By: Gary Walker
Several years after the hallowed burial grounds of a Native American tribe were unceremoniously unearthed on the way to the construction of a residential development in Playa Vista, the caretaker of the tribe's remains has found them a new home.
Like a guide in search of an oasis, Robert Dorame has been tirelessly exploring different sites where his ancestors can be reburied. As the caretaker for the reinterment of his sacred elders' remains, Dorame says selecting the site, as well as preparing them spiritually for their journey home, is a task he takes very seriously.
"The most important thing for me as a most likely descendant, as designated by the Native American Heritage Commission, it is my responsibility to the tribe, to the Indian community at large and to the general public, to make them understand it is very important to us that our ancestors have a peaceful restful place for their repatriation," he said.
The designation "most likely descendant" is a title issued by the commission that empowers Dorame with the discretion to select the final resting place for the remains of his Native American ancestors.
In an exclusive interview with The Argonaut, Dorame was joined by his daughter Mercedes at the site that he has chosen for his ancestor reburial a plot of land at the base of Loyola Marymount University, where centuries ago, the Gabrielino/Tongva lived, hunted and fished. After months of meeting with representatives of developer Steven Soboroff, the president of Playa Vista, the process of finding a resting place for Dorame's ancestors has begun to move forward.
Get more here: http://www.argonautnewspaper.com/articles/2008/06/19/news_-_features/top_stories/2pv.txt
Monday, June 23, 2008
Native American group opposes water project
By: Dennis Romboy
The National Congress of American Indians has approved a resolution opposing a controversial project to pump water from western Utah and eastern Nevada deserts to Las Vegas.
The congress, comprised of Native American tribes nationwide, contends the plan would lower Great Basin groundwater tables, dry up springs and wells that sustain those lands and irreparably harm plants, animals and people.
"It's the center of life. There is no life without water," said Fermina Stevens, administrator of the Elko Band of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone.
Water, she said, is tied to the tribe's culture and spirituality.
The NCAI resolution demands the Nevada state engineer "respect the Great Basin Tribes' right to continued physical, economic cultural and spiritual survival ... "
Whether the resolution, passed at NCAI meetings in Reno earlier this month, carries any weight with the state engineer and the Bureau of Land Management remains to be seen.
"We hope they would take a look at the problem and our concerns," Stevens said.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority wants to build a pipeline to carry as much as 16 million gallons of water a year from Snake Valley, which straddles the Utah-Nevada line, to rapidly growing Las Vegas. Snake Valley includes the arid Great Basin National Park.
"The more we know about the Las Vegas water grab, the worse it looks," said Launce Rake of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, which opposes the project.
Developers, he said, are the ones calling the shots. "It's about profit. It's always been about profit."
Rake says the NCAI resolution doesn't have any official influence but "I'm sure the Southern Nevada Water Authority is not happy to see this."
Authority spokesman J.C. Davis said he was vaguely aware of the resolution. Its impact is not a question for the authority but for the BLM and the Nevada state engineer.
Davis said the authority's request has been mischaracterized as a water grab.
"We asked permission to draw upon a resource that no one else is using," he said.
Davis said it's not a matter of whether the aquifers should be tapped, but in what quantities. "The fundamental question is how much can reasonably be drawn without causing adverse environmental impacts," he said.
In addition to American Indian tribes, ranchers, farmers and conservationists have come out against the proposal.
The National Congress of American Indians has approved a resolution opposing a controversial project to pump water from western Utah and eastern Nevada deserts to Las Vegas.
The congress, comprised of Native American tribes nationwide, contends the plan would lower Great Basin groundwater tables, dry up springs and wells that sustain those lands and irreparably harm plants, animals and people.
"It's the center of life. There is no life without water," said Fermina Stevens, administrator of the Elko Band of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone.
Water, she said, is tied to the tribe's culture and spirituality.
The NCAI resolution demands the Nevada state engineer "respect the Great Basin Tribes' right to continued physical, economic cultural and spiritual survival ... "
Whether the resolution, passed at NCAI meetings in Reno earlier this month, carries any weight with the state engineer and the Bureau of Land Management remains to be seen.
"We hope they would take a look at the problem and our concerns," Stevens said.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority wants to build a pipeline to carry as much as 16 million gallons of water a year from Snake Valley, which straddles the Utah-Nevada line, to rapidly growing Las Vegas. Snake Valley includes the arid Great Basin National Park.
"The more we know about the Las Vegas water grab, the worse it looks," said Launce Rake of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada, which opposes the project.
Developers, he said, are the ones calling the shots. "It's about profit. It's always been about profit."
Rake says the NCAI resolution doesn't have any official influence but "I'm sure the Southern Nevada Water Authority is not happy to see this."
Authority spokesman J.C. Davis said he was vaguely aware of the resolution. Its impact is not a question for the authority but for the BLM and the Nevada state engineer.
Davis said the authority's request has been mischaracterized as a water grab.
"We asked permission to draw upon a resource that no one else is using," he said.
Davis said it's not a matter of whether the aquifers should be tapped, but in what quantities. "The fundamental question is how much can reasonably be drawn without causing adverse environmental impacts," he said.
In addition to American Indian tribes, ranchers, farmers and conservationists have come out against the proposal.
"Uncontacted" Amazon Tribe Actually Known for Decades
By: Kelly Hearn
Recent photos of an uncontacted tribe firing arrows at a plane briefly made these Amazon Indians the world's least understood media darlings.
Contrary to many news stories, the isolated group has actually been monitored from a distance for decades, past and current Brazilian government officials say.
No one, however, is known to have had a face-to-face meeting with the nomadic tribe, which lives along the Peru-Brazil border. And no one knows how much, if anything, these rain forest people know about the outside world.
The tribe—whose name remains unknown—was first discovered by outsiders around 1910, according to José Carlos Meirelles, an official with Brazil's Indian-protection agency (FUNAI).
It was Meirelles who released the photos on May 29 through the indigenous-rights advocacy group Survival International.
Meirelles said he made the photos public to prove the group exists. Activist and former FUNAI president Sydney Possuelo agreed that—amid development and doubt over the existence of such tribes—it was necessary to publish them.
Taken in May, the photos became a sensation and spurred debate over how best to protect isolated tribes. Many indigenous-rights advocates see such groups as under threat from oil, gas, and logging interests that covet in the Indians' resource-rich homelands.
Despite such apparent threats, the recently photographed group's population has nearly doubled in the last twenty years, Meirelles added.
There's more to the story here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080619-uncontacted-tribe.html
Recent photos of an uncontacted tribe firing arrows at a plane briefly made these Amazon Indians the world's least understood media darlings.
Contrary to many news stories, the isolated group has actually been monitored from a distance for decades, past and current Brazilian government officials say.
No one, however, is known to have had a face-to-face meeting with the nomadic tribe, which lives along the Peru-Brazil border. And no one knows how much, if anything, these rain forest people know about the outside world.
The tribe—whose name remains unknown—was first discovered by outsiders around 1910, according to José Carlos Meirelles, an official with Brazil's Indian-protection agency (FUNAI).
It was Meirelles who released the photos on May 29 through the indigenous-rights advocacy group Survival International.
Meirelles said he made the photos public to prove the group exists. Activist and former FUNAI president Sydney Possuelo agreed that—amid development and doubt over the existence of such tribes—it was necessary to publish them.
Taken in May, the photos became a sensation and spurred debate over how best to protect isolated tribes. Many indigenous-rights advocates see such groups as under threat from oil, gas, and logging interests that covet in the Indians' resource-rich homelands.
Despite such apparent threats, the recently photographed group's population has nearly doubled in the last twenty years, Meirelles added.
There's more to the story here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/06/080619-uncontacted-tribe.html
Friday, June 20, 2008
Native Graduate wins case; walks with feathers
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
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
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
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