Our Mission: Four Directions Solidarity Network unites a grassroots movement of both native and non-native people from the four directions to support the sovereignty of indigenous nations, the preservation and restoration of traditional culture, and return to a sustainable relationship with our relations, and our Mother, the Earth.
A Unique History: Preparation for the Four Directions Solidarity Network (originally Four Directions Relief Project) began in early August 2005, when traditional signs appeared fortelling of the three powerful hurricanes that would come to be known a Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
Originally, the Four Directions Relief Project was formed to provide culturally appropriate, grassroots disaster relief to the indigenous communities of coastal Louisiana, now facing damage from Katrina and Rita. In collaboration with tribal leaders, Four Directions immediately began facilitating relief supplies to the native communities south of Houma, Louisiana.
Working to redirect a small portion of the volunteer and material supplies from New Orleans and Mississippi to native communities, Four Directions was able to create tremendous success with a growing network of volunteers and collaborating organizations. This became known as our Coastal Tribes Project.
In January 2006, Four Directions was honored to assist members of the White Mountain Apache nation who were being exploited by unscrupulous contractors in New Orleans. Also in January, we changed our name to Four Directions Solidarity Project and finalized fiscal sponsorship with the Cloud Forest Institute to support the emerging long term vision of the organization. In February we participated in the International Indian Treaty Council meeting at Traditional Seminole Nation land in Central Florida.
In the spring of 2006, Four Directions began the Strongheart Project in support of the Strongheart Civil Rights Movement based out of the Oglala Lakota Nation. Offering mutual assistance, noted activist Duane Martin Sr. of the Stronghearts and the Teton Lodge Singers, traveled to coastal Louisiana to support the preservation and reclaiming of traditional culture.
This link will take you straight to their site: http://www.eswn.org/
Monday, December 31, 2007
Record gift: $5 million matching grant announced
CRAZY HORSE – “As we approach 60 years of carving the mountain, this is an absolutely wonderful way to celebrate and to help continue our progress,” exclaimed Ruth Ziolkowski, President/CEO of the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation, at the Thursday, Dec. 20, press conference announcing a $5 million dollar matching gift.
“This very generous challenge grant will help advance the dream started by Korczak and Henry Standing Bear.” The gift is being given by the T. Denny Sanford Foundation. Sanford is a well-known philanthropist whose generosity has left imprints all across South Dakota. (See a brief profile of Mr. Sanford here.)
The $5 million Sanford Challenge Grant matches 100% of every dollar donated, effectively doubling a donor’s gift. The net result of this matching gift will be $10 million dollars for work on the mountain to accelerate the progress. “Crazy Horse remains committed to Korczak’s founding principle of creating this Memorial without any government tax dollars and the generosity of Mr. Sanford is right in line with that philosophy,” Mrs. Ziolkowski said.
“South Dakota has been good to me and it’s time to give back – and I’m doing that through Crazy Horse. I have long admired the years of dedication and hard, hard work by the family and their passion for Crazy Horse,” Sanford said.
Check out this website for more information: http://www.crazyhorse.org/
“This very generous challenge grant will help advance the dream started by Korczak and Henry Standing Bear.” The gift is being given by the T. Denny Sanford Foundation. Sanford is a well-known philanthropist whose generosity has left imprints all across South Dakota. (See a brief profile of Mr. Sanford here.)
The $5 million Sanford Challenge Grant matches 100% of every dollar donated, effectively doubling a donor’s gift. The net result of this matching gift will be $10 million dollars for work on the mountain to accelerate the progress. “Crazy Horse remains committed to Korczak’s founding principle of creating this Memorial without any government tax dollars and the generosity of Mr. Sanford is right in line with that philosophy,” Mrs. Ziolkowski said.
“South Dakota has been good to me and it’s time to give back – and I’m doing that through Crazy Horse. I have long admired the years of dedication and hard, hard work by the family and their passion for Crazy Horse,” Sanford said.
Check out this website for more information: http://www.crazyhorse.org/
Mascots insulting to most Indians
By: Tim Giago
The mainstream media and common ignorance has convinced some Native Americans that being a mascot for American sporting teams is OK; that it is all right to be ridiculed, mimicked and degraded for the sake of satisfying white and black sports fans.
Mascots usually consist of lions, tigers and bears, oh my. They are bison, bulldogs, and horses either led out on the field on leashes or ridden by outrageously painted Indians or Trojans. Or they are Vikings, figments of history, with no connection to today’s reality. Or they are Fighting Irish with a fictitious leprechaun mascot dancing around the sidelines.
They are cowboys, steelers, packers, or boilermakers that some nincompoops mistake for an ethnic minority. If the fans of these teams choose to honor these symbols for their sports teams, so be it. But when they take real life American Indians and turn them into cartoon caricatures and then mimic them by painting their faces, donning feathers, and doing the tomahawk chop, they cross that thin line called racism.
Click here to read more: http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/006481.asp
The mainstream media and common ignorance has convinced some Native Americans that being a mascot for American sporting teams is OK; that it is all right to be ridiculed, mimicked and degraded for the sake of satisfying white and black sports fans.
Mascots usually consist of lions, tigers and bears, oh my. They are bison, bulldogs, and horses either led out on the field on leashes or ridden by outrageously painted Indians or Trojans. Or they are Vikings, figments of history, with no connection to today’s reality. Or they are Fighting Irish with a fictitious leprechaun mascot dancing around the sidelines.
They are cowboys, steelers, packers, or boilermakers that some nincompoops mistake for an ethnic minority. If the fans of these teams choose to honor these symbols for their sports teams, so be it. But when they take real life American Indians and turn them into cartoon caricatures and then mimic them by painting their faces, donning feathers, and doing the tomahawk chop, they cross that thin line called racism.
Click here to read more: http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/006481.asp
South Dakota governor moves to protect Bear Butte
By: Chet Brokaw
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - For centuries, members of the Lakota, Cheyenne and other American Indian tribes have been climbing Bear Butte to fast and hold religious ceremonies.
Colorful prayer cloths hanging from trees line the path to the top of the mountain, which rises about 1,300 feet above the surrounding plain.
But often, and especially in August, the serenity of the site is disturbed by a deafening roar, caused by thousands of motorcycles.
Indians have sought for years to block development of land around the butte into campgrounds, bars and other sites that could interfere with their religious use of the mountain. Now they have an ally in the governor.
Gov. Mike Rounds wants to spend more than $1 million to prevent developers from putting biker bars and other noisy businesses on ranch land near the mountain on the northern edge of the Black Hills. Saying he wants to protect the beauty and peace of the religious site, Rounds has proposed using state, federal and private money to buy a perpetual easement that would prevent commercial and residential development of some land on the western side of Bear Butte.
Indians working to protect Bear Butte praise the Republican governor's plan. ''Any kind of assistance from anybody in preserving the butte is welcome,'' said Gene Blue Arm, a Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member who has sought to limit development near the religious site.
Get the whole story here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416379
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - For centuries, members of the Lakota, Cheyenne and other American Indian tribes have been climbing Bear Butte to fast and hold religious ceremonies.
Colorful prayer cloths hanging from trees line the path to the top of the mountain, which rises about 1,300 feet above the surrounding plain.
But often, and especially in August, the serenity of the site is disturbed by a deafening roar, caused by thousands of motorcycles.
Indians have sought for years to block development of land around the butte into campgrounds, bars and other sites that could interfere with their religious use of the mountain. Now they have an ally in the governor.
Gov. Mike Rounds wants to spend more than $1 million to prevent developers from putting biker bars and other noisy businesses on ranch land near the mountain on the northern edge of the Black Hills. Saying he wants to protect the beauty and peace of the religious site, Rounds has proposed using state, federal and private money to buy a perpetual easement that would prevent commercial and residential development of some land on the western side of Bear Butte.
Indians working to protect Bear Butte praise the Republican governor's plan. ''Any kind of assistance from anybody in preserving the butte is welcome,'' said Gene Blue Arm, a Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member who has sought to limit development near the religious site.
Get the whole story here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416379
Friday, December 28, 2007
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" is Dee Brown's eloquent, fully documented account of the systematic destruction of the American Indian during the second half of the 19th century. When it was first published in 1971, both reviewers and the reading public responded first with shock, then a deep sense of shame, calling it "shattering" (Washington Post), and "heartbreaking" (The NewYork Times). It went on to sell over a million copies in hardcover and four million copies in paperback, and was translated into 15 languages around the world.
Want a copy of this book? Click here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0805017305/unitedecoactionfA/
Want a copy of this book? Click here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0805017305/unitedecoactionfA/
Wounded Knee, December 29, 1890
The Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890 (which was originally referred to by the United States army as the Battle of Wounded Knee -- a descriptive moniker that remains highly contested by the Native American community) is known as the event that ended the last of the Indian wars in America. As the year came to a close, the Seventh Cavalry of the United States Army brought an horrific end to the century-long U.S. government-Indian armed conflicts.
On the bone-chilling morning of December 29, devotees of the newly created Ghost Dance religion made a lengthy trek to the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota to seek protection from military apprehension. Members of the Miniconjou Sioux (Lakota) tribe led by Chief Big Foot and the Hunkpapa Sioux (Lakota) followers of the recently slain charismatic leader, Sitting Bull, attempted to escape arrest by fleeing south through the rugged terrain of the Badlands. There, on the snowy banks of Wounded Knee Creek (Cankpe Opi Wakpala), nearly 300 Lakota men, women, and children -- old and young -- were massacred in a highly charged, violent encounter with U.S. soldiers.
The memory of that day still evokes passionate emotional and politicized responses from present-day Native Americans and their supporters. The Wounded Knee Massacre, according to scholars, symbolizes not only a culmination of a clash of cultures and the failure of governmental Indian policies, but also the end of the American frontier. Although it did bring an end to the Ghost Dance religion, it did not, however, represent the demise of the Lakota culture, which still thrives today.
On the bone-chilling morning of December 29, devotees of the newly created Ghost Dance religion made a lengthy trek to the Pine Ridge Reservation in southwestern South Dakota to seek protection from military apprehension. Members of the Miniconjou Sioux (Lakota) tribe led by Chief Big Foot and the Hunkpapa Sioux (Lakota) followers of the recently slain charismatic leader, Sitting Bull, attempted to escape arrest by fleeing south through the rugged terrain of the Badlands. There, on the snowy banks of Wounded Knee Creek (Cankpe Opi Wakpala), nearly 300 Lakota men, women, and children -- old and young -- were massacred in a highly charged, violent encounter with U.S. soldiers.
The memory of that day still evokes passionate emotional and politicized responses from present-day Native Americans and their supporters. The Wounded Knee Massacre, according to scholars, symbolizes not only a culmination of a clash of cultures and the failure of governmental Indian policies, but also the end of the American frontier. Although it did bring an end to the Ghost Dance religion, it did not, however, represent the demise of the Lakota culture, which still thrives today.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Do you know...
Ramona Bennett is a longtime and prominent leader from the Puyallup tribe. A pioneering activist on behalf of Indian fishing rights, she co-founded the Survival of American Indians Association in 1964, an organization that helped bring local “fish-ins” to national prominence.
Bennett was elected to the Puyallup Tribal Council in 1968, and elected as Tribal Chairwoman in 1971, a position she held until 1978. In addition to her fishing rights advocacy, she participated in the takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Building in Washington, DC in 1972 and helped take over Tacoma’s Cushman Hospital in 1976. She also opened doors for women activists by actively fighting attempts during the 1970s to exclude her from National Tribal Chairmen’s Conferences.
Much of Bennett’s leadership has focused on issues of social welfare. She began her social service work in Seattle’s American Indian Women’s Service League in the 1950s. In 1972, she co-founded the Local Indian Child Welfare Act Committee. Through the Committee, she developed a model for childhood and family service in Washington State that she used to help her co-author and secure a national Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978. In the 1980s, she served as an administrator for the Wa-He-Lut Indian School in Olympia before going on to co-found Rainbow Youth and Family Services, a Tacoma-based non-profit that she still directs today.
Bennett earned an MA in Education from the University of Puget Sound in 1981, and received an honorary Doctorate of Public Affairs from the school in 2000. In 2003, the Native Action Network awarded her with its Enduring Spirit Award.
She is also listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History.
Bennett was elected to the Puyallup Tribal Council in 1968, and elected as Tribal Chairwoman in 1971, a position she held until 1978. In addition to her fishing rights advocacy, she participated in the takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Building in Washington, DC in 1972 and helped take over Tacoma’s Cushman Hospital in 1976. She also opened doors for women activists by actively fighting attempts during the 1970s to exclude her from National Tribal Chairmen’s Conferences.
Much of Bennett’s leadership has focused on issues of social welfare. She began her social service work in Seattle’s American Indian Women’s Service League in the 1950s. In 1972, she co-founded the Local Indian Child Welfare Act Committee. Through the Committee, she developed a model for childhood and family service in Washington State that she used to help her co-author and secure a national Indian Child Welfare Act in 1978. In the 1980s, she served as an administrator for the Wa-He-Lut Indian School in Olympia before going on to co-found Rainbow Youth and Family Services, a Tacoma-based non-profit that she still directs today.
Bennett earned an MA in Education from the University of Puget Sound in 1981, and received an honorary Doctorate of Public Affairs from the school in 2000. In 2003, the Native Action Network awarded her with its Enduring Spirit Award.
She is also listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History.
Tribe Gets Funds For Earth Lodge
Associated Press
The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe will get a $74,000 federal grant to build a Narrows Earthlodge Interpretive Center near the Missouri River.
The Narrows is a huge bend in the river. Travelers can walk about 1.5 miles across the gap to each the other side or travel 25 miles around the bend on the water.
The grant, which was announced by U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., will be used for a series of interpretive panels along the Native American Scenic Byway.
Visitors will be able to learn about American Indian culture and about the life of the Arikara tribe, which once inhabited the river valley.
The Lower Brule Sioux Tribe will get a $74,000 federal grant to build a Narrows Earthlodge Interpretive Center near the Missouri River.
The Narrows is a huge bend in the river. Travelers can walk about 1.5 miles across the gap to each the other side or travel 25 miles around the bend on the water.
The grant, which was announced by U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., will be used for a series of interpretive panels along the Native American Scenic Byway.
Visitors will be able to learn about American Indian culture and about the life of the Arikara tribe, which once inhabited the river valley.
Cherokee Nation to offer online language class
As posted at Muskogee Phoenix.com
TAHLEQUAH — The Cherokee Nation will be offering a Cherokee language course online through the tribe’s web site beginning Jan. 7.
The Cherokee Nation began offering language classes online in 2003. Since then, approximately 1,000 students register each session. Students from all over the world, including France, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Germany and Canada have taken part in the courses.
Registration for the upcoming class began Monday. The course will last 10 weeks and is free to the public. Classes offered include: Cherokee I, Cherokee II and Cherokee III.
To make the classes more interactive and easier to access, the Cherokee Nation will use updated software, which will allow for more students to participate, easier login capabilities, full-screen options, archiving abilities and a new cross platform interface for PCs, as well as Mac users.
Classes are live, and anyone with Internet access can participate. The course works best with DSL or higher Internet capabilities. For more information or to register, visit www.cherokee.org.
TAHLEQUAH — The Cherokee Nation will be offering a Cherokee language course online through the tribe’s web site beginning Jan. 7.
The Cherokee Nation began offering language classes online in 2003. Since then, approximately 1,000 students register each session. Students from all over the world, including France, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Germany and Canada have taken part in the courses.
Registration for the upcoming class began Monday. The course will last 10 weeks and is free to the public. Classes offered include: Cherokee I, Cherokee II and Cherokee III.
To make the classes more interactive and easier to access, the Cherokee Nation will use updated software, which will allow for more students to participate, easier login capabilities, full-screen options, archiving abilities and a new cross platform interface for PCs, as well as Mac users.
Classes are live, and anyone with Internet access can participate. The course works best with DSL or higher Internet capabilities. For more information or to register, visit www.cherokee.org.
As Minnesota turns 150, how will it face up to its original sin?
By: Nick Coleman
History is not just in books. It's also found in tears.
Twenty years ago, I watched a group of Dakota Indians stand by a trench dug in the prairie dirt alongside St. Cornelia's Church on the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation in Redwood County.
There were men I had known for years: Ernest Wabasha, Dave Larsen and the late Amos Owen, a Dakota spiritual leader. They had come to bury 31 Minnesotans -- their relatives -- who died almost 125 years earlier, in a prison after the Dakota War of 1862.
The anonymous remains -- labeled only as male or female, adult or child -- had been placed in cardboard boxes, which were laid above the grave. The bones had been kept for decades by a museum. Once they had been men, women and children. Few, if any, had taken a major part in the war that cost the lives of hundreds of white settlers and was the last desperate act of a people whose culture and land were being taken from them.
But they were all punished. They were all Dakota.
This isn't an ancient story. It is the story of Minnesota's original sin. And as we prepare for next year's 150th anniversary of statehood, we should remember history is a living and often painful thing.
Get the whole story here: http://www.startribune.com/local/12759742.html
History is not just in books. It's also found in tears.
Twenty years ago, I watched a group of Dakota Indians stand by a trench dug in the prairie dirt alongside St. Cornelia's Church on the Lower Sioux Indian Reservation in Redwood County.
There were men I had known for years: Ernest Wabasha, Dave Larsen and the late Amos Owen, a Dakota spiritual leader. They had come to bury 31 Minnesotans -- their relatives -- who died almost 125 years earlier, in a prison after the Dakota War of 1862.
The anonymous remains -- labeled only as male or female, adult or child -- had been placed in cardboard boxes, which were laid above the grave. The bones had been kept for decades by a museum. Once they had been men, women and children. Few, if any, had taken a major part in the war that cost the lives of hundreds of white settlers and was the last desperate act of a people whose culture and land were being taken from them.
But they were all punished. They were all Dakota.
This isn't an ancient story. It is the story of Minnesota's original sin. And as we prepare for next year's 150th anniversary of statehood, we should remember history is a living and often painful thing.
Get the whole story here: http://www.startribune.com/local/12759742.html
Monday, December 24, 2007
Native American Network gets out Nevada's vote
By: Stephanie Woodard
RENO, Nev. - Longtime Republican strongholds in the Midwest and West appear to be up for grabs in the upcoming presidential election, and Native people are emerging as the key swing vote, according to Democratic Party political strategist Celinda Lake. Speaking for the party, Lake has said, ''We cannot win these key battleground states without a turnout in the Indian vote.''
Enter Kalyn Free, Choctaw, who recognized a historic opportunity to make the nation take notice of indigenous people and their issues.
A former Oklahoma district attorney and Justice Department senior counsel, Free founded the Indigenous Democratic Network, or INDN's List, in 2005. The Oklahoma-based group recruits, trains and funds Democratic Native candidates; of the 28 it has endorsed for state and local offices, 22 have won their races.
In 2006, Free added nonpartisan INDN's List Education Fund, a nonprofit that draws attention to Indian issues with projects including ''Prez on the Rez,'' a conference during which presidential candidates learn about Indian country; training camps for indigenous candidates and their staffers; and Native American Network, a get-out-the-vote campaign.
There's more here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416333
RENO, Nev. - Longtime Republican strongholds in the Midwest and West appear to be up for grabs in the upcoming presidential election, and Native people are emerging as the key swing vote, according to Democratic Party political strategist Celinda Lake. Speaking for the party, Lake has said, ''We cannot win these key battleground states without a turnout in the Indian vote.''
Enter Kalyn Free, Choctaw, who recognized a historic opportunity to make the nation take notice of indigenous people and their issues.
A former Oklahoma district attorney and Justice Department senior counsel, Free founded the Indigenous Democratic Network, or INDN's List, in 2005. The Oklahoma-based group recruits, trains and funds Democratic Native candidates; of the 28 it has endorsed for state and local offices, 22 have won their races.
In 2006, Free added nonpartisan INDN's List Education Fund, a nonprofit that draws attention to Indian issues with projects including ''Prez on the Rez,'' a conference during which presidential candidates learn about Indian country; training camps for indigenous candidates and their staffers; and Native American Network, a get-out-the-vote campaign.
There's more here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416333
South Dakotans come together to mourn fallen soldier
By: Kevin Woster
TIMBER LAKE - On a day when racial lines seemed nonexistent, the people of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation - Native American and white - came together to mourn Cpl. Tanner O'Leary.
The 23-year-old native of Timber Lake and Eagle Butte was laid to rest Thursday afternoon in a private cemetery on the family ranch south of Timber Lake. But family, friends and others - who in some cases traveled across the nation and world to get here - celebrated O'Leary's life in a much more public way during an honor march on Main Street and a memorial service at the school gymnasium that attracted more than 500.
From tribal officials and close friends to national politicians and U.S. Army brass, speakers praised O'Leary, who died Dec. 9 from injuries sustained in a bomb explosion in Afghanistan, as a good-hearted ranch kid who grew naturally into a soldier determined to serve his people.
Former Cheyenne River Tribe Chairman Greg Bourland said O'Leary represented the best of the warrior culture in a Native American society that enlists and serves in the military at five times the national average.
There's more to this story: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/12/21/news/top/doc476ad1aedb2a8945287597.txt
TIMBER LAKE - On a day when racial lines seemed nonexistent, the people of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation - Native American and white - came together to mourn Cpl. Tanner O'Leary.
The 23-year-old native of Timber Lake and Eagle Butte was laid to rest Thursday afternoon in a private cemetery on the family ranch south of Timber Lake. But family, friends and others - who in some cases traveled across the nation and world to get here - celebrated O'Leary's life in a much more public way during an honor march on Main Street and a memorial service at the school gymnasium that attracted more than 500.
From tribal officials and close friends to national politicians and U.S. Army brass, speakers praised O'Leary, who died Dec. 9 from injuries sustained in a bomb explosion in Afghanistan, as a good-hearted ranch kid who grew naturally into a soldier determined to serve his people.
Former Cheyenne River Tribe Chairman Greg Bourland said O'Leary represented the best of the warrior culture in a Native American society that enlists and serves in the military at five times the national average.
There's more to this story: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/12/21/news/top/doc476ad1aedb2a8945287597.txt
Board endorses nickname meetings
By: Dale Wetzel
BISMARCK — The state Board of Higher Education has endorsed Chancellor William Goetz’s plan to meet with Sioux tribal leaders to discuss the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname.
The meetings would begin what Goetz described as an “orderly, deliberative process” of deciding whether it may be possible to keep UND’s nickname and American Indian head logo in the aftermath of a lawsuit.
Board members, meeting at Bismarck State College on Thursday, got a fresh set of appeals to discard the nickname and logo. It shows the profile of an American Indian man wearing feathers, with streaks of paint on his face.
David Gipp, president of United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, said the nickname and logo cause problems for Indian students at UND. Gipp is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
“Regardless of their tribal background or their views on the subject, students who attend UND are invariably drawn into situations that range from inappropriate to uncomfortable to racially charged,” Gipp said in a letter submitted to board members.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.jamestownsun.com/articles/index.cfm?id=58627§ion=news&freebie_check&CFID=77127610&CFTOKEN=16300611&jsessionid=8830e84924aec1a461a1
BISMARCK — The state Board of Higher Education has endorsed Chancellor William Goetz’s plan to meet with Sioux tribal leaders to discuss the University of North Dakota’s Fighting Sioux nickname.
The meetings would begin what Goetz described as an “orderly, deliberative process” of deciding whether it may be possible to keep UND’s nickname and American Indian head logo in the aftermath of a lawsuit.
Board members, meeting at Bismarck State College on Thursday, got a fresh set of appeals to discard the nickname and logo. It shows the profile of an American Indian man wearing feathers, with streaks of paint on his face.
David Gipp, president of United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, said the nickname and logo cause problems for Indian students at UND. Gipp is a member of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe.
“Regardless of their tribal background or their views on the subject, students who attend UND are invariably drawn into situations that range from inappropriate to uncomfortable to racially charged,” Gipp said in a letter submitted to board members.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.jamestownsun.com/articles/index.cfm?id=58627§ion=news&freebie_check&CFID=77127610&CFTOKEN=16300611&jsessionid=8830e84924aec1a461a1
American Indians rediscovering the long-revered bison
By: Karen Herzog
MUSCODA, Wis. — A bison herd bunches up big and dark against the snow-covered prairie as members of the Ho-Chunk Nation in pickup trucks and tractors form a line behind the imposing beasts.
The bison anxiously eye the men and the machines.
But a spiritual connection explains why American Indian and bison have come face-to-face on this cold December day. While trucks and tractors have replaced horses for herding purposes, history is coming full circle.
The roundup and weigh-in of bison last week is intended to ensure the health of the majestic creatures. The Ho-Chunk are reintroducing them to better feed a people plagued by heart disease and diabetes — diseases that accompany high-carb, fast-food diets not native to American Indian culture. American bison, also known as buffalo, for centuries were central to the American Indian diet until herds were slaughtered by settlers and the U.S. military moved tribes onto reservations in the 1800s.
The Ho-Chunk — which vaccinated about 120 bison in last week's roundup — are among 57 tribes in 19 states working to bring back bison to tribal lands.
"We believe that when the buffalo come back, everything else will come back," including the health of the people, said Richard Snake, herd manager for the Ho-Chunk's Muscoda Bison Prairie 1 Ranch along the Wisconsin River bottom in southwestern Wisconsin. Bison meat is lower in fat and calories than beef, pork or chicken, with a flavor similar to beef, only richer and sweeter.
Get the whole story here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004085471_herd21.html
MUSCODA, Wis. — A bison herd bunches up big and dark against the snow-covered prairie as members of the Ho-Chunk Nation in pickup trucks and tractors form a line behind the imposing beasts.
The bison anxiously eye the men and the machines.
But a spiritual connection explains why American Indian and bison have come face-to-face on this cold December day. While trucks and tractors have replaced horses for herding purposes, history is coming full circle.
The roundup and weigh-in of bison last week is intended to ensure the health of the majestic creatures. The Ho-Chunk are reintroducing them to better feed a people plagued by heart disease and diabetes — diseases that accompany high-carb, fast-food diets not native to American Indian culture. American bison, also known as buffalo, for centuries were central to the American Indian diet until herds were slaughtered by settlers and the U.S. military moved tribes onto reservations in the 1800s.
The Ho-Chunk — which vaccinated about 120 bison in last week's roundup — are among 57 tribes in 19 states working to bring back bison to tribal lands.
"We believe that when the buffalo come back, everything else will come back," including the health of the people, said Richard Snake, herd manager for the Ho-Chunk's Muscoda Bison Prairie 1 Ranch along the Wisconsin River bottom in southwestern Wisconsin. Bison meat is lower in fat and calories than beef, pork or chicken, with a flavor similar to beef, only richer and sweeter.
Get the whole story here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004085471_herd21.html
Friday, December 21, 2007
Featured Tribe - Caddo
The Caddo are a nation, or group of tribes, of Southeastern Native Americans who, in the 16th century, inhabited much of what is now East Texas, western Louisiana and portions of southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. The Caddo historically consisted of three confederacies of at least twenty five different tribes and spoke a variety of dialects of the Caddoan languages. Today the Caddo are a cohesive tribe with their capital at Binger, Oklahoma, and the Caddoan dialects have converged into a single language. The current Chairperson of the Caddo is LaRue Parker.
The oral traditions of the Caddo suggest that they developed their culture in Arkansas and spread out to the south and west from there. At one time both the Wichita and Pawnee were part of the same nation as the Caddo, a fact attested to in that the Wichita and Pawnee spoke Caddoan languages. Between 500 and 800 AD the Caddo emerged as distinct and separate nation.
The Caddo tribes were divided into three confederacies, which were linked by a common language; the Hasinai, Kadohadacho, and the Natchitoches. The Haisinai and Kadohadacho lived in what is now East Texas and the Natchitoches in what is now Northwestern Louisiana. The Haisinai lived in the land from the Nacogdoches, Texas, which was originally a Caddo settlement, area to the Neches River. The Haisinai were given the name Tejas by Spanish Explorers, based on the Caddo word táysha?, "friend", and this later became the source of "Tejas" and later "Texas" (Bolton 2002:63-64). The Kadohadacho settled the land from the Caddo Lake area to the Red River. The Nachitoches settled around Natchitoches, Louisiana, which was originally a Caddo settlement, and in the Cane River Valley.
The Caddo first encountered Europeans in 1542 when the Hernando de Soto Expedition came through their lands. De Soto's force had a violent clash with one band of Caddo Indians, recorded by his expedition as the 'Tula', near Caddo Gap, Arkansas. This event is marked by a monument that stands in the small town today. With the arrival of missionaries from Spain and France a small pox epidemic broke out that decimated the population. The Caddo invited the European missionaries to return and upon their return a worse epidemic reduced the population to only 1,000.
In 1859, the state of Texas removed the remaining Caddo from its territory to a reservation in Oklahoma and in 1874 the Caddo officially united as a distinct tribe.
Check out the official website of the Caddo Nation: http://www.caddonation-nsn.gov/index2.html
The oral traditions of the Caddo suggest that they developed their culture in Arkansas and spread out to the south and west from there. At one time both the Wichita and Pawnee were part of the same nation as the Caddo, a fact attested to in that the Wichita and Pawnee spoke Caddoan languages. Between 500 and 800 AD the Caddo emerged as distinct and separate nation.
The Caddo tribes were divided into three confederacies, which were linked by a common language; the Hasinai, Kadohadacho, and the Natchitoches. The Haisinai and Kadohadacho lived in what is now East Texas and the Natchitoches in what is now Northwestern Louisiana. The Haisinai lived in the land from the Nacogdoches, Texas, which was originally a Caddo settlement, area to the Neches River. The Haisinai were given the name Tejas by Spanish Explorers, based on the Caddo word táysha?, "friend", and this later became the source of "Tejas" and later "Texas" (Bolton 2002:63-64). The Kadohadacho settled the land from the Caddo Lake area to the Red River. The Nachitoches settled around Natchitoches, Louisiana, which was originally a Caddo settlement, and in the Cane River Valley.
The Caddo first encountered Europeans in 1542 when the Hernando de Soto Expedition came through their lands. De Soto's force had a violent clash with one band of Caddo Indians, recorded by his expedition as the 'Tula', near Caddo Gap, Arkansas. This event is marked by a monument that stands in the small town today. With the arrival of missionaries from Spain and France a small pox epidemic broke out that decimated the population. The Caddo invited the European missionaries to return and upon their return a worse epidemic reduced the population to only 1,000.
In 1859, the state of Texas removed the remaining Caddo from its territory to a reservation in Oklahoma and in 1874 the Caddo officially united as a distinct tribe.
Check out the official website of the Caddo Nation: http://www.caddonation-nsn.gov/index2.html
Environmentalists lose appeal of landfill near ancient burial site
By: Jim Suhr
MADISON, Ill. (AP) - An independent pollution control agency has rejected environmentalists' claims that a planned landfill could desecrate possible burial grounds near the ruins of a once-thriving prehistoric city.
The Illinois Sierra Club and American Bottom Conservancy failed to show that Madison's approval process for a landfill near the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site was ''fundamentally unfair,'' the Illinois Pollution Control Board ruled Dec. 6.
The St. Louis suburb, which approved the landfill in February, would get roughly $1 million a year in fees from Houston-based Waste Management Inc., the nation's largest garbage hauler.
Opponents on Dec. 7 said they were weighing whether to challenge the matter further. ''
A municipality in search of revenue is going to choose revenue over any cultural or natural resources in the area. That's what we see in so many of our cases,'' said Bruce Morrison, an attorney with Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, which pressed the lawsuit. ''So here, the money from the trash won out over the wetlands and the Native American cultural and historic sites.''
The Dec. 6 setback was ''extremely disappointing,'' American Bottom Conservancy President Kathy Andria said.
''What does it say about us as a people when we value a place to dump our garbage more than an irreplaceable World Heritage Site, a place that's sacred to Native Americans?'' she said.
Environmentalists say the expanded site would be within 2,100 feet of the Cahokia Mounds site and close to Horseshoe Lake State Park. During a 2005 archaeological survey, a skull was found near the proposed landfill site. State officials have said the skull is probably American Indian, but further analysis was needed.
Waste Management, which also owns the Milam landfill in nearby Fairmont City, has said there's no evidence the remains were of an American Indian and that the company met all siting criteria in Madison.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416286
MADISON, Ill. (AP) - An independent pollution control agency has rejected environmentalists' claims that a planned landfill could desecrate possible burial grounds near the ruins of a once-thriving prehistoric city.
The Illinois Sierra Club and American Bottom Conservancy failed to show that Madison's approval process for a landfill near the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site was ''fundamentally unfair,'' the Illinois Pollution Control Board ruled Dec. 6.
The St. Louis suburb, which approved the landfill in February, would get roughly $1 million a year in fees from Houston-based Waste Management Inc., the nation's largest garbage hauler.
Opponents on Dec. 7 said they were weighing whether to challenge the matter further. ''
A municipality in search of revenue is going to choose revenue over any cultural or natural resources in the area. That's what we see in so many of our cases,'' said Bruce Morrison, an attorney with Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, which pressed the lawsuit. ''So here, the money from the trash won out over the wetlands and the Native American cultural and historic sites.''
The Dec. 6 setback was ''extremely disappointing,'' American Bottom Conservancy President Kathy Andria said.
''What does it say about us as a people when we value a place to dump our garbage more than an irreplaceable World Heritage Site, a place that's sacred to Native Americans?'' she said.
Environmentalists say the expanded site would be within 2,100 feet of the Cahokia Mounds site and close to Horseshoe Lake State Park. During a 2005 archaeological survey, a skull was found near the proposed landfill site. State officials have said the skull is probably American Indian, but further analysis was needed.
Waste Management, which also owns the Milam landfill in nearby Fairmont City, has said there's no evidence the remains were of an American Indian and that the company met all siting criteria in Madison.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416286
Time catches up with Hopi-language savior
By: Jakob Hanes
Emory Sekaquaptewa was at once a visionary and a realist — a combination few are blessed with, but a paradoxical trait that produced a lasting legacy.
Not everyone can look back and say they wrote their nation's first dictionary and helped revive a language that faced extinction, but those are just a few of the things he accomplished in his lifetime.
Sekaquaptewa was a professor, an anthropologist, a judge and a loving husband, father and grandfather.
He died Dec. 14, leaving a legacy hallmarked by his efforts to preserve the Hopi language.
He never missed an opportunity to bring up Hopi language and his love of silversmithing, said his wife, Mary.
"When somebody came to the house, he'd want to take them out and show them the silver bench," she said. "I always think of him as a Renaissance man because he was so multifaceted and complex."
Mary described herself as "his biggest fan," and did everything she could to support her husband's plethora of work.
Read more here: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/217016
Emory Sekaquaptewa was at once a visionary and a realist — a combination few are blessed with, but a paradoxical trait that produced a lasting legacy.
Not everyone can look back and say they wrote their nation's first dictionary and helped revive a language that faced extinction, but those are just a few of the things he accomplished in his lifetime.
Sekaquaptewa was a professor, an anthropologist, a judge and a loving husband, father and grandfather.
He died Dec. 14, leaving a legacy hallmarked by his efforts to preserve the Hopi language.
He never missed an opportunity to bring up Hopi language and his love of silversmithing, said his wife, Mary.
"When somebody came to the house, he'd want to take them out and show them the silver bench," she said. "I always think of him as a Renaissance man because he was so multifaceted and complex."
Mary described herself as "his biggest fan," and did everything she could to support her husband's plethora of work.
Read more here: http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/217016
Storytelling connects LNI students with cultural tradition
By: Heidi Bell Gease
"Long ago, thousands of years ago ..."
With those words, Phillip Wright began telling the story of the first sun dance song. He told how a grandpa and the grandson he was caring for -- "a little guy, about this tall," he gestured -- had to flee for their lives as enemies approached.
As the enemy drew closer, "grandpa sent his voice up to Tunkasila," Wright said, asking that he be taken to spare his grandson's life. "And guess what? Someone answered.
"Wright told how Tunkasila helped grandpa and grandson escape. How Tunkasila gave grandpa the Sun Dance ceremony. How Tunkasila sang the first Sun Dance song -- a song Wright then sang with his father, Kevin Wright -- to grandpa as he danced the first Sun Dance.
Wright was one of 16 students from area schools who participated in the first Lakota Nation Invitational Storytelling Competition on Wednesday.
A seventh-grader at Lower Brule, he told the story of the Sun Dance song the same way his grandfather had told him. The same way his grandfather's grandfather had passed the story on to him years before. The same way stories and history and legends have passed from generation to generation of Lakota for centuries.
"He put all the detail in there," Wright said about his grandfather, Harry Charger. "I wanted to share the stories with the people."
Preserving that storytelling tradition is the main goal of the competition, which is expected to become an annual event.
Get the whole story here: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/12/20/news/local/doc476a0dbf8cd36383903651.txt
"Long ago, thousands of years ago ..."
With those words, Phillip Wright began telling the story of the first sun dance song. He told how a grandpa and the grandson he was caring for -- "a little guy, about this tall," he gestured -- had to flee for their lives as enemies approached.
As the enemy drew closer, "grandpa sent his voice up to Tunkasila," Wright said, asking that he be taken to spare his grandson's life. "And guess what? Someone answered.
"Wright told how Tunkasila helped grandpa and grandson escape. How Tunkasila gave grandpa the Sun Dance ceremony. How Tunkasila sang the first Sun Dance song -- a song Wright then sang with his father, Kevin Wright -- to grandpa as he danced the first Sun Dance.
Wright was one of 16 students from area schools who participated in the first Lakota Nation Invitational Storytelling Competition on Wednesday.
A seventh-grader at Lower Brule, he told the story of the Sun Dance song the same way his grandfather had told him. The same way his grandfather's grandfather had passed the story on to him years before. The same way stories and history and legends have passed from generation to generation of Lakota for centuries.
"He put all the detail in there," Wright said about his grandfather, Harry Charger. "I wanted to share the stories with the people."
Preserving that storytelling tradition is the main goal of the competition, which is expected to become an annual event.
Get the whole story here: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/12/20/news/local/doc476a0dbf8cd36383903651.txt
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
American Indian Proverb
When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice. - Cherokee
Do you know...
Oren Lyons (b.1930) Oren R. Lyons is a traditional Faithkeeper and chief of the Wolf Clan and a proud and accomplished Native American who works tirelessly towards the issues concerning Indigenous peoples in the United States and the world. He is a member of the Onondaga Nation Council of Chiefs of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, (Haudenosaunee) consisting of Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk and the Tuscarora Indian reservations in northern New York state. Among his accolades he has received the Ellis Island Congressional Medal of Honor, the National Audubon Award, the First Annual Earth Day International Award of the United Nations, and the Elder and Wiser Award of the Rosa Parks Institute for Human Rights.
He is deeply involved with national and international issues that affect native peoples and has represented them in many forums throughout the world, including several at the UN focusing on the rights and status of indigenous peoples, the environment and sustainable development.
Oren Lyons was born in 1930 and raised in the traditional culture and practices of the Iroquois on the Seneca and Onondaga reservations in northern New York State.
After serving in the Army, he graduated in 1958 from the Syracuse University College of Fine Arts. He then pursued a career in commercial art after he moved to New York City, becoming the art and planning director of Norcross Greeting Cards with 200 artists under his supervision. He has exhibited his own paintings widely and is well noted in certain circles as a talented American Indian artist. He has since been awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Syracuse University.
Drawn by a yearning for his culture Lyons returned to Onondaga in 1970. He is recognized not only in the United States and Canada but internationally as an eloquent and respected spokesperson on behalf of Native peoples. He is a sought-after lecturer or participant in forums in a variety of areas, including not only American Indian traditions, but Indian law and history, human rights, environment and interfaith dialogue.
He is deeply involved with national and international issues that affect native peoples and has represented them in many forums throughout the world, including several at the UN focusing on the rights and status of indigenous peoples, the environment and sustainable development.
Oren Lyons was born in 1930 and raised in the traditional culture and practices of the Iroquois on the Seneca and Onondaga reservations in northern New York State.
After serving in the Army, he graduated in 1958 from the Syracuse University College of Fine Arts. He then pursued a career in commercial art after he moved to New York City, becoming the art and planning director of Norcross Greeting Cards with 200 artists under his supervision. He has exhibited his own paintings widely and is well noted in certain circles as a talented American Indian artist. He has since been awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the Syracuse University.
Drawn by a yearning for his culture Lyons returned to Onondaga in 1970. He is recognized not only in the United States and Canada but internationally as an eloquent and respected spokesperson on behalf of Native peoples. He is a sought-after lecturer or participant in forums in a variety of areas, including not only American Indian traditions, but Indian law and history, human rights, environment and interfaith dialogue.
Bald Eagle Trial
By: Ben Neary
DENVER (AP) — The future of a Northern Arapaho man who shot a bald eagle for use in his tribe's Sun Dance two years ago now rides on the eventual decision of a federal appeals court.
Winslow Friday, 23 of Ethete, Wyo., listened Monday as lawyers representing him and his tribe sparred with a lawyer from the U.S. Department of Justice before a panel of judges at 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
The U.S. Department of Justice wants the appeals court to reinstate a criminal charge against Friday. If he's convicted of illegally killing the bald eagle, he could be sentenced to up to a year in jail and fined $100,000.
The appeals court did not immediately issue a ruling on the case after Monday's arguments, leaving Friday to wait.
"Getting older, I understand what stress does to you now," Friday said after the court hearing.
Friday acknowledges killing the eagle with a rifle on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming, home to both the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes.
Friday says he didn't know about a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program that allows American Indians to apply for permits to kill eagles for religious purposes. Attorneys representing him and his tribe claim the federal agency did its best to keep the program secret and only grudgingly issued the permits.
Late last year, U.S. District Judge William F. Downes agreed, dismissing the criminal charge against Friday.
"Although the government professes respect and accommodation of the religious practices of Native Americans, its actions show callous indifference to such practices," Downes wrote in his ruling. "It is clear to this court that the government has no intention of accommodating the religious beliefs of Native Americans except on its own terms and in its own good time."
Read more here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/news/bald-eagle-trial
DENVER (AP) — The future of a Northern Arapaho man who shot a bald eagle for use in his tribe's Sun Dance two years ago now rides on the eventual decision of a federal appeals court.
Winslow Friday, 23 of Ethete, Wyo., listened Monday as lawyers representing him and his tribe sparred with a lawyer from the U.S. Department of Justice before a panel of judges at 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
The U.S. Department of Justice wants the appeals court to reinstate a criminal charge against Friday. If he's convicted of illegally killing the bald eagle, he could be sentenced to up to a year in jail and fined $100,000.
The appeals court did not immediately issue a ruling on the case after Monday's arguments, leaving Friday to wait.
"Getting older, I understand what stress does to you now," Friday said after the court hearing.
Friday acknowledges killing the eagle with a rifle on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming, home to both the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes.
Friday says he didn't know about a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program that allows American Indians to apply for permits to kill eagles for religious purposes. Attorneys representing him and his tribe claim the federal agency did its best to keep the program secret and only grudgingly issued the permits.
Late last year, U.S. District Judge William F. Downes agreed, dismissing the criminal charge against Friday.
"Although the government professes respect and accommodation of the religious practices of Native Americans, its actions show callous indifference to such practices," Downes wrote in his ruling. "It is clear to this court that the government has no intention of accommodating the religious beliefs of Native Americans except on its own terms and in its own good time."
Read more here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/news/bald-eagle-trial
Osages to the Rescue
By: Shannon Shaw
PAWHUSKA, Okla.—The Osage Nation came to the aid of hundreds of families without power Dec. 9, after an ice storm hit Oklahoma, making national headlines.
The ice storm started the night of Dec. 8 and continued for two days, hitting the southern part of Osage County with an estimated inch to an inch and a half of ice and the northern part of the county with a half-inch of ice, said Craig Sullivan, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.
Osage tribal officials held an emergency relief meeting the next day as calls from friends and relatives of those who lost power poured in to the tribe's offices, said Paula Stabler, Osage Nation communications officer.
Hardest hit were the Osage County communities of Skiatook, Avant, Osage and Prue.
"This was the worst power outage in Oklahoma's history, but we consider ourselves lucky with this storm," said Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray. "The power lines and trees were down over most of the reservation, but the roads were clear and Pawhuska city limits kept its power.
"Our people are tired, but they responded immediately and were glad to help."
The Palace of the Osage Grocery Store, Women, Infants and Children program, Osage Nation Food Distribution and Osage Nation Home Health donated food for the relief effort, Stabler said. Tribal members also contributed money for the effort.
Want the whole story? Click here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/feature-article/osages-rescue
PAWHUSKA, Okla.—The Osage Nation came to the aid of hundreds of families without power Dec. 9, after an ice storm hit Oklahoma, making national headlines.
The ice storm started the night of Dec. 8 and continued for two days, hitting the southern part of Osage County with an estimated inch to an inch and a half of ice and the northern part of the county with a half-inch of ice, said Craig Sullivan, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.
Osage tribal officials held an emergency relief meeting the next day as calls from friends and relatives of those who lost power poured in to the tribe's offices, said Paula Stabler, Osage Nation communications officer.
Hardest hit were the Osage County communities of Skiatook, Avant, Osage and Prue.
"This was the worst power outage in Oklahoma's history, but we consider ourselves lucky with this storm," said Osage Nation Principal Chief Jim Gray. "The power lines and trees were down over most of the reservation, but the roads were clear and Pawhuska city limits kept its power.
"Our people are tired, but they responded immediately and were glad to help."
The Palace of the Osage Grocery Store, Women, Infants and Children program, Osage Nation Food Distribution and Osage Nation Home Health donated food for the relief effort, Stabler said. Tribal members also contributed money for the effort.
Want the whole story? Click here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/feature-article/osages-rescue
Monday, December 17, 2007
Floyd Red Crow Westerman (1936 - 2007)
As posted by Native American Times
Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Sisseton-Wapheton Dakota musician, actor, and activist, passed away at 5:00 a.m. PST, at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles after an extended illness. He was 71.
Westerman, who began his career as a country singer, appeared in over 50 films and televison productions, including Dances with Wolves, Hidalgo, The Doors, and Poltergeist, and Northern Exposure. He appeared in 12 episodes of the 1990s TV series, Walker, Texas Ranger, as Uncle Ray Firewalker.
As a young man, he was educated at the Wapheton and Flandreau Boarding Schools, where he became a close companion and life-long friend of Dennis Banks. He left his home on the Lake Traverse reservation in South Dakota, with a suitcase and an old guitar in hand. He rambled across the country playing country music and original tunes in bars and clubs, living for some time in Denver. In 1969, his first album Custer Died for Your Sins became the background theme of the emerging Red Power Movement.
Before that, As a member of American Indian Movement, and a spokesman for the International Indian Treaty Council, Westerman traveled the world extensively working for the betterment of native people. His vision of improved social conditions for indigenous people around the globe is reflected in the music of his second album, The Land is Your Mother, 1982. In 2006, he won a NAMMY Award for his third album, A Tributeto Johnny Cash. During his career, he played and collaborated with a number of notable musicians including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristopherson, Buffy St. Marie, Jackson Browne, Harry Belafonte, and Sting.
Before his musical acomplishments, Westerman had earned a degree in secondary education from Northern State University in South Dakota.
Westerman also worked throughout his life to empower Indian youth. "They are our future," he said in a November interview. "Today we are fighting a great battle against the popular culture that surrounds them. It's a battle for their hearts and minds. We need to work to inspire them to embrace their own history and culture. Without them, we Indians have no future."
Floyd Red Crow Westerman's Funeral will be held at Tiospa Zina School Gym in Sisseton, South Dakota. Wake on Saturday and Sunday, December 15 and 16. Funeral services Monday, December 17, at 10:00 a.m. Flowers may be sent to the Sisseton Flower Shop, Sisseton, South Dakota.
Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Sisseton-Wapheton Dakota musician, actor, and activist, passed away at 5:00 a.m. PST, at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles after an extended illness. He was 71.
Westerman, who began his career as a country singer, appeared in over 50 films and televison productions, including Dances with Wolves, Hidalgo, The Doors, and Poltergeist, and Northern Exposure. He appeared in 12 episodes of the 1990s TV series, Walker, Texas Ranger, as Uncle Ray Firewalker.
As a young man, he was educated at the Wapheton and Flandreau Boarding Schools, where he became a close companion and life-long friend of Dennis Banks. He left his home on the Lake Traverse reservation in South Dakota, with a suitcase and an old guitar in hand. He rambled across the country playing country music and original tunes in bars and clubs, living for some time in Denver. In 1969, his first album Custer Died for Your Sins became the background theme of the emerging Red Power Movement.
Before that, As a member of American Indian Movement, and a spokesman for the International Indian Treaty Council, Westerman traveled the world extensively working for the betterment of native people. His vision of improved social conditions for indigenous people around the globe is reflected in the music of his second album, The Land is Your Mother, 1982. In 2006, he won a NAMMY Award for his third album, A Tributeto Johnny Cash. During his career, he played and collaborated with a number of notable musicians including Willie Nelson, Kris Kristopherson, Buffy St. Marie, Jackson Browne, Harry Belafonte, and Sting.
Before his musical acomplishments, Westerman had earned a degree in secondary education from Northern State University in South Dakota.
Westerman also worked throughout his life to empower Indian youth. "They are our future," he said in a November interview. "Today we are fighting a great battle against the popular culture that surrounds them. It's a battle for their hearts and minds. We need to work to inspire them to embrace their own history and culture. Without them, we Indians have no future."
Floyd Red Crow Westerman's Funeral will be held at Tiospa Zina School Gym in Sisseton, South Dakota. Wake on Saturday and Sunday, December 15 and 16. Funeral services Monday, December 17, at 10:00 a.m. Flowers may be sent to the Sisseton Flower Shop, Sisseton, South Dakota.
State Proposes Protecting Sacred Site
By: Chet Brokaw
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — For centuries, members of the Lakota, Cheyenne and other American Indian tribes have been climbing Bear Butte to fast and hold religious ceremonies.
Colorful prayer cloths hanging from trees line the path to the top of the mountain, which rises about 1,300 feet above the surrounding plain.
But often, and especially in August, the serenity of the site is disturbed by a deafening roar, caused by thousands of motorcycles.
Indians have sought for years to block development of land around the butte into campgrounds, bars and other sites that could interfere with their religious use of the mountain. Now they have an ally in the governor.
Gov. Mike Rounds wants to spend more than $1 million to prevent developers from putting biker bars and other noisy businesses on ranch land near the mountain on the northern edge of the Black Hills.
Saying he wants to protect the beauty and peace of the religious site, Rounds has proposed using state, federal and private money to buy a perpetual easement that would prevent commercial and residential development of some land on the western side of Bear Butte. Indians working to protect Bear Butte praise the Republican governor's plan.
"Any kind of assistance from anybody in preserving the butte is welcome," said Gene Blue Arm, a Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member who has sought to limit development near the religious site.
Learn more here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/sturgis-motorcycle-rally/state-proposes-protecting-sacred-site
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — For centuries, members of the Lakota, Cheyenne and other American Indian tribes have been climbing Bear Butte to fast and hold religious ceremonies.
Colorful prayer cloths hanging from trees line the path to the top of the mountain, which rises about 1,300 feet above the surrounding plain.
But often, and especially in August, the serenity of the site is disturbed by a deafening roar, caused by thousands of motorcycles.
Indians have sought for years to block development of land around the butte into campgrounds, bars and other sites that could interfere with their religious use of the mountain. Now they have an ally in the governor.
Gov. Mike Rounds wants to spend more than $1 million to prevent developers from putting biker bars and other noisy businesses on ranch land near the mountain on the northern edge of the Black Hills.
Saying he wants to protect the beauty and peace of the religious site, Rounds has proposed using state, federal and private money to buy a perpetual easement that would prevent commercial and residential development of some land on the western side of Bear Butte. Indians working to protect Bear Butte praise the Republican governor's plan.
"Any kind of assistance from anybody in preserving the butte is welcome," said Gene Blue Arm, a Cheyenne River Sioux tribal member who has sought to limit development near the religious site.
Learn more here: http://www.reznetnews.org/article/sturgis-motorcycle-rally/state-proposes-protecting-sacred-site
287-mile ride a rite of passage
By: Jodi Rave
BEAR SOLDIER, S.D. - When Donaven Yellow of Wakpala, S.D., joined the Spirit Riders, he pledged to ride four years in the Big Foot Memorial Ride, a nearly 300-mile journey dedicated to the Lakota ancestors who died in one of the nation's most horrific massacres.
On Saturday, he began the fourth journey across the South Dakota prairie with 44 riders who will spend the next two weeks on horseback en route to the Pine Ridge Reservation, picking up others along the way until they number 200.
"Riding for two weeks isn't easy," said the 15-year-old Donaven. "A lot of my friends made the same commitment. It gets really cold. You've just got to ride it out.
"A couple of times, I didn't feel my toes. And my legs were shaking. I had a Gatorade in my pocket. I tried to take a drink, but it was frozen solid after a couple of hours. I was really thirsty that day, and I wasn't warm enough to keep it thawed out."
Get the whole story here: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/12/16/news/state/40-bigfoot.txt
BEAR SOLDIER, S.D. - When Donaven Yellow of Wakpala, S.D., joined the Spirit Riders, he pledged to ride four years in the Big Foot Memorial Ride, a nearly 300-mile journey dedicated to the Lakota ancestors who died in one of the nation's most horrific massacres.
On Saturday, he began the fourth journey across the South Dakota prairie with 44 riders who will spend the next two weeks on horseback en route to the Pine Ridge Reservation, picking up others along the way until they number 200.
"Riding for two weeks isn't easy," said the 15-year-old Donaven. "A lot of my friends made the same commitment. It gets really cold. You've just got to ride it out.
"A couple of times, I didn't feel my toes. And my legs were shaking. I had a Gatorade in my pocket. I tried to take a drink, but it was frozen solid after a couple of hours. I was really thirsty that day, and I wasn't warm enough to keep it thawed out."
Get the whole story here: http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/12/16/news/state/40-bigfoot.txt
Retired Lakota soldier honored at U.S. Army Women's Museum
By: Bobbie Whitehead
FORT LEE, Va. - As a soldier in Iraq, Theresa Blue Bird found the spiritual and mental strength she needed to survive the harsh conditions there. Then, assisting in running a U.S. Army Departure Air Control group in Iraq, Blue Bird helped many of her Army brothers and sisters on their final journey to the United States.
As the soldiers left, Blue Bird burned sage and prayed for them, she said. ''Some of the men and women were mentally falling apart, just being there in Iraq,'' Blue Bird said. ''After I started burning sage and praying, I truly felt I had so much spiritual and mental strength hardly nothing bothered me.''
A retired jumpmaster and staff sergeant with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, the 42-year-old was honored recently in an exhibit in the U.S. Army Women's Museum at Fort Lee during American Indian Heritage Month. Blue Bird's exhibit remained open until Dec. 15 and will likely become part of a permanent exhibit at the museum once it expands, said Francoise Bonnell, museum education curator.
Still in Iraq, though unable to state her location, Blue Bird retired from the Army three years ago after 20 years of service and works for a contractor now.
As a soldier, Blue Bird fought in the Iraq war, participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom at Al Taquddum, Iraq, with the Task Force All American.
To honor Blue Bird for her service in the war, members of her Oglala Sioux Tribe from the Pine Ridge Reservation presented her with a warrior blanket in 2004 - an honor typically given to male members of the tribe.
There's more here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416267
FORT LEE, Va. - As a soldier in Iraq, Theresa Blue Bird found the spiritual and mental strength she needed to survive the harsh conditions there. Then, assisting in running a U.S. Army Departure Air Control group in Iraq, Blue Bird helped many of her Army brothers and sisters on their final journey to the United States.
As the soldiers left, Blue Bird burned sage and prayed for them, she said. ''Some of the men and women were mentally falling apart, just being there in Iraq,'' Blue Bird said. ''After I started burning sage and praying, I truly felt I had so much spiritual and mental strength hardly nothing bothered me.''
A retired jumpmaster and staff sergeant with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, the 42-year-old was honored recently in an exhibit in the U.S. Army Women's Museum at Fort Lee during American Indian Heritage Month. Blue Bird's exhibit remained open until Dec. 15 and will likely become part of a permanent exhibit at the museum once it expands, said Francoise Bonnell, museum education curator.
Still in Iraq, though unable to state her location, Blue Bird retired from the Army three years ago after 20 years of service and works for a contractor now.
As a soldier, Blue Bird fought in the Iraq war, participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom at Al Taquddum, Iraq, with the Task Force All American.
To honor Blue Bird for her service in the war, members of her Oglala Sioux Tribe from the Pine Ridge Reservation presented her with a warrior blanket in 2004 - an honor typically given to male members of the tribe.
There's more here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416267
Friday, December 14, 2007
Quotes
"And I told them if the children die, there would be no keepers of the land. They didn't listen.
And I told them if they destroy the sky, machines would come and soon destroy the land. They didn't listen . . .
And I told them not to dig for uranium, for if they did, the children would die. They didn't listen, they didn't listen, they didn't listen to me.
And I told them if the children die, there would be no keepers of the land. They didn't listen.
And I told them if they destroy the land, man would have to move into the sea. They didn't listen . . .
And I told them if they destroy the sea -- they didn't listen . . . " -
Floyd Westerman's musical presentation
TESTIMONIES, LECTURES, CONCLUSIONS, THE WORLD URANIUM HEARING, SALZBURG 1992
And I told them if they destroy the sky, machines would come and soon destroy the land. They didn't listen . . .
And I told them not to dig for uranium, for if they did, the children would die. They didn't listen, they didn't listen, they didn't listen to me.
And I told them if the children die, there would be no keepers of the land. They didn't listen.
And I told them if they destroy the land, man would have to move into the sea. They didn't listen . . .
And I told them if they destroy the sea -- they didn't listen . . . " -
Floyd Westerman's musical presentation
TESTIMONIES, LECTURES, CONCLUSIONS, THE WORLD URANIUM HEARING, SALZBURG 1992
Westerman, Floyd: Renowned musician, activist, elder passes on
By: Paul DeMain
Floyd Red Crow Westerman, 71, of Palm Springs, California walked on during the earlier morning hours of December 13, 2007.
Funeral services and burial to be held in Sisseton, South Dakota are pending. Plans for a memorial service in California are also being made.
Westerman had been battling health issues complicated by leukemia for weeks in critical condition at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, California.
Westerman, a musician, activist and actor was born on the Lake Traverse Reservation, home of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Dakota in state of South Dakota. The elder Dakota in the late 20th century became a leading actor depicting Native Americans in American films and television and an advocate for many causes.
At the age of 10, he was sent to the Wahpeton Boarding School, where he first met Dennis Banks of the American Indian Movement. His involvement with Banks over the years blossomed as he traveled on behalf and in support of many activities of AIM.
Westerman earned a degree in secondary education from Northern State University in South Dakota where he majored in both art, and speech and theatre.
He began singing in Denver, Colorado and signed his first record contract in 1969. His albums included Custer Died for Your Sins, (1970), Indian Country: (1970), and The land Is Your Mother, (1973).
His first album, 1970's Custer Died for Your Sins, took its name from an influential book by Santee Sioux author and activist Vine Deloria, Jr., and both were stinging rebukes of America's destructive Indian policy. His most recent album was A Tribute to Johnny Cash, (2006).
Westerman's film and television appearances include the role of the "Shaman" for Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors and as "Ten Bears" in Dances with Wolves. Westerman debuted in Renegades in which he played "Red Crow" the Lakota Sioux father of Lou Diamond Phillips. Westerman also appeared as Standing Elk alongside his long-time friend Max Gail in the 2006 family film, Tillamook Treasure. He can be seen as well in the beginning of Hidalgo, as the Chief in Buffalo Bill's circus.
His television roles have included playing "Uncle Ray" on Walker, Texas Ranger, "One Who Waits" on Northern Exposure and multiple appearances as "Albert Hosteen" on the X-Files.
Before his entrance in films and television, Westerman had established a solid reputation as a country-western music singer. His recordings offer probing analysis of European influences in Native American communities. In addition to several recordings of his own, Westerman has collaborated with Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Joni Mitchell, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt and Buffy Sainte-Marie.
In 1996, he attended the first Native American Music Awards and performed with Joanne Shenandoah in a tribute performance for Hall of Fame Inductee, the late Buddy Red Bow.
In 2002 he was awarded the NAMA Living Legend Award at the Fifth Annual Native American Music Awards with Keith Secola accepting on his behalf.
In 2006, he was won Best Country Recording at the Native American Music Awards for his last full length recording, "A Tribute To Johnny Cash" released by Henhouse Studios.
Westerman has also been a recognized political advocate for Native American causes, working at times with AIM and other Native organizations at the grass root level, and donating his time free of charge, to help raise money for Native causes. He would aften appear at events with close friends, Oneida comedian Charlie Hill and Ojibwe musician Keith Secola.
In 2000, American Indian Expo named Westerman Indian Celebrity of the Year.
Among other accolades, Westerman received a Congressional Certificate of Special Recognition, the Award for Generosity by the Americans for Indian Opportunity, was named Cultural Ambassador by the International Indian Treaty Council, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the City of Los Angeles and Mayor Richard Riordan, the Integrity Award from the Multi-Cultural Motion Picture Association.
He was also featured in an international advertising campaign by Dutch software company, OTIB, alongside such dignitaries as former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev and Czech Republic president Vaclav Havel.
From 2003-2007, Westerman appeared in a number of television advertisements for "Lakota" brand topical pain reliever, often wearing traditional Native dress.
Condolences are being posted at Westerman's My Space site at http://www.myspace.com/floydredcrowwesterman
Floyd Red Crow Westerman, 71, of Palm Springs, California walked on during the earlier morning hours of December 13, 2007.
Funeral services and burial to be held in Sisseton, South Dakota are pending. Plans for a memorial service in California are also being made.
Westerman had been battling health issues complicated by leukemia for weeks in critical condition at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, California.
Westerman, a musician, activist and actor was born on the Lake Traverse Reservation, home of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Dakota in state of South Dakota. The elder Dakota in the late 20th century became a leading actor depicting Native Americans in American films and television and an advocate for many causes.
At the age of 10, he was sent to the Wahpeton Boarding School, where he first met Dennis Banks of the American Indian Movement. His involvement with Banks over the years blossomed as he traveled on behalf and in support of many activities of AIM.
Westerman earned a degree in secondary education from Northern State University in South Dakota where he majored in both art, and speech and theatre.
He began singing in Denver, Colorado and signed his first record contract in 1969. His albums included Custer Died for Your Sins, (1970), Indian Country: (1970), and The land Is Your Mother, (1973).
His first album, 1970's Custer Died for Your Sins, took its name from an influential book by Santee Sioux author and activist Vine Deloria, Jr., and both were stinging rebukes of America's destructive Indian policy. His most recent album was A Tribute to Johnny Cash, (2006).
Westerman's film and television appearances include the role of the "Shaman" for Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's The Doors and as "Ten Bears" in Dances with Wolves. Westerman debuted in Renegades in which he played "Red Crow" the Lakota Sioux father of Lou Diamond Phillips. Westerman also appeared as Standing Elk alongside his long-time friend Max Gail in the 2006 family film, Tillamook Treasure. He can be seen as well in the beginning of Hidalgo, as the Chief in Buffalo Bill's circus.
His television roles have included playing "Uncle Ray" on Walker, Texas Ranger, "One Who Waits" on Northern Exposure and multiple appearances as "Albert Hosteen" on the X-Files.
Before his entrance in films and television, Westerman had established a solid reputation as a country-western music singer. His recordings offer probing analysis of European influences in Native American communities. In addition to several recordings of his own, Westerman has collaborated with Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Joni Mitchell, Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt and Buffy Sainte-Marie.
In 1996, he attended the first Native American Music Awards and performed with Joanne Shenandoah in a tribute performance for Hall of Fame Inductee, the late Buddy Red Bow.
In 2002 he was awarded the NAMA Living Legend Award at the Fifth Annual Native American Music Awards with Keith Secola accepting on his behalf.
In 2006, he was won Best Country Recording at the Native American Music Awards for his last full length recording, "A Tribute To Johnny Cash" released by Henhouse Studios.
Westerman has also been a recognized political advocate for Native American causes, working at times with AIM and other Native organizations at the grass root level, and donating his time free of charge, to help raise money for Native causes. He would aften appear at events with close friends, Oneida comedian Charlie Hill and Ojibwe musician Keith Secola.
In 2000, American Indian Expo named Westerman Indian Celebrity of the Year.
Among other accolades, Westerman received a Congressional Certificate of Special Recognition, the Award for Generosity by the Americans for Indian Opportunity, was named Cultural Ambassador by the International Indian Treaty Council, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the City of Los Angeles and Mayor Richard Riordan, the Integrity Award from the Multi-Cultural Motion Picture Association.
He was also featured in an international advertising campaign by Dutch software company, OTIB, alongside such dignitaries as former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev and Czech Republic president Vaclav Havel.
From 2003-2007, Westerman appeared in a number of television advertisements for "Lakota" brand topical pain reliever, often wearing traditional Native dress.
Condolences are being posted at Westerman's My Space site at http://www.myspace.com/floydredcrowwesterman
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Do you know...
Charles Albert "Chief" Bender (May 5, 1884 - May 22, 1954) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball during the first two decades of the 20th century. He is also a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Bender was born in Crow Wing County, Minnesota as a member of the Ojibwa tribe - he faced discrimination throughout his career, not least of which was the stereotyped nickname ("Chief") by which he is almost exclusively known today. After graduating from Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Bender went on to a stellar career as a starting pitcher from 1903 to 1917, primarily with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics (though with stints at the end of his career with the Baltimore Terrapins of the short-lived Federal League, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Chicago White Sox).
Over his career, his win-loss record was 212-127, for a .625 winning percentage (a category in which he would lead the American League in three seasons). His talent was even more noticeable in the high-pressure environment of the World Series: in five trips to the championship series, he managed six wins and a 2.44 ERA. In the 1911 Series, he pitched three complete games, which set the record for most complete games pitched in a six-game series. He also threw a no-hitter in 1910.
Bender was born in Crow Wing County, Minnesota as a member of the Ojibwa tribe - he faced discrimination throughout his career, not least of which was the stereotyped nickname ("Chief") by which he is almost exclusively known today. After graduating from Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Bender went on to a stellar career as a starting pitcher from 1903 to 1917, primarily with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics (though with stints at the end of his career with the Baltimore Terrapins of the short-lived Federal League, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Chicago White Sox).
Over his career, his win-loss record was 212-127, for a .625 winning percentage (a category in which he would lead the American League in three seasons). His talent was even more noticeable in the high-pressure environment of the World Series: in five trips to the championship series, he managed six wins and a 2.44 ERA. In the 1911 Series, he pitched three complete games, which set the record for most complete games pitched in a six-game series. He also threw a no-hitter in 1910.
Faces on defaced Port Angeles mural cleaned of vandalism
By: Paige Dickerson
PORT ANGELES - With soft rags and acetone, two Nor'wester Rotary Club volunteers and two city workers on Tuesday wiped away paint that defaced a City Pier mural of the Klallam village of Y'ennis.
The four men, Doc Reiss and Ted Groves with the Rotary Club and Brian Flores and Leon Leonard with the city of Port Angeles, removed the black paint which on Thursday night was sprayed on the mural on the outside of the Arthur D. Feiro Marine Lab.
The paint blacked out Native American faces, and was used to write obscenities, a declaration of "white power" and a crudely drawn "devil face.
"The faces of the people in the painting are based on real members of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, many of whom are still alive.
Port Townsend artist Cory Ench, who painted the mural in 1998 for the Nor'wester Rotary Club, plans to evaluate the remaining damage and make any needed repairs early next year, Reiss said.
Read more here: http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20071212/NEWS/712120303
PORT ANGELES - With soft rags and acetone, two Nor'wester Rotary Club volunteers and two city workers on Tuesday wiped away paint that defaced a City Pier mural of the Klallam village of Y'ennis.
The four men, Doc Reiss and Ted Groves with the Rotary Club and Brian Flores and Leon Leonard with the city of Port Angeles, removed the black paint which on Thursday night was sprayed on the mural on the outside of the Arthur D. Feiro Marine Lab.
The paint blacked out Native American faces, and was used to write obscenities, a declaration of "white power" and a crudely drawn "devil face.
"The faces of the people in the painting are based on real members of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, many of whom are still alive.
Port Townsend artist Cory Ench, who painted the mural in 1998 for the Nor'wester Rotary Club, plans to evaluate the remaining damage and make any needed repairs early next year, Reiss said.
Read more here: http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20071212/NEWS/712120303
Appeals court rehears San Francisco Peaks case
The U.S. Forest Service faced skeptical questions from a federal appeals court on Tuesday about the use of reclaimed sewage in the sacred San Francisco Peaks in Arizona.
Under the Bush administration, the agency approved the expansion of a ski resort in the Coconino National Forest. The Arizona Snowbowl wants to use reclaimed wastewater to make snow and attract more visitors.
The Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe and other tribes in the Southwest are fighting the Forest Service's decision. They say the treated sewage will desecrate the peaks, where they go to pray, hold ceremonies and gather medicinal plants and herbs.
Some judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals appeared sympathetic to the tribes' views. Their questions essentially accepted as fact that the use of the reclaimed wastewater will harm the sanctity of the peaks.
The key issue, then, is whether the Forest Service's action violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The law was designed to protect Native and other practitioners from government actions that infringe on their religious rights.
Click here to read the full article: http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/006305.asp
Under the Bush administration, the agency approved the expansion of a ski resort in the Coconino National Forest. The Arizona Snowbowl wants to use reclaimed wastewater to make snow and attract more visitors.
The Navajo Nation, the Hopi Tribe and other tribes in the Southwest are fighting the Forest Service's decision. They say the treated sewage will desecrate the peaks, where they go to pray, hold ceremonies and gather medicinal plants and herbs.
Some judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals appeared sympathetic to the tribes' views. Their questions essentially accepted as fact that the use of the reclaimed wastewater will harm the sanctity of the peaks.
The key issue, then, is whether the Forest Service's action violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The law was designed to protect Native and other practitioners from government actions that infringe on their religious rights.
Click here to read the full article: http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/006305.asp
Converting the rock
By: Sarah Phelan
Native American spiritual leader Marshall "Golden Eagle" Jack admits he was just a kid in 1969 when a group of American Indians occupied Alcatraz Island. They claimed that the island's reclassification as surplus property following the 1963 closure of Alcatraz Prison entitled them to take possession of the iconic island.
But Jack says he knows enough people from the American Indian Movement, which began advocating for urban Indians in the late '60s, to understand that "the people standing up for their rights back then didn't have enough clout in the legal system" to keep the island and build an American Indian cultural center on its craggy slopes.
Instead, the island became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which is operated by the National Park Service. Today it attracts 1.
5 million visitors per year, the GGNRA's chief of public affairs, Rich Weideman, says. But having a brutal former prison as one of San Francisco's top tourist attractions is unsettling to some.
So Jack and AIM founder Dennis Banks, Chief Avrol Looking Horse, Laynee Bluebird Woman, and Rose Mary Cambra of the Muwekma Ohlone tribe have sponsored Proposition C, a nonbinding declaration on the February 2008 ballot that would make it city policy to explore acquiring Alcatraz Island and setting up a global peace center in place of the prison.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=5172&catid=&volume_id=317&issue_id=329&volume_num=42&issue_num=11
Native American spiritual leader Marshall "Golden Eagle" Jack admits he was just a kid in 1969 when a group of American Indians occupied Alcatraz Island. They claimed that the island's reclassification as surplus property following the 1963 closure of Alcatraz Prison entitled them to take possession of the iconic island.
But Jack says he knows enough people from the American Indian Movement, which began advocating for urban Indians in the late '60s, to understand that "the people standing up for their rights back then didn't have enough clout in the legal system" to keep the island and build an American Indian cultural center on its craggy slopes.
Instead, the island became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which is operated by the National Park Service. Today it attracts 1.
5 million visitors per year, the GGNRA's chief of public affairs, Rich Weideman, says. But having a brutal former prison as one of San Francisco's top tourist attractions is unsettling to some.
So Jack and AIM founder Dennis Banks, Chief Avrol Looking Horse, Laynee Bluebird Woman, and Rose Mary Cambra of the Muwekma Ohlone tribe have sponsored Proposition C, a nonbinding declaration on the February 2008 ballot that would make it city policy to explore acquiring Alcatraz Island and setting up a global peace center in place of the prison.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=5172&catid=&volume_id=317&issue_id=329&volume_num=42&issue_num=11
Monday, December 10, 2007
Featured Artist: Urshel Taylor
Urshel was born at the Phoenix Indian School and is of Ute/Pima descent. He is a member of the Pima Salt River Community Indian Tribe. When Urshel was just two years old, his family moved to a working ranch on the Ute Reservation in Utah. It was on this ranch that he, along with two sisters and a brother, spent their growing up years.
In 1956, planning to make the military his career, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps where he served for eight years. However, by 1963 having children to consider, he decided that the transient lifestyle of the military was not what he wanted for his family so he resigned from the service.
Urshel then took a position teaching art at the Intermountain Inter-Tribal School in Brigham City, Utah. Where, at the same time, he continued to work on his own skills by studying with such noted artist as Kent Wallace and Professor Linstrom at Utah State University.
During his years at the Intermountain Inter-Tribal School, in addition to his teaching duties, he was Director of Cultural Affairs which included the pow-wows. Through this, he became more deeply involved with the traditional native American dances. He and his three sons Keith, Tony and Dan danced in competition for fifteen years. The dancing proved to be an important element in he personal and professional growth.
Urshel described the feeling of being dressed in traditional dress and dancing to a good drum ...
"I recognize the song and who is singing by the style and the drum they use ... it makes me feel very connected to the past and the traditions of my people ... it makes me feel Indian".
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.artnatam.com/utaylor/bio.html
In 1956, planning to make the military his career, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps where he served for eight years. However, by 1963 having children to consider, he decided that the transient lifestyle of the military was not what he wanted for his family so he resigned from the service.
Urshel then took a position teaching art at the Intermountain Inter-Tribal School in Brigham City, Utah. Where, at the same time, he continued to work on his own skills by studying with such noted artist as Kent Wallace and Professor Linstrom at Utah State University.
During his years at the Intermountain Inter-Tribal School, in addition to his teaching duties, he was Director of Cultural Affairs which included the pow-wows. Through this, he became more deeply involved with the traditional native American dances. He and his three sons Keith, Tony and Dan danced in competition for fifteen years. The dancing proved to be an important element in he personal and professional growth.
Urshel described the feeling of being dressed in traditional dress and dancing to a good drum ...
"I recognize the song and who is singing by the style and the drum they use ... it makes me feel very connected to the past and the traditions of my people ... it makes me feel Indian".
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.artnatam.com/utaylor/bio.html
Cherokee Nation Foster Parenting Program Makes a Difference for Life
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — It’s the most wonderful time of the year to open your heart and your home to a child in need, by becoming a Cherokee Nation foster parent.
"Every child deserves the safety and security of a loving home,” said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. “If there is a place in your life to help care for a child placed with Indian Child Welfare (ICW), I really encourage you to consider making a difference in that child’s life by becoming a foster parent.”
The ICW Foster Care Program was designed to place children who have been neglected or abused in temporary homes. ICW’s ultimate goal is to provide a safe and permanent home to tribal children who are unable to be cared for by their biological family.
“Our need for foster homes is mainly within the jurisdictional area of the Cherokee Nation and throughout the state of Oklahoma,” said Ellen Guttillo, Child Welfare Specialist II. “It is our responsibility to make sure that our Native American children are in foster homes that are compliant with the Indian Child Welfare Act. Therefore, our need for foster homes is an ongoing challenge.”
For more information click here: http://www.cherokee.org/PressRoom/2469/Story.aspx
"Every child deserves the safety and security of a loving home,” said Chad Smith, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. “If there is a place in your life to help care for a child placed with Indian Child Welfare (ICW), I really encourage you to consider making a difference in that child’s life by becoming a foster parent.”
The ICW Foster Care Program was designed to place children who have been neglected or abused in temporary homes. ICW’s ultimate goal is to provide a safe and permanent home to tribal children who are unable to be cared for by their biological family.
“Our need for foster homes is mainly within the jurisdictional area of the Cherokee Nation and throughout the state of Oklahoma,” said Ellen Guttillo, Child Welfare Specialist II. “It is our responsibility to make sure that our Native American children are in foster homes that are compliant with the Indian Child Welfare Act. Therefore, our need for foster homes is an ongoing challenge.”
For more information click here: http://www.cherokee.org/PressRoom/2469/Story.aspx
Occaneechi Homeland Preservation Project
Bringing the Past and Future Together
In August 2002, the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation embarked on an ambitious project; to begin buying back a portion of its ancestral lands in the “Little Texas” Community of NE Alamance County, North Carolina. This was called the Occaneechi Homeland Preservation Project.
For the first time in over 250 years, the Occaneechi own land again as a Tribe, to be used for economic development for the tribal community, as well as for tribal administrative offices. On this small tract of rural land, the Occaneechi have begun a legacy for their children. These plans began to take shape in February 2004, when the tribe purchased 25 acres of rolling farmland on Daily Store Rd. on the headwaters of Stagg Creek. The tribe has worked with the Landscape Architecture Department at North Carolina A & T University and the Rural Initiative Project, Inc. of Winston-Salem to create a master plan for the site, which will include
*A permanent ceremonial ground (completed Spring 2005)
*Tribal Orchards with heirloom apples, chestnuts paw-paws and muscadine grapes (ongoing)
*Reconstructed 1701 Occaneechi Village and 1880’s era farm (in construction)
*Educational nature trails (in planning)
*Tribal museum (in planning)
*Administrative office space, community meeting area, classroom space (in planning)
This complex will serve as an educational tool, not just for the Tribal members, but for the public as a whole. Each Fall since 2005, the Occaneechi tribe has hosted over 600 area elementary and middle school students on the tribal center property, teaching them about traditional dance, lifeways, outdoor cooking, storytelling, flint-knapping, hunting and fishing, and Southeastern regalia. As the complex develops, this type of cultural/educational activity will be done on a regular basis, employing Tribal members as guides and cultural interpreters.
Anyone interested in the lifestyle of the Siouan Tribes of the North Carolina and Virginia Piedmont will find the planned complex an invaluable resource, and the tribe is networking with the Alamance County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau as it continues to develop the project. As a tourist attraction, it will, in conjunction with the Tribe’s Pow-wows, festivals, and historical programs, draw thousands of visitors into the Alamance county area, while helping preserve the quiet rural way of life in the community.
Learn more about this project and how you can help here: http://www.occaneechi-saponi.org/homeland_project.html
In August 2002, the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation embarked on an ambitious project; to begin buying back a portion of its ancestral lands in the “Little Texas” Community of NE Alamance County, North Carolina. This was called the Occaneechi Homeland Preservation Project.
For the first time in over 250 years, the Occaneechi own land again as a Tribe, to be used for economic development for the tribal community, as well as for tribal administrative offices. On this small tract of rural land, the Occaneechi have begun a legacy for their children. These plans began to take shape in February 2004, when the tribe purchased 25 acres of rolling farmland on Daily Store Rd. on the headwaters of Stagg Creek. The tribe has worked with the Landscape Architecture Department at North Carolina A & T University and the Rural Initiative Project, Inc. of Winston-Salem to create a master plan for the site, which will include
*A permanent ceremonial ground (completed Spring 2005)
*Tribal Orchards with heirloom apples, chestnuts paw-paws and muscadine grapes (ongoing)
*Reconstructed 1701 Occaneechi Village and 1880’s era farm (in construction)
*Educational nature trails (in planning)
*Tribal museum (in planning)
*Administrative office space, community meeting area, classroom space (in planning)
This complex will serve as an educational tool, not just for the Tribal members, but for the public as a whole. Each Fall since 2005, the Occaneechi tribe has hosted over 600 area elementary and middle school students on the tribal center property, teaching them about traditional dance, lifeways, outdoor cooking, storytelling, flint-knapping, hunting and fishing, and Southeastern regalia. As the complex develops, this type of cultural/educational activity will be done on a regular basis, employing Tribal members as guides and cultural interpreters.
Anyone interested in the lifestyle of the Siouan Tribes of the North Carolina and Virginia Piedmont will find the planned complex an invaluable resource, and the tribe is networking with the Alamance County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau as it continues to develop the project. As a tourist attraction, it will, in conjunction with the Tribe’s Pow-wows, festivals, and historical programs, draw thousands of visitors into the Alamance county area, while helping preserve the quiet rural way of life in the community.
Learn more about this project and how you can help here: http://www.occaneechi-saponi.org/homeland_project.html
MSU makes Natives priority
By: Jodi Rave
BOZEMAN - Montana State University president Geoffrey Gamble represents a rare form of leadership in academia when it comes to embracing a Native presence on campus.
Gamble was selected to lead MSU as the college's 11th president in 2000. One of the most remarkable steps he's taken was the appointment of Henrietta Mann as a special adviser in his cabinet. Mann, a Southern Cheyenne woman, has been lecturing, advising and teaching on college campuses for the last 36 years.
The president has since created a Council of Elders. I attended the Nov. 30 meeting of elders, a group that has been meeting twice a year for nearly four years. Elders from 12 tribes and honorary members in the state are invited to the university to share their educational and life experiences with the president.
“President Gamble gives weight and validity to what we say,” said Richard Little Bear, president of Chief Dull Knife College on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. “I'm going to keep making time to come over here. In the long run, it has a lot of implications for our students and how our students are treated on the campus. Those are the types of things that can help our students achieve.”
Gamble is already looking forward to the group's next meeting in April.
Read more here: http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/12/09/jodirave/rave19.txt
BOZEMAN - Montana State University president Geoffrey Gamble represents a rare form of leadership in academia when it comes to embracing a Native presence on campus.
Gamble was selected to lead MSU as the college's 11th president in 2000. One of the most remarkable steps he's taken was the appointment of Henrietta Mann as a special adviser in his cabinet. Mann, a Southern Cheyenne woman, has been lecturing, advising and teaching on college campuses for the last 36 years.
The president has since created a Council of Elders. I attended the Nov. 30 meeting of elders, a group that has been meeting twice a year for nearly four years. Elders from 12 tribes and honorary members in the state are invited to the university to share their educational and life experiences with the president.
“President Gamble gives weight and validity to what we say,” said Richard Little Bear, president of Chief Dull Knife College on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. “I'm going to keep making time to come over here. In the long run, it has a lot of implications for our students and how our students are treated on the campus. Those are the types of things that can help our students achieve.”
Gamble is already looking forward to the group's next meeting in April.
Read more here: http://www.missoulian.com/articles/2007/12/09/jodirave/rave19.txt
Friday, December 7, 2007
Featured Tribe: Karankawa - Texas
The Karankawa Indians lived along the Texas coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Their territory was from the west end of Galveston Island down the coast to where Corpus Christie is today. There were several bands, or maybe even several tribes. We are not sure, because much of the history of the Karankawa is lost. No one bothered to study them in any detail while they were still around to study. Making things worse, the Karankawa were favorite targets of many false myths and made up stories.
They were pretty good fighters and European settlers feared them. The Europeans also wanted the Karankawa's land. This may be why they made up so many bad myths about them. Many of the Karankawa warriors were over 6 feet tall. People were shorter back then and 6 foot tall Indians were really big. They had bows almost as tall as they were and shot long arrows made from slender shoots of cane. It is said they would suddenly show up in their canoes, seemingly out of no where, to attack. They would run away and retreat or escape the same way. They would go into the swamps and swampy woods were Europeans had a hard time following. There was a good reason why they were such good fighters and why they were so unfriendly to American settlers.
By the time American settlers came in contact with the Karankawa the Karankawa had already had some pretty bad experiences with Europeans. Early on, Spanish slave traders cruised along the coast of Texas and they would kidnap Karankawas by force or trickery and make slaves out of them. Later, the French, under the explorer LaSalle, were very unfriendly. The French stole two canoes without asking. They just took them. When the Karankawa asked that the canoes be given back the French refused and a shooting war between the French and Karankawa started. The French lost and LaSalle's small colony was destroyed by the Karankawas. From the Karankawa's point of view, every time the Europeans came around, the Europeans would try to steal from, kidnap, or kill the Karankawa. No wonder they were not very friendly. Seems like this happened to all the Indians in Texas and America. This was not always the case.
There's more here: http://www.texasindians.com/karank.htm
They were pretty good fighters and European settlers feared them. The Europeans also wanted the Karankawa's land. This may be why they made up so many bad myths about them. Many of the Karankawa warriors were over 6 feet tall. People were shorter back then and 6 foot tall Indians were really big. They had bows almost as tall as they were and shot long arrows made from slender shoots of cane. It is said they would suddenly show up in their canoes, seemingly out of no where, to attack. They would run away and retreat or escape the same way. They would go into the swamps and swampy woods were Europeans had a hard time following. There was a good reason why they were such good fighters and why they were so unfriendly to American settlers.
By the time American settlers came in contact with the Karankawa the Karankawa had already had some pretty bad experiences with Europeans. Early on, Spanish slave traders cruised along the coast of Texas and they would kidnap Karankawas by force or trickery and make slaves out of them. Later, the French, under the explorer LaSalle, were very unfriendly. The French stole two canoes without asking. They just took them. When the Karankawa asked that the canoes be given back the French refused and a shooting war between the French and Karankawa started. The French lost and LaSalle's small colony was destroyed by the Karankawas. From the Karankawa's point of view, every time the Europeans came around, the Europeans would try to steal from, kidnap, or kill the Karankawa. No wonder they were not very friendly. Seems like this happened to all the Indians in Texas and America. This was not always the case.
There's more here: http://www.texasindians.com/karank.htm
Two Dogs
Cherokee prophecy
There are two dogs (Alpha and Beta Canis Majori) who guard the path to the land of souls. To get past the dogs one should bring food. Be warned, if you give food to the first dog (Alpha) he will let you pass, but if you fail to save some food for the second dog (Beta) you will be trapped between them forever.
There are two dogs (Alpha and Beta Canis Majori) who guard the path to the land of souls. To get past the dogs one should bring food. Be warned, if you give food to the first dog (Alpha) he will let you pass, but if you fail to save some food for the second dog (Beta) you will be trapped between them forever.
Navajo couple hopes to inspire other American Indian artists with clothing designs
Associated Press
SHIPROCK The Navajo Nation operates much like an independent country, but when it comes to fashion and music it's as American as New York City.
That's the theory two young fashion designers bet on when they dropped out of college to start a line of edgy, graffiti-inspired clothing.
"Mainly we started to find extra money to pay bills, but it turned into this rapidly growing clothing company," said Tyson Powless, co-founder of the Shiprock-based UN3EK SY5TEM.
Powless, 28, grew up in Wisconsin, then moved to Tuba City, Ariz., for high school. He left Dixie College in St. George, Utah, a semester short of earning an associate's degree to try his hand at screen printing. His hand was well practiced; he began doodling Transformers and G.I. Joe figures at age 3.
The self-taught graffiti artist found a day job in Tempe, Ariz., and sold his original, screen-printed T-shirts by night at hip hop clubs. The designs feature a cross between the music culture and Powless's American Indian roots designs such as a Mohawk graphic and a white-on-black image of Chief Sitting Bull.
"I got to town with a portfolio of art," he said. "I was really hungry to get my stuff on T-shirts."
Read more here: http://www.lcsun-news.com/latest/ci_7660196
SHIPROCK The Navajo Nation operates much like an independent country, but when it comes to fashion and music it's as American as New York City.
That's the theory two young fashion designers bet on when they dropped out of college to start a line of edgy, graffiti-inspired clothing.
"Mainly we started to find extra money to pay bills, but it turned into this rapidly growing clothing company," said Tyson Powless, co-founder of the Shiprock-based UN3EK SY5TEM.
Powless, 28, grew up in Wisconsin, then moved to Tuba City, Ariz., for high school. He left Dixie College in St. George, Utah, a semester short of earning an associate's degree to try his hand at screen printing. His hand was well practiced; he began doodling Transformers and G.I. Joe figures at age 3.
The self-taught graffiti artist found a day job in Tempe, Ariz., and sold his original, screen-printed T-shirts by night at hip hop clubs. The designs feature a cross between the music culture and Powless's American Indian roots designs such as a Mohawk graphic and a white-on-black image of Chief Sitting Bull.
"I got to town with a portfolio of art," he said. "I was really hungry to get my stuff on T-shirts."
Read more here: http://www.lcsun-news.com/latest/ci_7660196
Family gets Sitting Bull artifacts
Associated Press
Mementos of Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull dating from 1890 were returned to his family yesterday at a ceremony in a quiet corner of the Smithsonian"s National Museum of Natural History.
"I appreciate from my heart what the Smithsonian has done," said Ernie LaPointe, Sitting Bull"s great-grandson.
"My great-grandfather stood for the freedom of the land, he stood for his people, and he was murdered for this," Mr. LaPointe said. "He stood his ground until the end."
Mr. LaPointe said he will hold a ceremony at his home in Lead, S.D., on Dec. 15 with a medicine man to help determine what should be done with the artifacts.
"These are not mine," he said. "They belong to my great-grandfather."
A leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux, Sitting Bull became famous as the leader who defeated Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.
Sitting Bull was killed while being arrested by tribal police in 1890. A lock of hair and leggings were obtained, without permission, by an Army doctor, who later donated them to the museum.
Bill Billeck, director of the repatriation office at the museum, said officials didn"t discover the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the materials until 1999.
Mementos of Sioux Indian Chief Sitting Bull dating from 1890 were returned to his family yesterday at a ceremony in a quiet corner of the Smithsonian"s National Museum of Natural History.
"I appreciate from my heart what the Smithsonian has done," said Ernie LaPointe, Sitting Bull"s great-grandson.
"My great-grandfather stood for the freedom of the land, he stood for his people, and he was murdered for this," Mr. LaPointe said. "He stood his ground until the end."
Mr. LaPointe said he will hold a ceremony at his home in Lead, S.D., on Dec. 15 with a medicine man to help determine what should be done with the artifacts.
"These are not mine," he said. "They belong to my great-grandfather."
A leader of the Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux, Sitting Bull became famous as the leader who defeated Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.
Sitting Bull was killed while being arrested by tribal police in 1890. A lock of hair and leggings were obtained, without permission, by an Army doctor, who later donated them to the museum.
Bill Billeck, director of the repatriation office at the museum, said officials didn"t discover the circumstances surrounding the acquisition of the materials until 1999.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
How the Fly Saved the River
Ojibway legend...
Many, many years ago when the world was new, there was a beautiful river. Fish in great numbers lived in this river, and its water was so pure and sweet that all the animals came there to drink.
A giant moose heard about the river and he too came there to drink. But he was so big, and he drank so much, that soon the water began to sink lower and lower.
The beavers were worried. The water around their lodges was disappearing. Soon their homes would be destroyed.
The muskrats were worried, too. What would they do if the water vanished? How could they live?
The fish were very worried. The other animals could live on land if the water dried up, but they couldn't.
All the animals tried to think of a way to drive the moose from the river, but he was so big that they were too afraid to try. Even the bear was afraid of him.
At last the fly said he would try to drive the moose away. All the animals laughed and jeered. How could a tiny fly frighten a giant moose? The fly said nothing, but that day, as soon as the moose appeared, he went into action.
He landed on the moose's foreleg and bit sharply. The moose stamped his foot harder, and each time he stamped, the ground sank and the water rushed in to fill it up. Then the fly jumped about all over the moose, biting and biting and biting until the moose was in a frenzy. He dashed madly about the banks of the river, shaking his head, stamping his feet, snorting and blowing, but he couldn't get rid of that pesky fly. At last the moose fled from the river, and didn't come back.
The fly was very proud of his achievement, and boasted to the other animals, "Even the small can fight the strong if they use their brains to think."
Many, many years ago when the world was new, there was a beautiful river. Fish in great numbers lived in this river, and its water was so pure and sweet that all the animals came there to drink.
A giant moose heard about the river and he too came there to drink. But he was so big, and he drank so much, that soon the water began to sink lower and lower.
The beavers were worried. The water around their lodges was disappearing. Soon their homes would be destroyed.
The muskrats were worried, too. What would they do if the water vanished? How could they live?
The fish were very worried. The other animals could live on land if the water dried up, but they couldn't.
All the animals tried to think of a way to drive the moose from the river, but he was so big that they were too afraid to try. Even the bear was afraid of him.
At last the fly said he would try to drive the moose away. All the animals laughed and jeered. How could a tiny fly frighten a giant moose? The fly said nothing, but that day, as soon as the moose appeared, he went into action.
He landed on the moose's foreleg and bit sharply. The moose stamped his foot harder, and each time he stamped, the ground sank and the water rushed in to fill it up. Then the fly jumped about all over the moose, biting and biting and biting until the moose was in a frenzy. He dashed madly about the banks of the river, shaking his head, stamping his feet, snorting and blowing, but he couldn't get rid of that pesky fly. At last the moose fled from the river, and didn't come back.
The fly was very proud of his achievement, and boasted to the other animals, "Even the small can fight the strong if they use their brains to think."
Do you know...
Paula Gunn Allen was the daughter of a Lebanese-American father and a Pueblo-Sioux-Scots mother. She was raised near Laguna and Acoma Pueblo reservations and was influenced by the matriarchal Pueblo culture. She received both her BA in English and her MFA in creative writing from the University of Oregon, and a doctorate in American studies, with a concentration in Native American literature, from the University of New Mexico.
In 1978 she received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and in 1980, a fellowship to study Indian women's writings. Her 1983 novel, The Woman Who Owned the Shadows, reflected her own upbringing. Her collections of poetry include Coyote's Daylight Trip (1978), Shadow Country (1982), and Life is a Fatal Disease (1996). Studies in American Indian Literature: Critical Essays and Course Designs (1983) is considered a landmark text in Native American literary criticism. The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions (1986) explores the importance of women in traditional Indian culture. Along with Patricia Clark Smith, Allen wrote As Long as the Rivers Flow: The Stories of Nine Native Americans (1996) for younger readers. Her latest work is Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat (2003), a new look at Pocahontas through the eyes of a Native American woman.
She has taught at Fort Lewis College, San Diego State University, San Francisco State University, the University of New Mexico, and retired in 1999 from the University of California at Los Angeles.
She is also listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History.
In 1978 she received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and in 1980, a fellowship to study Indian women's writings. Her 1983 novel, The Woman Who Owned the Shadows, reflected her own upbringing. Her collections of poetry include Coyote's Daylight Trip (1978), Shadow Country (1982), and Life is a Fatal Disease (1996). Studies in American Indian Literature: Critical Essays and Course Designs (1983) is considered a landmark text in Native American literary criticism. The Sacred Hoop: Recovering the Feminine in American Indian Traditions (1986) explores the importance of women in traditional Indian culture. Along with Patricia Clark Smith, Allen wrote As Long as the Rivers Flow: The Stories of Nine Native Americans (1996) for younger readers. Her latest work is Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat (2003), a new look at Pocahontas through the eyes of a Native American woman.
She has taught at Fort Lewis College, San Diego State University, San Francisco State University, the University of New Mexico, and retired in 1999 from the University of California at Los Angeles.
She is also listed in 100 Native Americans Who Shaped American History.
Native American Artifacts
Disclaimer: Spirit People Intertribal does not in any way advocate or support the sale of or collection of North American Indian Artifacts. The following is for informational purposes only. This piece was found on this website: http://www.native-languages.org/composition/native-american.html
With a long history that dates back long before the first European settlers arrived on North American soil in the 1400 and 1500s, Native Americans left many Native American Artifacts scattered among the far-reaching plains and untamed wilderness that was their homeland for thousands, upon thousands of years.
As the Native American populations were dispersed throughout the country, their artifacts were often left behind or taken and passed down through generations to ensure the history of their culture and the traditions and history of their tribe was not lost.
Native American artifacts have become collectors items for their beauty and significance in the grander history of North America, allowing archeologists and anthropologist or even the average collector a peek into the life, culture, traditions and societies of Native Americans through the Native American Artifacts left behind.
Beautiful clay and earthen pottery pieces, clothing, including moccasins, headdresses and leather works, knives, tomahawks, bows and arrow heads, paintings, sand paintings, pipes, drums and more all comprise the list of Native American artifacts.
Collectors of Native American artifacts have combed through their ancient lands and former homelands searching for pieces that provide cultural clues to the Native American tribes. While many Native American artifacts share similar characteristics, several rules and norms and spiritual ceremonies differed from among the hundreds of tribes scattered around the United States and Canada, allowing for a large and diverse collection of Native American artifacts.
Ensure The Authenticity Of Native American Artifacts!
While collectors and retailers abound offering different Native American artifacts, you must ensure that any piece you may consider purchasing be unique and legitimate. By and large, Native American artifacts collectors have verified their authenticity of their pieces prior to offering them up for sale, and several Native Americans themselves have collected numerous pieces throughout the years or have kept them within their families for generations.
With a long history that dates back long before the first European settlers arrived on North American soil in the 1400 and 1500s, Native Americans left many Native American Artifacts scattered among the far-reaching plains and untamed wilderness that was their homeland for thousands, upon thousands of years.
As the Native American populations were dispersed throughout the country, their artifacts were often left behind or taken and passed down through generations to ensure the history of their culture and the traditions and history of their tribe was not lost.
Native American artifacts have become collectors items for their beauty and significance in the grander history of North America, allowing archeologists and anthropologist or even the average collector a peek into the life, culture, traditions and societies of Native Americans through the Native American Artifacts left behind.
Beautiful clay and earthen pottery pieces, clothing, including moccasins, headdresses and leather works, knives, tomahawks, bows and arrow heads, paintings, sand paintings, pipes, drums and more all comprise the list of Native American artifacts.
Collectors of Native American artifacts have combed through their ancient lands and former homelands searching for pieces that provide cultural clues to the Native American tribes. While many Native American artifacts share similar characteristics, several rules and norms and spiritual ceremonies differed from among the hundreds of tribes scattered around the United States and Canada, allowing for a large and diverse collection of Native American artifacts.
Ensure The Authenticity Of Native American Artifacts!
While collectors and retailers abound offering different Native American artifacts, you must ensure that any piece you may consider purchasing be unique and legitimate. By and large, Native American artifacts collectors have verified their authenticity of their pieces prior to offering them up for sale, and several Native Americans themselves have collected numerous pieces throughout the years or have kept them within their families for generations.
Sioux logo T-shirt stirs controversy
By: Ryan Schuster
A T-shirt produced by a North Dakota business attempting to poke fun at the UND Fighting Sioux logo controversy has inflamed tensions on an already sensitive issue.
The shirt, which Jamestown, N.D.-based Originals Inc. began printing about a week ago, includes the words: "No Sioux Logo No Sioux Casinos!" It also features UND's Indian head logo with the words: "Hostile and Abusive," and plots out the location of three casinos in North Dakota and South Dakota, which it describes as "Destructive and Addictive."
"This is not a sentiment we are promoting, fostering or supporting in any way, shape or form," said UND spokesman Peter Johnson. "We just don't think there is any place for this type of thing in the dialogue we would like to have. It is not what the University of North Dakota is about."
UND has agreed to discontinue use of the Fighting Sioux name and its Indian logo within three years if it is unsuccessful in winning tribal support. The NCAA at one point alleged that UND's use of the nickname and logo created a "hostile" and "abusive" environment for American Indian students.
Read more here: http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=59492&freebie_check&CFID=72277656&CFTOKEN=37007498&jsessionid=8830a1560cb3c514a2a5
A T-shirt produced by a North Dakota business attempting to poke fun at the UND Fighting Sioux logo controversy has inflamed tensions on an already sensitive issue.
The shirt, which Jamestown, N.D.-based Originals Inc. began printing about a week ago, includes the words: "No Sioux Logo No Sioux Casinos!" It also features UND's Indian head logo with the words: "Hostile and Abusive," and plots out the location of three casinos in North Dakota and South Dakota, which it describes as "Destructive and Addictive."
"This is not a sentiment we are promoting, fostering or supporting in any way, shape or form," said UND spokesman Peter Johnson. "We just don't think there is any place for this type of thing in the dialogue we would like to have. It is not what the University of North Dakota is about."
UND has agreed to discontinue use of the Fighting Sioux name and its Indian logo within three years if it is unsuccessful in winning tribal support. The NCAA at one point alleged that UND's use of the nickname and logo created a "hostile" and "abusive" environment for American Indian students.
Read more here: http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=59492&freebie_check&CFID=72277656&CFTOKEN=37007498&jsessionid=8830a1560cb3c514a2a5
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Quotes
"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset." -
Crowfoot - Blackfoot
Crowfoot - Blackfoot
Important dates in history, December...
December 15, 1890 - Chief Sitting Bull is murdered outside his home at Standing Rock, ND
December 16, 1882 - The Hopi reservation is established in Arizona
December 18, 1971 - Alaskan Native Claims Act is signed into law
December 26, 1862 - 38 Dakotas are publically hanged in largest mass execution in U.S. history
December 29, 1890 - Wounded Knee massacre of Big Foot's Lakota. In less than ten minutes, more than three hundred old men, women, and children are massacred by the U.S. Seventh Cavalry
Information provided by Native American Rights Fund. "We ask for nothing more and will accept nothing less than the U.S. government keeping the promises it has made to Native Americans." - John E. Echohawk, Executive Director, NARF
December 16, 1882 - The Hopi reservation is established in Arizona
December 18, 1971 - Alaskan Native Claims Act is signed into law
December 26, 1862 - 38 Dakotas are publically hanged in largest mass execution in U.S. history
December 29, 1890 - Wounded Knee massacre of Big Foot's Lakota. In less than ten minutes, more than three hundred old men, women, and children are massacred by the U.S. Seventh Cavalry
Information provided by Native American Rights Fund. "We ask for nothing more and will accept nothing less than the U.S. government keeping the promises it has made to Native Americans." - John E. Echohawk, Executive Director, NARF
'Pulling Down the Clouds' unites many authors' voices
By: Konnie LeMay
WASHINGTON - It begins beautifully with Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday, Kiowa.
Starting with the famed author of ''House Made of Dawn'' is, of course, a great way to begin anything, but especially what is probably the largest gathering of contemporary Native writers on one compact disc.
''Pulling Down the Clouds: Contemporary Native Writers Read Their Work'' is an anthology of works by various writers read by the authors themselves. It pulls together a portion of the Native Writers Series undertaken for nine nights during each of the last four years at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
Tanya Thrasher, Cherokee and editor of the CD project, said that after four years of invitations to writers to read their work, ''we have this amazing collection of audio recordings ... just the magnitude, just the power of every author and the talent they have.''
The result is a satisfying mixture of familiar universal stories with personal insights, a smattering of humor and even one song. The stories are told through the eyes of the authors or through their characters, like Momaday's empathetic envisioning of Sacagawea's thoughts as she traveled with Lewis and Clark; or the examination by Louise Erdrich, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, of the wisdom told by wolves to a once-suicidal old man from her Anishinaabe heritage: '''We live because we live.' ... The wolves accept the life they are given.''
Read more here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416151
WASHINGTON - It begins beautifully with Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday, Kiowa.
Starting with the famed author of ''House Made of Dawn'' is, of course, a great way to begin anything, but especially what is probably the largest gathering of contemporary Native writers on one compact disc.
''Pulling Down the Clouds: Contemporary Native Writers Read Their Work'' is an anthology of works by various writers read by the authors themselves. It pulls together a portion of the Native Writers Series undertaken for nine nights during each of the last four years at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
Tanya Thrasher, Cherokee and editor of the CD project, said that after four years of invitations to writers to read their work, ''we have this amazing collection of audio recordings ... just the magnitude, just the power of every author and the talent they have.''
The result is a satisfying mixture of familiar universal stories with personal insights, a smattering of humor and even one song. The stories are told through the eyes of the authors or through their characters, like Momaday's empathetic envisioning of Sacagawea's thoughts as she traveled with Lewis and Clark; or the examination by Louise Erdrich, Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, of the wisdom told by wolves to a once-suicidal old man from her Anishinaabe heritage: '''We live because we live.' ... The wolves accept the life they are given.''
Read more here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416151
Sherman Alexie wins the National Book Award
By: Mary Ann Gwinn
SEATTLE (MCT) - Seattle author Sherman Alexie has won the National Book Award for his highly autobiographical novel for young people, ''The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.''
Alexie got the news the night of Nov. 14 at the awards ceremony in New York. He won for best book in the young people's literature category. In his acceptance speech, Alexie, an author of 19 books of fiction, poetry and essays, quipped, ''Wow ... I obviously should have been writing YA [young adult] all along.''
He credited Alex Kuo, a creative-writing teacher at Washington State University who gave him an anthology of American Indian writing. It helped persuade him to become a writer. ''I had never read words written by a Native American. The first one was a poem about frying baloney ... I grew up eating fried baloney. The other was a poem by Adrian Lewis, and the poem had the line, 'Oh, Uncle Adrian, I'm in the reservation of my mind.' I knew right then when I read that line that I wanted to be a writer. It's been a gorgeous and magnificent and lonely 20 years since then.''
''I am in post-traumatic shock-stress syndrome,'' Alexie said later. ''It's just astonishing. It's all because 27 years ago, I went up to my mom and dad and asked if I could leave the rez school, and they said yes.''
He thanked his wife, his two sons and his editor, ''who edited me, even though I can be an arrogant bastard.''
Read the full article here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416191
SEATTLE (MCT) - Seattle author Sherman Alexie has won the National Book Award for his highly autobiographical novel for young people, ''The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.''
Alexie got the news the night of Nov. 14 at the awards ceremony in New York. He won for best book in the young people's literature category. In his acceptance speech, Alexie, an author of 19 books of fiction, poetry and essays, quipped, ''Wow ... I obviously should have been writing YA [young adult] all along.''
He credited Alex Kuo, a creative-writing teacher at Washington State University who gave him an anthology of American Indian writing. It helped persuade him to become a writer. ''I had never read words written by a Native American. The first one was a poem about frying baloney ... I grew up eating fried baloney. The other was a poem by Adrian Lewis, and the poem had the line, 'Oh, Uncle Adrian, I'm in the reservation of my mind.' I knew right then when I read that line that I wanted to be a writer. It's been a gorgeous and magnificent and lonely 20 years since then.''
''I am in post-traumatic shock-stress syndrome,'' Alexie said later. ''It's just astonishing. It's all because 27 years ago, I went up to my mom and dad and asked if I could leave the rez school, and they said yes.''
He thanked his wife, his two sons and his editor, ''who edited me, even though I can be an arrogant bastard.''
Read the full article here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416191
Friday, November 30, 2007
Quotes
"When the Earth is sick, the animals will begin to disappear, when that happens, the
Warriors of the Rainbow will come to save them." -
Chief Seattle - Suquamish/Duwamish
Warriors of the Rainbow will come to save them." -
Chief Seattle - Suquamish/Duwamish
Seasons
A legend - origination unknown
There was an Indian Chief who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest.. in turn.. to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.
The first son went in the Winter, the second in the Spring, the third in Summer, and the youngest son in the Fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.
The second son said "no" it was covered with green buds and full of promise.
The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful. It was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.
The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.
The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.
He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up. If you give up when it's Winter, you will miss the promise of your Spring, the beauty of your Summer, the fulfillment of your Fall.
There was an Indian Chief who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest.. in turn.. to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.
The first son went in the Winter, the second in the Spring, the third in Summer, and the youngest son in the Fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.
The second son said "no" it was covered with green buds and full of promise.
The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful. It was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.
The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.
The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.
He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up. If you give up when it's Winter, you will miss the promise of your Spring, the beauty of your Summer, the fulfillment of your Fall.
BIA to consider moratorium on uranium mining leases on Navajo trust land
By: Jerry Reynolds
WASHINGTON - Congressmen, Navajo leaders and federal agency leaders alike heard the grim legacy of past uranium mining on Navajo lands and learned of nuclear industry efforts to stockpile uranium mining permits for future use.
Midway through a roundtable on uranium mining, hosted by Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., Nov. 8, the solution seemed to become obvious to everyone at once: first clean up the abandoned uranium sites that threaten Navajo health and groundwater, then place a federal moratorium on new Navajo-based uranium mining until the cleanup is accomplished. The Navajo Nation already has a moratorium in place, but uranium mining interests are approaching off-reservation owners of individual allotted trust lands with lease offers, according to nation representatives at the roundtable. A federal moratorium would forbid uranium mining leases on any and all Navajo trust land.
''Congressman Udall,'' said Mitchell Capitan, founder of Eastern Navajo Dine' Against Uranium Mining, ''communities across New Mexico and the Four Corners [of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado - i.e., Navajo land] are saying the same thing we are. Clean up the uranium messes before creating new ones. We are in agreement with our brothers and sisters, the pueblos and Lagunas are here, our Anglo and Hispanic communities. New uranium mining threatens us all. We need a federal moratorium on new mining.''
There's more here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416131
WASHINGTON - Congressmen, Navajo leaders and federal agency leaders alike heard the grim legacy of past uranium mining on Navajo lands and learned of nuclear industry efforts to stockpile uranium mining permits for future use.
Midway through a roundtable on uranium mining, hosted by Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., Nov. 8, the solution seemed to become obvious to everyone at once: first clean up the abandoned uranium sites that threaten Navajo health and groundwater, then place a federal moratorium on new Navajo-based uranium mining until the cleanup is accomplished. The Navajo Nation already has a moratorium in place, but uranium mining interests are approaching off-reservation owners of individual allotted trust lands with lease offers, according to nation representatives at the roundtable. A federal moratorium would forbid uranium mining leases on any and all Navajo trust land.
''Congressman Udall,'' said Mitchell Capitan, founder of Eastern Navajo Dine' Against Uranium Mining, ''communities across New Mexico and the Four Corners [of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado - i.e., Navajo land] are saying the same thing we are. Clean up the uranium messes before creating new ones. We are in agreement with our brothers and sisters, the pueblos and Lagunas are here, our Anglo and Hispanic communities. New uranium mining threatens us all. We need a federal moratorium on new mining.''
There's more here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416131
From San Francisco to D.C.
By: Shadi Rahimi
SAN FRANCISCO - In the three decades since Mohawk student Richard Oakes first dove into the ice-cold waters of the San Francisco Bay and set off a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island, thousands have returned to honor those who ignited a national movement.
This year, as the sun rose above the blue-green waters still tinged with black from a 58,000-gallon oil spill in early November, activists from the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement era vowed more change.
In addition to protests reignited this year around the desecration of sacred sites and burial grounds and the return of ancestral remains from University of California - Berkeley, Natives here are helping to revive the Longest Walk of 1978.
''It's the continuation of the 'Longest War' that started when the first Indian blood was spilled on this land, which is still being done today - it's just more subtle,'' said Bill ''Jimbo'' Simmons of the International Indian Treaty Council.
Simmons, 52, walked the entire five-month journey in 1978. Next year, on Feb. 11, he and others will depart after a ceremony on Alcatraz to trek 4,400 miles across 11 states until they reach Washington, D.C.
There, thousands will add the message that ''all life is sacred'' to campaigns around global warming, said Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement. Walkers will pick up debris that public buses will collect for recycling, he said.
Want the whole story? Click here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416194
SAN FRANCISCO - In the three decades since Mohawk student Richard Oakes first dove into the ice-cold waters of the San Francisco Bay and set off a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island, thousands have returned to honor those who ignited a national movement.
This year, as the sun rose above the blue-green waters still tinged with black from a 58,000-gallon oil spill in early November, activists from the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement era vowed more change.
In addition to protests reignited this year around the desecration of sacred sites and burial grounds and the return of ancestral remains from University of California - Berkeley, Natives here are helping to revive the Longest Walk of 1978.
''It's the continuation of the 'Longest War' that started when the first Indian blood was spilled on this land, which is still being done today - it's just more subtle,'' said Bill ''Jimbo'' Simmons of the International Indian Treaty Council.
Simmons, 52, walked the entire five-month journey in 1978. Next year, on Feb. 11, he and others will depart after a ceremony on Alcatraz to trek 4,400 miles across 11 states until they reach Washington, D.C.
There, thousands will add the message that ''all life is sacred'' to campaigns around global warming, said Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement. Walkers will pick up debris that public buses will collect for recycling, he said.
Want the whole story? Click here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416194
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Quotes
"I am a red man. If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man he would have made me so in the first place. He put in your heart certain wishes and plans, in my heart he put other and different desires. Each man is good in his sight. It is not necessary for Eagles to be Crows. We are poor . . . but we are free. No white man controls our footsteps. If we must die . . . we die defending our rights." -
Sitting Bull - Oglala Sioux
Sitting Bull - Oglala Sioux
Oklahoma artists create dialogue to discuss state's centennial
By: Brian Daffron
OKLAHOMA CITY - As the state of Oklahoma celebrates 100 years of being admitted into the Union, many cities and towns throughout the state are having different types of celebrations. Some include parades and festivals. Other activities include all-star country music concerts headlined by Oklahomans Vince Gill and Toby Keith. Other activities may include ''Land Run'' recreations on public school playgrounds.
''For mainstream Oklahoma, it's easier to go down the road where things are always pleasant and always happy,'' said Choctaw/Southern Cheyenne artist Tim Ramsey. ''Just for that reason, it's a little bit harder to look at someone else and empathize with another history that you're not familiar with or that might be a little bit uncomfortable.''
This ''uncomfortable'' history grows into evasive questions throughout much of the Oklahoma Centennial hoopla that in many cases are not attempted to be answered or are forgotten. What about the history of Oklahoma and Indian Territory before statehood or even before the Land Run of 1889? What about the allotment system that ultimately created Oklahoma? How about the effects of statehood and loss of land on Oklahoma's Native population today?
Oklahoma's Native artists will answer questions - and even ask new ones - with the exhibit ''Current Realities: A Dialogue with the People,'' which began with its Nov. 9 opening, featuring work from more than 75 artists at the Individual Artists of Oklahoma Gallery, 811 N. Broadway in Oklahoma City, running through Dec. 21.
Read the complete article here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416146
OKLAHOMA CITY - As the state of Oklahoma celebrates 100 years of being admitted into the Union, many cities and towns throughout the state are having different types of celebrations. Some include parades and festivals. Other activities include all-star country music concerts headlined by Oklahomans Vince Gill and Toby Keith. Other activities may include ''Land Run'' recreations on public school playgrounds.
''For mainstream Oklahoma, it's easier to go down the road where things are always pleasant and always happy,'' said Choctaw/Southern Cheyenne artist Tim Ramsey. ''Just for that reason, it's a little bit harder to look at someone else and empathize with another history that you're not familiar with or that might be a little bit uncomfortable.''
This ''uncomfortable'' history grows into evasive questions throughout much of the Oklahoma Centennial hoopla that in many cases are not attempted to be answered or are forgotten. What about the history of Oklahoma and Indian Territory before statehood or even before the Land Run of 1889? What about the allotment system that ultimately created Oklahoma? How about the effects of statehood and loss of land on Oklahoma's Native population today?
Oklahoma's Native artists will answer questions - and even ask new ones - with the exhibit ''Current Realities: A Dialogue with the People,'' which began with its Nov. 9 opening, featuring work from more than 75 artists at the Individual Artists of Oklahoma Gallery, 811 N. Broadway in Oklahoma City, running through Dec. 21.
Read the complete article here: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416146
South Mountain Freeway study approved
Tribe allows access to Gila River Reservation
By: Kerry Fehr-Snyder
AHWATUKEE - At first blush, it looks like the most hopeful sign for South Mountain Freeway foes in years.
But the Gila River Indian Community wants to make it clear that allowing the state Transportation Department access to its land doesn't mean that the community has reversed its objection to building the proposed 22-mile freeway on reservation land.
"That's not even on the table," said spokeswoman Alia Maisonet. "This is just so it (the Arizona Department of Transportation) can complete the study for the Pecos Road alignment."
The community announced Tuesday that it will give ADOT one year to access its land for an environmental-impact statement, which is due out next year. Over the years, there has been talk of pushing the freeway alignment south onto reservation land, but the community has barred ADOT from studying that option.
The community's new decision doesn't change that, Maisonet said. Instead, ADOT will be allowed to study possible water runoff, pollution and other environmental impacts created by the $1.7 billion freeway in Ahwatukee.
"We explained to ADOT that this is not to mean there is a freeway on our land or a freeway even to be considered on the land," Maisonet said.
By: Kerry Fehr-Snyder
AHWATUKEE - At first blush, it looks like the most hopeful sign for South Mountain Freeway foes in years.
But the Gila River Indian Community wants to make it clear that allowing the state Transportation Department access to its land doesn't mean that the community has reversed its objection to building the proposed 22-mile freeway on reservation land.
"That's not even on the table," said spokeswoman Alia Maisonet. "This is just so it (the Arizona Department of Transportation) can complete the study for the Pecos Road alignment."
The community announced Tuesday that it will give ADOT one year to access its land for an environmental-impact statement, which is due out next year. Over the years, there has been talk of pushing the freeway alignment south onto reservation land, but the community has barred ADOT from studying that option.
The community's new decision doesn't change that, Maisonet said. Instead, ADOT will be allowed to study possible water runoff, pollution and other environmental impacts created by the $1.7 billion freeway in Ahwatukee.
"We explained to ADOT that this is not to mean there is a freeway on our land or a freeway even to be considered on the land," Maisonet said.
Fire on the mountain
Disaster leaves La Jolla Indian Reservation with almost nothing
By: David Kelly
A pitiless firestorm - one of the many that swept over Southern California - was especially cruel to the La Jolla Indian Reservation clinging to the southern slopes of Mount Palomar.
Residents described hellish flames sweeping over lush hills and valleys, burning 94 percent of the reservation and destroying 59 of its 170 houses. Thick forests of live oak that once shaded homes for generations of American Indians are gone now, replaced by black scars of ash.
Unlike many neighboring tribes, the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians don't own a casino. Many members rely on government aid to survive, and the chief source of revenue is a campground along a three-mile stretch of the San Luis Rey River.
"We were already at the bottom of the barrel, and now this takes us down even further," said tribal Chairman Tracy Lee Nelson, who returned from his honeymoon to find cinders where his house had stood. "I have never been up against anything like this before. It will take millions of dollars to repair this reservation."
Tribal members, who number about 700 , are still trying to digest the magnitude of destruction that has touched everyone in some way.
Want to read more? Click here: http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071128/NEWS03/711280329/1013/NEWS03
By: David Kelly
A pitiless firestorm - one of the many that swept over Southern California - was especially cruel to the La Jolla Indian Reservation clinging to the southern slopes of Mount Palomar.
Residents described hellish flames sweeping over lush hills and valleys, burning 94 percent of the reservation and destroying 59 of its 170 houses. Thick forests of live oak that once shaded homes for generations of American Indians are gone now, replaced by black scars of ash.
Unlike many neighboring tribes, the La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians don't own a casino. Many members rely on government aid to survive, and the chief source of revenue is a campground along a three-mile stretch of the San Luis Rey River.
"We were already at the bottom of the barrel, and now this takes us down even further," said tribal Chairman Tracy Lee Nelson, who returned from his honeymoon to find cinders where his house had stood. "I have never been up against anything like this before. It will take millions of dollars to repair this reservation."
Tribal members, who number about 700 , are still trying to digest the magnitude of destruction that has touched everyone in some way.
Want to read more? Click here: http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071128/NEWS03/711280329/1013/NEWS03
Monday, November 26, 2007
Origin of Corn
Abenaki legend...
A long time ago, when the Indians were first made, one man lived alone, far from any others. He did not know fire, and so he lived on roots, bark, and nuts. This man became very lonely for companionship. He grew tired of digging roots, lost his appetite, and for several days lay dreaming in the sunshine. When he awoke, he saw someone standing near and, at first, was very frightened.
But when he heard the stranger's voice, his heart was glad, and he looked up. He saw a beautiful woman with long light hair! "Come to me," he whispered. But she did not, and when he tried to approach her, she moved farther away. He sang to her about his loneliness, and begged her not to leave him.
At last she replied, "If you will do exactly what I tell you to do, I will also be with you."
He promised that he would try his very best. So she led him to a place where there was some very dry grass. "Now get two dry sticks," she told him, "and rub them together fast while you hold them in the grass."
Soon a spark flew out. The grass caught fire, and as swiftly as an arrow takes flight, the ground was burned over. Then the beautiful woman spoke again: "When the sun sets, take me by the hair and drag me over the burned ground."
"Oh, I don't want to do that!" the man exclaimed.
"You must do what I tell you to do," said she. "Wherever you drag me, something like grass will spring up, and you will see something like hair coming from between the leaves. Soon seeds will be ready for your use."
The man followed the beautiful woman's orders. And when the Indians see silk on the cornstalk, they know that the beautiful woman has not forgotten them.
A long time ago, when the Indians were first made, one man lived alone, far from any others. He did not know fire, and so he lived on roots, bark, and nuts. This man became very lonely for companionship. He grew tired of digging roots, lost his appetite, and for several days lay dreaming in the sunshine. When he awoke, he saw someone standing near and, at first, was very frightened.
But when he heard the stranger's voice, his heart was glad, and he looked up. He saw a beautiful woman with long light hair! "Come to me," he whispered. But she did not, and when he tried to approach her, she moved farther away. He sang to her about his loneliness, and begged her not to leave him.
At last she replied, "If you will do exactly what I tell you to do, I will also be with you."
He promised that he would try his very best. So she led him to a place where there was some very dry grass. "Now get two dry sticks," she told him, "and rub them together fast while you hold them in the grass."
Soon a spark flew out. The grass caught fire, and as swiftly as an arrow takes flight, the ground was burned over. Then the beautiful woman spoke again: "When the sun sets, take me by the hair and drag me over the burned ground."
"Oh, I don't want to do that!" the man exclaimed.
"You must do what I tell you to do," said she. "Wherever you drag me, something like grass will spring up, and you will see something like hair coming from between the leaves. Soon seeds will be ready for your use."
The man followed the beautiful woman's orders. And when the Indians see silk on the cornstalk, they know that the beautiful woman has not forgotten them.
Do you know...
Black Kettle - Cheyenne
Few biographical details are known about the Southern Cheyenne chief Black Kettle, but his repeated efforts to secure a peace with honor for his people, despite broken promises and attacks on his own life, speak of him as a great leader with an almost unique vision of the possiblity for coexistence between white society and the culture of the plains.
Black Kettle lived on the vast territory in western Kansas and eastern Colorado that had been guaranteed to the Cheyenne under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Within less than a decade, however, the 1859 Pikes Peak gold rush sparked an enormous population boom in Colorado, and this led to extensive white encroachments on Cheyenne land. Even the U.S. Indian Commissioner admitted that "We have substantially taken possession of the country and deprived the Indians of their accustomed means of support."
Rather than evict white settlers, the government sought to resolve the situation by demanding that the Southern Cheyenne sign a new treaty ceding all their lands save the small Sand Creek reservation in southeastern Colorado. Black Kettle, fearing that overwhelming U.S. military power might result in an even less favorable settlement, agreed to the treaty in 1861 and did what he could to see that the Cheyenne obeyed its provisions.
As it turned out, however, the Sand Creek reservation could not sustain the Indians forced to live there. All but unfit for agriculture, the barren tract of land was little more than a breeding ground for epidemic diseases which soon swept through the Cheyenne encampments. By 1862 the nearest herd of buffalo was over two hundred miles away. Many Cheyennes, especially young men, began to leave the reservation to prey upon the livestock and goods of nearby settlers and passing wagon trains. One such raid in the spring of 1864 so angered white Coloradans that they dispatched their militia, which opened fire on the first band of Cheyenne they happened to meet. None of the Indians in this band had participated in the raid, however, and their leader was actually approaching the militia for a parlay when the shooting began.
This incident touched off an uncoordinated Indian uprising across the Great Plains, as Indian peoples from the Comanche in the South to the Lakota in the North took advantage of the army's involvement in the Civil War by striking back at those who had encroached upon their lands. Black Kettle, however, understood white military supremacy too well to support the cause of war. He spoke with the local military commander at Fort Weld in Colorado and believed he had secured a promise of safety in exchange for leading his band back to the Sand Creek reservation.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/blackkettle.htm
Few biographical details are known about the Southern Cheyenne chief Black Kettle, but his repeated efforts to secure a peace with honor for his people, despite broken promises and attacks on his own life, speak of him as a great leader with an almost unique vision of the possiblity for coexistence between white society and the culture of the plains.
Black Kettle lived on the vast territory in western Kansas and eastern Colorado that had been guaranteed to the Cheyenne under the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Within less than a decade, however, the 1859 Pikes Peak gold rush sparked an enormous population boom in Colorado, and this led to extensive white encroachments on Cheyenne land. Even the U.S. Indian Commissioner admitted that "We have substantially taken possession of the country and deprived the Indians of their accustomed means of support."
Rather than evict white settlers, the government sought to resolve the situation by demanding that the Southern Cheyenne sign a new treaty ceding all their lands save the small Sand Creek reservation in southeastern Colorado. Black Kettle, fearing that overwhelming U.S. military power might result in an even less favorable settlement, agreed to the treaty in 1861 and did what he could to see that the Cheyenne obeyed its provisions.
As it turned out, however, the Sand Creek reservation could not sustain the Indians forced to live there. All but unfit for agriculture, the barren tract of land was little more than a breeding ground for epidemic diseases which soon swept through the Cheyenne encampments. By 1862 the nearest herd of buffalo was over two hundred miles away. Many Cheyennes, especially young men, began to leave the reservation to prey upon the livestock and goods of nearby settlers and passing wagon trains. One such raid in the spring of 1864 so angered white Coloradans that they dispatched their militia, which opened fire on the first band of Cheyenne they happened to meet. None of the Indians in this band had participated in the raid, however, and their leader was actually approaching the militia for a parlay when the shooting began.
This incident touched off an uncoordinated Indian uprising across the Great Plains, as Indian peoples from the Comanche in the South to the Lakota in the North took advantage of the army's involvement in the Civil War by striking back at those who had encroached upon their lands. Black Kettle, however, understood white military supremacy too well to support the cause of war. He spoke with the local military commander at Fort Weld in Colorado and believed he had secured a promise of safety in exchange for leading his band back to the Sand Creek reservation.
Want to know more? Click here: http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/blackkettle.htm
House passes legislation to designate a Native American Heritage Day
Staff report: Indian Country Today
WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation Nov. 13, introduced by Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., that encourages the designation of the Friday after Thanksgiving as Native American Heritage Day. The Native American Heritage Day bill, H.J. Res. 62, encourages the establishment of a day to pay tribute to American Indians for their many contributions to the United States.
''Native Americans have enriched American culture throughout their proud history,'' Baca said. ''It is important that we recognize these contributions and ensure all Americans are properly educated on the heritage and achievements of Native Americans. For years, I have fought to ensure Native Americans receive the recognition they deserve, and today, I am proud the House has passed this vital bill.''
The Native American Heritage Day bill encourages Americans of all backgrounds to observe the Friday after Thanksgiving as Native American Heritage Day, through appropriate ceremonies and activities. It also encourages public elementary and secondary schools to enhance student understanding of American Indians by providing classroom instruction focusing on their history, achievements and contributions.
''This bill will help to preserve the history and legacy of Native Americans,'' Baca added. ''Native Americans and their ancestors have played a critical role in the formation of our nation. They have fought with valor and died in every American war dating back to the Revolutionary War. We must encourage greater awareness of the significant role they have played in America's history.''
The Native American Heritage Day bill is currently supported by 184 federally recognized Indian tribes throughout the nation. The bill has also gained wide support in the House of Representatives, including co-sponsorship from the chairman of the Native American Caucus, Rep. Dale Kildee.
Baca has been an active member of the Native American Caucus in the House of Representatives since first coming to Congress in 1999.
WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation Nov. 13, introduced by Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., that encourages the designation of the Friday after Thanksgiving as Native American Heritage Day. The Native American Heritage Day bill, H.J. Res. 62, encourages the establishment of a day to pay tribute to American Indians for their many contributions to the United States.
''Native Americans have enriched American culture throughout their proud history,'' Baca said. ''It is important that we recognize these contributions and ensure all Americans are properly educated on the heritage and achievements of Native Americans. For years, I have fought to ensure Native Americans receive the recognition they deserve, and today, I am proud the House has passed this vital bill.''
The Native American Heritage Day bill encourages Americans of all backgrounds to observe the Friday after Thanksgiving as Native American Heritage Day, through appropriate ceremonies and activities. It also encourages public elementary and secondary schools to enhance student understanding of American Indians by providing classroom instruction focusing on their history, achievements and contributions.
''This bill will help to preserve the history and legacy of Native Americans,'' Baca added. ''Native Americans and their ancestors have played a critical role in the formation of our nation. They have fought with valor and died in every American war dating back to the Revolutionary War. We must encourage greater awareness of the significant role they have played in America's history.''
The Native American Heritage Day bill is currently supported by 184 federally recognized Indian tribes throughout the nation. The bill has also gained wide support in the House of Representatives, including co-sponsorship from the chairman of the Native American Caucus, Rep. Dale Kildee.
Baca has been an active member of the Native American Caucus in the House of Representatives since first coming to Congress in 1999.
Special demonstration shares Native perspective on Oklahoma centennial
by: Brian Daffron
OKLAHOMA CITY - Within the shadow of Oklahoma's state Capitol and Jim Thorpe Building, more than 300 people of different tribes and nationalities gathered Nov. 16 at State Capitol Park to honor those ancestors whose forced sacrifices of land and life helped create the state of Oklahoma 100 years ago.
''Oklahoma was the great experiment of hoping to absorb the Indian - to be totally acculturated,'' said Euchee participant Richard Ray Whitman. ''Our people knew that; culturally, our way of being who we are is just as valid. They resisted this makeup of us, and it's an experiment that's gone bad. In some cases, it shows up in our lack of cohesiveness with tribal families and tribal organizations. We know we come from a culture of strong cohesive truth telling. Dialogue is not a new idea or a new concept. We have a long history of that, to listen to eacha other. We should say that after this centennial year, perhaps we should enter into a dialogue of reconciliation to set the record straight.''
The three-hour program consisted of prayer, traditional and contemporary Native music and testimonials on Native issues, including the high frequency of domestic violence and sexual assault of Native women to fight for the rights of Native prisoners within the Oklahoma correctional system.
One of the featured events was a mock wedding between ''Mr. Indian Territory'' and ''Miss Oklahoma,'' a satirical re-enactment of the so-called marriage ceremony that united Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory. Whitman, playing the role of ''Mr. Indian Territory,'' said that it symbolized a ''shotgun wedding'' to which Native people were forced to submit.
People traveled large distances to attend the event, including representatives from the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. One person in attendance, Comanche tribal member Martina Minthorn, flew in from a meeting with the National Congress of American Indians to attend the event. Minthorn, the interim director of the Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center in Lawton, said Oklahoma legislators and educators needed to be more inclusive to the role of Oklahoma's tribes in regard to the state's history.
''It's a sad thing to see - 100 years without our history being in a textbook,'' said Minthorn. ''From the 77 counties, that's all you learn in Oklahoma history. Whenever you actually put the real truth of the tribes that were relocated here from the indigenous lands that they were originally from, it's sad to see that only a certain amount of tribes are in our textbooks.''
For Whitman, the events of the day were to not only send a message about the Oklahoma centennial, but it was also a way be an example for younger generations.
''They're a part of history,'' he said. ''We're speaking to the generations. Our elders who have passed on stood up and acted for us. ... What can we suggest positive to this generation? It's good to be who we are, whoever they are. Each generation comes forth to its time. I think it's very important to gather like this outside of another kind of agenda that's already put in place for you. We want to have access and participate on a grass-roots level to testify, share and vent. It's all part of the dialogue.''
OKLAHOMA CITY - Within the shadow of Oklahoma's state Capitol and Jim Thorpe Building, more than 300 people of different tribes and nationalities gathered Nov. 16 at State Capitol Park to honor those ancestors whose forced sacrifices of land and life helped create the state of Oklahoma 100 years ago.
''Oklahoma was the great experiment of hoping to absorb the Indian - to be totally acculturated,'' said Euchee participant Richard Ray Whitman. ''Our people knew that; culturally, our way of being who we are is just as valid. They resisted this makeup of us, and it's an experiment that's gone bad. In some cases, it shows up in our lack of cohesiveness with tribal families and tribal organizations. We know we come from a culture of strong cohesive truth telling. Dialogue is not a new idea or a new concept. We have a long history of that, to listen to eacha other. We should say that after this centennial year, perhaps we should enter into a dialogue of reconciliation to set the record straight.''
The three-hour program consisted of prayer, traditional and contemporary Native music and testimonials on Native issues, including the high frequency of domestic violence and sexual assault of Native women to fight for the rights of Native prisoners within the Oklahoma correctional system.
One of the featured events was a mock wedding between ''Mr. Indian Territory'' and ''Miss Oklahoma,'' a satirical re-enactment of the so-called marriage ceremony that united Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory. Whitman, playing the role of ''Mr. Indian Territory,'' said that it symbolized a ''shotgun wedding'' to which Native people were forced to submit.
People traveled large distances to attend the event, including representatives from the Mississippi Choctaw Tribe and the Seminole Tribe of Florida. One person in attendance, Comanche tribal member Martina Minthorn, flew in from a meeting with the National Congress of American Indians to attend the event. Minthorn, the interim director of the Comanche National Museum and Cultural Center in Lawton, said Oklahoma legislators and educators needed to be more inclusive to the role of Oklahoma's tribes in regard to the state's history.
''It's a sad thing to see - 100 years without our history being in a textbook,'' said Minthorn. ''From the 77 counties, that's all you learn in Oklahoma history. Whenever you actually put the real truth of the tribes that were relocated here from the indigenous lands that they were originally from, it's sad to see that only a certain amount of tribes are in our textbooks.''
For Whitman, the events of the day were to not only send a message about the Oklahoma centennial, but it was also a way be an example for younger generations.
''They're a part of history,'' he said. ''We're speaking to the generations. Our elders who have passed on stood up and acted for us. ... What can we suggest positive to this generation? It's good to be who we are, whoever they are. Each generation comes forth to its time. I think it's very important to gather like this outside of another kind of agenda that's already put in place for you. We want to have access and participate on a grass-roots level to testify, share and vent. It's all part of the dialogue.''
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Do you know...
Handsome Lake or Ganioda'yo (1735 – 10 August 1815) was a Seneca religious leader of the Iroquois people. He was also half-brother to Cornplanter. Before his emergence as a prophet, Handsome Lake fought in Pontiac's Rebellion (against the British) and the American Revolutionary War (against the Americans). After struggling with alcoholism and an apparently near-fatal illness in 1799, Handsome Lake began professing instructions he had been given in a series of three visions.
Handsome Lake's teachings were both a revival of traditional religious practices as well as a program of cultural adaptation to the realities of reservation life in the United States. While he encouraged the adoption of certain customs of white Americans, such as European-style farming and housing, Handsome Lake also urged his followers to continue to practice traditional American Indian ceremonies. He encouraged Christian-style confessions of sin and urged Native Americans to stay away from alcohol. In addition to his moral instructions, Handsome Lake delivered a series of prophecies about the end of the world and the signs that would signal it. In 1802, Handsome Lake traveled to Washington D.C. with a delegation of Iroquois representatives to speak with President Thomas Jefferson about land issues and other matters. President Jefferson's approval of Handsome Lake's teachings was an important early endorsement of the prophet's religious movement.
Handsome Lake had a good relationship with the Quakers who lived among the Seneca and encouraged them to become farmers, since the Quakers were religious pluralists who agreed with a number of Handsome Lake's teachings, especially his stance against alcohol. Similarly, Handsome Lake did not discourage Indians who chose to embrace Christianity. Christian missionaries among the Seneca after Handsome Lake's lifetime, who (unlike the Quakers) actively sought to convert the Indians to Christianity, were less tolerant of the religion of Handsome Lake's followers.
Handsome Lake gained a wide following, aided by the prominence of his half-brother Cornplanter, an influential Seneca leader. Handsome Lake was disliked and dismissed by Red Jacket, who led a rival faction of Senecas. Handsome Lake encountered controversy when he accused a number of American Indian women of witchcraft; several of these women were executed by Handsome Lake's followers. When an accused witch was killed in 1809, Handsome Lake fell out of favor with Cornplanter and the Quakers, although he still retained a circle of loyal followers.
In the last years of his life, Handsome Lake advised against Iroquois involvement in the War of 1812. However, by this time many Senecas, including Cornplanter, considered the United States to be their country, and so they enlisted in the war.
Handsome Lake's teachings, known as The Code of Handsome Lake, eventually were incorporated into the Longhouse religion, which is still followed today.
Handsome Lake's teachings were both a revival of traditional religious practices as well as a program of cultural adaptation to the realities of reservation life in the United States. While he encouraged the adoption of certain customs of white Americans, such as European-style farming and housing, Handsome Lake also urged his followers to continue to practice traditional American Indian ceremonies. He encouraged Christian-style confessions of sin and urged Native Americans to stay away from alcohol. In addition to his moral instructions, Handsome Lake delivered a series of prophecies about the end of the world and the signs that would signal it. In 1802, Handsome Lake traveled to Washington D.C. with a delegation of Iroquois representatives to speak with President Thomas Jefferson about land issues and other matters. President Jefferson's approval of Handsome Lake's teachings was an important early endorsement of the prophet's religious movement.
Handsome Lake had a good relationship with the Quakers who lived among the Seneca and encouraged them to become farmers, since the Quakers were religious pluralists who agreed with a number of Handsome Lake's teachings, especially his stance against alcohol. Similarly, Handsome Lake did not discourage Indians who chose to embrace Christianity. Christian missionaries among the Seneca after Handsome Lake's lifetime, who (unlike the Quakers) actively sought to convert the Indians to Christianity, were less tolerant of the religion of Handsome Lake's followers.
Handsome Lake gained a wide following, aided by the prominence of his half-brother Cornplanter, an influential Seneca leader. Handsome Lake was disliked and dismissed by Red Jacket, who led a rival faction of Senecas. Handsome Lake encountered controversy when he accused a number of American Indian women of witchcraft; several of these women were executed by Handsome Lake's followers. When an accused witch was killed in 1809, Handsome Lake fell out of favor with Cornplanter and the Quakers, although he still retained a circle of loyal followers.
In the last years of his life, Handsome Lake advised against Iroquois involvement in the War of 1812. However, by this time many Senecas, including Cornplanter, considered the United States to be their country, and so they enlisted in the war.
Handsome Lake's teachings, known as The Code of Handsome Lake, eventually were incorporated into the Longhouse religion, which is still followed today.
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