ICE and Predator Energy

To their dismay and my good fortune, a few weeks ago, our friends forgot to take their book on John Trudell when they left. Trudell was a creative and courageous Native American activist, poet, writer, and musician. I started listening to his words and soon came across the notion of “predator energy,” which seemed like the prefect description of ICE behavior in our cities. Trudell wrote:

“It’s like there’s this predator energy on this planet, and this predator energy feeds upon the essence of the spirit, feeds upon the essence of the human being, the spirit. This predator energy can take fossil fuel and other resources out of the Earth, turn it into fuel, to run a machine system. But in order for there to be a need for that system, and in order for that system to work, they have to mine our minds to get at the essence of our spirit. In the same way the external mining takes place, it pollutes—we see now, people understand how it poisons the environment, the water, the air pollution—the mining of the essence, the mining of the spirit, mining our minds … the pollution from that is all the neurotic, distorted, insecure behavior patterns that we develop. That’s the pollution. Because in order for this predatory system, this disease, to work, we must not be able to use our minds in a clear coherent manner. Because if we use our minds in a clear coherent manner, we will not accept the unacceptable.” (link)

Although John Trudell sees predator energy as the force behind Western domination of Earth and People, the current behavior of ICE surely showcases that it’s alive and well today. As we watch the scenes in Minneapolis of ICE agents ripping drivers out of their cars, throwing people on the ground, and carrying them away like hunted game, one cannot help but wonder how they can do this to other human beings, with such energy.

My guess is that Trudell would not see the ICE behavior as so exceptional. From his perspective as a Native American, I think he would see it as belonging to a 400-hundred-year-old pattern. After all, we should not forget that our natural bird, a bald eagle, is a predator. One could even say that our President seems to have transferred his earlier predator energy toward women onto his domestic and foreign “enemies.”

On a different note, you can now get a “Predator Energy” power drink that claims to “enable hustlers to thrive and fuel their daily grind, to achieve whatever success means to them.” And to “Rule your Kingdom.” link You can also buy Predator toys at the NECA (National Entertainment Collectibles Association) store. What if John Trudell is right that white European-America is fueled by predator energy?

Well, don’t forget the organizers and demonstrators in Minneapolis who show up to protect ICE targets from kidnapping. Their actions remind me of the thesis of the anthropologists Donna Hart and Robert Sussman who provided evidence that early humans were not hunters but the hunted, who spent much of their energy protecting themselves from predators. They write:

“Were our ancestors gentle savages or bloodthirsty brutes? They were social animals, they were primates, they were complex beings in their own right who were not necessarily headed in a foreordained direction. They were trying to adapt to their environment and reproduce successfully. Most primitive societies and individuals exhibit cooperation as a social tool not aggression. Success is not synonymous with brutality, it comes through finesse and friendship.” (quote in Civilizing the Economy, p. 47)

So, humans as a species are not predators, but ICE behavior did not come out of nowhere. One could see it historically as white threads woven into our social fabric. When I was much younger, I might have experienced the “predator energy” if you had given me a gun and a target (ok, it depends on the target). What about you? Are Western humans prone to aggressive intrusions? Is “predator energy” behind the fossil fuel industry? The college search for athletic talent? The church’s search for souls to save? The Gestapo? The Trump administration?

Trudell highlights another source of energy. An energy that the Tribes took care of by balancing their human strengths and weaknesses and being connected to the Earth. This energy is the power of life. We are all contemporaries, living now on this planet. Can we reweave our social fabric by strengthening those threads that sustain life and tying into knots those that oppose life.