_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ O o O / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' O o O / /-< / /--/ /-- VOLUME 04, ISSUE 029 O o o o o O __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 20 July 1996 O o O K A N O H E D A A N I Y V W I Y A O o O Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin O ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S ) This issue contains articles from Innu-L, NativeWeb, Taino-L, MINN-IND, NATCHAT & NATIVE-L listservers; UUCP & genie email; Newsgroups: alt.native, soc.culture.native Articles appearing have been previously posted for public dissemination and/or permission for inclusion has been secured. Letters of authorization are on file. A list of those granting permission to repost their words in this issue are listed at the end of part A. I thank each of you for allowing your words to be shared with the people. <----<<<< >>>>----> 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. Thanks to Don Rayment ,don.rayment@uptowne.com, Wotanging Ikche/ Kanoheda Aniyvwiya is being redistributed via a listserver. If you would like to receive Wotanging Ikche via the listserver, you can send a message to listserv@uptowne.com and include, in the body of your message "sub wotanging.ikche " Thanks to Marc Becker and David Cole issues of Wotanging Ikche/ Kanoheda Aniyvwiya are being archived at a World-Wide-Web site. - The URL is http://web.maxwell.syr.edu/nativeweb/journals/nanews Thanks to Borries Demeler all _Wotanging_Ikche_ (part a) submissions to AISESnet are archived under AISESnet and can be accessed easily by World Wide Web: 1994: http://bioc02.uthscsa.edu/94_dis.html 1995: http://bioc02.uthscsa.edu/95_dis.html 1996: http://bioc02.uthscsa.edu/96_dis.html This is a searchable index to the AISESnet Discussion mailing list database archive, and the keyword "Wotanging" will retrieve all issues for that year. "He said, unreal the buffalo is standing. These are his sayings, unreal the buffalo is standing, unreal he stands in the open space, unreal he is standing." __ Song of the Buffalo Dance, Pawnee +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! What will the great winter count for this year show? Will it be the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta? Will it be the contest for the U.S. Presidency between Bob Dole and Bill Clinton? Will it be a storm named Bertha? In the councils of our people, there must be an accounting for some losses. The ICWA was weakened and once again, Native children will become lost birds. The IAIA school has been reduced to a mere echo. Although the Oklahoma tribes won the gas tax issue in court, under pressure, they conceded to demands of the white society that make the court decision moot. Sacred Mount Graham will have its great eyepiece for the Vatican. Long neighbors, the Hopi and Navajo are at odds over a land issue created by the crowding of the dominant society and the greed of an English mining company. The Sweetgrass Hills are feeling the cut of the scraper blades as the greed of the miners seeks to rip treasures from our Mother's bosom even there. Is Leonard Peltier a free man? Does Clifford Dann have his horses? Does the dominant society even care? Peace! Night Owl , , Gary Night Owl gars@genie.geis.com (*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@netcom.com (`-') Marietta, GA 30067, U .S.A. gars@igc.apc.org ===w=w=== ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- Part A: Usenet and e-mail Part B: NATCHAT and NATIVE-L lists - Adoptee Reunion - Conferences and Powwows - online - Innu Agree to Relocate Community - Sundance Grounds Threatened - Logo Victory in Upstate NY - Innu Leader Imprisoned - Redmen and White Politics - Limbaugh's Views of Indians - Question of Fairness - 1996 Gwich'in Gathering - Small Victory at Emish - B.C. Environmentalists Sentenced - Greenfield Update - Charlatan Removed from Pow Wow - United NA Television Project - New Age or Old Prophecy - Tour Guide to Indian Country - Geronimo - July Powwow on the Hudson - Senora Conchita Ramos - Native America Calling - Poem: Mohawk - Verse: Hawai'ian Book of Days - Conferences and Powwows - offline --------- "RE: Adoptee Reunion" --------- Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 12:04:36 CST From: space for rent Subj: ADOPTEE REUNION (stolen babies) Newsgroups: soc.culture.native Yvette Melanson grew up in Brooklyn believing she was white and Jewish. But she was one of the "Lost Birds", Indian school taken from their families and given, sometimes, illegally to white families from the 1950's to the 1970's. She is 43 and recently spent two weeks in Tolani Lake, a Navajo community 60 miles NE of Flagstaff, Arizona. She and a twin brother were taken from her parents when they were two days old in 1953. She was raised apart from her brother in New York and she did not know she was Navajo until she saw a listing on the internet. Her adoptive parents are dead. There have been other reunions but she and tribal officials made this one public in hopes of finding her brother and other missing children. Her father, Yazzie Monroe, gave her a wedding basket and placed a string of turquoise beads around her neck after meeting her husband and two daughters. She hopes to learn enough Navajo to talk with her father,67, who speaks little English. Her mother, Betty Jackson, was ill and placed her thumbprint on what she thought were temporary custody papers. They apparently were used to adopt her illegally. She has learned she was taken to Salt Lake City where a fake birth certificate was prepared saying she was born of white parents in Salt Lake City. The tribe believes her story underscores the importance of the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which is under attack in Congress. The HOuse under Newt Gingrich has passed a bill removing child custody proceedings from tribal courts if the cases involve children whose birth parents did not maintain "significant social, cultural or political affiliations with the tribe." This vague language would open the door for state courts to decide if children were not "Indian enough" allowing them to be taken away for White families which cannot find enough children to adopt without importing them from third world countries. Some of these children are often found to have been stolen or bought. --------- "RE: Innu Agree to Relocate Community" --------- Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 19:16:41 -0400 From: Larry Innes Subj: Innu agree to relocate community Mailing List: INNU-L ** Innu agree to relocate community ** ** ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. (CP) One of Canada's poorest communities is ** ** moving. ** The Innu Nation and the Newfoundland and federal governments struck a deal Tuesday to relocate the people of the remote, poverty-stricken island community of Davis Inlet to Sango Bay on the Labrador mainland. ``We're firmly committed to making a move,'' said Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin. The move will cost Ottawa about $85 million, considerably less than a $130-million Innu proposal presented to the federal government late last year. Irwin said all parties managed Tuesday to resolve two contentious issues: the size of the community and the provision of services. The new site will cover about 10 square kilometres on the Labrador mainland, not far from the tiny coastal island on which the settlement is now located. About 500 of the 1,600 Labrador Innu live in Davis Inlet, a squalid, ramshackle collection of houses with little running water or toilets and no paved roads or sidewalks. Conditions in the community chronic levels of alcoholism, sexual abuse, substance abuse and domestic violence attracted international attention in February 1993 when six suicidal children were rescued from an unheated shack where they were sniffing gas. Living conditions in Davis Inlet have improved through training programs and housing renovations. But the improvements are temporary and the Innu want to move. The Innu also received a commitment for accelerated land-claim talks, where issues such as self-government will be on the table. Newfoundland Premier Brian Tobin said he hopes the spirit of co-operation that prevailed at the talks will carry over into future land-claims discussions. The talks are especially important to the development of the huge Voisey's Bay nickel and copper deposit on land claimed by both the Innu and Labrador Inuit. "All of us are aware that there's a huge multibillion-dollar development out there," said Tobin. "There are claims by both the Innu and Inuit." "This deposit, in my mind, is rich enough that there must be a win-win for all the players involved and no less a win- win in terms of the priorities of the Innu and the Inuit people." The Innu agreed in March to a three-year timetable to draft a deal covering a claim the size of Nova Scotia that includes Voisey's Bay, on Labrador's remote northern coast. --------- "RE: Logo Victory in Upstate NY" --------- Date: 13 Jul 1996 01:05:03 -0400 From: rbeaul5961@aol.com (RBeaul5961) Subj: LOGO VICTORY IN UPSTATE NY Newsgroup: soc.culture.native Shenendehowa School District, Clifton Park, ny On July 11 a decision finally was announced by the Shenendehowa School District that the offensive "caricatured Native American Mascot who ran along the sidelines at Shen football and basketball games is gone, and now, the school district's Indian-head logo is slowly vanishing." Through a long, hard and persistent campaign by local Native American activists, The Keepers of the Circle (A Native American Friendship Center), and support from Akwesasne Notes, a battle was won. The racially insulting image of a grimacing, big nosed, spear and tomahawk wielding Native American has been Shen's logo for years but according to the school's athletic director, "the image will not appear on any new sports uniforms the district buys and will be removed from scoreboards and signs. It also will be sanded off the middle of the the floor of the high school gymnasium floor." In addition, the image carved into a wall of the junior high school will eventually be removed. Time is past when Native Americans can be portrayed in a derogatory, insulting way and have it called a "compliment." One down and many more to go. R. Beaulieu Albany NY --------- "RE: Redmen and White Politics" --------- Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 10:44:20 +0000 From: Cherokee Observer Subj: Redmen and White Politics-July Commentary by Art Nave Newsgroups: alt.native,soc.culture.native The following commentary was published in the July 1996 issue of THE CHEROKEE OBSERVER. It was written by Art Nave, Cherokee Tribal Member. REDMEN AND WHITE POLITICS The Oklahoma Indians numbers are over 200,000 strong. A force to be reckoned with in any state's electoral process, if organized and seeking a common goal. Indians, as all other ethnic groups, have personal needs and preferences to be considered when selecting a cause or candidate to support. However there is one cause that we can all identify with and support and that is the advancement and welfare of the Indian people. Politicians who campaign or work against the rights of the Indian or ignore our requests should not only receive no Indian's vote but should be campaigned against by us. U.S. Congressman istook's recent introduction of a House Bill on Indian Lands contrary to our welfare simply makes him an enemy of the Oklahoma Indian population. There are others among our state and national politicians who feel Indians should be ignored or kept in their place. If your city, county, state or nations public servants ignore your requests, fail to respond to reasonable needs, or vote legislation contrary to your welfare, work against their re-election in some manner. Talk to your family and friends, write letters to the newspaper, put a political opponents sign in your yard who promises better treatment, and get involved in some manner to rid Oklahoma of Indian Bashers. Tribal governments are very powerful sleeping giants in the Oklahoma political and economic arenas. We are a force to be reckoned with if we exercise our power. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Posted courtesy of THE CHEROKEE OBSERVER, your only independent Cherokee newspaper. --------- "RE: Question of Fairness" --------- Date: Thu, 17 July 96 09:00 -0500 From: Janet Smith (Evening Star) (jans@genie.com) Subj: Upcoming conferences and powwows not previously posted to Mailing Lists NATCHAT or NATIVE-L genie email We got a note in the mail from Jimmy D. Oyler, with a clipping from _Land Line Magazine_, a professional truckers association. The article describes recent proposed amendments to a U.S. Dept. of the Interior Appropriations bill authored by Oklahoma Rep. Ernest Jim Istook and Indiana Rep. Peter J. Viscloskyan. The bill asks "that sales on Indian reservations to non-Indians be fairly taxed." Traditionally, Native Americans have been exempt from state taxes, and generally Native American businesses on tribal lands have not charged taxes to any of their customers. While the Supreme Court opinion supports the states' rights to collect taxes on goods sold to non-Indians, it also has said states cannot file lawsuit against the tribes. The article continues, describing the support of the National Association of Truckstops, Inc (NATSO), the National Association of Convenience Stores, Petroleum Marketers Assn. of American and the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America, who believe that non-Indian retailers should be protected against unfair competition (since presumably non-taxed goods on reservation property would be much less expensive than those in adjacent non-Indian stores.) Jim Olyer's comments on this article and it's opinions are: If the Supreme Court and this Congress grants states the right to collect taxes, then let Congress and the courts also uphold Indian treaties. He wonders if the Native Americans in Oklahoma helped elect Rep. Ernest Jim Istook, one of the amendment's authors. And finally, he states: "Yes, protect the non-Indian retailer. But how about the ability of the tribes to tax without paying state tax? If they want an equal playing field, then make it an equal playing field." My own observations (and this may have been what Jim Oyler was trying to get across): If the states are going to force the Tribes to charge taxes so that non-Native retailers won't face unfair pricing competition, then at least let the Natives tax for themselves, and require that the taxes they collect (and keep) equal those of the surrounding community. This will level the playing field in terms of community resources as well, since taxes collected by Indians will stay in Indian hands, instead of being being turned over to the states, who will almost certainly NOT expend those funds in any manner that will benefit the Native populations. At the heart of this issue is tribal sovereignty. Almost daily one hears political wrangling about the funds that go "as welfare" to Native peoples. I prefer to think of it as a "mortgage," but semantics aside ... if tribal peoples are going to be denied the support promised them in exchange for land cessions, and I think it only a matter of time until that happens, then AT LEAST encourage them to establish means for supporting their own infrastructures such as local/tribal sales taxes--and if those taxes are reserved only for purchases by non-Natives, well, that's reasonable, too. Evening Star jans@genie.com --------- "RE: Small Victory at Emish" --------- Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 19:17:08 -0400 From: Larry Innes Subj: Small victory at Emish Mailing List: INNU-L Small Victory at Emish Newfoundland CBC Radio carried a story on 10 July which featured VBNC vice-president Rick Gill saying that the company has accepted that it will not be able to build their proposed airstrip, dock, road and campsite facilities at Emish (Voisey's Bay) this summer because they have not been able to secure the cooperation of the Innu and Inuit or a decision from the Newfoundland government. The Labrador Inuit Association recently announced that their development agency, the LIDC, has been instructed to turn down $28 million dollar contract offer from the company to build the infrastructure. The Innu Nation and LIA maintain that the entire project must be assessed under a single, comprehensive environmental assessment. To date, no agreement with the governments of Canada and Newfoundland have been reached on the scope or conduct of the assessment process, although the four parties are proceeding with negotiations to reach a memorandum of understanding on the issue. Larry Innes Visit the Innu Nation WWW site: Environmental Advisor http://www.web.net/~innu Innu Nation P.O. Box 119, Sheshatshiu, Labrador, Canada A0P 1M0 phone: (709) 497-8398 es051322@orion.yorku.ca fax: (709) 497-8396 \/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/=\/= --------- "RE: Greenfield Update" --------- Date: Sat, 13 Jul 1996 07:04:26 -0400 (EDT) From: mll@berkshire.net Subj: Greenfield Update 7/12/9 UUCP email Khew All; An update on the Greenfield situation from Johnie Levertte. Ishgooda >Date: Sat, 13 Jul 1996 00:50:00 (DST) >From: johnie.leverett@chicopee.com (Johnie Leverett) >Reply-To: johnie.leverett@chicopee.com (Johnie Leverett) >Subject: Greenfield Update 7/12/9 > Recorder July 12, 1996 It's Agreed Industry for Mackin land, retail growth keys to success, group says... The town should spend the next two years trying to attract industries to the French King Highway property one sought by Wal-Mart, while a special task force works with merchants to keep retail dollars in town.And an advisory committee of townspeople should make sure projects to boost Greenfield's economy are coordinated and brought to fruition. These are key recommendations by a group of residents, merchants and town officials that has been meeting Saturdays since April to hammer out an economic development plan for Greenfield-one that both sides in the recent Wal-Mart support.The "Consensus '96" group includes bankers, Realtors, merchants, town officials, agency heads, residents and various opinion makers-from both sides of the debate over the defeated Wal-Mart proposal and the pending BJ's Wholesale Club plan for Colrain Road.The group recommends the town make a two-year commitment to find industries for the 63-acre Peter Mackin property on French King Highway. Those who opposed building a Wal-Mart there argued its best use is for industries that would yield high-paying jobs without endangering the downtown merchants. After the two years, if industries weren't attracted, the town would revisit the issue of allowing retailers to use the land now zoned for industry.The consensus group also recommended against setting limits on commercial building sizes-a regulation that could be used to keep out large retailers. Instead, it suggested focusing more on the reuse and development of existing retail space.Also during the two years, the group has recommended that an independent marketing study of Greenfield and Franklin County be conducted to decide whether the town needs a third commercial zone in addition to downtown and the I-91 rotary area. Also recommended was establishment of a task force of consumers and merchants to identify the gaps in the type and price of merchandise currently available in Greenfield stores. The goal would be to put more of what people want in downtown stores to keep retail dollars from floating down Interstate 91 to the malls."It's a bit of a touchy issue because it may be perceived as dictating to business owners what they can sell in their stores, and that's not the intention," Town Planner Teri Anderson said. "The idea is to provide input about what types of things people want to see downtown."Another recommendation is for the retail task force to examine the possibility of merchants buying cooperatively in bulk to cut costs.. stopped because of length of article. <<<<=-=-=-=-=-{{{{}}}}-=-=-=-=-=>>>> Email ishgooda@tdi.net for inclusion in the Huron-Wendat newsletter http://www.berkshire.net/~mll/wendat.htm and to register for updates on the proposed gathering in 1997! Put "Huron" as your subject in the e-mail. Drawn & Quoted Graphics http://www.berkshire.net/~mll/natgra.htm Tsonkwadiyonrat (Now we are ONE Mind) <<<<=-=-=-=-=-{{{{}}}}-=-=-=-=-=>>>> --------- "RE: United NA Television Project" --------- Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 12:48:00 -0700 (PDT) From: aconcert@carroll.com (Joe Campagna) Subj: Native Web Help [2] Mailing List: NativeWeb It is key to understand that there are two organizations being described throughout this text, and there is a difference between them although duties cross borders. 1. United Native Culture and Language Exchange (UNC&LE) - a volunteer organization consisting of both Native and Non-Native people. UNC&LE's function is to support the UNATBC. 2. United Native American Broadcasting Council (UNATBC) - councils of only Native American people from any given region that make up a Grand Council through their delegates. UNATBC's function is to direct as they decide. Overview and description subject to change by consensus. The DAKOTA TERRITORY CHAIRMAN'S TREATY COUNCIL an intertribal organization consisting of the bands of (Sioux) Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Indian tribal leaders, has approved the Interworld Concert and it's purpose of fundraising to help establish a United Native American Television Broadcasting Project (UNATBC) as proposed to each of the representatives in the council as in prior communications via intertribal meeting. A from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe re-affirms that Joe Campagna Talent Associates may act as project pre-organizer and coordinator. Joe Campagna has released his responsibilities to the United Native Culture & Language Exchange (UNC&LE), a non-profit organization to to help as an informational gathering body until the effort will be taken over by the collective Native American councils of the United Native American Television Broadcast Project (UNATBC). The United Native Culture and Language Exchange (UNC&LE) is seeking Native and Non-Native individuals to assist its function of helping the UNATBC with pre-organizing. Ray Uses The Knife of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe (CRST) Cultural Affairs Committee, will assist all Lakota, Dakota and Nakota to designate interested parties in the Sioux Nations to work with or become a directive part of a United Native American Television Broadcast effort in their region. Sioux efforts may also be formed individually, but as all efforts should be in contact with UNC&LE for initial communications to other UNATBC chapters and for licensing UNATBC contracts -- also to keep a record and assist in other archivist-type documentation and communication as per directed. The UNATBC trademark is held in escrow by UNC&LE and ownership of mark will be turned over to a Grand Council of UNATBC representatives when Grand Council is formed. In addition, all Native American Nations and groups of Native people would be urged to express their concerns and directives as well as form their own committee of United Native American Broadcast Council (UNATBC). Under special licensing of UNATBC trademark, there is a contractual exclusion of non-native interests being corporately involved in UNATBC internal business functions. Non-native individuals or companies will have no decision making in the content of broadcast materials and business on any level. Local UNATBC committees may be formed from any tribe, nation, clan, community, or group of Native Americans. The purpose of the committees are to ensure that projects for the local broadcast area, and outside representation or material that represents their particular culture falls within the acceptability and control of the respective control of Native American peoples. The broadcasting facility could be designed and installed which could be a system of local broadcasting stations that could subscribe to any other native station for part of their programming, to trade materials to be aired, and to establish intertribal broadcasting slots, and subsequent national/international broadcasts to non-native stations whereby advertising monies and broadcast fees paid by non-native stations would revert back to the native broadcast project as a whole. Royalties would be paid to Native American filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, etc. for both internal and external broadcasts. Each Native American born shall own one non-salable, non-transferable share in the broadcast system whereby dividends may be added to by profits or matching grants and donations from the non-native investors and donors, and profits; which regardless of any monetary calculations, will constitute 51% of company shares. All profits or donations aside from "interest rates" paid to outside investors (which may also include Native Peoples and companies) would be for expansion of project to benefit all native nations via the broadcast project. A percentage of profits would be set aside for the 51% Native American shareholders who would be all the Native American people. The base value of each dividend would be one dollar and any amount over base value could be transferred by an individual as a voting Native American shareholder when interactive tv/internet capabilities will make the creation of new projects locally or for the system via an electronic consensus gathering vehicle. Any local council of elders UNATBC chapter or not would have final say over the content of material in their area, or as according to their particular laws. Any investment monies or capital by non-native companies or individuals would be limited to purchasing non-voting shares which would be comparable to dividends in non-stock markets such as interest rates. This shall constitute 49% being the outside interests handled much like bank deposits in a variety of accounts. Interest dividends by these depositors may be be donated to a non-profit corporation which would be required to divide all such donations (and other donations) to a project fund which would be utilized by Native American filmmakers and production studio projects. All proceeds from the concert and subsequent revenues which are derived from marketing said concert will be used in a unified project which can benefit all Native Americans. The unified project shall be an expandable Native American Television Broadcasting system as determined by elders from all Indian Nations wishing to participate. All funds will be deposited into a joint signatory trust account whereby a delegation of elders from all participating tribes will decide by consensus, traditional Indian law,all business through their delegations. News Pre-K through adult Native American Language Education Economic Development Health Education Cultural Art Community Activities Entertainment Drama & Music Reply: aconcert@carroll.com United Native American Television Project http://www.jlc.net/~jcatlin/interworld/ --------- "RE: Tour Guide to Indian Country" --------- Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 10:29:48 +0000 From: Cherokee Observer Subj: "A Tour Guide to INDIAN COUNTRY" Newsgroups: alt.native,soc.culture.native The following commentary was published in the June 1996 Cherokee Observer. It was written by Jason R. Terrell, Observer Foreign Correspondent. "Ever since Kevin Costner brought his now-famous movie Dances with Wolves to the screen, there has been a renewed interest in all things Native. The result has been a huge influx of non-Indians to Indian Country. Everyone from the curious camera hound to the born-again anthropologist has come to our cities and communities in search of some mystical key to the universe, or more often a snapshot side-by-side with a "once hostile" native. From these experiences and the onslaught of Hollywood copycat films that have followed from Dances with Wolves, we find ourselves put-out, tired-out and out of patience. So it seems that a refresher course for would-be and wannabe visitors is in order. Here are a few hints to remember. Treat a visit to a Native community much the same way as you would to a foreign country. 1) OBEY THE RULES-When in a foreign country, you must abide by the laws of the land. Even if you are used to parking by the curb in New York, you must obey the traffic laws of the city you're visiting. Similarly, if the public is allowed to attend a traditional ceremony, for example, be sure you know ahead of time whether picture taking is allowed. In some instances, it's not. 2) ASK QUESTIONS RESPECTFULLY-When you talk to elders or other knowledgeable people, the strongest inclination is to ask questions. That's fine. The only way to learn is to ask, so feel free. But frame your questions in a respectful manner and realize that if a person can't or won't answer you, it's not because they are trying to be rude. There are some topics that are not discussed in public or outside of a traditional forum. You surely wouldn't go to a restaurant in Osaka, for example, and ask "Hey, where do you keep those fancy Samurai swords I see you waving around in the movies???" 3) COME WITH AN OPEN MIND AND EARS-Just because you have seen all three installments of A Man Called Horse six times, doesn't mean you know everything about Indian culture. Natives have different languages and customs which vary radically from tribe to tribe. Be willing to listen to what the people there have to tell you bout how they lived and still live. Preconceived notions get you nowhere and can make you seem like a know-it-all. For instance, even if great-grandpa told you that his mother was an Indian princess, don't take that information to your visit. The whole Indian princess phenomenon is mainly myth and Native people don't like having that kind of misnomer thrown up in their faces. 4) JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE GERMAN IN YOUR BACKGROUND DOESN'T"T MAKE YOU GERMAN-Here is probably one of the biggest barriers to good relations between Indians and non-Indians. A significant portion of the people who visit Indian Country have (or claim to have) some Native in their family tree. Even though they've never been around people who have been raised in the culture, speak the language or never been around people who have been raised in the culture, speak the language or live the life, these people insist on trying to be Indian the minute they cross into Indian country. I dare say, that if you has some German in your background and went to Berlin boasting about being "part-German" without having lived there, knowing the language or being familiar with the culture you'd come off as being pompous and ignorant. The case is no different in Indian. Country. If you do truly believe you have Native in your background and you want to learn more so you can understand, you'll be welcome. "Pretenders to the throne". on the other hand, probably won't get a second word spoken to them. So, if you can keep these pointers in mind, you'll be better for the experience and find friendly faces when you return, rather than a cold shoulder. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Posted for your enjoyment by THE CHEROKEE OBSERVER, your only independent Cherokee newspaper. --------- "RE: July Powwow on the Hudson" --------- Date: Fri, 12 Jul 1996 13:48:41 -0500 From: Grand Master Peter Ticali Subj: July Powwow on the Hudson UUCP email Gary, please put this letter in your next news letter. Brothers, sisters, and friends : Osiyo, My name is Daniel Whitewolf. Many of you might have seen my name on a recent letter from Chief Blackhawk Sancarlos. I would actually like to tell you about the Pow-wow on the Hudson. The event was on July 4th, 5th, 6th. I am proud of my involvement, with the management of this event. I feel it was a very spiritual, and traditional event. On the 4th, our Pow-Wow opened to a rainy day, but it only drizzled until the Grand entry. As the drum began to hold the beat of the Earthmothers heart, the rain began to cover us, and the wind spoke in our ears...Brothers told me that as in our past Pow-Wows, it did not rain in the circle... I knew the Spirits were there with us, and that they were showing us there love. The day showed us many new faces, as many people drawn by the sound of the drum, came to share in our way of life. There was no admission charge, so people of all walks of life,shared in the love of our culture. Be they Police officers, Children, doctors, lawyers, merchants, or vagrants. All were welcome. Day two was the same, many people sharing in our ways, and learning that we, the first nation of America, Are still here, still strong, and still a great nation to be taught from. Native flags were flown all around the Pow-wow, as well as the American flag. Although our grounds were known for violent incidents, none took place throughout the three day Pow-Wow. Might I also say, that we have been told by the Mayor of Yonkers, as well as the Police, that since we first blessed the grounds, Crime there has depleted. The third day showed an even larger turn-out. As more people heard more and more about us threw local newspapers and Television. Dancers came from all over, from reservations, Such as the Sancarlos Reservation. From cities, and from the crowds of interested people who came to find there roots and culture. We had visitors from other countries as well. Such as Poland, Ecuador, and Germany.I am proud to also mention our dance prize. We did not charge our dancers, a registration fee. Our prize money was totally funded by the love of our venders, as well as the general public's donations. It made me feel good, to see that we of the "Native American Warrior Society, Blackhawk Band" were able to manage a traditional Pow-Wow, not for profit, the way it should be. I will leave off with saying, that I am proud to be a part of The Warrior Society, as well as part of The "Pow-Wow on the Hudson". We are already planning our next event, and there is also another of our Pow-Wows, on August 18th.....in Bear Mountain N.Y. As well as another, possibly before the summer ends. Feel free to contact me at the below E-Mail address. Thank you brothers and sisters, and I hope that as always, Wakan Tunka, watches over you and your loved ones, and may you always feel his love. Mitakye Oyasin. Dohiyi Oginalii Daniel Whitewolf oldlion@tribeca.ios.com --------- "RE: Senora Conchita Ramos" --------- Date: Tue, 09 Jul 1996 08:42:47 -0700 From: Chief Peter Guanikeyu Torres Subj: Senora Conchita Ramos Mailing List: Taino-L Larry Daley wrote: Cacique Guanikeyu: Tell more about these things. We used to use the quimbolo as bait for bigger fish. The Ramos family was mostly Taino. Did you see my post on Juan Ramos, who used to dive into the caves to kill caimans to eat them, and Guillermo who kept, I think it was seven, women at the same time. Alfonso Ramos, who claimed that somehow he was related to us, lived in Arroyon. I remember with most respect Conchita Ramos, she raised nine children in El Corojo, by doing laundry and by "selling numbers". Chita was illiterate, but had an excellent mind, she never forgot who had the winning ticket and knew how to sell tickets. She would take two cigarettes, Coronas if my memory serves, bend them in half, and remove the paper so she could chew them. Chita worked so hard, she would do her laundry in the river, stirring the boiling clothes in a square five gallon can over three stones and burning wood of her special fire place under the tall trees of the rivers edge, her special rubbing rock leaning into the clear water. Then she carried the clothes, in the five gallon can on her head, up one of the two truck wide parallel pebbled tracks to the top of the rise above the cliffs of the lagoon, back to the batey. She would iron the clothes with a set of nine flat irons, heating them on a metal plate on the "fogon" in the dark of a room of the old house the light streaming in between the planks; she used each iron in turn, changing them as they cooled. Chita would so very carefully, roast the coffee in a large iron pot, over a slow fire, stirring the beans until they were exactly right, she did this on the carefully raked soil, away from the bibijagua nests, under the deep shade of the mango tree of the batey; and, even though we had a number of perfectly good metal coffee grinders, she ground the coffee in a "pilon", a log with a hollow cavity, by crushing it with a sturdy pole. The smell of good coffee roasting filled the air. Grandmother's varied colored criollo chickens moving around in intricate search patterns on the look out for any alecranes scorpions and the enormous ara~na peludas tarantula spiders stupid enough to come out in the day, were all were around Chita as she worked. Once a mouse ran out and a chicken got it as did those large killer hunting birds of South America extinct two million years ago. The rooster fussed around courting and attended the hens, and the muscovy type ducks would fly in from the lagoon at feeding time. Here Chita would take the time to teach the parrots to sing "canta periquito canta' so they sang as she fed them on their perch under the mango tree. Some of the workers made fun of Chita because one day when the river was high, she took off all her clothes and carried them and her load, on her head so they would not get wet when she crossed the river. i remember then thinking that this was cruel, because she was very worn from the demands of her large family. Now I know that the tabus on nudity came with the Spanish, and Chitas people were in Cuba much longer than that. Primitivo Tamayo, one of her sons, and i suffered the starvation rations. machine gun and rocket fire of the planes, crouching in the trenches under the tall trees of that strange wet, fog plagued, cold plateau of Minas del Frio. I often wonder, since he was bright, dark like his father, and wanted to be an officer, if Primitive died in Africa. Larry Daley, copyright 1996, permission to copy granted for non-commercial purposes --------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Mon, 8 Jul 1996, Chief Peter Guanikeyu Torres wrote: Tau Guaitiao, Hello Friend, Larry Daley wrote: Cacique Guanikeyu: I feel what you say is true. Have you ever seen guajiros fishing in the rivers with a machete and a peeled debarked pole. I think that the machete replaces a spear in a traditional fishing technique. The fish will not pass beneath the very light colored pole. So that three or four men with these poles can drive the fish into the shallows where they can be killed. Yes some what, but we still fish in the rivers with nets. Some time we go in the rivers and stick our fingers in between the rocks under the water and feel for the soft shelled Crayfish, called Guabara's. Are you familiar with the word "miso" a name of a water snake that hides in the rivers under rocks? Is the word "quimbolo" a small eel like vertebrate, with a breathing hole under its neck, that also lives in shallow rivers, but under river plants in the water close to the banks of the rivers, a Taino name? No, maybe its has another name in the Taino language. Sounds like the Guachopa to me, they are good eating, taste like chicken. Are you familiar with a bird trap that is made of twigs in a squared pyramid, it is propped up by a carefully cut twig, at about a 45 degree, so that birds can go under to eat the cracked corn placed under it. The trap is triggered using a string tied from the back of the pyramid to the twig and then back to the other side of the pyramid, when a bird touches the string. Yes, but birds are better taken with a Baira or Bow and arrow with cotton ball on the end of the arrow. Are you familiar with the name Guama, both the name of a cacique who fought the Spanish, and the name of the River from which the land where we lived takes its name. The Guama is a very sacred tree. We use the seeds to play a game called Gayito. You make a small hole in the seed and tie a string on to it, the other kids make a circle and each try to break the other bot Guama seed by striking his seed against yours until one breaks. The one that breaks loses the game. Best wishes larry daley On Mon, 8 Jul 1996, Chief Peter Guanikeyu Torres wrote: Tau, Hello, I would like to inform you that many of the words that you assume of Spanish European roots are not, but are of Taino roots the Caribbean. The Dam Spanish did a hell of a job brainwashing the Native American people of the Caribbean. If you speak Spanish then that makes you Hispanic. We Taino's know better than that! We speak Spanish, yet we are only Spanish speaking Native Americans. Don't tell a Mestizo Taino indian that, or he will get mad at you. If you are Spanish and white your right! They feel ashamed of being Indio or Taino Indian. "No am not Indian, the Tainos are extinct, I just just look like a Taino" Anyway the point I want to make is that they speak with a very large Taino Native American Vocabulary, but most do not realize the fact that they are Taino Indian. Respectfully yours Chief Peter Guanikeyu -- The Taino Inter-Tribal Council, http://www.hartford-hwp.com/taino/ Taino Nation Forum, http://www.hartford-hwp.com/taino/docs/list.html THE NJ COUNCIL OFFICE Tel: 609-825-7776 FAX & TAINO BBS: 609-825-7922 We Are Still Here! Taino Indigenous Nation of the Caribbean & Florida --------- "RE: Native America Calling" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 11:48:02 -0400 From: "Glen WELKER (by way of Juan Marinez )" Subj: Native America Calling - Radio Show (fwd) fyi - Glenn Mailing List: Minnesota Indian Affairs "Native America Calling" Radio Show AIROS Feed Schedule - Listeners can stay abreast of new program developments and new stations coming on line by calling the NATIVE AMERICA CALLING Hotlline at (907) 566-2244. Native American Public Radio Stations, P.O. Box 83111, Lincoln, NE 68501 1-800-571-6885, or FAX 402 472 8675. Here are some stations carrying the show: CKON 97.3 fm Rooseveltown, NY KNNB 88.1 fm Whiteriver, AZ WOJB 88.9 fm Hayward, WI KSHI 90.9 FM Zuni, NM KTDB 89.7 fm Pinehill, NM KSWS 89.3 Sisseton, SD KILI 90.1 fm Porcupine, SD KWSO 91.9 fm Warm Springs, OR KEYA 88.5fm Belcourt, ND KCIE 90.5 fm Dulce, NM KMHA 91.3 fm New Town, ND KABR 1500 AM Magdalena, NM KSUT 91.3 fm Ignacio, CO KIDE 91.3 fm Hoopa, CA KGHR 91.5 fm Tuba City, AZ KSKO 870 AM McGrath, AK KYUK 640 AM Bethel, AK KZPA AM (repeats KBRW) Ft. Yukon, AK KCUK 88.1 fm Chevak, AK KOTZ 720 AM Kotzebue, AK KDLG 670 AM Dillingham, AK KBRW 680 AM Barrow, AK KNSA 930AM Unalakleet, AK KUHB 99.9 FM St. Paul, AK WASG-WYDH 550 AM Atmore, AL KTWI-KTWS 96.5 FM Bend, OR KTNN 660 AM Window Rock, AZ WYRU 1160 AM Red Springs, NC --------- "RE: Poem: Mohawk" --------- Date: 14 Jun 1996 09:11:31 -0700 From: "Cindi Page" Subj: Mohawk UUCP email MOHAWK FAMILY SECRET IN MY DREAMS I WANDERED THROUGH THE OPEN AIR BEADING SMALL MEDALLIONS TO WEAR UPON MY HAIR FEELING THOUGH THAT I WAS LOST STARTING AT MY BIRTH KNOWING THE DRUM INSIDE ME THE HEART BEAT OF THE EARTH ASKING ALL MY ELDERS ONE BY ONE THEY LIED NEVER UNDERSTANDING MY HEART WAS FILLED WITH PRIDE THEN INSIDE A FAMILY TREE THE SECRET THAT WAS KEPT THAT WE WERE BORN OF MOHAWK BLOOD AND THE CHILD INSIDE ME WEPT NOW THERE IS NO EMPTINESS FOR I AM NOT ALONE I FOUND A SPECIAL KIND OF PEACE I FEEL THAT I'VE COME HOME CINDI PAGE 8/16/94 "MOHAWK" --------- "RE: Verse: Hawai'ian Book of Days" --------- Date: 96/07/09 23:30 From: Debra F. Sanders (dfsanders@genie.geis.com) Subj: Verse: Hawai'ian Book of Days genie email A HAWAIIAN BOOK OF DAYS, week of July 21-27 IULAI (July) (Hinaiaeleele) 21 With each lesson learned, stand a little taller. 22 No victory is beyond our grasp. 23 Rise with the dawn if you would take full measure of the new day. 24 The mountains watch over this land, silent sentinels of the Gods. 25 Here is the place where magic dwells. 26 Let the children lead you to wonder. 27 Laughter is a gift of life. (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, 18 July 96 08:00 -0500 From: Janet Smith (Evening Star) (jans@genie.com) Subj: Upcoming conferences and powwows not previously posted to Mailing Lists NATCHAT or NATIVE-L genie email Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 23:51:55 -0700 From: "P. Creasy" Subj: 11th Annual Seafair Indian Days Pow Wow (fwd) Newsgroups: alt.native,soc.culture.native If you are in or traveling to Seattle soon, you may want to know about the annual powwow at DayBreak Star. Since I have the flyer at hand, here's what their NEWS RELEASE says (any typos are mine): United Indians of All Tribes Foundation will hold its 11th Annual Indian Days Pow Wow July 26-28, 1996, at Discovery Park in Magnolia. The PowWow begins at 7 pm, Friday, July 26 with the Grand Entry, an opening celebration including a parade of dancers into the arena, and continues throughout the weekend. The public is encouraged to attend the PowWow, a social gathering that draws various tribes from throughout the Northwestern states for a display of traditional singing, drumming and competitive dancing. Admission is $4. Last year, an estimated 15,000 people attended the PowWow watching more than 40 performances. Each year the number of participants and spectators increases. In addition to the dancers, more than 60 vendors will be on hand selling a wide array of authentic Native American arts and crafts. Handmade jewelry, carvings and beadwork will be in abundance as well as T-shirts, costumes, artwork, tapes and much more. Six to eight concession stands will be set up on the grounds. Menus range from Indian tacos and fried bread to hamburgers and hot dogs. Salmon bake lunches will be available for $8 starting at noon on Saturday and Sunday and continuing until the salmon runs out. The lunch includes salad, fruit, cornbread and a beverage. The PowWow, which takes place at Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center located in Discovery Park, is sponsored by Washington Mutual, the No.1 home lender in Washington state. To get to Discovery Park from 15th Ave. W., take the Emerson Street/ Fisherman's Terminal exit, then take a right at Gilman Ave. Follow Daybreak Star signs from there. Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center is wheelchair accessible. No dogs are allowed at the Cultural Center, except those allowed in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. ************************ Drums are not listed, but MC is Harold Belmont, Arena Director is Mac Silverhorn. For more information, call 206-285-4425 ------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 10 Jul 1996 19:39:50 -0700 From: "Chris Milda (_Akimel O`odham_)" Subj: NATIONAL INDIAN HEALTH BOARD - 14TH ANNUAL CONSUMER CONFERENCE Mailing List: Minnesota Indian Affairs PRESS RELEASE NATIONAL INDIAN HEALTH BOARD 14TH ANNUAL CONSUMER CONFERENCE TUCSON, ARIZONA (HOLIDAY INN) SEPTEMBER 16-20, 1996 DENVER, COLORADO. "Healing from Violence: Leading our Communities to Health and Harmony" is the theme of the National Indian Health Board's 14th Annual Consumer Conference, scheduled for September 16-20, 1996 in Tucson, Arizona. The conference theme encompasses a range of issues including prevention of injuries and other health problems caused by alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence, sexual abuse of children, gangs and youth violence. Another aspect of the theme is the aftermath of violence: caring for those disabled by violence, serving the incarcerated Native American population and dealing with grief. In addition to speakers and workshops on the theme of healing from violence, the NIHB's 14th Annual Consumer Conference is expected to provide up-to-date information on political developments, legislation and funding which affects Indian health programs. Continuing education about Medicaid and managed care will be part of the program. Most conference events will be held at the Tucson's Visitors and Convention Center, with the nearby Holiday Inn serving as the headquarter's hotel. Social activities such as the Pow-wow, traditional feast and chicken scratch dance are being planned by a local organizing committee, chaired by Muriel Segundo, a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation and NIHB's Tucson Area Representative. For additional information, please contact Muriel Segundo, Department of Human Services, P.O. Box 815, Sells, Arizona, (520) 383-6000 or Maria Flores-Cruz, (520) 883-5020 or through e-mail, gboyne@u.arizona.edu. ================================================ From "Positive Notes", a powwow paper circulated by General Grant, of Qualla (partial listing). Subscription 1 year, $22, to Positive Notes, P.O. Box 457, Cherokee, NC 28719. Outside the U.S., send $25. ------------- July 19-20, Cherokee of Hoke County and Maxton, Rockfish, NC 910-75-0222 July 19-21, Return to Beaver Creek Powwow, Belviderre, NJ July 20-21, Mass Center of Native American Awareness, Marshfield, MA 617-884-4227 July 20-21, Native American Medical Student Powwow, Ringwood, NJ 908-525-0066 July 20-21, Mohawk Trail Powwow, Charlemohnt, MA 413-339-4096 July 20-21, Native American Craft Fair and Summer Festival, Sanbornton, NH 603 783-9922 July 20-21, Dighton Inter-Tribal Indian Council Annual Powwow, Somerset, MA 508-669-5008 ------------ From Dale Mitchell via U.S. Mail: (partial listing) July 19-Aug 4, Spirit Moon, Atlanta, GA (coinciding with the Olympics). Chipa Wolf (770) 735-6275 July 25-27, Columbus GA, 205-524-2218 July 26-28, Mid America All-Indian Center Intertribal Powwow, Wichita, KS 316-262-5221 July 26-Aug. 3, Utah's Festival of the American West, Logan, UT 800-225-FEST - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//-- Notice of Copyright Clearance by Contributors: The following have granted permission for their original articles to be reposted in order to help mend the Sacred Hoop: R. Beaulieu, Art Nave and Jason R. Terrell via Marvin and Linda Summerfield, Cindi Page, Johnie Levertte via Ishgooda, Debra Sanders, Daniel Whitewolf, Janet Smith, Joe Campagna, Chief Peter Guanikeyu Torres, John Eagle Smith, Juan Marinez via Glenn Welker, James Cummings , Larry Daley, Larry Innes, Jimmy D. Oyler via Janet Smith, Patricia M. Jordan(Alert), Anita Lecroix, Mark Westlund(Press Release), Gary S. Trujillo, Randy Redhawk -//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//-- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Part B of this newsletter (not included) has already been distributed via the NATIVE-L or NATCHAT mailing lists. --------- "RE: Conferences and Powwows - online" --------- Date: Thu, 18 July 96 08:00 -0500 From: Janet Smith (Evening Star) (jans@genie.com) Subj: Upcoming conferences and powwows already posted to Mailing Lists NATCHAT or NATIVE-L genie email Date: Sat, 13 Jul 1996 06:38:45 -0600 From: nsen@web.apc.org Subj: New Brunswick: Christmas Mountains Action Alert Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) A SPIRITUAL GATHERING IN SUPPORT OF THE CHRISTMAS MOUNTAINS July 17th to 20th, central New Brunswick (off of Hwy 108 on Little Southwest Road or Sears Road.) Christmas Mountain is an old growth area that has cultural and Spiritual significance for First Nations. As you may already know, the Christmas Mountains may only have until the end of this summer to live. Repap is clear-cutting as fast as they possibly can. We want to stop the destruction of our last virgin forest before it's too late. -Sweat Lodge Ceremony -Talking Circles -Feast Ceremony All welcome, Native and non-Native alike. All contributions welcome. Bring food, drinks and camping equipment. No drugs or alcohol. Will run at first from July 17th to the 20th, 1996, but will continue on after that if interest is present. Contacts: -before July 17th: Peggy Frith 506-536-0834 pdfrth@mailserv.mta.ca or Mary Knockwood and Frank Augustine 506-776-8382 After July 17th: Mary Ann Coleman at 506-433-6101 nben@web.net or Ishbel Munro at the Nova Scotia Environmental Network 902-922-3314 nsen@web.net The Christmas Mountains (named in the 1960s after Santa and his reindeer) are one of the only forests on the eastern seaboard that has never been touched by loggers. It is the only small piece of original virgin forest left in New Brunswick. If not stopped, it will all be fragmented by clear-cuts by the end of this summer and we will never know what we've lost, ecologically, medicinally or spiritually. It is said that the Christmas Mountains are a traditional travelers and hunting route for MicMac and Maliseet people. It is very important to come out and show your support for the preservation of the forest so that we do not lose this piece of our history forever. TURN YOUR SUPPORT INTO ACTION. COME SEE THE CHRISTMAS MOUNTAINS, IT MAY BE YOUR LAST CHANCE. Directions to the Christmas Mountains: Now, this is not simple, but it sure is worth it. Get yourself a road map for the first part, but once you hit the dirt roads, you're on your own. There's the occasional sign, but don't count on it. These roads change all of the time as new roads are being built constantly to reach deeper into the woods. The conditions are often poor, depending on the weather and the time of year (a spare tire is a good idea if you are planning to go very far). Beware the huge trucks that will come barrelling down the narrow roads at incredible speeds - they don't care about you or your car. -Use a provincial road map to get you to Hwy108 at Renous, New Brunswick -Fill up your gas tank at Carter's Country Store (Petro Canada) as this will be your last chance to do so. -At Renous take Hwy108 towards Plaster Rock for about 26km. -You will pass the junction of Route 420 (a major dirt road) at about 23km. - go a little further (about 3km.) -Take the major dirt logging road off on right of 108, this road is known as the Little Southwest Road (Acadia or Sears Road are some of the other names). -Follow the Little Southwest Road for approximately 69.6km. -You will pass Catamaran Brook around 8.1km and North Pole Road (on right) that leads to Sinclair and Schaffer Lakes around 38.1km. Keep going on the Little Southwest past the Tuadook River (bridge around 46.8km) and the West Branch Little Southwest Miramichi River (bridge around 55km). You'll pass Sears Lake around 66.8km. The lake is to the right of road that passes by its very end. Now you are in the Logan Lake Study Area. -The road to the right (approximately 3km past Sears Lake) approximately 69.6km from the beginning of the Little Southwest Road is the Birch Road (or Birch Lake Road). It cuts a diagonal line across the Christmas Mountains. This is where we will be. You won't be able to miss us. -There are about 8 logging roads (as of June 1996) going off to the left (north) of the Birch Road, these all enter the 12,000 acre core area. When you reach the Kagook Road, you are at the north-eastern corner of N.B.'s last virgin forest. Anticipate getting lost, watch for landmarks and do not be afraid to stop and ask someone for directions at a work site (I have never met an unfriendly soul in the Christmas Mountains). Make a day out of your adventure into the mountains, start early, pack a lunch, plenty to drink and a roll of toilet paper. Remember not to dwell in the gory clear-cuts (there are lots of them, and they are depressing and ugly). Stop at the Vandine Brook and take a walk in the real thing, the last bit of N.B.'s unspoiled wilderness. It may be your last chance! ----------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 11 Jul 1996 09:59:03 -0700 From: dreamwvr@primenet.com (Bonnie Hayford) Subj: Ihunktuwan Dacotah sundance Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) This message comes from Izzy Zephier, Yankton Dakotah, who is Sundance Chief at Pipestone, Minnesota. Please share this information, for all are welcome. - hunktuwan dacotah sundance* pipestone, minnesota august 20 - 28, 1996 honoring of all chiefs and holy men for they bring a message of prayer for world unity the creator is looking at the hearts of all mankind niyado it is now time to come to pray together all are welcome ihunktuwan dacotah sundance pipestone, minnesota august 20 - 28, 1996 for information, please call izzy zephier: 605-997-3728 all donations are needed for the traditional feeding of the people and for sanitational camping facilities pidamaya Izzy Zephier 401 3rd Avenue West Flandreau, SD 57028 phone/fax: 605-997-3728 You may also reach Izzy through me, Bonnie dreamwvr@primenet.com fax: 520-432-2426 .*.*.*.*.DREAM WEAVER BEADS.*.*.*. Bonnie Hayford ~mitakuye oyasin~ .*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.* E-mail:dreamwvr@primenet.com http:/www.primenet.com/~dreamwvr/ ----------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 14:15:09 -0400 From: wasicuwin@aol.com Subj: Oneida Benefit Concert 8/25 Oneida, NY Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) In June I advised the list of a case in which the traditional Oneida were opposing continued New York State and Federal recognition of Chairman Ray Halbritter's governing of the Oneida nation after he had been removed from his position by Wolf clanmother Maisie Shenendoah according to Haudosaunee law. [See Native-L archives: Oneida Hearing in Federal Court] There will be a benefit concert on August 25th at the Oneida War Memorial at Oneida, New York from 1-6 pm. It is called the C.A.R.E. Concert: Concert for Aboriginal Rights and Environment Featured will be songstress, Joanne Shenendoah and her sister Diane Shenendoah, famous folkmusic artist, Pete Seeger and the remarkable flutist, David Amram. Other performers and composers will join them such as Jay Unger and Mollie Mason. Bring lawn chairs and picnic lunches and enjoy. Alcohol and drugs are prohibited. Tickets will be going on sale through Ticketmaster on July 17th. Tickets are $15 and the Ticketmaster surcharges will be added on. The proceeds will help to meet the legal expenses of these Oneida who are opposing the unilateral decision making of Ray Halbritter and the risk he poses to the Oneida land claims. You may contact me for further information. Sken:nen kenhak, Sandy -------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 8 Jul 1996 16:33:22 -0600 From: chato@unm.edu (Bernadette Chato) Subj: Floating Powwow Mailing List: NATCHAT (natchat@gnosys.svle.ma.us) Hi, Natchatters, Have you heard of the "1st Annual Native American Pow-wow Cruise?" It's a three day cruise to Baja, Mexico on a Royal Caribbean ship, leaving Los Angeles on Oct. 4. It's sponsored by American Dream Cruises. You get to meet Indian "celebrities!" What do you think of this? Are we being exploited again? Would you book a room on this cruise? If you want you can comment to me directly. Keep in mind if you respond personally to me, you're giving us the right to use your words over the air on our talk radio show! But of course, since we're radio, we'd rather have you saying your own words! So if you'd like to give your comments live as a call-in, our toll-free number while we're on the air is 1-800-99-NATIVE ...1-800-996-2848. The show is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, July 16 from 11:00-11:59 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time. If the program date changes, I'll post it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bernadette Chato, Features Producer Snail Mail: PO Box 40164 NATIVE AMERICA CALLING Albuquerque, NM 87196 The Nation's 1st Electronic Talking Circle 505-277-5354/FAX 505-277-4286 Heard on public radio stations! E-mail: chato@unm.edu --------- "RE: Sundance Grounds Threatened" --------- Date: Fri, 12 Jul 1996 13:05:19 -0600 From: nsen@web.apc.org Subj: sundance grounds threatened by logging in Oregon Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) Support letters needed. To Whom It May Concern: We are writing to your organization asking for written support in regard to Freedom of Religion for Native Americans. Please take a few moments to read this letter concerning our cause. We feel it is essential to reach as many sensitive people as possible, in order to provide proof of public support for this issue. Fourteen years ago, ANPO Inc. ( Anpo meaning daybreak or a new day, in Lakota) was issued a special use permit for a Spiritual and Cultural encampment of approximately 20 acres by the U.S. Forest Service on ceded Tribal land, in the Mt. Hood National Forest in North Central Oregon. The area was chosen by a Lakota Spiritual leader and acknowledged by the Traditional Elders of the area as a sacred site. The encampment was founded to provide Native people, from Oregon, Washington and Idaho, with a deeper understanding and relationship to their cultural and spiritual values, and a chance for many urban Indians to participate in cultural and spiritual practices, never before experienced. This camp has helped many people who struggle with personal pain and hardships. Each year over 500 people, many traveling great distances, come to pray and participate in ceremonies and gatherings at this sacred site. Our youth are especially vulnerable to negative influences and pressures. Within the camp, they find solidarity, guidance and strength, which gives many of them the ability to resist alcohol and drugs. In 1982 permission and guidance was given by Frank Fools Crow to Devere Eastman to bring the sacred Sun Dance Ceremony to Mt. Hood. Permission and prayers were also given by the traditional Elders of this area. Many other sacred ceremonies and teachings are also practiced during the year. Our camp is considered our church. The ground is seen as sacred, and the trees are considered our spirit relatives. Many prayers have been said, and placed in the trees and in the earth at this special site. We now find our camp threatened by logging, archaeological digs, and roads. Over the last few years, the relationship we have had with the Forest Service has deteriorated. We also find ourselves increasingly frustrated, dealing with more restrictions and required paper work than ever before! What once was a friendly interaction, has turned into a conflict due to the fact the Forest Service plans to selectively log our camp. The road they propose to use in removing the trees within, and beyond, the camp area will take logging trucks within 30 feet of our Sacred Sun Dance Arbor. We have asked them to find an alternate route for these trucks, since it is unacceptable to drive them through our ceremonial grounds. As of this date we have not been notified of an alternate road for these trucks. Last summer several holes were dug throughout the camp in relation to an archaeological study needing to be done, so we were told. Our board of directors was sent a letter from the Forest Service that we would be notified and could be present at the time of the dig, yet we were never contacted with this information and the digs happened without our approval or supervision. The holes measured 1 meter x 1 meter x 1 meter. One was dug at the most sensitive and sacred area within the camp! All were left open, showing even further disrespect and creating a potential hazard. We filed for disclosure of information regarding the digs, but were denied any information on what was or was not found. The trees marked for cutting are small trees, and will go to make paper products. We have tried many times to explain to the Forest Service how sacred the camp is to us, and asked them to look at trading one area for another, since it is such a small piece of land. They tell us this is not likely to happen, but it is also not impossible. The timber company doesn't care what trees it cuts. They have told us they are sensitive to our needs, but it is up to the Forest Service to propose the trade. The District Ranger of the Forest Service wrote us stating "this permitted area is not a "spiritual site" and cannot be treated as such". The camp sits more than half a mile from the main road. There are so many trees that have been cut from a previous timber sale coming into the camp area, that traffic from the road is now heard. Huge slash piles, with a great deal of usable wood are slated to be burned soon. We are told we cannot have this wood, which we could find many uses for. We stand on our right to Freedom of Religion and preservation of our sacred site. Some things in life are non-negotiable, and we believe with all our hearts that we cannot compromise the integrity of our Ceremonial Grounds, without compromising our spiritual selves. This is OUR church! It is not okay to dig it up, cut down the trees or bring logging trucks through our ceremonial areas. It is very hard to be told we must arrange for special permits and then pay the going price for things we gather on ceded Indian land, in order to hold our ceremonies. Because our organization is made up of many different tribal affiliations, and not just one tribe, the Forest Service refuses to recognize us as a community of Native people who have the right to claim our encampment as a sacred and spiritual site. Why does the Forest Service have the right to tell us our area is not a spiritual site? The Creator, our Elders, our hearts, and our prayers tell us it is. ANPO is supported by private donations and small grants, we do not have money to spend fighting this battle in court. We ask that your organization support us in writing which will help build a stronger case in regard to our rights. Please write in support of our camp remaining intact and free from the desecration and destruction it is facing. Your letter of support as soon as possible is of utmost importance, since the Forest Service is looking at mid August or September of this year to begin logging. Please send your responses to the address listed below. Thank you for your concern, _________________________ Patricia M. Jordan ANPO legal committee 1603 9th Ave. #3 Lewiston, ID 83501 --------- "RE: Innu Leader Imprisoned" --------- Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 19:18:56 -0400 From: es051322@orion.yorku.ca (Larry Innes) Subj: Innu leader imprisoned by RCMP for runway protest Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 15 July 1996 INNU LEADER IMPRISONED (Sheshatshiu) Daniel Ashini was arrested by the RCMP late last night at his home in Sheshatshiu and taken to the lockup facilities in Happy Valley- Goose Bay. Ashini was convicted last year on charges arising from the occupation of Dutch F-16's during a runway protest at 5 Wing Goose Bay on September 8, 1993. The occupation coincided with the visit of the Dutch Minister of Defence. Ashini is serving time after refusing to pay a $250 fine. "I chose not to pay the fine because I do not believe that I am guilty of a crime. It is not a crime for Innu people to defend their land and way of life." The Innu Nation is continuing a campaign in Canada and overseas denouncing the decision of the government of Canada and allied European governments to renew the Multinational Memorandum of Understanding ("MMOU") to conduct low-level flying over Innu land. The Innu are seeking meaningful protection of their rights and the environment, which they maintain are negatively affected by the flights. As of Monday afternoon, Ashini had been transferred to the Goose Bay correctional centre to serve the remainder of his 10-day sentence. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Peter Penashue (709) 497-8398 backgrounders are available on the Internet at http://www.web.net/~innu --------- "RE: Limbaugh's Views of Indians" --------- Date: Wed, 3 Jul 1996 21:14:43 -0400 From: native_americas-mailbox@cornell.edu Subj: "Rush Limbaugh's views of Indians" (from _Native Americas_) Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) The following is an article that appeared in the Fall 1995 issue of _Native Americas_. This article recently won the 1996 Best Editorial Award at the Native American Journalists Association Annual Conference. For further information please reply to native_americas-mailbox@cornell.edu. In my car, alone, and sometimes at home - to my wife's discomfort - I listen to Rush Limbaugh or catch his TV show. I have heard enough of Limbaugh over the years to get the gist of his message and of his style, which is the medium of his message. The man's opinions might not be of much interest except that they are nearly inescapable. He has national air time for over twenty hours a week and he reaches some five million people every day, in long, continuous monologues. Limbaugh, a veritable rotor of right wing politics in North America, is furthermore an entertainer. He can make people laugh. The problem is that the man has an ugly side-a very ugly side. The quote above must be considered. It is vintage Limbaugh when he gets rolling on his radio show. (He writes books, too, but they are severely whitewashed; you have to listen to Limbaugh's radio voice to get to know him). On the radio, usually from a position of outrageous umbrage, he is one major national commentator willing to prejudge a whole race of people and perpetrate a racial slur that must be seen as significant, considering the breadth of the source. Why would a man in Limbaugh's position call Native peoples savages in this day and age? Limbaugh is neither stupid nor particularly careless. True, he is self-promoting to an embarrassing degree, but he is nevertheless a master manipulator of public discourse with stated political goals. He is also a commentator who regularly uses the power of the medium and of his formatted personae to persuade, cajole and, at appointed times, command a large public to political action. With a message well-suited for these mean times-his dominant idea seems to be championing unmitigated business development by dismissing all gestures of cooperative (as opposed to confrontational) thinking, and all efforts to regulate human activity to protect the earth and its resources - he plays to a major national audience, whose frustration and anger he mines in pursuit of ideological imperatives. Dismissed for years as mostly buffoon while his popularity increased exponentially, Limbaugh whipped up the troops last November and, ditto, ditto, ditto, won an election for the Republicans. Time put him on a cover then and Ted Koppel invited him to comment on his news show (as if twenty hours of national air time per week is not enough for one mortal). Thus Limbaugh proved himself a hugely influential and highly marketable commentator. All of which makes it particularly troubling that dehumanization through racist stereotyping (used against Indians since Cotton Mather) is a trademark of the rotund disc jockey. Limbaugh developed his national audience by cleverly employing an old shtick: funny umbrage at imagined groups-the media, people on welfare, immigrants, feminists, and now Native Americans-that he props up to hit with a wide-slapping brush of ridicule, outright misinterpretation, and wanton disrespect. Limbaugh's shtick, becoming increasingly evident in media and in politics, is a 1990s kind of bigotry. Those who like their politics mixed in with ridicule especially enjoy his antagonistic sarcasm, ostensibly directed at "Liberals" but hitting, double-barreled, at many of the poor and resourceless groups whom Limbaugh giddily and nastily defines coast to coast. A master at reducing truth to comic line, he also knows how to repeat a half-truth that serves his purpose so regularly that it becomes a sort of reality substitute. Apparently, he is confident enough in his own positioning to hurl out stereotypes at whole classes and races of people without the slightest fear of rebuttal. In this era of trial by air time, Limbaugh is a hanging judge. The comment quoted earlier is not his first on Native peoples. I remember another, from 1992, when Native delegations met at the landmark Rio conference on environment and development. "What a ragtag looking bunch," he laughed on the air, expounding then too on the savage ways of Indians and mocking "these fools out there" in the environmental movement who support Indians and want "us to live like stone-age people." As Limbaugh is unabashedly political, one must assume that his attacks are orchestrated, his targets carefully selected. In this context, the connection with Native peoples is about the general public concern over environmental degradation, which Limbaugh and the interests he truly represents would like to see discredited or at least reduced. If the promised new era of non-regulated exploitative extraction of natural resources is to get underway, concern over environment and Indians is a troublesome factor. But, hey, the Indians "these people were out there destroying timber." What Rush is doing is transparent. It is part of the lining up of forces. Since Native peoples' issues often and naturally coincide with environmental concerns, Native peoples themselves must be attacked. As environmentalists are increasingly recognizing, interest in Native peoples and causes offers a convergence point where ecological issues can be creatively conceived. Native peoples' traditions are not made up by counter-culturists or academic theorists - they are long-standing human ways that speak to the relationship to the natural world and can form the core of a realistic discussion among broad sectors of the population. Native Traditional Knowledge is sometimes abused or trivialized, but it is now widely accepted as a base to on which to develop a true environmental philosophy. A man in Limbaugh's position, I believe, must find ways to discredit that connection. That is his job. And Limbaugh is clearly very diligent about doing his job. We might do well to consider Rush Limbaugh and his way with words - not to banter with him, but because he should not so wantonly dominate and even seriously impact this most serious of topics. He should not be allowed to issue bigoted and racialist statements unchallenged. We should not pretend such language and attitudes are proper for a public commentator of such wide reach. Let's remember what Rush said. "The American Indians were meaner to themselves than anybody was ever mean to them." This is the basic stereotype on Indians: a warlike nature. Rush is starting by harping on this one. Watch him run with it again and again. It has just enough reality in it to make it useful. For instance, it is true that Indians warred, and that during wartime people sometimes acted with meanness and brutality. You won't hear from Limbaugh, however, how the damage inflicted in traditional Indian disputes pales in comparison to the mass exterminations carried out against tribes, or by nation-states against civilian populations. It is a cheap stereotype. A trick. "The people were savages. It's true, they damn well were. Scalping people." This is a deepening of the stereotype, deceitful and manipulative not only for what it says, but for what it hides and obfuscates. By focusing on the "war-like" Indian image, by invoking the designation of "savage," the far more prevalent philosophies of Native American societies - governmental and spiritual constructs that emphasize values such as cooperation, reciprocity, and spiritual appreciation - the documented reality of Native American knowledge systems is completely left out of the listeners' perceptions. This reflects the Limbaugh style: over hours and hours each week, only negative images are reinforced of anyone Limbaugh perceives to be an enemy. You won't tune in to find Rush asking Carl Sagan about ozone layer depletion or interviewing Native scholars on the variety of Native cultural viewpoints. Why present a balanced view when ridicule can suffice? Perhaps for Limbaugh a dialogue with "savages" would be unthinkable. "I am equal time," the commentator is prone to answer, when questioned on the lack of balance in his shows. They taught at my journalism alma mater how principles of public information handling were worked out over many decades. Major thinkers in American life contributed to the idea of balanced use of information channels - especially the national networks. Whether the law dictates it or not, the ethic holds that balanced journalism, well documented, is of central value to society. Simple, preferably depersonalized, styles were expected from information handlers. In that context, Limbaugh is to the national discourse what professional wrestling is to sports. Blowing his point of view often and loudly he takes center stage in the arena. His loud reductionism bombards the mind. His trick hold? That most scurrilous form of argumentation - crafting straw men for demolition - which he has down to a fine science. His sarcastic, constantly mocking style stresses the negative as primary - the negative, of course, of whatever he is against; the positive, and only the positive, of what he is for. Still, despite his self-consciously arrogant style, Rush can make people laugh. He is superb at skewering politicians' vanities, for instance. And no one is better at pulling out the loose threads of the Liberal coat, which he can then retie in clever knots of common logic, bathed in acid humor. He identifies some of what is wrong with the country after forty years of (so-called) Liberal policies, and he can make sense. The problem is that Limbaugh projects his opinions in such one-sided, pin-the-blame contexts that the truth of matters is inevitably trivialized. Limbaugh is superb at reducing environmentalism to some "animal rights nut" who won't kill a rat even to save her child from going through painful rabies shots. Listeners can identify with Rush's outrage as his unbroken monologue guides us through. But then, hey, how about that spotted owl, he says, and feigns eating a spotted owl, as if that somehow eliminates the need for biodiversity conservation. Rush tells us that there are more trees today than a century ago. Deforestation is not a problem. According to him, well, ahem, "there is no damage to the ozone layer, ha ha." Indians and environment? Hey, "these people were out there destroying timber." We used to know the difference between a stand-up comic with a political bent and a social commentator who, with respect and journalistic balance (the operative principle), integrates a range of information, analyzes the conflicting viewpoints, and strives to provide the public with a better ability to interpret. But Limbaugh blurs the two roles more thoroughly than anyone. His ego expands visibly as his "talent, on-loan from God," apparently grants him infallibility. Limbaugh likes to run down a long list of people and causes that, in his eyes, fuel the Liberal conspiracy to end Free Enterprise, which must be saved from those he seems to consider less legitimate peoples with inferior viewpoints. That Free Enterprise might have excesses or that market-driven ideas are not always sacrosanct does not enter the picture. That some situations might not fit within the Left/Right dichotomy seems inconceivable to Limbaugh. With him, it's full speed ahead, economically, and damn the rest. We can be sure now though: Native peoples - long condemned as "obstacles to progress" - are on the list. It may be wise to keep watch on the bigoted views of Rush Limbaugh. Since he serves as a barometer of the national climate, familiarity with his points of attack can be useful. But remember also this truth: Native Americans - Limbaugh's so-called savages - carried out a prescribed protocol of participatory democracy that sat human beings in a circle. The object of discussion was placed in the center of the circle and in relation to it, everyone in the circle had a view, a unique vantage point. The truth was said to emerge from the common discussion, the respectful appreciation of everyone else's point of view. Highly trained specialists (elders) gathered the consensus. This style of governance spawned confederacies and produced a palpable freedom, a shared experience that inspired colonial American leaders, and that is more "of America" than Rush Limbaugh, from his glass- enclosed, push-button, over-blown, self-aggrandizing world will ever be. Jose' Barreiro is editor-in-chief of Native Americas. *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Brendan F. White Circulation Akwe:kon Press NATIVE AMERICAS 300 Caldwell Hall "Nowhere else will you be able to get Cornell University such powerful, knowledge-filled writing." Ithaca, New York 14853 -Wilma Mankiller tel. (607) 255-4308 Editorial Board Member (800) 9-NATIVE fax. (607)255-0185 e-mail bfw2@cornell.edu native_americas@cornell.edu Homepage http://nativeamericas.aip.cornell.edu --------- "RE: 1996 Gwich'in Gathering" --------- Date: Sun, 14 Jul 1996 16:57:40 -0500 Subj: Fort McPherson Gwich'in Gathering (16-19 August) From: gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us (Gary S. Trujillo) Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) I have just received the following announcement via snail-mail (I generally prefer that all announcements be sent via e-mail, because I do not have time to type things in, but I sometimes make exceptions in the case of important announcements where it seems that the sender has no e-mail access). MEDIA ADVISORY For immediate release - June 28, 1996 CONTACT: Chief William Koe Robert Alexie, Jr. Fifth Gwich'in Gathering Sharon Snowshoe Planned for For McPherson - August 16-19 Phone: 403-952-2330 All of the Gwich'in people who live in Alaska and Canada will be represented at the fifth Gwich'in Gathering to be held in Fort McPherson in the Northwest Territories, August 16-19, 1996. The Gwich'in will be discussing issues that are of importance to all Gwich'in, whether they live in northeastern Alaska and [sic] northwestern Canada. Since the first gathering in 1988, the Gwich'in have worked hard to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, where the Porcupine caribou give birth to their young, from oil development. Other issues include the health of the Porcupine caribou herd which migrates across Alaska and northern Canada, preservation of the Gwich'in language, culture, and tradition, sus- tainable development, education and economic development. Since that first Gathering, the Gwich'in have met every two years - at Arctic Village in 1990, in Venetie, Alaska in 1992, and in Old Crow, Yukon in 1994 - and the achievements of that first Gathering have continued each time. Funds and donations are being sought to help with the organization of the fifth Gwich'in Gathering. Media coverage of the Gathering is welcomed. Further details, including information about accommodation, travel, location and the schedule of events for the Gathering, is available from the Gwich'in Tribal Council, P.O. Box 30, Fort McPherson, N.W.T., X0E 0J0, Canada. Telephone (403) 952-2330 or fax (403) 952-2212. Contact people are available for interviews. --------- "RE: B.C. Environmentalists Sentenced" --------- Date: Tue, 9 Jul 1996 16:00:54 +0100 From: ranmedia@ran.org (Mark Westlund) Subj: B.C. environmentalists sentenced in Nuxalk lands case Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _/_/_/_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ FOREST ACTION NETWORK _/_/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/_/ _/_/ _/ _/_/ _/_/ _/_/ Box 87-1895 Commercial Dr _/_/_/_/ _/_/_/_/_/ _/ _/ _/_/ Vancouver, BC V5N 4A6 _/_/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/_/ _/_/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/_/_/ tel: +1 604 739 4782 _/_/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/_/ fax: +1 604 736 7115 _/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/ _/_/_/ _/ email: fan@alternatives.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ NEWS RELEASE Monday, July 8, 1996 TWO MORE ENVIRONMENTALISTS JAILED FOR DEFYING COURT ORDER VANCOUVER, B.C. - This afternoon in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Justice Kenneth Smith sentenced two more of the 21 people convicted last month on criminal contempt charges resulting from a month long stand last September to prevent International Forest Products from clearcutting unceded Nuxalk lands at Ista (Fog Creek) near Bella Coola. Greg Higgs and Bill Joyce, both members of the Forest Action Network were sentenced to 35 days and 45 days respectively, as well as 2 years probation. Higgs and Joyce were singled out during the court proceedings as the most serious of the offenders - for Joyce, it was his second conviction for contempt of court, while Higgs received special condemnation for burning of a copy of the court injunction, an act the judge condemned as "outrageous and gratuitous." In speaking to sentencing both men were unrepentant, stating that they believed in what they were doing. Higgs quoted from Gandhi, claiming that civil disobedience is an "inherent right of a citizen", and that "to put down civil disobedience is to attempt to imprison conscience." Joyce pointed out that, for him, the most important point of the case continues to be the question of who has jurisdiction over unceded Nuxalk Nation territories - a question the court refused to hear, prompting all of the defendants to walk out of their originally scheduled trial last December. For his part, the judge condemned the two men's methods as misdirected, asserting that the preservation of the environment cannot be achieved without upholding the rule of law which protects the natural environment from those who would despoil it. He stated that "it is not a happy thing to send such idealistic, and otherwise law abiding citizens to jail," but that it was necessary to stop such organized acts of defiance of the court's authority. In a phone-call from the Vancouver Detention Centre, Greg Higgs stated that, "This is certainly not going to stop me, and it's certainly not going to stop FAN. There is no price too high to pay to stop the wholesale liquidation of our ancient rainforests. These forests are an irreplaceable global treasure, and we will continue to use every non- violent means possible to oppose the government-sanctioned and court-protected destruction of the forests by multimillion dollar logging corporations." Both men received stiffer sentences than those handed out last month to the first 16 defendants sentenced. On June 27 Justice Smith gave suspended sentences and 1 year probation to 13 Nuxalk Nation citizens, while singling out three non-native defendants as instigators of the protest. Two of the non-native environmentalists were given 30 days and two years probation, while a third received 15 days plus $1000 fine. Three other native defendants still await sentencing on Oct. 18. --------- "RE: Charlatan Removed from Pow Wow" --------- Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 14:20:05 -0400 From: mll@berkshire.net Subj: "Charlatan" Hyatt Removed from Michigan Pow Wow Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) The following article appeared in the August issue of International Native News and Native Tourist Monthly, and Michigan Intertribal Association News. PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Randy Redhawk International Native News 1-616-963-1092 by Randy Redhawk; Reprint permission granted to all media LINE DRAWN AT POW WOW In the cool morning time, last Sunday, at the KALVIA Pow Wow, held at the Kalamazoo Michigan, Native families were preparing breakfast and holding small gatherings around their campsites. Veterans as usual patrolled the area with the help of Pow Wow Security. According to Mark Eldridge "When some of the other veterans and I went to the front of the fairgrounds, we saw two of the KALVIA Pow Wow Committee personnel talking to Dale Hyatt. They were trying to get him to leave the pow wow grounds. All the veterans as well as the people, did not want Hyatt there." "The pow wow committee had already contacted the police. While we were waiting for the police." Eldridge had previously spoken to the Assistant U.S. District Attorney regarding people who disrupted Native events. He handed a member of the pow wow committee a copy of a 1931 Michigan State law regarding disruption and inciting a Native community (a felony in the State of Michigan) to give to the police, as well as requesting that he be permitted to speak with the police when they arrive as a spokesperson for the people. "The elders had asked me to speak to them, but I needed approval from the committee as well." "When speaking to the police officer I not only spoke with him about the 1931 law, I also spoke with him about a 1941 law handed down by the Supreme Court on Inciting to Riot." The police needed to know why the people at the pow wow wanted Hyatt removed and Eldridge explained, "The man in the past and still continues to insult our elders, something natives do not do." The officer told Eldridge he was "between a rock and a hard place..." because "I am not familiar with Native customs or Native Laws." Eldridge explained to the officer, "That the laws that were being quoted from 1931 to 1941 were white mans' laws, not Native laws, and we were asking him to enforce white mans' laws, not Native Laws." The officer then told Eldridge he was waiting for a supervisor. An additional four officers showed up as well as a County Park Ranger. In the mean time many people gathered behind Native trade booths where Hyatt confronted the committee and several veterans as police tried to sort the matter out. Eldridge continued, "This went back and forth for over an hour. After speaking with the police, they asked me if he could say goodbye to his Chief." The committee as well as the veterans were not aware of any Native "chiefs" on the premises, but agreed to bring the trader Hyatt referred to back to the unblessed area. "After saying his goodbyes to the trader, Hyatt was escorted along with his wife, off the premises." Eldridge continued, "We drew a line today. This man has continued to show up right before our Grand Entries to disrupt our gatherings. We as veterans follow our Spiritual leaders and on this issue we the people, all of us need to stand together to stop these atrocities. We as a people have to stand together as one against anyone that continuously infringes upon our rights, religion, and traditional ways, especially when it comes to dishonoring our elders on an ongoing basis." --------- "RE: New Age or Old Prophecy" --------- Date: Tue, 9 Jul 1996 14:29:18 -0400 From: wolfsong@megalink.net (John, Leah, Keven, Liz) Subj: New age or old prophecy Mailing List: NATCHAT (natchat@gnosys.svle.ma.us) Hau my brothers & sisters, I had returned for a few days to post the issue of my brother Gkisedtanamoogk to the net because this issue effects us all. Thank you for the replies which are already starting to come in. I know that many of you can feel the horror and tragedy of this. (More postings will come in the near future.) I have to also speak of another tragedy which I have just witnessed.... That tragedy is the division of our people...We have played the dominant society's game for so long that now we no longer know how to relate to one another. In our ways everything we did began with the spiritual. The Pipe was smoked before any meeting - (how do you think the term Peace Pipe began?) - and prayers were said, so that we would speak the truth and have Great Spirit's guidance. Our whole life began and ended in prayer. We relied on the One Great Law - that of the Creator...not laws arbitrarily placed upon us by other human beings, who only look to control us, to gain wealth, to amass power and to exploit the Earth Mother's resources.... We lived together, worked together, prayed together, sang together, cried together, and suffered together....for all things are contained in the Medicine Wheel... From this togetherness we learned respect for each other, for life and for all things around us.... We lived our Original Instructions.... We learned to purify ourselves in the sweat lodge...we learned to seek our answers in a quiet place, alone, fasting....and we learned to rely upon and accept the answers brought to us in this way.... We lived our Original Instructions.... We learned to govern ourselves by sitting in council and listening to all who came forth, then reaching a decision which benefited all.... We lived our Original Instructions.... We learned respect by the example we put forth into the circle....for how can I respect another if I don't respect myself? Before we took up a Pipe we learned about the Pipe given each of us at birth...for that Sacred Pipe made of pipestone and wood is only an outward manifestation of the inner Pipe we each carry..... We lived our Original Instructions.... Each person in the circle was equal to all the others...no one above or below...no task greater than the other...medicine man, pipe carrier, hunter, cook, firekeeper, chief; man, woman, children; all equal.... We lived our Original Instructions.... Oh, how my heart longs to once again see us regain this way..... I know and realize that we cannot and probably don't want to go back to life as it was, five-hundred or more years-ago...I, too, like some of the comforts of today's life.... All I pray and hope for is that we can get away from all the fighting, arguing and drama. That we can once again learn to respect each other without having to pass judgement....that there is no one way to talk to Great Spirit, but that all paths lead to Great Spirit....I feel that if there is "sin" it is the imposing and forcing of your beliefs upon another.... Five-hundred years ago, when the first settlers arrived if they had been able to see through eyes not blinded by social and religious conditioning they would have found what they had been searching for, for the previous 1000 or more years....but, like all else is a lesson, I believe that the last five-hundred years have been a lesson, for us Native people.... For, what good is faith if it leaves you at the first sign of hardship or trouble? And isn't testing one's self the way of our people? If not, then why do we endure the Sundance, the Sweatlodge, the Vision Quest? Are these not tests? And aren't we taught to offer up the pain and the suffering, from these, to Great Spirit as a prayer because it is all that we have which is truly ours? I ask you then, what is the difference between the pain and suffering we have endured for the last five-hundred years and the pain and suffering of these ceremonies? Pain and suffering are pain and suffering...there is no difference.....difference comes in what we choose to do with the pain and suffering...offer it up as a prayer or wallow in it and live it over and over.. offer it up as prayer or shoot it into the world as an arrow of hate and anger....there's the difference.. Oh, you can say that we choose the pain and suffering of the ceremonies and it was imposed upon us in the other case...yet, I wonder if this is true....I wonder if Great Spirit is that cruel or is our faith and spirituality being tested? Were not all the Prophets and Spiritual Masters tested? I f you read any of the great religious works of the world or if you listen to our creation stories you will hear of these tests....and you will also learn that those who remain steadfast in their faith, beliefs and spiritual practices are always rewarded by Great Spirit..... I wonder if we are not maybe being prepared and readied for a greater purpose?...(a reward, if you will) I wonder what the line in the Hopi Prophecy which says, "The Redman will once again inherit the Earth," means? or the saying in the Bible which says, "The meek will inherit the Earth," means? (I wonder if it is coincidence that these two sayings sound so much alike? It would be time well spent looking for the deeper meaning behind these statements...) Haven't you had enough of the fighting, the killing, the anger, the name calling, the prejudice, the racism, the pain, the suffering? Isn't it time for all of us to come together and examine what it is that we truly believe and then find a way for all of us to respect those beliefs in each other....I wonder if we could sit down and discuss our true beliefs with each other (without having to be right and someone else wrong) if we would find that there are many of the same underlying principles involved...that there is only ONE TRUTH and it is the Great Spirit's?...... Can't you see what's happening to us because of our separateness and our competition? We've become so separate in our lives and our thinking that even the family unit is falling apart....we are so divided that our children no longer know where to turn for help and hope.... We have even tried to separate ourselves from the Sacred Circle of Life and many have started believing that we are here to control and dominate nature...I have some bad news for those who believe this....You are not outside looking in on nature....you are nature.... Everything you do to the trees, to the two and four-leggeds, to those who fly, to the Earth Mother, to your brothers and sisters returns to YOU....for we are all related and from this there is no escape... we are bound to it by that tiny spark of Great Spirit which resides in ALL things.... Isn't it time to begin building some new traditions which serve us better than some of the old ones which are constantly tearing us apart....isn't it time to begin rebuilding the aspects of our lives which promote unity and get away from the aspects which promote dis-harmony....Let's step into the circle and get away from the pyramid.... Let's return to the Highest of all Law...that of the Creator....for that's where the true power lies and not in the laws of man....Let's let each brother and sister follow the path Great Spirit puts before them without judgement by us... Let us not talk about the laws of Great Spirit such as tolerance, generosity, humbleness, forgiveness...instead let us put those laws into the Sacred Circle as examples with our lives....let's set an example of hope and unity for our children of the next seven generations.... All My Relations, John Eagle Smith Mi'KMaq I don't want to be a leader nor do I want to be a follower...I only want to walk beside my brothers and sisters and be allowed to make my own footprints in the sands of time..... P.S. Sorry this rambling is so long but after reading over three-hundred postings on Natchat and First Nations I really felt the need to say all this.....Like all else; the words above are a gift to me from Great Spirit which I wish to share...I only speak for and represent myself - no one else.... I am leaving now to return to Canada and pray that you all will remain well until we are together again... May Great Spirit guide and protect you... May the Four Winds blow softly at your heels... May your life be filled with abundance and love.... May you remember from where it all originates. --------- "RE: Geronimo" --------- Date: Fri, 12 Jul 1996 22:38:29 -0400 From: neetc@aol.com Subj: Geronimo Mailing List: NATCHAT (natchat@gnosys.svle.ma.us) Hello, One evening, after a scholarship meeting in a friend's house in Teaneck, we were all about to leave when someone said that we should socialize a little and try out a new "club" in town. As we walked up to the bar, I said, "you're kidding"! There's a bar named Geronimo in the "politically correct" town of Teaneck, and you want ME to go in there?" They all looked sheepishly at me and escorted me inside anyway. Things were quiet with us, until I said to the bartender "Do you sell Crazy Horse liquor and Arizona ice tea as well (I said this sarcastically), and he said that people always ask that question (serious face)..Anyway, I continued to make my companions uncomfortable, by saying to them things like, "Where are we going after this? Malcolm X's Juke Joint? Or maybe Mother Teresa's Soire?" And with that I said, "Ladies, if you're going to talk the talk, then you gotta walk the walk!" I also said that I was embarrassed for them (they are all educators), for even wanting to go there. And then I left..Unfortunately, I forgot that I didn't drive in, but I needn't have worried, because my friends followed me out. We continued to talk about this bar's name and decided that we would write a letter to the owner and to the editor of THE RECORD about the derogatory use of Geronimo's name. Well, it didn't make the paper, possibly because of politics (one of the women was a Bd of Ed. candidate at the time), but it made me feel a bit better about the women I was associating with. Now about trademarking. I had asked previously if any of the nations names were trademarked. Copyrighted? Something? I'm sincerely interested because I was reading a magazine and lo' and behold, there is a rap group named Apache! A very popular group so it appears. Does that mean every time the name Apache appears in public, the group is financially compensated or is it just their music, or is it both? I sure I'm not the first to wonder about this, but I believe that each nation (at LEAST the federally recognized ones) should have their names trademarked. Then at least when these names are used without authorization , The People would have a vehicle to pursue these individuals in court. And if they give permission for use of their name and a profit is gained by it, the monies could go into a tribal fund to be dispersed (saved or invested) in any manner that is agreed upon. Forgive me if I seem naive about this, or that something like this is already happening, but if it is not, I don't understand why not! If singing groups can have exclusive rights to their name, why not The People? and..... What the heck is Geronimo's picture doing hanging on the wall of the bar on the TV show 'Cheers'? Don't watch sitcoms, but I just started watching this show on late night TV to put myself to sleep. Has this picture always been there? Oh well, I'm sure that 'dead horse' has already been beaten! :-) Thank you. peace everyone, anita lecroix