"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
Friday, November 30, 2007
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
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