_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N ) O o O ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ O o O / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' O o o o o O / /-< / /--/ /-- VOLUME 01, ISSUE 029 O o O __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 9 October 1993 O o O ( N E W S ) O This issue contains articles from NATIVE_L/NATCHAT Lists and by 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. It is archived at the Native American FTP site ftp.cit.cornell.edu in the directory /pub/special/NativeProfs/newsletters; and is being sent to gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us (Gary S. Trujillo) should he wish to include it in his NATIVE-L or NATCHAT lists. "This was a pretty country you took from us." __ Chief Quanah (Parker), Comanche O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! This is a favorite time for many of us, including myself. We are reminded at this time that Ina Maka, our Mother, has given generously. We make bread from grasses she has given, grown with the Sun of our Father, Tunkasila. This is the source of our lives! + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + | In the length of time it takes you to read this sentence, eight | | acres of rainforest were cut down. | | source: World Resources Institute | + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - + In your prayers ask that our brothers and sisters find the wisdom to quit tearing out the bosom of Ina Maka. Mitaquye Oyasin! Night Owl ------------------ clip here for news feature -- 8< ----------- --------- "RE: Chief Duncan Sings-Alone, Statement to our critics" --------- From: C.DUNCAN12 Duncan Sings-Alone, Principal Chief of the Free Cherokees Subj: Statement to our critics GE Electronic Mail AN INTRODUCTION TO THE FREE CHEROKEES There is considerable discussion of the Free Cherokees on the various computer networks. Most of it demonstrates an honest interest in us while some of it is hostile. Even as I am forced to recognize that there will always be some critics who debate in bad faith (twisting our words, attributing behaviors to us that we abhor), I am also sure that most of our critics are men and women of good faith who are fervently trying to protect the most sacred elements of their culture. It is to those honest critics that I offer this introduction. I am Duncan Sings-Alone and I am the founder and Principal Chief of the Free Cherokees. My anglo name is C. W. Duncan. My real name was given to me by the Spirits after my first Vision Quest. Sings-Alone is only part of the whole name. My mother when asked how long I have been an Indian answered innocently, "He has been a Cherokee all his life". I am not enrolled in either of the three BIA recognized Cherokee Tribes. My great grandfather had roll numbers in both the Eastern and Oklahoma Bands, but for whatever reason, the children were not enrolled. If you know Cherokee history, you will know that many Cherokees refused to be enrolled. Redbird Smith, probably the best known traditional sacred person among the people, had to be handcuffed and forcibly enrolled. There is among us a long tradition of not belonging to anything authorized by the US government. Wounded Knee and AIM brought me home to the people. I spent seven years of intensive training and praying. During most of the year I was sweating four times a week. I lived then as I do now with the Sacred Pipe. I am most at home in the Sweat Lodge. I have Vision Quested many times, including four days and four nights without food or water and with no one checking on me. I have gone on the hill time after time to learn what the Creator wanted from me. I will not publish the names of my teachers here because they are not Free Cherokees and should not be held responsible for the Free Cherokees. I don't want them criticized for what I have done in following my Vision, BUT I will tell anyone who contacts me privately and respectfully who they are. I assure you that my "credentials" are impeccable. In June of 1989 I was on the hill "Crying for a Vision". The Grandfathers came to me and told me the time was right to establish a group for assimilated Indians who were wanting to come home. During my first Vision Quest years earlier, I had been told that my life's work would be with urban, assimilated Indians. The group would be free of government control or support...hence we would be called "free" Cherokees. This is in no way a put down of our cousins in the government tribes...it is simply a statement about us. We have no claim on the government. We do not ask for government money or health or education. We have no land claims but support our cousins in theirs. We exist simply to gather under our wings the thousands of breeds out there who want to come home and learn "real" things. I was perplexed by the instruction to establish the Free Cherokees. I could foresee a million problems. I would have preferred to continue my own lodge and teach in a more limited way. But one thing is sure...you don't "Cry for a Vision" and then say, "I don't want that one. Gimme another." No one makes a dime from any of our work. We are totally supported by contributions, by subscriptions to our paper, "The New Phoenix", and by a one time charge for expenses associated with enrollment. Even that is waived if the person cannot afford it. One of the few things forbidden of a Free Cherokee individual or Band is to charge for any sacred ceremonies or teachings. We also require that any ceremony which is purported to be traditional, must be demonstrably so. We are trying very hard not only to mend the hoop of the people, but to create a larger one. All of us are standing at the beginning of a new world. Prophecies from the Hopi, other tribes, and other religions as well as from our own visionaries tell us that this is so. We no longer have the luxury of dreaming about mending the hoop. Our survival depends on it. We no longer have the luxury of each tribe enjoying its own hoop while excluding all others. For the first time all the Indian Tribes need each other, need to stand together. We can no longer exclude anyone from the hoop if he or she is answering the Creator's call to walk the sacred road respectfully. The Creator has shown me a hoop made up of full bloods and breeds, of traditionals, of reservation Indians, of urban indians, of assimilated Indians coming home, and of non-Indians whose hearts beat in synch with the Grandmother. Spirits have said that the bones of seven generations of other races have been buried in this land, and that their children also will come to walk the sacred path. Elder Medicine Men of the traditional tribes are teaching that the Four Wind colors of red, black, white and yellow also stand for the four races of human beings. The Free Cherokees do not create Indians. Most of us already are. There are non-Indian Free Cherokees as well, but enrollment in our tribe only makes one a Free Cherokee. It does not make one a genetic Indian. The sacred circle must be big enough for all, and the key to mending the hoop is mutual respect. Our traditional cousins must avoid the knee jerk reaction of putting down all "returning" breeds as wannabees. We, for our part, must demonstrate that we are respectful, careful and honorable in handling the sacred ceremonies and teachings which have been given to us by our elders. As Principal Chief of the Free Cherokees I recognize my responsibility to interpret what we are doing so that my traditional cousins can understand, even if they do not approve. I am probably as hard nosed about the ceremonies and teachings as any traditional. There may be differences about certain words, but there is real agreement about the broader, sacred issues. Regarding those troublesome words: Medicine Man/Woman, Tribe, Chief, maybe this will clarify our usages. We avoid calling any of our people "Medicine" anything. I don't like the word because it implies what is not so. I know of no Free Cherokee who can be compared to Chief Fools Crow, Black Elk, Dawson No-Horse, or Redbird Smith. None of us would ever dare call ourselves medicine men in the same way those men were. We do have people who have been traditionally and carefully trained to do specific things, i.e. Pipe Carriers, Water Pourers etc. We call ourselves a Tribe but not in the sense that traditional people may think of a Tribe. We are a Tribe of people who are committed to each other, but we come from many tribal families. Most of us are of Cherokee descent. However, many other tribes are represented among us. We use the word "tribe" because it feels more right for us than the word "organization." We call our Band leaders, "chiefs". A Chief is a person whom the people recognize as their leader. A few of our Band leaders prefer to call themselves "Directors". This is OK too. We mean no offense to any other group by referring to our leadership as a council of Chiefs. This is the decision of our people and reflects on no one else. So, here we are with nearly half as many members as has the Eastern Band of Cherokees (BIA) and 20 Free Cherokee Bands scattered across the Turtle Continent. More Bands are currently forming. The Grandfathers were right. People are flocking to us, coming home. We ask nothing from the government recognized tribes. We don't ask your permission to exist. But we would like your friendship. We do not infringe on your government grants or your treaty rights. We support you in every way that we can and have been doing so all along. We may not have had the advantage or disadvantage of growing up on a reservation (I know something about the good and bad, having lived on one), but we are coming home. There has to be room for our kind of Indian in the world and in the hoop of the nations. I offer this as a prayer, All My Relations, Duncan Sings-Alone Principal Chief of the Free Cherokees --------- "RE: In response to Krysset von Rosen's questions:" --------- From: shupe@rchland.vnet.ibm.com (Jim Shupe) Subj: In response to Krysset von Rosen's questions: Mailing List: NATCHAT (natchat@gnosys.svle.ma.us) Thank you for your honesty. At first I didn't check the header to see where this thread was being posted but since it's going outside our discourse community I think some definitions are in order. I'll try to provide them for you... Wasicu is a "Siouxian" word which is used to describe the Europeans and their descendants. In general it seems to refer to people who hoard or steal the fat of an animal (which in hunter gatherer cultures was needed for various purposes and highly prised). In essence it means a greedy person, and from the native perspective seems to fit the Euro-invaders to a "T". Wannabee refers to a fictitious tribe/group of European descendants who want-to-be Native American. These are people who try to be Native without really understanding (usually) what it means to be Native. People who we Natives think of as part of our tribe can be European but they walk the walk, not just talk the talk. I could probably go into great detail here but I think this suffices for the purpose of these cross posts. Bilaganna (?) is a Dineh term for the European-Americans... not sure about the translation but that's to whom it refers. AIM is the American Indian Movement. For more info contact me or another member by e-mail. Basically we are outspoken in the support of Native rights and spirituality and culture and sovereignty and so on. Uhm, any more terms you don't understand, just ask someone will try to explain I'm sure. -- Mitakuye Oyasin, External Responses only to RCHVMW2 address, RCHLAND will not receive them ------------------------------------------------------------------------- J.T. Shupe (SHUPE@rchvmw2.vnet.ibm.com) | (SHUPE@rchland.vnet.ibm.com) | The Magics and Mysteries Associate Programmer, Juggler, Story-Teller| of the world are far simpler Department 45N, Performance Tools III | than we make them out to IBM Rochester, MN 55901 | be. 507/253-4318 t/l 553-4318 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- "RE: FDA and Good Medicine" --------- From: JANS Janet McNeely Subj: FDA and Good Medicine GE Electronic Mail The latest issue of the Good Medicine Society's Newsletter, _The Flowering Tree_, is dedicated to "the ongoing struggle to maintain freedom of choice in personal health care, that we may live our lives to our fullest potential, with Good Medicine, as we strive for liberty, justice, and safety for all our Brothers and Sisters." To this end, we are urged to contact our Senators and Representatives in Congress and urge them to support H.R. 1709 and S.784. These bills will prohibit the FDA from assuming regulatory powers over dietary supplements, which they are trying to do now, prevent the FDA from limiting access to vitamins, minerals, herbs and other food supplements to "prescription only." Allow labeling with scientific information as to the relationship between specific nutrients and good health or disease prevention, require high manufacturing standards and establish an Office for Dietary Supplements within the National Institutes of Health. Your library or the Capital switchboard at 1-202-224-3121 or 1-202-225-3121 can give you the Washington phone numbers of the Congressional representatives in your state. --------- "RE: Tony Rios Support Committee" --------- From: A.HOROVITCH Art Horovitch Subj: Tony Rios Support Committee GE Electronic Mail This information is from the Tony Rios Support Committee, c/o Lois Cape and Gordon Dedam, Box 435, OKA, Qc. J0N1E0 Tony Rios is a 16 yr. old Lakota boy who is in adult prison in South Dakota, having been sentenced in adult court, for defending himself from an unprovoked attack by an adult white man. Tony slashed at the man with a knife in an attempt to get away, causing shallow wounds from which the man died - a rare and unusual case, according to the coroner. Tony spent the first 5 months in Juvenile detention but was kept in solitary and even eye contact with other prisoners was forbidden. He was only 14 at the time. He was denied all psychological and spiritual guidance and he repeatedly attempted suicide. Eventually he was transferred to adult prison and his case was tried in adult court, over all objections. Tony's trial was a farce, full of discrepancies, conflicting evidence and paid witnesses fro the prosecution. After sentencing, he was immediately whisked away to the hard core prison 400 miles across the state where he was again beat3en and abused by adult prisoners as he had been in the county jail. He was transferred to medium security prison at Springfield for a few months where the other prisoners would steal his food, forcing him to buy from the commissary, and he had to pay "protection" in order to escape beatings. His mother sold nearly all she had to keep up with these demands. Too young to qualify for the work or study programs, he had nothing to do but play basketball. In January the authorities transferred him back to the hard core prison at Sioux Falls as they had been threatening for months. He was again beaten by other prisoners and put in the Hole for fighting. Once out of there, he got a job in the kitchen which was cut short by a prison riot in May. He was falsely accused of being a leader and instigator when he didn't even participate. He was put in administrative segregation and a month later further false accusations landed him in the Hole until Nov. 7 plus another 90 days of ad. seg. after that. In removing him to the Hole, the guards caused injuries that were left untreated for days. Again his few belongs have been taken away, including his precious eagle feather, and even his phone privileges have been cut off. In his cell 23 hours a day, he has nothing to do but, read, write and draw. As he approaches his 17th birthday ( Sept. 3) he will qualify at last to continue his High School education. But his application has been refused because the authorities demand that he remove the paper from his window that keeps the sun out of his eyes, and the sheet from around his toilet that he hangs for privacy. He misses his family terribly and at times despairs of ever seeing them again. His mother also is in despair and penniless, 400 miles away in Rapid City, with no way to afford a visit. They haven't seen each other since last Nov. Letts from supporters are what give them the strength to go on. A Defense Fund exists in Rapid City for donations in US funds a,. T shirts, sweatshirts, and buttons are also available. All proceeds go to meet Tony's needs and to hire a lawyer to appeal his case. What you can d0: Snowball it!!Spread the info out Write in Protest to Pres. Bill Clinton, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, D.C.: Mrs. Hillary Clinton; Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell, at the Senate:Senator Daniel Inouye; US attorney-General Janet Reno. Give Financial Support to Anthony Rios Defense Fund, Northwest Bank, 202 Disk Drive, Rapid City, S.D. 57701 Support Tony and Thelma with your letters and prayers Tony Rios, South Dakota State Pen., Box 5911, Sioux Falls, S.D. 57117 Thelma Rios,2429 Gnugnuska Dr., Rapid City, s.D. 57701 --------- "RE: Rally October 11 United Nations NYC" --------- From: "Ben Chitty, NY/VVAW" Subj: Rally October 11 United Nations NYC Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) "COLUMBUS DAY" 1993 AT THE UNITED NATIONS L.I.S.N., The League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations of the Western Hemisphere, calls on all representatives and allies of the indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere to gather at 12 Noon on October 11th ("Columbus Day") in New York City at Dag Hammerskjold Plaza (East 46th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues), just across from the United Nations. Join us as we speak out in protest against the representatives of the New World order and its corporate interests on indigenous land. We have found the United Nations to be unwilling or unable to grant our demand for full voting membership with traditional representation in the General Assembly. We see that the United Nations has continued to allow its member nations to commit genocide against our people, our land, and our spirituality. These actions can only be interpreted by us as acts of war. In response to the escalation of aggressions against the indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere by multi-national corporations, the League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations asks that you join with us in the effort to end more than five centuries of genocide. The League's vision of a confederation of all indigenous nations of the western hemisphere is the progression of the work begun by the Iroquois statesman Deganiweda. He brought the warring Iroquois nations together into what is now known as the Six Nations Confederacy - the oldest operating truly democratic government in the world - by showing us the advantage of strength in standing together as one people. The time to join together is now. We can no longer tolerate abuses to our people in terms of genocide, nor abuses to our lands in terms of resource exploitation, nor abuses to our spirituality in terms of profiteering from our ceremonies (Sun Dances and/or Sweat Lodges), sale of our sacred objects (pipes, sweet grass, sage, feathers, etc.), or the proliferation of fake healers, plastic Medicine Men/Women, and Shake-and-Bake Shamans! Afterwards, join us at a benefit for the League 7 PM Wetlands Preserve 161 Hudson Street New York City For more information call 212-732-0485 or 718-797-4624 Posted by Ben Chitty, NY/VVAW For L.I.S.N. --------- "RE: Chickahominy Powwow" --------- From: "Elizabeth B. Pollard" Subj: Chickahominy Powwow Mailing List: NATCHAT (natchat@gnosys.svle.ma.us) Subj: Chickahominy powwow This past weekend, September 25-26, Elizabeth and I attended the Fall Festival and Powwow of the Chickahominy tribe near Charles City, Virginia, and camped out with both natives and non-natives attending. We had been invited by fellow Native Netter Troy Adkins, a nephew of Chief Leonard Adkins. Troy was busy with hosting the powwow and participating in the dances, but we got to meet him briefly. However, we had many pleasant visits with his father and met other members of his family who were present. We found the Chickahominy to be *very* friendly and hospitable. Despite having lost most of their traditional culture and their Algonquin dialect by the late seventeenth century, they still have a keen sense of tribal identity. They are one of eight tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia, and are quite anxious to obtain federal recognition and benefits. The only two rezs in Virginia (both designated by the Commonwealth of Virginia, rather that the feds) are the 18 acre Mattaponi and 45 acre Pamunkey reservations in King William County. Those Chickahominy we met felt no disadvantage in having never had a rez, although they are the largest tribe in the state, with 600 members. The Eastern Chickahominy band have about 400 members, making around 1,000 Chickahominy in all. It was felt that the two state rezs were too small to permit even all members of the tribe to live there, and economic development nearly impossible. Music for the powwow was provided by the Chickahominys' own Red Thunder Drummers and the Rappahannock tribe's Falling Water Drummers. A wide variety of regalia were worn by the dancers, but only a few had Crow bustles. There was very little "fancy dancing," most of the dancers using traditional Plains style. We were pleased to see that there is an emphasis in all of the tribes who participated in getting young children started in dancing (one dancer was only five years old). The dances were coordinated with presentations by Edward Red Hawk, a Cherokee (Tsalagi) myth keeper and storyteller, who was excellent. His camp was close to ours, so we had several visits with him. On Sunday afternoon, he had just begun telling traditional tales when some spectators noticed three red-tailed hawks circling overhead and called it to his attention. Hawk took it as a *very* good omen, sent by the Great Spirit to bless the powwow and give authenticity to the tales he told. We ended up camping with and sharing meals with a group of mixed-blood NAs (Cherokee, Mandan, and Winnebago), whom we hope to meet again. Grosvenor Pollard via Elizabeth B. Pollard -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Elizabeth Pollard Bitnet: uahebp01@uahvax1 Systems Librarian Internet: uahebp01@asnuah.asn.net University of Alabama in Huntsville Compuserve: 72457,1560 Huntsville, AL 35899 Phone: (205)895-6313 SYSOP*Diabetes & Hypoglycemia Forum on Compuserve -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- --------- "RE: Winona Laduke" --------- From: dunemaj7997@cobra.uni.edu Subj: WINONA LADUKE I went to the region 6 SEAC conference this week-end in Ames, Iowa. Our guest speaker was Winona LaDuke of the Anishnabe nation. She gave one of the most incredible, direct to the point lectures I have ever heard. It concerned everything, everything "American," everything "environmental." I want to share some of what she said and encourage *everyone* to take any opportunity possible to hear what she has to say. She began by identifying two kinds of thought, 1)industrial thought vs. 2)indigenous thought. She outlined some of the themes basic to indigenous thought - the supremacy of natural law, balance, reciprocity. The supremacy of natural law meaning that we cannot dominate nature, we cannot control the world around us by means of violence, conquest, disrespect. If we base our behavior on the assumption that we can, well ... you have the world 1993 style. Balance meaning that in our day to day consumption of the Earth's bounty and our dealings with each other there is balance and equality. She said that when an indigenous person harvests food, she/he takes *only* what is needed and the rest is left. We cannot plant crops in a massive mono culture and expect any sort of balance to occur. I think we see the results of these bad farming and harvesting techniques in the soil erosion, chemical pollution, etc. of today. She also commented on the relations of women and men, an old Lakota man once told her, "Men would do well to respect women, for they are in their control in the beginning and ending of their lifes." :) Reciprocity meaning that when one takes something, one gives something in return. When indigenous people go to harvest they offer tobacco back to the Earth for the food they are taking. When you receive something it is natural that you give something in return (we're not talking about useless plastic christmas toys here.) Industrial thought is based on the assumption that man is superior to nature and he is in control (and most often it is just that - HE.) Therefore because of this assumption there is no balance or reciprocity required in one's behavior. You can take whatever you want when you believe the world is your's for the plucking. This is very characteristic of "western" thought. She outlined the basics of capitalism in this framework - capital + resources + labor = accumulation. A society based on accumulation *is not* sustainable. Consumption of the scale produced by capitalism *is not* a sustainable way of life. She pointed out that in the last 150 years the capitalist countries of the world have made extinct more species and more *groups of people* than since the ice age. She emphasized "sustainability." Indigenous communities have survived for *thousands* of years with the cyclical mode of thought she outlined. "All things which are natural are cyclical." She went into "The Myth of America." There is an illusion in American history (and present) that there really was nothing here before the Europeans came bumbling along, it was "wilderness," "empty," "virgin." She said, "when there is no victim there can be no crime." Americans have a "collective amnesia" when dealing with our own past (and present.) It simply does not exist for most "good Americans." We can talk of a "holocaust" in Germany, but would not even consider that term when speaking of our own country. Yet nowhere in human history has there been as much loss of life and destruction in one region as has occurred (and continues to occur) in the Americas - nowhere. America is the perpetrator of the worst genocide in the history of the world, yet everyone benefiting from this has conveniently forgotten it. "The myth of America is predicated on the absence of the Indian." She asked our group, "how many of you can name 25 different Indian communities?" A handful. "There are over 700 Indian communities today." Amnesia. Elimination. Denial. She continued by saying, "a society based on conquest cannot sustain." She then went into some current examples of what continues to occur in Indian country. The James Bay damn in Ontario, Canada is perhaps the worst ecological disaster on this continent. It has already flooded thousands of miles of land, killing off basically all the game in the area, and it has displaced thousands of Cree Indians. Phase II of the project will at least double this. Yet who even knows about this? Some environmentalists have attacked it, but far too many have not. Why? it hasn't affected their communities ... yet. The catch is that United States companies are buying the contracts for this damn, in other words we are responsible for it. The energy from this damn comes (at least in part) to the US of A. She talked about the uranium mines in New Mexico and Arizona on the Navajo rez. People in these communities were put to work in these mines with no form of protection from radiation or contaminated water. Their communities have the highest rates of radiation poisoning in the nation. The open mines still lie un-cleaned up today. The gov't had scheduled about 1000 nuclear power plants to be built by 2000. But people in these communities and the anti-nuke movement got them stopped. But the effects remain. Nuclear waste disposal is targeted for Indian reservations because they're so poor now that the powers that be figure they need the money and it won't be a white, middle class community harmed, at least. This is environmental racism. She spoke of everyday Indian people fighting to keep their homes safe that are totally ignored at the environmental tables. The environmental movement has a history of ignoring Indian issues just as everyone else does. But the connection to made is that whatever happens to these communities is the rest of this country's fate. Remember, the industrial vs. Indigenous thinking. The lack of balance and reciprocity. people like Winona LaDuke make it very clear the effect that this gap in thinking has had on this country and the world. She defined the Indian situation today as one of pure colonialism, and nothing less. Where are most of the uranium, coal, oil fields in the USA? On reservation land. Where does the energy produced go? To white communities and big cities. That is colonialism - going in to one's nation, forcing it to produce a product and sending that product back for your own use. it is exactly what's going on today in the United States of America. She also spoke out against NAFTA because it will allow this process of stealing, using, and polluting native lands to continue at a much faster pace. The James Bay dam is a result of the free-trade agreement between USA and Canada. She said it was very frustrating to see so many enviro-groups hopping on the NAFTA bandwagon for whatever selfish reason they have. We have to work to stop this environmental and Indigenous rights nightmare from being passed. Native people not only have a place at the environmental discussion, they should be the leaders of the environmental discussions. Most white, middle class enviros carry with us that "cultural baggage" of industrial thought that we have had forced down our throats in this society and we *have* to let an alternative voice do the talking. Industrial thought vs. Indigenous thought. Enviros must examine this and AMERICANS must examine this. Consumption at this American level is not sustainable. We need a complete rethinking of our system; our way of thinking. Winona said something that rang very true, "this isn't about buying green or *recycling*, it's WAY past that." There was much more she discussed and if anyone else has seen her or can correct something I said PLEASE add to this. She ended with a story about a conference she went to, some big General Motors corp. festival or something. As everyone there was flaunting their wealth, the speakers came up one by one. She spoke to them about their role in uranium mining in the SW. Then a priest from South America came up and said one thing, "The people I'm with down there wanted me to ask you all one question: Does our poverty have anything to do with your wealth??" /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ WHAT CAN WE DO???? Write to your congress people and Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbit and insist that Native land on the reservation be returned to Native control *on the reservations* (they're not asking everyone to go back to Europe.) ;) Tell them to insist upon protection of Native religious freedom in all cases. Insist upon protection of sacred sights and national forest areas (in which many of these sights are.) Stop NAFTA!!! GET OUT AND LISTEN TO WHAT NATIVE AMERICANS AND INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN GENERAL ARE SAYING CONCERNING THE ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN RIGHTS. If you're in an environmental group, outreach to Native Americans in the area and get their input and leadership. Spread the word. Write the people in power. But most importantly (if you're non- Indigenous or conditioned in whatever way) *seriously* QUESTION the way you were taught to think. Thanks, Winona. (red, white, black, yellow) Fight the power, Jeff "What!!?? The land of the free?! Whoever told you that is your enemy." -RATM --------- "RE: Mohawks Re-inhabit Mohawk Valley" --------- From: Dan Winter Subj: MOHAWKS RE-INHABIT MOHAWK VALLEY Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) MOHAWKS RE-INHABIT MOHAWK VALLEY written 4pm 9/14/93 by David Yarrow in nativenet Group from St. Regis to return to land of Mohawk ancestors Indians buy 322 acres of land for a fresh start Hope to leave St. Regis troubles behind reprinted w/o permission from Syracuse Herald Journal Sunday, 9/12/93 By Jim Reilly Tom Porter was talking about the land and, though he was more than 100 miles from the spot he described, it was as though a picture of the place hung framed in his mind. "The property is roughly 322 acres, give or take a few acres. It faces the south. In other words, there's a hill, but the hill inclines towards the south, which is perfect for solar energy," he said. "It has roughly 200 acres of about the most- I believe you could say it's virgin woods, or something close to it. There are trees there that are 200, 250 feet tall. There's the Mohawk river, and beyond that the Thruway. We're on the north side of the river. And I'll tell you, if you have a headache, and you go into that woods, you don't have to be there long and your headache will go away." Porter and a group of other traditional Mohawks from the St. Regis Mohawk reservation near Massena hope this place , with its woods and water and rattlesnakes , will heal some of the headaches and heartache that have gnawed at the reserve for years: drug use, alcoholism, smuggling, shootings, and disputes over gambling, money and leadership that broke up families, embittered friends and have led to violence and, more than once, death. Porter, a traditional Mohawk chief, will not say Akwesasne, which is what traditional Mohawks call the reserve, is a bad place. "Though we have many problems, there's many , many wonderful people here," he said. "This is where I was born, this is where my family is. I'm not condemning people here, I want that to be clear." But Porter and the others are leaving. At an auction in July, they bought Montgomery Manor, the old Montgomery County home for the aged and poor, and its attendant 300-plus acres in the town of Palatine. They paid 231,000, Porter said, and took title to the property this month. Some of the money came from bake sales and pancake breakfasts and other fund-raisers the Mohawks have run the past few years; some came from friends they've made in other countries; most, more than $200,000 came from a few particularly close friends. "I can't say the name or even where they live, because they've asked to remain anonymous," Porter said. For the Mohawks, this marks a return to their ancestral homeland and the valley that bears their tribal name, a return that has been prophesied and dreamed about for generations. "The principal villages of our people were there. In fact, the place that we bought was a bear clan village. I belong to that clan. My great-great-great-great-grand mother was born and raised there, or not far from there." Perhaps as soon as the end of this month, Porter and a few others will move into their new home to clean, fix and figure out what needs to be done to the three buildings to make them livable. The place has been vacant and boarded up more than a year. Porter said as many as 20 families may move from Akwesasne to the Mohawk valley over the next year; more may come later. "It's hard to say how many. We'll have to see in two years' time, and two years after that," he said. They plan to farm, raise crops and animals, maybe set up a trout farm using the water from a spring-fed creek on the land. "On the land, there's an artesian spring that comes from the big hill there, right from the rocks," Porter said. "It flows day and night, and it's bacteria-free, they tell me. It's a beautiful, beautiful spring. There's a lot of possibilities there." Porter said the group is considering a variety of business ventures to help support themselves in their new home, from a mail-order service for Native American crafts to bottling the water from their spring and selling it. In time, they hope to create a conference center, where people can come to learn about traditional Mohawk and Iroquois culture. Porter, 49, is a carpenter, and also has worked as a teacher and lecturer. They also might rent space to groups seeking a conference location. But nothing that might disturb the rattlesnakes. "A half mile from the property's eastern boundary line on top of the hill - it's not on our property, but it's only half a mile from the line - is one of the few timber rattlesnake dens left," Porter said. "It's supposedly the most densely populated one. The other day, a timber rattler crossed the road, and all the cars had to stop. It was a big one, a six-footer. Timber rattlers, they're a sacred animal. They need to live." He and others hope to leave behind some of the problems of Akwesasne, from the political infighting between so-called traditionals and progressives to the pollution of the land and water from decades of fallout and effluent from the industries that crowd the banks at the confluences of several rivers. They also hope to create an environment where "we can preserve our language, our ceremonies, our philosophies, the way we look at the world, for ourselves and for our children and grandchildren," Porter said. "What this is, is like-minded people going someplace where we can preserve what we are as a native people," Porter said. "I don't want to be arrogant. We are not saying we will do it; there's no formula, no blueprint, and things are so shattered, there are so many wounds. We do not know is we will be successful. But this will be our damnedest try." He has six children and eight grandchildren. Some will stay at Akwesasne, some may come to live in the Mohawk Valley. "Even though we're going to be moving over there, that doesn't mean we're abandoning Akwesasne," Porter said. "There will be an open door, both ways. But in the new place, there will be no drugs, no alcohol, no gambling. We're going to do things that are within our spiritual teaching and tradition," Porter said. "We're not going to do anything to hurt that land; nothing that's going to scare the rattlesnakes away." + - - - - - - -- - - - -- - C O M M E N T A R Y- - -- - - - - - - - + THE POWER OF PLACE. As a living creation, the planet was carefully crafted over endless eons. Around the planet, the persistent presence in specific places of so-called indigenous, native, or aboriginal peoples is a deliberate geomantic manifestation of Earth's intention to create and support a humanity. Places these ancestral groups occupy are always prime indicators of the planet's state and balance. Legends, history and spiritual culture of these peoples are always crucial local reservoirs in the memory matrix of the mind of Gaia. Even as "geo-metry" initiates from "earth-measure," so, too, "land-guage" expresses a local harmony and dimension to a landscape. Within this global mind field, time is the next dimension beyond space. So it was timely that last year the movie "Last of the Mohicans" toured North America -- a gory tragedy of war and treachery in an earlier American century. But James Fenimore Cooper penned awesome insight full of epic glimpses into the military, moral and spiritual forces invading North America to pry open a "new" continent. Chingachcook and his son Uncas -- the last two Mohican men left alive and free -- are leaving their now depopulated Berkshire Mountains homeland for Pennsylvania to live with Shawnee, and thus escape (for a while) genocide in an onrushing war between English and French, with their Huron allies. To the west, Mohawks (People of Flint) and their Iroquois brothers in the Five Nations Confederacy hadn't sided with Britain yet, and the English lost bad in the war's first years. Now that Mohicans were only a memory in the Berkeshire forests, it would be Mohawks who next felt the crunch of the European onslaught pounding against the eastern door to the continent. Indeed, only a few decades later, the Mohawks fell to the Anglo-European invasion and were swept aside and out of the Mohawk Valley. Two centuries after these grim and bloody chapters of early American history, Mohawks and many Iroquois were hired as extras for a 1990s remake of Cooper's gem of early American literature. Now, two centuries after being driven out of the path of progress, Mohawks are returning to their original ancestral homelands: the Mohawk Valley. Amid the screaming headlines of a world in upheaval and nations in turmoil, this tiny movement of a nearly forgotten people to a settlement in their ancestral homeland is a quietly whispered message about the power of place and the subtle shiftings of power at our current time in the cycles of history. Chief Tom Porter told me of his plan to move a few years ago. I knew the extensive industrial pollution, with the inevitable mental and moral madness endured by those trying to live traditional lives at Akwesasne. (How interesting Chief Porter begins this article talking about how the land has the power to remove headaches.) I agreed with Chief Porter it was imperative to resettle on clean land, and to cleanse the human atmosphere, too, so that a new, pure beginning could be attempted. I am deeply happy Tom Porter's long held dream is coming true. As Western capitalist nations teeter in the shadow of runaway deficits, and Eastern, dictatorial nations totter under rising cries for democracy, very quietly native peoples of the Americas are returning to their place. All Earth's creatures possess "homing instinct," and this primeval bio function gets turned on at a crucial moment in each creature's life cycle. Seems Mother Earth is calling her Mohawk children home. What time is it on Earth? Tom refers reverently and repeatedly of the magnificent rattlesnake den nearby. Such are the duties of Earth's true caretakers. At one point early in their revolutionary fight for independence, many colonists adopted the rattlesnake as their banner emblem for the new nation, with the warning: "Don't Tread on Me." Later the rattle-tailed serpent was replaced by the American eagle as the new national emblem. Serpent and eagle united become the winged serpent -- the Dragon, harbinger of Transformation. + - - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - + -- for a green and peaceful planet, turtle David Yarrow, turtle from Salt Lake Earthwise Education Center, P.O. Box 91, Camden, NY 13316 "be earthwise, not clockwise" + - - - - - - -- - - - -- - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - + --------- "RE: Conferences and Powwows" --------- From: JANS Janet McNeely Subj: Upcoming conferences and powwows GE Electronic Mail =POWWOWS= Oct. 8-9 4th Annual Southeaster Indian Cultural Festival Columbus, GA Info: 1-706-571-4180 Oct. 9-10 4th Annual Intertribal Arts Experience, Dayton OH Sponsor: Miami Valley Council for Native Americans Info: 1-513-376-4358 Oct. 21-24 Annual Fall Gathering of the Free Cherokees and Good Medicine Society - Sponsor: Snake Band of Free Cherokees Info: 1-203-331-8785 Oct. 23 Best of the Best, Suffern NY Info: 1-914-375-8424 Nov. 5-6 40th Annual Chicago American Indian Center's Powwow at Great Lakes Navy Base, Chicago IL Info: 1-312-275-5871 Nov. 5-6 7th Annual AIA Powwow, Orlando FL Info: 1-407-862-9676 Send notices of forthcoming powwows, conferences and gatherings to: jans@genie.geis.com jans%glsdk@wolves.durham.nc.us ....duke!wolves!glsdk!jans