_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' 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 02, ISSUE 001 O o O __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 1 January 1994 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. "You must speak straight so that your words may go as sunlight into our hearts." -- Chief Cochise ("Like Ironweed"), Chiricahua O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! Today marks the start of a new year in the washichu calendar. Most of our brothers and sisters celebrated the change of seasons during the winter solstice. This is still a good time to share some wishes. I would wish to see the eye of Lady Justice opened to witness, and amend, the shameful false imprisonment of Leonard Peltier, Clifford Dann, Tony Rios and others whose names I do not know; but for whom I cry. I would wish to see the sacred hoop continue to close and all our relatives come together as one voice, one drum of the heart, one beautiful circle of the First People joined together. Mitaquye Oyasin! Night Owl ------------------ clip here for news feature -- 8< ----------- --------- "RE: BIA Police Brutality" --------- From: B.HUNGERFORD Beverly Hungerford Subj: BIA Police Brutality Forward from FidoNet Conf: Indian Affairs 11/08/1993 By MATT KELLEY Associated Press Writer Rachel Moss, her hands cuffed in front of her, is being booked for disorderly conduct on Wyoming's Wind River Indian Reservation. It's 8 a.m. and Moss is intoxicated. Still standing, Moss spits at the officer. He shoves her in the face. She spits again. The officer stares momentarily at the spittle on his sleeve then lunges at Moss. He swipes first at her jaw then grabs two fistsful of hair and smashes her head into the wall. She slumps into a chair. The startling scene involving a Bureau of Indian Affairs police officer was captured Feb. 28 on a booking room videotape obtained by The Associated Press. Every booking is taped at the Fort Washakie jail. Why would an officer beat a prisoner in full view of the camera? Why not, when suspects are roughed up all the time? A six-month investigation by The Associated Press found that BIA police officers routinely use force when arresting suspects and are rarely disciplined for assaulting them. Some officers readily admitted kicking and hitting suspects, and BIA officials told the AP some use of force was inevitable. The AP reviewed 17 cases of alleged brutality filed on six Western reservations from April 1990 to March 1993. Citizens complained of being choked, sprayed with Mace, kicked in the groin, hit in the head and having hands and arms broken. In none of the cases was an officer punished -- not even when medical reports indicated injuries were caused by force. Files released under the Freedom of Information Act included the case of an officer on the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation who allegedly dragged a 14-year-old runaway out of a squad car by her feet and punched her in the face, then said the blood the girl spit onto the carpet was evidence of her combativeness. An officer broke a man's arm during an arrest for disorderly conduct, also on the Wind River reservation. BIA documents revealed two instances on South Dakota's Rosebud Sioux reservation in which BIA officers broke suspects' tailbones, one a man ordered to bend over the trunk of the patrol car then kicked. Six of the 17 cases examined by the AP occurred on the Rosebud reservation. The tribe became so frustrated with how BIA police treated its members and the agency's failure to investigate promptly or to discipline offending officers that it formed its own police force this year. "Every now and then excessive force has to be used to arrest some of these people," said Phil Charles, a former BIA criminal investigator at Rosebud. "If the guy's coming after you with a tire iron or a jack or a baseball bat and you have to take him down with your PR24 (baton), then that's not police brutality, that's reasonable force." In the 17 documented cases, however, none of the suspects was armed. In seven cases, women said officers roughed them up. Two of the suspects were juveniles. Most of the officers involved in the 17 cases continued to serve on reservation police forces. At least one was promoted, to head the force at Wind River. Almost every police force in the United States can cite arrests when forcible restraint has injured suspects, sometimes even fatally. Big city police departments are sometimes accused of systemic brutality. --------- "RE: Follow up on Stoneys Lawsuit" --------- From: B.HUNGERFORD Beverly Hungerford Subj: Follow up on Stoneys Lawsuit Forward from FidoNet Conf: Indian Affairs Just want to follow up about the Stoneys. You might be interested to know that the Stoneys have filed in October a lawsuit against the Government of Canada. They allege that the Government has breached its fiduciary obligations towards the Stoney Nation in the management of its oil and gas resources and the moneys it derives from them. The Indian Act, the Government argues, does not allow for First Nations to have control over its moneys. Other First Nations have filed similar lawsuits, they include Samson, Ermineskin, Enoch, Louis Bull, Montana, all out of Alberta. These claims could have a tremendous impact on the finances of the Government as it holds over a $billion on behalf of First Nations across the country. --------- "RE: Tracing Ancestry" --------- From: cc.weber.edu!WSDHESTAND Subj: Tracing Ancestry Mailing List: NATIVE-L It seems that many of you are struggling with where to go to try to trace your Native American ancestry. Many really good sources have been mentioned but the best that I have found is in Salt Lake City. No not the Mormon Church but th Church owned Family History Library. I live here and have spent hours tracing my Cherokee ancestry. They have a whole section on Native American history and ancestry including all the roll of the Five Civilized Tribes. Please call or write to them. A Native American lady by the name of Pat Smith (White Buffalo Woman) runs the area and is very knowledgeable. Pat Smith (White Buffalo Woman) Family History Library 35 N. West Temple Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 (801) 240-4763 or 240-2331 Hope this helps, David H. Hestand --------- "RE: Tracing Ancestry" --------- From: CU.NIH.GOV!HQE Subj: Tracing Ancestry Mailing List: NATIVE-L Dian, some of what you say in the following quote can be true. ___________________________QUOTE____________________________ I have heard from many people that written records such as the ones you discuss were not made for Native Americans prior to about 1900. I have known many people of Native decent who have wasted many hours looking for records which only have information on white people. I'm not saying that its a complete waste of time but don't get your hopes on this. I have heard that the Mormon church is a good place to look along with looking through a number of books/articles which have been written on this subject. Many local Native groups have access or at least can lead you to books and articles which have been written on this subject by people who have spent years learning how to trace Native ancestry. _________________________END QUOTE______________________________ First, I am of Native American ancestry and I have spent many years learning how to trace Native ancestry although I am not a genealogist but rather a historian. I work full time at the National Archives and have for the past ten years. I also spent almost twenty years studying history. Second, you are mistaken in assuming that there are no records prior to 1900. This is false. There are records pertaining to Native Americans from the inception of the Federal government which, of course, was in 1789. Additionally, prior to that, i.e., during Colonial times, there were many records created at the state level regarding Native Americans. An example would be records in New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina. Actually, all states that comprised the thirteen original colonies maintained some records on Native populations. Third, books and articles are very good to read before you begin your search into original records but they will not give you proof or anything because they are what we call secondary sources, i.e., not original documents. Fourth, The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons) do not have any original records except the records of their own religion. What they do have are microfilm copies of the many millions of original records available at the National Archives and other state and local offices. This is not to say that they are not a good resource; because they are. They have libraries throughout the United States and they allow anyone to use them so if you are interested in doing this kind of research, you might look them up in your local telephone book and then visit them. Fifth, the National Archives has branches throughout the United States and I would be happy to provide addresses to anyone who might be interested in visiting the branch nearest you. Just send me your geographic address. Sixth, individual tribes also have records but they are usually not available to the public but some tribes also have historical centers and they can be very helpful. Seventh, I agree with you that it can take years and lots of time must be spent. And, again, not everything can be gotten from books. Oral history is important, especially among Native Americans. However, I do not believe that a quest for knowledge can ever be a waste of tim Keep in mind that many organized tribes are not eager to help you because their prime purpose is to exclude as many individuals as possible in order to help their present members survive with the meager government subsidies. We cannot get away from the fact that most present organized tribes have been greatly manipulated by the Federal government over the years. That is why the concept of Nation and not Tribe is preferable. I personally think that if a person says that they are Native American, they probably are. I don't favor blood quantum at all and I feel that the amount of fraud created by some individuals lying is negligible and I would rather leave it up to powers greater than I to judge them. Let's try to stop fighting over the Federal "pie" and start uniting in our common interests to further our survival needs and cultures. Helen Engle, Archivist, National Archives-New England Region 380 Trapelo Rd., Waltham, MA 02154 (617) 647-8100 E-Mail address: HQE@NIH.CU.GOV --------- "RE: Jim 'Ironlegs' Weaver in D.C." --------- From: milo@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Michele Lord) Subj: Jim 'Ironlegs' Weaver in D.C. This article is from the twice monthly newspaper, News From Indian Country. It is published by Indian Country Communications, Inc. with offices at Rt.2 Box 2900A, Hayward, WI 54843. They may be contacted by calling (715) 634-5226; FAX (715) 634-3243. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ First the long walk, now the long wait by Susan Stanich - Duluth News-Tribune Washington D.C. - Jim "Ironlegs" Weaver is waiting for William "Bill" Clinton. The 72-year-old White Earth Chippewa, who trudged 1,700 miles to Washington, D.C., this year to deliver a message to the president, said he hasn't seen him yet but won't leave until he does. "I've got to see him," he said December 8th by telephone. "This was a mission, you know. The old man upstairs told me to do this, so this is what I'm doing." Weaver's message is twofold: That northern Minnesota is being ravaged by lumber, mining and hazardous waste disposal interests; and that federally sanctioned tribal governments serve those interests and not the interests of Indian people. "I'll just stay until I see the president," Weaver said. His wife, Judy Gonzalez, who accompanied him by car for much of the journey, said she won't be able to stand much more of Washington. "I don't like it. I asked about an Indian center. They don't even have one. But there's a tribe south of here, they had a feast for us on Sunday. I think I'll go down there and wait for Jim. It felt good being among my own people." The tribe is the Piscataway Nation, which has waged an intense 60-year battle to protect its burial grounds along the Potomac River, said Chief Bily Tayac. The Piscataways have a traditional council and chief system. Like the Chippewa, they're Algonquin people, but their treaties were with the British. After the American Revolution, the Americans didn't recognize the treaties and took over the treaty land, Tayac said. The tribe maintained its identity, religion, and culture all these years, but its numbers dwindled from 12,000 to about 100 today. Tayac said his tribe will help Weaver all it can. He said the Piscataways agree that the federally established tribal governments are little more than puppet governments of the United States, and were put in place to suppress traditional ways and allow non-Indian developers access to Indian land. That's why the Weavers will have a hard time finding an ear in Washington, he said. That's why no Washington media have taken any interest in Weaver's accomplishment, he added. "Washington really isn't the belly of the beast," Tayac said. "It's the brain of the beast. They want to suppress any kind of pro-Indian, anti-U.S. sentiment." Nevertheless, the tribe will do what it can to get Weaver a presidential visit and several other people are trying to arrange an audience with Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and with Ada Deer, head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Weaver left Minnesota July 8. On November 22, he walked into Washington. He carried an Eagle-feather staff, a packsack, a little bottle of Mississippi River water and a vial of Earth. He said he wants to give the president the damaged water and soil as testimony to the degradation of his homeland. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Michele Lord + If you have come here to help me, + you are wasting your time..... + But if you have come because + your liberation is bound up with mine, milo@scicom.alphacdc.com + then let us work together. Aboriginal Woman ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --------- "RE: Wiping the Blood off the Map of Nova Scotia" --------- From: B.HUNGERFORD Beverly Hungerford Subj: BIA Police Brutality Forward from FidoNet Conf: Indian Affairs Reproduced without permission from the Globe & Mail - Saturday, December 18, 1993 - WIPING THE BLOOD OFF THE MAP OF NOVA SCOTIA By Kevin Cox Atlantic Bureau Halifax Micmac author and political leader Dan Paul has some names he wants to wipe off the map of Nova Scotia. They include: GENERAL JEFFREY AMHERST, who in 1763 sent smallpox-infected blankets to Nova Scotia Micmacs, and later lamented that he couldn't bring over English hunting dogs to track down the native people. Today, the first town many tourists encounter after they cross Nova Scotia's northern border is named after him. LORD CORNWALLIS, the founder of Halifax, paid 10 guineas for the scalp of every Micmac man, woman and baby - and thousands of native people were slaughtered by bounty hunters. Today several schools, a town and a Canadian Forces Base in the Annapolis Valley carry his name. COLONEL CHARLES LAWRENCE issued a proclamation in 1756 30 pounds for every Micmac man brought to the fort alive, and "for a scalp of a male Indian 25 pounds and 25 pounds for every Indian woman or child brought in alive." The Annapolis Valley community of Lawrencetown was named after the military leader. Traditional history texts written by English authors have revered these men as the stalwart founders of the province, who led their followers in hacking out settlements in the New World. But Mr. Paul, executive director of the Confederacy of Mainland Micmacs, calls them "sick and barbaric." Mr. Paul, author of the recently published "We Were Not the Savages," the first history of the clash between the micmacs in the Maritimes and the Europeans, said in a recent interview that such names as Cornwallis, Amherst and Lawrence on the Nova Scotia map are an affront to the native people the British administrators endeavored obliterate. When the Europeans arrived in the 1600s, there were about 100,000 Micmacs; by the mid-1800s, slaughter, disease and starvation had reduced them to as few as 1,500. Now a more plentiful food supply and better housing have returned Micmac numbers in Nova Scotia to about 10,000. The British military leaders "were just not made of heroic stuff; they ordered genocide," Mr. Paul said. "I am bringing them down to where everybody will know that their names are an affront to our people and the names of those places should be changed." He has persuaded Halifax council not to allow a new housing development to be named Cornwallis Place, and said he is gaining support for changing many signs. Mr. Paul said the British leaders of the 18th century began a program of deliberate genocide, and this was followed by widespread diseases such as smallpox and then the starvation of thousands of Micmacs in the 19th century. He said the place names honour the British attitude of arrogant superiority that the Micmacs in Nova Scotia have had to endure for nearly four centuries. "You look at a proclamation put out on the skulls of a race of people, and that include babies," Mr. Paul said. "You'd have to be some kind of animal to do something like that; you're not human - I don't care what anybody says." In the book, he contrasts the easy going, democratic lifestyle enjoyed by the Micmacs before the arrival of the Europeans with the rigid, authoritarian system imposed by the British. He said they were appalled that the Micmacs didn't want to be assimilated into British society and that they fought against British rule. "You don't demand of a people its extermination and then expect them to jump up and say 'Glory Hallelujah, we're with you.'" Mr. Paul, who worked for 15 years in the federal Department of Indian affairs, asserted that many federal and provincial politicians have taken a patronizing approach toward the Micmacs, refusing to allow them any means of escaping poverty and unemployment on the reserves. He included in his book a 1948 letter from Frank Stanfield, then the Tory MP for the Truro area and a member of one of Nova Scotia's most prominent political families. The letter, addressed to the federal director of Indian Affairs, extolled the virtues of moving Micmacs from isolated parts of Nova Scotia to a central reserve at Shubenacadie. "The trouble is the women go out and get what work they can but the men are lazy and will do nothing," wrote Mr. Stanfield, who acknowledged in the letter that he had talked only to white people who thought the Indian people were prosperous. Mr. Paul said that kind of attitude can be changed only through education about the history of the native people. Moreover, the Micmacs are looking for nearly a million hectares in land-claim negotiations instead of the 11,330 they have now. The process should start with an apology from Prime Minister Jean Chretien for the way Micmacs have been treated in the past, he said. He acknowledged his book has angered some Nova Scotians, who challenge his version of history. "I think I'm stepping on the toes of some Nova Scotia gods, and I think its bothering a log of people. --------- "RE: Navajo-Hopi Update 12/30/03" --------- From: Navajo Nation Subj: NAVAJO-HOPI UPDATE 12/30/03 Date: Fri, 31 Dec 1993 00:11:00 GMT Mailing List: NATIVE-L ~From: Navajo Nation ~Subject: NAVAJO-HOPI UPDATE 12/30/03 NAVAJO-HOPI "LAND DISPUTE" UPDATE 12/30/93 MORE HARASSMENT OF DINE' FAMILIES: CHRISTMAS INCIDENT AT TEESTO Mr. Alvin Clinton of the Star Mountain/Teesto resister community called me the morning of Dec. 27, to say that some Dine' elders from the Finger-point Rock area, northwest of his place, had been stopped by Hopi Rangers while hauling wood the day before. The Hopi rangers asked for Marie and Kenneth Begay's their wood- hauling permit, but refused to recognize the xerox copy which Mrs. Begay provided. The Rangers made them unload their wood and told them to go get their original permit. When the Begays returned, all the rangers and all the firewood were gone. I called Eugene Secakuku at the BIA first to see what he knew about it. He looked through his records and said, yes, the Begays have a firewood permit valid until 12/13/94. He said that "his" men only take wood when they see that the individual hauling has no permit. He referred me to the Hopi Rangers. The duty Chief at Kykotsmovi, Sgt. Kollateata, told me the wood was at Kykotsmovi. He said the Begays had been "confrontational" and that they had been cutting green wood, which is illegal under Hopi law. I asked if it was all green, he said no, I asked if the family could get back the dry wood anyway, cause it's winter and they don't have coal or anything. It did not make much sense to me as people don't really burn green wood. It smokes up a hogan. The Sgt. said he thought they threw in a big piece of green with some dry, to burn all night... I thought about that. Nah. The worst smoke would be a low fire and green juniper. I asked Betty Tso to investigate. She tried to get a look at the confiscated wood, but wasn't able. She talked to the Begays, they said there were two logs that still had a little green left, but were mostly dead. the rest was dead dry. Juniper trees have a number of big trunks that come out of the ground, and when they get old some of the trunks die off. Trunks like that die slow, so for the last few years of their life there might still be a strip of live bark and a few green branches hanging off it. But the rest of the trunk is shiny silver and dry. Mr. and Mrs. Begay have a vehicle but they are letting their kids use it for work. Their daughter called me from Chinle yesterday while I was out. Today she told me her parents have a handwritten note, not signed or anything, saying they can pick up their wood at Kykotsmovi. But they don't have their truck and anyway they feel the Rangers should bring the wood back. She also told me that the seizure was actually on Christmas day, and the family was going to use the wood to cook their Christmas dinner. Betty Tso is going to put together a legal letter to the Hopi Rangers on the matter. This is an example of the many cases of wood seizure which have occurred. The Hopis are always accusing Navajos of cutting green wood. It is like a slogan with them. They KNOW that Navajos don't cut green wood - not when they have a choice. And especially in winter when you are cutting wood to use NOW, not after you dry it 6 months. If Dine' made a habit of cutting green wood, there wouldn't be a tree in sight in Window Rock. But there's plenty. IMPOUNDMENT ALERT CONTINUES The BIA police have not been having much luck with their impoundment activities, as the Dine' are keeping a close watch on livestock, and keeping them in pens when they can. We had asked for the use of an undeveloped part of the so- called "New Lands", the former Chambers Ranch, as overflow grazing so the Dine' families could remove excess livestock and get the BIA off their backs. The Relocation Commissioner asked the Hopi Tribe for their input. "The Hopi tribe objects strenuously to the proposal ... it will delay even further the Office of Relocation's compliance with its statutory mandate to relocate all Navajos from the HPL and 2) it rewards the Navajo for their intransigence and refusal to comply with the law." The letter goes on to say that the request for alternate grazing is a "ploy..by the Navajos to avoid the consequences of their behavior." So the Hopi Tribe on the one hand is demanding reduction of Navajo livestock, because they say the range is being damaged. On the other hand, when we come up with a sensible and LEGAL alternative, they manage to block it. The Chambers Ranch, for you old-timers, was the scene of a VERY heavy livestock impoundment in Oct. 1988. At that time, Dine' families from the HPL were grazing on it under a carry-over arrangement from when it was tribal fee land. The BIA sent in several van-loads of heavily armed men against a few elders. They did not notify Navajo Police or anything, Some of them came in an unmarked van with South Dakota plates. They were not very friendly. I talked to Bruce Ellison about it afterwards, he said they sounded like SOGs - they're a Special Operations Group that was active in South Dakota for a while. The BIA always refused to release the documents on this operation. Well, happy new year to all of you. I hope the next year brings a better life to everyone. And I hope and pray that the fences come down off Star Mountain in the next year. --------- "RE: Insight on The Cree and James Bay" --------- From: B.HUNGERFORD Beverly Hungerford Subj: Insight on The Cree and James Bay Forward from FidoNet Conf: Indian Affairs Did you know that when the Cree went to court over James Bay that the Judge and Lawyers for Quebec had no idea about the Cree, Cree Rights, Native Rights or anything dealing with Native people. Did you know the lawyer for the Cree spoke for over 5 hours and the Judge had no idea nor the lawyers as to what he was talking about. Did you know that in almost every treaty or document dealing with native people you can find the words "forbidding anyone from taking native lands." Why was this ? Well many of the early reason to make treaties was over the fur trade and to remove the rights and take the land of those that did the trapping would mean the end of the fur trade. So the in these treaties it was always pointed out that they had the free access to hunt and fish. It was the furs that were taken back on the ships to Europe that was at the center of the trade and MONEY. Did you know that because of this case Quebec proved that the Cree had rights to the land when they used something called "The Quebec Boundaries Extension Act of 1912." What happen then was the request of the European Colonialism calls a "DEED." But since this was a case being done constitutional until proven other wise it was case closed and shut and the lawyer for the Cree had just wasted 5 hours in a history lesson on a bunch of closed minded lawyers from Quebec. (pg. 27) Did you know that the lawyer for the Province of Quebec, Maitre Jaques Lebel and Hydro Quebec was the brother-in-law of Premier of Quebec, Robert Bourassa and that his main concern was to prove that the Crees lived just like the rest of the people in Quebec. Did you know that the Cree never put on reservation nor signed any treaty to surrender any of they country with the Crown. Only the Mistassini live on a reservation in the north, and was created in the 1960s. Since the other Indians were so far north they never needed the protection of a reservation and lived anywhere their trap lines would take them in there CREE COUNTRY. Did you know that the Cree were told in the court that if James Bay were built that everyone would be better off. There would better roads, more work, better roads for machines for a better life, better fire protection, more government for a safer state if order and peace. Did you know that in the question asked of the Cree, that outboard motor and Skidoo was what the government lawyers was trying to use to show how the Cree's lives were like that of the non-native. But with each question the lawyer looked like the fools. Such was the case when he ask one hunter do you us a outboard motor to go hunting. The Cree Hunter respond, "No, if I were to take a boat I would paddle, if I were to take a outboard motor boat I would need to carry gas and I can't eat gas." -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- If you're interested in Quebec and James Bay, then get a copy of a book called "Strangers Devour the Land by Boyce Richarson, ISBN 0-93-0031-40-7. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- --------- "RE: Introduction to W.S.H.P.S." --------- From: timb@shadow.scs.unr.edu (Tim Brogan) Subj: Introduction to W.S.H.P.S. Wed Dec 22, 1993 FROM: WESTERN SHOSHONE HISTORIC PRESERVATION SOCIETY/1545 SILVER EAGLE DRIVE/ELKO,NEVADA/89801/(702)738-7070 SUBJECT: PRESERVATION SOCIETY WESTERN SHOSHONE HISTORIC PRESERVATION SOCIETY In may of 1993, Larry Kibby a Native American Indian from the Eel River and Bear River Mattole tribe and Paula Brady, a Western Shoshone, formed the Western Shoshone Historic Preservation Society, a non-profit organization established towards the preservation and protection of those religious and cultural sites having a significant importance to the Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada. On June 3 of 1993, the Temoak Tribal Council, the executive governing body of the Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada endorsed the Society and did authorized the Society to Act in their behalf towards the preservation and protection of those traditional sites having a value towards the religion and culture. B.L.M. Elko District Office supplied the Society with a certified letter explaining the need for such an organization was due to the fact that within Elko County, B.L.M. had documented over the years more then 10,000 sites and that 10% of those sites were eligible for placement in the National Register of Historic Places. Between June of 1989 and June of 1993, B.L.M. had sent out 27 letters requesting assistance from the tribes and or those respected individuals professing to be leaders of the Western Shoshone, in determining the religious and cultural importance to the 27 sites and there was no significant response. Tribal leader's failed to understand the importance to these area's and the importance towards the preservation and protection of their own heritage, much of the time stating that they did not have the funds or the time, henceforth, the Society was formed and through a private individual, we have managed to stay alive. As a non-profit organization , an Executive Board of Trustees was established to over look the programs goals and objectives and to provide past verbal history in the area's that were being designated by the B.L.M., U.S. Forest Service and Mining Companies for various projects or other activity. The Executive Board of Trustees is made up of Western Shoshone: Gordon Healy, Chairman, Odger's Ranch, Butte Valley, Nevada: Kathleen Holley, Vice-Chairperson, Battle Mountain, Nevada: Paula Brady, Secretary, Elko Indian Colony: Evelyn Temoke Roche, Finance Secretary,(Traditional Chief Frank Temoke's Daughter)Elko Indian Colony. The Executive Board of Trustees contains people that have lived on Tribal Land for most of their lives and have protested such activity as: Range Land Reform 94' Proposal: Elk Management on Traditional Land: Designated Wilderness Area's on Traditional Land: Illegal Wild Horse Round-up and Wild Horse Management on Traditional Land: Dewatering by the Mines on Traditional Lands: National Forest establishment on Traditional Lands: National Parks establishment on Traditional Lands. These activities that have been mentioned do destroy and cause desecration of Traditional Ceremonial and Burial Sites. The intention of this Society is to ensure that those Sacred Grounds that are within the area described under Article V of the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863 are safe-guarded to the extent that no further damage or desecration will take place. It is very important for all Native American Indian communities to preserve and protect their heritage for the youth, the next generation of life. In that most of the proposed activity takes place on what is referred to as so-called Public Domain, these are the traditional properties of the Western Shoshone Indians of Nevada, and it is the regard of this organization to use the legal description of the law to ensure that they are left in their natural state of being. This organization does not express the location of ceremonial or burial sites, because archaeological people have no business within the confines of these area's because they are sacred. Most archaeological people are only interested in the scientific research which goes against the traditional belief that has been handed down all these years and it is not the intent of this organization to make liar's out of our traditional elder's, who have given us so much. This organization was also established towards the enhancement of the: National Historic Preservation Act(P.L. 102- 575): Joint Resolution American Indian Religious Freedom, approved August 11, 1978(42 U.S.C. 1996): and the Native American Graves Protection and Reparation Act,(U.S.C. 25, stat. 3001- 3013). Within the structure of these Acts all Native American Indian communities will have the opportunity to preserve and protect their Traditional Territory that may or may not be associated within the Traditional Territory of their tribes. Over the years and since the 1920's many scholar's , collegiate scholars and writer's of history, historians and theologians have introduced much documentation about the Indian. For the most part, the facts have been close to the truth, but it must be understood that the propaganda wheels of assimilation have always continued to turn and some material was established that had no factual relation to our people or their way of life. The propaganda that was spread was directed to our traditional belief in order to distort and cause disgrace for our holy men and traditional leaders who continued to practice their traditional ways. Through beatings, torture and death the Native American Indian traditional has survived. The Belief is just as strong and powerful before the Euro-American invasion. The effort to document the understanding of our tradition has been in vain. Though there have been non-Indians who professed that they had direct knowledge of this tradition they only took what was written in books and mis-used and abused that. Much of the real tradition has not been written or spoken of, mainly because the traditional people did not want it to be used for monetary or personal gain. Simple idea's were established and directions to some matter's were established but for the most part the Sacred Tradition has been safe-guarded. The traditional Chief of the Western Shoshone, Frank Temoke still maintains that the Western Shoshone have never sold their rights or land to the U.S. Government and now even the rancher's in this area are stating that Nevada had title to this land before the federal government. The traditional territory of the Western Shoshone under Article V of the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863 is very clear in respect to the domain of the Western Shoshone. This Native American Indian organization will continue to go forth and promote the preservation and protection of these Sacred Grounds and hopefully the federal and state agencies will not hinder our efforts towards this opportunity to preserve and protect our heritage. --------- "RE: Buffaloes Making Comeback" --------- From: B.HUNGERFORD Beverly Hungerford Subj: Buffaloes Making Comeback Forward from FidoNet Conf: Indian Affairs stolen AP story from 26 Dec 93 Buffaloes Making Comeback, Fulfilling Indian Prophesies "When the buffalo saw their day was over and they could no longer protect the people, survivors gathered in council. Early one day a young woman looked through the mist to see the herd appear like a spirit dream and walk into an opening in Mount Scott. Inside, the world was fresh and green as it once had been. Into this beauty the buffalo walked, never to be seen again." -Kiowa legend. by Fred Bayles, AP Pawhuska, OK - They come plodding out of the foggy dawn, lured by the bleat of the truck's horn and its promise of alfalfa and molasses cubes, a tempting treat compared to their sturdy diet of native Blue Stem and Indian grasses. The morning ritual is to prepare 300 buffaloes for release onto the sepia-toned hills and swales of ranch land owned by The Nature Conservancy. Gamboling around the slow-moving truck, the buffalo grunt a murmur of reassurance that ripples slowly through the herd. "You know they belong when you see them out there," says Bob Hamilton, a biologist charged with growing the herd into 1,800 head over the next decade. "They're a major cog in the ecological machine." The buffalo release this fall at the 36,600 acre preserve on the Kansas border is but one piece in a mosaic that, for some, is beginning to resemble the prophesies made by Indian mystics a century ago. In the Ghost Dance of the late 1880's, Plains Indians spoke of a time the buffalo would return, signalling the collapse of white society and a reclamation of lands taken from the tribes and their buffalo brothers. Now, the buffalo are returning. Their numbers have quadrupled to 135,000 since the 1970's; exponential growth is expected to continue as the herds expand for commercial, conservation and cultural reasons. And as the buffalo move onto the land, people continue to move off. Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and the Dakotas have seen populations in more than a hundred rural counties drop to half their 1930 levels. Railroad and bus services have declined. Schools and hospitals have closed. Working farms and ranches have disappeared. There are those who see a connection. "The buffalo tell us what is happening and what is likely to happen in the Great Plains," said Frank Popper, a Rutgers University urban planner who has been predicting the Plains will revert to a frontier of buffalo and open spaces. "Buffalo are the only animals in America that have commercial, wildlife and mystic value," he said. "They are important because they represent a different use of the land." Those seeking buffalo signs can find them up and down the Great Plains, a 1,500 mile, 10 state region stretching from Montana to the Rio Grande. The signs are fueled by different, unrelated sources, from ranchers and conservationists to Indian tribes. But whatever their motives, each are contributing to the rapid growth of the herds. In Yellowstone National Park, a policy of nonintervention has seen the herd triple to 3,300 over 20 years, and push beyond park boundaries. There are plans for herds on public park lands and private conservation tracts from Wyoming to Texas. Ranchers are turning to buffalo. Naturally adapted to prairie life, buffalo are cheaper to raise than cattle; their low-in-fat, high-in-hype meat brings in more money. The incentives are such that the American Bison Association has grown from 14 members in 1974 to 1,200 today. Buffaloes also are returning to Indian lands throughout the Plains. Economic and ecological benefits are cited, but there is and emphasis, too, on their spiritual impact. "When native people see a herd for the first time, the moment is incredible," said Donna House, a tribal organizer in Santa Fe, NM. "There is a breath, a sigh, as if they had been waiting for something for a long time and it's finally here." But there also is a considered hesitation as some wonder if it is the time - ore the way - for the buffaloes' return. They worry about the imposition of feed lots and breeding strategies on an animal that symbolizes the ethos of the American frontier. "We've seen people manipulating buffalo to behave like cattle and we believe the buffalo has an intrinsic spirit that won't stand to be treated like that," said Mark Heckert, director of the InterTribal Bison Cooperative, a group of 26 tribes raising buffalo on Indian lands. It is too early to tell of the buffalo will even come back. Their total population represents little more than one day's cattle slaughter in this country. The future of the animal, and its habitat, remains as Crowfoot, a Blackfoot warrior-poet once said, ethereal as "the breath of a buffalo in the winter time." "What's developing is a New West that's similar in some ways to the Old West," said Robert Pickering, head of anthropology at the Denver Museum of Natural History. "It's visionary stuff. It's just not clear what the vision is." The vast grasslands of the Great Plains molded, and were molded by, the partnership of buffalo and Indians that lasted a hundred centuries before the white man came. Some 700 varieties of plants formed the great sea of grass that covered 20 percent of the continent. The buffalo grazed the grasses into a balance of annuals and perennial that provided home for a rich diversity of animal life. Buffalo manure provided a rich compost for plant and insect species. The tribes had their impact, too, setting prairie fires in ceremonies and warfare that kept eastern forests from invading the Plains. In turn, the Plains shaped the buffalo. The big animals adapted to a climate that produces the nation's hottest summers and coldest winters, a landscape with the shortest growing season and a succession of miseries ranging from hail, windstorms, and blizzards to drought and locusts. The herds prospered in sizes estimated between 30 million to 50 million animals. But it took only a generation - and the introduction of railroads and buffalo hunters - to wipe them out. --------- "RE: Indian Traditions and New Agers" --------- From: B.HUNGERFORD Beverly Hungerford Subj: Indian Traditions and New Agers Forward from FidoNet Conf: Indian Affairs Date: Mon, 12-27-93 (09:21) Taken from the Montreal Gazette Reprinted from the New York Times. By David Johnston ---------------------------------- Boulder Colo. In an ancient rite of American Indians, wisps of smoke rose from burning herbs in prayer to Mother Earth and Father Sky, as pipe-carriers intoned solemnly: "Creator, we come to you in a scared manner." There were Indian Chants of "Ho," a song about the return of the bison and some reverent words offered for "the Red Nation." All that was missing was an Indian. The 40 or so people gathered in the circle, sitting cross-legged on pillows and futons were white. They are adherents of the growing New Age movement, which emulates Indian ways in a spiritual quest. But many Indian tribes and organizations, far from being flattered by imitators, have denounced the movement as cultural robbery. "This is the final phase of genocide," said John Levelle, a Santee Sioux who is the director of the Center for Support and Protection of Indian Religions and Indigenous Traditions, "First whites took the land and all that was physical. Now they're going after what is intangible." The National Congress of American Indian this month as approved a "declaration of WAR," against those they accuse of exploiting sacred rituals, citing "non-Indian "wannabees," hucksters, cultists, commercial profiteers, and self-styled New Age shamans." Ancient Indian rites and traditions, like the sun dances, vision quests and purification sweat lodges have become staples of self-exploration used by the New Age spiritual seekers, mostly in trendy, affluent place like Marin County in California, Santa Fe, N.M., Sedona, Ariz, and here in Boulder. At a time when members of the baby-boom generation are returning to religion, many are not going back to faiths of their youth. Instead many are turning to vision quests, trips onto the wilderness to commune with themselves and nature, or using sweat lodges, where the heat is used as part of a purification ritual. The pipe-smokers here who gathered in the second floor of an office building over a pizzeria, are members of the Church of Gaia: Council of Six Directions, a group named for the Greek earth goddess. The congregation of about 100 people include teachers, pharmacist and IBM executives. "We're baby boomers, middle class whites," said Stephen Buhner, a founder of the church, which was incorporated in 1990 He described his church as blend of mysticism and ecology, a spirituality that "allows you to re-establish your harmony and proper relationship with the web of life." Buhner, 41 said he grew up in suburban Dallas as a Methodist, a religion he found "boring and not very much fun at all." He said he experienced a spiritual revelation in 1969 while attending a Jefferson Airplane concert in San Francisco and began a quest for "earth-centered " Religion that led him to Boulder. ( Seems that when he was attending Jefferson he was flying before he left the ground ) His wife, Trishuwa, who does not use a last name, leads the pipe ceremony. The couple live in a solar home on 35 acres of pine covered land in the foothills west of Boulder, where they sponsor vision quests and the rites of the sweat lodge. Buhner also works as a "spiritual mentor" at $20 an hour per student. He said he knows that many Indians consider to be a mockery of sacred rituals. In fact, he said, some Indians have threatened harm to the church unless it closes. But Buhner accuses those critics, whom he described as "Indian fundamentalists," of practicing "reverse racism." "I don't think that relationship with the Creator is based on skin color," he said. "They can't tell me I can't pray this way just because I am white." But many Indians complain that their religion is being used as a kind of spiritual fashion statement and a hobby for bored, wealthy suburbanites. "They want to escape into what they consider the exotic traditions of Indian people," said Lavelle, whose group has offices in San Francisco and on the Pin Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. "This kind of romantic appreciation has always been a problem for Indians. It's conqueror fantasizing about who he has conquered. George Thinker, an Osage who is a professor at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, expressed concern that whites would transform Indian Culture in their own images. "When you uproot something from one culture and plant it in another culture, its not the same thing," he said. The danger is that these mutations of spirituality will make their way back into the Indian world. He said Indian spirituality focuses on the larger community, the tribe and never the individual, while the New Age variation is "centered on self, a sort of Western individualism run amok." If whites are searching for the mystical, he suggested that they research their own religions, noting for example such 15th century Roman Catholic mystics as Theresa of Avila and John of the Cross. Not all Indians have been critical of whites who adopt tribal customs. Ed McGaa, author of Mother Earth Spirituality ) Harper Collins 1990 ), said most of the New Age adherents are sincere, tolerant people who simply wish to find spiritual nourishment. "Its easy to pick on the New Agers," said McGaa, 57 a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe in South Dakota. The real enemies were the whites who took out land, the Christian missionaries who put us in boarding schools, told our youth that we were pagans and heathens." He said Indians should be willing to share their traditions. "if we want the white man to change, we must teach him," McGaa said. "if we don't share our medicine, we'll lose it. We're all brothers." But McGaa himself has been the object of protests by Indians for disclosing and some say distorting scared Sioux ceremonies in his writings. Lavelle, for example has called him "a huckster and a disgrace to his tribe." The infatuation with Indian Tradition by whites was a widespread fad in the 60s, when many tie-dyed youths left the suburbs in search of a life in tepees. In the late 70s and early 80s, the mystical writings of Carlos Castaneda brought another surge of interest in Indians. And in recent years the New Age movement and some movies, most notably _Dances with Wolves_ have served to heighten romanticism about Indians. Since 1960 the number of people who told the census Bureau they are Indian has tripled, to about 1.8 million. In the last 10 years, the number of people who claim to be Indian in New Jersey, for example grew by nearly 80 percent. --------- "RE: Conferences and Powwows" --------- From: JANS Janet McNeely (Evening Star) Subj: Upcoming conferences and powwows GE Electronic Mail Craft Show Alert A warning appeared in "The Spike" about Indian Arts Presents, out of Los Altos, CA. These shows are in Macon, Georgia, Raleigh, NC, and in Alabama. There have been complaints of Indians being denied admittance to these shows when the non-Indian booth owners didn't want them. "The Spike" suggests we not support these shows. Recommended Subscriptions: THE SPIKE Editor: Jimmy Boy Dial P.O. Box 368 Milltown, NJ 08850 A monthly list of powwows and happenings around the East. Also some news, a good bit of editorializing (some controversial, the editor is a man with definite opinions) and warnings of events felt not in the best interests of Native Americans. Subscriptions $25/yr. "Gai hwa na ge'" ("There's a lot of news") RR Box 238 Nedrow, NY 13120 (Recommended by "The Spike"). This is a new newsletter put out by the Onondaga Nation about events going on currently with the Six Nations, and the Onondaga in particular. A good resource to learn how tribal/Nation governments work. Subscriptions $6/yr. =POWWOWS= Jan 16 Mid-Winter Papsaquoho Powwow (Braintree, MA) Sponsor: Mass. Ctr. for Native American Awareness, Inc. Info: 1-617-884-4227 Jan 20-23 Discover Native American 1984 (Jacksonville, FL) Sponsor: Seminole Tribe of Florida Info: 1-813-367-9326 Jan 22 Winter Social (McBurney YMCA, NY, NY) Sponsor: Thunderbird American Indian Dancers) Info: 1-201-587-9633 Jan 28-30 Indian River Native American Festival (New Smyrna Beach, FL) Sponsor: New Smyrna Beach Info: 1-904-424-2175 Send notices of forthcoming powwows, conferences and gatherings to: jans@genie.geis.com