
What I am forced to suffer through is not about the law. It is not about safety. It IS about control. The U.S. government has given the useful tool of marijuana regulation to companies to control their employees lives. Millions of people live in fear of punitive punishment for smoking pot. Real violations of the law that are often deadly to human beings and other life forms continue to go on undealt with and unpunished.
This story is only one story of undoubtedly millions that can be told. Unlike the anonymous letter writer, I am able to face my fears of being made a potential target and hand you my legal and spirit name to put in print.
Many blessings and much beauty and pleasure to you all. May this story motivate you into taking actions against injustice in our own back yards and worldwide.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it along with the other good stuff.
[Eugene Johnson is a loud mouthed angry Indian poet from Portland, Oregon. You can read more about him on his blog, www.pudgyindian.blogspot.com.]
I believe I got my current job because I smoke pot. During the interview I was asked, "why did you leave your last job?" I told the truth. I got let go because I wouldn't pass a U/A. I went into the story of why I chose to smoke pot. The interviewer informed me she grew pot legally for her son who is a medical marijuana patient. I got the driving job.
Because of my childhood traumas, I suffer from occasional breakdowns and depression. I refuse to do legal pharmaceuticals because of the damage they can do to my body, some of them being linked to cancer, and the pharmaceutical companies mark up the drugs thousndands of percent to profit investors and management. A little research taught me marijuana is less harmful than coffee, another one of my favorite drugs. Marijuana helps in stopping and reducing the effects of my trauma induced depression, as well as it makes me feel good.
I am a public figure in my community. I produce and host a Native American radio program for KBOO Community Radio called "Mitakuye Oyasin." I host a Native American television program called "Native Nations" for MCTV. I am a poet and recently published a book titled, "Tremble In Fear Before the Soft Pudgy Indian." I am outspoken about injustices going on outside my front door as well as globally. This type of behavior makes me a target.
An anonymous letter was sent to my workplace accusing me of being a pot smoker. This has resulted in me being pulled from my driving position (no accidents or tickets throughout my driving career there) and given a $3.09 per hour pay cut. To keep my job I had to sign an agreement with the company which stated I signed under my own free will, a lie. I signed for fear of losing my job. As well, I have had to quit smoking pot because sometime throughout the next year I will be given two randoms before I can be returned to my driving position and pay rate.
The reasoning behind this punitive punishment is that marijuana "is against the law," as the president of the company told me in a meeting with my boss and me. It is not against the law, it is against regulations. Violating this regulation can result in punitive punishment that can include life in prison. All of this for a substance that is safer than coffee and better for you.
As an Indian, as a high school graduate, as a self-educated layman of "the law," it doesn't take much research to discover that genocide is a crime that has been and is being used against indigenous nations in this country. Bringing this to the attention of the president of the company, he was unconcerned.
Since my current punishment for being a pot smoker, I have suffered a severe breakdown where I attempted to wipe the filth of the rape that happened to me at the age of five off of my body. For about five minutes I lost my self identity and was filled with desire to tear my face off. Everytime I go to work now, I become very depressed and often suffer minor breakdowns.
What I am forced to suffer through is not about the law. It is not about safety. It IS about control. The U.S. government has given the useful tool of marijuana regulation to companies to control their employees lives. Millions of people live in fear of punitive punishment for smoking pot. Real violations of the law that are often deadly to human beings and other life forms continue to go on undealt with and unpunished.
This story is only one story of undoubtedly millions that can be told. Unlike the anonymous letter writer, I am able to face my fears of being made a potential target and hand you my legal and spirit name to put in print.
Many blessings and much beauty and pleasure to you all. May this story motivate you into taking actions against injustice in our own back yards and worldwide.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it along with the other good stuff.
[Eugene Johnson is a loud mouthed angry Indian poet from Portland, Oregon. You can read more about him on his blog, www.pudgyindian.blogspot.com.]
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