By: Conan Gasque
FAYETTEVILLE - For every high school senior, graduation is a day they've anticipated for years. It's a day when they're surrounded by family members to celebrate and remember their accomplishments. For Purnell Swett senior Corey Bird, it was a chance to remember family members who are no longer with him. That’s why he wore two feathers on his robe when he walked across the stage.
"It means a lot,” he said. “It's in remembrance of my mother and my grandfather, and it allows them to be here with me."
For Bird, graduation marked the end of the hard work of high school. But it also marked the end of a battle to wear the feathers that represent his family and his Native American heritage. Last month, principals told him he could be pulled from the graduation if he wore the feathers. Corey, supported by his father and family, choose instead to take a stand for the right to wear his feathers.
The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on June 5th sent a letter to Robeson County school officials expressing their concerns about a policy that would have prevented Corey Bird from wearing two eagle feathers on his graduation gown or cap.
Katherine Parker, legal director with ACLU North Carolina, said that school's " policy is bad and violates the rights of Corey and his father, Samuel Bird.
Steve Moore, senior staff attorney with the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder, Colo., said other schools have struggled with this issue and have understood that permitting the wearing of the eagle feathers at graduation is not only good policy, “but the right thing to do from a human perspective.”
Both NARF and the ACLU urged the school district to allow Corey to wear his feathers. Corey's cousin Olivia also was battling for her right to wear three small eagle feathers on her graduation outfit. On June 13th, the Board of Education granted Corey and his cousin permission to wear them.
"I'm just so proud of my son that he stood up for what he believed in," Corey’s father Samuel said after the graduation. Bird graduated from Purnell Swett with honors.
NARF attorney Steve Moore stated that NARF will be working on a "resource kit" for Native students and their families that will provide information and resources to aide other students like Corey who run into struggles with wearing their eagle feathers and/or traditional regalia at their graduation ceremonies. The resource kit will be available through NARF's website in the near future.
Watch NEWS 14 coverage of Corey's graduation with his feathers
Friday, June 20, 2008
Native American group welcomes summer with moonrise ceremony
By: Abbey Stirgwolt
NEWARK -- A group of seven sat huddled against the chill of the Wednesday dusk and remained perfectly silent and still, obscured from view by a billow of smoke that blew from a shallow dish of burning sage.
As they awaited the rising of the moon atop Observatory Mound in the Octagon Earthworks, the members of the Native American Alliance of Ohio prayed to the Creator and told stories of the moon and stars.
They were there to usher in the coming summer, a tradition observed by their people for many years, said Barbara Crandell, 79, whose heritage is Cherokee.
"This particular day is the first full moon after the blackberries bloom," Crandell said, noting that Native American tradition first marked the change of seasons by plants and crops, not by the white culture's calendar.
The group chose the Octagon Earthworks for the gathering because of the location's rich ties with their ancestors, Crandell said.
"We're at a sacred place, a native place," said Pat Mason, who is a member of the Friends of the Mounds organization.
Crandell said the meeting was facilitated on the grounds, which normally are closed to the public, through the Ohio Historical Society.
"There's a great significance to me, being on the Observatory Mound," she said.
As she stood on a platform overlooking the Octagon Earthworks -- now the site of Moundbuilders Country Club -- Helen Griffin also reflected on the stories the mounds contained.
"These mounds are like church places to us," Griffin said, noting many of the area mounds had been desecrated by people who she said do not seem to understand their significance. "These mounds are very important to us because they are our connection to our past."
There's more here: http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/NEWS01/806190337/1002
NEWARK -- A group of seven sat huddled against the chill of the Wednesday dusk and remained perfectly silent and still, obscured from view by a billow of smoke that blew from a shallow dish of burning sage.
As they awaited the rising of the moon atop Observatory Mound in the Octagon Earthworks, the members of the Native American Alliance of Ohio prayed to the Creator and told stories of the moon and stars.
They were there to usher in the coming summer, a tradition observed by their people for many years, said Barbara Crandell, 79, whose heritage is Cherokee.
"This particular day is the first full moon after the blackberries bloom," Crandell said, noting that Native American tradition first marked the change of seasons by plants and crops, not by the white culture's calendar.
The group chose the Octagon Earthworks for the gathering because of the location's rich ties with their ancestors, Crandell said.
"We're at a sacred place, a native place," said Pat Mason, who is a member of the Friends of the Mounds organization.
Crandell said the meeting was facilitated on the grounds, which normally are closed to the public, through the Ohio Historical Society.
"There's a great significance to me, being on the Observatory Mound," she said.
As she stood on a platform overlooking the Octagon Earthworks -- now the site of Moundbuilders Country Club -- Helen Griffin also reflected on the stories the mounds contained.
"These mounds are like church places to us," Griffin said, noting many of the area mounds had been desecrated by people who she said do not seem to understand their significance. "These mounds are very important to us because they are our connection to our past."
There's more here: http://www.newarkadvocate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/NEWS01/806190337/1002
Program readies Native American youth to become successful entrepreneurs
By: Jo Dee Black
Matt Walker, 12, would like to own a business one day.
He hasn't pinned down what type, but after this week Matt, who will enter eighth grade at East Middle School next fall, will be better equipped to pursue future entrepreneurial efforts.
A participant in the inaugural First People's Youth Entrepreneurship Camp at the University of Great Falls, Matt met role models, including Native American business owners and accomplished athletes. He even had the chance to meet the governor. Matt also secured a four-year tuition scholarship to UGF if he decides to pursue a college education there after high school.
The camp is the result of a combined effort by Rural Dynamics, the Montana Indian Business Alliance and Montana State University-Billings. The cost is underwritten with a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Montana State Tribal Economic Development Council, with UGF providing on-campus housing, facilities and meals.
"The goal is to build entrepreneurship in Montana's Native American communities," said Adam Gill, the program director for Rural Dynamics. "We are targeting this age group, 13- and 14-year-olds, because they have a good sense of the world now and they can take the leadership lessons they are learning here with them into high school."
The camp's curriculum is based on the best practices used in youth programs already in place on Native American reservations.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/BUSINESS/806190318
Matt Walker, 12, would like to own a business one day.
He hasn't pinned down what type, but after this week Matt, who will enter eighth grade at East Middle School next fall, will be better equipped to pursue future entrepreneurial efforts.
A participant in the inaugural First People's Youth Entrepreneurship Camp at the University of Great Falls, Matt met role models, including Native American business owners and accomplished athletes. He even had the chance to meet the governor. Matt also secured a four-year tuition scholarship to UGF if he decides to pursue a college education there after high school.
The camp is the result of a combined effort by Rural Dynamics, the Montana Indian Business Alliance and Montana State University-Billings. The cost is underwritten with a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Montana State Tribal Economic Development Council, with UGF providing on-campus housing, facilities and meals.
"The goal is to build entrepreneurship in Montana's Native American communities," said Adam Gill, the program director for Rural Dynamics. "We are targeting this age group, 13- and 14-year-olds, because they have a good sense of the world now and they can take the leadership lessons they are learning here with them into high school."
The camp's curriculum is based on the best practices used in youth programs already in place on Native American reservations.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/BUSINESS/806190318
Telling the Native American story to all
By: Caitlin Wolter
Montville - Amid the oak trees behind the small stone building that is home to the Tantaquidgeon Museum, firekeepers squatted around a mound of wood and grass, starting a ceremonial fire to bless the land.
The reopening of the museum Wednesday welcomed visitors and tribal members to once again take in the array of artifacts from the Mohegan tribe and other Native American cultures.
The museum had been closed for renovations.
Larry “Red Moon” Shultz, adorned with a 200-year-old turkey-feather headdress, started the ceremonial fire along with Jay “Two Trees” Ihloff, Justin Scott and Tom Epps, who prefers to be called “Throws His Hatchet.”
Ihloff explained that the fire is built up in a specific manner. It contains cedar and sweet grass, he explained, and the wood is laid in the four sacred directions.
Throws His Hatchet explained the significance of a dugout wooden canoe, one of the museum's many artifacts. The State of Connecticut asked tribal member Charlie Two Bears, who works with people in rehab facilities and prisons for the Mohegan Tribe's Behavioral Health Department, to help a group of six juvenile offenders. In turn, he then asked Throws His Hatchet, who works with troubled kids, to help.
Get the rest of the story here: http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=69aa3d73-a238-4d0a-b748-76e4a04f8d91
Montville - Amid the oak trees behind the small stone building that is home to the Tantaquidgeon Museum, firekeepers squatted around a mound of wood and grass, starting a ceremonial fire to bless the land.
The reopening of the museum Wednesday welcomed visitors and tribal members to once again take in the array of artifacts from the Mohegan tribe and other Native American cultures.
The museum had been closed for renovations.
Larry “Red Moon” Shultz, adorned with a 200-year-old turkey-feather headdress, started the ceremonial fire along with Jay “Two Trees” Ihloff, Justin Scott and Tom Epps, who prefers to be called “Throws His Hatchet.”
Ihloff explained that the fire is built up in a specific manner. It contains cedar and sweet grass, he explained, and the wood is laid in the four sacred directions.
Throws His Hatchet explained the significance of a dugout wooden canoe, one of the museum's many artifacts. The State of Connecticut asked tribal member Charlie Two Bears, who works with people in rehab facilities and prisons for the Mohegan Tribe's Behavioral Health Department, to help a group of six juvenile offenders. In turn, he then asked Throws His Hatchet, who works with troubled kids, to help.
Get the rest of the story here: http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=69aa3d73-a238-4d0a-b748-76e4a04f8d91
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.JPG)
