Subject: nanews02.040 From: gars@netcom.com (Gary Night Owl) To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Message-ID: _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ O o O / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' O o O / /-< / /--/ /-- VOLUME 02, ISSUE 040 O o o o o O __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 1 October 1994 O o O O o O K A N O H E D A A N I Y V W I Y A O ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S ) This issue contains articles from FidoNet Indian Affairs Conference, NativeNet NA-Chat, UseNet newsgroups alt.native & soc.culture.native, NATIVE-L & NATCHAT Mailing Lists, Genie (General Electric) & UUCP e-mail. <----<<<< >>>>----> This newsletter is a way of keeping the brothers and sisters who share our spirit informed about current events within the lives of those who walk the Red Road. 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. "For a long time I have been walking and seeing nothing. Now I find this song and it cheers me." __ Nitanat +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! I was heartened to see petitions to free Leonard Peltier being signed at Kituah, the arts festival in Asheville, NC. As is clear from articles in part two, the struggle to free our brother are far from over. More letters and more outrage are called for. There are urgent pleas for help from other brothers and sisters. Hear them and heed them, so they will be there to hear yours when you are in need. Dohiyi Oginalii Night Owl , , (*,*) Gary Night Owl gars@genie.geis.com (`-') P. O. Box 672168 gars@netcom.com ===w=w=== Marietta, GA 30067, U.S.A. gars@igc.apc.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- Part A: Usenet and e-mail Part B: NATCHAT and NATIVE-L lists - Cherokee Bear Legend - Conferences and Powwows - online - Indian Prayer Poem - People's Fast for Justice - URGENT: Mattagami Hydro Hearing - Leonard Peltier's Address - German Perspective of Peltier - Letters for Leonard Peltier - Innu Protest NUMBER ? - News from the Oneida Indian Nation - Mohawk Views - Hawai'i: Stolen Islands - Poem: Turtles Sleep On My Belly - Vision Seekers - Verse: Hawai'ian Book of Days - McAuliffe/"Sibyl Bolton" Interview - Conferences and Powwows - offline ------------------ clip here for news feature -- 8< ------------ --------- "RE: Cherokee Bear Legend" --------- Date: 94/09/26 21:19 From: Standing Bear (w.lehr@genie.geis.com) Subj: Cherokee Bear Legend GE Electronic Mail Osiyo, Night Owl (Svnoi Uguku)! Here is the story of the Origin of Bears. Today, I'm going to tell the legend of the Origin of the Bear. It is a shorter story than that of how Grandmother Spider Brought Fire to the People. In the long ago time, there was a Cherokee Clan call the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi (Ahnee-Jah-goo-hee), and in one family of this clan was a boy who used to leave home and be gone all day in the mountains. After a while he went oftener and stayed longer, until at last he would not eat in the house at all, but started off at daybreak and did not come back until night. His parents scolded, but that did no good, and the boy still went every day until they noticed that long brown hair was beginning to grow out all over his body. Then they wondered and asked him why it was that he wanted to be so much in the woods that he would not even eat at home. Said the boy, "I find plenty to eat there, and it is better than the corn and beans we have in the settlements, and pretty soon I am going into the woods to say all the time." His parents were worried and begged him not leave them, but he said, "It is better there than here, and you see I am beginning to be different already, so that I can not live here any longer. If you will come with me, there is plenty for all of us and you will never have to work for it; but if you want to come, you must first fast seven days." The father and mother talked it over and then told the headmen of the clan. They held a council about the matter and after everything had been said they decided: "Here we must work hard and have not always enough. There he says is always plenty without work. We will go with him." So they fasted seven days, and on the seventh morning al the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi left the settlement and started for the mountains as the boy led the way. When the people of the other towns heard of it they were very sorry and sent their headmen to persuade the Ani Tsaguhi to stay at home and not go into the woods to live. The messengers found them already on the way, and were surprised to notice that their bodies were beginning to be covered with hair like that of animals, because for seven days they had not taken human food and their nature was changing. The Ani Tsaguhi would not come back, but said, "We are going where there is always plenty to eat. Hereafter we shall be called Yonv(a) (bears), and when you yourselves are hungry come into the woods and call us and we shall shall come to give you our own flesh. You need not be afraid to kill us, for we shall live always." Then they taught the messengers the songs with which to call them and bear hunters have these songs still. When they had finished the songs, the Ani Tsaguhi started on again and the messengers turned back to the settlements, but after going a little way they looked back ans saw a drove of bears going into the woods. Aho! We are all Related! --------- "RE: Indian Prayer Poem" --------- From: Cathy Craig (cathy.craig@f142.n151.z1.fidonet.org) Date: Sep-23-94 12:47:18 Subj: Indian Prayer Poem FidoNet Indian Affairs Conference To all in the IA Echo: below is a poem my husband wrote and was published by a national magazine back in 1979, in honor of me and my heritage and of our marriage in that year. This poem means a lot to me, for a lot of reasons, and if you're Native America, I think you'll be able to feel why. Hope you enjoy it!---Love, Cathy "AN INDIAN PRAYER", by H. Kent Craig ,(C) 1979, orig. published in "In The Steps" magazine, Lordsburg, NM, all rights reserved. My grandfather is the fire My grandmother is the wind The Earth is my mother The Great Spirit is my father The World stopped at my birth and laid itself at my feet And I shall swallow the Earth whole when I die and the Earth and I will be one Hail The Great Spirit, my father without him no one could exist because there would be no will to live Hail The Earth, my mother without which no food could be grown and so cause the will to live to starve Hail the wind, my grandmother for she brings loving, lifegiving rain nourishing us as she nourishes our crops Hail the fire, my grandfather for the light, the warmth, the comfort he brings without which we be animals, not men Hail my parent and grandparents without which not I nor you nor anyone else could have existed Life gives life which gives unto itself a promise of new life Hail the Great Spirit, The Earth, the wind, the fire praise my parents loudly for they are your parents, too Oh, Great Spirit, giver of my life please accept this humble offering of prayer this offering of praise this honest reverence of my love for you. Origin: The Soapbox BBS - "Your Infotainment Specialist" (1:151/142) --------- "RE: URGENT: Mattagami Hydro Hearing" --------- Date: 22 Sep 1994 01:33:09 GMT From: Jamie_Kneen@jungle.achilles.net (Jamie Kneen) Subj: URGENT: Mattagami Hydro Hearing Newsgroup: alt.native ++ Topic: ALERT: Mattagami Hydro Hearing ++ ++ Written 3:05 pm Sep 21, 1994 by jbrooks in web:web.announcements ++ URGENT ALERT: ONTARIO GOVERNMENT POISED TO CANCEL ENVIRONMENTAL HEARING ON $2 Billion MATTAGAMI HYDRO PROJECT !!! Multi-Million Acre MOOSE RIVER SYSTEM COULD BE TRADED FOR A FEW SHORT TERM JOBS, DESPITE ENVIRONMENTAL TRAVESTY, CONFLICT OF INTEREST, AND FINANCIAL BOONDOGGLE ::: Action Request: Urgently send letters, faxes and phone calls to Ontario Minister of Environment Bud Wildman, asking him not to exempt Mattagami from the environmental hearing! ::: <---- !! Toronto, September 18, 1994: Bud Wildman, Ontario Minister of Environment, Energy and Native Affairs, announced on Tuesday September 13 that he planned to exempt Ontario Hydro's proposal to redevelop and extend several hydro power dams on the Mattagami River System from the normally required Environmental Assessment Hearing. It is a travesty because the river ecology will be disturbed, the power is not needed, and the government has a conflict of interest in granting the exemption. A hearing is the only way to get the issues considered fairly. October 4 is decision day: Under Ontario law, people have only fourteen days to object to the exemption, and then the Minister has absolute discretion to grant an exemption from the hearing. The exemption notice has been deliberately kept out of the media and many interested parties have not been notified. An entire watershed, a fundamental principle of justice, Native rights and $2 billion of public money is at risk. To date there has been almost no public information or discussion on the situation. Therefore it is essential that the government be made to feel the intensity of public opinion on this issue in the next few days. Public objection is very important at this point. The Minister has absolute discretion under the law, and he has quietly admitted his intention to use it very soon. Objections to the hearing exemption must be filed by October 4. It would be ideal to organize a press conference denouncing the exemption, with high-profile representatives of Native, environmental, and social justice / civil liberties groups. What is wrong with the Mattagami exemption deal: 1. It will forever change a Northern Ontario river system. Aboriginal land use and the natural environment will be damaged by flooding and continuing water level fluctuation over an area nearly as large as southwestern Ontario. 2. The project will cost at least $2 Billion (Hydro's estimates are almost always low-balled) at the same time as efficiency efforts and small renewable energy projects (that could deliver energy for half the price) are being deliberately crushed by Ontario Hydro. 3. The government has a direct conflict of interest in granting the exemption: The exemption releases the Ontario government from its financial obligation to Ontario Hydro (about $250 million) which the government accepted as part of its 1991 deal with the Kimberly Clark paper company to sell its Kapuskasing paper mill to its workers. -- It is a basic principle of environmental justice that a government should not exempt a proposal from public hearing, if the government has a direct financial interest in the exemption.-- 4. Process has been abominable: In 1991, then Hydro Chairman Marc Eliesen declare that he would abide by a "co-planning" system which gave aboriginal groups absolute veto over new hydroelectric development in most parts of northern Ontario. As late as last Friday, September 9, no aboriginal group had signed onto anything, and the Ministry was telling environmental groups not to worry, nothing was moving quickly. Something happened over that weekend, and the pace accelerated exponentially: on Monday the three official Native groups in the area (Mushkegowuk Council, Moose Factory First Nation and New Post First Nation) had signed a set of terms and conditions with Hydro that gave them jobs on the project and other consideration in return for removing their objection to an E.A. exemption. The next day, the exemption was issued by the Minister, but very few groups were notified. The only two non-Native parties officially notified were Energy Probe and IPPSO, the Independent Power Producers Society of Ontario. For example, Northwatch, Ontario's largest northern environmental group, and the Ontario Environment Network, were not notified, despite their previous involvement in the EA process. Even Mocreebec First Nation and the Teme-Augama First Nation were not notified. It is very important that people who feel strongly on these issues express their opinions by writing, faxing or calling Minister Wildman's office, and perhaps helping to prepare a news conference publicly denouncing the deal. The news conference could for example, include a prominent lawyer, environmentalist and Native leaders. Politicians could be invited too. The Mattagami project is all the more objectionable because its power plants would be used to supply peaking power, resulting in more uneven water flow patterns, and requiring bigger transmission lines. In addition, it comes just days after the Ontario Energy Board released its most comprehensive and influential report ever on Ontario Hydro, which recommended, among other things, not to develop any more hydro projects without thoroughly checking out the alternatives. Hydro is shamelessly flaunting this OEB recommendation. Ontario Hydro could solve the problem easily by simply separating out the Smoky Falls dam EA from the rest of the Mattagami EA. Smoky Falls is a power dam north of Kapuskasing that was sold to Ontario Hydro under a 1991 deal brokered by Premier Bob Rae. The deal required the Ontario government to "indemnify" Ontario Hydro if the Mattagami EA were not approved by certain dates. Apparently, penalties would become payable to Ontario Hydro next month, so that is why the government is moving so quickly. The Natives have been offered "Terms and Conditions" that are arguably more generous than they could ever expect to get again, and that has undoubtedly been the main incentive for them to sign the no-objection deal. For copies of the exemption notice (4 pages), and the "Terms and Conditions" (21 pages) contact the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy, Energy Probe or Jake Brooks at IPPSO, (416) 322-6549, fax (416) 481-5785 or e-mail jbrooks@web.apc.org WHAT CAN YOU DO? Register your public objection to the Ontario government's planned exemption of the Mattagami mega-project from an environmental assessment. Your opinion will make a difference! 1. Call or Write or Fax the politicians listed below and/or your Member of Provincial Parliament (if in Ontario) or your federal Member of Parliament if elsewhere in Canada (consult local directory Blue pages): Hon. Bud Wildman, Minister of Environment and Energy Minister Responsible for Native Affairs 135 St. Clair Ave West, l2th floor Toronto, Ont. M4V lP5 (416) 323-4360 FAX 323-4682 The Rt. Hon. Bob Rae, Premier of Ontario Room 281 Leg. Bldg., Queen's Park Toronto, Ont. M7A lAl (416) 325-1941 FAX 325-3745 Derek Doyle, Director Environmental Assessment Branch Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy 135 St. Clair Ave. W. Toronto, Ont. M4V 1P5 (416) 440-3480 FAX 440-3771 2. Make a cyberspace statement by sending an e-mail message to jbrooks@web.apc.org with the following keywords in the body of the message: "Stop Mattagami Environmental Travesty" (case insensitive) Ensure your name and municipality is included in your message since an e-mail address alone may not be adequate for a petition. Your e-mail message will add your name to the following petition that will be presented to the Minister of Environment and Energy, Bud Wildman and to the Premier of Ontario, Bob Rae: Dear Premier Rae and Minister Wildman, Based on the principle of respect for the environmental assessment process, we the undersigned strongly urge you not to exempt Ontario Hydro's Mattagami project from an Environmental Assessment hearing. The hearing is necessary, as you have argued in the past, in order for the issues to be brought out fairly. In addition, it is necessary to have hearings in any case where the decision to exempt is being made by a party with a financial interest in the decision. We are also concerned that the electric power is not needed, and that the EA document seems to miss this important point. As such, it can not be allowed to stand as an acceptable EA document without damaging the standards of Ontario EA process. At $2 billion, the Mattagami proposal is too significant to allow bypassing a hearing. Please use your powers to ensure that a full EA hearing takes place for Mattagami before any further development takes place. ............... Your e-mail message will also initiate the following short e-mail to Bud Wildman and Bob Rae at Queens Park in Toronto. "I am opposed to the Ontario government's recent announcement to cancel the usual requirement of an environmental assessment before Ontario Hydro extends its dams in the Mattagami river system. The Environmental Assessment is essential before the true cost of this mega-project can be known. To fairly evaluate the issues, an environmental assessment must be performed. This mega-project is not cost-effective when other less environmentally destructive power producers can provide the same power at less cost." 3. Call local media sources (city and university newspapers, TV News departments) and get their e-mail address or FAX number. E-mail or FAX this news release to them (and cc to jbrooks@web.apc.org) -- The Jungle BBS -- Ottawa Canada (613) 241-8170 --------- "RE: German Perspective of Peltier" --------- Date: 94/09/26 19:23 From: Beverly Hungerford (aloha.bev@genie.geis.com) Subj: German Perspective of Peltier Imprisonment NativeNet NA-Chat via GE Electronic Mail O'siyo, Night Owl! The item below came from the NativeNet to which Jacob Eagle Eyes refers. I thought you might find it interesting. Aloha, Bev NA-CHAT (90:3603/0.1) NA-CHAT Msg : #42 [254] From : Rainer Heun 91:2480/54 21 Aug 94 21:24:00 To : all 29 Aug 94 02:54:38 Subj : Peltier Just to let you know: It's sunday, 21. August 1994, 7:30 am in Germany. The german main broadcasting station (nationwide) shows a report about Leonard Peltier. Some short lines: - The german reporter interviews Peltier at the prison. 'I am innocent but i was the only one they could arrest. I am a political prisoner.' - show historical background: Wounded Knee 1973, FBI tanks, shootings, arrestings .. unfair trial against L. Peltier, weak evidences .. - The reporter talks also to a writer named Matthisen who wrote a book about the peltier case. On more then 600 pages he documented the FBI investigations, the trial and all facts around. The writer: 'Without any doubt: Peltier is innocent. The indians know the real person who shoot the FBI agents and i talked to that person too.' - show Oglalla reservation (first time i saw a reservation ground) and talk about the problems of the Native Americans .. - show the march of protest across the US: 'The protesters came to Washington to support a presidential pardon for Peltier.' - The FBI says: 'Our investigations were correct. Peltier is guilty.' But they didn't give an interview. Instead they had commercial adds in newspapers: 'No pardon for Peltier' .. strange ..?! Last question to L. Peltier: 'Do you think you have a chance to get free?'. Peltier: 'I donet know - may be not. But i will work for my people - as a free man or as a prisoner.' The reporter ends his report with: 'Persons like Nelson Mandela spoked for L.Peltier. Does now Clinton have the courage to vote against the FBI ...?' It was the closing report on the german politic TV magazine (the best report show, with the highest reputation) and the ancerman(?) ends with the words: 'Sitting Bull described the White-Native-Realtions with just two sentences: "How many treaties did the Tribes keep? All! How many treaties did the Whites keep? Non!" Nothing more to say .. Good evening ...' Bye -Rainer- Origin: FRAME * munich/germany/europe (91:2480/54) --------- "RE: Innu Protest NUMBER ?" --------- Date: Sep-21-94 17:11:00 From: Frosty Deere (frosty.deere@f502.n167.z1.fidonet.org) Subj: Innu Protest NUMBER ? FidoNet Indian Affairs Conference CANADIAN PRESS GOOSE Bay Nfld. More than 100 Innu protesters carrying placards stormed into a hall yesteday to disrupt the start of public hearings into low-level military flights over their traditional hunting grounds. "We came here not to harnn you," said leader Armand Mackenzie, an Innu lawyer from Quebec, as elders, men, women and children swarmed around panel members in charge of the meeting. "Our intent is to exetcise our jurisdiction as Innu people on our land." Other Innu protesters, some of them flown in from Quebec, performed a traditional drum dance. There was no violence. As some Innu made lengthy statements in their native tongue, others hoisted placards that read This Is Our Land and Alienation, Alien Nation. Innu from seven communities were represented, including the Labrador settlements of Sheshatshiu and Davis Inlet. "I think we as Innu should sit where you are today because this is our land," Mackenzie told panel chairman Alexander Davidson. Innu spokesman Daniel Ashini said the hearing process is flawed because native representatives will be barred from cross-examining witnesses. "I think you should be really embarrassed to sit here with a clear conscience and tell people "We're here to study the impacts of low-level flying," he said. "This is not what you're doing. you're being screwed as the Innu have been screwed over and over again. You are being used by your government. You are being used by (the Defence Department) to try to convince the Canadian public that you are seriously conducting a full, fair hearing." The Defence Department's plans call for an increase in the number of tree- top training flights over Labrador to 15,000 from 10,000 a year. The military also wants to widen the training range around Canadian Forces Base in Goose Bay by 30,000 square kilometres. The Innu argue that the flights spook game and disrupt their traditional hunting way of life. They also say their elders, who would want to speak, are out on their annual hunting trips. The public hearing was to launch a month's worth of similar sessions across Labrador. "It's too bad that the democratic process didn't work," said Labrador MLA Bill Rompkey, who was in Goose Bay to attend the hearings. Yesterday's confrontation came less than two weeks after the Innu of Davis Inlet challenged the right of the Newfoundland government to fly in a squad of Mounties and a judge to hear 78 pending criminal . The province backed down after several days of standoff and instead broke off all discussions with the Innu on land claims and other matters. From Igloo Station Native News Center. Origin: Igloo Station (514) 632-5556 (1:167/502) --------- "RE: Mohawk Views" --------- Date: 13 Sep 94 19:13:00 -0500 From: Frosty.Deere@magicnet.com (Frosty Deere) Subj: Mohawk Views Newsgroup: soc.culture.native The following is the view and position of the Akwesasne, Kahnawake and Kanesatake Mohawks regarding the Provincial Elections. From the pages of The EasternDoor News Paper and written by the Mohawk Council. Hard copy can be found on page 11 of the September paper Vol. 3 No. 16. Want the paper call 514-635-3050. Cost $39 per year. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The history of relations between the Mohawk Nation and the settler governments in North America were based upon the principles of the Two Row Wampum, Peace, coexistence and sharing are some of the underlying principles of the Great Law, the Constitution of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy. These principles serve as the basis for all relations with other nations, governments and peoples, indigenous or otherwise. They represent the peaceful manner in which Canada and the Mohawk Nation should co-exist without interference. While retaining each other's autonomy, we recognized and accepted our responsibility to encourage the interdependence of peoples. This is reflected in many of our historic treaties and agreements, through the sharing of our lands and resources for the benefit of future generations. We are also guided by principles encouraging peace, friendly relations and respect for fundamental rights and freedoms. We continue to promote and encourage the respect for our nation to nation, government to government relationship formula for peaceful co-existence and cooperation between our two peoples. Having said this, however, it is the position of the Mohawks of Akwesasne, Kahnawake and Kanesatake that we do not endorse, support, or advocate for any Provincial political party in the upcoming Quebec Provincial elections on September 12th, 1994. Enumerations and voting booths are not permitted within our territories. We actively discourage our citizens from participating in the Provincial and Federal election process. Any such participation would compromise the spirit and intent of the Two Row Wampum which continues to be the cornerstone of our relationships with other nations, governments and peoples. According to our laws and out of respect for an individuals' rights and freedoms; we would not interfere with any of our citizens who choose to go outside of our communities for the purpose of casting a vote. However, this action is not supported by the Mohawks of our three territories or the nation as a whole. This is a common position held by our people since early in our relations with Europeans. We have never accepted the unilateral enforcement of Canadian citizenship on our people. We are not Quebecois and we resent past and current attempts by Canadian and Provincial Governments and officials to label our people as such. We consider ourselves kanienkehaka (Mohawk) people of the Mohawk Nation. We will not participate in any election and/or referendum to decide the future of Quebec. Our non-participation must be viewed in the context of the Two Row, We will not interfere in the decision making processes of the settler governments and we will not tolerate the interference of the Canadian and Quebec Governments into our internal governing process. Regarding the future of Quebec. Regardless of the outcome in the upcoming Provincial elections the Mohawks of Akwesasne Kahnawake and Kanesatake territories will continue to promote and pursue relations based on the principle of the Two Row Wampum pursuant to the principles of the historic Covenant Chain. Our formula for peace and friendly relations revolves around the principle of respect for human rights and freedoms. Peaceful coexistence should not compromise these basic principles but rather enhance them and encourage the inter-dependence of our peoples towards this objective. The sharing of lands and resources and the cooperation needed in pursuit of a certain quality of life is the challenge presented to us. In all our endeavours we attempt to provide what we deem necessary and suitable for our children and our children's children. While securing and maintaining suitable positions of land for the future of the Mohawks of our three territories we will continue to maintain our relations with the Mohawk Nation/Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy and other First Nations in North America. We do not deny that there is a Province called Quebec. Nor do we ignore the fact that there are people in Quebec who are struggling to maintain their culture, language and identity. We encourage better and stronger relations with the people of Quebec but, in turn, they must acknowledge the fact that the Mohawk people have always had the inherent right to exercise and practice what Quebec is attempting to achieve. ============================================================ This comes to from Igloo Station BBS and the EasternDoor News Paper. --------- "RE: Poem: Turtles Sleep On My Belly" --------- Date: 19 Sep 1994 12:55:41 -0500 From: turtle@aicap.s21.com (Turtle Heart) Subj: Turtles sleep on my belly Newsgroup: alt.native Turtles sleep on my belly i was one day opening my heart and singing dreaming in the sky and calling Thunder feeling the fingers of the moon feeling that soft light feeling the water on my fingers ______________________________________________________ Turtle Heart turtle@soft21.s21.com (Ahnishinabeg) American Indian Computer Art Project BBS 619-374-2100 PO Box 111 Johannesburg CA 93528-0111 Land of Kaw-ii-su ancestor: Land of Light --------- "RE: Verse: Hawai'ian Book of Days" --------- Date: 94/09/24 16:19 From: Kepola (dfsanders@genie.geis.com) Subj: A HAWAI'IAN BOOK OF DAYS, week of October 2-8 GE Electronic Mail A HAWAI'IAN BOOK OF DAYS, week of October 2-8 OKAKOPA (October) (Ikuwa) 2 This land was born in fire and cooled by the touch of the wind and rain. 3 I cast my lei of dreams upon the ocean. 4 Every dawn begins the adventure of a new day. 5 A tiny crab scuttles across the wet sand, searching for places to hide. 6 Walk in the paths illuminated by the moon. 7 I hear the bright music of the waterfall in my dreams. 8 Know what you want from life, ... and never give up until you find it. (c) Copyright 1991 by D. F. Sanders Me ke aloha i ka nani, ... Moe'uhanekeanuenue (With love and beauty, ... Rainbow Dream) --------- "RE: Conferences and Powwows - offline" --------- Date: Thu, 29 September 94 08:00 -0500 From: Janet Smith (Evening Star) (jans@genie.geis.com) Subj: Upcoming conferences and powwows not previously posted to Mailing Lists NATCHAT or NATIVE-L GE Electronic Mail =POWWOWS= BUILDING LINKAGES: FIRST NATIONS OF CANADA AND COLOMBIA WED. OCT. 5, 1994, 7 PM 133 RICHMOND ST. WEST, SUITE 200 TORONTO Informal reception with Nelson Toulouse and Paz Gajardo of the Union of Ontario Indians and Karl Flecker of CUSO Speakers, videos, and displays on the destruction of the Colombian rainforest and on human rights abuses, and information on the linkages and reciprocal health, business and cultural projects between Colombian and Canadian First Nations that are helping both communities. Tel: Brenda Doner at 416-363-2191 ext.26 for more information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subject: Seattle Talking Circle Sender: news@newsbf01.news.aol.com COME JOIN OUR CIRCLE The Seattle Native American Urban Outreach is sponsoring a Talking Circle on Wednesday September 28th at the Pike Place Sr. Center. It is being hosted by ECHOHAWK. There is also a potluck before the Talking Circle. Bring good eats. 6:30 Potluck, 7:30 Talking Circle The Sr. Center is located downtown a few blocks north of the Pike Place Market at the Pike Place Sr. Center. The Sr. Center is at 1st and Virginia underneath the Virginia Inn. Parking is free on the street after 6:00 PM. You can usually find a parking spot North of Virginia Street on 1st or 2nd. (206) 781-0979 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: niko@selway.umt.edu (Nicholas A Bartoli) Newsgroups: soc.culture.native Subject: Native Forest Network Conference SECOND INTERNATIONAL TEMPERATE FOREST CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT The Native Forest Network (NFN) is convening an international conference on temperate forest issues and campaigns from November 9-13, 1994. The conference will be held at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana, U.S.A. The theme of the this year's gathering is Focus on the Multinationals. This is the third such event organized by NFN and will offer forest activists and groups, indigenous peoples, scientists, industry and government a chance to discuss the numerous threats afflicting temperate forests worldwide. A variety of overseas and North American speakers will share campaign reports, scientific presentations and socio-economic analyses as well as conduct a series of panel discussions and workshops. NFN is pleased to have Cecelia Rodriguez, the U.S. representative for the EZLN (Zapatista Army of National Liberation), as our keynote speaker. Cecelia is coordinating solidarity efforts for the EZLN and will be talking about the environmental consequences of the North American Free Trade Agreement. The keynote address will be on the evening of November 11. There will be a keynote panel that afternoon that will explore the relationships between multinational corporations, free trade agreements and forest ecosystems. For more information: Jake Kreilick-NFN Conference Convener Phone: 406-728-0867 Fax: 406-721-9917 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: crawford@bscr.uga.edu Newsgroups: alt.native Subject: Choctaw Stickball Game Invitation, Oct. 1 Toli is a traditional Native American game that has been played for at least 400 years. It has also been called the "little brother of war," as it was, at one time, often used to settle disputes between tribes. These games often involved hundreds of people per team, were played on fields that were several miles long, and lasted from sunrise to sunset. Modern games are not so epic. The official tournament amongst the Mississippi Choctaw is held in July and is the centerpiece of their annual fair. Teams for this tournament are 35 strong and the games are played in four 15 minute quarters, on a 100 yard field. Each Choctaw community on the reservation sends at least one team to compete in this event and several thousand spectators are on hand to cheer their favorite team to victory. While the tournament is the primary goal of Choctaw Toli teams, most play throughout the year as well. One of these communities, Conehatta ("grey skunk"), has won the tournament two of the past five years and, in addition to practicing against other Choctaw teams, plays us several times during the year. We are the University of Georgia Flying Rat Toli Team (To date, the University of Georgia is the only institute of higher learning to field a Toli team). We have played the Conehatta team numerous times during the five years our team has existed and only twice have we defeated them. The game itself is very fast moving and violent. Several people have described Toli as "Australian-rules Lacrosse." In Toli there are no time outs, fouls, first downs, fourth downs, out of bounds, or free throws. We have no penalty box, no first base coaches, no off sides, and no walks. There are two written rules for the game: 1. You can not touch the ball (a rock, wrapped in cloth then laced with leather cord) with your hands, and; 2. You can only tackle the person who has possession of the ball. This second rule is a bit fast-and-loose since "body checks" are legal and the distinction between most body checks and a tackle is pretty subtle. To score you have to bring the ball into contact with your team's goal (a 12 foot high, approximately 9 inch diameter pole), either by throwing it (using your sticks (called kapucha), kind of like lacrosse, but you have two sticks, each one being 2-3 feet long with leather "baskets" 2-3 inches wide at one end) or touching the goal with your sticks while holding the ball in them. This latter method tends to result in great bodily harm, since the defense will stop at nothing to keep you away from the goal when you have the ball. After each point is scored, and at the beginning of each quarter, the ball is brought to the center of the field and tossed up in the midst of a circle of players (in a manner analogous to a "tip off" in basketball) and everyone fights for it. The next game between the Flying Rats and Conehatta will be at the annual Moundville Native American Festival, October 1, at 12:00 noon in Moundville, Alabama. Moundville is located 15 miles south of Tuscaloosa, on highway 69. In addition to Toli, the Festival will feature traditional South Eastern Native American foods and crafts. The Festival will also feature Native American folk art by Edna Chekelelee (who has been recognized for her work by the Southern Arts Federation) and a Northwest Coast-style mask-making demonstration by Benny Pokemire. The Festival begins Monday September 26. For more information contact the Mound State Monument Museum in Moundville or e-mail me . I hope to see you in Moundville! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From _News From Indian Country_ Oct 7-10 Glica Harvest Powwow, Tyngsborough, MA Info: 508-453-7182 Oct 7-10 Sovereignty Celebration, Red Lake, MN Info: 218-679-3341 Oct 7-9 Hutash Harvest Festival, Santa Barbara, CA Info: 805-965-4688 Oct 7-8 Fayetteville Powwow, Fayetteville, NC Info: 910-483-8442 Oct 8 Algonquin Social, Providence, RI Info: 401-421-0888 Oct 8 United Higher Education Powwow, De Pere, WI Info: 414-337-3232 Oct 8-10 Mohawk Trail Powwow, Charlemount, MA Info: 603-882-6607 Oct 9-11 4th Harvest Moon Powwow, North Stonington, CT Info: 203-684-6984 Oct 8-9 20th Hawaiian Powwow, Honolulu, HI Info: 808-841-7625 Oct 8-9 AIS Homecoming, Spencer, MA Info: 508-852-6271 Oct 9 A Time of Thanksgiving Festival, Allentown, PA Info: 215-797-2121 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From _The Spike_ Oct 7-9 5th Annual Inter-tribal Indian Festival, Owensboro, KY Info: 502-686-8554 Oct 7-9 5th Annual Southeastern Indian Cultural Festival Columbus, GA Info: 706-571-4180 Oct 7-9 First annual Native American Festival and Great New Moon Ceremony, Church View, VA Info: 804-758-9720 Oct 8-9 4th Annual Paucatuck Eastern Pequot Harvest Moon Powwow N. Stonington, CT Info: 203-684-6984 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send notices of forthcoming powwows, conferences and gatherings to: jans@genie.geis.com gars@netcom.com ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ all items below this line have already been distributed by our brother, Jay Brummett, via the NATIVE-L or NATCHAT mailing lists. --------- "RE: Conferences and Powwows - online" --------- Date: Thu, 29 September 94 08:00 -0500 From: Janet Smith (Evening Star) (jans@genie.geis.com) Subj: Upcoming conferences and powwows already posted to Mailing Lists NATCHAT or NATIVE-L = Powwows and Gatherings From the Internet listserv groups = Date: Tue, 20 Sep 1994 From: pol@motherearth.knooppunt.de(For Mother Earth) Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) WALK ACROSS EUROPE FOR A NUCLEAR-FREE WORLD 1995 On Thursday morning January 12th, 1995 at 8a.m. at the HQ of the European Union in Brussels the first steps will be set for the 5.500km Walk across Europe for a Nuclear-Free World. The walk, organized by FOR MOTHER EARTH, will cross France, England, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus and will end in Russia. The walk already receives active support from Greenpeace, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (UK), Hnuti Duha (CZ), Unicorn (Ukraine), the Children of Chernobyl (Belarus), and many other peace and environmental groups along the way. FOR MOTHER EARTH designs this walk with three demands dealing with critical nuclear issues in 1995, namely the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Charter Review of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The walkers will call attention to the dramatic medical, social, environmental and economical consequences of the Atomic Age. They ask complete nuclear disarmament and closure of all nuclear power plants. The walkers will give concrete examples of alternatives as a mobile exhibition organised by the Support Network on Renewable Energies (SNORE) will travel along with the walkers. This 50m2 exhibition mounted on a semi-truck will be set up in towns and villages visited by the walkers. The walkers community will be provided electricity and hot water by use of solar power and a wind generator. The walkers will visit five European military nuclear weapon states, the Vienna headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency, numerous civilian & military nuclear-facilities and sites ... and Chernobyl, the worst human-made accident ever. The walkers will end their journey on October 12th 1995 in Moscow, the International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People. Indigenous people are very often the first victims of nuclear developments. FOR MOTHER EARTH organised the Walk across America in 1992 where an average of 100 people walked 5.500km from New York City to the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. This in a successful effort to halt nuclear testing on the land of the Western Shoshone Indians. FOR MOTHER EARTH urges any future walkers to register as soon as possible, and this for logistical (food, campsites), legal (visa's) and financial reasons. Contact : FOR MOTHER EARTH, Phone 614-252-9255 --------- "RE: People's Fast for Justice" --------- Date: Sat, 24 Sep 1994 17:13:08 -0700 From: Michele Lord Subj: PEOPLE'S FAST FOR JUSTICE Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) Change Columbus Day To INDIGENOUS PEOPLES DAY * FREE LEONARD PELTIER * We, the undersigned, call upon people of good will to join us in a growing campaign to achieve these goals. You can join us by organizing local or regional events on "Columbus Day" weekend, by joining many of us outside Leavenworth Penitentiary on October 11 and 12, by joining many in fasting from October 1 through 12 (or any part of that time) or by taking other nonviolent actions. In 1842 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in search of Asian gold. Landing by accident in an already inhabited area, he ordered every resident over 14 to bring in a regular quota of gold and chopped off the hands of those who could not. He rounded up 1500 Arawak men, women and children as slaves, shipping 500 of "the best specimens" to Spain. Many died on the trip and the survivors were sold at auction. When we honor Columbus we honor this legacy of greed and genocide. Is this the kind of thing we want to celebrate? Let's change the name of the October 12th holiday to show our determination to move toward a more just and democratic society, one that is freed from greed and all forms of oppression because of race, culture, gender, age, sexual orientation or other excuses. We don't chop people's hands off today if they are not in a position to produce enough gold for the corporations and wealthy elites that dominate the country's economy. But some of their punishments are comparable-in the inner cities, among Indians, etc. A greed similar to that of Columbus strips the Black Hills from the Lakota and Black Mountain from the Navajo in order to mine their mineral wealth for free rather than cooperate as a societal extended family that shares democratically. Indigenous Peoples living in the richest natural resource areas are either forcefully moved to what are deemed poor lands or simply stripped of their wealth, condemning them to abject poverty. The richest 1% of the population owns 37% of the wealth, more than the bottom 90% of the people, and uses it, along with control of the mass media, to dominate our supposedly democratic elections and government. If the Soviet Union proved that without political democracy there can be no economic democracy, the U.S. has proven that without economic there can be no real political democracy. This lack of democracy has been catastrophic for people like Leonard Peltier and for the environment. Leonard Peltier was among a group of American Indian Movement members who established a camp in Oglala, South Dakota, in response to requests for help by the community in dealing with more than 100 unsolved murders of Traditional Lakota people during 1975, murders which the government refused to investigate. On June 16, 1975, unknown assailants opened fire on the AIM camp. The fire fight that followed resulted in the death of a Native Security person and two FBI agents (assailants). No one has ever been charged in the death of the Native person but the biggest man hunt in FBI history was put in place in search of Leonard Peltier. Peltier was arrested in Canada and extradited under affidavits that the U.S. government later admitted were false. He was tried in North Dakota by an all white jury and was not allowed to use self defense on his behalf. Since 1975, it has been proven that the FBI withheld from the trial evidence that proves Peltier's innocence. And the prosecution has admitted not knowing who killed the agents. Yet Peltier has been denied a new, fair trial and the parole Board has refused to consider his parole status. He is one of the longest held political prisoners in the world, 18 years. Executive clemency is the only hope he has for freedom from a crime that he did not commit. Greed and the lack of real democracy has led to poisoned air, atmosphere, water, soil and food. Now we must end this environmental destruction and human oppression. There must be full human rights, economic, political, and cultural, for Native Americans, for the descendants of the country's brutally kidnapped African slaves, and for all people of colour, many of whom are refugees from U.S. trained death squads and U.S. supported dictators. There must be full human rights for the homeless, unemployed, underemployed, all poverty-level people, all races, women as well as men, children as well as adults. And there must be solidarity with our sisters and brothers in the AMERIcas and elsewhere who are seeking to liberate themselves from the ravages of imperialism. As Martin Luther King said toward the end of his life, after having come by trial and error to ideas that led to his murder but are seldom mentioned in the mass media or at celebrations supposedly honouring him: "For years I laboured with the idea of reforming the existing institutions. . .a little change here, a little change there. Now i feel quite differently. I think you've got to have a reconstruction of the entire society. We can't have a system where some people live in superfluous, inordinate wealth, while others live in abject, deadening poverty." Step by step a new way of life must be brought into being, one based on economic democracy, justice, respect for the earth, nonviolence, love and sharing. We call upon our sisters and brothers in the United States and elsewhere to join with us in support of both the immediate objectives, renaming October 12 Indigenous People's Day and Freedom for Leonard Peltier, and the goal of genuine democracy, with "liberty and justice for all." Whether fasting for all the 12 days, part of the time, or not at all, you may want to start or join a group in your hometown that is working for these objectives. You might work to get your local town council to pass a resolution endorsing them. Together, we can recapture the spirit of activism in solidarity with Indigenous peoples that prevailed during 1992 and carry it now to new heights and successes. This preliminary Call to action is initiated by the following persons: Aton Archer Tatsu Ikeda Mark Stansbery Safiya Bandele Cynthia Johnson Diane Thomas Mary Jane Brol Matt Jones Benito Torres Wes Davey Esperanza Martell Chris Truesdell Dave Dellinger Rev. Paul Mayer Rev. Lucius Walker Howard Douglas Bill Means Brian Willson Anne Eagan John Poole Leslie Withers Karen Fogliatti Clayton Ramey Resource Center for Nonviolence Mary France Rev. Finley Schaefe Ted Glick Les Stansbery ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: People's Fast for Justice c/o P.O. Box 170610 Brooklyn NY 11217 718-643-9603 ~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~+*~+*~+*~+*+ "When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully because we know the faces of our future generations are looking up at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them." -Oren Lyons, Onondaga Nation ~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+*~+~ Michele Lord + Alpha Institute + Tel: 303-343-4114 + P.O. Box 110998 milo@scicom.alphacdc.com + Aurora CO 80042 + Fax: 303-360-9118 +*+ +*+ +*+ +*+ +*+ +*+ --------- "RE: Leonard Peltier's Address" --------- Date: Mon, 26 Sep 1994 00:56:23 -0400 From: delphi.com!LHELLWI Subj: Leonard Peltier's Address Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) For all who are interested, Leonard's address is: Leonard Peltier, #89637-132, PO Box 1000, Leavenworth, KS 66048. The address for the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee is LPDC, PO Box 583, Lawrence, KS 66044. Their voice # is 913-842-5774, their FAX # is 913-842-5796. Leonard *does* get a lot of mail, but he also likes hearing from supporters. Letters of support, etc, aren't considered "junk" mail. However, because he gets so much mail, and because his funds are very limited, there's no guarantee that he can/will write back. (BTW, Don't send a self-addressed stamped envelope or stamps to Leonard: the mailroom at Leavenworth will mark it as contraband and send the SASE or stamps back to you, still giving Leonard the letter. Also, do not send any cards that are padded, or with sealed 'pockets'; don't send pictures that have been glued to a mounting; don't send cash (although money orders are okay); don't send anything that can't be inspected by the mailroom without damaging the item. The form letter they send back with contraband has a lot of other prohibitions on it as well, I just can't find the one I got. (I sent an SASE.) Hope this helps! Lisa Hellwig, LPSG/McHenry County, IL --------- "RE: Letters for Leonard Peltier" --------- Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 20:33:44 EDT From: Joe Quickle Subj: Letters for Leonard Peltier Mailing List: NATCHAT (natchat@gnosys.svle.ma.us) I received a recent request for some of the 15 or so letters I wrote a while back, for some fresh ideas for letters to Clinton regarding Leonard Peltier's clemency. I offered some directions people could go, and on reflection thought I'd share it with the list in case anyone else out there wants to write. The official time frame for clemency decisions is supposed to be 6 - 9 months, and I believe it's somewhere over 6 now, so the more pressure we can bring to bear, the better. When I called the Whitehouse's "comment line," after giving my comments I asked if they were getting a lot of calls about the case, and the operator said they were getting quite a lot. That doesn't mean we shouldn't call, just that it's not futile. As we may have seen with the recent military assault against some of our Northern brothers and sisters that was called off, overwhelming shows of support can make a difference. Sorry if I sound "preachy" - I'm not here to convert anyone, just pass along some info and encouragement to those who are interested... Anyway, here are some ideas... + That the FBI works for Clinton, not the other way around; and that they both work for the people . + Clinton has been (assumedly falsely) accused himself of many things, and must know the sting of this - except he hasn't lost nearly two decades as a result + To not correct this situation is to embrace it, and the corruption of the past; this stains all administrations who don't right it + Clinton is pushing human rights issues in Haiti and China, while ignoring those same abuses here + Clinton was ready to invade Haiti because it was, in his mind, the right thing to do even if it wasn't popular. Leonard's freedom is popular with nearly all who know about the case (with the exception of the FBI) + Clinton has expressed his concern and respect for American Indians; he can show it by starting with Leonard's long-overdue freedom + In the September 22, 1986 appeals court decision, after stating that there were only two alternatives regarding key evidence - that it was planted or tampered with by FBI agents - the court went on to say that "...We recognize that there is evidence in this record of improper conduct on the part of some FBI agents, but we are reluctant to impute even further improprieties to them." In effect, this is a precedent that the right of the FBI to fabricate evidence is greater than Leonard's right to a fair trial. (8th circuit court of appeals) + The rest of the world is watching. The US claims to be THE model in human rights, yet maintains political prisoners of its own That's what I have for now. If anyone else has any ideas, or feedback, please share them. Thanks! Mitakuye Oyasin, Joe Quickle - Two Crows --------- "RE: News from the Oneida Indian Nation" --------- Date: Mon, 26 Sep 1994 09:19:02 -0500 From: "Oneida Indian Nation of NY" Subj: News from the Oneida Indian Nation of NY Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) ONEIDA INDIAN TERRITORY, via Oneida, NY - On a peaceful rolling hillside on ancestral lands, the words of an Oneida Elder at the dedication of the Village of the White Pines brought home what the Oneida Indian Nation's enterprise and cultural initiatives really are all about: recreating a revived Oneida community and improving the standard of living for long-impoverished people. Oneida Elder Ray Elm was one of several to address a gathering of many dozen Oneida Members, Nation leaders and employees, local dignitaries, contractors, and neighbors and friends at the new housing development of 30 homes for families and elders located at Union Street and route 46 in Oneida. "I am proud of the Oneida Indians of New York State" the 90-year-old Elder and chief told a group of 300 gathered at the event. The reason for his pride and that of all Oneidas present lies just yards away - 30 new, safe, affordable homes on ancestral, reacquired lands. The homes have been built with a $2.9 million federal Housing and Urban Development grant out of funds set aside specifically for Indian Housing, plus nearly $1 million the Oneida Nation has added in from enterprise revenues to upgrade and enhance the houses and create roads and infrastructure for the development. Oneida members and their families are scheduled to move in to the new homes starting mid-September. The Village of the White Pines consists of 20 two-, three, and four-bedroom ranch-style homes for Oneida and Indian families and 10 duplex two-bedroom units specifically designed for the elderly. The project was a joint effort between HUD, the Oneida Nation, and the sovereign Oneida Nation Housing Authority, the 44th such Indian Housing Agency in the United States. The Nation's Housing Authority consists of five Oneida Members who have overseen the design, development, and construction of the homes. The Housing Authority implemented criteria for eligibility for housing, as well as codes guidelines for the development. The project has been over three years in the process, from the formulation the Housing Authority, to completion of the homes. However, for many Oneidas who never before have had available safe, sanitary, affordable housing, the opening of the rental housing is nothing short of a dream-come-true, said Keller George, first representative of the Nation Housing Authority. Nation Representative Ray Halbritter remarked that providing an improved standard of living for Oneida people "is the essence of what our hard decisions, hard work, and enterprise initiatives truly are all about." Oneida Nation 9/23/94 --------- "RE: Hawai'i: Stolen Islands" --------- Date: Sat, 24 Sep 1994 13:15:59 -0700 From: "Arthur R. McGee" Subj: HAWAI'I: STOLEN ISLANDS Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 04:41:35 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [GL] HAWAI'I: STOLEN ISLANDS [*******PNEWS CONFERENCES*********] Six-month airmail subscriptions (22 issues) to Green Left Weekly are available for A$60 (North America) and A$75 (South America, Europe & Africa) from PO Box 394, Broadway NSW 2007, Australia /* Written by greenleft@peg.UUCP in igc:greenleft.news */ Title: Stolen islands: Hawai'i demands sovereignty By Kekuni Blaisdell 1993 marked the centennial of the 1893 United States' armed invasion of Hawai'i. On January 17 more than 12,000 indigenous Hawaiians, or Kanaka Maoli, joined a sovereignty rally expressing their outrage at the invasion and the lawless occupation and theft of our government and lands beginning a century earlier. The current Kanaka Maoli independence movement began in the 1960s, but as early as the 1893 invasion and 1898 annexation of Ka Pae'aina (the Hawaiian archipelago), Kanaka Maoli vigorously resisted the takeover. The 1895 indigenous armed revolt against the haole (Western) usurpers, however, was quashed, with more than 200 rebels tried for treason and our Queen for misprision of treason. Well aware of the indigenous opposition, the haole annexationists would not agree to an island-wide plebiscite on the political status of the islands. Once annexation was in force under the US-imposed Territory of Hawai'i; the official policy toward us Kanaka Maoli was assimilation. Our indigenous language had already been banned in the schools in 1896. Under US haole colonial domination, we were taught to be ashamed to live the ``primitive'' ways of our ancestors. We were told we were fortunate to be Americans first and then, unfortunately, Hawaiians. In earlier years, we learned to be afraid to be Kanaka, a term of derision usually associated with adjectives such as ``dumb'', ``lazy'', ``drunk'' and ``dirty''. Only in certain rural kipuka - isolated pockets of self-reliant Kanaka Maoli who were able to remain on, and live from the land and the sea - were remnants of the traditional culture and resistance to foreign domination maintained. The 1959 US imposition of statehood brought an economic boom. Later the US military began to use Hawai'i as a mid-Pacific base for the Vietnam War. When the rural kipuka were besieged in the 1960s and 1970s by commercial, government and military developments, resistance to the establishment, especially by organized Kanaka Maoli, became overt. Indigenous people began to claim ownership of their land to protest tourist, military and government-driven encroachments on island residents. In the 1970s, mostly rural Kanaka Maoli affected by the land dislocations joined with university activists to learn of and assert our special legal rights as the indigenous people of Ka Pae'aina. This new empowerment was strengthened by the incorporation of our traditional Kanaka Maoli beliefs, language, and practices. These include aloha 'aina (love the land), malama 'aina (care for the land), malama kai (care for the sea), and spiritual ceremonies at gatherings. Land occupations, evictions, jailings, court trials - mostly losses but occasional wins - continued. Numerous taro-roots organizations sprouted. Two causes in the 1970s gained special prominence. The ALOHA (Aboriginal Lands of Hawai'i Ancestry) reparations proposal went all the way to the US Congress in 1973. Then, in 1976, the occupation of the island of Kaho'olawe eventually succeeded in halting the US military's bombing there. >From 1978 to 1980, the state of Hawai'i reacted to contain the spreading restlessness. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) was created as an agency of the state to ``better the conditions of Native Hawaiians ... and to serve as a receptacle for reparations'' (from the US government). In 1984, the first Native Hawaiian Sovereignty Conference convened with two of the five main speakers advocating independence from the US. Three years later 250 Kanaka Maoli delegates, attending a convention in Hilo, drafted a constitution for Ka Lahui, a separate nation within the US following the American Indian tribal nation model. A turning point came in August 1988. At a reparations hearing conducted by US Senator Daniel Inouye on the University of Hawai'i Manoa campus, a demonstration for ``sovereignty, not reparations'' attracted the TV news cameras. Caught off-guard, Inouye publicly acknowledged, for the first time, our Kanaka Maoli people's right to sovereignty. Alarmed, state of Hawai'i and US officials began to co-opt the sovereignty movement in order to maintain their control over the ultimate prize - the almost 2 million acres of our stolen Kanaka Maoli lands and the over 1 billion dollars in annual revenues from their natural resources. Since 1988, the term ``sovereignty'' has been co-opted by US and state officials, including Senators Inouye and Daniel Akaka, Governor John Waihee, the OHA trustees and native legislators. Their definition of ``sovereignty'', however, is continued US and state control of our stolen Kanaka Maoli lands. Three main models of ``sovereignty'' are now apparent, with multiple minor variations: * A ``sovereign Hawaiian nation as a political subdivision of the state of Hawai'i'', with the Hawaiian Home Lands as the land base. This model is promoted, but not yet openly, by the congressional delegation, the governor, the legislature, the OHA and the State Council on Hawaiian Homestead Associations. All of these parties support the governor-appointed 19-member Sovereignty Advisory Commission, recently created by the state legislature, that will advise on a state plebiscite for a ``convention to propose an organic document for governance of a Hawaiian sovereign nation''. * A Hawaiian nation within the US as proposed by Ka Lahui. This arrangement would be guided by US policy toward American Indians and Alaskan Natives. It would require petitioning the US Congress. If approved, the US Department of the Interior would oversee the new native government, perhaps through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Presumably the Hawaiian Home Lands and some negotiated ``ceded'' (stolen) Kanaka Maoli lands would constitute the new nation's land base. * A restored independent Kanaka Maoli nation, with, eventually, complete withdrawal of the US, is favoured by Ka Pakaukau, the Institute for the Advancement of Hawaiian Affairs and, perhaps, the 'Ohana Council of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Ka Pakaukau proposes a series of negotiated treaties, between the two nations as equals, with incremental progression toward establishing total Kanaka Maoli control over our entire Ka Pae'aina, as prior to 1893. All three elements of the sovereignty movement are united by cultural pride, the desire to relieve the painful plight of our people and control of our land. On the other hand, some aspects of all three of these issues also divide us. Too many modern Kanaka Maoli, like the tourists, have been seduced by the Hawai'i Visitors Bureau to believe that our culture is the Hollywood hula, hapa-haole songs and lei-making. We have been so Westernized, Americanized, Christianized and de-Kanaka Maoli-ised that most of us are not aware of our ancestors' basic belief - that like all in the cosmos, we Kanaka Maoli originate from the mating of Wakea, our sky father, with Papa, our earth mother. Therefore, all in the cosmos are living, conscious, and communicating siblings. Thus, our spiritual as well as physical and biological attachment to our sacred 'aina, the environment. Many Kanaka Maoli are still not aware that we natives in our homeland have the worst health, economic, educational, and social indices of all ethnic peoples in our homeland. Many of our own people are not aware that self-government and land and its resources are the two essentials for nationhood, and that we Kanaka Maoli have continued to be denied both by the US since 1893-1898. Because of this deprivation, we, like other exploited indigenous people, continue to decline. The projection is that by the year 2044 there will be no more piha Kanaka Maoli, ``pure'' indigenous Hawaiians. Some of us, however, refuse to accept that prediction and are determined to reverse the five main factors responsible for our grim status: depopulation, because of foreign illnesses and displacement from our lands, and Kanaka Maoli minority status because of continuing foreign transmigration; foreign economic exploitation; cultural conflict; our too eager adoption of harmful foreign ways, such as the use of tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs and the US high-saturated fat, high-cholesterol, high-salt and low-fibre diet; and neglect and malice by the colonial establishment. Our commitment to the survival of our endangered people is the basis for the Kanaka Maoli movement. Ka Ho'okolokolnui Kanaka Maoli, the People's International Tribunal Hawai'i, which was held August 12-21 in the centennial year of 1993, marking the US invasion of 1893, exposed and documented the long-suppressed truth of the US theft of our nation in the context of international law, and thus laid the historical, moral, and legal basis for the required remedies. The Tribunal also brought our indigenous sisters and brothers from abroad to our homeland as expert witnesses, official international observers and cultural participants, thereby providing the basis for further solidarity against the dominant superpower - the US - during the 1993 UN International Year of the World's Indigenous Peoples. [Kekuni Blaisdell is the convener of the Pro-Hawaiian Sovereignty Working Group and the coordinator of JKa Pakaukau, a Hawaiian sovereignty organization advocating a restored independent Kanaka Maoli (indigenous Hawaiian) nation. Reprinted from the Spring 1994 issue of Breakthrough, published by the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee.] [Originally posted in the Pegasus conference greenleft.news by Green Left Weekly.] --------- "RE: Vision Seekers" --------- Date: Thu, 22 Sep 1994 13:28:39 -0700 From: Pablo Bellon Subj: "Vision Seekers" Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) ========================================================================== Here's an exiting activity that the N.C. Cherokee are involving their youth-at-risk with. Duncan Perrote (Wind River EIRP Agent) had met the coordinator from Cherokee's Native American Cultural Preservation Society, Amy Walker, during the EIRP national conference and thought it would be good for us to interact (I agreed to provide internet and video support). Stanley Holloway (NC Cherokee EIRP Agent) talked with Amy a few days ago and sent this letter on her behalf so it could be posted to the Net. -pablo bellon ========================================================================== VISION SEEKERS Native American Cultural Preservation Society P.O. Box 957 Cherokee, NC 28719 Phone: (704)497-9156 September 16, 1994 Dear Friend, A most wonderful opportunity for some youth from the Cherokee Boundary has arisen!!! On November 12, 1994, approximately ten Cherokee youth will be leaving for a trip "down under". The plans are to attend a World Conference of Indigenous People in Australia, and as guests of the Moarie Tribe in New Zealand, will witness the adoption of one of the youth into the tribe! You will find more about this conference and past conference on the attached page. The majority of the youth are members of the VISION SEEKERS, which is a youth group promoted by the Native American Cultural Preservation Society of Cherokee. This is a non-profit organization incorporated by the State of NC. One objective of NACPS is to provide experiential opportunities to youth to learn about their Cherokee culture, traditions, and values. Thus, instilling within themselves a sense of pride in being Cherokee and will then pass on to future generations the sense of belonging to a large and precious family. The youth are being encouraged and supported by family members and several adults to raise funds to cover their expenses. Any contribution(s) will be greatly appreciated and may be sent to the above address. We plan to purchase the plane tickets by the twelfth of October--our meals and lodging will be provided as the group will be the guest of the Chief of the Moarie Tribe. For more information, please contact Amy Walker at (704) 497-9156 during office hours (7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. EST.) or (704) 497-4909 after hours. Thank you for help. Sincerely, Amy Walker, NACPS Sponsor Peggy Hill-Kerbow, NACPS Sponsor VISION SEEKERS Native American Cultural Preservation Society P.O. Box 957 Cherokee, NC 28719 Telephone: (704) 497-9156 In 1987, the World Health Organization recommended that the World's Indigenous People plan, promote, and host a world conference in order to network, share resources and research. This conference is held every two years and the primary purpose of the conference is to expose participants to the effects of drugs and alcohol on indigenous people of the world. Presenters show how drugs and alcohol effects not only the person, but also the cultures, the environment, and world peace. Participants have the opportunity to share their personal experiences, how drugs and alcohol have affected their specific culture, and express the struggles, hardship and impact of drug and alcohol abuse in their country. In 1992, 3,100 delegates from 16 countries (including a Cherokee youth group) travelled to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This experience lead to several wonderful events. Not only did the youth gain a deeper understanding of their uniqueness of who they are as Cherokees, but also were able to compare the Native American culture(s) to other cultures and the parallels we have with earth and other cultures of the world. While in Canada, the youth made many friends from not only tribes within the Unites States boundaries, but also Canada. They were fortunate to have met the Chief of the Moarie tribe of New Zealand. One Cherokee youth will be adopted into the Moarie tribe where the group will be guest of this tribe in November. In November, the 1994 Conference of Indigenous People will be held in Sydney, Australia. Youth from the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians will be represented at the Conference. As a group, the youth will bring Australia and Cherokee, NC together. The youth plan to share our crafts, traditions, history and current information in a way that has never been presented before. The group also plans a display of information which will include brochures, pictures and general tourist information. The youth group along with several adults have been raising money to help with the expenses. For the youth, this trip to "down under" will be "reaching for the stars" and a "once in a life time" opportunity for these Cherokee youth. It will be an experience that will impact forever on these young lives. Several more fund raising events will be held through September and October. Sponsorships are being sought for individual youth. The "Vision Seekers" are experiencing: "YOU CAN DO IT, IF YOU WANT TO". Please help. ------------------------------------------------------------+--------------- + | + pablob@coopext.cahe.wsu.edu \|/ work: (206) 273-5911 fax: (206) 273-5914 <<<+-=|+|=-+>>> Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Nation /|\ WSU Cooperative Extension + | + ____________________________________________________________+_______________ --------- "RE: McAuliffe/"Sibyl Bolton" Interview" --------- Date: Wed, 21 Sep 1994 06:43:16 -0600 From: catalina m reyes Subj: McAuliffe/"Sibyl Bolton" Interview Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) Here is the transcript I promised of my interview with Dennis McAuliffe. I wish I had time to transcribe our whole talk, which runs to 13 minutes 18 seconds. He went into interesting detail about being a "sandy haired, blue-eyed white guy" trying to "come back" to being an Osage. His mother (Sibyl Bolton's daughter) was raised by white people away from the rez. He says he learned from her shame and distaste for being indian. So when in doing this book he learned that if his grandma hadn't been shot, his mom would have been raised on the rez in the Osage culture -- that was a lot for him to deal with. Also it was a lot to deal with being perceived as a wannabe when he decided, well, he wanted to Be (for what its worth he does have his official Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood, like 1.8 million other indians and unlike a whole bunch besides). McAuliffe did write an April 30th, 1994 article for the Post that talks about attending Clinton's Washington D.C. confab for the tribes that month, and describing how Osage Principal Chief Charles O. Tillman Jr. kept inviting him to duck under the ropes and sit next to him as an Osage. An interesting piece. ------------------------------------------------ Author Dennis McAuliffe: "The Deaths of Sibyl Bolton" Date of Interview: Mon. 19 Sept. 1994 Air Date: Mon. 19 Sept. 1994, "The KUNM Evening Report" By Catalina Reyes TIME: 5:04 ANNOUNCER'S INTRO: Dennis [mc-ALL-iff] McAuliffe has been an editor at the "Washington Post" since 1983. In 1991, he discovered that his [OH- sage] Osage indian grandmother hadn't dies at ate 21 of kidney disease, as his family always thought. After hearing several versions of how she died, [mc-ALL-iff] McAuliffe began researching to find out what really happened. He learned of a genocidal conspiracy that's likely to have taken * not only his grandmother's life, but the lives of may other wealthy [OH-sage-s] Osages in the 1920s. Today [mc-ALL-iff] McAuliffe is in Albuquerque with his book about what he discovered. He spoke with reporter Catalina Reyes: Cata: Your book is called "The Deaths of Sibyl Bolton," and in it you describe how unscrupulous whites murdered Osages in order to get their property. Can you tell us what it was about the Osage's holdings that was worth killing people for, and how it was that they were so vulnerable to mass murder, essentially, in the 1920s? Dennis McAuliffe: The Osages in the 1920s were the richest people per capita in the world. The amount of income that they received yearly from their oil underneath the reservation had the spending power today of perhaps more than a million dollars a year. What made them vulnerable to killing -- well, the property that the whites were trying to acquire was not so much the land, or not so much the oil. But each member of the tribe was given a share of the total mineral estate. And that share was called a Head Right. The Head Rights, upon the death of an Osage, would pass as normal property to a survivor or a descendent. And those descendants could be whites. So Osage women were being married up in drove, and then killed off in droves. Cata: What kind of droves are we talking about here? McA: Well -- the estimates are that the Osage Reign of Terror killed three percent of the tribe, which would come to sixty or so people. But accounts in the FBI record also suggest -- actually, _say_ -- that hundreds and hundreds of Osages were killed. There's just no way of knowing, because none of these Osages got autopsies. And death certificates were doctored. Cata: What have you pieced together as the real story of what happened to your grandmother, Sibyl Bolton? McA: She acquired a guardian, because she was a minor for all of her life but one year. And the guardian received all of her money, and then was responsible for putting the money into savings and things like that. She did discover that all of her money had been stolen. And when an Osage discovered that, that typically was a death sentence. Because the lawyer -- the thief -- was going to guarantee that he not be charged with the theft. And every white knew that they could kill an Osage, and get away with it. Cata: I understand that you were uncomfortable with your indian heritage as a teenager, and it was really only when you embarked on the research that resulted in this book that you began to contend with what your Osage heritage means, or doesn't mean. What's been hard about that? McA: I in fact didn't find out that I was an Osage until I was fifteen. My mother one night really thought that I was dying, and she thought that she needed to take that opportunity to set the record straight. So she told me, she said: "Denny, you're an indian. I'm so sorry." Because she had been made to feel ashamed of her indian heritage. For sixty-seven years my mother had only been told that her mother had died of kidney disease. We accidentally found out three years ago that her death was listed as a gunshot wound suicide. And as little as we knew the story, we knew that the death took place in front of my mother as a baby, sixteen months old. And it was the shock, realizing the hole in my life -- there was a hole in my life -- well, I came to understand it was because there was a big hole in my mother's life, because somebody killed her mother in front of her. Cata: So this book is not only a whodunit, in a way, about your grandmother, but it also recounts a little bit of your journey. McA: It does. It's also a history of the Osage Reign of Terror. It's the first book based on FBI documents. But I wanted to write a book that I would read -- I read a lot of detective stories. So the genre sort of pulls you along the way, and takes you through things that ordinarily you probably would be uncomfortable in reading, which is some pretty heavy-duty killing, and some very shocking things. Cata: Well, I've read several reviewers who say it's a real page turner. McA: [laughs] good. Thank you. Cata: Dennis McAuliffe is the author of "The Deaths of Sibyl Bolton," published by Times Books. He'll read from the book and sign copies tonight in Albuquerque at Salt of the Earth Books at 7:30 p.m.. Tomorrow he'll do the same at Old Santa Fe Trail Bookstore in Santa Fe, at 7:00 p.m. For K-U-N-M, I'm Catalina Reyes. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm |Catalina Reyes | Onate Hall | internet: | | Public Radio Producer | University of New Mexico | catrey@unm.edu | |KUNM 89.9 FM | Albuquerque, NM 87131 | bitnet: | |(505) 277-8016 | USA | catrey@unmb | mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm