7th Generation Community Services Corporation in Titusville, Fla., will award a full scholarship toward a veterinary technology degree to a person of American Indian heritage who is financially unable to go to college.
7thGen is a non-profit corporation committed to collaborative ventures that assist Native Americans to achieve their self-determined goals for economic and community growth.
Through a two-year veterinary technician program, 7thGen’s intent is to provide a Native American individual with the opportunity to become certified in a skill that would not only enable the individual to increase their personal productivity and income but also contribute to the socio-economic growth of their community.
The selected candidate will earn an associate degree in veterinary technology at Brevard Community College in Cocoa, Fla., which is located near the 7thGen offices. The college is collaborating with 7thGen to ensure the scholarship recipient a spot in the accredited program. A 7thGen Board member will provide part-time, paid employment in his veterinary practice. The program will begin in January 2008.
7thGen encourages submission of applications by June 30. Log on to www.7thGeneration.org and follow the link to download and print the application form, or contact Connie Ashworth by phone, (888) 385-0207, or at info@7thGeneration.org.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Ceremonies offer spiritual healing for inmates
By Susan Montoya Bryan --
Associated Press ESTANCIA, N.M. (AP) - So much anger and frustration.
The volatile cocktail of emotions that was mixing in Melvin Martin had reached a boiling point. He felt like he was about to go crazy.
Far from his home on the Navajo reservation and far from his people's ancient healing traditions, he could do nothing but fester inside a Sandoval County lockup as he waited for the justice system to run its course.
Today, the soft-spoken Navajo from Crownpoint said he's a different person. He seemed more relaxed, respectful and reconnected to his culture.
All that, he said, thanks to the chance he has each week to take part in a traditional Sweatlodge ceremony at the Torrance County Detention Center, where he's currently serving his federal sentence for assault.
''We look beyond these wires,'' he said, pointing to the pair of fences and rolls of razor wire that separate the prison from the endless prairie.
''Me and the brothers here, we look beyond all that even though we know we're within. Once we start this and we get the ceremony going, our minds go back home; they go back to the places of our people, our land,'' he said. ''We can get away from this place.''
The privately run Torrance County prison is one of many lockups across the nation - including state and federal prisons - that offer the traditional ceremony for American Indian prisoners.
Click here to read full story: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415128
Associated Press ESTANCIA, N.M. (AP) - So much anger and frustration.
The volatile cocktail of emotions that was mixing in Melvin Martin had reached a boiling point. He felt like he was about to go crazy.
Far from his home on the Navajo reservation and far from his people's ancient healing traditions, he could do nothing but fester inside a Sandoval County lockup as he waited for the justice system to run its course.
Today, the soft-spoken Navajo from Crownpoint said he's a different person. He seemed more relaxed, respectful and reconnected to his culture.
All that, he said, thanks to the chance he has each week to take part in a traditional Sweatlodge ceremony at the Torrance County Detention Center, where he's currently serving his federal sentence for assault.
''We look beyond these wires,'' he said, pointing to the pair of fences and rolls of razor wire that separate the prison from the endless prairie.
''Me and the brothers here, we look beyond all that even though we know we're within. Once we start this and we get the ceremony going, our minds go back home; they go back to the places of our people, our land,'' he said. ''We can get away from this place.''
The privately run Torrance County prison is one of many lockups across the nation - including state and federal prisons - that offer the traditional ceremony for American Indian prisoners.
Click here to read full story: http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415128
Quotes
"All we ask is full citizenship. Why not? We offered our services and our money in this war, and more in proportion to our number and means than any other race or class of the population." -
Charles Eastman, Santee Sioux
Charles Eastman, Santee Sioux
Indian Citizenship Act - June 2, 1924
Until the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, Indians occupied an unusual status under federal law. Some had acquired citizenship by marrying white men. Others received citizenship through military service, by receipt of allotments, or through special treaties or special statutes. But many were still not citizens, and they were barred from the ordinary processes of naturalization open to foreigners. Congress took what some saw as the final step on June 2, 1924 and granted citizenship to all Native Americans born in the United States.
The granting of citizenship was not a response to some universal petition by American Indian groups. Rather, it was a move by the federal government to absorb Indians into the mainstream of American life. No doubt Indian participation in World War I accelerated the granting of citizenship to all Indians, but it seems more likely to have been the logical extension and culmination of the assimilation policy. After all, Native Americans had demonstrated their ability to assimilate into the general military society. There were no segregated Indian units as there were for African Americans. Some members of the white society declared that the Indians had successfully passed the assimilation test during wartime, and thus they deserved the rewards of citizenship.
Dr. Joseph K. Dixon, an active proponent of assimilating the "vanishing race" into white society, wrote --
"The Indian, though a man without a country, the Indian who has suffered a thousand wrongs considered the white man's burden and from mountains, plains and divides, the Indian threw himself into the struggle to help throttle the unthinkable tyranny of the Hun. The Indian helped to free Belgium, helped to free all the small nations, helped to give victory to the Stars and Stripes. The Indian went to France to help avenge the ravages of autocracy. Now, shall we not redeem ourselves by redeeming all the tribes?"
So, the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 proclaimed --
"BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and house of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all non citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States: Provided That the granting of such citizenship shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of any Indian to tribal or other property. (Approved June 2, 1924)"
The granting of citizenship was not a response to some universal petition by American Indian groups. Rather, it was a move by the federal government to absorb Indians into the mainstream of American life. No doubt Indian participation in World War I accelerated the granting of citizenship to all Indians, but it seems more likely to have been the logical extension and culmination of the assimilation policy. After all, Native Americans had demonstrated their ability to assimilate into the general military society. There were no segregated Indian units as there were for African Americans. Some members of the white society declared that the Indians had successfully passed the assimilation test during wartime, and thus they deserved the rewards of citizenship.
Dr. Joseph K. Dixon, an active proponent of assimilating the "vanishing race" into white society, wrote --
"The Indian, though a man without a country, the Indian who has suffered a thousand wrongs considered the white man's burden and from mountains, plains and divides, the Indian threw himself into the struggle to help throttle the unthinkable tyranny of the Hun. The Indian helped to free Belgium, helped to free all the small nations, helped to give victory to the Stars and Stripes. The Indian went to France to help avenge the ravages of autocracy. Now, shall we not redeem ourselves by redeeming all the tribes?"
So, the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 proclaimed --
"BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and house of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all non citizen Indians born within the territorial limits of the United States be, and they are hereby, declared to be citizens of the United States: Provided That the granting of such citizenship shall not in any manner impair or otherwise affect the right of any Indian to tribal or other property. (Approved June 2, 1924)"
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