"There are stories and stories...there are songs, also, that are taught. Some are whimsical. Some are very intense. Some are documentary...everthing I know is known through teachings, by word of mouth, either by song or by legends." -
Terrance Honvantewa, Hopi
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Do you know...
Mangas Coloradas or Dasoda-hae (known as Red Sleeves) (c.1793 - January 18, 1863) was an Apache tribal chief and a member of the Eastern Chiricahua nation, whose homeland stretched west from the Rio Grande to include most of what is present-day southwestern New Mexico. He is regarded by many historians to be one of the most important Native American and Apache leaders of the 19th century due to his fighting achievements against White intruders from the United States.
In 1846, when the United States went to war with Mexico, the Apache Nation promised U.S. soldiers safe passage through Apache lands. Once the U.S. occupied New Mexico in 1846, Mangas Coloradas signed a peace treaty, respecting them as conquerors of the hated Mexican enemy. An uneasy peace between the Apache and the United States lasted until an influx of gold miners into the Santa Rita Mountains led to open conflict. In 1851, near Pinos Altos mining camp, Mangas was personally attacked by a group of White miners who tied him to a tree and severely beat him. Similar incidents continued in violation of the treaty, leading to Apache reprisals. In December, 1860, thirty miners launched a surprise attack on an encampment of Bedonkohes on the west bank of the Mimbres River. According to historian Edwin R. Sweeney, the miners "...killed four Indians, wounded others, and captured thirteen women and children." Shortly after that, Mangas began raids against U.S. citizens and their property.
Mangas Coloradas' daughter Dos-Teh-Seh married Cochise, principal chief of the Chokonen Apache. In early February 1861, US Army Lieutenant George N. Bascom, apparently without orders, lured Cochise, his family and several warriors into a trap at Apache Pass, southeastern Arizona. Cochise managed to escape, but his family and warriors remained in custody. Negotiations were unsuccessful and fighting erupted. This incident, known as the "Bascom Affair," ended with Cochise’s brother and five other warriors being hanged by Bascom. Later that year, Mangas and Cochise struck an alliance, agreeing to drive all Americans out of Apache territory. They were joined in their effort by Juh and Geronimo. Although the goal was never achieved, the White population in Apache territory was greatly reduced for a few years during the Civil War, after federal troops had been withdrawn to the east.
In the summer of 1862, after recovering from a bullet wound in the chest, Mangas Coloradas met with an intermediary to call for peace. In January of 1863, he decided to meet with U.S. military leaders at Fort McLane, in southwestern New Mexico. Mangas arrived under a flag of truce to meet with Brigadier General Joseph Rodman West, an officer of the California militia and a future Reconstruction senator from Louisiana. Armed soldiers took Mangas into custody. West allegedly gave an execution order to the sentries.
“Men, that old murderer has got away from every soldier command and has left a trail of blood for 500 miles on the old stage line. I want him dead or alive tomorrow morning, do you understand? I want him dead.”
That night Mangas was tortured, shot and killed "trying to escape."
The following day, U.S. soldiers cut off his head, boiled it and sent the skull to Orson Squire Fowler, a phrenologist in New York City. Phrenological analysis of the skull and a sketch of it appear in Fowler's 1873 book Human Science: or.... In Eve Ball's Indeh: An Apache Odyssey,Daklugie, one of her informants says the skull went to the Smithsonian Institution. However, the Smithsonian has done a thorough search for the skull, and reports that it never received it. Mangas' descendents and sources based on their testimony may have confused the Smithsonian with Fowler's Phrenological Cabinet in New York, where the skull was on display, leading to the misattribution.
The murder and mutilation of Mangas' body only increased the hostility between Apaches and the United States, with more or less constant war continuing for nearly another 25 years.
Mangas Coloradas is listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History.
In 1846, when the United States went to war with Mexico, the Apache Nation promised U.S. soldiers safe passage through Apache lands. Once the U.S. occupied New Mexico in 1846, Mangas Coloradas signed a peace treaty, respecting them as conquerors of the hated Mexican enemy. An uneasy peace between the Apache and the United States lasted until an influx of gold miners into the Santa Rita Mountains led to open conflict. In 1851, near Pinos Altos mining camp, Mangas was personally attacked by a group of White miners who tied him to a tree and severely beat him. Similar incidents continued in violation of the treaty, leading to Apache reprisals. In December, 1860, thirty miners launched a surprise attack on an encampment of Bedonkohes on the west bank of the Mimbres River. According to historian Edwin R. Sweeney, the miners "...killed four Indians, wounded others, and captured thirteen women and children." Shortly after that, Mangas began raids against U.S. citizens and their property.
Mangas Coloradas' daughter Dos-Teh-Seh married Cochise, principal chief of the Chokonen Apache. In early February 1861, US Army Lieutenant George N. Bascom, apparently without orders, lured Cochise, his family and several warriors into a trap at Apache Pass, southeastern Arizona. Cochise managed to escape, but his family and warriors remained in custody. Negotiations were unsuccessful and fighting erupted. This incident, known as the "Bascom Affair," ended with Cochise’s brother and five other warriors being hanged by Bascom. Later that year, Mangas and Cochise struck an alliance, agreeing to drive all Americans out of Apache territory. They were joined in their effort by Juh and Geronimo. Although the goal was never achieved, the White population in Apache territory was greatly reduced for a few years during the Civil War, after federal troops had been withdrawn to the east.
In the summer of 1862, after recovering from a bullet wound in the chest, Mangas Coloradas met with an intermediary to call for peace. In January of 1863, he decided to meet with U.S. military leaders at Fort McLane, in southwestern New Mexico. Mangas arrived under a flag of truce to meet with Brigadier General Joseph Rodman West, an officer of the California militia and a future Reconstruction senator from Louisiana. Armed soldiers took Mangas into custody. West allegedly gave an execution order to the sentries.
“Men, that old murderer has got away from every soldier command and has left a trail of blood for 500 miles on the old stage line. I want him dead or alive tomorrow morning, do you understand? I want him dead.”
That night Mangas was tortured, shot and killed "trying to escape."
The following day, U.S. soldiers cut off his head, boiled it and sent the skull to Orson Squire Fowler, a phrenologist in New York City. Phrenological analysis of the skull and a sketch of it appear in Fowler's 1873 book Human Science: or.... In Eve Ball's Indeh: An Apache Odyssey,Daklugie, one of her informants says the skull went to the Smithsonian Institution. However, the Smithsonian has done a thorough search for the skull, and reports that it never received it. Mangas' descendents and sources based on their testimony may have confused the Smithsonian with Fowler's Phrenological Cabinet in New York, where the skull was on display, leading to the misattribution.
The murder and mutilation of Mangas' body only increased the hostility between Apaches and the United States, with more or less constant war continuing for nearly another 25 years.
Mangas Coloradas is listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History.
Gila resolution calls freeway path 'sacred land'
By: Colleen Sparks
A resolution adopted a year ago by the Gila River Indian Community Council has thrown a wrench into the proposed South Mountain Freeway plan.
The council in April 2007 designated the South Mountain Range as "a sacred place/traditional cultural property" that must not be violated.
The council said any alteration of the range "for any purpose would be a violation of the cultural and religious beliefs of the Gila River Indian Community."
Phoenix Councilman Greg Stanton, who represents Ahwatukee Foothills, said he read the resolution for the first time Tuesday and that it is "critically important that we respect tribal sovereignty issues, that we respect the tribe's interpretation of sacred places and religiously important sites."
The freeway, if approved, would run along the Pecos Road alignment in Ahwatukee and cut through South Mountain Park. The cuts would range from 120 to 220 feet into the mountain, the Arizona Department of Transportation estimates.
"We as the community better think long and hard before we are willing to destroy a sacred place," Stanton said.
There's more here: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/29/20080429ar-gilariver0429.html
A resolution adopted a year ago by the Gila River Indian Community Council has thrown a wrench into the proposed South Mountain Freeway plan.
The council in April 2007 designated the South Mountain Range as "a sacred place/traditional cultural property" that must not be violated.
The council said any alteration of the range "for any purpose would be a violation of the cultural and religious beliefs of the Gila River Indian Community."
Phoenix Councilman Greg Stanton, who represents Ahwatukee Foothills, said he read the resolution for the first time Tuesday and that it is "critically important that we respect tribal sovereignty issues, that we respect the tribe's interpretation of sacred places and religiously important sites."
The freeway, if approved, would run along the Pecos Road alignment in Ahwatukee and cut through South Mountain Park. The cuts would range from 120 to 220 feet into the mountain, the Arizona Department of Transportation estimates.
"We as the community better think long and hard before we are willing to destroy a sacred place," Stanton said.
There's more here: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/29/20080429ar-gilariver0429.html
Mismanagement of Native American Land?
As reported by KFYR-TV, Bismarck, ND
This story begins more than 200 years ago when the United States government began offering land on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation to Native Americans. When the land started to run out, it was offered on the public domain, in some cases, hundreds of miles away stretching into parts of Montana.
"We haven`t seen our land, we don`t know what`s on our land, and we don`t really know what`s happening to our land,” says Jessie Cree, an allottee landowner.
Some families have never laid eyes on their land and a group called the Turtle Mountain Allottee Association worries there`s oil being extracted off the land and some of the poorest people on the reservation are not getting paid for it.
"They`re told that there`s no activity going on on their land, but we`re getting satellite views of the people`s land and it`s showing us something different,” says Delvin Cree of the Turtle Mountain Allottee Association.
"They tell us, `Keep this very quiet.` Why? I don`t know. That`s what we asked them, why?" says Jesse Peltier of the association.
The association blames the Bureau of Indian Affairs and The Office of Trustees for not properly taking care of landowners.
"There is oil and gas activity on their land and the Office of Trustees is saying something different,” says Delvin Cree.
"I haven`t seen any what you would call misuse of positions or property,” says Richard Lafrombois of the Office of Trustees in Belcourt, North Dakota.
Keep reading here: http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=18018
This story begins more than 200 years ago when the United States government began offering land on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation to Native Americans. When the land started to run out, it was offered on the public domain, in some cases, hundreds of miles away stretching into parts of Montana.
"We haven`t seen our land, we don`t know what`s on our land, and we don`t really know what`s happening to our land,” says Jessie Cree, an allottee landowner.
Some families have never laid eyes on their land and a group called the Turtle Mountain Allottee Association worries there`s oil being extracted off the land and some of the poorest people on the reservation are not getting paid for it.
"They`re told that there`s no activity going on on their land, but we`re getting satellite views of the people`s land and it`s showing us something different,” says Delvin Cree of the Turtle Mountain Allottee Association.
"They tell us, `Keep this very quiet.` Why? I don`t know. That`s what we asked them, why?" says Jesse Peltier of the association.
The association blames the Bureau of Indian Affairs and The Office of Trustees for not properly taking care of landowners.
"There is oil and gas activity on their land and the Office of Trustees is saying something different,” says Delvin Cree.
"I haven`t seen any what you would call misuse of positions or property,” says Richard Lafrombois of the Office of Trustees in Belcourt, North Dakota.
Keep reading here: http://www.kfyrtv.com/News_Stories.asp?news=18018
Monday, April 28, 2008
Pagans in the Promised Land: Decoding the Doctrine of Christian Discovery
A book review by: Jessica Lee
In a well-argued book, Shawnee/Lenape scholar and author Steven T. Newcomb outlines how the doctrine of Christian discovery and dominion was used by European monarchs and colonists, and eventually the U.S. courts, to justify the taking of Native American land, through both physical and psychological warfare, and to refuse to grant complete Indian sovereignty today.
Pagans in the Promised Land shines an informative light into understanding the conscious — and unconscious — founding principles of “the United States of America” empire.
Explaining American colonial history through cognitive theory, Newcomb reminds us that all laws and borders are a manifestation of one’s imagination, that what we deem to be literally or objectivelytrue is really only metaphorically true from a specific perspective. For example, that Europeans “discovered” North America is only metaphorically true from the European perspective at the time, not from the perspective of the millions of Native peoples who had been living on the continent for thousands of years.
The thrust of his book involves a careful analysis of the infamous 1832 U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Johnson v. M’Intosh, in which the high court ruled that Native Americans did not have ownership rights to their ancestral lands (only a title of “occupancy” on U.S.-owned land) and thus could not sell parcels to private citizens. The court opinion detailed this rationale in its “Discovery Doctrine,” the principle that claims the U.S. government had fairly acquired land from the European Christian colonial immigrants who had previously “discovered” and made claim to the land (“dominion”) based on their belief that God wanted “barbarous nations” to be overthrown and to become subservient to the “Cross and Crown.”
There's more here: http://www.indypendent.org/2008/04/25/discoverer-delusions-a-review-of-pagans-in-the-promised-land/
In a well-argued book, Shawnee/Lenape scholar and author Steven T. Newcomb outlines how the doctrine of Christian discovery and dominion was used by European monarchs and colonists, and eventually the U.S. courts, to justify the taking of Native American land, through both physical and psychological warfare, and to refuse to grant complete Indian sovereignty today.
Pagans in the Promised Land shines an informative light into understanding the conscious — and unconscious — founding principles of “the United States of America” empire.
Explaining American colonial history through cognitive theory, Newcomb reminds us that all laws and borders are a manifestation of one’s imagination, that what we deem to be literally or objectivelytrue is really only metaphorically true from a specific perspective. For example, that Europeans “discovered” North America is only metaphorically true from the European perspective at the time, not from the perspective of the millions of Native peoples who had been living on the continent for thousands of years.
The thrust of his book involves a careful analysis of the infamous 1832 U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Johnson v. M’Intosh, in which the high court ruled that Native Americans did not have ownership rights to their ancestral lands (only a title of “occupancy” on U.S.-owned land) and thus could not sell parcels to private citizens. The court opinion detailed this rationale in its “Discovery Doctrine,” the principle that claims the U.S. government had fairly acquired land from the European Christian colonial immigrants who had previously “discovered” and made claim to the land (“dominion”) based on their belief that God wanted “barbarous nations” to be overthrown and to become subservient to the “Cross and Crown.”
There's more here: http://www.indypendent.org/2008/04/25/discoverer-delusions-a-review-of-pagans-in-the-promised-land/
Green Corn Dance
Few non-Indians have witnessed a Green Corn Dance, a special spiritual event held at undisclosed South Florida locations each spring. Most Native Americans have a similar event within their cultures, stemming from traditional expressions of gratitude to the Creator for providing food.
At the Green Corn Dance, Seminoles participate in purification and manhood ceremonies. Tribal disputes are also settled during this time. Men and women separate into different "camps" according to their clans. In earlier times, the Green Corn Dance marked an important occassion when Seminoles from different camps and areas would get together.
The gathering will include hours and hours of "stomp dancing," the methodical, weaving, single file style of dancing traditional to Seminole Indians. Following behind a chanting medicine man or "leader," a string of male dancers will "answer" each exhortation, while women dancers quietly shuffle with them, shakers tied to their legs.
Several troupes of Seminole Stomp Dancers occasionally appear at public events, demonstrating the "fire ant," "crow," "catfish" and other Seminole social stomp dances.
At the Green Corn Dance, Seminoles participate in purification and manhood ceremonies. Tribal disputes are also settled during this time. Men and women separate into different "camps" according to their clans. In earlier times, the Green Corn Dance marked an important occassion when Seminoles from different camps and areas would get together.
The gathering will include hours and hours of "stomp dancing," the methodical, weaving, single file style of dancing traditional to Seminole Indians. Following behind a chanting medicine man or "leader," a string of male dancers will "answer" each exhortation, while women dancers quietly shuffle with them, shakers tied to their legs.
Several troupes of Seminole Stomp Dancers occasionally appear at public events, demonstrating the "fire ant," "crow," "catfish" and other Seminole social stomp dances.
Joba on the Mound
By: Dalton Walker
The Winnebago with the brilliant right arm was in sports headlines across the nation recently for two entirely different reasons.
The first, a more humanized Joba Chamberlain surfaced as the 22-year-old relief pitcher for the New York Yankees left the team to be with his ill father back home in Lincoln, Neb.
Chamberlain missed a few Yankee outings and when he returned he released a statement to the media explaining his father's condition.
"After several difficult days, my father is feeling much better," Chamberlain said in the statement released by the club. "Each day he's acting more and more like himself, and he's even giving people grief — myself included — because the hospital doesn't carry Yankees games on television."
His father, Harlan Chamberlain, is a wonderful man and a great role model for many Native children. The elder Chamberlain has a history of health issues including a childhood case of polio that left him partially paralyzed. He relies on a motorized scooter for transportation. The father and son are very close. Joba has told numerous media outlets that he speaks to his father on the phone at least once a day.
The second set of headlines had to deal with an on-field issue brought up by the often outspoken Steinbrenner family, which owns the Yankees. With the team off to a slow start, at least by New York standards, Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner blasted the team, saying Joba should start.
"I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now," Steinbrenner told The New York Times. "There is no question about it, you don't have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don't do that. You have to be an idiot to do that."
The rest of the story is here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/feature-article/joba-mound
The Winnebago with the brilliant right arm was in sports headlines across the nation recently for two entirely different reasons.
The first, a more humanized Joba Chamberlain surfaced as the 22-year-old relief pitcher for the New York Yankees left the team to be with his ill father back home in Lincoln, Neb.
Chamberlain missed a few Yankee outings and when he returned he released a statement to the media explaining his father's condition.
"After several difficult days, my father is feeling much better," Chamberlain said in the statement released by the club. "Each day he's acting more and more like himself, and he's even giving people grief — myself included — because the hospital doesn't carry Yankees games on television."
His father, Harlan Chamberlain, is a wonderful man and a great role model for many Native children. The elder Chamberlain has a history of health issues including a childhood case of polio that left him partially paralyzed. He relies on a motorized scooter for transportation. The father and son are very close. Joba has told numerous media outlets that he speaks to his father on the phone at least once a day.
The second set of headlines had to deal with an on-field issue brought up by the often outspoken Steinbrenner family, which owns the Yankees. With the team off to a slow start, at least by New York standards, Yankees co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner blasted the team, saying Joba should start.
"I want him as a starter and so does everyone else, including him, and that is what we are working toward and we need him there now," Steinbrenner told The New York Times. "There is no question about it, you don't have a guy with a 100-mile-per-hour fastball and keep him as a setup guy. You just don't do that. You have to be an idiot to do that."
The rest of the story is here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/feature-article/joba-mound
Tribe in Wisconsin: Land is ours
By: Glenn Coin
Six years ago, the federal Department of Interior said the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians had a valid claim to land in and around the town of Stockbridge.
Any day now, that same department is likely to take 3,000 acres of that land into trust for the exclusive use of the Oneida Indian Nation.
The Wisconsin-based Stockbridge-Munsee tribe is calling foul and asking for Congress to step in.
It is a baffling and outrageous reversal of DOI's previously stated opinions that will have disastrous consequences for the Stockbridge-Munsee if finalized," the tribe said in a news release.
A decision on the trust land is expected by Wednesday.
Stockbridge-Munsee tribal leaders have met with members of Congress in the past week trying to solicit their support, said spokeswoman Maureen Connelly.
"All the tribe is asking is for time to work out a comprehensive settlement," Connelly said. Oneida nation spokesman Mark Emery said the Stockbridge-Munsee have waited too long to try to stop the trust application, first filed in 2005.
"The Oneida nation is near the end of the trust process set up by Congress," Emery said in a prepared statement. "The Stockbridge-Munsee do not like the outcome so they now want to change the rules."
At issue is about 3,000 acres in and around Stockbridge that is owned by the Oneida Indian Nation, but included in the 23,000-acre land claim asserted by the Stockbridge-Munsee. In 2002, Department of Interior lawyer Philip Hogen wrote that "Stockbridge is the only proper tribal claimant" to the land. Hogen urged the Department of Justice, which acts as the lawyers for other federal agencies, to join the Stockbridge-Munsee's land claim suit on the side of the tribe. That never happened.
Keep reading here: http://www.syracuse.com/articles/news/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1209114113163240.xml
Six years ago, the federal Department of Interior said the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians had a valid claim to land in and around the town of Stockbridge.
Any day now, that same department is likely to take 3,000 acres of that land into trust for the exclusive use of the Oneida Indian Nation.
The Wisconsin-based Stockbridge-Munsee tribe is calling foul and asking for Congress to step in.
It is a baffling and outrageous reversal of DOI's previously stated opinions that will have disastrous consequences for the Stockbridge-Munsee if finalized," the tribe said in a news release.
A decision on the trust land is expected by Wednesday.
Stockbridge-Munsee tribal leaders have met with members of Congress in the past week trying to solicit their support, said spokeswoman Maureen Connelly.
"All the tribe is asking is for time to work out a comprehensive settlement," Connelly said. Oneida nation spokesman Mark Emery said the Stockbridge-Munsee have waited too long to try to stop the trust application, first filed in 2005.
"The Oneida nation is near the end of the trust process set up by Congress," Emery said in a prepared statement. "The Stockbridge-Munsee do not like the outcome so they now want to change the rules."
At issue is about 3,000 acres in and around Stockbridge that is owned by the Oneida Indian Nation, but included in the 23,000-acre land claim asserted by the Stockbridge-Munsee. In 2002, Department of Interior lawyer Philip Hogen wrote that "Stockbridge is the only proper tribal claimant" to the land. Hogen urged the Department of Justice, which acts as the lawyers for other federal agencies, to join the Stockbridge-Munsee's land claim suit on the side of the tribe. That never happened.
Keep reading here: http://www.syracuse.com/articles/news/index.ssf?/base/news-10/1209114113163240.xml
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Yukon Circles
Yukon Circles is the inspirational story of how native people in Alaska and Canada joined together to protect the Yukon River.
The Yukon is the second-longest river in North America, flowing 2300 miles from its headwaters in Canada to its delta on the Bering Sea. But the river is threatened by pollution from military, mining, manufacturing and human settlement.
Rather than blaming the polluters or pointing fingers at the many entities that had dumped waste in their traditional territories, the tribes made a radical decision. They would assume the leadership and responsibilities for protecting their own lands, waters, animals, and fish.
They began by educating their own tribal members; they went on to form the largest Native international treaty organization in the world.
Director: Karin Williams
27 Minutes • USA • Documentary Short
The Yukon is the second-longest river in North America, flowing 2300 miles from its headwaters in Canada to its delta on the Bering Sea. But the river is threatened by pollution from military, mining, manufacturing and human settlement.
Rather than blaming the polluters or pointing fingers at the many entities that had dumped waste in their traditional territories, the tribes made a radical decision. They would assume the leadership and responsibilities for protecting their own lands, waters, animals, and fish.
They began by educating their own tribal members; they went on to form the largest Native international treaty organization in the world.
Director: Karin Williams
27 Minutes • USA • Documentary Short
The Oklahoma Land Steal?
By: Mark Francis
OKLAHOMA CITY—A group of Oklahoma Indians are on a quest to right history by conducting a parade to counter the state's celebration of the Oklahoma Land Run.
Organizers say they hope the April 12 parade here will raise awareness that Oklahoma history books are incorrect, along with history books in general, when it comes to Native Americans and the Great Land Rush of 1889.
The parade is sponsored by the Society to Preserve the Indigenous Rights and Indigenous Traditions (S.P.I.R.I.T.), made up of members of Native American tribes who support Native issues, families, personal education and human rights.
"We are looking for something to give our people to have pride in," said Brenda Golden, a Muscogee tribal member from Tulsa, Okla. "Some don't know who they are themselves, and the kids don't have anything to hold onto."
The parade, whose theme is "Honoring Our Past — Capturing Our Future," will take place the weekend before area land run re-enactments.
More than 2 million acres of land in Indian Territory were opened on April 22, 1889, for settlement during the first of five Oklahoma land runs. Up to 75,000 people surrounded the area to stake their claim for fewer than 12,000 homesteads between 1889 and 1895.
A S.P.I.R.I.T press release states that after the Civil War, tribes were forced to sell their land to the federal government for 60 cents to $1.25 an acre; the government said it would relocate other groups onto the land but never did. Many U.S. citizens regarded the lands as unassigned and, thus, public domain that should be opened for settlement.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/feature-article/oklahoma-land-steal%3F
OKLAHOMA CITY—A group of Oklahoma Indians are on a quest to right history by conducting a parade to counter the state's celebration of the Oklahoma Land Run.
Organizers say they hope the April 12 parade here will raise awareness that Oklahoma history books are incorrect, along with history books in general, when it comes to Native Americans and the Great Land Rush of 1889.
The parade is sponsored by the Society to Preserve the Indigenous Rights and Indigenous Traditions (S.P.I.R.I.T.), made up of members of Native American tribes who support Native issues, families, personal education and human rights.
"We are looking for something to give our people to have pride in," said Brenda Golden, a Muscogee tribal member from Tulsa, Okla. "Some don't know who they are themselves, and the kids don't have anything to hold onto."
The parade, whose theme is "Honoring Our Past — Capturing Our Future," will take place the weekend before area land run re-enactments.
More than 2 million acres of land in Indian Territory were opened on April 22, 1889, for settlement during the first of five Oklahoma land runs. Up to 75,000 people surrounded the area to stake their claim for fewer than 12,000 homesteads between 1889 and 1895.
A S.P.I.R.I.T press release states that after the Civil War, tribes were forced to sell their land to the federal government for 60 cents to $1.25 an acre; the government said it would relocate other groups onto the land but never did. Many U.S. citizens regarded the lands as unassigned and, thus, public domain that should be opened for settlement.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/feature-article/oklahoma-land-steal%3F
Port, tribe sign historic agreement
By: Meghan Erkkinen
The Port of Tacoma, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and two development entities signed what many called an historic agreement April 22. The agreement, which the parties hope will be an economic boon for the regional economy, calls for the port and tribe to exchange land and to work together to develop and widen the Blair Waterway.
As per the agreement, the port will transfer about 19 acres to the tribe and the tribe will transfer about 12.5 acres to the port. Both parties have agreed to a project to widen the Blair Waterway, which will be undertaken and managed by container terminal operator SSA Containers Inc. The parties also agreed to cooperate on intermodal rail, road infrastructure and other development opportunities.
The agreement is 20 years in the making, dating back to the 1988 Puyallup Indian Land Claims Settlement Agreement, signed into law by former President George Bush. The agreement transferred land to the tribe to enable it to diversify its economic investments.
“The Port of Tacoma and Puyallup Tribe of Indians enjoy a long history of economic cooperation dating back to the historic 1988 Puyallup Indian Land Claims Settlement Agreement,” said Dick Marzano, president of the Port of Tacoma Commission. “Today’s agreement assures greater cargo capacity for our region, which will create thousands of construction jobs and permanent, family-wage jobs when the terminals open.”
Get the rest of the story here: http://www.tacomaweekly.com/article/1876
The Port of Tacoma, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and two development entities signed what many called an historic agreement April 22. The agreement, which the parties hope will be an economic boon for the regional economy, calls for the port and tribe to exchange land and to work together to develop and widen the Blair Waterway.
As per the agreement, the port will transfer about 19 acres to the tribe and the tribe will transfer about 12.5 acres to the port. Both parties have agreed to a project to widen the Blair Waterway, which will be undertaken and managed by container terminal operator SSA Containers Inc. The parties also agreed to cooperate on intermodal rail, road infrastructure and other development opportunities.
The agreement is 20 years in the making, dating back to the 1988 Puyallup Indian Land Claims Settlement Agreement, signed into law by former President George Bush. The agreement transferred land to the tribe to enable it to diversify its economic investments.
“The Port of Tacoma and Puyallup Tribe of Indians enjoy a long history of economic cooperation dating back to the historic 1988 Puyallup Indian Land Claims Settlement Agreement,” said Dick Marzano, president of the Port of Tacoma Commission. “Today’s agreement assures greater cargo capacity for our region, which will create thousands of construction jobs and permanent, family-wage jobs when the terminals open.”
Get the rest of the story here: http://www.tacomaweekly.com/article/1876
Obama campaign kicks up Indian Country outreach
By: Jodi Rave
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in Montana kicked up its outreach efforts in Indian Country on Wednesday, with the announcement of its newly unveiled Montana Native Americans for Obama steering committee.
Tribal chairmen from the Crow Nation and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are co-chairing the committee, as well as a tribal councilman from the Chippewa Cree Tribe.The steering committee includes members from all seven reservations in Montana, urban areas and the Little Shell band.
“Federal prisoners of this country receive better health care than Indians,” said Crow Nation Chairman Carl Venne. “That’s not right.”
Venne said two of the greatest concerns in tribal communities are affordable health care and education. He noted that Obama co-sponsored the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to provide an additional $1 billion for the Indian Health Service to address problems facing Native communities.
“Obama also understands that quality education is the key to empowering tribal nations to build a better future. We cannot survive as Indian tribes if we’re not educated,” said Venne.
He is among two tribal chairmen in Montana to endorse Obama. Chairman James Steele of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes has also pledged his support.
Gay Kingman, Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association executive director, said the Illinois senator has also gained majority endorsements from all North Dakota tribal chairmen. And leaders of the two largest reservations in South Dakota - the Rosebud and Pine Ridge tribal chairmen - have also endorsed Obama.
Keep reading here: http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/04/23/bnews/br67.txt
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in Montana kicked up its outreach efforts in Indian Country on Wednesday, with the announcement of its newly unveiled Montana Native Americans for Obama steering committee.
Tribal chairmen from the Crow Nation and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are co-chairing the committee, as well as a tribal councilman from the Chippewa Cree Tribe.The steering committee includes members from all seven reservations in Montana, urban areas and the Little Shell band.
“Federal prisoners of this country receive better health care than Indians,” said Crow Nation Chairman Carl Venne. “That’s not right.”
Venne said two of the greatest concerns in tribal communities are affordable health care and education. He noted that Obama co-sponsored the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to provide an additional $1 billion for the Indian Health Service to address problems facing Native communities.
“Obama also understands that quality education is the key to empowering tribal nations to build a better future. We cannot survive as Indian tribes if we’re not educated,” said Venne.
He is among two tribal chairmen in Montana to endorse Obama. Chairman James Steele of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes has also pledged his support.
Gay Kingman, Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association executive director, said the Illinois senator has also gained majority endorsements from all North Dakota tribal chairmen. And leaders of the two largest reservations in South Dakota - the Rosebud and Pine Ridge tribal chairmen - have also endorsed Obama.
Keep reading here: http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2008/04/23/bnews/br67.txt
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Quotes
"Our art is not a separate kentity. It is a universal gesture of prayer...and it harmonizes with the express of life...art is always there. There is always something done, something woven, something painted, something sculpted." -
Jose Rey Toledo - Jemez Pueblo
Jose Rey Toledo - Jemez Pueblo
The Great Yellow-Jacket
Cherokee legend...
A long time ago, the people of the old town of Kanu'ga'la'yi on Nantahala river, in the present Macon County, North Carolina, were much annoyed by a great insect called Ulagu. Large as a house, it used to come from some secret hiding place and snap up children and carry them away. It was unlike any other insect ever known and the people tried many times to track it to its home, but it was too swift to be followed.
They killed a squirrel and tied a white string to it, so that its course could be followed with the eye, as bee hunters follow the flight of a bee to its tree. The Ulagu came and carried off the squirrel with the string hanging to it, but darted away so swiftly through the air that it was out of sight in a moment. They repeated the operation with a turkey, then a deer ham, but nothing worked. At last they killed a deer and tried again. This time the load was so heavy that it had to fly slowly and so low that the string could be plainly seen.
The hunters got together for the pursuit. They followed it along a ridge until they saw the nest of the Ulagu in a large cave in the rocks below. On this, they raised a great shout and made their way rapidly down to the mountain and across to the cave. The nest had the entrance below with tiers of cells built up one above another to the roof of the cave. The great Ulagu was there, with thousands of smaller ones, that we now call yellow-jackets. The hunters built fires around the holes, so that the smoke filled the cave and smothered the great insect and multitudes of the smaller ones, but others which were outside the cave were not killed, and these escaped and increased until now the yellow-jackets, which before were unknown, are all over the world. The people called the cave Tsgagunyi "Where the yellow-jacket was", and the place from which they first saw the nest they called "Atahita" "Where they shouted" and these are their names today.
A long time ago, the people of the old town of Kanu'ga'la'yi on Nantahala river, in the present Macon County, North Carolina, were much annoyed by a great insect called Ulagu. Large as a house, it used to come from some secret hiding place and snap up children and carry them away. It was unlike any other insect ever known and the people tried many times to track it to its home, but it was too swift to be followed.
They killed a squirrel and tied a white string to it, so that its course could be followed with the eye, as bee hunters follow the flight of a bee to its tree. The Ulagu came and carried off the squirrel with the string hanging to it, but darted away so swiftly through the air that it was out of sight in a moment. They repeated the operation with a turkey, then a deer ham, but nothing worked. At last they killed a deer and tried again. This time the load was so heavy that it had to fly slowly and so low that the string could be plainly seen.
The hunters got together for the pursuit. They followed it along a ridge until they saw the nest of the Ulagu in a large cave in the rocks below. On this, they raised a great shout and made their way rapidly down to the mountain and across to the cave. The nest had the entrance below with tiers of cells built up one above another to the roof of the cave. The great Ulagu was there, with thousands of smaller ones, that we now call yellow-jackets. The hunters built fires around the holes, so that the smoke filled the cave and smothered the great insect and multitudes of the smaller ones, but others which were outside the cave were not killed, and these escaped and increased until now the yellow-jackets, which before were unknown, are all over the world. The people called the cave Tsgagunyi "Where the yellow-jacket was", and the place from which they first saw the nest they called "Atahita" "Where they shouted" and these are their names today.
American Indian Higher Education Consortium Prepares for New Leadership
By: Mary Annette Pember
Carrie Billy of the Navajo tribe will take over the position of executive director of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium effective June 1.
She replaces Dr. Gerald Gipp of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, who has served as executive director since 2001. Billy, currently serving as the organization’s deputy director and director of STEM development, has worked in American Indian higher education circles for a number of years. She joined AIHEC for the second time in 2001. An attorney, she served as Federal Relations Counsel for the organization from 1997 to 1998.
From 1998 to 2001, Billy served as the first executive director of the White House Initiative of on Tribal Colleges and Universities under the Clinton administration. During her tenure, TCUs received their largest ever federal funding increase as well as the establishment of the American Indian Teacher Corps Program, the Tribal College Technology Information Program and other important advances in tribal college funding and programming. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona and Georgetown University Law School.
In addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of the central AIHEC office in her current position, she oversees the American Indian Measures for Success data collection initiative which is defining, collecting and reporting quantitative and qualitative indicators of American Indian student and institution success. She also oversees the Indigenous Evaluation Initiative, a multi-year effort to develop a framing for indigenous evaluation, which will synthesize indigenous ways of knowing and western evaluation practice.
“AIHEC is on the cusp of our growth potential,” Billy says.
She notes that the tribal college movement is maturing and has reached a firm foundation and is now ready to move into new development activities.
There's more to the story here: http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_11050.shtml
Carrie Billy of the Navajo tribe will take over the position of executive director of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium effective June 1.
She replaces Dr. Gerald Gipp of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, who has served as executive director since 2001. Billy, currently serving as the organization’s deputy director and director of STEM development, has worked in American Indian higher education circles for a number of years. She joined AIHEC for the second time in 2001. An attorney, she served as Federal Relations Counsel for the organization from 1997 to 1998.
From 1998 to 2001, Billy served as the first executive director of the White House Initiative of on Tribal Colleges and Universities under the Clinton administration. During her tenure, TCUs received their largest ever federal funding increase as well as the establishment of the American Indian Teacher Corps Program, the Tribal College Technology Information Program and other important advances in tribal college funding and programming. She is a graduate of the University of Arizona and Georgetown University Law School.
In addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of the central AIHEC office in her current position, she oversees the American Indian Measures for Success data collection initiative which is defining, collecting and reporting quantitative and qualitative indicators of American Indian student and institution success. She also oversees the Indigenous Evaluation Initiative, a multi-year effort to develop a framing for indigenous evaluation, which will synthesize indigenous ways of knowing and western evaluation practice.
“AIHEC is on the cusp of our growth potential,” Billy says.
She notes that the tribal college movement is maturing and has reached a firm foundation and is now ready to move into new development activities.
There's more to the story here: http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_11050.shtml
Navajo journalist Shebala wins Distinguished Lecturer Award
By: Sam Stoker
FLAGSTAFF - It seems life has come full circle for Navajo Times senior reporter Marley Shebala. On Thursday, the Associated Press -the same newswire service she said 20 years earlier had told her nobody was interested in stories from the Navajo Reservation- awarded her with the Distinguished Lecturer Award at the 2008 Eunson Awards Ceremony.
Each year the Associated Press and Northern Arizona University recognize one NAU alumnus/a who has distinguished themselves in the field of journalism with the Eunson Award. Likewise, the Eunson Award program also recognizes a distinguished lecturer.
During Shebala's speech at the ceremony she spoke of the importance of journalists utilizing their roots and experience in the field. "It is important to use the expertise of, and to continue to understand, where you come from," she told the audience.
The statement was drawn from her own experiences as a Native American woman journalist. In the 20-plus years since she began her career, Shebala has dealt with racism from the white community as well as periods of disdain from her own community. She said it was an understanding of her roots as well as a commitment to accurate reporting that have pulled her through periods when she doubted her ability to continue in the field. She is now recognized as one of the finest community and investigative reporters in the state.
Keep reading here: http://www.navajohopiobserver.com/main.asp?SectionID=23&SubSectionID=23&ArticleID=6821
FLAGSTAFF - It seems life has come full circle for Navajo Times senior reporter Marley Shebala. On Thursday, the Associated Press -the same newswire service she said 20 years earlier had told her nobody was interested in stories from the Navajo Reservation- awarded her with the Distinguished Lecturer Award at the 2008 Eunson Awards Ceremony.
Each year the Associated Press and Northern Arizona University recognize one NAU alumnus/a who has distinguished themselves in the field of journalism with the Eunson Award. Likewise, the Eunson Award program also recognizes a distinguished lecturer.
During Shebala's speech at the ceremony she spoke of the importance of journalists utilizing their roots and experience in the field. "It is important to use the expertise of, and to continue to understand, where you come from," she told the audience.
The statement was drawn from her own experiences as a Native American woman journalist. In the 20-plus years since she began her career, Shebala has dealt with racism from the white community as well as periods of disdain from her own community. She said it was an understanding of her roots as well as a commitment to accurate reporting that have pulled her through periods when she doubted her ability to continue in the field. She is now recognized as one of the finest community and investigative reporters in the state.
Keep reading here: http://www.navajohopiobserver.com/main.asp?SectionID=23&SubSectionID=23&ArticleID=6821
Monday, April 21, 2008
Katrina, Rita and the Houma: A Nation in Recovery
By: Victor Merina
HOUMA, La.—Up the bayou. Down the bayou. Across the bayou.
For a visitor to this stretch of Louisiana, those are the directions you quickly learn while traveling the waterways and roadways of this southeastern region of this Southern state.
For those at home in the bayou, no weathervane is needed to guide you. No compass readings are required. There is the water's landmark, the signpost of the bayou to tell you which way to drive, which way to travel.
Louisiana may be best known as the home of Mardi Gras and the football Saints, as a stirring pot of jazz and blues and zesty cuisine. Thanks to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it may forever be the memory stick for disaster, for images of broken levees and a stifling Superdome, and for tales of heroism and despair in now-familiar places like the Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
But it is also Indian Country, land of the mostly forgotten. It is home to the United Houma Nation, nearly half of whose members were displaced up and down the bayou, their homes battered by hurricane winds or flooded by avalanches of water.
"Our people suffered a lot, and many people don't know that," said Brenda Dardar Robichaux, principal chief of the Houma Nation. "We're still recovering, and it's been a slow process."
With 17,000 enrolled members, the Houma constitute the largest tribe in Louisiana. Over the centuries, they have found themselves moving farther down the bayou, historically pressed by the encroachment of European and American newcomers whose appetite for land pushed them on their southward migration and whose later discoveries of oil and gas made the Natives vulnerable to land grabs.
There's more here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/feature-article/katrina%2C-rita-and-houma%3A-nation-recovery
HOUMA, La.—Up the bayou. Down the bayou. Across the bayou.
For a visitor to this stretch of Louisiana, those are the directions you quickly learn while traveling the waterways and roadways of this southeastern region of this Southern state.
For those at home in the bayou, no weathervane is needed to guide you. No compass readings are required. There is the water's landmark, the signpost of the bayou to tell you which way to drive, which way to travel.
Louisiana may be best known as the home of Mardi Gras and the football Saints, as a stirring pot of jazz and blues and zesty cuisine. Thanks to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, it may forever be the memory stick for disaster, for images of broken levees and a stifling Superdome, and for tales of heroism and despair in now-familiar places like the Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
But it is also Indian Country, land of the mostly forgotten. It is home to the United Houma Nation, nearly half of whose members were displaced up and down the bayou, their homes battered by hurricane winds or flooded by avalanches of water.
"Our people suffered a lot, and many people don't know that," said Brenda Dardar Robichaux, principal chief of the Houma Nation. "We're still recovering, and it's been a slow process."
With 17,000 enrolled members, the Houma constitute the largest tribe in Louisiana. Over the centuries, they have found themselves moving farther down the bayou, historically pressed by the encroachment of European and American newcomers whose appetite for land pushed them on their southward migration and whose later discoveries of oil and gas made the Natives vulnerable to land grabs.
There's more here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/feature-article/katrina%2C-rita-and-houma%3A-nation-recovery
Reburial on hold for 87 American Indian remains
By: Cindy Carcamo
HUNTINGTON BEACH – A plan to rebury the last 87 American Indian remains found on the Brightwater Hearthside Homes site on Monday is on hold after American Indian officials complained to the state's Coastal Commission that the developer is not appropriately documenting all grave items found on the site.
Officials also alleged that the developer is not being forthcoming about its archeological findings on the Bolsa Chica Mesa site.
"This is so he can hurry up and get a burial and get the OK to finish building and selling homes to make a profit,'' said Gabrielino-Tongva leader Anthony Morales, who lodged a complaint at last week's Coastal Commission meeting. "It's a business. We're an obstacle to him. … Our culture is in his way."
It's the latest twist to plague the 300-home project, which sits on a site believed to be an ancient burial site and village once shared by the Gabrielino-Tongva and Juaneño Band of Mission Indians.
Over the last 30 years, archeologists discovered 174 ancient American Indian remains, half of them unearthed in the past 20 months. Human remains can mean whole sets or a fragment belonging to a person.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/grave-site-developer-2020274-commission-goods
HUNTINGTON BEACH – A plan to rebury the last 87 American Indian remains found on the Brightwater Hearthside Homes site on Monday is on hold after American Indian officials complained to the state's Coastal Commission that the developer is not appropriately documenting all grave items found on the site.
Officials also alleged that the developer is not being forthcoming about its archeological findings on the Bolsa Chica Mesa site.
"This is so he can hurry up and get a burial and get the OK to finish building and selling homes to make a profit,'' said Gabrielino-Tongva leader Anthony Morales, who lodged a complaint at last week's Coastal Commission meeting. "It's a business. We're an obstacle to him. … Our culture is in his way."
It's the latest twist to plague the 300-home project, which sits on a site believed to be an ancient burial site and village once shared by the Gabrielino-Tongva and Juaneño Band of Mission Indians.
Over the last 30 years, archeologists discovered 174 ancient American Indian remains, half of them unearthed in the past 20 months. Human remains can mean whole sets or a fragment belonging to a person.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/grave-site-developer-2020274-commission-goods
On this day in history...
April 21, 1869 Ely Samual Parker/Hasanoanda (Seneca) becomes first Native American Commissioner of Indian Affairs.
A Sachem and Civil War adjutant to Ulysses Grant, Ely Samuel Parker was an important figure in the Seneca Indian nation during the first half of the nineteenth century. Trained as an engineer, Parker was deeply involved in the Senecas' land disputes with the Ogden Land Company and he played an important role in interpreting Seneca culture for a white audience, most notably as a consultant for Lewis Henry Morgan.
The Parker Papers include correspondence, manuscripts, and printed materials relating primarily to Seneca affairs, history, language, and culture, as well as politics, education, engineering, and the Civil War. Among Parker's correspondents were Henry Clay, Millard Fillmore, Henry M. Flagler, Lewis Henry Morgan, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, Daniel Webster, and Asher Wright. Several letters relate to Parker's service as engineer of public buildings in Galena, Ill., and to his Masonic activities. Among the noteworthy items in the collection are several essays on Seneca history and culture, a fragment of Parker's diary, 1847, and a significant quantity of material on the Seneca language assembled by Asher Wright.
A Sachem and Civil War adjutant to Ulysses Grant, Ely Samuel Parker was an important figure in the Seneca Indian nation during the first half of the nineteenth century. Trained as an engineer, Parker was deeply involved in the Senecas' land disputes with the Ogden Land Company and he played an important role in interpreting Seneca culture for a white audience, most notably as a consultant for Lewis Henry Morgan.
The Parker Papers include correspondence, manuscripts, and printed materials relating primarily to Seneca affairs, history, language, and culture, as well as politics, education, engineering, and the Civil War. Among Parker's correspondents were Henry Clay, Millard Fillmore, Henry M. Flagler, Lewis Henry Morgan, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, Daniel Webster, and Asher Wright. Several letters relate to Parker's service as engineer of public buildings in Galena, Ill., and to his Masonic activities. Among the noteworthy items in the collection are several essays on Seneca history and culture, a fragment of Parker's diary, 1847, and a significant quantity of material on the Seneca language assembled by Asher Wright.
Cherokee Nation Provides Emergency Assistance to Storm and Flood Victims
Cherokee Nation News Release
TAHLEQUAH, OK — The Cherokee Nation is assisting Oklahoma communities in need after torrential rains and high winds caused damage to homes, property and roads in northeastern Oklahoma.
The Cherokee Nation Emergency Management (CNEM) team members are assisting local and federal organizations assess damage and clean up in communities located within Cherokee Nation’s jurisdictional area (Adair, Delaware, Mayes and Sequoyah Counties) after heavy rain and high winds recently stormed across Oklahoma.
According to CNEM Director, Tamara Copeland, members were dispatched to counties in the area and near the Arkansas state line. Copeland says that assessing the damage is the first step to obtaining approval for individual assistance to citizens impacted by the storm.
“In Sequoyah County, we assisted primarily in damage assessment with local and state officials,” said Copeland. “Muldrow was hit particularly hard.”
The results show that in Sequoyah County 224 apartments suffered damage, 477 homes and 11 businesses experienced minor damage, major damage impacted 133 homes and 14 businesses, and 33 mobile homes were completely destroyed by hail.
Get the rest of the story here: http://www.cherokee.org/PressRoom/2551/story.aspx
TAHLEQUAH, OK — The Cherokee Nation is assisting Oklahoma communities in need after torrential rains and high winds caused damage to homes, property and roads in northeastern Oklahoma.
The Cherokee Nation Emergency Management (CNEM) team members are assisting local and federal organizations assess damage and clean up in communities located within Cherokee Nation’s jurisdictional area (Adair, Delaware, Mayes and Sequoyah Counties) after heavy rain and high winds recently stormed across Oklahoma.
According to CNEM Director, Tamara Copeland, members were dispatched to counties in the area and near the Arkansas state line. Copeland says that assessing the damage is the first step to obtaining approval for individual assistance to citizens impacted by the storm.
“In Sequoyah County, we assisted primarily in damage assessment with local and state officials,” said Copeland. “Muldrow was hit particularly hard.”
The results show that in Sequoyah County 224 apartments suffered damage, 477 homes and 11 businesses experienced minor damage, major damage impacted 133 homes and 14 businesses, and 33 mobile homes were completely destroyed by hail.
Get the rest of the story here: http://www.cherokee.org/PressRoom/2551/story.aspx
Friday, April 18, 2008
Open Letter to Pope Benedict, Pope of the Catholic Church
An Open Letter to Pope Benedict, Pope of the Catholic Church
By: Pamela Waterbird Davison
Copyright 2008
You’re Imminence:
I am honored to have you reading my words and beg your indulgence while I address you as a human being. You see, I am no one to you. I’m not even Catholic. But I am the descendant of a North American Aboriginal People. Recently, I’ve seen you on my television, visiting Washington, and addressing issues among the people, including sexual abuse committed by priests of the order. As of April 15, 2007, an investigation conducted by the International Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide, established by indigenous elders, will attempt to address the issue of many mass graves containing school children near Indian Boarding Schools.
“Our Tribunal will commence on April 15 by gathering all of the evidence, including forensic remains, that is necessary to charge and indict those responsible for the deaths of the children buried therein.”
What has been found, You’re Imminence, are twenty-eight sites of evidentiary remains – mass graves – some of which are five intact skeletons observed in school furnace. Many schools have been destroyed, some facilities are still functional, however, and a great many of these “boarding schools” were, and some remain, run by the Catholic Church. Kuper Island: Catholic school (1890-1975), offshore from Chemainus, Mission: St. Mary’s Catholic school (1861-1984), Cranbrook: St. Eugene Catholic School (1898-1970) names just three locations belonging to the Vatican.
For hundreds of years my people have told the stories of the holocaust committed on this land, but no one has listened…until now. Finally, we have proof of the stories; can show the world exactly what the true history of this land is.
I heard with gladness in my heart as you visited with victims of priests in your order. It feels like a step in the right direction. I appreciate your courage of conviction to meet truth head-on. Now I hope you will meet this truth with equal dedication.
A country which denies its own culpability is doomed to destroy itself. The same applies to a religious sect, especially those countries and religions as powerful as the United States of America and the Catholic Church. Will you continue to deny truth in the face of evidence, or will you acknowledge us, finally, into the proper context of history? It may not seem significant to you or other world leaders, but it is very significant to indigenous people all around the world and we are watching.
Featured Tribe: Calusa
An important tribe of Florida, the Calusa, formerly holding the southwest coast from about Tampa Bay to Cape Sable and Cape Florida, together with all the outlying keys, and extending inland to Lake Okeechobee. They claimed more or less authority also over the tribes of the east coast, north to about Cape Canaveral. The name, which cannot be interpreted, appears as Calos or Carlos (province) in the early Spanish and French records, Caloosa and Coloosa in later English authors, and survives in Caloosa village, Caloosahatchee river, and Charlotte (for Carlos) harbor within their old territory.
The Calusa cultivated the ground to a limited extent, but were better noted as expert fishers, daring seamen, and fierce and determined fighters, keeping up their resistance to the Spanish arms and missionary advances after all the rest of Florida had submitted. Their men went nearly naked. They seem to have practiced human sacrifice of captives upon a wholesale scale, scalped and dismembered their slain enemies, and have repeatedly been accused of being cannibals. Although this charge is denied by Adair (1775), who was in position to know, the evidence of the mounds indicates that it was true in the earlier period.
Their written history begins in 1513 when, with a fleet of 80 canoes they boldly attacked Ponce de León, who was about to land on their coast, and after an all-day fight compelled him, to withdraw. Even at this early date they were already noted among the tribes for the golden wealth which they had accumulated from the numerous Spanish wrecks cast away upon the keys in passage from the south, and two centuries later they were regarded as veritable pirates, plundering and killing without mercy the crews of all vessels, excepting Spanish, so unfortunate as to be stranded in their neighborhood.
In 1567 the Spaniards established a mission and fortified post among them, but both seem to have been discontinued soon after, although the tribe came later under Spanish influence. About this time, according to Fontaneda, a captive among them, they numbered nearly 50 villages, including one occupied by the descendants of an Arawakan colony from Cuba. From one of these villages the modern Tampa takes its name. Another, Muspa, existed up to about 1750.
About the year 1600 they carried on a regular trade, by canoe, with Havana in fish, skins, and amber. By the constant invasions of the Creeks and other Indian allies of the English in the 18th century they were at last driven from the mainland and forced to take refuge on the keys, particularly Key West, Key Vaccas, and the Matacumbe keys. One of their latest recorded exploits was the massacre of an entire French crew wrecked upon the islands. Romans state that in 1763, on the transfer of Florida from Spain to England, the last remnant of the tribe, numbering then 80 families, or perhaps 350 souls, was removed to Havana. This, however, is only partially correct, as a considerable band under the name of Muspa Indians, or simply Spanish Indians, maintained their distinct existence and language in their ancient territory up to the close of the second Seminole war.
Nothing is known of the linguistic affinity of the Calusa or their immediate neighbors, as no vocabulary or other specimen of the language is known to exist beyond the town names and one or two other words given by Fontaneda, none of which affords basis for serious interpretation. Gatschet, the best authority on the Florida languages, says: "The languages spoken by the Calusa and by the people next in order, the Tequesta, are unknown to us. They were regarded as people distinct from the Timucua and the tribes of Maskoki origin" (Creek Migr. Leg., 1, 13, 1884).
The Calusa tribe died out in the late 1700s. Enemy Indian tribes from Georgia and South Carolina began raiding the Calusa territory. Many Calusa were captured and sold as slaves.
In addition, diseases such as smallpox and measles were brought into the area from the Spanish and French explorers and these diseases wiped out entire villages. It is believed that the few remaining Calusa Indians left for Cuba when the Spanish turned Florida over to the British in 1763.
The Calusa cultivated the ground to a limited extent, but were better noted as expert fishers, daring seamen, and fierce and determined fighters, keeping up their resistance to the Spanish arms and missionary advances after all the rest of Florida had submitted. Their men went nearly naked. They seem to have practiced human sacrifice of captives upon a wholesale scale, scalped and dismembered their slain enemies, and have repeatedly been accused of being cannibals. Although this charge is denied by Adair (1775), who was in position to know, the evidence of the mounds indicates that it was true in the earlier period.
Their written history begins in 1513 when, with a fleet of 80 canoes they boldly attacked Ponce de León, who was about to land on their coast, and after an all-day fight compelled him, to withdraw. Even at this early date they were already noted among the tribes for the golden wealth which they had accumulated from the numerous Spanish wrecks cast away upon the keys in passage from the south, and two centuries later they were regarded as veritable pirates, plundering and killing without mercy the crews of all vessels, excepting Spanish, so unfortunate as to be stranded in their neighborhood.
In 1567 the Spaniards established a mission and fortified post among them, but both seem to have been discontinued soon after, although the tribe came later under Spanish influence. About this time, according to Fontaneda, a captive among them, they numbered nearly 50 villages, including one occupied by the descendants of an Arawakan colony from Cuba. From one of these villages the modern Tampa takes its name. Another, Muspa, existed up to about 1750.
About the year 1600 they carried on a regular trade, by canoe, with Havana in fish, skins, and amber. By the constant invasions of the Creeks and other Indian allies of the English in the 18th century they were at last driven from the mainland and forced to take refuge on the keys, particularly Key West, Key Vaccas, and the Matacumbe keys. One of their latest recorded exploits was the massacre of an entire French crew wrecked upon the islands. Romans state that in 1763, on the transfer of Florida from Spain to England, the last remnant of the tribe, numbering then 80 families, or perhaps 350 souls, was removed to Havana. This, however, is only partially correct, as a considerable band under the name of Muspa Indians, or simply Spanish Indians, maintained their distinct existence and language in their ancient territory up to the close of the second Seminole war.
Nothing is known of the linguistic affinity of the Calusa or their immediate neighbors, as no vocabulary or other specimen of the language is known to exist beyond the town names and one or two other words given by Fontaneda, none of which affords basis for serious interpretation. Gatschet, the best authority on the Florida languages, says: "The languages spoken by the Calusa and by the people next in order, the Tequesta, are unknown to us. They were regarded as people distinct from the Timucua and the tribes of Maskoki origin" (Creek Migr. Leg., 1, 13, 1884).
The Calusa tribe died out in the late 1700s. Enemy Indian tribes from Georgia and South Carolina began raiding the Calusa territory. Many Calusa were captured and sold as slaves.
In addition, diseases such as smallpox and measles were brought into the area from the Spanish and French explorers and these diseases wiped out entire villages. It is believed that the few remaining Calusa Indians left for Cuba when the Spanish turned Florida over to the British in 1763.
133 Skyway
An American Indian Film Festival nominee:
133 Skyway is a visceral reflection of urban homeless, survival and friendship. Derek Miller plays Hartley, a homeless man trying to get his guitar out of hock. As his health fails Hartley relies on a troubled friend and the kindness of a lonely pawnshop employee.
133 Skyway also includes Falen Johnson (Delia) and Terry Barnhart (Abel), both making their screen-acting debuts. Many of the crew were Aboriginal youth who received hands-on training on the film, which was an initiative of Project One Generation.
Project One Generation workshops are facilitated by Big Soul Productions and provide education and training opportunities for Aboriginal youth and adults in film, television and media.
Director: Randy Redroad
22 Minutes • Canada • Live Short
133 Skyway is a visceral reflection of urban homeless, survival and friendship. Derek Miller plays Hartley, a homeless man trying to get his guitar out of hock. As his health fails Hartley relies on a troubled friend and the kindness of a lonely pawnshop employee.
133 Skyway also includes Falen Johnson (Delia) and Terry Barnhart (Abel), both making their screen-acting debuts. Many of the crew were Aboriginal youth who received hands-on training on the film, which was an initiative of Project One Generation.
Project One Generation workshops are facilitated by Big Soul Productions and provide education and training opportunities for Aboriginal youth and adults in film, television and media.
Director: Randy Redroad
22 Minutes • Canada • Live Short
Students dance, drum, learn American Indian culture
By: Diane Huber
The Evergreen Forest Elementary School gym reverberated with drumbeats as the Nisqually Tribe Canoe Family performed traditional songs.
The performers included four drummers and six youth dancers, some from North Thurston Public Schools, which serves the Lacey area of Thurston County. They wore traditional regalia with symbols and pictures. Some carried drums made of deer and elk hide.
Tanisha Rattler, a freshman at River Ridge High School, said each song tells a story. “It’s not just about dancing. It’s about being around our friends in a good way that doesn’t involve drugs or alcohol,” she said.
The dancing was part of a Family Cultural Activity Night, a program that reaches out to North Thurston’s 500 American Indian students and their families. The program is funded by a grant from the Office of Indian Education.
It’s designed to teach tribal history and culture and help American Indian students meet academic standards, said Laura Lynn, the district’s native student program specialist.
“It’s about connecting their cultural history and practices to their experience in school,” she said.
The rest of the story is here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/336420.html
The Evergreen Forest Elementary School gym reverberated with drumbeats as the Nisqually Tribe Canoe Family performed traditional songs.
The performers included four drummers and six youth dancers, some from North Thurston Public Schools, which serves the Lacey area of Thurston County. They wore traditional regalia with symbols and pictures. Some carried drums made of deer and elk hide.
Tanisha Rattler, a freshman at River Ridge High School, said each song tells a story. “It’s not just about dancing. It’s about being around our friends in a good way that doesn’t involve drugs or alcohol,” she said.
The dancing was part of a Family Cultural Activity Night, a program that reaches out to North Thurston’s 500 American Indian students and their families. The program is funded by a grant from the Office of Indian Education.
It’s designed to teach tribal history and culture and help American Indian students meet academic standards, said Laura Lynn, the district’s native student program specialist.
“It’s about connecting their cultural history and practices to their experience in school,” she said.
The rest of the story is here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/336420.html
Location of Mass Graves of Residential School Children Revealed
By: Brenda Norrell
Squamish Nation Territory ("Vancouver, Canada") - At a public ceremony and press conference held today outside the colonial "Indian Affairs" building in downtown Vancouver, the Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) released a list of twenty eight mass graves across Canada holding the remains of untold numbers of aboriginal children who died in Indian Residential Schools.
The list was distributed today to the world media and to United Nations agencies, as the first act of the newly-formed International Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide in Canada (IHRTGC), a non-governmental body established by indigenous elders.
In a statement read by FRD spokesperson Eagle Strong Voice, it was declared that the IHRTGC would commence its investigations on April 15, 2008, the fourth Annual Aboriginal Holocaust Memorial Day. This inquiry will involve international human rights observers from Guatemala and Cyprus , and will convene aboriginal courts of justice where those persons and institutions responsible for the death and suffering of residential school children will be tried and sentenced. (The complete Statement and List of Mass Graves is reproduced below).
Eagle Strong Voice and IHRTGC elders will present the Mass Graves List at the United Nations on April 19, and will ask United Nations agencies to protect and monitor the mass graves as part of a genuine inquiry and judicial prosecution of those responsible for this Canadian Genocide.
Eyewitness Sylvester Greene spoke to the media at today's event, and described how he helped bury a young Inuit boy at the United Church's Edmonton residential school in 1953.
There's much more to this sad story of holocaust in North America here: http://atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/3719/1/
Squamish Nation Territory ("Vancouver, Canada") - At a public ceremony and press conference held today outside the colonial "Indian Affairs" building in downtown Vancouver, the Friends and Relatives of the Disappeared (FRD) released a list of twenty eight mass graves across Canada holding the remains of untold numbers of aboriginal children who died in Indian Residential Schools.
The list was distributed today to the world media and to United Nations agencies, as the first act of the newly-formed International Human Rights Tribunal into Genocide in Canada (IHRTGC), a non-governmental body established by indigenous elders.
In a statement read by FRD spokesperson Eagle Strong Voice, it was declared that the IHRTGC would commence its investigations on April 15, 2008, the fourth Annual Aboriginal Holocaust Memorial Day. This inquiry will involve international human rights observers from Guatemala and Cyprus , and will convene aboriginal courts of justice where those persons and institutions responsible for the death and suffering of residential school children will be tried and sentenced. (The complete Statement and List of Mass Graves is reproduced below).
Eagle Strong Voice and IHRTGC elders will present the Mass Graves List at the United Nations on April 19, and will ask United Nations agencies to protect and monitor the mass graves as part of a genuine inquiry and judicial prosecution of those responsible for this Canadian Genocide.
Eyewitness Sylvester Greene spoke to the media at today's event, and described how he helped bury a young Inuit boy at the United Church's Edmonton residential school in 1953.
There's much more to this sad story of holocaust in North America here: http://atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/3719/1/
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Quotes
"The Pueblo have no word that translates as "religion". The knowledge of a spiritual life is part of the person 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Religious belief permeates every aspect of life; it determines man's relation with the natural world and with his fellow man. The secret of the Pueblo's success was simple. They came face to face with nature but did not exploit it." -
Joe S. Sando - Jemez Pueblo
Joe S. Sando - Jemez Pueblo
The 33nd Annual American Indian Film Festival call for entries
San Francisco, CA—The American Indian Film Institute is currently seeking film and video entries for the 33rd annual American Indian Film Festival. As the nation's oldest and most prestigious venue for American Indian film arts and entertainment, the American Indian Film Festival has earned a reputation for both excellence and integrity. At Film Festival 2007, AIFI premiered and/or screened over 100 film and video works from American and Canadian filmmakers. The annual Film Festival and American Indian Motion Picture Awards Show, produced by AIFI Founder and President Michael Smith, draws an audience of nearly 5,000, anticipating the latest in American Indian film, video, and music.
The 2008 American Indian Film Festival will be presented November 7-15 in San Francisco, California. Films to be entered for competition should be by or about American Indian or Canada First Nations people and produced during year 2007-2008. Entry deadline is August 5, 2008.
The major categories for competition are: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Feature Film, Live Short Subject, Music Video, Animated Short Subject, Public Service and Industrial. All entries must be accompanied by promotional materials, including production credits, publicity stills, as well as a film synopsis, not to exceed 250 words. Entrants are responsible for all shipping costs to and from AIFI's San Francisco office.
A Film Jury, designated by the American Indian Film Institute, will screen entries and issue recommendations for the final program and award nominations. During the week of September 29, 2008, entrants will be notified of their selection to the 2008 American Indian Film Festival & Video Exposition. The American Indian Motion Picture Awards, recognizing outstanding Indian cinematic accomplishments, will be presented the evening of November 15 at the Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon Street, in San Francisco. Each entry must include: Completed entry form; film synopsis; DVD/VHS screener; Signed Regulations Agreement Form; Entry Fee $50.00 (U.S. Funds). Entry fee payable to: American Indian Film Institute.
Entry forms can be found here: http://www.aifisf.com/home.php
The 2008 American Indian Film Festival will be presented November 7-15 in San Francisco, California. Films to be entered for competition should be by or about American Indian or Canada First Nations people and produced during year 2007-2008. Entry deadline is August 5, 2008.
The major categories for competition are: Documentary Feature, Documentary Short, Feature Film, Live Short Subject, Music Video, Animated Short Subject, Public Service and Industrial. All entries must be accompanied by promotional materials, including production credits, publicity stills, as well as a film synopsis, not to exceed 250 words. Entrants are responsible for all shipping costs to and from AIFI's San Francisco office.
A Film Jury, designated by the American Indian Film Institute, will screen entries and issue recommendations for the final program and award nominations. During the week of September 29, 2008, entrants will be notified of their selection to the 2008 American Indian Film Festival & Video Exposition. The American Indian Motion Picture Awards, recognizing outstanding Indian cinematic accomplishments, will be presented the evening of November 15 at the Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon Street, in San Francisco. Each entry must include: Completed entry form; film synopsis; DVD/VHS screener; Signed Regulations Agreement Form; Entry Fee $50.00 (U.S. Funds). Entry fee payable to: American Indian Film Institute.
Entry forms can be found here: http://www.aifisf.com/home.php
Between two worlds
By: Ron Jackson
HAMMON — Only the green stubble of budding wheat lives on the high ground where the Whiteshield Camp once thrived.
Crude box tents made of canvas once home to entire families along the Washita River are gone. So is the water well, likely buried by a plow. Tracks where trains periodically carried supplies to camp residents have vanished. A drilling rig stands in its old path.
"This is the first time I've been down here in years,” said Archie Hoffman, 71, while he canvassed the terrain two miles north of town. "I have a sad feeling coming back. Everything has changed. Nothing is as I remember.”
Hoffman struggled to find his bearings at the old site, sifting through his memory to reconstruct the camp he knew as a child. Descriptions turned into recollections about life — the spiritual ways of his ancestors, the cadence of the Cheyenne language and the communal camaraderie of his people.
"Those were really good times,” said Edwin Pewo, 73, of Hammon and a Cheyenne peace chief. "My people never had a hard time putting food on the table back then. We lived off the land.”
Living the old way"We had a dirt floor,” said Pewo, as if still feeling the packed dirt beneath his feet. "No running water. No gas. No electricity. We chopped wood with an ax, and we kept warm by burning the wood in a big stove.
"For food, we'd hunt for turtles or we'd fish. We'd use a string and hook, or we'd just pull the fish out of the water with our hands.”
Read more here: http://newsok.com/article/3229457/1208218634
HAMMON — Only the green stubble of budding wheat lives on the high ground where the Whiteshield Camp once thrived.
Crude box tents made of canvas once home to entire families along the Washita River are gone. So is the water well, likely buried by a plow. Tracks where trains periodically carried supplies to camp residents have vanished. A drilling rig stands in its old path.
"This is the first time I've been down here in years,” said Archie Hoffman, 71, while he canvassed the terrain two miles north of town. "I have a sad feeling coming back. Everything has changed. Nothing is as I remember.”
Hoffman struggled to find his bearings at the old site, sifting through his memory to reconstruct the camp he knew as a child. Descriptions turned into recollections about life — the spiritual ways of his ancestors, the cadence of the Cheyenne language and the communal camaraderie of his people.
"Those were really good times,” said Edwin Pewo, 73, of Hammon and a Cheyenne peace chief. "My people never had a hard time putting food on the table back then. We lived off the land.”
Living the old way"We had a dirt floor,” said Pewo, as if still feeling the packed dirt beneath his feet. "No running water. No gas. No electricity. We chopped wood with an ax, and we kept warm by burning the wood in a big stove.
"For food, we'd hunt for turtles or we'd fish. We'd use a string and hook, or we'd just pull the fish out of the water with our hands.”
Read more here: http://newsok.com/article/3229457/1208218634
NAGPRA waived to build U.S.-Mexico fence
By: Rob Capriccioso
WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security in conjunction with the Department of the Interior has waived nearly 40 federal laws, including the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, to try to speed construction of a border fence between the United States and Mexico.
''Congress and the American public have been adamant that they want and expect border security,'' Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said in a statement, which announced the action April 1. ''We're serious about delivering it, and these waivers will enable important security projects to keep moving forward.''
NAGPRA, a federal law passed in 1990, created a legal process for federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return American Indian human remains and cultural items to their respective tribes or lineal descendants.
Sherry Hutt, the national NAGPRA program manager, said she was not informed that the waiver would happen before it did; she's put in a call to DHS for an explanation.
''I want to know more about how they're proceeding,'' she said. Several tribal officials nationwide have said that they, too, were not informed of this decision.
Officials with DHS say they are trying to be mindful of culturally focused laws but have found it necessary to make blanket law waivers, since legal challenges have already greatly extended the timeline to build the controversial fence between the U.S. and Mexico.
''We will continue to work with tribal nations and tribal leaders to ensure that we are collaborating before we proceed with any major construction,'' said Laura Keehner, a spokesman for DHS. ''We invite the government-to-government discussions, and definitely expect that to continue.''
Under the waiver, more than 55 miles on the Tohono O'odham Reservation in Arizona would be affected, as well as several miles on lands owned by individual Indians and on other Indian communities.
In total, the waivers apply to 470 miles of land in a stretch of area from California through Texas. In making the waivers, Chertoff is striving to meet a deadline by the end of the year to survey and build nearly 700 miles of fencing. Three hundred and nine miles of fencing have already been built.
Get there whole story here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417025
WASHINGTON - The Department of Homeland Security in conjunction with the Department of the Interior has waived nearly 40 federal laws, including the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, to try to speed construction of a border fence between the United States and Mexico.
''Congress and the American public have been adamant that they want and expect border security,'' Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said in a statement, which announced the action April 1. ''We're serious about delivering it, and these waivers will enable important security projects to keep moving forward.''
NAGPRA, a federal law passed in 1990, created a legal process for federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return American Indian human remains and cultural items to their respective tribes or lineal descendants.
Sherry Hutt, the national NAGPRA program manager, said she was not informed that the waiver would happen before it did; she's put in a call to DHS for an explanation.
''I want to know more about how they're proceeding,'' she said. Several tribal officials nationwide have said that they, too, were not informed of this decision.
Officials with DHS say they are trying to be mindful of culturally focused laws but have found it necessary to make blanket law waivers, since legal challenges have already greatly extended the timeline to build the controversial fence between the U.S. and Mexico.
''We will continue to work with tribal nations and tribal leaders to ensure that we are collaborating before we proceed with any major construction,'' said Laura Keehner, a spokesman for DHS. ''We invite the government-to-government discussions, and definitely expect that to continue.''
Under the waiver, more than 55 miles on the Tohono O'odham Reservation in Arizona would be affected, as well as several miles on lands owned by individual Indians and on other Indian communities.
In total, the waivers apply to 470 miles of land in a stretch of area from California through Texas. In making the waivers, Chertoff is striving to meet a deadline by the end of the year to survey and build nearly 700 miles of fencing. Three hundred and nine miles of fencing have already been built.
Get there whole story here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096417025
Monday, April 14, 2008
Quotes
"They could not capture me except under a white flag. They cannot hold me except with a chain." -
Osceola - Seminole
Osceola - Seminole
Navajo Creation Story
The People went through four worlds before they walked up a reed from the bottom of the Lake of Changing Waters into the present world. First Man and First Woman led the others, and with them came their two first children, the Changing Twins.
One took some clay from the stream bed in his hand and it shaped itself into a food bowl. The other Twin found reeds growing and with them he shaped a water basket. Then they picked up stones from the ground, and the pieces became axes and hammers, knives and spear points in their hands. Last of all the Twins shaped digging sticks from branches of mountain mahogany, and hoes from deer shoulder blades.
They found the Kisani, a different people growing gardens in the valleys, and the People traded their tools and baskes and bowls for weapons for seeds to plant in their own places along the rivers. They learned how to build dams and spread the water on the dry ground where it was needed.
One took some clay from the stream bed in his hand and it shaped itself into a food bowl. The other Twin found reeds growing and with them he shaped a water basket. Then they picked up stones from the ground, and the pieces became axes and hammers, knives and spear points in their hands. Last of all the Twins shaped digging sticks from branches of mountain mahogany, and hoes from deer shoulder blades.
They found the Kisani, a different people growing gardens in the valleys, and the People traded their tools and baskes and bowls for weapons for seeds to plant in their own places along the rivers. They learned how to build dams and spread the water on the dry ground where it was needed.
Walk On
By: Candace Begody
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.—It's been a grueling 1,000 miles of passage through Arizona's sizzling desert and the San Francisco Peak's freezing cold, but the 157 men, women and children of the Longest Walk 2 northern route reached the Navajo Nation's capital last week in high spirits.
"It's been absolutely awesome," Dennis J. Banks, American Indian Movement co-founder and Leech Lake Ojibwe, said of the walk. "We ought to change the name from the Longest Walk to the Longest Buffet — the Navajos have been feeding us tons of food."
The Longest Walk 2 is a nearly 3,000-mile, coast-to-coast trek to promote harmony with the Earth and social justice for indigenous people. It began Feb. 11 at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco.
The walk has two routes. Those on the southern route, led by Banks, are scheduled to travel through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia.
Those on the northern route, led by Jimbo Simmons, a Choctaw, are scheduled to journey through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Both routes will converge in Washington, D.C., where the group will voice their concerns on sacred sites issues, pollution of the earth and social justice, and commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first Longest Walk.
Read more here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/feature-article/walk
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz.—It's been a grueling 1,000 miles of passage through Arizona's sizzling desert and the San Francisco Peak's freezing cold, but the 157 men, women and children of the Longest Walk 2 northern route reached the Navajo Nation's capital last week in high spirits.
"It's been absolutely awesome," Dennis J. Banks, American Indian Movement co-founder and Leech Lake Ojibwe, said of the walk. "We ought to change the name from the Longest Walk to the Longest Buffet — the Navajos have been feeding us tons of food."
The Longest Walk 2 is a nearly 3,000-mile, coast-to-coast trek to promote harmony with the Earth and social justice for indigenous people. It began Feb. 11 at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco.
The walk has two routes. Those on the southern route, led by Banks, are scheduled to travel through New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia.
Those on the northern route, led by Jimbo Simmons, a Choctaw, are scheduled to journey through Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland.
Both routes will converge in Washington, D.C., where the group will voice their concerns on sacred sites issues, pollution of the earth and social justice, and commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first Longest Walk.
Read more here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/feature-article/walk
Parade celebrates culture, protests historical treatment
Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY -- At least half of the 39 recognized American Indian tribes in Oklahoma were represented at a parade that mixed celebrations with demonstrations on Saturday, organizers said.
The Society to Preserve Indigenous Rights and Indigenous Traditions, or SPIRIT, hosted the event, which began at the corner of Reno and Hudson avenues and ended at the Land Run statue in Bricktown.
Along the way, drivers with tribal affiliations attached to their vehicles honked their horns and cheered while others walked with handmade signs bearing slogans such as “Frybread Power” and "Dawes Commission + land run = organized theft.”
SPIRIT spokeswoman Brenda Golden, who organized the event, said the parade was really a way to recognize American Indian heritage, and was timed to occur before annual events re-enacting the Oklahoma Land Run happen. “We’re having our parade first because we were here before the Land Run,” she said.
The main goal of the organization is education, she said. Members want to have a tribal spokesman on the textbook committee for Oklahoma schools and to end Land Run re-enactments, which they consider offensive.
“We can’t change history, but what we can say is that we were here first and that they ran over us,” she said.
Richard Whitman, 59, an American Indian activist and artist, brought his grandchildren with him. Their knowledge of their ancestors is his primary concern.
“History is told for us ... We’re not part of the national narrative,” he said. “We’re part of Oklahoma history ...”
After reaching the Land Run statue, some stretched out on the ground under the bronzed horse hooves to symbolize how the Land Run trampled their people, Golden said.
“In some ways, we feel homeless in our own homeland,” Whitman said.
SPIRIT members plan to deliver on April 22 a signed resolution to Gov. Brad Henry about Land Run re-enactments and the depiction of America Indians in schools.
OKLAHOMA CITY -- At least half of the 39 recognized American Indian tribes in Oklahoma were represented at a parade that mixed celebrations with demonstrations on Saturday, organizers said.
The Society to Preserve Indigenous Rights and Indigenous Traditions, or SPIRIT, hosted the event, which began at the corner of Reno and Hudson avenues and ended at the Land Run statue in Bricktown.
Along the way, drivers with tribal affiliations attached to their vehicles honked their horns and cheered while others walked with handmade signs bearing slogans such as “Frybread Power” and "Dawes Commission + land run = organized theft.”
SPIRIT spokeswoman Brenda Golden, who organized the event, said the parade was really a way to recognize American Indian heritage, and was timed to occur before annual events re-enacting the Oklahoma Land Run happen. “We’re having our parade first because we were here before the Land Run,” she said.
The main goal of the organization is education, she said. Members want to have a tribal spokesman on the textbook committee for Oklahoma schools and to end Land Run re-enactments, which they consider offensive.
“We can’t change history, but what we can say is that we were here first and that they ran over us,” she said.
Richard Whitman, 59, an American Indian activist and artist, brought his grandchildren with him. Their knowledge of their ancestors is his primary concern.
“History is told for us ... We’re not part of the national narrative,” he said. “We’re part of Oklahoma history ...”
After reaching the Land Run statue, some stretched out on the ground under the bronzed horse hooves to symbolize how the Land Run trampled their people, Golden said.
“In some ways, we feel homeless in our own homeland,” Whitman said.
SPIRIT members plan to deliver on April 22 a signed resolution to Gov. Brad Henry about Land Run re-enactments and the depiction of America Indians in schools.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Do you know...
Metacom was the 2nd son of Massasoit. He became a chief in 1662 when his brother Wamsutta died. At first he sought to live in harmony with the colonists. As a sachem, he took the lead in much of his tribes' trade with the colonies. He adopted the European name of Philip, and bought his clothes in Boston, Massachusetts.
But the colonies continued to expand. To the west, the Iroquois Confederation continued expanding, pushing tribes east, thereby encroaching on his territory. Finally, in 1671 the colonial leaders of the Plymouth Colony forced major concessions from him. He surrendered much of his tribe's armament and ammunition, and agreed that they were subject to English law. The encroachment continued until actual hostilities broke out in 1675.
When the war eventually turned against him, he took refuge in the great Assowamset Swamp in southern Rhode Island. Here he held out for a time, with his family and remaining followers.
Hunted by a group of Ron Burgundys lead by Captain Benjamin Church, he was fatally shot by Praying Indian John Alderman, on August 12, 1676, on Mount Hope in Bristol, Rhode Island.
After his death, his wife and eight-year-old son were captured and sold as slaves in Bermuda, while his head was mounted on a pike at the entrance to Fort Plymouth where it remained for over two decades. His body was cut into quarters and hung in trees. Alderman was given one of the hands as a reward.
He is listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History, written by written by Bonnie Juettner, published by Bluewood Books (2002).
But the colonies continued to expand. To the west, the Iroquois Confederation continued expanding, pushing tribes east, thereby encroaching on his territory. Finally, in 1671 the colonial leaders of the Plymouth Colony forced major concessions from him. He surrendered much of his tribe's armament and ammunition, and agreed that they were subject to English law. The encroachment continued until actual hostilities broke out in 1675.
When the war eventually turned against him, he took refuge in the great Assowamset Swamp in southern Rhode Island. Here he held out for a time, with his family and remaining followers.
Hunted by a group of Ron Burgundys lead by Captain Benjamin Church, he was fatally shot by Praying Indian John Alderman, on August 12, 1676, on Mount Hope in Bristol, Rhode Island.
After his death, his wife and eight-year-old son were captured and sold as slaves in Bermuda, while his head was mounted on a pike at the entrance to Fort Plymouth where it remained for over two decades. His body was cut into quarters and hung in trees. Alderman was given one of the hands as a reward.
He is listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History, written by written by Bonnie Juettner, published by Bluewood Books (2002).
Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968
The U.S. Supreme Court had long made clear that although Indian tribes were subject to the dominant plenary power of Congress and the general provisions of the Constitution, tribes were nonetheless not bound by the guarantee of individual rights found in the Fifth Amendment. The most important decision affirming this principle is Talton v. Mayes (1896). Subsequent Supreme Court decisions affirmed the line of reasoning that tribes were not arms of the federal government when punishing tribal members for criminal acts and that Indian tribes were exempt from many of the constitutional protections governing the actions of state and federal governments. In the 1960s, Congress sponsored a series of hearings on the conduct of tribal governments and heard testimony regarding the abuses that some tribal members were enduring at the hands of sometimes corrupt, incompetent, or tyrannical tribal officials. The Indian Civil Rights Act (ICRA) was enacted in response to these revelations.
The most important provisions of ICRA were those that guaranteed (1) the right to free speech, press, and assembly; (2) protection from unreasonable search and seizure; (3) the right of a criminal defendant to a speedy trial, to be advised of the charges, and to confront any adverse witnesses; (4) the right to hire an attorney in a criminal case; (5) protection against self incrimination; (6) protection against cruel and unusual punishment, excessive bail, incarceration of more than one year and/or a fine in excess of $5,000 for any one offense; (7) protection from double jeopardy or ex post facto laws; (8) the right to a trial by a jury for offenses punishable by imprisonment; and (9) equal protection under the law, and due process. ICRA also stipulated that the writ of habeas corpus would be available in tribal court.
While ICRA included many familiar constitutional protections, it either ignored or modified others. The law did not impose the establishment clause, the guarantee of a republican form of government, the requirement of a separation of church and state, the right to a jurytrial in civil cases, or the right of indigents to appointed counsel in criminal cases. Congress excluded these provisions because it recognized the unique political and cultural status of tribes.
The effects of the ICRA were substantial; by requiring tribes to meet certain standards, the law caused tribal judicial systems to mirror mainstream American courts and procedures. While the benefits to individual liberties were laudatory, the effect also homogenized tribal courts, and limited their sentencing powers.
In 1978, the Supreme Court dramatically limited the impact of ICRA in Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez. That case involved a request to prevent enforcement of a tribal ordinance denying tribal membership to children of female (but not male) members who marry outside the tribe. The petitioning mother claimed the ordinance discriminated against her child based upon sex and thus was a denial of equal protection and violated ICRA.
The Court held that tribal common-law sovereign immunity prevented a suit against the tribe. It concluded that Indian tribes are required to adhere to the substantial requirements of ICRA, but that in deference to tribal self-government, Congress did not intend for federal courts to oversee compliance with ICRA, except in habeas corpus proceedings or unusual circumstances. Since 1978 and Martinez, those persons who allege noncustodial violations of ICRA are limited to pursuing their claims in tribal forums. Generally federal courts play no enforcement role in any of the provisions of ICRA that don't involve the narrow review of the imposition of incarceration by tribal courts in criminal proceedings.
Proposals to amend the ICRA to provide for more effective enforcement by the federal courts have been made and remain controversial. However, any remedy must balance the rights of the individual tribal members with a respect for tribal sovereignty and self-government.
The most important provisions of ICRA were those that guaranteed (1) the right to free speech, press, and assembly; (2) protection from unreasonable search and seizure; (3) the right of a criminal defendant to a speedy trial, to be advised of the charges, and to confront any adverse witnesses; (4) the right to hire an attorney in a criminal case; (5) protection against self incrimination; (6) protection against cruel and unusual punishment, excessive bail, incarceration of more than one year and/or a fine in excess of $5,000 for any one offense; (7) protection from double jeopardy or ex post facto laws; (8) the right to a trial by a jury for offenses punishable by imprisonment; and (9) equal protection under the law, and due process. ICRA also stipulated that the writ of habeas corpus would be available in tribal court.
While ICRA included many familiar constitutional protections, it either ignored or modified others. The law did not impose the establishment clause, the guarantee of a republican form of government, the requirement of a separation of church and state, the right to a jurytrial in civil cases, or the right of indigents to appointed counsel in criminal cases. Congress excluded these provisions because it recognized the unique political and cultural status of tribes.
The effects of the ICRA were substantial; by requiring tribes to meet certain standards, the law caused tribal judicial systems to mirror mainstream American courts and procedures. While the benefits to individual liberties were laudatory, the effect also homogenized tribal courts, and limited their sentencing powers.
In 1978, the Supreme Court dramatically limited the impact of ICRA in Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez. That case involved a request to prevent enforcement of a tribal ordinance denying tribal membership to children of female (but not male) members who marry outside the tribe. The petitioning mother claimed the ordinance discriminated against her child based upon sex and thus was a denial of equal protection and violated ICRA.
The Court held that tribal common-law sovereign immunity prevented a suit against the tribe. It concluded that Indian tribes are required to adhere to the substantial requirements of ICRA, but that in deference to tribal self-government, Congress did not intend for federal courts to oversee compliance with ICRA, except in habeas corpus proceedings or unusual circumstances. Since 1978 and Martinez, those persons who allege noncustodial violations of ICRA are limited to pursuing their claims in tribal forums. Generally federal courts play no enforcement role in any of the provisions of ICRA that don't involve the narrow review of the imposition of incarceration by tribal courts in criminal proceedings.
Proposals to amend the ICRA to provide for more effective enforcement by the federal courts have been made and remain controversial. However, any remedy must balance the rights of the individual tribal members with a respect for tribal sovereignty and self-government.
Squaw Peak officially Piestewa Peak
By: Connie Cone Sexton
A federal panel's decision Thursday to officially rename Squaw Peak after fallen soldier Lori Piestewa is a miracle, a blessing and a controversy that needs to end, her mother said.
Priscilla Piestewa said she wants Piestewa Peak in Phoenix to serve as a symbol for all those in the military who make sacrifices to protect the United States.
"But I hope that all the tension can be over," she said. "I hope more people will come together for peace. If we can't find peace at home, how can we find peace in the world?"
In an 11-2 vote, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, whose members represent Agriculture, Homeland Security and other federal departments, agreed to change the name of the summit, a move that follows action taken by a state panel in 2003. The new name will be used on maps and other federal publications, although "Squaw Peak" may appear on such documents as a second reference.
Bob Hiatt, who works in the cataloging and support office for the Library of Congress, voted against the change, along with a representative of the U.S. Census Bureau.
"I don't think she (Lori) met the requirements," Hiatt said. "She had no direct association with the feature. She lived in northern Arizona. Any celebrity she had was as a result of what the governor of Arizona did."
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2008/04/10/20080410piestewa.html
A federal panel's decision Thursday to officially rename Squaw Peak after fallen soldier Lori Piestewa is a miracle, a blessing and a controversy that needs to end, her mother said.
Priscilla Piestewa said she wants Piestewa Peak in Phoenix to serve as a symbol for all those in the military who make sacrifices to protect the United States.
"But I hope that all the tension can be over," she said. "I hope more people will come together for peace. If we can't find peace at home, how can we find peace in the world?"
In an 11-2 vote, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, whose members represent Agriculture, Homeland Security and other federal departments, agreed to change the name of the summit, a move that follows action taken by a state panel in 2003. The new name will be used on maps and other federal publications, although "Squaw Peak" may appear on such documents as a second reference.
Bob Hiatt, who works in the cataloging and support office for the Library of Congress, voted against the change, along with a representative of the U.S. Census Bureau.
"I don't think she (Lori) met the requirements," Hiatt said. "She had no direct association with the feature. She lived in northern Arizona. Any celebrity she had was as a result of what the governor of Arizona did."
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2008/04/10/20080410piestewa.html
Lumbee slur: Big-mouth DJs with small minds
By Lorraine Ahearn
How could this be OK?
That was the fundamental question when a Lumbee friend called last week, outraged, after her high school-age daughter heard a trio of shock jocks trashing the tribe on Raleigh’s WDCG (105 FM).
Now, the first thing that might come to mind is last year’s April fool, Don Imus, and the "nappy-headed hos" remark that earned him a you-know-what-storm and cost him his CBS Radio show.
But if you listened to last week’s "Bob & the Showgram" segment — which remained up on the G-105 Web site for several days until cooler heads prevailed — some differences became apparent.
The segment, led by DJ Bob Dumas, began as banter with a departing station intern who said she was leaving to get married. After the unnamed intern mentioned that she was marrying a Lumbee, stock sound effects such as fake "woo-woo-woo" Indian chants played in the background.
Dumas and his co-hosts quizzed the intern at length about her fiance, asking whether he was "full-blooded" and whether the couple planned to have a "teepee warming" after the wedding and suggesting she tell her parents, "At least he’s not black."
After making fun of the intern, who laughed along, Dumas and his co-hosts ridiculed Indians in general as "lazy" and Lumbees specifically as "inbred."
Read more of this controversy here: http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NRSTAFF/756073241
How could this be OK?
That was the fundamental question when a Lumbee friend called last week, outraged, after her high school-age daughter heard a trio of shock jocks trashing the tribe on Raleigh’s WDCG (105 FM).
Now, the first thing that might come to mind is last year’s April fool, Don Imus, and the "nappy-headed hos" remark that earned him a you-know-what-storm and cost him his CBS Radio show.
But if you listened to last week’s "Bob & the Showgram" segment — which remained up on the G-105 Web site for several days until cooler heads prevailed — some differences became apparent.
The segment, led by DJ Bob Dumas, began as banter with a departing station intern who said she was leaving to get married. After the unnamed intern mentioned that she was marrying a Lumbee, stock sound effects such as fake "woo-woo-woo" Indian chants played in the background.
Dumas and his co-hosts quizzed the intern at length about her fiance, asking whether he was "full-blooded" and whether the couple planned to have a "teepee warming" after the wedding and suggesting she tell her parents, "At least he’s not black."
After making fun of the intern, who laughed along, Dumas and his co-hosts ridiculed Indians in general as "lazy" and Lumbees specifically as "inbred."
Read more of this controversy here: http://www.news-record.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080411/NRSTAFF/756073241
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Quotes
"Think, then, what must be the effect of the sight of you and your people, whom we have at no time seen, astride the fierce brutes, your horses, entering with such speed and fury into my country...things altogether new, as to strike awe and terror into our hearts." -
Chief of Ichisis -1540
Chief of Ichisis -1540
NARF Launches New Young Artists Book for Native Rights
Denver, CO —The Native American Rights Fund in partnership with Fulcrum Publishing has recently published a visually stunning tribute to young Native American artists and their progressive visions. A collection of artwork from around the country, Visions for the Future: A Celebration of Young Native American Artists, shares unique views on the 21st century. These works capture the vivid emergence taking shape in the Native American art world and includes writings by the young artists on their perspectives on Native rights, Native art, and the future of Indian country.
Visions for the Future is based on the annual art show of the same name, sponsored by the Native American Rights Fund (NARF). The goal of the art show is to raise awareness for NARF’s work and to bridge generations and communities in the struggle for Native American rights through the celebration of contemporary Native American art and culture. Exploring topics such as resistance, perseverance, pride, media coverage, and legacy, the artists in these pages will be important names to watch.
Visions for the Future contains:
*14 featured artists in their favorite medium (songs, painting, photography)
*Artist background and artistic statement
*Introductory essays about contemporary Native American art, where the movement is heading, and the continuing struggle for Native rights
*Explanations by the artists of the featured works
“The imagery of tribal life in these pages is both contemporary combat and revered allegiance. In collection of innovative painting, sketches, digital art, existing stereotypes are confronted, new perceptions are challenged, and a history of survival is championed. Although no single song, painting, or photograph can entirely express what centuries of catastrophe has done to tribes, they can teach everyone who views them about the valiant efforts fought and won, born from an era that has reignited a vision for the future.”—Jenni Ghahate-Monet, journalist (excerpt from Visions for the Future).
A portion of book sales will benefit the non-profit legal and advocacy work of NARF. To purchase a copy of this book, click here: https://secure2.convio.net/narf/site/Ecommerce/1853588414?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=1901&store_id=1101&JServSessionIdr005=o3o5i3yno3.app6b
Visions for the Future is based on the annual art show of the same name, sponsored by the Native American Rights Fund (NARF). The goal of the art show is to raise awareness for NARF’s work and to bridge generations and communities in the struggle for Native American rights through the celebration of contemporary Native American art and culture. Exploring topics such as resistance, perseverance, pride, media coverage, and legacy, the artists in these pages will be important names to watch.
Visions for the Future contains:
*14 featured artists in their favorite medium (songs, painting, photography)
*Artist background and artistic statement
*Introductory essays about contemporary Native American art, where the movement is heading, and the continuing struggle for Native rights
*Explanations by the artists of the featured works
“The imagery of tribal life in these pages is both contemporary combat and revered allegiance. In collection of innovative painting, sketches, digital art, existing stereotypes are confronted, new perceptions are challenged, and a history of survival is championed. Although no single song, painting, or photograph can entirely express what centuries of catastrophe has done to tribes, they can teach everyone who views them about the valiant efforts fought and won, born from an era that has reignited a vision for the future.”—Jenni Ghahate-Monet, journalist (excerpt from Visions for the Future).
A portion of book sales will benefit the non-profit legal and advocacy work of NARF. To purchase a copy of this book, click here: https://secure2.convio.net/narf/site/Ecommerce/1853588414?VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=1901&store_id=1101&JServSessionIdr005=o3o5i3yno3.app6b
Judge finds whalers guilty
Last 2 Makah members charged in rogue hunt had waived jury trial
By: Paul Shukovsky
TACOMA -- A federal judge Monday found two Makah tribal members guilty of hunting and killing a gray whale.
Wayne Johnson and Andy Noel waived a jury trial and stipulated to the basic facts of the rogue hunt in September, admitting that they killed the protected marine mammal. Magistrate Judge J. Kelley Arnold then swiftly found the pair guilty.
The move by Johnson and Noel, who now intend to appeal, was prompted by Arnold's pretrial ruling last week barring a defense based on religious liberty protected by the First Amendment.
"There is no reason to go through a jury trial when we won't be allowed to present our defense," said Noel's attorney, Jack Fiander.
"We admitted it was us -- we admitted we hunted a whale -- so we can get on with the appeal," Fiander said.
At sentencing June 20, Johnson and Noel face up to a year in jail for both the violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and conspiring to do so.
The Makah tribe -- with both Johnson and Noel on the crew -- in 1999 legally took a whale for the first time in more than 70 years. But the tribe, at the extreme Northwest tip of the continental United States, has been unable to hunt again because of court challenges by animal rights activists that forced the federal government to conduct lengthy environmental reviews of the hunt.
More of the controversy can be found here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/358080_makah08.html
By: Paul Shukovsky
TACOMA -- A federal judge Monday found two Makah tribal members guilty of hunting and killing a gray whale.
Wayne Johnson and Andy Noel waived a jury trial and stipulated to the basic facts of the rogue hunt in September, admitting that they killed the protected marine mammal. Magistrate Judge J. Kelley Arnold then swiftly found the pair guilty.
The move by Johnson and Noel, who now intend to appeal, was prompted by Arnold's pretrial ruling last week barring a defense based on religious liberty protected by the First Amendment.
"There is no reason to go through a jury trial when we won't be allowed to present our defense," said Noel's attorney, Jack Fiander.
"We admitted it was us -- we admitted we hunted a whale -- so we can get on with the appeal," Fiander said.
At sentencing June 20, Johnson and Noel face up to a year in jail for both the violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and conspiring to do so.
The Makah tribe -- with both Johnson and Noel on the crew -- in 1999 legally took a whale for the first time in more than 70 years. But the tribe, at the extreme Northwest tip of the continental United States, has been unable to hunt again because of court challenges by animal rights activists that forced the federal government to conduct lengthy environmental reviews of the hunt.
More of the controversy can be found here: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/358080_makah08.html
Powwow brings diverse community
By: Melissa Oveson
Dancers adorned with brightly colored feathers, images of animals and beadwork moved as a drum circle kept a constant beat. Some dancers moved gently with the assistance of canes, while others -- too young to dance alone -- held on to the hands of others.
Despite differences in age, all participants came together Friday and Saturday for one reason: to dance for Mother Earth at the powwow.
Numerous tribes came together from across the state for two days of dancing and competition at the 36th annual Intertribal Pow Wow hosted at the U. Dancing to the beats of six drum circles, participants took to the Union Ballroom floor to celebrate an American Indian tradition of honoring the Earth through dance. Competitions in various dance styles were held for all ages, including 6-year-old children.
Nita Bailey, a Salt Lake City resident and member of the Navajo tribe, watched her three children compete in the events. Although her children regularly compete at powwows in Utah, Bailey said she always gets a little nervous when they perform. She said two of her children hold titles for mini queen and king for Hawaiian Tropic, awards they received at past powwows.
Although she attends the powwows to watch her children, she said she thinks the event is important for the community to participate in.
Get the whole story here: http://media.www.dailyutahchronicle.com/media/storage/paper244/news/2008/04/08/News/Powwow.Brings.Diverse.Community-3309324.shtml
Dancers adorned with brightly colored feathers, images of animals and beadwork moved as a drum circle kept a constant beat. Some dancers moved gently with the assistance of canes, while others -- too young to dance alone -- held on to the hands of others.
Despite differences in age, all participants came together Friday and Saturday for one reason: to dance for Mother Earth at the powwow.
Numerous tribes came together from across the state for two days of dancing and competition at the 36th annual Intertribal Pow Wow hosted at the U. Dancing to the beats of six drum circles, participants took to the Union Ballroom floor to celebrate an American Indian tradition of honoring the Earth through dance. Competitions in various dance styles were held for all ages, including 6-year-old children.
Nita Bailey, a Salt Lake City resident and member of the Navajo tribe, watched her three children compete in the events. Although her children regularly compete at powwows in Utah, Bailey said she always gets a little nervous when they perform. She said two of her children hold titles for mini queen and king for Hawaiian Tropic, awards they received at past powwows.
Although she attends the powwows to watch her children, she said she thinks the event is important for the community to participate in.
Get the whole story here: http://media.www.dailyutahchronicle.com/media/storage/paper244/news/2008/04/08/News/Powwow.Brings.Diverse.Community-3309324.shtml
Monday, April 7, 2008
Inuit Creation Story
Men say that the world was made by Raven. He is a man with a raven's beak. When the ground came up from the water it was drawn up by Raven. He speared down into it, brought up the land and fixed it into place.
The first land was a plot of ground harly bigger than a house. There was a family in a house there: a man, his wife, and their little son. This boy was Raven. One day he saw a sort of bladder hanging over his parents' bed. He begged his father for it again and again, but his father always said no, until finally he gave in. While playing, Raven broke the bladder, and light appeared.
"We had better have night too," said the father, "not just daylight all the time." So he grabbed the bladder before the little boy could damage it further. And that is how day and night began.
The first land was a plot of ground harly bigger than a house. There was a family in a house there: a man, his wife, and their little son. This boy was Raven. One day he saw a sort of bladder hanging over his parents' bed. He begged his father for it again and again, but his father always said no, until finally he gave in. While playing, Raven broke the bladder, and light appeared.
"We had better have night too," said the father, "not just daylight all the time." So he grabbed the bladder before the little boy could damage it further. And that is how day and night began.
Featured Artist - Arvel Bird
Arvel Bird (Paiute/Me'tis), a classically-trained violinist, performs and records in a number of diverse genres including blues, jazz, bluegrass, Celtic, Cajun, Western swing, American roots, and Native music. In addition to the violin, Bird also is an accomplished mandolin, guitar and Native flute player. An experienced musician who toured the world with Glen Campbell, Loretta Lynn, Ray Price and others for several years, Bird recently has turned his musical focus to his Paiute/Me'tis heritage, and now focuses most of his time on writing, performing, and recording music which reflects that background.
Born to a Mormon inter-racial family in Idaho and raised in Utah and Arizona, Bird was aware of his Indian heritage from an early age, but, like many families in that time and place, Indian heritage was not mentioned, let alone celebrated. Bird grew up as part of a hard working, middle-class family and out of fear of his mother's reaction, he never asked her about her Native origins. As an adult, Bird became more and more interested in his background, eventually donating time and resources to a project aimed at protecting ancient Native burial sites in Tennessee. In 2000, Bird released the first Native American album that simultaneously launched Singing Wolf Records. This sparked the beginning of his personal journey to uncover the truth about his Paiute heritage. In the summer of 2001, Bird received documentation previously unknown to him from his mother supporting his bloodline to the Shivwit Paiute tribe in Southern Utah. The effect this discovery has made on Bird has been profound.
He made trips to St. George, UT and the Shivwit Paiute reservation where he met half sisters (cousins), searched and studied his genealogy, attended powwows and talked to elders, all the while finding a stronger affinity and connection to the underlying core beliefs of Native America and a deepening sense of who he was. Since then all of his performances have reflected and honored his Native American heritage through his music and stories.
From the age of nine, Bird knew what he wanted to do with his life-he wanted to play the trumpet. With no funds for a trumpet available, Bird was presented with his first violin, an instrument given to his mother by a violin maker named Joseph Smithbauer. Bird and the violin were soon inseparable, although the instrument's size challenged the young player. Bird's family recognized his special gift, and were eventually able to provide him with private lessons. Bird continued to study classically on a music scholarship to Arizona State University. Though his desire was to develop his performance skills, each and every professor he encountered told him he wasn't "good enough" to perform and that he should concentrate on teaching instead. Bird's response was to leave Arizona and move to the mid-west to study with Paul Roland, a renowned Hungarian violin instructor at the University of Illinois-Champagne/Urbana. Under Roland's tutelage, Bird gained the technical proficiency and confidence that has served him so well over the years.
His work is featured here. Other samples can be found by clicking here: http://downloadmp3music.plinplan.net/2008/04/05/arvel-bird-animal-totems/
Born to a Mormon inter-racial family in Idaho and raised in Utah and Arizona, Bird was aware of his Indian heritage from an early age, but, like many families in that time and place, Indian heritage was not mentioned, let alone celebrated. Bird grew up as part of a hard working, middle-class family and out of fear of his mother's reaction, he never asked her about her Native origins. As an adult, Bird became more and more interested in his background, eventually donating time and resources to a project aimed at protecting ancient Native burial sites in Tennessee. In 2000, Bird released the first Native American album that simultaneously launched Singing Wolf Records. This sparked the beginning of his personal journey to uncover the truth about his Paiute heritage. In the summer of 2001, Bird received documentation previously unknown to him from his mother supporting his bloodline to the Shivwit Paiute tribe in Southern Utah. The effect this discovery has made on Bird has been profound.
He made trips to St. George, UT and the Shivwit Paiute reservation where he met half sisters (cousins), searched and studied his genealogy, attended powwows and talked to elders, all the while finding a stronger affinity and connection to the underlying core beliefs of Native America and a deepening sense of who he was. Since then all of his performances have reflected and honored his Native American heritage through his music and stories.
From the age of nine, Bird knew what he wanted to do with his life-he wanted to play the trumpet. With no funds for a trumpet available, Bird was presented with his first violin, an instrument given to his mother by a violin maker named Joseph Smithbauer. Bird and the violin were soon inseparable, although the instrument's size challenged the young player. Bird's family recognized his special gift, and were eventually able to provide him with private lessons. Bird continued to study classically on a music scholarship to Arizona State University. Though his desire was to develop his performance skills, each and every professor he encountered told him he wasn't "good enough" to perform and that he should concentrate on teaching instead. Bird's response was to leave Arizona and move to the mid-west to study with Paul Roland, a renowned Hungarian violin instructor at the University of Illinois-Champagne/Urbana. Under Roland's tutelage, Bird gained the technical proficiency and confidence that has served him so well over the years.
His work is featured here. Other samples can be found by clicking here: http://downloadmp3music.plinplan.net/2008/04/05/arvel-bird-animal-totems/
Miami University helps Miami Tribe reclaim language
By: Lisa Cornwell
Kelsey Young - like many other members of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma - could not understand her tribe's language. The Myaamia Project, supported by the tribe and Miami University, is changing that - helping the tribe reclaim and keep its language and culture alive.
The Miami language is one of many that have been threatened with extinction. Linguists have said that of an estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world, nearly half are in danger of disappearing in this century and are falling out of use at the rate of about one every two weeks.
In April, an online version of the Miami dictionary debuted. Myaamia Project Director Daryl Baldwin said the online version will make the dictionary more accessible.
The Myaamia inhabited land that now makes up Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, including the Miami Valley region where the tribe's namesake university now stands, and parts of Michigan and Wisconsin.
The tribe now has only about 3,400 members scattered around the country and fewer resources than larger Native American groups to save their language.
Researchers still adding vocabulary to the Miami dictionary have gotten through about 35 to 40 percent of available documentation.
Baldwin has taught the language to his four children and says it's vital that Miami children have that exposure if the tribe's language and culture are to survive.
"Knowledge of the language gives a much deeper and richer sense of the culture and what it means to be Myaamia," Baldwin said. "My hope for my children is that they will value it, cherish it and pass it along."
Kelsey Young - like many other members of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma - could not understand her tribe's language. The Myaamia Project, supported by the tribe and Miami University, is changing that - helping the tribe reclaim and keep its language and culture alive.
The Miami language is one of many that have been threatened with extinction. Linguists have said that of an estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world, nearly half are in danger of disappearing in this century and are falling out of use at the rate of about one every two weeks.
In April, an online version of the Miami dictionary debuted. Myaamia Project Director Daryl Baldwin said the online version will make the dictionary more accessible.
The Myaamia inhabited land that now makes up Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, including the Miami Valley region where the tribe's namesake university now stands, and parts of Michigan and Wisconsin.
The tribe now has only about 3,400 members scattered around the country and fewer resources than larger Native American groups to save their language.
Researchers still adding vocabulary to the Miami dictionary have gotten through about 35 to 40 percent of available documentation.
Baldwin has taught the language to his four children and says it's vital that Miami children have that exposure if the tribe's language and culture are to survive.
"Knowledge of the language gives a much deeper and richer sense of the culture and what it means to be Myaamia," Baldwin said. "My hope for my children is that they will value it, cherish it and pass it along."
Water Flowing Together
PBS feature film:
WATER FLOWING TOGETHER is an intimate portrait of an important American artist, New York City Ballet’s Jock Soto, one of the most influential modern ballet dancers. Soto graced the stage of the New York State Theater for 24 years, partnering such renowned ballerinas as Heather Watts, Darci Kistler and Wendy Whelan. On the eve of his retirement in 2005, The New York Times wrote: “Ballet is a man called Jock.”
The film introduces Soto when he is 40 and facing the daunting prospect of retiring from the only life he has ever known or desired. While Soto is an artist who found his medium of expression in dance, the film explores more than Soto’s career—it is as much about the complexities of the man, about heritage, family, identity and transition.
Jock Soto was born on the Navajo Indian reservation in 1965, to a Navajo mother and a Puerto Rican father, and raised in a time and place where ballet dancing for boys was virtually unheard of. Following in the footsteps of his mother, he first learned to hoop dance—a complex traditional American Indian dance—which provided an early foundation for his talent. He fell in love with ballet at the age of five after seeing Edward Villella, often cited as America's most celebrated male dancer, on TV and his surprised but supportive parents began driving him to classes. Soto excelled, eventually becoming one of the last dancers to be personally selected by George Balanchine, founder of the New York City Ballet, to join the company, achieving his dream when he was barely 16. He soon became a child of the New York City arts scene, befriending Andy Warhol, and finding his way as a gay man.
Jock Soto became a force of the New York City Ballet that helped define the identity of the prestigious institution as much as it has defined him for more than two decades. Unprecedented access to the company and New York State Theater provides the audience with a rare glimpse into an unseen world.
In WATER FLOWING TOGETHER (the title is the name of Soto’s Navajo clan), filmmaker Gwendolen Cates follows a contemplative Soto as he prepares for his farewell performance, tries to imagine his future and travels to the Navajo reservation and Puerto Rico to reconnect with his heritage. Soto’s relationship to his heritage is one of both detachment and devotion, defying stereotypes in the same way that his powerful, fluid dancing transcends the expected. Told through the words of Soto, his family and his dance colleagues, the film offers a sensitive and unique insight into the influences and adventures of this fascinating artist, and reveals a man at the crossroads of his life.
"I actually think it’s very funny sometimes, putting on the makeup and then putting on the tights and then putting on your costume and then I look in the mirror and think, 'This is such an odd occupation for a 40-year-old man.'" —Jock Soto
WATER FLOWING TOGETHER is an intimate portrait of an important American artist, New York City Ballet’s Jock Soto, one of the most influential modern ballet dancers. Soto graced the stage of the New York State Theater for 24 years, partnering such renowned ballerinas as Heather Watts, Darci Kistler and Wendy Whelan. On the eve of his retirement in 2005, The New York Times wrote: “Ballet is a man called Jock.”
The film introduces Soto when he is 40 and facing the daunting prospect of retiring from the only life he has ever known or desired. While Soto is an artist who found his medium of expression in dance, the film explores more than Soto’s career—it is as much about the complexities of the man, about heritage, family, identity and transition.
Jock Soto was born on the Navajo Indian reservation in 1965, to a Navajo mother and a Puerto Rican father, and raised in a time and place where ballet dancing for boys was virtually unheard of. Following in the footsteps of his mother, he first learned to hoop dance—a complex traditional American Indian dance—which provided an early foundation for his talent. He fell in love with ballet at the age of five after seeing Edward Villella, often cited as America's most celebrated male dancer, on TV and his surprised but supportive parents began driving him to classes. Soto excelled, eventually becoming one of the last dancers to be personally selected by George Balanchine, founder of the New York City Ballet, to join the company, achieving his dream when he was barely 16. He soon became a child of the New York City arts scene, befriending Andy Warhol, and finding his way as a gay man.
Jock Soto became a force of the New York City Ballet that helped define the identity of the prestigious institution as much as it has defined him for more than two decades. Unprecedented access to the company and New York State Theater provides the audience with a rare glimpse into an unseen world.
In WATER FLOWING TOGETHER (the title is the name of Soto’s Navajo clan), filmmaker Gwendolen Cates follows a contemplative Soto as he prepares for his farewell performance, tries to imagine his future and travels to the Navajo reservation and Puerto Rico to reconnect with his heritage. Soto’s relationship to his heritage is one of both detachment and devotion, defying stereotypes in the same way that his powerful, fluid dancing transcends the expected. Told through the words of Soto, his family and his dance colleagues, the film offers a sensitive and unique insight into the influences and adventures of this fascinating artist, and reveals a man at the crossroads of his life.
"I actually think it’s very funny sometimes, putting on the makeup and then putting on the tights and then putting on your costume and then I look in the mirror and think, 'This is such an odd occupation for a 40-year-old man.'" —Jock Soto
Friday, April 4, 2008
Quotes
"Will you ever begin to understand the meaning of the very soil beneath your feet? From a grain of sand to a great mountain, all is sacred. Yesterday and tomorrow exist eternally upon this continent. We natives are guardians of this sacred place." -
Peter Blue Cloud, Mohawk
Peter Blue Cloud, Mohawk
Do you know...
Massasoit was the leader of the Wampanoag. Though he is not mentioned by name in any English accounts prior to 1621, he and his brother Quadequina are undoubtedly the "two Kings, attended with a guard of fiftie armed men" that met Captain Thomas Dermer at Pokanoket in May 1619, when he was returning Tisquantum ("Squanto") to his homeland.
On March 22, 1620/1, Massasoit decided to pay a visit to the Plantation at the invitation of Tisquantum who had first visited with the Pilgrims shortly before. In an almost identical scenerio as that of Thomas Dermer a year earlier, he and his brother along with 60 armed men came and stood at the top of the hill overlooking the Colony. Edward Winslow was sent to him with some knives and a copper jewel chain as gifts--and Massasoit was told that the Pilgrims only desired peace and trading. Massasoit was told that King James of England saluted him with love and peace, and accepted him as a friend and ally. Massasoit liked what he heard, because the English would make powerful allies against his enemies in the region. The Pilgrims wanted a peace treaty, and so he willingly undertook the negotiations.
At the peace negotiation, he was met at the river by Captain Myles Standish and William Brewster. They saluted one another and he was taken to William Bradford's house for the negotiations with Governor John Carver. Massasoit was given some liquor, fresh meat, and some biscuits. For the peace treaty he agreed that none of his Indians would harm the Pilgrims--and if they did he would send them to the Pilgrims for punishment. And if anyone did unjust war against them, or against the Pilgrims, they would come to each other's aid. They also agreed that when trading, the Indians would not bring their bows and arrows and the Pilgrims would not bring their guns.
In 1621, Edward Winslow described Massasoit as follows:
In his person he is a very lusty man, in his best years, an able body, grave of countenance, and spare of speech. In his attire little or nothing differing from the rest of his followers, only in a great chain of white bone beads about his neck, and at it behind his neck hangs a little bag of tobacco, which he drank and gave us to drink; his face was painted with a sad red like murry, and oiled both head and face, that he looked greasily. All his followers likewise, were in their faces, in part or in whole painted, some black, some red, some yellow, and some white, some with crosses, and other antic works; some had skins on them, and some naked, all strong, tall, all men of appearance . . . [he] had in his bosom hanging in a string, a great long knife; he marvelled much at our trumpet, and some of his men would sound it as well as they could.
In September 1623, Emmanual Altham described Massasoit in a letter:
And now to speak somewhat of Massasoit's stature. He is as proper a man as ever was seen in this country, and very courageous. He is very subtle for a savage, and he goes like the rest of his men, all naked but only a black wolf skin he wears upon his shoulder. And about the breadth of a span he wears beads about his middle.
Massasoit is listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History.
On March 22, 1620/1, Massasoit decided to pay a visit to the Plantation at the invitation of Tisquantum who had first visited with the Pilgrims shortly before. In an almost identical scenerio as that of Thomas Dermer a year earlier, he and his brother along with 60 armed men came and stood at the top of the hill overlooking the Colony. Edward Winslow was sent to him with some knives and a copper jewel chain as gifts--and Massasoit was told that the Pilgrims only desired peace and trading. Massasoit was told that King James of England saluted him with love and peace, and accepted him as a friend and ally. Massasoit liked what he heard, because the English would make powerful allies against his enemies in the region. The Pilgrims wanted a peace treaty, and so he willingly undertook the negotiations.
At the peace negotiation, he was met at the river by Captain Myles Standish and William Brewster. They saluted one another and he was taken to William Bradford's house for the negotiations with Governor John Carver. Massasoit was given some liquor, fresh meat, and some biscuits. For the peace treaty he agreed that none of his Indians would harm the Pilgrims--and if they did he would send them to the Pilgrims for punishment. And if anyone did unjust war against them, or against the Pilgrims, they would come to each other's aid. They also agreed that when trading, the Indians would not bring their bows and arrows and the Pilgrims would not bring their guns.
In 1621, Edward Winslow described Massasoit as follows:
In his person he is a very lusty man, in his best years, an able body, grave of countenance, and spare of speech. In his attire little or nothing differing from the rest of his followers, only in a great chain of white bone beads about his neck, and at it behind his neck hangs a little bag of tobacco, which he drank and gave us to drink; his face was painted with a sad red like murry, and oiled both head and face, that he looked greasily. All his followers likewise, were in their faces, in part or in whole painted, some black, some red, some yellow, and some white, some with crosses, and other antic works; some had skins on them, and some naked, all strong, tall, all men of appearance . . . [he] had in his bosom hanging in a string, a great long knife; he marvelled much at our trumpet, and some of his men would sound it as well as they could.
In September 1623, Emmanual Altham described Massasoit in a letter:
And now to speak somewhat of Massasoit's stature. He is as proper a man as ever was seen in this country, and very courageous. He is very subtle for a savage, and he goes like the rest of his men, all naked but only a black wolf skin he wears upon his shoulder. And about the breadth of a span he wears beads about his middle.
Massasoit is listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History.
Human Traces Found to Be Oldest in N. America
By: Marc Kaufman
Scientists have found and dated the oldest human remnants ever uncovered in the Americas -- a discovery that places people genetically similar to Native Americans in Oregon more than 14,000 years ago and 1,000 years earlier than previous estimates.
Using radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis, an international team concluded that fossilized feces found five feet below the surface of an arid cave are significantly older than any previous human remains unearthed in the Americas.
The samples were discovered near a crude dart or spear tip chiseled from obsidian, as well as bones of horses and camels that were then common in the region. The researchers described their finding as a "smoking gun" in the long-running debate over when and where humans first inhabited the New World.
"What's so exciting here is that we have cells from real people, their DNA, rather than samples of their work or technologies," said Dennis Jenkins of the University of Oregon, who oversaw the dig. "And we have them on the Oregon landscape 1,000 years before what used to be the earliest samples of human remains in the Americas."
A whole lot more is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040302156.html
Scientists have found and dated the oldest human remnants ever uncovered in the Americas -- a discovery that places people genetically similar to Native Americans in Oregon more than 14,000 years ago and 1,000 years earlier than previous estimates.
Using radiocarbon dating and DNA analysis, an international team concluded that fossilized feces found five feet below the surface of an arid cave are significantly older than any previous human remains unearthed in the Americas.
The samples were discovered near a crude dart or spear tip chiseled from obsidian, as well as bones of horses and camels that were then common in the region. The researchers described their finding as a "smoking gun" in the long-running debate over when and where humans first inhabited the New World.
"What's so exciting here is that we have cells from real people, their DNA, rather than samples of their work or technologies," said Dennis Jenkins of the University of Oregon, who oversaw the dig. "And we have them on the Oregon landscape 1,000 years before what used to be the earliest samples of human remains in the Americas."
A whole lot more is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040302156.html
Speaker offers apology to chief
By: Mick Hinton
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The speaker of the House said Thursday that he has apologized to the chief of the Cherokee Nation, who was prohibited from speaking about a bill to make English the state's official language.
Speaker Chris Benge, himself a member of the Cherokee tribe, expressed concern that Chief Chad Smith did not get a chance to speak before the bill was approved Wednesday by the House General Government and Transportation Committee.
"I did express to the chief that it was unfortunate he was not able to give his opinion," Benge said.
Committee Chairman Guy Liebmann, R-Oklahoma City, declared Wednesday that a committee meeting where Senate Bill 163 was heard did not constitute a "public meeting."
Rep. Mike Brown, D-Tahlequah, asked Liebmann, "You will not allow the chief of the Cherokee Nation to speak?"
Liebmann replied "No," noting neither side of the issue was being allowed to speak.
House sergeants had folded back partitions from two adjoining committee rooms to allow the crowd to view the proceedings. Liebmann said later he prohibited comment in an effort to keep control.
There's more to the story here: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080404_1_A1_spanc02475
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The speaker of the House said Thursday that he has apologized to the chief of the Cherokee Nation, who was prohibited from speaking about a bill to make English the state's official language.
Speaker Chris Benge, himself a member of the Cherokee tribe, expressed concern that Chief Chad Smith did not get a chance to speak before the bill was approved Wednesday by the House General Government and Transportation Committee.
"I did express to the chief that it was unfortunate he was not able to give his opinion," Benge said.
Committee Chairman Guy Liebmann, R-Oklahoma City, declared Wednesday that a committee meeting where Senate Bill 163 was heard did not constitute a "public meeting."
Rep. Mike Brown, D-Tahlequah, asked Liebmann, "You will not allow the chief of the Cherokee Nation to speak?"
Liebmann replied "No," noting neither side of the issue was being allowed to speak.
House sergeants had folded back partitions from two adjoining committee rooms to allow the crowd to view the proceedings. Liebmann said later he prohibited comment in an effort to keep control.
There's more to the story here: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080404_1_A1_spanc02475
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Salish Creation Story
The ancients all had greater powers and cunning than either animals or people. Besides the ancients, real people lived on the earth at that time. Old One made the people out of last balls of mud he took from the earth. They were so ignorant that they were the most helpless of all the creatures Old One had made.
The difficulty with the early world was that most of the ancients were selfish, and they were also very stupid in some ways. They did not know which creatures were deer and which were people, and sometimes they ate people by mistake.
At last Old One said, “There will soon be no people if I let things go on like this.” So he sent Coyote to teach the Indians how to do things. And Coyote began to travel on the earth, teaching the Indians, making life easier and better for them, and performing many wonderful deeds.
The difficulty with the early world was that most of the ancients were selfish, and they were also very stupid in some ways. They did not know which creatures were deer and which were people, and sometimes they ate people by mistake.
At last Old One said, “There will soon be no people if I let things go on like this.” So he sent Coyote to teach the Indians how to do things. And Coyote began to travel on the earth, teaching the Indians, making life easier and better for them, and performing many wonderful deeds.
Important Dates in April
April 9, 1884: Sacajawea dies in Wyoming on the Wind River Reservation.
April 13, 1946: Congress creates the Indian Claims Commission.
April 14, 1614: John Rolfe marries Pocahontas.
April 20, 1988: Congress repeals Termination of Tribes resolution.
April 13, 1946: Congress creates the Indian Claims Commission.
April 14, 1614: John Rolfe marries Pocahontas.
April 20, 1988: Congress repeals Termination of Tribes resolution.
Film shot around Fond du Lac Reservation to debut in Cloquet
By: Ann Klefstad
A feature film freighted with the ghostly but real stories of hundreds of people and the hopes of healing even more, “Older than America,” will debut on Thursday at the Premier Theater in Cloquet, near where it was filmed on the Fond du Lac Reservation last winter.
The film sets several subplots swirling around a dark secret. Rain, the protagonist, is unable to commit to her police officer boyfriend, Johnny (Adam Beach). Rain’s Auntie Apple (Tantoo Cardinal) raised her because her mother was committed to a mental institution. Rain fears her mother’s madness in herself when she begins to see a figure from her dreams in real life.
At the center of all the plots lies an old Catholic boarding school. Everyone wants something from it or wants to keep something about it hidden: The Catholics want a cover-up, a geologist wants to investigate, a developer wants to build — and something in the school wants to be known.
Georgina Lightning, the film’s co-writer, director and lead actress spoke Monday of the sorrow, hopelessness and suicides that she grew up with on a reservation near Edmonton, Alberta. Much of this pain she attributed to the common experience in her parents’ generation of forcible attendance at Catholic boarding schools. Such schools were part of the attempt by government and church to suppress Indian culture in the name of assimilation.
Lightning’s own father experienced a school like this, so the subject is very close to her. And when she was younger and lived on her reservation in Canada, she worked at the youth center with kids of parents scarred by the same experience. After two of those children, 13 and 14, killed themselves during her time in Los Angeles studying film, she decided that she “couldn’t be in just any movie; some fun thing, some silly thing.”
Get the whole story here: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=63492&freebie_check&CFID=21859745&CFTOKEN=50543351&jsessionid=88307cd7e5b732363c34
A feature film freighted with the ghostly but real stories of hundreds of people and the hopes of healing even more, “Older than America,” will debut on Thursday at the Premier Theater in Cloquet, near where it was filmed on the Fond du Lac Reservation last winter.
The film sets several subplots swirling around a dark secret. Rain, the protagonist, is unable to commit to her police officer boyfriend, Johnny (Adam Beach). Rain’s Auntie Apple (Tantoo Cardinal) raised her because her mother was committed to a mental institution. Rain fears her mother’s madness in herself when she begins to see a figure from her dreams in real life.
At the center of all the plots lies an old Catholic boarding school. Everyone wants something from it or wants to keep something about it hidden: The Catholics want a cover-up, a geologist wants to investigate, a developer wants to build — and something in the school wants to be known.
Georgina Lightning, the film’s co-writer, director and lead actress spoke Monday of the sorrow, hopelessness and suicides that she grew up with on a reservation near Edmonton, Alberta. Much of this pain she attributed to the common experience in her parents’ generation of forcible attendance at Catholic boarding schools. Such schools were part of the attempt by government and church to suppress Indian culture in the name of assimilation.
Lightning’s own father experienced a school like this, so the subject is very close to her. And when she was younger and lived on her reservation in Canada, she worked at the youth center with kids of parents scarred by the same experience. After two of those children, 13 and 14, killed themselves during her time in Los Angeles studying film, she decided that she “couldn’t be in just any movie; some fun thing, some silly thing.”
Get the whole story here: http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/articles/index.cfm?id=63492&freebie_check&CFID=21859745&CFTOKEN=50543351&jsessionid=88307cd7e5b732363c34
Feds should give final OK to peak’s name change
East Valley Tribune editorial
The time has arrived to permanently name one of the Valley’s most prominent mountains for a fallen soldier, and to set aside years of lingering resentment about how the change came about.
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names is scheduled to vote April 10 on the designation of Piestewa Peak, the craggy desert mountain along state Route 51 that is still known by many longtime residents as Squaw Peak.
The vote really is a formality, as Arizona changed the mountain’s name five years ago to honor Army Spc. Lori Piestewa, who died in March 2003 during the Iraq invasion and became the first American Indian woman to be killed in combat while serving in the U.S. military. The freeway’s secondary name, along with local maps, the park around the mountain and various government facilities in the area, has been updated as well.
The federal board didn’t join Arizona in adopting Piestewa Peak, keeping with its policy of requiring five years to pass before a geographic feature can be named for someone who has died. The wisdom of that policy is evident as some Valley residents still are angry that Gov. Janet Napolitano and her appointees on the state geographic names board rushed through the original change in 2003 while running roughshod over those who wanted more time for deliberation.
But requests that the federal government reject the name of Piestewa Peak now are pointless. Arizona won’t turn back the clock, and a variety of local political forces including the state’s Indian tribes are committed to protecting the legacy that already has grown up around Lori Piestewa’s memory.
The eventual transition to the universal use of Piestewa Peak would take longer if the federal government doesn’t embrace the name next week. Postponing the inevitable would only needlessly foster old political wounds and likely would tear open new ones.
The time has arrived to permanently name one of the Valley’s most prominent mountains for a fallen soldier, and to set aside years of lingering resentment about how the change came about.
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names is scheduled to vote April 10 on the designation of Piestewa Peak, the craggy desert mountain along state Route 51 that is still known by many longtime residents as Squaw Peak.
The vote really is a formality, as Arizona changed the mountain’s name five years ago to honor Army Spc. Lori Piestewa, who died in March 2003 during the Iraq invasion and became the first American Indian woman to be killed in combat while serving in the U.S. military. The freeway’s secondary name, along with local maps, the park around the mountain and various government facilities in the area, has been updated as well.
The federal board didn’t join Arizona in adopting Piestewa Peak, keeping with its policy of requiring five years to pass before a geographic feature can be named for someone who has died. The wisdom of that policy is evident as some Valley residents still are angry that Gov. Janet Napolitano and her appointees on the state geographic names board rushed through the original change in 2003 while running roughshod over those who wanted more time for deliberation.
But requests that the federal government reject the name of Piestewa Peak now are pointless. Arizona won’t turn back the clock, and a variety of local political forces including the state’s Indian tribes are committed to protecting the legacy that already has grown up around Lori Piestewa’s memory.
The eventual transition to the universal use of Piestewa Peak would take longer if the federal government doesn’t embrace the name next week. Postponing the inevitable would only needlessly foster old political wounds and likely would tear open new ones.
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