KEETOOWAH SPEAKS
Q: do you sense there’s good leaders
coming?
A: they are coming from the Drum
Circle, from any Circle.
“Love first, Peace will follow.”
–Keetoowah
Interview and photos
by Erica Snowlake
Keetowah's singing Kumbaya to a fiery red
mushroom sunset. Keetowah's circling the Sunday Drum Circle, waving an eagle
flag like a magic wand over everyone, grinning from ear to ear. He's helping me
light 13 candles for the 13 tribes, the 13 moons, on La Dia de la Raza. One sees
Keetowah everyday on the beach, the very oceanshore his Choctaw grandmother
crossed to bless him in 57 years ago. Today, a Monday, is quiet and serene. The
shining white sands lead to an emerald sea and an aqua sky. This is Keetowah's
home.
Keetowah: 25 years ago I suddenly
ended up on the beach in Carmel. I lost the world I thought I lived in, the
world I thought i cared for. I was 32 years old and finally growing up. Soon
after I came to Venice Beach, been doing what I came here on earth to do:
holding back the hate. How do you stop hate? ---- by becoming a peaceful
person.
In my life as a political and
environmental activist, I' ve talked to many of society's supposed leaders -
mayors, state legislators, governors, presidents - and they all have the same
idea - PEACE - but they are not living the idea. I' ve made my life a study of
love and peace, I' ve opposed even the nail in a piece of wood. I' ve recycled
cans and bottles on Venice Beach for 25 years, and now I' ve moved on to
something greater. I help to recycle people for the One Almighty! I' ve been
told by the Creator I will save a life one
day.
Beachhead: We are silent for a
moment. I look at Keetowah, whose name means The Chosen People in Choctaw, the
Principal People in Cheyenne, and The Real People in Blackfoot. I am considering
the meaning of what he has just said. Is the life we save ultimately our own? I
see Keetowah always helping people, helping travelling backpackers find a safe
place to sleep the night, helping keep the peace at the drum circle, generally
being fully present engaged in divine service. In this kind of dedication, is
not the life one saves, truly, as well as one's own, the One Life we all share
as myriad beings, the One Life we all breathe as part of the Web of One Sacred
Reality?
Keetowah: Man can make glass
out of sand, but man cannot turn glass into sand. Environmentally, I am
dedicated to keeping this beach clean, by hand. The sad truth is that it is
dying. The sewage run-off of our vast population needs to be treated and
filtered before it gets anywhere near the beach. The children need to be able to
play here, to freely frolic barefoot. His gaze turns sharp. Every grain of sand
here is sacred for the blood of the people that has been shed. In my role as
Environmental Impact Specialist - he winks, pulling out a golden badge inscribed
Universal Protection Officer, Omega Sector, he adds, well let's imagine a vision
into the near future........
Venice
Beach transforms herself into Eagle Beach, a protected sanctuary. With our
ever-vigilant binoculars we spot an entourage heading out on the beach with
their $8,000 bottle of champagne, bought on Main Street. This is the future, he
reminds me, it's either the uppityup or the downdowndown. We approach the
celebrators, declaring THIS IS A NO-GLASS BEACH, messieurs et madames, we repeat
it in spanish, in every language. There is a $3,000 fine involved, of course.
The party wisely chooses to rebottle their luxury item in
plastic.......
Beachhead: We laugh,
alot! Keetowah adds "That's the nittygritty of that story." He jumps up. He has
alot of positive energy! "Love first, Peace will follow", he says, "the true
people will multiply like those very grains of
sand."
Beachhead: We turn to speaking
of the Drum Circle. Every Saturday and Sunday, forever, they come, bearing
djembes, timbales, bongos, congas, rattles and shakers. Like the humpback whales
circling the Hawaiian islands singing fertility songs, the Drum Circle is a
ritual which greatly determines, mirrors, the health of Venice and all humanity.
We breathe easier that it keeps going on. Keetowah storytells again, this time
taking me 45,000 years ago to a place Spirit showed him the roots of the drum.
The tale weaves offering, feasting, animal sacrifice, prayer, rage, humor, and
flashes of epiphanic understanding. In a flash, we are back. He sure can do the
Timewarp!
Keetowah: They called this
circle anything but the Drum Circle, drunk circle, drug circle, even scum circle
the cops called it. But the main magical people kept with it, kept the Faith.
For two years I've been fortunate to work with this Circle. I'll tell you:
Miracles are Happening! Last week a young father held his 2 week baby inside the
Circle! Everyone holding down this Circle just keeps coming with their Love and
the Beat.
Beachhead: I know! I've
danced in the Circle on a beam between the sun and the moon, felt organic
ecstasy amid the release and power of Spirit moving as One! Just last week I
danced with a young girl wearing a tambourine around her waist, doing the
hulahula. Plus it's a great place to kiss someone special! The energy is so
High!!!!
Keetowah: I saw three
gentlemen on a walkstreet balcony, they bade me come over, thanked me, told me a
day later they were still sharing their experiences of the Drum Circle, how much
it opened their hearts.......people find Love at the Drum Circle, Unconditional
Love, Agape Love.
Beachhead: Keetowah's
wearing turquoise, flicker and eagle feathers, an egyptian
amulet....
Keetowah: All gifts from
folks or found on the beach. Alot of people call me Chief, but I'm just a Baby
Chief, I just got my eagle feathers two years
ago!
Beachhead: He talks of a life
spent protesting, demonstrating. He was at the Watts riots, also integral in
working towards freedom in South Africa, in divesting 5 million in funds for the
rebuilding of homes for the
people.
Keetwoah: I work for
free, I will not let man's manipulation of mankind lead me astray. This empire,
New World Order, he shrugs, it will always be the One Universal Law - Love!
After 9-11, I was arrested every month for thirteen months, labeled a terrorist.
They better start dealing with the real terror here, the pollution, time is
getting awfully short, and you know what they say about time - even the
scientists say we can't figure it out. What's humanity doing today? - eating,
moving, being entertained. I look at the sea, the sky, the sun, the stars, and I
yell HELP!!!! Everyone has the same habits, nobody wants to die, so we all
start identifying with the body, with the material world. Start identifying with
Spirit and you won't fear Death. Take care of our Home for the children to come.
Women do. Women are the backbone of all civilization, so Praise Them, Fool!
Praise Creation! I am so thankful it's really happening in my life - I look at
all life with eyes of love and peace. I realized from my own experience anyone
hating is just hating oneself. Get over it! Come to the Drum Circle, save a
life! Take an active part in healing abuse. Become a peacekeeper right here on
Eagle Beach, watch over one another, keep the Earth clean! Shame on you!
Beachhead: I smile over to Keetowah,
sweet medicine brother in motion, and an eagle's eye looks back.
Posted: Wed - November 1, 2006 at 12:49 PM