One Moment At A Time

One Moment At A Time

By: Pamela Waterbird Davison

Copyright 2007

Listen…
For the opportunity to grow. It exists in every moment of every day. It waits to be
heard through the noise of our fears. Be quiet and listen. Not all our questions need
to be answered right now. Wait to let the seeds take root and sprout before we
decide it’s time to harvest. Some things just take time.

Pay attention…
To the weeds of fear threatening to choke mind and spirit. Clear the clutter and get
down to the heart of the matter. Study what is there, seek the truth, then discard
what would deny us the feast of who we might become. This cannot be neglected.

Commit…
To expanding heart and soul with every possible good thing there is. Be vigilant. Be
honest. Be compassionate - for only unconditional love will bring about the fruit
which will sustain us.

Listen…
And hear what Great Spirit would have us know. In our solitude we will find the voice
to guide us. Release the burdens our world would offer and let us be who we
are…parents of the future, of our very own legacy. If somehow we should fail each
other, let us learn to forgive. When it is time for our harvest we will have much to be
grateful for.

This is what it means to weigh the truth every moment of every day. Listen, pay
attention, commit, then listen some more. And never forget compassion. After all,
we’re in this together and we’re all learning to grow one moment at a time.

Featured website: National Indian Education Association

Residing on a fraction of their original land, American Indians and Alaska Natives live like conquered people, dependent upon the federal government, in what was once their own country. Not only have they consistently been at the mercy of the racism and greed of the later Americans, but the life of American Indians and Alaska Natives has also been affected by shifting federal relationships with the tribes. The United States government has been unaccountable for violations of treaties made with the tribes-there are hundreds of broken treaties-and the federal government has been free to reduce the size of the reservations to which it consigned the people after having taken away their land.

What is called Indian education is a mirror of the shifting federal-tribal relationship. Begun in the nineteenth century, Indian education was seen as a device for forcing the assimilation of Indian children into the majority's social system. It was also a means of changing Indian adults from hunters to farmers on small land plots set aside by the federal government, thus providing greater areas for the influx of non-Indians moving westward. The original mission schools, supported by European companies, philanthropists, religious groups, and the federal government were later joined by a network of industrial boarding schools whose purpose was to separate children from their cultural background and force them into America's mainstream. The schools provided scant rudiments of the majority culture's education, focusing primarily on agrarian training.

In 1928, a study by the Brookings Institution of public and Bureau of Indian Affairs (government) schools brought to the attention of the federal government the deprivation and abuse of Indian children attending those schools. The study, which came to be called the Meriam Report, had a significant impact upon governmental policy. Resulting in the authorization of programs for improving the education of Indians, it brought about a period of change known as the Indian New Deal. Federal financial aid was provided to local districts, reservation day schools, and public schools which had been established on Indian trust lands.

The period of termination, which came a brief twenty years after the Indian New Deal, resulted in the termination of the federal relationship with many tribes. Many schools previously supported by federal funds were closed. American Indian and Alaska f Native children as well as adults suffered yet another downward swing. Education and culture once again suffered. Following the civil rights movement and a decade of Indian activism, Indian education in the 1970s became the beneficiary of a national interest in ethnicity and an expanded funding of various educational programs. Unfortunately, under the Reagan Administration, the duration of this latest period of reform is nearing its demise.

Want to know more? Click here: http://www.niea.org/

A Painter's Life

By: Andi Murphy

CROWNPOINT, N.M.—One self-taught Navajo artist went from hoping to make a sale from his art to being bombarded with requests for his beautiful paintings.

William "Willie" Murphy, 57, was born in Crownpoint and attended Gallup High School where he took an art class for three years.

One of the art students was advanced and already using oil paint while the other students, including Murphy, had to study books and basic technique.

"We were sitting the other way and he was painting," Murphy said. Watching the other student paint, Murphy knew that's what he wanted to do.

When he graduated high school in 1968, he got a job with the Navajo Nation. About his artistic skills, Murphy said, "I didn't think I had the talent. I didn't bother with it after high school."
It wasn't until Murphy turned 28 that he decided to paint. After being laid off from his job, Murphy didn't have any money to support his family.

"I told him that he should paint and he could do a real good job," said Oleta Murphy, his wife of 33 years. She had noticed that his artistic skills were good and had potential.

Get the whole story here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/feature-article/painter%2526%2523039%3Bs-life

Check out his website here: http://www.williemurphy.com/

Native American leader Heart dies

Carole Anne Heart, the executive director of the Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board died Friday, Jan. 25, at Rapid City Regional Hospital Auxiliary Hospice House after a battle with cancer.

Heart, 61, served as president of the National Indian Education Association in 2001.

“Carole Anne Heart, Sicangu Lakota, had a great spirit that illuminated her work and her life,” said current NIEA president Willard Sakiestewa Gilbert.

Heart was an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Yankton Sioux Tribe.