[NN-Dialogue] Wotanging Ikche--nanews09.032
Gary Night Owl
gars@speakeasy.org
8 Aug 2001 00:04:01 -0000
W O T A N G I N G I K C H E Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin
KANOHEDA ANIYVWIYA O It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le
Ha-Sah-Sliltha O o O ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min
Un Chota O o O Aunchemokauhettittea
O o o o o O
VOLUME 09, ISSUE 032 O o O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse
August 11, 2001 O o O Ximopanolti tehuatzin,
Cherokee ripe corn moon O inin Mexika tlahtolli
Blackfoot moon when we prepare food for storage
( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S )
==>If you want your Nation represented in the banner of this newsletter<==
email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People"
in your tribal language along with the english translation
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported |
| in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates check |
| http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm - also events |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
This issue contains articles from www.pechanga.net; www.owlstar.com;
indianz.com; ndn-aim KOLA Newslist and Frostys AmerIndian mailing Lists;
UUCP email; Newsgroup: alt.native
IMPORTANT!!
-----------
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in
this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a
prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes.
<----<<<< >>>>---->
This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our
Spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the
Red Road.
++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own
internet addressable account to gars@speakeasy.org
++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org
As historian Patricia Nelson Limerick summarized in The Legacy of Conquest:
The Unbroken Past of the American West,
"Set the blood quantum at one-quarter, hold to it as a rigid definition
of Indians, let intermarriage proceed as it had for centuries, and
eventually Indians will be defined out of existence. When that happens,
the federal government will be freed of its persistent 'Indian problem.'"
"It's about damn time!"
__ Vanessa Short Bull, Oglala ... upon being told she was the first
Native American State Fair Queen (South Dakota) in memory.
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
| Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg-
| | iance was first presented
| I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the
| to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat-
| of the Republic | ional Congress of American
| and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat-
| borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI
| Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the
| as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian
| States Constitution, | Nations.
| so that my forefathers |
| shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
| Journey | In the summer and early fall
| The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders
| | rode a thousand miles on horse-
| For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and
| We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way.
| For All that fear and fear by sight |
| We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for
| For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity
| We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen.
| For all that die and die by greed |
| We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this
| For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity
| We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and
| For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the
| We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good
| | of the People or is it from ego
| Treaty Unity Riders | for self.
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
O'siyo Brothers and Sisters!
In a previous editorial I stated Native Nations know we are sovereign
nations because countries do not make treaties with subjects, they only
make them with other sovereignties.
Let me elaborate, so it is very clear that we are not welfare pups
standing in Amerikka's handout line.
American Indian tribal powers originate with the history of tribes
managing their own affairs.
Case law has established that tribes reserve the rights they had never
given away. The last time this was affirmed was in 1993 in "Lac du
Flambeau v. Stop Treaty Abuse", 991 F. 2d 1249.
Through treaties Indian nations relinquished certain rights in exchange
for promises from the United States government.
The U. S. government has an obligation, both legal and moral, to honor
the trust inherent to these promises. That is called trust responsibility.
The U.S. Constitution (Article 1, section 8, clause 3) recognizes Indian
tribes as distinct governments. It authorizes Congress to regulate
commerce with "foreign nations, among the several state, and with the
Indian tribes." <- repeat ... with the Indian tribes. ie: sovereignties
The extent of sovereignty does vary from tribe to tribe, because each of
the over five hundred tribes executed their individual treaty based on
cultural and historical conditions unique to that tribe at the time of the
treaty.
Still, there are some general truths that do prevail throughout all the
treaties, and one of these is sovereignty. Another is trust obligations.
I am tired of the carping from people, including congressional
representatives, who do not grasp these simple truths. We are NOT welfare
recipients. We are nations and subjects of sovereign Indian nations
receiving promised due compensation in exchange for cessation of
hostilities and rendered lands by our respective Tribal Nations.
Indian Nations granted (we gave) land in exchange for goods and services
into perpetuity. These are by law, not by whim.
Recent events, such as the hog farm on Rosebud and the destruction of
industrial hemp crops by the DEA, suggests there is a growing lack of
comprehension of treaty law and sovereignty issues in general.
Both my wife's news and trade site http://www.owlstar.com and the elders'
message site http://www.wintercount.org have received complaints for
running the "Who will Sing for Them" video after an editorial piece in
the Halifax newspaper and the National Post took issue with the "one-sided"
nature of the video and questioning the Burnt Church and Indian Brook
Mi'kmaq fishing outside specified seasons. Again, the Mi'kmaq are fishing
within limits specified by the Canadian Supreme Court. And... this was
the first time the Indian side was shown.
You Canadian and you U.S. invaders. Learn the law as it refers to Native
treaties and ... get over it. We have been under your bootheel for over
two centuries. We're still here, we're still proud and we have rights -
rights granted in treaties.
Dohiyi Ani Oginalii
, , Gary Night Owl gars@nanews.org
(*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@speakeasy.org
(`-') Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. gars@olagrande.net
===w=w=== gars@sdf.lonestar.org
----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------
- Crossings - Nault's Consultations a Bust
- Bullhead Teen Killed - Pressures on
in Car-Pedestrian Accident Saskatchewan School System
- Tribal Rights Dispute - Laguna Pueblo
gains Fresh Insight gets Housing Grant
- Western Shoshone Action Alert - Zunis Agree to be Featured
- Salish and Kootenai on Soft Drink Label
Enrollment Debate - Native Prisoner
- Blackfeet Crews -- Changes of Address
leap on Wind-fed Fire - Rustywire:
- Seminole Leaders' Spending Wondering Why he don't Write
may buy Trouble - Poem: Oglala Oyate
- DEA seizes Hemp Crop - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days
from Pine Ridge - Huron-Si Tanka Merger Good Example
- Tribes may win Millions - Racing Against Extinction:
in Gas Tax Refunds Saving Native Languages
- Department erased Files - Rocky Boy's embraces Its Kids
on Indian Land - Powwow Proud
- Indian Act Consultations - Film: Saving Our Sacred Lands
in Cooling Off Period - Upcoming Events
--------- "RE: Crossings" ---------
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 08:23:09 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="CROSSINGS"
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com
Obituaries for July 31
Isaiah Jamal Quick Bear
KYLE - Isaiah Jamal Quick Bear was born and died on Saturday, July 28,
2001, at Rapid City Regional Hospital.
Survivors include his father, Jeffry Quick Bear, Rapid City; his mother,
Loretta Martinez, Rapid City; his maternal grandparents, Molbay and Mary
Martinez, Kyle; two brothers, Jeffry Quick Bear Jr., Rapid City, and Jay
Quick Bear, Mud Butte; and one sister, Jaelesa Quick Bear, Mud Butte.
Burial will be at St. Stephen's Catholic Cemetery in Kyle.
Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements.
Obituaries for August 3
Gilbert Kills Pretty Enemy
BULLHEAD - Gilbert Kills Pretty Enemy, Sunka Gi Ite-Iya, 79, Bullhead,
died Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2001, in Bismarck, N.D.
Mr. J.B. Kills Pretty Enemy will officiate over traditional services.
Burial will be at St. Aloysius Catholic Cemetery in Mobridge.
Kesling Funeral Home of Mobridge is in charge of arrangements.
Obituaries for August 7
Louise Charlotte Black Cat
ALLEN - Louise Charlotte Black Cat, 64, Allen, died Friday, Aug. 3, 2001,
in Allen.
Survivors include one son, Les Bearnose, Allen; three daughters, Valerie
Shots, Potato Creek, and Shirley May and Keneona Black Cat, both of Allen;
one brother, Louis Richard, Allen; one sister, Bertha Conroy, Batesland,
Neb.; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
A two-night wake will begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 8, at American
Horse School in Allen.
Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 10, at the
school, with the Rev. Tom Nelson officiating. Jerome LeBeaux will
officiate at traditional services.
Burial will be at Salway Family Cemetery in Allen.
Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements.
Ione Jean Bad Cob
WANBLEE - Ione Jean Bad Cob, 64, Wanblee, died Friday, Aug. 3, 2001, at
Rapid City Regional Hospital.
Survivors include three sons, Marvis Bad Cob, Wanblee, Samual Pretty
Bear, Rapid City, and Donroy Bad Cob, Minneapolis; four daughters,
Charlotte Eagle Staff and Bonita Blue Legs, both of Rapid City, Mavis Bad
Cob, Wanblee, and Tisarera Bad Cob, Portland, Ore.; two brothers,
Sylvester Bad Cob and Rede Bad Cob, both of Wanblee; four sisters, Sarah
Standing Bear, Kadoka, and Rena Standing Bear, Agatha Tall Mandan and
Betty Red Bird, all of Wanblee; 31 grandchildren; and nine great-
grandchildren.
A one-night wake will begin at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 7, at Crazy Horse
School in Wanblee.
Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 9, at the
school, with the Rev. Tom Nelson officiating.
Burial will be at Presbyterian Cemetery in Wanblee.
Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements.
Mathew Lee Standing Elk
PORCUPINE - Mathew Lee Standing Elk, 52, Porcupine, died Sunday, Aug. 5,
2001, in Martin.
Survivors include his mother, Caroline Good Shield, Porcupine; two
daughters, Twila Standing Elk and Tillie Standing Elk, both of Porcupine;
one sister, Violette Good Crow, Porcupine; and two grandchildren.
A one-night wake will begin at 3 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 9, at Porcupine Day
School.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Friday at the school, with the Rev. Simon
Looking Elk officiating.
Burial will be at Presbyterian Cemetery in Porcupine.
Sioux Funeral Home of Pine Ridge is in charge of arrangements.
--------- "RE: Bullhead Teen Killed in Car-Pedestrian Accident" ---------
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 00:44:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: Paul Pureau <ppureau@yahoo.com>
Subj: Bullhead Teen Killed In Car-Pedestrian Accident
Mailing List: ndn-aim <ndn-aim@yahoogroups.com>
Bullhead Teen Killed In Car-Pedestrian Accident
SIOUX FALLS (AP) -- Alex Charles Little Eagle, 16, of Bullhead, died in
a weekend traffic accident.
He was walking on Highway 63 near the town of Little Eagle when he was
struck by a vehicle around 12:25 a.m. Saturday, said Corson County Coroner
Arnie Schott.
=====
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Archived on line at: http://www.eScribe.com
FREE LEONARD PELTIER
--------- "RE: Tribal Rights Dispute gains Fresh Insight" ---------
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2001 08:23:09 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="TRIBAL RIGHTS"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://205.235.133.31/news-story.asp?date=080201&ID=s1000531
Tribal rights dispute gains fresh insight
Harvard team using surveys, studies to chart course toward
resolution for Nez Perce, local counties
Thursday, August 2, 2001
Julia Silverman - Staff writer
Coeur d'Alene _ Some say it will take a miracle to iron out the
differences between the Nez Perce tribe and officials from Clearwater,
Lewis and Idaho counties.
Even the lofty Kennedy School of Government at Harvard can't promise to
deliver one of those.
But two professors at the school, who are charting five years' worth of
jurisdictional conflicts between the tribe and its neighbors, are game to
try. They aim to bridge the gap between the two sides using surveys,
education and third party neutrality.
It's a new, scholarly approach to an age-old, emotional problem over
where the rights of Indian tribes end and those of local governments begin.
The results of the Harvard project could be used as a blueprint for
tribes and governments nationwide, especially as more and more tribes,
flush with casino revenues, assert their sovereignty.
"We have always felt that to publicly discuss these issues rather than
to litigate is the best answer," said Dan Johnson, an Orofino attorney who
has questioned the tribe and its actions. "We have all lived here for 100
years in peace and harmony, and only recently has jurisdiction become an
issue. Maybe this will get us back on track."
Getting back on track, though, is a difficult task. The Nez Perce and a
group of officials from the three counties, who call themselves the North
Central Idaho Jurisdictional Alliance, have been at odds at least since
1997. That's when the tribe wanted contractors working on a building for
the Kamiah School District to comply with tribal employment laws,
including a hiring preference for Indians.
Since then, tensions have escalated. The tribe and the alliance clashed
over the rights of tribal police to arrest non-Indians, over whether a
business run by a tribe member must purchase city and county permits, and
whether the tribe can tax non-tribal members.
Things came to a head when Orofino city administrator Rick Laam, in a
26-page manifesto, wrote that "if issues keep escalating between the Tribe
and non-Tribal members on the reservation, and we are unable to sit down
at a table and openly discuss these differences in order to resolve these
conflicts, bloodshed is inevitable."
Into this dispute waded Keith Allred, an assistant professor of public
policy at Harvard and a native of Twin Falls.
Allred is coordinating the project with Joe Kalt, a Harvard professor
who specializes in economic development in Indian Country. The first phase
is almost complete. Over the past few weeks, survey results have come in
from 80 to 90 percent of the 350 people in the tri-county area who
received questions on the topic. Those surveyed included Indians and non-
Indians, elected officials and private citizens.
"We asked what issues are of greatest concern, and how they feel about
various ways of resolving them," Allred said. "We asked not only for their
own views, but for them to guess the average view of the other groups, to
see how people are characterizing -- or mischaracterizing -- each other's
views."
A team of graduate students has been dispatched to study what has worked
-- and what hasn't -- in similar situations across the country, from the
Yankton-Sioux tribe in North Dakota to the Swinomish tribe in Washington.
The information will be presented to tribal and alliance leaders during
a two-day workshop this fall, with the hope that common ground will emerge.
The sides can then decide if they want Allred to mediate the issues that
divide them.
The project is funded partly by the Carr Foundation and partly by a
Harvard program on American Indian economic development.
Both sides say they hope the Harvard intervention can break what looked
like an impasse.
"I think the reason for moving ahead with this sort of program is to
help in the future, to try to move beyond our misunderstandings and find
common ground," said Rob Smith, a policy analyst for the Nez Perce. "When
you get right down to it, the members of the alliance and the leaders of
tribal government are all working for the betterment of local
communities."
"Sometimes an outsider is what it takes," said Johnson, the alliance's
attorney. "We are open to anyone that wants to help. Sometimes it can take
a court to tell you who is right and who is wrong, so if we can resolve
this short of court, that's all the better."
Allred had his first contact with the alliance via Greg Carr, another
Idahoan with Harvard ties.
Carr is the Idaho Falls native who founded the Carr Center for Human
Rights at Harvard and is building several human rights centers in Idaho,
including a retreat at the former Aryan Nations compound in Kootenai
County. He invited Allred to speak at the 2000 Idaho Association of Cities
meeting in Coeur d'Alene, where Allred met some of the alliance members
and the idea for the project was born.
Both the Nez Perce tribal council and alliance members voted unanimously
to participate in the study, Allred said.
But in a debate that has been tinged with accusations of racial
prejudice on both sides, Allred said he knew he faced skepticism from
those who might view him as an interloper from a liberal-leaning
institution.
His and Carr's Idaho roots have helped, he said, and most of the
participants had reached a point where offers of outside help were more
than welcome.
"One of the points we are making is that they will rise and fall
together economically," he said. "Jurisdictional disputes drive investment
and economic activity. If you can work together, both sides tend to be
better off."
Julia Silverman can be reached at (208) 765-7126 or by email at julias@spokesman.com.
Copyright c. 2001, The Spokesman-Review.
--------- "RE: Western Shoshone Action Alert" ---------
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 19:43:40
From: KOLA <kolahq@skynet.be>
Subj: Western Shoshone Action Alert
------- FORWARD, Original message follows -------
Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2001 19:05:37 +0200
From: "Frits F. Terpstra" <fritst@home.nl>
<+>=<+>KOLA Newslist<+>=<+>
Received this from my friend Peter d'Errico.
Please forward this message.
Frits,
---
Ian Zabarte wrote:
ACTION ALERT 2001
Dear friends,
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) has again commenced efforts to perpetrate a
US fraud against the Western Shoshone people by introducing SB 958 to
distribute $120 million dollars to 15,000 individual Western Shoshone
citizens ($8,000 ea.) for 26 million acres of sovereign Western
Shoshone property, that has never been for sale. Western Shoshone
leaders have opposed distribution of the Indian Claims Commission
Award for 22 years. Reid is attempting to work around tribal leaders
representing the vast majority of Western Shoshone citizens by
targeting individuals living near poverty level with a money-waving
marketing campaign.
We have fought for centuries to maintain our existence as a distinct
people and to protect our property. From our efforts we won a treaty
that emanates from International Law, signed in 1863, the Treaty of
Ruby Valley is one of "peace and friendship" with the United States of
America. The Treaty reserves the vast majority of Western Shoshone
property allowing only for small grants of land to the US for forts
and rights of way used to ship gold from California to finance the
Union in the American Civil War. Our lands are not within the
boundaries of any state or jurisdiction of United States courts
according to the Treaty and the Nevada Enabling Act.
Stop Reid from completing fraud against the Western Shoshone Nation
and protect the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the Western Shoshone
people that is directly connected to our land. Please oppose any
effort by Reid to pass legislation to distribute the Indian Claims
Commission Award Docket 326 A and Docket 326 K.
SB 958 would rip-off the Western Shoshone Nation by the United States
today for land never lawfully sold. This would be done in violation of
law by unscrupulous politicians on behalf of unaware Americans to a
people that have been weakened by acts of racism, discrimination,
radioactive poison, and other acts of attrition.
SB 958 would close the 1951 Indian Claims Commission case feeding the
perception that justice has been served allowing Reid to distribute
Western Shoshone property to cities, counties, and the state. Western
Shoshone Lands are constitutionally protected under the terms of the
1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley sharing equal status with the US
Constitution, Article 6, Section 2, "This Constitution...and all
treaties made...shall be the supreme law of the land." Congress cannot
legislatively supersede the US constitution. To do so may be
constitutional subversion a high crime and treason. The Treaty and US
Constitution can only be changed by a two-thirds vote of Senators or
three-quarters vote of a referendum the states.
SB 958 will use discrimination to determine eligibility of who a
Western Shoshone is. Blood quantum is discrimination focusing it on
our most vulnerable citizens, our children. The Western Shoshone
Nation does not discriminate against our children by using a measure
of inherent quality of race. Discrimination by this method was started
by the US as a policy to get rid of Indians. All of our children are
Western Shoshone citizens - our future!
SB 958 does not provide for a land base necessary for the growth and
development of the Western Shoshone Nation as contemplated by the 1863
Treaty of Ruby Valley, ensuring instead that the current condition of
economic starvation continues on the tiny colonies and reservations.
SB 958 would undermine our effort to prevent high-level nuclear waste
from being stored at the proposed Yucca Mountain repository. The
Department of Energy must prove site ownership to receive a license
from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission but cannot get one if it does
not own Western Shoshone property. The Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner
will not issued a license if the Department of Energy does not own
Yucca Mountain.
SB 958 would undermine our efforts to obtain accountability and
compensation from the United States to address adverse health effects
from the 934 nuclear weapons tests conducted on Western Shoshone lands
in violation of the Treaty. Thousands of Western Shoshone have been
hurt by radiation or lost family members. They deserve millions for
their suffering and loss, not to be ripped-off by Reid.
SB 958 will avoid just compensation under the Fifth Amendment, which
would provide approximately $20 billion to the Western Shoshone Nation
and ensuring negotiations of a reasonable reservation is established
as contemplated by the Treaty. In the US v. Sioux Nation, 448 US 371
(1980) the Supreme Court held that a taking by the US in violation of
a similar treaty was covered by the Fifth Amendment including compound
interest. The US has made no equitable offer of settlement, and the
Western Shoshone Nation is under no obligation to sell Western
Shoshone property. It is true that the Western Shoshone need money to
meet their basic living needs, but not by selling Mother Earth.
Opportunities for growth and development pass over the Western
Shoshone Nation going to Reid's special interests.
Reid no longer supports truth, justice, or equity for the Western
Shoshone Nation. Reid fails to recognize there is a title dispute.
Reid is playing Washington politics with Western Shoshone basic human
rights and Western Shoshone property. Reid has the power to do the
right thing, but has chosen to violate the Western Shoshone people.
Reid the politician has created a media campaign to attack outspoken
Western Shoshone citizen Carrie Dann honored recipient of the 1993
Right Livelihood Award. Carrie Dann was acquitted of trespass when
grazing livestock within Western Shoshone treaty lands in the case US
v. Dann. Ms. Dann, like all Western Shoshone citizens are property
owners in "privity" with all other Western Shoshone. Reid called Ms.
Dann "despicable" for resisting Bureau of Land Management regulation
of Western Shoshone property. On July 19, 2000 in the Las Vegas Review
Journal Reid attacked Western Shoshone leaders stating that tribal
leaders, " are living in a dream world."
The Western Shoshone Nation cannot assume US jurisdiction is
legitimate, but if it were, the courts may avoid or correct a prior
judgment between the same parties if the judgment was based on a
mistake, or substantial change in the circumstances that give
continuing effect to the judgment is unjust, or because there has been
an intervening change in the governing law. See American Law Institute
Restatement of Judgments, Second, ## 71,73. The Indian Claims
Commission process was an unjust tool used to undermine tribal title.
It is an outdated method to defraud the Western Shoshone Nation of
their property.
Now you can end the ongoing harassment of individual Western Shoshone
exercising their constitutionally protected treaty rights by helping
the Western Shoshone people. Your good name signed to a letter sent to
the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs stating your opposition of a
distribution bill is important and will make the difference. Tell the
senators a bill should not move forward. Write:
Chairman Ben Campbell (D-HI) Senator Paul Wellstone (D-MI)
838 Hart Office Building Committee on Indian Affairs
Washington, D.C. 20510 838 Hart Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Committee on Indian Affairs Senator Akaka (D-HI)
838 Hart Office Building Committee on Indian Affairs
Washington, D.C. 20510 838 Hart Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
And also, the following web page can help:
http://www.senate.gov/~scia/members.htm
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) Senator Richard Bryan (D-NV)
112 Hart Senate Office Building 269 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510
Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)
331 Hart Senate Office Building 528 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510
Your help now will help insure that the Western Shoshone Nation has
the opportunity to grow and develop without losing title to our land,
ensuring that future generations of Western Shoshone will have the
benefits of their land, Mother Earth.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sample Letter
(Your address)
(Date)
(Senator)
Hart Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator,
I am oppose SB 958 a bill to distribute the Indian Claims Commission
funds to individual Western Shoshone against the will of their elected
leaders.
Currently proposed bills do not include provision for a land base, the
means of production, growth and development for the Western Shoshone
people.
Currently proposed bills are inequitable by not paying the Western
Shoshone just compensation under the Fifth Amendment applying a dual
standard for Native Americans.
The Western Shoshone Nation has never ceded land to the US and the
Treaty of Ruby Valley confirms that fact. Senator Reid intends to
deceive by omitting facts to avoid the truth of Western Shoshone
property ownership.
The Western Shoshone Nation is owed a debt for making the 1863 Treaty
of Ruby Valley with the United Stated allowing for gold to be
transported during the war between the states helping to preserve our
union as the USA. Article IV and VII of the treaty show agreement by
the Western Shoshone Nation to grant, and by the US to purchase, the
interests involved, necessarily implying Western Shoshone property
ownership.
I am doing my part to see that the US does not continue the practice
of defrauding Native Americans who have suffered for the freedoms we
all enjoy. I urge you Senator to oppose SB 958, legislation to
distribute the Indian Claims Commission Aware in Docket 326 A/K. And,
instead open an investigation into fraud against the Western Shoshone
Nation to determine the full extent of physical injury to the Western
Shoshone people and damage to the land so culturally appropriate
compensation may be given including both land, funding and other
needful assistance.
Sincerely,
(Your name)
Thank you for your support. Mr. Ian Zabarte
P.O. Box 210
Indian Springs, NV 89018-0210
NEWE SOGOBIA
Tel/Fax:(702) 879-3237
http://environment.unlv.edu/thesis/index.html
http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/shoshone/pamphlet.html
-- -- --
Peter d'Errico email:
derrico@legal.umass.edu
Professor of Legal Studies voice: 413-545-2003
University of Massachusetts fax: 413-545-1640
Amherst, MA, USA 01003-9257 WWW: http://www.umass.edu/legal/derrico/
NativeWeb <http://www.nativeweb.org>
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Free Leonard now!
www.leonardpeltier.com
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
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KOLA Petitions: http://kola-hq.hypermart.net
KOLA Greeting Cards: http://users.skynet.be/kola/cards.htm
--------- "RE: Salish and Kootenai Enrollment Debate" ---------
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001 20:05:45 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="SALISH ENROLLMENT"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.missoulian.com/display/inn_news/news08.txt
Enrollment debate takes another turn
By JOHN STROMNES of the Missoulian
POLSON - A group of Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribal members have
started a petition drive to change enrollment requirements to "lineal"
descendancy, opening tribal enrollment to anyone descended from a tribal
member, living or dead, no matter how remote the lineage.
Enrollment criteria is far and away the most divisive issue within the
tribal community on the Flathead Reservation, members of the group
acknowledge. But the issue must be dealt with, not put on a shelf or in
the dust bin as it has been in the past, a leader of the group said
Thursday.
"We know there will be controversy about this," said Regina Parot. "It's
worth it, because we want to put our families back together. We don't want
them split because of blood degree, or because they weren't born on the
reservation."
Parot is a leader of the Split Family Support Group, based in Polson,
which has been active in enrollment issues for more than a year.
The change also will assure that the tribal confederacy will maintain a
viable population in the future. Demographers predict that under current
enrollment rules, a drastic decline in population is inevitable within the
next two generations, possibly even leading to extinction of the entire
tribe in the not-so-distant future.
Since 1960, enrollment has been based on "blood quantum" of at least a
quarter-degree of descendancy.
"When we adopted the one-fourth blood quantum requirement in 1960, many
federal programs were not available to our members who were not one-fourth
or more Indian blood. The majority of those federally imposed blood
quantum requirements have been rescinded or repealed, yet we continue to
hang on to maintaining a minimum blood degree under the misconception that
we will be terminated (as a tribal nation) if we eliminate the blood
quantum altogether," Parot said.
Other members of the tribal community, including several Tribal Council
members and more traditional Indians, are adamantly opposed to the
proposed constitutional amendment. They fear increased enrollment will
inevitably lead to far-reaching changes in tribal culture and tribal
values, the resource base will be diluted and traditionalist Indians will
lose power once tribal membership is open to large numbers of descendants
assimilated into the dominant culture, and quite likely unfamiliar with
Indian language, values and culture.
"This is expedient genocide," said Rhonda Friedlander, a Kootenai leader
in Dayton active in the traditionalist movement.
"We have descendants of our own who have a mixture of other Indian
tribes who are excluded from enrollment, yet who are practicing our
culture and traditions. It is my belief they are more deserving of
enrollment because they are going to help us survive as an Indian
culture," she said Friday.
In fact, the Kootenai traditionalists have proposed that each separate
tribe of the confederacy - Salish, Pend Oreille and Kootenai - have the
right to determine their own enrollment criteria, and they proposed a
Kootenai enrollment procedure heavily weighted toward traditional values.
The proposal was passed by the Tribal Council, but was soon rescinded
because the tribes' lawyers said that as written it was fraught with
insurmountable legal difficulties, including many presented by the U.S.
Constitution.
Tribal Council member Kevin Howlett of Arlee also opposes the Split
Family group's proposed referendum. He called it "suicide for the tribes,"
in an article in last week's Char-Koosta News, the official tribal
newspaper.
"The adoption of this would be the beginning of the end. We'd be
enrolling numbers of people less than a quarter-blood quantum. It would
totally kill the membership's resource base," Howlett said.
He agreed that enrollment issues do need to be addressed, "especially
those children who possess more than enough Indian blood (to have quarter
blood quantum) but not enough of any one tribe" to be enrolled in the
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
But the Tribal Council has not acted directly on that suggestion, either.
The tribal constitution adopted in 1935 allows the council to change the
constitution by simple majority vote. It also provides for a referendum
process by which membership can amend the 1935 fundamental law.
But the bar is very high to get a referendum on the ballot. Referendum
must gather, within about 90 days of submission, a full one-third of all
eligible voters in the tribal electorate. The electorate is now about
3,100 members.
The Split Family Support Group, in a petition drive last year, appeared
to collect more than enough signatures, but more than 100 of the names
were disallowed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on various technical
grounds, making their initial effort in vain.
It will be different this time, Parot said.
"None of the technicalities they (the BIA) cited in their decision
letter are included in any of the regulations that BIA provided to us. So
before we start this time, we want the BIA to disclose any and all
criteria so we can tell our petitioning members what will be acceptable or
unacceptable," Parot said.
The Split Family Support Group presented the Tribal Council with the
referendum proposal last week, which referred it to the legal department
for review. The group has also sent it to the BIA regional office along
with a request for specific, detailed rules of what entails a valid
petition signature. After review by tribal legal staff, and clearance by
the BIA, the group will hold a series of public meetings to present the
referendum petition to the membership and to solicit signatures to get it
on the ballot. Then the secretary of Interior must call an election.
The effect of the enrollment change, if it should pass, would be to
vastly increase tribal membership, but nobody knows by how much. It could
also significantly dilute some benefits, such as per capita payments that
are based specifically on tribal enrollment, rather than Indian descendent.
As it is written, the proposed amendment would allow the enrollment of
any descendant who was born off the reservation on or after Oct. 28, 1935,
and prior to May 5, 1960. That would address the "split-family" issue in
which siblings in the same family have been denied enrollment because of
constitutional changes in those years, while other siblings enjoy tribal
membership and its privileges, such as hunting and fishing rights and
employment preferences in tribal government jobs.
But it would also scrap the one-fourth blood quantum requirement current
since 1960. Instead, any provable lineal descendent whatever would be
sufficient for tribal enrollment.
"All one has to do is prove lineal descendancy from biological parents
of the blood of this tribe and/or lineal descendent from any ancestors who
are of the blood of this tribe," Parot said.
Reporter John Stromnes can be reached at 1-800-366-7816 or at
jstromnes@missoulian.com.
Copyright c. 2000, Missoulian, Missoula, MT. A Lee Enterprises subsidiary.
--------- "RE: Blackfeet Crews leap on Wind-fed Fire" ---------
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 2001 10:53:12 -0700
From: Jess Hansen <mikola18@hotmail.com>
Subj: "Blackfeet crews leap on wind-fed reservation fire"
Mailing List: ndn-aim <ndn-aim@yahoogroups.com>
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20010802/
localnews/835154.html
Thursday, August 2, 2001
"Blackfeet crews leap on wind-fed reservation fire"
By JENNIFER PEREZ, Tribune Staff Writer
"Crews are working to contain a fire that burned 30 acres on the Nine
Mile Ridge on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation Wednesday afternoon.
The fire was reported about 3 p.m. and was fed by 15- to 20-mile-per-
hour southwest winds.
Four 20-man Blackfeet fire crews were digging hand lines around the fire
Wednesday evening and were expected to work through the night before
today's expected high winds and low humidity. Fresh crews were to be in
place this morning, said Steve Bull Shoe, assistant dispatcher for the
Blackfeet Fire Cache.
Two planes were assisting the crews Wednesday, and a helicopter is
expected today to assist with water support and surveillance, Bull Shoe
said.
"We got it kind of calmed down now with retardant and hand crews," said
Bull Shoe.
"The fire is pretty much away from everything and there is nothing
really threatened yet," he said. The closest structure is a house along
the (Highway 89) about two to three miles away, which isn't threatened,
he said.
The cause of the fire has not been determined.
"Right now we don't have a clue," Bull Shoe said. "We haven't had any
lightning or anything."
The Weather Service reported that Cut Bank, 30 miles east of Browning,
received .65 inches of rain Tuesday.
"We got a lot of moisture, but even though we got moisture it is still
really dry and the fire just did what it wanted," Bull Shoe said."
Copyright c. 2001 Great Falls Tribune
--------- "RE: Seminole Leaders' Spending may buy Trouble" ---------
Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2001 19:13:10 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="MONEY DRAWS SCRUTINY"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.miami.com/herald/content/news/local/broward/digdocs/021218.htm
Published Sunday, August 5, 2001
Seminole leaders' spending may buy trouble
Prosperity brings divisions, scrutiny
BY ERIKA BOLSTAD
ebolstad@herald.com
At the top level of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, elected leaders flush
with gambling revenues spend millions on the basic needs of their
community.
Some also indulge their desires for the finer things: Land Rovers and
Lexuses, front-row seats and chartered jets.
Once a poor community of Indians mainly living in the Everglades, the
tribe -- now 2,800 members -- has in the last two decades grown into a
$300 million a year gambling empire.
A Seminole family of four can count on an annual allotment of $120,000
from the tribe and free healthcare, regardless of what the family makes in
private employment.
But the real wealth rests in the hands of five council members
representing members on the Seminoles' Florida reservations. And the
council's high-spending ways have attracted the attention of the FBI.
Each council member has millions at his disposal, thanks to gambling.
"That's the only place I could make money, so I did," said James Billie,
the chickee-building, alligator-wrestling songwriter who led the tribe and
had a $16 million to $18 million discretionary fund in addition to his
$330,000 annual salary until he was suspended in May after 22 years as
elected chairman.
Rules on how to spend the discretionary money are few, as long as it
benefits the tribe, said Jim Shore, the tribe's general counsel.
Defining what benefits the tribe, as opposed to what benefits individual
council members and their families, is an inexact science.
The money is typically shared with tribal members who need help paying
for college, for family vacations or for home improvements. But documents
obtained by The Herald show that some council members also catered to
their own whims with the tribal allocations.
Some leaders acquired luxury cars, rented limousines, drew thousands of
dollars in cash and rang up tens of thousands of dollars in charge-card
bills. One spent money on a boxing gym. When several council members began
to exceed their $5.1 million-a-year budgeted allocations late last year,
the first hairline cracks in the tribe's long-stable political structure
appeared. Within six months, those cracks had widened into divisions.
Billie was suspended by the Tribal Council May 24 amid a lawsuit
charging him with sexually harassing a subordinate, getting her pregnant
and ordering her to get an abortion. The Tribal Council voted to launch an
internal audit, and charges of financial malfeasance flew between Billie
and his critics on the council.
At the time, FBI agents were sitting in on tribal meetings.
POSSIBLE FEDERAL CASE
Prosperity, spending mushroom
Internal memos noted that the tribe might be violating federal law by
failing to report as taxable income money spent by the Tribal Council.
"You have travel, tickets, box seats, junkets," said Robert Saunooke, a
lawyer who wrote one of the memos as the chairman's legal counsel, a job
from which he was subsequently dismissed. "That's income to them that they
have not reported."
The Seminole Tribe had steadily grown more prosperous since getting into
the casino business 20 years ago. Its wealth mushroomed two years ago when
it got rid of management companies that had been running its Tampa and
Hollywood casinos in exchange for a substantial share of the profits.
That change, and the opening of a new casino in Coconut Creek, enabled
the tribe to grant three tribal representatives -- Max Osceola, David
Cypress and Jack Smith Jr. -- annual allocations of $5.1 million each to
spend as they wished. Billie, as chairman, was alloted $16 million to $18
million a year, and vice-chairman Mitchell Cypress got $1.5 million.
Individual council members had different priorities.
Smith, the representative of the Brighton reservation who was voted out
of office in May, was willing to pay for new tires or transmissions -- $56,
493.12 worth over a two-year period -- for just about any tribal member
who was having car trouble. He also financed a community pool at the
Brighton reservation and started building a golf course with his
allocation.
Osceola paid at least $50 per house each month to cut the grass at some
homes on the Hollywood reservation, according to tribal records.
David Cypress, the Big Cypress representative, paid thousands of dollars
each month to landscape homes on his reservation.
Osceola spent thousands of dollars on tickets to sporting events,
according to documents. In February, he paid $10,413.25 to rent a jet to
fly to the Daytona 500, although the tribe has its own eight-seat
passenger plane and a Gulfstream IV jet once owned by King Hussein of
Jordan.
Another $22,896 went toward 12 passes to the race. In 1999 and 2000, he
spent $18,447 on Heat playoff tickets.
Osceola, the only council member who would speak to The Herald, said he
doesn't feel he needs to defend any of his spending.
"Everything I've spent has been spent for the tribe," Osceola said.
David Cypress, who did not return calls left at his office, drew
thousands of dollars in cash on his allocation, tribal records indicate.
CASH WITHDRAWALS
A simple request unlocks funds
Over a two-year period that ended in April, David Cypress wired himself
or authorized cash withdrawals in the amount of $290,315, including
$29,870 during the first three months of 2001.
Under the Seminole accounting system, that involved filling out a
requisition and waiting for the accounting department to approve it and
cut a check.
David Cypress spent thousands of dollars from his allocation on Warrior
Gym, a boxing facility he recently opened across the street from the
Hollywood casino.
Cypress also authorized spending $2.1 million with Nationwide
Landscaping for work at the Big Cypress reservation over two years. Each
month, 32 homes and the Afachkee School on the Big Cypress reservation
were tended to by the company.
A Jan. 5 bill charged the tribe $54,996 for six weeks worth of cutting,
spraying, weeding and trimming. That works out to $277.75 a week per house.
Over a two-year period, David Cypress' brother, tribal vice-chairman
Mitchell Cypress, received $286,800 in landscaping from David Cypress'
allocation.
That money paid for a decorative fountain and sod, as well as for
hundreds of trees, bushes and flowers, according to invoices.
Like David Cypress, Mitchell Cypress withdrew cash from his allocation
or had it wired to him. Over a two-year period, he authorized $209,523.15
in cash payments to himself.
Mitchell Cypress did not answer his home phone or respond to phone
messages left at his office.
Records obtained by The Herald reflecting Billie's use of his $16
million to $18 million discretionary fund were sketchy. Over two years,
Billie spent an average of $887.89 a month on personal travel, according
to documents obtained by The Herald.
In addition to the monthly $2,500 stipend all tribal members get and his
salary as chairman, Billie had income from a tobacco shop he owned on the
Miccosukee reservation.
The council's spending, long cloaked in secrecy, has started to create a
stir. Few tribal members are willing to speak openly about tribal finances,
but some are starting to make their opinions known anonymously on www.
seminole-truth.com, a website created by ex-employees.
Tribal members are also asking for their own copies of the financial
records, their right as Seminoles, said Gloria Wilson, who ran
unsuccessfully in May against Osceola and who examined the documents
before the election.
Wilson said she thinks the allocations could have been better spent
buying land for more housing or making improvements to tribal roads and
public utilities.
"We're not poverty stricken by any means," she said. "But we can't take
care of our people." Billie said the tribe's political troubles mounted
when he warned his fellow councilmen to put the brakes on their spending,
actually posting a handwritten sign on the wall of his office in the
tribe's headquarters on Stirling Road in Hollywood: "No more loans until
further notice."
Billie and his supporters assert that Tribal Council spending was
damaging the tribe's efforts to balance its budgets and tackle large
projects, such as issuing $400 million in bonds to pay for Hard Rock
casinos in Tampa and Hollywood, and buying a bank and an insurance company.
When tribes start earning large amounts of money from gaming, some
struggle to handle the responsibility, said Doug Nash, an Idaho lawyer and
member of the Nez Perce tribe who specializes in Indian gaming issues.
For most, it's a welcome dilemma, said Nash, who worked briefly for the
Seminoles 20 years ago helping to write tribal ordinances.
"Indian people have been, and for the most part still are, impoverished.
Money is really a new twist," he said.
Indians have complex relationships with the U.S. government, which
acknowledges they are sovereign nations with the right to self-government.
But they are also subject to federal laws and regulations and must
follow the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act when spending gambling profits.
The act specifies that revenue must be spent on tribal or local government
operations and programs, economic development, charitable contributions
and the general welfare of tribal members.
Hugh Chang Alloy, the tribe's controller, wrote an April 6 memo warning
the council that it might be breaking the rules. Chang Alloy, who did not
return phone calls from The Herald, was fired by the Tribal Council on
June 1. Robert Saunooke, counsel for the tribal chairman, wrote a more
strongly worded memo a month later. Saunooke, a North Carolina Cherokee,
was also fired.
"It has come to my attention that the Tribe, and its Tribal Council, are
disbursing funds of the Tribe in such a matter as to expose the Tribe, the
Council Members and the individual Tribal members to tax and criminal
liability," Saunooke's memo said.
The IRS monitors U.S. tribes through its Office of Indian Tribal
Governments. IRS officials would not comment specifically on the Seminole
Tribe.
TRIBE SPENT LIBERALLY
Outflow described as `appalling'
However, when the IRS looks at the books of Indian tribes, among the
first areas it examines are funds like the Tribal Council's reservation
allocations, said Ken Voght, a manager for the East Coast and Southern
area of the IRS Office of Indian Tribal Governments.
Billie said he believes that his fellow council members were acting in
the best interest of the tribe when they spent money from their
allocations.
Billie conceded he wasn't aware of how much money was being spent until
his administrators pointed it out. In April 1999, the tribe launched a new
accounting system -- shielded against the Y2K bug -- that modernized its
bookkeeping and allowed better tracking of spending.
Tim Cox, the operations officer who monitored almost every aspect of
tribal government and business, said he was worried the tribe wouldn't be
able to cover its expenses if spending was not curtailed.
"It was appalling," Cox said.
When council members exceeded their budgets, Cox sent them notices and
showed them detailed accounting reports chronicling their top expenditures.
Tribal Council members did not like being told how much money they could
spend, Cox said.
"They were absolutely livid," said Cox, who was himself dismissed May 10
after questions were raised about his role in the development of a hotel
in Managua, Nicaragua.
The council has recently discussed setting guidelines on how reservation
allocations can be spent, said Shore, the tribe's general counsel. But no
action has been taken so far.
Osceola said the Seminole Tribe has its own way of sharing wealth, an
attitude that he said dates to the tribe's roots as hunters who shared
their kill with the entire village.
"You're not rich by how much you own but by how much you share," Osceola
said. "To me, it's a different philosophy. Instead of hunting, we're
entrepreneurs."
Copyright c. 2001 Miami Herald
--------- "RE: DEA seizes Hemp Crop from Pine Ridge" ---------
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 08:44:05 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="HEMP SEIZED"
DEA seizes hemp crop from Pine Ridge
By The Associated Press
RAPID CITY - Drug Enforcement Agents have again raided a hemp farm on the
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Farmer Alex White Plume's farm was also wiped out last August as federal
agents seized about 2,000 of the illegal plants from the farm.
White Plume said he has the right to grow hemp under the Fort Laramie
Treaty of 1868.
Because hemp belongs to the same family as marijuana, it has been
illegal to grow in the United States since World War II.
Marijuana normally contains 3 percent to 15 percent or more of the
psychoactive ingredient tetrahydrocannibol, or THC, the substance that
gives marijuana its kick. Hemp usually has 1 percent THC or less.
White Plume said he plans to file a lawsuit demanding $1,000 for each
plant killed Monday.
And although he faces legal opposition, he said he plans to replant his
crop.
Hemp stalk fibers can be used to make clothing, shoes, building
materials, strong cords and ropes, a substitute for fiberglass, paper and
other products.
Federal officials have said that permitting hemp farming would send the
wrong signal to young people and would allow marijuana farmers to hide
their crops with industrial hemp plants.
--------- "RE: Tribes may win Millions in Gas Tax Refunds" ---------
Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2001 19:13:10 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="TAX REFUNDS"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=080401&ID=
s1001569&cat=section.tribal_news
Saturday, August 4, 2001
Tribes may win millions in gas tax refunds
Court decision means state could owe up to $8 million
Betsy Z. Russell and Julia Silverman - Staff writers
Three Idaho Indian tribes that operate gas stations could be due as much
as $8 million in refunds from the state, now that the Idaho Supreme Court
has ruled that the state has wrongly been collecting gas tax on tribal gas
sales.
This week, the state Supreme Court denied without comment a petition
from the state Tax Commission to rehear the case.
The Tax Commission has 90 days to decide whether to appeal the case to
the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We're looking at that very carefully, and I think we're leaning toward
filing a petition and asking the U.S. Supreme Court to look at the case,"
said Ted Spangler, deputy attorney general with the Tax Commission.
The only reason the figure isn't higher is because the state has
statutes of limitations on refund claims against the state, Spangler said.
For fuel taxes, the limit is three years. Fuel distributors filed refund
claims when the case began two years ago, so five years of potential
refunds, at an estimated $1.6 million a year, have accumulated.
The tribes, though, say they aren't convinced that the statutes of
limitations apply.
The Nez Perce Tribe, for one, believes that the state Supreme Court
decision mandates no statute of limitations, said managing attorney Julie
Kane. So the tribe will seek refunds from gas taxes collected on a now-
defunct tribal station in Kamiah that operated in the mid-1980s, she said.
"The case said that the tax was unlawful," she said. "It did not say
that it was just unlawful back three years."
Spangler said the $1.6 million a year is a "conservative estimate" that
doesn't include interest.
The Nez Perce and the Coeur d'Alenes expect to seek refunds, although
attorneys for both tribes were reluctant to speculate on amounts.
"It is going to require some extensive records research," said Alice
Koskela, legal counsel for the Coeur d'Alenes. "All the tribes are looking
at applications for refunds of the fuel tax that is owed to them."
In the meantime, the Coeur d'Alenes this week decided that until the
lawsuits on the case have been resolved, they will collect the 25 cent
fuel tax but place the money into escrow -- a "lockbox" that will mean the
money is there if a higher court reverses the case's outcome.
Spangler said he expects the Legislature to look at the issue in its
next session, but even if lawmakers changed state laws for the future,
there still would be a refund claim for the past years. Any attempt to try
to cancel refunds after the fact "would surely be questioned, and that
could generate some litigation in and of itself," he said.
Spangler said state legislation could change the one responsible for
paying the tax to the distributor, or to the customer. A system could be
set up to allow tribes to claim tax refunds for their sales to tribal
members.
"One can suspect that from one source or another, the Legislature's
likely going to be asked to look at that issue," he said.
The issue arises because the Tax Commission has long acted under the
assumption that the fuel distributor, a for-profit company and the one
that actually files the tax return and sends fuel tax payments to the
state, is the one responsible for paying the tax.
But in its decision in June, the state Supreme Court ruled that it's the
retailer who's responsible for paying. And since these retailers are
sovereign Indian tribes, the state can't tax them.
"They really gave to the tribes a broader exemption than the tribe had
originally asked for," Spangler said. "The tribe had originally only asked
for an exemption as to fuel that their members purchased."
Spangler said the state uses fuel taxes for road maintenance, and
doesn't want to lose the funds.
The case has perhaps the most impact on the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes,
whose reservation straddles busy Interstates 86 and 15. Officials with
that tribe did not return calls seeking comment Friday.
Another local tribe, the Kootenai Tribe of Bonners Ferry, is not
directly involved because there is no gas station on its small reservation.
And a fifth Idaho tribe, the Shoshone-Paiute in far southern Idaho, is
only indirectly affected, because its fuel stations are on the Nevada side
of its reservation. Nevada still collects the fuel tax, although the
Shoshone-Paiutes will be challenging that.
The tribe is watching the Idaho case closely, said a tribal
administrator who asked that his name not be used.
"I know that both parties, the state and the Indian tribes, are on pins
and needles," he said. "The outcome of this case may affect all states and
tribes across the nation, because it sets precedent. That's why we are
anxious to get it into federal court in Nevada."
The case first arose when the Coeur d'Alene Tribe began purchasing fuel
for its gas station from Goodman Oil Co. of Lewiston, without Goodman
charging the tax. The tribe contacted the Tax Commission and said it would
send tax payments for its sales to nontribal members. The Coeur d'Alenes
have been doing that since 1994.
Other tribes have not always followed suit; the Nez Perce, for example,
have been withholding the tax from the state since December of 1999.
In 1997, the Tax Commission went after Goodman Oil for taxes on all the
fuel it delivered to the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's Benewah Auto Center. It
said it would give Goodman a credit for the taxes the tribe was paying on
its nonmember sales, which meant the commission was demanding taxes on the
gas sold to tribal members.
Goodman sued, and won.
Spangler said the Tax Commission still believes an old federal law, the
Hayden-Cartwright Act, which allows states to tax sales on military
reservations that are made to nonmilitary customers, also applies to
Indian reservations. He said a South Dakota case supports that view, so
he's hopeful the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue.
But the Idaho Supreme Court said in its ruling this summer that the
South Dakota case is "not on point." It dealt with a non-Indian federal
contractor on tribal land, the court noted in its unanimous decision.
Ray Givens, attorney for the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, said, "I think the
Supreme Court got it right."
Betsy Z. Russell can be reached at (208) 336-2854
or by e-mail at bzrussell@Rmci.net.
Julia Silverman can be reached at (208) 765-7126
or by e-mail at julias@spokesman.com.
Copyright c. 2001 The Spokesman-Review.
--------- "RE: Department erased Files on Indian Land" ---------
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 08:06:52 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="ERASED FILES"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=073101&ID=s999620&cat=section.tribal_news
Tuesday, July 31, 2001
Department erased files on Indian land
Washington _ The Interior Department destroyed e-mails that may have
dealt with mismanaged Indian land royalties, despite repeated court orders
that the files be preserved, according to a court-appointed investigator.
The data was supposed to be retained at the request of attorneys
representing hundreds of American Indians in a lawsuit alleging the
government mismanaged at least $10 billion collected since 1887 from the
use of Indian lands.
But from June 1998, when the court first ordered the data tapes
preserved, until November 2000, tapes at a number of field offices were
routinely overwritten and the information on them destroyed, said Alan
Balaran, a court-appointed special master. He issued his report Friday.
A report this month from another court-appointed monitor said the
government made no progress in reconstructing how much the Indian trust
account holders are owed. Dennis Gingold, the attorney representing the
Indian plaintiffs, said the erasure of the e-mails is a serious case of
misconduct.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.
Copyright c. 2001 The Spokesman-Review
--------- "RE: Indian Act Consultations in Cooling Off Period" ---------
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 08:06:52 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="INDIAN ACT/COOLING OFF"
http://www.pechanga.net/
http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/07/31/native_act010731
Indian Act consultations in 'cooling off' period
Tue Jul 31 18:07:59 2001
HULL, QUEBEC - Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault and the chief of the
Assembly of First Nations Matthew Coon Come met on Tuesday to discuss
proposed changes to the Indian Act.
Nault said they've agreed to halt consultations on the changes for a 30-
day "cooling off" period.
The AFN has been critical of Nault's plans and called for a boycott of
the consultation process by all First Nations members.
A six-hour consultation in Edmonton on Monday drew only about a dozen
people.
Both Nault and Coon Come said a new work plan will be developed and that
revised timelines will be available in 10 days to 2 weeks.
Nault said his main concern is to have First Nations people engaged in
the process.
The government says the Indian Act is out of date. It wants to amend the
125-year-old piece of legislation.
The AFN says the changes are intended to make First Nations' governments
into municipal-style governments, and it says that's not something natives
want.
Many chiefs interpret this as an attempt to strip them of their power
and as a signal that they're not competent managers.
Bands across the country have faced controversy over several cases of
alleged misuse of funds.
They also resent the fact that the legislation will not be optional, and
is being rushed through on what many consider a tight timeline.
Nault had intended to introduce the legislation in the winter, hold
another round of consultations and then pass the bill next summer.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Copyright c. 2001 CBC. All Rights Reserved.
--------- "RE: Nault's Consultations a Bust" ---------
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 11:25:43 -0400
From: Frosty <frosty@frostys.qc.ca>
Subj: Nault's consultations a bust
Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian <frostysamerindian@yahoogroups.com>
Aug. 1, 05:45 EDT
Mistrust, lack of participation hamper Indian Act talks - Ottawa
OTTAWA (CP) - Dismal turnouts, lack of information and keen mistrust have
defined cross-country talks on how to revamp the Indian Act, government
reports suggest.
There's a recurring theme in the first reviews of more than 100
consultations held by Indian Affairs since May: the small fraction of
eligible participants who show up frequently say they don't have enough
information to comment on changes they fear will be too rushed.
Thirty-four reports compiled by Indian Affairs staff who took notes at
meetings on and off reserves are now posted on the department's Web site.
Of these, 22 express concerns that plans by Indian Affairs Minister
Robert Nault to introduce new legislation by late fall won't allow for
real input.
"Repeated comments were raised that the time frame is `ludicrous,'" says
a summary of a July 5 meeting at Dettah, N.W.T., attended by 120 members
of several First Nations.
"Questions were raised as to `What is the minister trying to prove?'"
Nault has said he wants to fine tune band administration and elections,
improve fiscal accountability, and better balance services for residents
on and off reserve.
Just 20 of about 1,000 adults living on Alberta's Peigan Nation attended
a July 12 consultation on the reserve.
"It was stated on numerous occasions that the knowledge of the Indian
Act is too limited by the vast majority of band members to allow for fair
and intelligent consultation sessions," says the Indian Affairs summary.
Another meeting on June 8 with the Cowessess, Ochapowace and
Kahkewistahaw First Nations in Saskatchewan - with combined reserve
populations of about 700 adults - drew 12 people.
"(Indian Affairs) needs to look at the bigger picture and include all of
the issues," says the department's meeting summary.
"These consultations should include the full package and not (be)
defined by limitations and selected areas."
The 34 summaries show most of the meetings attracted under 25 people,
with a few drawing about 120.
The report also reflects a deep mistrust of government motives among
participants.
Some chiefs say the government only wants to force more transparent
fiscal accounting from First Nations.
They say the reverse is true - that Ottawa owes them an accounting of
unfulfilled treaties and squandered resource revenues.
Some chiefs were surprised Tuesday when Nault, facing threats of road
blockades, put the consultations on hold for 30 days to give him a chance
to compromise with leaders of the Assembly of First Nations.
Chiefs in the assembly, Canada's largest native advocacy group, have
boycotted the consultations, demanding they be expanded and broadened to
include pressing social, housing, and economic concerns.
By Wednesday, some chiefs were questioning Nault's true motives, in
light of the consultation reports so far.
"The buzz is that it's not his style to back down," said one observer
close to the process who didn't wish to be named. "They think he's only
using this to buy time, to refine his current process."
Alastair Mullin, Nault's spokesman, denies the suggestion, and stresses
that the initial phase of community visits is just part of a plan that
will take more than two years to unfold.
There will be more chance for First Nations to offer input during that
time, he said.
Copyright c. 1996-2001. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited.
--------- "RE: Pressures on Saskatchewan School System" ---------
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001 08:06:52 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="SASKATCHEWAN SCHOOLS"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.sask.cbc.ca/
Jul 30 2001 8:47 PM EDT
Pressures on Saskatchewan School system as Aboriginal population booms
REGINA - The Aboriginal population in Saskatchewan is rapidly growing.
The latest study shows that nearly half of the Aboriginal population in
Regina and Saskatoon is under 14. The study was done by the Canada West
Foundation based in Calgary. The study examined Urban Aboriginals.
The results echo similar studies done on the population of Aboriginals.
Linda Goulet has seen the numbers before.
"I think it presents an opportunity for us to really think about
connecting our educational institutions with our employers in the province,
" said Goulet, Associate Professor at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated
College in Regina.
Goulet says the drop-out rate among aboriginal youth is already too high.
"I want to make sure they're well educated, that they have access to
good, well-paid jobs in Saskatchewan," said Goulet.
The Canada West Foundation study concludes the increasing Aboriginal
population represents a challenge but also an opportunity for urban areas
in Western Canada.
Copyright c. 2000 CBC All Rights Reserved
--------- "RE: Laguna Pueblo gets Housing Grant" ---------
Date: Tue, 7 Aug 2001 03:33:07 -0700 (PDT)
From: Paul Pureau <ppureau@yahoo.com>
Subj: Laguna Pueblo gets housing grant
http://www.indianz.com/
Mailing List: ndn-aim <ndn-aim@yahoogroups.com>
Laguna Pueblo gets housing grant
TUESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2001
Laguna Pueblo has been awarded $1.66 million grant for public housing
improvements, Senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) said on Monday.
"Laguna Pueblo will be able to use these funds in a manner that best
suits its residents, all with the aim of making better and affordable
homes available," said Domenici.
The grant was awarded through the Native American Housing Assistance and
Self-determination Act (NAHASDA) of 1996. Domenici is working to
reauthorize the act through 2006.
Under the act, the Department of Housing and Urban Development provides
funds to tribes, who use them for a wide variety of needs.
=====
To subscribe to this group,send an email to:
ndn-aim-subscribe@egroups.com
Archived on line at: http://www.eScribe.com
FREE LEONARD PELTIER
--------- "RE: Zunis Agree to be Featured on Soft Drink Label" ---------
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 08:44:05 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="ZUNI ENDORSEMENT"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/arizona/articles/0730zunidrink-ON.html
Zunis agree to be featured on soft drink label
Associated Press
July 30, 2001
ZUNI, N.M. - The Indian Pueblo of Zuni is reaching out to people who
thirst not only for refreshment but also for knowledge.
Through an agreement with soft drink maker Hansen's, the pueblo is
featured in a new juice line called "Medicine Man," offering four new
drinks inspired by American Indian tribes.
The Zuni flavor is "High Desert Melon."
"We actually don't use the term medicine man," Zuni Gov. Malcolm
Bowekaty said. "It's not meaningful to us as a people."
The Zuni drink label shows a kachina, the tribal seal and a message from
Bowekaty, saying the tribe is involved in the beverage business to make
money and spread the word about Zuni. The reservation is 20 miles south of
Gallup.
The kachina image displayed on the bottle is an imaginary one, not part
of Zuni religion, and is therefore not objectionable, Bowekaty said.
Each tribe, including Cherokee, Shoshone and Comanche, gets a percentage
of every case sold. The 18.5-ounce bottles sell for $1.29 to $1.49, said
Mark Hall, senior vice president of Hansen's.
"We wanted to reflect the romanticism and spiritualism associated with
the tribes," Hall said.
The "Medicine Man" label has been introduced in New Mexico, Colorado and
Utah.
In the Zuni language, the Zuni people are known as "Ashiwi," Bowekaty
said.
"We have planted our corn and tended our livestock with confidence that
our faith and prayers will bring life-giving rain and ensure good health
and prosperity," Bowekaty's pop-label message says. "Please enjoy our
beverage, and may the peace and harmony of Ashiwi people be with you
always."
Copyright c. 2001 The Arizona Republic. Gannett Co. Inc
--------- "RE: Native Prisoner" ---------
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2001 20:34:13 -0400
From: "Janet Smith" <owlstar@speakeasy.org>
Subj: Native Prisoner News
Tell a Native American Prisoner someone cares!
-- - - -
Peltier, Leonard
#89637-132
Box 1000
Leavenworth, KS 66053
Birthday: 9/12/44
Ancestry: Ojibwa-Lakota
-- - - -
One of the realities of the U.S. federal prison system is that Native
brothers are shuffled around the system. They call it many things --
often "bus therapy." The guys we work with in Atlanta all have been
located in at least two or three different prisons before they came to
Atlanta, and their transfers have not necessarily been matters of
discipline. Transfers sometimes come about at the request of the inmate,
to get closer to their homes, and sometimes are at the convenience of the
Bureau of Prisons - often a matter of deliberately breaking up a community
of Native Americans that it in danger of becoming established. What this
means is that our Native brothers in federal prison have little continuity
in their lives. Their friendships within the prison community cannot be
sustained, and typically they are located hundreds or even thousands of
miles from their homes and families for most of their sentence. Sometimes
their pen pals are all that follow them -- and even those are sometimes
lost in the shuffle.
All this is in the way of an explanation. The following four prisoners
have all been located at the Atlanta USP until recently, and their
addresses here have been published in Wotanging Ikche previously. These
are their new addresses:
Ed Brady #28270-008 Steven Jackson Hado
US Penitentiary #06274-156 4-A
Beaumont, Texas 77720 P O Box 3000
White Deer, PA 17887
Morgan McKee
#26842-048 Dale Ray
C 3 - Cell 311 #15726-074
Federal Correctional Institution Federal Correctional Institution
P O Box 724 PMB 1000
Edgefield, SC 29824 Talladega, AL 35160
---------------------------------
Standing Deer's new address:
Robert H. Wilson #640539, Estelle Unit, 264 FM 3478,
Huntsville, TX 77320-3322
----------------------------------
If you know of a Native American inmate who would like to correspond with
brothers or sisters on the outside - please drop me a line with whatever
information about them they'd like shared.
Janet Smith
Owlstar Trading Post
http://www.owlstar.com
owlstar@speakeasy.org
--------- "RE: Rustywire: Wondering Why he don't Write" ---------
Date: 19 Jul 2001 19:10:25 -0700
From: rustywire@yahoo.com (john rustywire)
Subj: Wondering why he don't write?
Newsgroup: alt.native
I read Wayne George's comment and Annie as well. I am glad someone
said it. I like to read the emails I receive, and often times write
back but then I wonder what do you say the next time you write.
Let me say this. I have a good friend of mine to whom I write
occasionally, and then there are long spaces between when I write
back. I look at this way, we can say "hey there" once in a while
without having to exchange emails all the time. I have found that many
people get offended once you write to them, you don't continue to
write on a continual basis. I think it is an expectation that once you
write you keep on for the sake of talking back and forth.
In my experience with the net, I started writing because I was tired
of the people I work and some of the things they do, many of them were
not Indian, and I was far from home. I got to thinking about some
things about home and started to write them on the machine. I got some
emails from some good people from here, Native Web, Navajos.Com and
other places. I found that many contacts made were like ice, they were
there and then they were gone, no word as to where they went. Some I
still wonder about. I then realized this medium provides some
anonymity, but yet after a while you acquire a certain personality. I
put alot of things out there on the net, setting up a website for
writing, and posting stories was not what I intended to do. But now it
is what I do from time to time. It is expected of me in some ways to
write.
I have received emails from all over the place. so many were looking
for a ghost writer for their native american/navajo books, word
translations, and to help them understand the Navajo way of life when
some never have been in the Southwest.
Others have been touching and heartbreaking in the way they related
their own experiences of child abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence,
prejudice and loneliness. Some have sought some type of romantic
involvement, others wanting to show me their Navajo "birdhouses",
blankets, and asked a lot of questions that ranged from the ridiculous
to the sublime.
I have seen so many good people, TexasRaven, Texas Jody, Aazdzaa,
Deschinney, Keely, Spiritdove, Ghostwriter, Akacita, Smith Lake,
Ojibway, and many others from this board, Yahoo Egroups, Navajo Page,
and my own list at NativeAmericans@egroups.com. There are many here as
well, Wayne George, Jennifergiggles, LL, Annie and so many that I
can't name them all. I appreciate the emails and I am sorry I have not
responded to all of them.
The truth is I also get some pretty negative stuff, some so hateful, I
wonder what is going on out there, that some like to sit at the boards
all day and look for any little thing to tear into. I have tried to
avoid confrontation, arguments, but have had some run ins with some
really obnoxious nuts. They leave a bitter taste in my mouth even now,
because they hate me and I really don't know why. This is discouraging
at times.
In any case, I am sorry to say a poor responder to emails and I am
faulted with this. There is some reticence on my part at times, and
for a while I stayed off the net altogether. I would like to meet some
of you to share a cup of coffee and sit a spell, but in reality I am a
really ordinary joe. I think most of you would not recognize me in a
crowd. My life is very plain and repetitive. It is in the stories I
write, I learned to escape to at first then as time went on I found I
like to write for the sake of it.
Please excuse me for my grandstanding, I am just a passerby. I have to
see such talk and bitterness over "grammar usage and spelling". I
sometimes get up on the wrong side of the bed and said some things
that were out of place, well intentioned and some have taken offense
to. I think we are ever changing, some times things go our way,
sometimes they don't. I realize I will never get to meet you all, and
there are so many good and kind people out there. We all know them,
and in even some of the worst ones there is something to see, but it
is pretty hard at times.
I will say this. I am Indian, a plain Navajo. I want my children to
know a little about themselves, and those that have seen so much
garbage put out over the years about how we as Indians are by
stereotype is not true. I can see that our way of life is
disappearing, that some of the experiences I have written about are
not what they used to be. But the one thing I know is that those
stories, legends, way of native life remain with our elders, our
family and we need to learn and teach what we can. I have seen some
natives who only know one word, but it is something they cherish. I
have seen the children of our fathers ,who are no longer enrolled
struggling to find themselves, and find that there are many charlatans
out there willing to string them along. I sit here and in the silence
I can hear my father's voice singing old songs. I want to sing like
him and it is my desire that we strive to find the best this life has
to offer, no matter where we are or come from.
rustywire
--------- "RE: Poem: Oglala Oyate" ---------
Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2000 23:01:35 -0400
From: "Dreamwalker" <buffalowoman@lamere.net>
Subj: Poems
Oglala Oyate
I sit upon Maka Ina
my legs on the cold ground
the starry night all around
my blanket of black
pierced with the Ancestors
I pray in the quiet
for my Ancestors
for the Grandfathers and Grandmothers
and the children
I pray for the Hoop to be mended
With smoke and prayer
they are lifted
into the silent night air
these gifts of Heart
for the People
Prayers for the Oyate
prayers for the Sacred Chanupa
and Eagle Staffs
prayers for justice
at last
the sky a pinpoint blanket
the air crystal clear
Grandmother Moon shines down
a new crescent
a promise
I pray
I pray
I pray
I pray
Let my People know
the Hoop remains
that we are praying
that we live
let my People know.
Crys The Tears/Dreamwalker~Lakota
Copyright 2000
--------- "RE: Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days" ---------
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 06:24:46 -1000
From: Debbie Sanders <kepola@hgea.org>
Subj: Hawaiian Book of Days
A HAWAIIAN BOOK OF DAYS, week of August 13-19
AUKAKE
(August)
(Mahoe-mua)
13
Wherever I journey, this place of wonder walks by my side.
14
The fullness of each day is made up of both light, malamalama, and shadow,
ke aka.
15
Tiny lights bob in the darkness as paper boats carry them out to sea on the
evening tide -- we are one with our past.
16
The gecko sings inside my home, blessing it.
17
The bird of paradise flower erupts with bright color amidst the green
coolness of the ferns.
18
Arise with joy to greet the day!
19
Accept what cannot be easily explained.
(c) Copyright 1991 by D. F. Sanders
Me ke aloha i ka nani, ... Moe'uhanekeanuenue
(With love and beauty, ... Rainbow Dream)
--------- "RE: Huron-Si Tanka Merger Good Example" ---------
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 07:21:24 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="COLLEGES MERGE"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.argusleader.com/editorial/Tuesdayarticle1.shtml
Huron-Si Tanka merger good example to follow
Editorial Staff
Argus Leader
published: 7/10/01
Huron University and Si Tanka College at Eagle Butte took an
unprecedented step this spring by merging their programs.
This is a win-win situation, and sets an example that we hope others
will follow.
The purchase of the former privately owned for-profit, four-year college
by the associate-degree tribal school is good for both schools, their
students and the state.
Under the plan, Huron will convert to a public, nonprofit school of the
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.
This will allow both schools, which have struggled in the past, to come
together and offer stronger, more complete programs.
"We're taking two small, often struggling institutions with special
needs and creating a new paradigm, giving them a mission to educate a lot
of people who otherwise might not be reached," says David O'Donnell,
chancellor at Huron University.
First of all, both institutions will be more financially sound.
Although the financial arrangements of the deal have not been publicized,
a $3.3 million rural development loan from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture and a $3 million guaranteed loan will provide the financial
foundation for restructuring.
Restructuring should also allow growth of both campuses and their
programs.
Si Tanka formerly served about 350 primarily nontraditional students,
while Huron served about 600.
Together, they should attract even more students with a broader base of
programs such as a Native American curriculum at the Huron site and five
four-year majors at the Eagle Butte campus.
Technology and distance learning will also be fundamental to the new
program, making degree completion a more friendly process for
nontraditional students such as single, working moms who would like to
take classes without relocating or driving great distances.
Finally, the merger is a wonderful example of a positive step in racial
relations. Through working together and learning new things, both groups
will hopefully develop a new level of understanding and appreciation for
each other.
Bravo.
All content Copyright c. 2000 Argus Leader.
--------- "RE: Racing Against Extinction:Saving Native Languages" ---------
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 08:36:34 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="SAVING LANGUAGES"
http://www.ahalenia.com/noksi/tsalagi.html
Racing Against Extinction: Saving Native Languages
by America Meredith
Right now, six thousand languages are spoken on the planet. Three
thousand of these-half of the world's known languages-are expected to die
within the next century. Of the estimated remaining languages, 40 percent
of these are threatened. Within only 100 years, 90 percent of the world's
existing languages might be extinct or seriously threatened. "That leaves
only about 600 languages, 10 percent of the world's total, that remain
relatively secure-for now," writes linguist James Crawford (Crawford a).
Of the hundreds of Native American languages, only 175 are spoken today.
Some of these languages have only a single living speaker. Linguist
Michael Krauss, director of the Alaska Native Language Center, predicts
that only twenty of these languages will survive for much longer (Shorris).
Krauss classifies 89 percent of the Native American languages today-155
languages-as being moribund-spoken only by elders and not learned by
children. Only twenty Native American languages are expected to survive
the next five decades. Of the 23 Native languages still spoken by Oklahoma
tribes, only two are actively being passed on to the next generation. Of
the 20 Alaskan languages, only two dialects of Yup'ik are being passed on.
Before white contact, California had more linguistic variety than all of
Europe. Now every one of the 50 surviving languages in California is
moribund. "California Indian languages are indeed in the ultimate crisis
in a life-and-death struggle," writes linguist Leanne Hinton. "We may see
ninety percent of these languages, or perhaps all of them, disappear in
our lifetimes" (Hinton 14). "The threat to linguistic resources is now
recognized as a worldwide crisis," Crawford writes. "We appear to have
entered a period of mass extinctions-a threat to diversity in our natural
ecology and also in what might be called our cultural ecology"
(Crawford a).
Why are these languages dying? Some languages have died because every
speaker was wiped off the face of the Earth. Some have died because of
cultural genocide, liked that practiced by the American government and
Roman Catholic Church in the boarding school programs for Native children
in the last century.
More often than not, these languages die because of language shift-that
is another language such as Spanish or English eclipses the use of the
native languages. Today mass media reaches the furthest corners of the
globe and brings with it new languages via television, radio, the Internet.
"Destruction of lands and livelihoods; the spread of consumerism,
individualism, and other Western values; pressures for assimilation into
dominant cultures; and conscious policies of repression directed at
indigenous groups-these are among the factors threatening the world's
biodiversity as well as its cultural and linguistic diversity," writes
Crawford (Crawford a).
This tragic loss of human culture and learning is not inevitable.
Despite all odds, indigenous peoples and linguists are fighting to keep
native languages alive. "Heroic efforts are now being made on behalf of
languages with only a few elderly speakers, for example, by the Advocates
for Indigenous California Language Survival," writes Crawford. (Crawford
a). One woman in California is the last speaker of her language. Every
time she talks, she speaks first in English, then in her native language
to stay in practice. Native languages are worthy of survival and we, as
Americans, should all assist with this struggle.
The English Only movement is a threat and annoyance that language
preservationists face. This movement gained widespread support in the
1980s, riding a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, directed primarily at
Spanish-speaking Latin Americans. The English Only Foundation is the
largest group in this movement, and they see establishing English as the
official language of the United States as a means of unifying the country.
They seek legislation requiring federal and state governments to only
conduct business in English, not to translate government documents into
other languages, and for no government money to be spent on other
languages with the exceptions of short-term bilingual education for
immigrant children and the teaching of second languages in public schools.
Publicly the movement says they seek unity; privately their motivation
seems to be racist and assimilationist.
In the United States, the economic impetus to learn English is
overwhelming, without being legislated. In the zeal to teach immigrants
English, many English Only supporters not only forgot about the existence
of Native languages, they also forgot about the needs of deaf people who
communicate via American Sign Language (Anderton).
Surprisingly Oklahoma Government Frank Keating publicly denounced State
Question 689, a proposed English Only law, locally championed by State
Senator Carol Martin. He then continues to say that a plan to "not print
anything to help the lawful, tax-paying, permanent residents is mean-
spirited and would shortchange Oklahoma. ... Why stiff any of these people
and say they are not fully part of our society?" (Amarillo Globe).
Contrary to the English Only position, studies "confirm that developing
fluent bilingualism and cultivating academic excellence are complementary,
rather than contradictory, goals," writes Crawford. He notes that Canada
has a bi-lingual education system that guarantees minorities' minority's
"right not to assimilate, the right to maintain a certain difference"
(Crawford b).
People might oppose expending resources or energy to save languages
because they don't believe it is possible. Some see language death as part
of an inevitable. Yet, one outstanding example of what is possible with
language resuscitation is that of Hebrew. Hebrew was a "dead" language for
almost two millennia, but was brought back to use by the modern state of
Israel and is now spoken by millions. While Native Americans do not have
the resources Israel has, they do have awe-inspiring tenacity and faith.
The Deg Hit'an (Ingalik Athabaskan) have less than twenty elders, who live
too far away from the young adults trying to learn Deg Xinag-their
language-for face-to-face contact. So the tribe created a distance
delivery class to teach their language via telephone. The Coquille Tribe
in Oregon is working to revive their Miluk language, which has no living
speakers. Their only tools are tape recordings of the last living speakers
from the 1930s. "To save the sound of the Nawal," writes educator and
author Earl Shorris, "the K'iche' are willing to die, and many have been
shot, dismembered, burned, buried, or thrown into volcanoes in Guatemala"
(Shorris).
The loss of linguistic diversity represents a loss of intellectual
diversity-most immediately a loss to the discipline of linguistics. The
study of linguistics helps scholars understand origins, migrations and
cultural contacts of tribes long before written historical records were
made. Each language is a unique tool for understanding the world-
incorporating the knowledge and values of a speech community, which can
show us the depth and diversity of human nature.
Native languages have some extraordinary differences than European
languages, for instance, some have different dialects spoken by men and
women, a well-known example being Yana from California. A Yana man would
say "pana" for "deer," while a woman would say "pah" (Champagne 418). Some
languages, such a Bella Coola, a Salish language from British Columbia,
has words without any vowels, such as "sk'lxlxc," which means, "I'm
getting cold" (Champagne 416). Musical pitch can play a role in the
meaning of a word. As Duane Champagne writes, "in Navajo, high pitch can
be written with an acute accent [...] there are contrasting words like
`bene' `his nostril, `bono' `his face,' and `beno', `his waist'
(Champagne 417).
Very much unlike English, many Native American languages are
polysynthetic, which means a word is a combination of many element with
many specific meanings. For instance, the single Wichita word
"kiyaakiriwaac'arasarikita'ahii" means "He carried the big pile of
meat up into the top of the tree" (Champagne 418).
While today in English we try to avoid being sexist and stumble over
awkward phrases such as "he or she should look out himself or herself,"
Cherokee pronouns are not gender specific at all. Therefore "Ost(i)
digon'ti ageya" could mean: "There's a good-looking woman" or "There's a
good-looking guy," according to the authors of How to Talk Trash in
Cherokee (Oocumma 60).
"There is so much to learn from all these different languages, about the
amazing choices humans have in organizing and talking about the world
around them," write Hinton. "There are so many ways to construct language
itself, many ways to play with it or to use it to powerful effect" \
(Hinton 13).
Language gives many clues to the culture. For instance, in Hasinai there
is a completely separate common speech and a ceremonial speech. Both
Cherokee and Hasinai have modifiers to distinguish between what is
directly observed and what is gossip. Most native languages have extensive
lists of high specific kinship terms, which show a greater emphasis on
family than what is found in Anglo cultures. Again, using Hasinai as a
typical example, "E'but" means "Grandfather on the male side of the
family" and "Enahe'" may means "older aunt on the maternal side of the
family" (Newkumet 116)
Action is paramount in Native languages. Nouns are expressed not so much
as what something is as by what it does. The Cherokee word for "lawyer" is
"ditiyohihi," which literately translates "s/he argues repeatedly and on
purpose with a purpose," and "California" is "adel'tsuhdlv" or "where they
find money" (Holmes, vi). Finally each language has its own unique sense
of humor. Many west coast languages have silly nonsense speech for animals.
For instance, in Yahi, when Coyote is imitated, l's or r's are turned into
n's, so "yap'lasa:sithi" ("it is well done") turns into "yap'nasha"shithi"
(Hinton 45). Other twists of humor include strange puns like the Cherokee
"Ani?sasa," which can mean "Osage people" or "they are geese" (Holmes 280),
or "uyv:dla," which means "Republican" or "cold" (Holmes 279).
These diverse languages should be preserved in the interest of
correcting past injustices. Native languages are not dying by chance.
Linguistic genocide was United States' policy for decades. A federal
commission in 1868 wrote, "Schools should be established, which children
should be required to attend; their barbarous dialects should be blotted
out and the English language substituted" (Atkins quoted in Crawford a).
>From that point onward well into the middle 20th twentieth, native
children were quite literally kidnapped from their homes and sent to
government or church boarding schools. "Under strict English Only rules,
students were punished and humiliated for speaking their native language
as part of a general campaign to erase every vestige of their Indian-ness,
" writes Crawford (Crawford a). On 14.December.1886 the federal government
announced its policy outlawing any use of native languages. This policy
continued until the 1950s and can be credited destroying over 150 language
s (Hirshfelder 84).
Language is the key to identity. Navajo educator Parsons Yazzie says,
"The use of the native tongue is like therapy, specific native words
express love and caring. Knowing the language presents one with a strong
self-identity, a culture with which to identify, and a sense of wellness"
(quoted in Reyhner). A Northern Cheyenne elder was quoted by Dr. Richard
Littlebear, in saying, "It's scary the way we're losing our Cheyenne
language. Cheyenne language is us; it is who we are; we talk it, we live
it. We are it and it is us" (quoted in Reyhner). A Ponca elder asked some
children what tribe they were. They responded, "Ponca." He asked them if
they spoke the Ponca language; they said, "No." He told them they were not
Ponca, and without knowing their language, they may as well be brown-
skinned white people (Anderton).
Having a clear sense of identity is important for self-esteem and
stability. Dawn Stiles, a Cocopah language instruction, says that
successful language programs can help reduce drug and alcohol abuse, gang
activity, and high dropouts rates in native communities (Reyhner). "Along
with the accompanying loss of culture, language loss can destroy a sense
of self-worth, limiting human potential and complicating efforts to solve
other problems, such as poverty, family breakdown, school failure, and
substance abuse," writes Crawford. "After all, language death does not
happen in privileged communities. It happens to the dispossessed and the
disempowered, peoples who most need their cultural resources to survive"
(Crawford a).
The act of creating a language program itself can be healing to a tribe.
"The stabilization of indigenous languages forms part of a broader
movement to reestablish societies on a human scale that are in balance
with nature," writes Jon Reyhner (Reyhner). Languages are learned better
in tandem with cultural knowledge. Dance, folk stories, and singing are
employed in language classes. Some tribes, such as the Yup'ik and the Wind
River Arapaho have immersion programs. Tribes such as the Lakota, Navajo,
and Zuni have radio stations that broadcast their own languages. The
Yamada Language Institute on the web has, available free to the public,
computer fonts for the Cherokee syllabary, Inuit, and Cree. Native
Hawai'ian, Dine', and Muskogee Creek speakers are actively modernizing
their languages to include technological terms. The Navajo Nation and the
Oglala Lakota tribe have both issued mandates that tribal business will
take in the native language.
Locally in Norman, linguist Dr. Alice Anderton, created the Intertribal
Wordpath Society "to promote the teaching, status, awareness, and use of
Oklahoma Indian languages" (Reyhner). Wordpath hosts an annual native
language fair and a weekly television show.
Anderton says that in the past children learned from their mothers. Now
she says language programs have to skip a generation and successful
program pair infants with fluent elders. Language classes must meet more
than once a week. Singing is good, when speaking won't work. Above all,
she stressed, "It should be fun" (Anderton).
Tribes are videotaping and recording their elders. They are creating
orthographies, grammar books, dictionaries, novels, immersion camps,
artwork, CD-ROMs, comics, newspapers, e-mail list serves, and websites to
proliferate instructional and material in their languages. Tribes are
working with public school systems to teach native languages in the
classrooms.
Earl Shorris, creator of the Clemente Humanities Course, has seen the
course take off like prairie fire among native peoples, who incorporate
their own native literature into the curriculum. He writes that after two
years past the first Mayan Clemente Course: "In the village, where only
120 people have work and those who work earn no more than eighty-five
cents a day, the students speak of the literature of their ancestors. They
know the poetry and stories and poetry and stories and those works the
ancient Maya called histories of the future. May May taught them the
difficult and subtle sounds of their language again, using the ring of
coins on stone and the clack of bricks and the conk of wood" (Shorris).
The students translated the Popol Vuh into their own dialect, K'iche'
Mayan.
These heroic efforts by tribes should be fully supported by the American
public, as they benefit the entire nation. Saving native languages is so
crucial to native peoples. Linguist D. Tunbridge understands the important
of one's native language. Writing about project to revive Adnyamathanha,
an Australian Aboriginal language, Tunbridge wrote: "It was not the
success in reviving the language - although in some small ways [the
program] did that. It was success in reviving something far deeper than
the language itself - that sense of worth in being Adnyamathanha, and in
having something unique and infinitely worth hanging onto" (quoted in
Crawford a).
Don Grooms and John Oocumma seem to be the most ambitious among native
language instructors. They write, "...if just half the people who claim to
be one-eighth Cherokee learn to speak their native language... GLORY
HALLELUIAH! CHEROKEE WILL BE THE NATIVE LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED STATES"
(Oocumma, 3). Carol Martin, watch out. Hadvta sgesdi-eligwus.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Works Cited
Amarillo Globe. "Keating Blasts 'English-Only' Proposed Law." U.S. &
World News. (12.August.2000). 20.November.2000 <http://www.amarillonet.
com/stories/081200/usn_keating.shtml>
Anderton, Dr. Alice. Personal interview. 30 Nov. 2000.
Champagne, Duane. Native America: Portrait of the Peoples. Detroit:
Visible Ink Press, 1994.
Crawford, James. "Endangered Native American Languages: What Is to Be
Done, and Why?" Endangered Native American Languages. 19.Nov.2000.
<http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/miscpubs/crawford/endangered.htm>
Crawford, James. "Languages Politics in the U.S.A.: The Paradox of
Bilingual Education." Language Policy. 20.November.2000 <http://ourworld.
compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/paradox.htm>
Gray, Jim. "State Question on 'English Only' Turns Back the Clock on Race
Relations." Oklahoma Indian Times. 19.Nov.2000 <http://www.okit.
com/sos/2000/english.htm>
Hinton, Leanne. Flutes of Fire: Essays on California Indian Languages.
Berkeley, CA: Heyday Books, 1994.
Hirshfelder, Arlene and Martha Kreipe de Montano. The Native American
Almanac: A Portrait of Native America Today. New York: Macmillan General
Reference, 1993.
Holmes, Ruth Bradley and Betty Sharp Smith. Beginning Cherokee. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1976.
Meredith, Dr. Howard and Virginia Milam Sobral, eds. Atsalagi Nusdv
Nugohv Elohi. Oklahoma City: Noksi Press, 1997.
Newkumet, Vynola Beaver and Howard L. Meredith. Hasinai: A Traditional
History of the Caddo Confederacy. College Station, TX: Texas A&M
University Press, 1988.
Oocumma, John and Don Grooms. How to Talk Trash in Cherokee. Cherokee,
NC: Downhome Publishing Co., 1989.
Reyhner, Jon. "Teaching Indigenous Languages." Northern Arizona
University (1997). 18.November.2000 <http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/TIL_Intro.
html>
Shorris, Earl. "The Last Word." Harper's Magazine, August 2000: 62-69.
U.S. English Foundation. "Official English: Native American Languages." U.
S. English Foundation. 19. Nov.2000 <http://www.us-english.
org/inc/official/native.asp>
U.S. English Foundation. "Towards a United America." U.S. English
Foundation. 19.Nov.2000 <http://www.us-english.org/foundation/>
--------- "RE: Rocky Boy's embraces Its Kids" ---------
Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001 08:09:06 -0700
From: Jess Hansen <mikola18@hotmail.com>
Subj: "Rocky Boy's embraces its kids"
Mailing List: ndn-aim <ndn-aim@yahoogroups.com>
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/2010803/localnews/838325.html
Friday, August 3, 2001
"Rocky Boy's embraces its kids"
By JENNIFER PEREZ, Tribune Staff Writer
ROCKY BOY'S RESERVATION -- "Thursday was a special day, designed to help
strengthen the cultural ties for children on the Rocky Boy's Reservation.
More than 200 kids were at the Rocky Boy powwow grounds for the first
annual National Tribal Kids Day, a health symposium and the fourth annual
youth powwow.
"It's important, because we can learn about our culture, so we don't
lose our Chippewa Cree ways," said Leanna Writing Bird, 11, of Rocky Boy.
The festivities kicked off for the 37th annual Rocky Boy's Powwow that
begins today.
Thursday's all-day event, called "Dancing with our Mother Earth," began
with a morning pipe ceremony conducted by Ken Writing Bird and with
motivational speeches by star basketball players and tribal members.
In the afternoon, the kids got their faces painted and played games.
There was a scavenger hunt, a circle game called Confusion, parachute
jumps and an egg toss. There also was a mini basketball camp and a 3-on-3
tournament at Stone Child College.
"Sometimes kids don't get to go anywhere," said Francis Eagle Man, 11,
of Rocky Boy, the head young woman dancer at the youth powwow. "It's a
way kids can hang out, eat, play games, have fun and dance."
The youth powwow is supposed to be fun for the kids; it isn't as formal
as the regular powwow, said Lance Parker, former committee member.
Last year there were about 60 dancers, at least 100 dancers are expected
this year, he said.
Elinor Nault-Wright, of Rocky Boy, and coordinator of the Middle School
Drug Prevention and Safe Schools program, said the powwow committee
started the youth powwow four years ago because there were too many kids
not dancing at the annual powwow.
"We wanted to try to get them back into dancing, and the (the youth
powwow) has been building every year since then," she said.
Since the youth powwow began in 1997, the committee has paid all of the
dancing participants. This year, when the committee was going to pay only
the dancers who placed, Nault-Wright decided she wanted to keep the
tradition alive.
Her granddaughter, 10-month-old Lillian Dawn Gopher, will be initiated
into the powwow as a jingle dress dancer, so the family is going to honor
her by paying all the dancers.
"That was the whole purpose behind the youth powwow, to get all the kids
back into the dancing arena," she said.
The payout for those who place in the junior contests and specials was
$3,000.
"Today's powwow is really commercialized, so a lot of the youths' self-
esteem isn't high enough to want to dance against the highly skilled
dancers," she said. "This is a way to get them back into dancing."
One of the main focuses of the day was to honor the youth and show them
they are special, get parents involved and get the youth involved with
the simple things in life, said Natalie Flores, executive director of the
Boys and Girls Club of the Bears Paw.
The Boys and Girls Club of America, 4-H, and Boy and Girl Scouts has
declared Sunday National Kid's Day.
"We made (Thursday Tribal Kids' Day) because Aug. 5 was on a Sunday and
we wanted it before the powwow," said Mike Geboe, Box Elder coordinator
of Boys and Girls Club and of the Gang Awareness program."
Copyright c. 2001 Great Falls Tribune
=====
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--------- "RE: Powwow Proud" ---------
Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 11:33:34 -0700
From: Jess Hansen <mikola18@hotmail.com>
Subj: "Powwow Proud"
Mailing List: ndn-aim <ndn-aim@yahoogroups.com>
<http://web.wichitaeagle.com/content/wichitaeagle/2001/07/27/
entertainment/0727powwow_txt.htm>
Friday, July 27, 2001
"POWWOW PROUD:
Powwows are about dancing, singing and learning -- but they're also about
showing pride in who you are"
By ROD POCOWATCHIT, The Wichita Eagle
"Sidney Toppah Jr. is waiting to have his picture taken on a hot July
evening. The 7-year-old is dressed in his traditional regalia, known as
the "fancy dance" style. The wind is blowing his feather bustles into a
frenzy of color, a brilliant green-and-white blur. Not far away, a little
boy on a skateboard stops to take a look, and gasps at Sidney's presence.
But while some boys might duck their heads or retreat in embarrassment,
Sidney simply stands there. He has no reason to be ashamed.
A member of the Kiowa tribe, Sidney started dancing at powwows when he
was 2 years old. This weekend, he is being honored as the head little boy
dancer for the 33rd annual Mid-America All-Indian Center Powwow, which
begins today and continues through Sunday, at the Indian Center's powwow
arena, 650 N. Seneca.
The honor allows him to help lead the dances for the weekend, in company
with adult dancers who will act as head man dancer and head lady dancer,
as well as a head little girl dancer.
They are honors not taken lightly in the powwow world, and Sidney's
father wants his son to understand that.
"I hope he learns that being honored like this is an important position,
" the elder Sidney Toppah said. "I want him to know that there are people
out there watching him, how he conducts himself in the arena. That's very
important to us. We try to teach him the right way."
While powwows are lessons in life for some, they are also celebrations,
a glimpse into Native American culture. Patrons at this weekend's powwow
will get to experience native food, arts and crafts, as well as the
vibrant singing and dancing.
Vernon "Cy" Ahtone is the chairman for this year's powwow organization
committee. He says the powwow is also a good chance for people to
experience what the Indian Center has to offer, such as the Indian
village exhibit. And in addition to the dance competitions that attract
some of the best dancers in the region, patrons also will see a new
category of competition this year. The drum contest will feature
traditional singing groups competing for prizes.
But powwows aren't all about spectacle. Ahtone said he thinks "a powwow
is more than just a show. There's got to be feeling in it."
Some of that feeling comes from behind the scenes. For months, the
committee has been planning the event. All this week, crews were busy
preparing the grounds in 100-degree weather. It seems a powwow isn't just
a time for people to dance together, but also for the city's Native
American community to pull together for a common cause. And most think
nothing of donating the time and energy needed, Ahtone said.
"I personally, really do appreciate everyone's hard work. There's a lot
of good people involved," he said.
And that's what brings him back year after year, heading up the
committee in a demanding, mostly thankless job.
"Maybe this kind of life was just a part of me for so many years that I
don't feel comfortable unless I'm around it, and have some kind of hands-
on involvement. I've grown up around powwows, so I want to be involved as
much as I can for as long as I can."
Perhaps one day, Sidney Toppah Jr. will feel the same way. But for now,
he will do what he knows how to do: dance. And his mother, Shawndae
Toppah, will be there every step of the way.
"I'm just proud of him," she said."
Copyright 2001, Wichita Eagle
=====
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--------- "RE: Film: Saving Our Sacred Lands" ---------
Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2001 08:09:44 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="SAVE SACRED LANDS"
http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm
http://www.okit.com/arts/2001/july/inthelight.html
Saving Our Sacred Lands
Nearly every tribal community can tell stories of how land - held sacred
by this continent's first inhabitants - has been confiscated, contaminated
and sometimes destroyed. And that even the ceremonies that joined Native
peoples to their sacred sites were banned for more than a century.
While Native Americans regained the right to practice ceremonial rituals
with the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978,
their sacred lands are still not protected from desecration by
recreational and corporate development interests.
A new film brings into focus the desperate fight by Native American
communities to save places of spiritual importance. "In the Light of
Reverence," which airs August 14th on PBS's non-fiction showcase, P.O.V.,
documents three sacred land disputes in Indian country that symbolize the
resistance and land recovery movement of Native Americans.
From the struggle to save a Plains' sacred site of prayer against the
mockery of recreational climbers, to the struggle of a Southwestern tribe
against a multi-national corporation pillaging land held sacred for
centuries, to a proposed ski resort that would destroy a sacred spring in
northern California, "In the Light of Reverence" reveals just how vital
the preservation of sacred land is to the survival of Native peoples
everywhere.
At Devils Tower in Wyoming, Lakota people can only watch as climbers
scale this ancestral place of prayer. Many climbers refuse to honor a
request by the National Park Service to respect the Lakota and other
tribes by staying off Devils Tower in June, when important ceremonies are
held.
Lakota scholar, Vine Deloria, Jr. explains that the struggle for respect
of the earth is rooted in the clash of two worldviews. "It's not like we
designated a place and said, 'This is going to be sacred.' It came out of
a lot of experience," Deloria said. "The idea is not to pretend to own it,
not to exploit it, but to respect it. Trying to get people to see that
that's a dimension of religion is really difficult."
The rift between the two worldviews is intensified when Native lands
yield corporate profits. In the Four Corners region of the Southwest, the
Hopi stand against the Peabody Coal Company, which, for the past three
decades has dried up precious springs in their mining for coal. The loss
of the springs represents a threat to Hopi ceremony and ultimately, their
entire culture.
"The Hopi say when you die, when every living thing dies, they join the
cloud people. We rise from our graves as mist, and we travel with them up
to the mountains. We come down as rain or snow. Then we take our long
journey back home, the ocean, the underground aquifers. We go home, we
rest, we come back again," said Vernon Masayesva, former Hopi Tribal
Chairman. "Western science has the same version, except the 'we' is
totally disconnected from the phenomena, the cycle. We have no part in it.
In our worldview, we are the clouds. We are the rain that comes down."
The earth and the elements are revered by tribal communities everywhere.
The Wintu people of northern California are attempting to save their own
vital spring against a proposed ski resort and New Age workshops. The
spring has been a source of traditional healing for years among the Wintu.
Wintu leader Caleen Sisk-Franco believes money is the only interest
Westerners have in their land. "When the Europeans first came here they
said, 'Look at the Indians, they've done nothing with this land.' Well, in
our worldview, that's great! It looks so natural. That's the way it's
supposed to be," Sisk-Franco said.
For the past ten years, filmmakers Christopher (Toby) McLeod and Malinda
Maynor, a Lumbee Indian, journeyed to Native communities researching and
filming for "In the Light of Reverence." Their work captures the essence
of how important care of the land is to the continued survival of Native
people, and how the rest of America needs to understand and support the
protection of sacred sites.
"In the Light of Reverence" will be nationally broadcast on P.O.V.
("Point of View"), the acclaimed PBS documentary series, on Tuesday,
August 14th at 10 PM (check local listings).
Native American Times is c. Copyright 2000-2001 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc.
--------- "RE: Upcoming Events" ---------
Date: Sun, 5 Aug 2001 15:39:14 -0
From: Gary Smith (gars@speakeasy.org)
Subj: Upcoming Events
===================================
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 09:43:48 -0800
Subj: Honoring All Elders
From: Andre P. Cramblit <andrekar@ncidc.org>
http://www.ncidc.org/nwit2001.htm
September 22, 23, 2001
20th Annual Elders Gathering
Honoring the Late Frank Gist Sr.
California Tribal Dance Demonstration 3-6pm Saturday
Redwood Acres Fairgrounds
3750 Harris St. Eureka, CA
--
Andre Cramblit, Operations Director-Northern California Indian Development
Council
NCIDC (http://www.ncidc.org) is a non-profit that meets the development
needs of American Indians and operates an art gallery featuring the art of
California tribes (http://www.americanindianonline.com)
===================================
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 00:41:29 -0500 (CDT)
From: susanbates@webtv.net (Susan Bates)
Subj: Day of Mourning
>To: gars@speakeasy.org (Gary Night Owl)
The Medicine Society to which I belong is going to hold a Day Of
Mourning on October 13, 2001, in Springfield, Missouri. The purpose of
this event is to remember all the people who were murdered, kidnapped,
raped, tortured, infected with disease and ripped from their culture
since the arriving of Columbus.
It is my intention to gather as many names of these people as possible.
The names will be read slowly with the beat of a drum to mark their
presence.
If you know the names of any of your ancestors who died in this manner,
please send them to me and I will see that they are honored. If you
don't know the name, you may say something like, " In Memory of my
Great-great grandfather who died on the Trail of Tears," or "In Memory
of the 50 people who were murdered at ... by....."
Now is the time to honor our Ancestors. It is up to you.
You can e-mail me at susanbates@webtv.net
or write to me at
Susan Bates, RR 3 Box 654, Cabool, MO 65689
===================================
4TH ANNUAL
DOC HOLLIDAY DAYS AND NATIVE AMERICAN FESTIVAL 2001
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH, 9AM TIL 9PM
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 11TH, 9AM TIL 6PM
STORYTELLERS, ARTS & CRAFTS,
GAMES, FOOD AND FUN!
EXPERIENCE THE EXCITEMENT OF THE DANCE
AND CULTURE OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS
HOST DRUM - TBA
HEAD MAN - SCOTT CRISP
HEAD LADY - MONICA ARRINGTON
M/C - GARY SMITH
A/D - TBA
MATH FIELDS, GRIFFIN, GA
FOR MORE INFORMATION: CONTACT
MARK OR RUTH DAVIS (256) 820-6315
A $5.00 DONATION TO THE DOC HOLLIDAY SOCIETY
GETS YOU A MILLION $$$ WORTH OF FUN!!!!!!!!!!!
WESTERN REENACTMENTS - LIVING HISTORY AT ITS
VERY BEST - OLD CAR CRUISE ON SAT. AT 1 TO 5
===================================
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 08:58:56 -0700
From: Diaz, Joe A (NBVC) <DiazJA@nbvc.navy.mil>
Subj: FAITA
"SAVE THE DATE"
10th Annual First Americans in the Arts Awards
Century Plaza Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA
Saturday, February 2, 2002
for more info call 818.623.9520
www.firstamericans.org
Thank you, Joe A. Diaz Trustee
===================================
NATIVE SOLUTIONS PRESENTS:
4th ANNUAL INTERTRIBAL POW WOW
APRIL 26-28, 2002
TIMES FRI 5-9 DANCING & STORYTELLING
SAT 10-8 GRAND ENTRY 11:00
SUN 10-5 GRAND ENTRY 12:00
OXFORD LAKE PARK, OXFORD, AL; EXIT 185 OFF I-20
NATIVE AMERICAN HONOR GUARD AND WARRIOR SOCIETY
ADMISSION - $5 - ADULTS
SENIORS 55 AND UP & CHILDREN 12 AND UNDER - FREE
HOST NORTHERN DRUM - GREY WOLF SINGERS
HOST SOUTHERN DRUM - SHADOW WOLF SINGERS
HEADMAN - DON REDBEAR
HEADLADY - DONNA DULANEY
M.C. - GARY SMITH ARENA DIRECTOR - BUCK TUCKER
SPECIAL PERFORMANCE BY LARRY CAMPBELL
SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY DALLAS,TX AUTHOR AND MOTIVATIONAL
SPEAKER KICKING EAGLE, "AMBASSADOR OF THE PEOPLE"
ALL DANCERS WELCOME ALL DRUMS WELCOME
NO DRUGS OR ALCOHOL ALLOWED
PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN LAWN CHAIRS
LEARN ABOUT EARLY IRON FORGING FROM JOHN WILLIAMS, SEE
DEMONSTRATIONS ON BEADWORK, DREAM CATCHERS,
LEARN ABOUT HEALING WITH HERBS
FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL TONY AT (256) 835-0110;CINDY AT (256) 831-9373;
JOHN OR RACHEL AT (256) 835-2638 OR MARK OR RUTH DAVIS AT (256) 820-6315.
VENDORS CALL MARK OR RUTH DAVIS OR EM