You Move to Timbuktu

The Chumash people bought some land

Subject to county commands

Then applied quick to fold it in

To the land trust the feds began with their kin.

Seven years later, they may get their wish,

And that gave the locals some thoughts to dish.

“They were here first. Let them do what they want,”

A few people stated, sounding nonchalant.

Then an even more snarkier voice said, “If you

Feel so bad for them, just move to Timbuktu!”

“Oh sure. Then they’d be left with even more

Who don’t care that what is ours was theirs before.”

“My great great grandma was Native American

And I don’t feel that I’m owed a thing by ‘the man’.”

“Any land bought by the Chumash deserves the

Same rights as land we gave their ancestors, for ‘free’.”

“I’m just not sure that I’m comfortable knowing

A separate nation inside our country is growing.”

I wonder, if only the Chumash could see this,

Would it spark similar stories as they reminisce?

“They feared the new nation growing on their land,

And fled their path though they did not understand,

Why they’d been forced to move to Timbuktu,

When living side by side seemed the better thing to do.”