By: Barbara Arrigoni
ORLAND — For the first time ever, students at Fairview School in Orland didn't get to celebrate the school's annual Indian Day at Black Butte Lake.
Each year, fourth-grade classes go to the lake for hands-on sessions to learn about the culture of two Northern California tribes — the Wintun of Colusa and Nomolaki of Paskenta. With rain threatened, the event was held on school grounds Thursday. It's part of the school's California History studies.
If the kids cared about not going to the countryside, it didn't show during the morning activities.
Seven classes participated in the event, each divided into two groups and then smaller ones, rotating through six stations.
The children learned several cultural traditions. Outside near the school's garden, groups built a shelter of poles and branches and practiced the art of spearing. Vine wreaths substituted for live animals for the latter activity. Laughter rang across the field with each thrust.
Inside several classrooms, students had their faces painted, made shell necklaces, learned a "friendship" dance, listened to storytellers repeat legends, and used handmade drills, which looked similar to old-fashioned spinning tops.
There's more here: http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_7221520
Friday, October 19, 2007
Indian land ruling appealed to high court
By: Katie Mulvaney
The state made another play yesterday to keep its hold over 31 acres owned by the Narragansett Indian Tribe in Charlestown.
Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch’s office, joined by Governor Carcieri and the Town of Charlestown, filed an appeal asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider, and overturn, a ruling that allows the U.S. Department of Interior to hold the land in trust for the tribe.
Trust status would free the property from state and local tax and land-use regulations or most Rhode Island criminal laws.
Tribal leaders have said they will use the site for housing, but state officials fear the ruling would clear the way for the tribe to open a smoke shop, casino or other venture, outside state oversight.
Read more here: http://www.projo.com/news/content/Tribe_Appeal_10-19-07_H37HMUE.3f0cc6.html
The state made another play yesterday to keep its hold over 31 acres owned by the Narragansett Indian Tribe in Charlestown.
Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch’s office, joined by Governor Carcieri and the Town of Charlestown, filed an appeal asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider, and overturn, a ruling that allows the U.S. Department of Interior to hold the land in trust for the tribe.
Trust status would free the property from state and local tax and land-use regulations or most Rhode Island criminal laws.
Tribal leaders have said they will use the site for housing, but state officials fear the ruling would clear the way for the tribe to open a smoke shop, casino or other venture, outside state oversight.
Read more here: http://www.projo.com/news/content/Tribe_Appeal_10-19-07_H37HMUE.3f0cc6.html
Indian Tribe OKs Deal With Michigan
Associated Press
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians said Thursday that its members have approved an agreement between five American Indian tribes and the state of Michigan over inland hunting and fishing rights.
The tribal board still needs to approve the pact, which it is expected to do during a meeting Sunday, spokesman Corey Wilson said.
The other four tribes have ratified the deal, which recognizes members' rights to hunt, fish and gather plants in parts of western and northern Michigan covered by an 1836 treaty. The area includes about 37 percent of the state. Fishing in the Great Lakes is excluded because it was dealt with in earlier agreements.
The agreement, already endorsed by state and federal officials, also needs the approval of a federal judge who had scheduled a hearing for Monday, but canceled it in an order noting the successful outcome of the Sault Ste. Marie referendum.
The Sault tribe was the only tribe that submitted the tentative agreement, announced last month, to its full membership for a referendum.
In results posted on its Web site Thursday, the tribe said 3,476 voters favored the pact while 678 opposed it. Nearly 33 percent of the 12,734 members voted.
The proposal affects much of the western and northern Lower Peninsula and the eastern Upper Peninsula.
It empowers the tribes to issue their own hunting and fishing licenses and write their own regulations. Three already have rules and the other two will be developing them.
Many of the regulations will parallel state policies for protecting resources from overharvesting and abuse, limiting size, numbers and species taken. But the tribes will have longer deer hunting seasons and different policies on fishing methods such as spearing and netting.
The DNR is hosting a series of public meetings around the state to explain the agreement.
The other participating tribes include the Bay Mills Indian Community; the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians; the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians; and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians.
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians said Thursday that its members have approved an agreement between five American Indian tribes and the state of Michigan over inland hunting and fishing rights.
The tribal board still needs to approve the pact, which it is expected to do during a meeting Sunday, spokesman Corey Wilson said.
The other four tribes have ratified the deal, which recognizes members' rights to hunt, fish and gather plants in parts of western and northern Michigan covered by an 1836 treaty. The area includes about 37 percent of the state. Fishing in the Great Lakes is excluded because it was dealt with in earlier agreements.
The agreement, already endorsed by state and federal officials, also needs the approval of a federal judge who had scheduled a hearing for Monday, but canceled it in an order noting the successful outcome of the Sault Ste. Marie referendum.
The Sault tribe was the only tribe that submitted the tentative agreement, announced last month, to its full membership for a referendum.
In results posted on its Web site Thursday, the tribe said 3,476 voters favored the pact while 678 opposed it. Nearly 33 percent of the 12,734 members voted.
The proposal affects much of the western and northern Lower Peninsula and the eastern Upper Peninsula.
It empowers the tribes to issue their own hunting and fishing licenses and write their own regulations. Three already have rules and the other two will be developing them.
Many of the regulations will parallel state policies for protecting resources from overharvesting and abuse, limiting size, numbers and species taken. But the tribes will have longer deer hunting seasons and different policies on fishing methods such as spearing and netting.
The DNR is hosting a series of public meetings around the state to explain the agreement.
The other participating tribes include the Bay Mills Indian Community; the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians; the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians; and the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians.
American Indians Seek Greater Understanding, Recognition
By: Jeffrey Thomas
Washington -- “Maybe you should just tell them that we still exist,” an American Indian told the moderator of a focus group during a recent study that not only has highlighted continuing misconceptions about American Indians, but also has revealed the sympathy with which many Americans view Indians’ history and desire to learn more about their past and present.
“Tell the story of American Indians truthfully and honestly [in an Indian museum],” a non-Indian proposed, “and tell that story in both the historical and contemporary concepts. ... They survived everything that happened to them -- they survived.”
The study revealed that, even though American Indians might feel isolated, misunderstood and culturally threatened in contemporary America, they often express pride in their economic accomplishments and a conviction that their lives are improving. “The biggest fight that we have is [about] identity,” a New York Indian told researchers.
The study Walking a Mile: A First Step Toward Mutual Understanding is based on 12 focus groups -- seven with Indians and five with non-Indians -- conducted by researchers from the nonpartisan public opinion research organization Public Agenda. Such focus groups provide qualitative information on how the participants view the place of American Indians in the United States today, but more opinion research and polling is needed to reveal how widely held those views are, according to experts.
“This was exploratory research ... designed to pose as many questions as it answered,” Public Agenda’s Michael Remaley told USINFO. “Clearly, there is much more to be done to further the conversation nationally.”
Read this very interesting story here: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2007&m=October&x=200710181452191CJsamohT0.7733576
Washington -- “Maybe you should just tell them that we still exist,” an American Indian told the moderator of a focus group during a recent study that not only has highlighted continuing misconceptions about American Indians, but also has revealed the sympathy with which many Americans view Indians’ history and desire to learn more about their past and present.
“Tell the story of American Indians truthfully and honestly [in an Indian museum],” a non-Indian proposed, “and tell that story in both the historical and contemporary concepts. ... They survived everything that happened to them -- they survived.”
The study revealed that, even though American Indians might feel isolated, misunderstood and culturally threatened in contemporary America, they often express pride in their economic accomplishments and a conviction that their lives are improving. “The biggest fight that we have is [about] identity,” a New York Indian told researchers.
The study Walking a Mile: A First Step Toward Mutual Understanding is based on 12 focus groups -- seven with Indians and five with non-Indians -- conducted by researchers from the nonpartisan public opinion research organization Public Agenda. Such focus groups provide qualitative information on how the participants view the place of American Indians in the United States today, but more opinion research and polling is needed to reveal how widely held those views are, according to experts.
“This was exploratory research ... designed to pose as many questions as it answered,” Public Agenda’s Michael Remaley told USINFO. “Clearly, there is much more to be done to further the conversation nationally.”
Read this very interesting story here: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2007&m=October&x=200710181452191CJsamohT0.7733576
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