It Does Not Take Many Words

By: Pamela Waterbird Davison

copyright 2007

“It does not take many words to speak the truth.” This quote has been attributed to many historical figures in North American Indian country. Chief Joseph, Nez Perce, and Black Elk, Lakota, both have been claimed to utter these words. Most likely every leader within the sovereign nations has probably said something along these lines at some point or another.

“It does not take many words to speak the truth.” It does take courage and conviction of what is right and wrong. These words belong to the people. If I speak an untruth it not only hurts everyone around me, it also damages my relationship with Great Mystery, for I have vowed to be a warrior of truth, and a warrior never forgets a vow.

“It does not take many words to speak the truth.” It cannot be justified by half-truths, explained away by circumstance, excused by incident. Truth knows no prejudice and is not fooled by arrogance. It is no accident nor will it be denied.

“It does not take many words to speak the truth.” And I am not afraid.

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Our Mission: Through a three-pronged strategy of education, advocacy, and capitalization, First Nations Development Institute is working to restore Native control and culturally-compatible stewardship of the assets they own - be they land, human potential, cultural heritage, or natural resources - and to establish new assets for ensuring the long-term vitality of Native communities.

Philosophy: A Native American tribe is more than the sum of its parts. It embodies the mystique of its community, the circle of inclusion. Within each member it generates powerful feelings of cultural solidarity. That precious spirit cannot survive without the underpinnings of economic development. But the development must be for everyone, for the tribe as a whole — not just a few. That is the Native American understanding.

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Students participate in Indian Education project

By: Charles S. Johnson

HELENA - Several hundred high school students gathered at the Montana Historical Society on Wednesday to learn from experts about American Indian music and drumming, beadwork, storytelling and a host of other topics.

The Historical Society, Helena High School and the Office of Public Instruction sponsored the event for government students as part of the state's Indian Education for All program. Nine programs were offered, with the students picking several to attend and complete worksheets.

As the heavy beat of a drum echoed throughout the museum, some students watched Indians dance and play the instrument.

Around the corner inside a gallery, some students learned about the tools and weapons that tribes used to hunt bison and other animals.

Get the whole story here: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/01/24/news/state/55-education.txt

Last full-blooded Eyak dies at 89

By: Mary Pemberton

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Marie Smith Jones, who worked to preserve her heritage as the last full-blooded member of Alaska's Eyak Tribe and the last fluent speaker of its native language, has died. She was 89.

Jones died in her sleep Monday at her home in Anchorage. She was found by a friend, said daughter Bernice Galloway, who lives in Albuquerque.

"To the best of our knowledge she was the last full-blooded Eyak alive," Galloway said Tuesday.

"She was a woman who faced incredible adversity in her life and overcame it. She was about as tenacious as you can get."

As the last fluent speaker, Jones worked to preserve the Eyak language, a branch of the Athabaskan Indian family of languages, said Michael Krauss, a linguist and professor emeritus at the University of Alaska Fairbanks who collaborated with her.

Jones helped Krauss compile an Eyak dictionary, and Jones, her sister and a cousin told him Eyak tales that were made into a book.

The Eyak ancestral homeland runs along 300 miles of the Gulf of Alaska from Prince William Sound in south-central Alaska east to the town of Yakutat. Jones was born in Cordova in 1918, and grew up on Eyak Lake, where her family had a homestead.

In 1948, Jones married William F. Smith, a White Oregon fisherman who met Jones while working his way up the coastline, Galloway said.

The couple had nine children, seven of whom are still alive. None of them learned Eyak because they grew up at a time when it was considered wrong to speak anything but English, Galloway said.