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.
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