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This Website is Dedicated to Alvin Alexander Cheyne January 10, 1921 - June 17, 2005 |
The Rhetoric of the Bucket
Oregon Senator Doug Whitsett
KLFS Radio - "On the Floor"
September 20, 2008
The RHETORIC being advanced by of some of the
local media in regard to the bucket placed in front of the
Klamath County Court House is at best divisive for our
communities.
Perversely, that rhetoric states that the BUCKET
is divisive for our community, and implies that it is a symbol
of racism.
I strongly disagree with those characterizations.
That bucket is a symbol that we remember the
government oppression that directly caused the economic and
ecological devastation of our community by denying the Klamath
Project water for irrigation in 2001.
That bucket is a monument to those who lost their
businesses, their livelihoods, and a few their lives from the
stress of that government assault on private property.
That bucket is a sign that all our communities
joined together in peaceful civil disobedience in response to
that tyranny.
That bucket is a tribute to those tens of
thousand Americans that supported our struggle to preserve our
culture and economy.
That bucket prompts us to remember that our
community can, and did, prevail against the federal government
when we refused to allow outside influences to divide our
people.
That bucket is a reminder that, although we won
the first battle, the federal crusade to seize our water
resources is ongoing and relentless.
That bucket serves to remind us that when we
stood united we did prevail against the Department of Interior
and their allied interests, but that when we allow our self
interest and our greed to prevail, to weaken our resolve, and to
divide the collective interests of the Klamath Basin, we most
certainly will lose our water, we will lose that critical source
of livelihood, either individually, or one small group at a
time.
Permission to post from the author.