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/

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.

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

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