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.

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

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

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