_ __                        __
  ' )  )     _/_              /  )
   /  / __.  /  o , _  _     /--/ ____  _  __  o _. __. .__
  /  (_(_/|_<__<__\/ _</_   /  (_/ / <_</_/ (_<_(__<_/|_/ <_        O
                                                                O   o   O
        _ __                                                  O     o     O
       ' )  )                                                O  o o   o o  O
        /  / _  , , , _        VOLUME 1, ISSUE 005            O     o     O
       /  (_</_(_(_( /_)_                                       O   o   O
                                                                    O
  Before talking of holy things, we prepare ourselves by offerings...
  one will fill his pipe and hand it to the other who will light it
  and offer it to the sky and earth...  they will smoke together...
  Then they will be ready to talk.
             _ Mato Kuwapi (Chased by Bears), Santee Yanktonai Sioux

 O'siyo Brothers and Sisters!

 I am most pleased to tell you much of this issue of the Native American
 Newsletter is composed of offerings by principles and members of the
 Invisible Band.

 This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters of the
 Invisible Band and those who share our spirit informed about current
 events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road.

 It is hoped that our presence will be rewarded with a Native American
 RoundTable on GEnie.

 Reminder: Karen (LFE) has initiated a survey to determine the interest
 level in a e-mail study group.  It is my belief this will be a good thing
 that will strengthen our circle.

 If you have not yet responded to Karen's survey (via e-mail to JANET.LEHMAN)
 or advised Feedback of your interest in a Native American RoundTable I
 strongly urge you to do so.

 Mitaquye Oyasin!  Night Owl

  ------------------ clip here for news feature -- 8< -----------

 ---------- "Native American Periodical" ----------

 Subject: THE EAGLE!
 From: J.AUDLIN

 THE EAGLE is New England's Native American Journal. It has subscribers in
 every state in the US and every province in Canada, and fourteen foreign
 countries. It publishes on a quarterly basis, and has news about Native
 American events and issues through North America, features about Native
 American culture, Native American poetry, and the popular calendar of
 upcoming events in "Indian Country". It is published by and for Native
 Americans, but many subscribers are non-Natives who wish to listen to an
 authentic voice from the Native community. THE EAGLE has won several
 journalistic awards during its twelve years of existence.

 Now is a good time to subscribe, because rates will be going up sometime
 this year. Following are the rates for six issues:
    $10 - third class mail
    $15 - first class mail
    $25 - libraries and organizations (USA)
    $20 - Canada, Mexico, and International Surface Mail
    $30 - International Airmail

 The Eagle Wing Press, Inc., publisher of THE EAGLE, has also published a book,
 ROOTED LIKE THE ASH TREE: NEW ENGLAND INDIANS AND THE LAND, a collection of
 articles, poetry, and artwork, which has been a perennial best-seller. It may
 be ordered for $6.00 per copy, plus $1.25 shipping & handling.

 All prices are in US funds, and may be sent to:
    The Eagle Wing Press, Inc.,
    P. O. Box 579MO,
    Naugatuck, Connecticut 06770.

 --James David Audlin (writer, editor, and Board Member)

 ---------- "Re: Micmac protest" ----------

 From:   A.HOROVITCH                     Art Horovitch
 Sub: Micmac protest for NAnews

 April 11, 1993
 Montreal, Quebec
              MICMACS OF NEW BRUNSWICK PROTEST SALES TAX
 Last week the New Brunswick government, under the leadership of premier Frank
 McKenna brought down the yearly budget, which for the first time required
 Micmac Indians to pay the 11% provincial sales tax for purchases made off the
 reserve.

 The Micmacs immediately began protesting, because this tax is intended solely
 to help cover costs for social services and education throughout the province.
 Since the Micmacs already receive funding for their own education and health
 systems through the DIA (Indian Affairs) of the federal government, they viewed
 this as a tax which would not bring them any benefits.

 On April 7th, a number of barricades went up across highways, including
 several at the Eel River Bar reserve and the Kingsclear reserve. The RCMP
 (federal police hired by the province to carry out policing duties) set up
 detours and buffer zones around the blockades. Everett Martin, chief of
 one of the reserves, emphasized the blockade was peaceful, and he did not
 expect any trouble. Natives from other reserves, including the Restigouche
 reserve across the border in Quebec, began streaming into the Kingsclear
 reserve on Friday and spent most of Friday night manning the barricades,
 drumming and chanting. Youngsters set up burning tires at several of the
 barricades. In fact, there was a preponderance of teenagers and younger
 children at the barricades.

 Sometime during the evening, the RCMP riot squad moved in to dismantle the
 barricades and arrested people who refused to move. Tow trucks were called
 in to remove cars at the barricades, and one truck operator, Arthur Kitchen,
 said he was pelted with rocks and bottles when he approached the barricade.
 In another incident at the Red Bank reserve, whites and natives confronted
 each other while RCMP riot police stood by to intervene.

 On April 10 , after most of the barricades had come down, there were several
 meetings between the chiefs and ministers of the government. It was finally
 agreed that the Natives would not pay the sales tax if the items purchased
 off the reserve were to be used exclusively ON the reserve. No one has yet
 figured out how this will be monitored. It appears that both sides have
 backed down from the confrontation, and further discussions regarding the
 implementation of the agreements are to be held shortly.

 Roger Augustine, head of the Union of New Brunswick Indians said the
 protest did not go according to a central plan. "Each chief is taking the
 responsibility for talking to his people and councillors to get some
 direction." , he said. The chiefs had tried to get a delay period for
 implementation of the tax until local bands can set up their own retailers.
 It brings the total tax on most goods and services purchased to almost 20 %
 when the federal sales tax of 7% is included. The sales tax, if applied to
 Natives in NB, will net the government about one million dollars this year.
 Augustine said, "It's not that much . If all 16 bands got our resources
 together we could probably lend Mckenna that much with no interest." One of
 the Micmacs on a northern reserve had a more interesting idea. He said,"
 Give us back our land which was guaranteed to us in treaties more than a
 hundred years ago, then we'll talk about taxation."

 ---------- "Re: Ottawa Demo for Aboriginal Rights " ----------

 Subject: Ottawa Demo for Aboriginal Rights
 From: Chris Corrigan

 A General Notice to all NativeNet and Usenet readers:

 On April 22, 1993 a demonstration will be staged on Parliament
 Hill in Ottawa to protest the federal government's present moves
 towards extinguishing Treaty and Aboriginal Rights.

 Three laws are being developed which will seriously limit First
 Nations land rights:

 1.   Taxation
 A secret paper entitled "A working paper on Indian Government
 Taxation will take steps to clear the way for federal taxation of
 Indians living off-reserve by January 1, 1994.  The paper also
 makes proposals to allow the federal government to collect tax
 from Indians living on reserve.

 2.   Extinguishing of First Nations territories
 First Nations territories, already decimated by hundreds of years
 of corrosive policies may disappear altogether if the First
 Nations Chartered Land Act is approved.  This legislation will,
 at the request of Chief and Council, privatize reserve lands so
 that they may be used for collateral for loans.  A default on a
 loan means that the land may be seized by a bank.  First Nations
 may disappear altogether under this legislation.

 3.   Municipal Structures
 The proposed First Nations Governance Recognition Act will put
 First Nations under provincial control with limited federal
 responsibility, and will remove them from the Indian Act, placing
 them under municipal status, and thus absolving the federal
 government from honouring its duties under treaties and
 established Aboriginal rights.

 SILENCE IS CONSENT!!!!

 Demonstrate on EARTH DAY, April 22, 1993, on Parliament Hill in
 Ottawa at 2:00pm.

 Write letters of protest to the Prime Minister and the Minister
 of Indian Affairs at:

  House of Commons
  Ottawa, Ont.
  K1A 0A6

 (postage free in Canada).

 DON'T LET THE GOVERNMENT STEAL WHAT LITTLE IS LEFT!!!!

 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE RALLY CONTACT THE ODAWA NATIVE
 FRIENDSHIP CENTRE AT (613) 238-8591.

 --
 ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((o))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
 (     Chris Corrigan          ae165@freenet.carleton.ca         )
 (         "The world is my oyster, I shall not want."           )
 ((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((o))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

 ---------- "Re: Hist:Western Shoshone v US" ----------

 Subject: Western Shoshone Defense
 From: Bill Faulk

                             A history of the
                             WESTERN SHOSHONE
                           land dispute with the
                              UNITED STATES

 In 1863 the U.S. government entered into the Treaty of Ruby Valley with the
 Western Shoshone Nation. That treaty granted safe passage and basic rights to
 white settlers moving into Western Shoshone lands. The treaty guaranteed the
 sovereignty of the Shoshone people over their traditional homeland,Newe
 Segobia.  It was a treaty of friendship and peace.

 Between the signing of the treaty and the turn of the century, hundreds of
 Western Shoshone were killed by white settlers. In spite of the persecution,
 the Western Shoshone maintained a largely peaceful relationship with their
 neighbors. At no time did the Western Shoshone wage war with the United States.

                         THE INDIAN CLAIMS COMMISSION

 In the early part of the Twentieth Century, the U.S. began referring to
 Western Shoshone territory as "U.S. public domain." In the 1930's the
 Western Shoshone hired a law firm to assist in proving their case: Wilkinson,
 Cragen, and Barker of Washington, D.C.

 In 1946 the Indian Claims Commission (ICC) Act was passed into law. Presented
 as a liberal reform, the ICC Act created a mechanism for settling U.S legal
 obligations to indigenous peoples. The goal of the ICC was to financially
 compensate indigenous peoples for lands that had been unlawfully claimed by
 the U.S.

 Native Americans were not well-informed as to the purpose of the ICC. Many
 believed that the ICC would mediate land disputes. Few were told that the ICC's
 only form of grievance resolution was monetary compensation. The ICC assumed
 that lands taken illegally were the property of the United States, and no
 consideration was given to returning lands to the indigenous peoples.

 In 1951, a claim was filed with the ICC on behalf of the Western Shoshone's
 lawyer, Robert W. Barker. Many Shoshone were not interested in gaining
 compensation, and most distrusted the U.S. court system. Barker found a small
 group of Shoshone, mostly from the Temoak band, who were interested in pursuing
 the ICC case. Barker appears to have arbitrarily chosen the year 1872 as the
 time when Western Shoshone lands were taken by the U.S.

 Barker also included lands in the claim that had never been in dispute. The
 Western Shoshone realized that they had been misled by Barker and that he had
 no intention of fighting for their ownership claim. Instead, Barker was
 doggedly pursuing a case in which the Shoshone were assumed to have already
 lost the land.

 Beginning in 1974, the Western Shoshone attempted to stop the ICC process. In
 1976, the Temoak band fired Barker and hired a new attorney who accused Barker
 of collusion with the U.S. government. The ICC refused to acknowledge that
 Barker was no longer counsel for the Western Shoshone, and the process 
continued
 over the strong objections of the people who were supposedly being represented.

 On August 15, 1977, the ICC ruled that the U.S. owed $26 million to the
 Western Shoshone, based on an 1872 price of $1.05 an acre and unpaid royalties
 on minerals extracted by U.S. citizens. Barker and his law firm were paid more
 than $2.5 million by the ICC for their assistance in resolving the land claim.

 In 1979, the compensation money was deposited in a Bureau of Indian Affairs
 trust account for disbursement to the Western Shoshone. The Western Shoshone
 refused the money, maintaining that their religion prevented them from selling
 land.

 In the view of the United States, the ICC decision automatically proved its
 claim to ownership of Western Shoshone land. The Shoshone were stunned by the
 U.S. position, for they had never sold their land to anyone.

 Most Shoshone had refused to participate in the ICC process. Others were led
 to believe that the ICC would compensate them for damages, but that title to
 the land would remain in Western Shoshone hands. The supporters of the ICC
 process had assumed that their lawyers would support their claim of ownership
 by virtue of the Treaty of Ruby Valley. Now they were faced with an ICC
 declaration tht the land belonged to the United States.

                             FURTHER DUPLICITY

 When U.S. settlers moved into Newe Segobia, they destroyed the basis for the
 Western Shoshone livelihood. Pinon trees, whose nuts were an important source
 of food, were ripped from the ground to make room for cattle. Deer and antelope
 were killed as food for the settlers or to eliminate competition for grazing
 range. And the U.S. used the railroad right-of-way (granted by treaty) to grant
 land to white settlers and displace many Western Shoshone from their homes.

 In the end, the Western Shoshone were forced to find new ways of surviving.
 Many turned to ranching for sustenance.

 The Dann family created a niche among the white settlers, working hard to
 build a small ranch. The ranch was too small to sustain the family, and the
 U.S. government had already allocated most of the public lands grazing permits
 to white settlers. Sisters Mary and Carrie Dann now graze cattle and horses
 on public lands that are unused by their neighbors.

 Starting in 1973, U.S. agencies began to confront the Dann sisters. A U.S.
 Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ranger charged the Dann sisters with
 trespassing, since they did not have a permit for grazing cattle on what BLM
 considered to be U.S. public lands. The Dann sisters maintained that they did
 not need permits to operate on lands that are part of the Western Shoshone
 Nation.

 The trespassing case was taken to U.S. District Court in Reno, Nevada, where
 the judge requested proof from the government that the land was no longer
 owned by the Western Shoshone. While the U.S. government could not provide a
 single piece of evidence that title to the land had been transferred, they
 cited the 1977 ICC decision as proof that the transfer had been occured.

 The U.S. government simply stated that the land had been transferred because
 the U.S. government said it had been. The judge in Reno accepted the U.S.
 arguments, fined the Danns $500, and ordered them to leave the land.

 The Danns appealed the decision. Finally, a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
 decision in 1978 agreed with the Western Shoshone that the land had never been
 transferred to the U.S. The case was returned to the District Court in Reno for
 a trial to determine the ownership of the land.

 After a year-and-a-half of delays, presiding District Judge Thompson ruled
 that the Western Shoshone had title to the land until 1979. The BIA's
 acceptance, on behalf of the Western Shoshone, of the ICC compensation award
 had erased the native title to the land. In effect, the U.S. government paid
 itself for land that had not been sold, claiming the land from the Western
 Shoshone people - people who had never wanted or accepted payment for their
 homeland.

 The Danns appealed the case to the Supreme Court, which affirmed the lower
 court rulings against the Western Shoshone in 1985. The Danns continue their
 struggle to prove that their land was never sold or given to the U.S.

                               CURRENT EVENTS

 In 1991, BLM began conducting raids to round-up Dann-owned livestock. The
 Western Shoshone National Council (WSNC) decided to act as a soverign nation
 to protect the property of its citizens from the external threat posed by
 U.S. agents. The WSNC nationalized the disputed Dann animals in March of 1992.

 A raid by BLM in April 1992 was thwarted by the peaceful resistance of the
 Danns and their supporters.

 On November 19, 1992, BLM attempted another round-up, this time capturing
 more than 150 horses. Forty-four of these horses were Dann property, and the
 rest were wild animals. Two horses were killed when driven into fences. In
 court, BLM agent Joe Morris admitted under oath that the November round-up
 violated BLM's own regulations governing the Wild Horse and Burro program.

 Clifford Dann, brother of Carrie and Mary, was injured and arrested when
 he attempted to stop BLM agents from taking the captured horses. Blocking the
 road with his truck, Dann stood in the bed, doused himself with gasoline, and
 announced that he would set himself on fire if BLM agents did not release the
 horses. Dann declared "By taking away our livelihood and our lands you are
 taking away our lives."

 After speaking with Dann's sister Carrie, agents convinced Dann to leave his
 vehicle. When Dann approached officers, still carrying the plastic container of
 gasoline and a lighter, the officers assaulted him with fire extinguishers and
 wrestled him to the ground.

 Dann decided to use his trial as a venue for arguing Western Shoshone
 juridiction over their lands. At an evidentiary hearing on March 2, 1993,
 Dr. Bruce Clark argued that the U.S. claim to ownership did not translate into
 jurisdiction. Clark, who is a well-known and respected expert on indiginous
 sovereignty issues, stated that the Western Shoshone National Court had
 jurisdiction over the case, not the U.S. District Court. Judge John McKibben
 ruled that ownership implies jurisdiction, and the trial of Clifford Dann
 proceeded.

 On March 4, 1993, Clifford Dann was convicted in U.S. Circuit Court on a
 charge of assaulting a federal officer during a raid by U.S. land management
 authorities. Dann faces a 35-month minimum sentence on the charge. He is being
 held without bail at the Washoe County Detention Facility, until his
 sentencing on May 17. An appeal has been filed in Dann's case.

                                CONCLUSIONS

 The fight continues, with the U.S. government throwing its financial and
 legal might behind its theft of Western Shoshone lands. The Western Shoshone
 continue to maintain and believe that their land was never taken, sold, or
 given to the U.S.

 - Article written by Scott Robert Ladd, Coyote Gulch Productions

 --
 Bill Faulk
 bill@phony25.cc.utah.edu
 --