From gars@netcom.com Wed Mar 12 15:14:38 1997 Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 20:23:21 -0800 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews05.011 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ O o O / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' O o O / /-< / /--/ /-- VOLUME 05, ISSUE 011 O o o o o O __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, 15 March 1997 O o O KANOHEDA ANIYVWIYA Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin O o O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse Aunchemokauhettittea O ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S ) This issue contains articles from insap, Uptowne, INNU-L, NATFILM, Triballaw & NATIVE-L listservers; Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty; North American Spirit Lodge; UUCP and genie email; 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. ++ It may be subscribed to via email by sending a request from your own internet addressable account to gars@netcom.com ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org 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 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. " The red on the flag stands for the blood of the people spilt in the claiming of this land." "The blue stands for the coldness of the white man's heart." "The white stands for the white supremacy that this country was founded on." "This is what i see when i look at the flag of this nation." __ Russell Means +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! Last week, at the west gate to Yellowstone, Lakota Elder Rosalie Little Thunder was arrested. In this land of religious freedom she was arrested for praying, charged with criminal trespass, the charges pressed by a church. This woman, without any of the Lakota men near her, walked bravely into the camp of the enemy and just simply stood there, silently praying. That's what got her arrested. She spoke only these words, "I am here to pray for the buffalo." Rosalie Little Thunder, a Lakota Traditional, walked upon grounds near Yellowstone National Park, owned by the Church Universal and Triumphant, a independent religious sect whose basic philosophy is "freedom of religion." Rosalie was at the site of the latest Buffalo slaughter which occurs when hungry Buffalo roam from the boundaries of Yellowstone National Park upon both public and private lands. People who allow these bison to be shot, receive one hundred dollars per kill. Ms. Little Thunder was told if she did not leave the site she would be arrested for Trespassing. Her Native American Belief overcame her fear of reprisals when she informed them she was there to pray, traditionally, for the slain buffalo. She was arrested for trespassing and the entire episode was filmed by a cameraman on site. Over one thousand buffalo which are considered extremely sacred to the Lakota Nation, who are known as the Buffalo Nation, have been slain for merely crossing over an imaginary line. Bruce Babbitt, Secretary of the Interior along with President Clinton has issued a formal objection to the Governor of Montana who has refused to cease the shooting by his State Agency. It is almost inconceivable to me that in this day and age a woman cannot stand silently to offer up a prayer. America should take note that today the Religious Freedom of one individual was violated. America should realize that today, a country based upon the Ideals of Religious Freedoms has suffered a shame that must not continue. The Peoples of all Nations are strongly urged to contact the Governor of Montana and protest their continued slaughter of not only a great animal, but the basic rights of mankind. All should stand and applaud Ms. Little Thunder, of Rapid City, South Dakota whose stood and said, "no more." Sandy Boswell passes this urgent note through Ishgooda: Floyd Crow Westerman is in critical condition in the San Pedro, CA hospital. Dennis J. Banks has asked this word to be passed to all. Floyd was having emergency heart surgery as this word went out Monday. San Pedro Hospital Critical Care Unit Floyd Westerman 1300 W. 7th. St. San Pedro, California 90732 Critical care unit does not accept flowers, any sent will be distributed to other wards. Cards and well wishes may be sent to the address above. In Prayer and Spirit, Ishgooda This in late Monday: I just got the word that he will be fine. Dennis called and said the surgery went very well please pass it along I will keep you informed. TO THE FOUR DIRECTIONS PEACE SANDY Peace! Night Owl , , Gary Night Owl gars@netcom.com (+,+) P. O. Box 672168 gars@juno.com (`-') Marietta, GA 30006, U .S.A. gars@igc.apc.org ===w=w=== gars@genie.com ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- Part A: Usenet and e-mail Part B: NATCHAT and NATIVE-L lists - Historic Lawsuit Filed - Conferences and Powwows - online - Clark, Wolverine in Court - Rockefeller Indigenous Fellowships - Gustafsen Update - Two Jesuits Arrested - Focus on Peltier Part A - Native America Calling - Stop Ptarmigan Trail - Innu Win Court Order - Royal Commission 5-4 - Tribes Tax Oil Companies - New Moon Unity Prayer - NAT-IMATION Answers - Killing the White Man's Indian - Poem: In Their Eyes - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Conferences and Powwows - offline --------- "RE: Historic Lawsuit Filed" --------- Date: Sat, 08 Mar 1997 15:39:53 -0700 From: Robin Silver Subj: historic lawsuit filed against CAP UUCP email this lawsuit was filed Friday afternoon News Release: March 7, 1997 Lawsuit Seeks to Force Environmental Protection for CAP The Southwest Center for Biological Diversity (SWCBD) will file a lawsuit today to secure environmental protection for the Central Arizona Project (CAP). The lawsuit will be filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix against the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec). Earthlaw represents SWCBD. In 1994, the FWS was supposed to provide required environmental protections for CAP. In spite of admitting that CAP will "jeopardize the continued existence" of four species of native fish, FWS provided for essentially no protection. FWS failed to provide protection for CAP to save money. The cost of the CAP is approximately $5 billion to date. In an April 20, 1994, Biological Opinion, FWS admitted CAP will "jeopardize the continued existence of the spikedace (Meda fulgida), loach minnow (Tiaroga cobitis), Gila Topminnow (Poeciliopsis occidentalis), and razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus)..." CAP threatens native species primarily by increasingly exposing them to harmful exotic or introduced species. In 1993, for example, CAP provided an open connection between the Colorado River and the Salt, Verde, Gila and San Pedro River drainages for nearly six months. All the native fish in the Gila River drainage are already listed as endangered or threatened, candidate, or proposed candidate species. In addition to the native species threatened by CAP listed above, most desert fish experts believe that the desert pupfish (Cyprinodon macularius), Colorado River squawfish (Ptychocheilus lucius), bonytail (Gila elegans), Apache trout (Oncorhynchus apache), and Gila trout (Oncorhynchus gilae) may also be jeopardized by cumulative effects significantly increased by CAP. As CAP increasingly takes water from the Colorado River, other federally protected species will also be increasingly affected. These include, totoaba (Cynoscion macdonaldi), bonytail (Gila elegans), Colorado squawfish, California brown pelican (Pelecanus occidentalis), Yuma clapper rail (Rallus longirostris ymanesis), and the cochito or vaquita (Phocoena sinus). Increasing transfer of Colorado River water to projects, such as CAP, requires increased discharges through Lake Mohave, Topcock Gorge, and Lake Havasu. Such changes affect the flow dynamics especially important to the bony tail and the razorback sucker. Examples of exotic fish transported by CAP already known to be contributing to the demise of native wildlife include blue tilapia (Tilapia aurea), channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), red shiner (Cyprinella lotrensis), largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), striped bass (Morone saxatilis), and grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Examples of other exotic flora and fauna that are already or will increasingly passed via CAP are noted by the FWS in the April 15, 1994 Biological Opinion: "...various insects, molluscs, crustaceans, plants, and parasitic and disease organisms may be transported into the Gila River basin via the CAP and may have adverse effects on the ecosystem as a whole as well as on the listed fishes specifically... such species as the Asian clam (Corbicula manilensis) and the crayfish (Procamberus clarkii) have been implicated in declines of native species (Pister 1979, Wells et al. 1983). Asian tapeworm (Bothriocephalus acheilognathi) contributed to recent declines of the woundfin (Plagopterus argentissimus) in the Virgin River. The tapeworm is thought to have entered the Virgin River with invading red shiner (Heckmann et al. 1986). It is anticipated that other invertebrate non-natives currently expanding their range, such as the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) and giant rams-horn snail (Marisa cornuarietis) would have adverse effects to native fishes and invertebrates (USDI BR 1990, Horne et al. 1992)." Lake Havasu is the origination point for the transport of Colorado River water into the Gila River Basin. The Lake Havasu beach closures of the last several years secondary to sewage contamination highlight the fragility of a system so poorly planned to combat the transfer of contaminants of all sizes. The April 15, 1994, FWS Biological Opinion (BO) on CAP requires that BR do little to solve the problem of ongoing, and cumulatively increasing, contamination. The CAP BO merely requires of BR: 1. future construction of two drop dam complexes (As documented in the December 3, 1996, Arizona Republic, "Water Flows a Feather in their Cap," the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, the state agency that runs CAP, "dismissed the need to make the investment in fish barriers." 2. continued operation of electric fish barriers already proven ineffective 3. continued monitoring of the exotic species that are already devastating native species 4. transfer of $12.5 million directly from BR to FWS over the next 25 years for vague programs for "recovery" and "protection" 5. implementation of a future educational program concerning the ongoing bait bucket transfer of exotic species These requirements are inadequate for the following specific reasons: 1. Prevention of the entry of contaminants through the CAP intake pumps is not addressed. 2. Reduction and/or elimination of the exotic biomass within the aqueduct and canal systems is not addressed. This is a basic principle of systems management: the higher the exotic biomass, the greater the chances for repeated contamination. 3. Contamination via CAP turnouts is not addressed. CAP turnouts represent a worrisome source of ongoing contamination into receiving systems, as well as into the CAP itself. 4. Two drop dam structures on the Aravaipa and on the San Pedro do not prevent the movement of exotic flora and fauna, or protect federally listed species in the Hassayampa River, in the Agua Fria River, in the Gila River above Ashurst-Hayden Dam, or in the Gila River above San Carlos Reservoir. Necessary modifications to the Ashurst-Hayden Dam are not required. 5. Drop dam complexes cause permanent stream fragmentation. The FWS directive fails to provide a mechanism for the return of native fish upstream, as they will be prevented from natural migration. 6. Removal of exotic flora and fauna from the stock tanks above the San Pedro, Aravaipa, Gila, Hassayampa, and Agua Fria Rivers is not required. Building of drop dam complexes are not logical when exotic species are already present above the planned barrier sites. 7. Cessation of the ongoing introduction of exotic species within the Gila River Basin and the adjoining waterways is not required. Agency introduction of exotic species, as well as ongoing live bait fishing by the public within the Gila River Basin and adjoining waterways has not been halted. No immediate ban has been implemented. Exotics are still available to enter CAP and disperse throughout the system. 8. The established inadequacy of fish barriers has been ignored. Fish barriers have not proven adequate protection for any stream or canal. Not only are they controversial academically, but in practice, in Arizona, they have proven to be a failure. As recent proof, exotic white amur or grass carp have now been found in the Salt River above the fish barrier on Salt River Project's Arizona Canal. (The Salt River Project, which provides irrigation for the Salt and Verde River basins, including Phoenix and Maricopa County, use the exotic grass carp to help reduce the vegetation within their canal system.) 9. Preservation efforts of native species and studies of exotic species have been ongoing for many years. The transfer of $500,000 cash per year from BR to FWS for 25 years ($12.5 million total) is nothing more than a bribe paid by BR to FWS to continue the status quo operation of CAP without ethical, professional, or legal controls. The concept that cash transfer from one unmotivated federal agency to another will remove species jeopardy is ludicrous. 10. The effects of the increased discharges through Lake Mohave, Topcock Gorge and Lake Havasu were never addressed. The dynamics of the increased discharge will affect the bonytail and the razorback sucker. 11. No alternatives to CAP are addressed. Alternatives for water supplies exist, including for Tucson. CAP, besides being an environmental disaster, never has been economically viable. In addition, the Colorado River is already over-allocated. The Southwest Center for Biological Diversity (SWCBD) is a non-profit, public interest, conservation organization whose mission is to conserve imperiled native species and their threatened habitat. Earthlaw is a non-profit legal foundation dedicated to protecting the West's environmental heritage via public interest litigation. For Information:Dr. Robin Silver, Conservation Chair, SWCBD (602) 246 4170 Mark Hughes, Esq., Earthlaw staff attorney, (303) 871 6996 --------- "RE: Clark, Wolverine in Court" --------- Date: Sat, 8 Mar 1997 01:40:20 -0800 From: yacinfo@mars.ark.com Subj: clark, wolverine speak in court (fwd) Mailing List: Insap March 6,1997 S.I.S.I.S. Bulletin ABORIGINAL LAW: "RESPECT AND CONSENT" WOLVERINE, CLARK, TELL JURY Except for the applause at the end of it, you could have heard a pin drop during the proceedings today of Regina v. Pena et al., otherwise known as the Gustafsen Lake trial. "Wolverine," aka William Ignace, the 65 year old Shuswap elder and organic farmer charged with attempted murder for allegedly firing shots at the wheels of a pursuing 14 ton armoured personnel carrier attempting to "eliminate" him, spoke first. In calm measured tones, speaking directly to the jury, Mr. Ignace reiterated his position that the BC court was without jurisdiction, and sketched out the important points which would be elaborated upon by his "expert witness" Dr. Bruce Clark. BC Supreme Court Justice Bruce Josephson then cautioned Clark that his testimony must be confined to areas of law and history which was relevant and been discussed with his Ts'peten (Gustafsen Lake) clients. Clark began with his impressive academic credentials and testimonials by judges, lawyers, and associates as to his legal prowess, professionalism and knowledge. He then outlined the erroneous legal status quo by which the federal and provincial governments maintain that "Indian jurisdiction doesn't exist." He referred to respected traditionalists present in the gallery such as the Haida elder Lavina White, the Pascals of the Lil'wat nation, and hereditary elder Tommy Gregoire, of the Shuswap-Okanagan confederacy. To traditionalists such as these, Clark acknowledged his understanding of law as "respect and consent" emanating from natural law. That "truth is the summit of being and justice is the application of truth to affairs." According to Clark justice as applied truth and law as applied respect, reflects the best of both the indigenous and western legal traditions. "Order achieved on any other basis is tyranny, "Clark said. Surveying the legal history of international aboriginal rights law from the Papal Bulls of the 16th century to the establishment of an "independent impartial third party tribunal," in light of the landmark Mohegans v Connecticut case, Clark arrived at the "treasonous fraudulent and genocidal" regime of the Canadian state. Clark then gave a passionate exposition of the consequences of the "racism which is most certainly present here among us today, in this courthouse which itself sits upon a "void crown grant": a racism which is killing my clients." In an electrifying finish, the jailed native rights lawyer read passages from the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide 1948, and urged the members of the jury "to make the genocide stop by refusing to take part in it. Newcomers and their courts have never had jurisdiction over Indians on unceded lands." Dr. Clark is scheduled to continue his testimony on Monday. +++FREE WOLVERINE+++FREE DR.BRUCE CLARK+++FREE THE TS'PETEN DEFENDERS+++ ======>A FULL AND COMPREHENSIVE INQUIRY INTO GUSTAFSEN LAKE NOW!<====== More information on the jurisdiction argument is available on the WWW: Statement by Lil'Wat, Carmanah and Okanagan-Shuswap traditionalists: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/sov/ecogenC.html BRUCE CLARK ARCHIVES: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Clark/main.html A good introduction and summary of Clark's argument: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/Clark/verna1.html SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS Ts'peten Defence Committee Spokespeople: Splitting the Sky - Phone/Fax: (604) 543-9661 Bill Lightbown - Phone: (604) 251-4949 174-1472 Commercial Drive, Vancouver Salish Territory, V5L 3X9 Canada Phone: (604) 322-7934, Fax: (604) 323-0224 Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with Native Peoples (CASNP) ATTN: Kahn-tineta Horn Phone: (416) 972-1573 Fax: (416) 972-6232 email:casnp@io.org Ts'peten Legal Defence Team: Manuel Azevedo, phone: (604) 687-0231, fax: (604) 687-0241 Margaret Clark, c/o phone: (604) 687-0231, fax: (604) 687-0241 AND :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty PO Box 8673, Victoria, BC Canada V8X 3S2 Email: or WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html SOVERNET-L is a news only listserv concerned with indigenous sovereigntist struggles around the world. To subscribe, send "subscribe sovernet-l " in the body of your message to ` To post news to sovernet-l, send to . For more information on sovernet-l, contact S.I.S.I.S. --------- "RE: Gustafsen Update" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 05:53:32 -0800 (PST) From: RKI Subj: Gustafsen: trial updates Mailing List: TRIBALLAW (triballaw@thecity.sfsu.edu) March 5, 1997 S.I.S.I.S. Bulletin WITNESS MEMORY "GONE": ABUSE AT RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL JAILED NATIVE RIGHTS LAWYER CLARK WILL APPEAR AS DEFENCE WITNESS THURSDAY Cross examination of defence witness Ernie Archie continued today at the ongoing Ts'peten (Gustafsen Lake) trial in Surrey, BC. The trial of 18 Shuswap traditionalists and supporters, arising out of the summer 1995 siege of sacred Sundance grounds by RCMP and Canadian military forces, is now the longest and costliest trial in Canadian history. Shuswap elder Wolverine has been imprisoned without bail since September 1995, before the trial began. Archie was present in the Ts'peten camp until early August 1995. Crown prosecutor Lance Bernard attempted to lead the witness into testimony of defensive preparations by campers to resist an attack by area ranchers or the RCMP. He was also questioned as to persons and vehicles in the camp at that time. Bernard's questioning was derailed however, when defence counsel George Wool questioned Archie as to his memory of events and his comprehension of the crown's questions. After Wool elicited conflicting answers to those given by Archie to the crown prosecutor, Archie indicated that his memory and comprehension were "almost gone" as a result of "serious abuse at the residential school," referring to the infamous institutions Canada imposed on indigenous children until the 1980's which were notorious for concentration-camp-like conditions. Also today, BCTV's 6:00 PM news, featured the first of a two part interview with jailed native rights lawyer Dr. Bruce Clark. The second part will be broadcast on Thursday's newscast. At one point Clark, in red prison clothing, told BCTV's Clem Chappel, that "you should be interviewing and asking questions or yourself and your media associates, as to why you allowed yourselves to take an ordinary person trying to make a point of law, and then demonized that person." Denied the right to appear as counsel of choice for many of the defendants, Clark has been called by the traditionalists as a defence witness. Dr. Clark is expected to take the stand on Thursday. A FULL AND COMPREHENSIVE INQUIRY INTO GUSTAFSEN LAKE AND STONEY POINT NOW! +++FREE WOLVERINE+++FREE DR.BRUCE CLARK+++FREE THE TS'PETEN DEFENDERS+++ ----REMEMBER DUDLEY GEORGE---- Links to politicians' email and a more comprehensive list of addresses for protest letters are at: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/GustLake/letter.html Please send a copy of your letter to S.I.S.I.S. so the Defenders can know people are acting on their behalf. SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS: Ts'peten Defence Committee Spokespeople: Splitting the Sky - Phone/Fax: (604) 543-9661 Bill Lightbown - Phone: (604) 251-4949 174-1472 Commercial Drive, Vancouver Salish Territory, V5L 3X9 Canada Phone: (604) 322-7934, Fax: (604) 323-0224 Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty (S.I.S.I.S) (contact information in signature below) Canadian Alliance in Solidarity with Native Peoples (CASNP) ATTN: Kahn-tineta Horn Phone: (416) 972-1573 Fax: (416) 972-6232 email:casnp@io.org Ts'peten Legal Defence Team: Manuel Azevedo, phone: (604) 687-0231, fax: (604) 687-0241 Margaret Clark, c/o phone: (604) 687-0231, fax: (604) 687-0241 :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty PO Box 8673, Victoria, BC Canada V8X 3S2 Email: or WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html SOVERNET-L is a news only listserv concerned with indigenous sovereigntist struggles around the world. To subscribe, send "subscribe sovernet-l " to To post news to sovernet-l, send to . For more information on sovernet-l, contact S.I.S.I.S. --------- "RE: Focus on Peltier Part A" --------- From: Miketben@aol.com Date: Sat, 8 Mar 1997 02:57:46 -0500 (EST) Subj: N.A.S.L. - FOCUS ON PELTIER - # 3(A) NORTH AMERICAN SPIRIT LODGE * FOR YOUR INFO * FOCUS ON LEONARD PELTIER #3 (A) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subj: re: NASL and info on Peltier Date: 97-03-05 10:44:54 EST From: TIPPETTS@mail.pire.org (Scott Tippetts) To: miketben@aol.com ______________________________________________________ 'Siyo, About 2 weeks ago I saw a posting on one of the listservs, mentioning your organization (NASL), which referred to the questions some of your members have about Leonard Peltiers' situation. As part of the e-mail exchange, you are somebody posted the LPDC's website FAQ. I thought I'd offer you a document that I prepared, which is basically a digest of the considerable published material and evidence. It contains more detail than the FAQ or the Redford video (which ignores many important aspects), so as to give the curious a little more familiarity with the meaty details of the case without having to read the 600 pages of Matthiessen or the 500 pages of Churchill & Vander Wall (not to mention the hundreds of pages of court transcripts, evidence documents, and letters). It has been reviewed and "approved" by Ron Lessard (LPFC) and Lisa Faruolo (LPDC), incorporating their suggestions for changes / revisions etc. Currently it runs about 8 pages printed, and I have attached it as a WordPerfect document (which you will probably need to UU-decode on your end). If this type of transfer (or the WordPerfect format) does not work for you, I can send you a paper copy via snail-mail, if you are interested. Forgive me for the unsolicited offer, but many people have found this little digest to be useful, and I hope some in your group may also find it of value. --Scott Tippetts ------------------- MONOGRAF.WP5 follows -------------------- "....with Liberty and Justice for all." On 26 June 1975, on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, two FBI agents started a shootout with a handful of American Indian Movement (AIM) members. Because murders by FBI-sponsored "vigilantes" had been occurring frequently on Pine Ridge, the AIM members had previously prepared to defend themselves. The shootout quickly escalated, and within minutes the FBI had unleashed a massive paramilitary assault that they had been preparing for months hundreds of officers against a camp of about a dozen Indians (including women and children). When two FBI agents (and one Indian) were killed in the resulting gunfire, the FBI embarked on a Gestapo-like crusade, violating civil rights, casting aside due process, and making a mockery of the U.S. judicial system. The FBI used the shootout as an opportunity to get rid of some of AIM's leaders. This travesty of justice resulted in the framing and false imprisonment of Leonard Peltier for over 20 years despite global outrage and formal protests by many countries. Human rights organizations worldwide have been seeking justice and freedom for Peltier for many years, considering him a "political prisoner of conscience" just as Nelson Mandela and Andrei Sakharov once were. But your own government, while moralizing to other nations about their human rights abuses, doesn't want you to know about it's own shameful secret: their repression and false imprisonment of Leonard Peltier. This tragic episode involves so many unusual events and actions, that even a superficial description becomes quite lengthy. The following summary of the facts was intended to be as brief as possible, without sacrificing important details or documentation. The first two "background" sections provide historical information that is necessary for understanding the context of the Peltier case. The remaining sections present the evidence for the following three key issues, each one by itself providing sufficient grounds for Leonard Peltier's release & clemency: ? JUDICIAL DUE PROCESS BREACHED - Peltier's right to a fair trial was blatantly and intentionally violated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice, in order to frame him at all costs; upon this basis alone, the Peltier case merits at least a retrial. ? SHOOTER UNKNOWN - The FBI's own evidence (illegally withheld from the original trial by the FBI) proves Peltier was not the shooter of the two agents. The prosecution has since publicly admitted that they don't know who the shooter was, nor even what role Peltier may have had in the shootout. The prosecutors now rationalize his continued false imprisonment by claiming he was probably aiding and abetting whomever actually did fire the fatal shots, though there is no evidence to support even this lesser allegation. ? SHOOTING WAS IN SELF DEFENSE - Regardless of who actually shot the two agents, it was an instance of justifiable self-defense, and the FBI is to blame for the deaths of their own agents. 1) COERCIVE GOVERNMENT SCHEMES TO STEAL MORE INDIAN LANDS In the late 1960's, the barren wasteland reservations to which most Indians had been conveniently removed had recently been discovered to contain the richest deposit of mineral resources on the continent. New pressures arose to acquire yet more Indian lands by any means necessary, circumventing valid, legally binding U.S. treaties. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) arranged cheap land-lease agreements through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for private corporations from many of these tribes by extortion, or by allowing kickbacks and financial incentives to its corrupt puppet dictators. [The BIA, in a blatant conflict of interest in this regard, is supervised by the Bureau of Land Management....] The coercive and repressive policies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (continuing from nearly a hundred years before) were found to be particularly useful for this new round of governmental land-thefts. Explicitly stated goals of cultural annihilation were achieved through such methods as: forcibly taking children from their families and placing them in government-run boarding schools or in distant non-Indian foster homes; illegalization of traditional religious practices and language; and selectively administering what few elements of the treaties were still being "honored" only to those Indians who would forsake traditional ways. In order to circumvent the legitimate tribal leaders, the BIA set up tribal councils that were contrary to traditional authority structures recognized by treaties. Elections were rigged for BIA "yes-men" to become local leaders, and traditionalists were attacked, harassed, and coerced. Often U.S. government officials simply appointed tribal chiefs of their own choosing. For example, W.W. Keeler chairman and CEO of Phillips Petroleum Company was conveniently appointed chief of the Cherokee Nation by five successive U.S. Presidents from 1949-75, despite being only 1/16 Indian. Keeler succeeded in committing numerous illegal financial dealings with the federal government during his tenure. 1971 - Deputy Secretary of Interior Harrison Loesch (who was soon to become Vice President of Peabody Coal Company) ruled that because reservation land "was not public land", the environmental impact statements required by the NEPA were not necessary for mining (uranium) and drilling (oil/gas) on the reservations. As a result, the Indians' drinking water was poisoned by uranium tailings, and other toxic wastes were improperly disposed of on Indian land. This caused alarmingly high rates of birth defects and miscarriage (over 6 times the national average), and of bone cancers and other mysterious and unusual maladies. Protests, complaints, and evidence proving these atrocities were largely ignored by the government. [Such pollution of reservation land and water sources with knowledge beforehand continues to this day.] 1972 - Corporate and government demand for the vast mineral resources recently discovered on Indian lands in South Dakota set the stage for the "election" of the BIA's puppet dictator Dick Wilson as President of the Pine Ridge Tribal Council. Wilson's campaign was characterized by unusually lavish spending; the source of this "mysterious" funding is still unaccounted for. Wilson created about 900 jobs (many titular only, with no work actually performed) for BIA supporters, and hired a huge gang of intimidators called "GOON squads" who were notorious for their drunken brutality against those who wished to retain their traditional culture, or who complained about the government atrocities. These hired thugs were paid from BIA funds, as well as from federal highway funds assigned to a "Highway Safety Program". Despite a vast majority opposition, Wilson was inexplicably re-elected in 1974, in an election that was "permeated by fraud" according to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. By granting the U.S. government land cessions and leases (in direct violation both of U.S. government treaties and of Lakota tribal law), and redirecting tribal funds earmarked for the needy to his own followers, Wilson angered the vast majority of his tribe, who attempted to impeach him many times (one petition had more signatures than Wilson had votes in the election). Wilson summarily canceled all the impeachment proceedings, while the BIA looked the other way. Meanwhile, the traditionalists had their tribal benefits siphoned away, were denied jobs, and became increasingly impoverished. 2) AIM RESISTS GOVERNMENT OPPRESSION; FBI ATTEMPTS TO ELIMINATE AIM In this same period, the newly-formed American Indian Movement was beginning to receive publicity for their demonstrations against new violations of treaty rights still in force, attempts by the government to unilaterally cancel valid treaties, and the other racist policies of the BIA. They also publicly documented anti-Indian racist treatment by law enforcement officers, and by local and state governments. These actions caused AIM leaders to become targeted by the FBI's now-notorious (and unconstitutional) COINTELPRO operations, which had recently been discovered and were being investigated by the Senate Committee on Intelligence. Because of his activism on the Trail of Broken Treaties demonstrations, Peltier was quickly identified in FBI memos as one to be targeted. In the early seventies, the Pine Ridge GOON squads got most of their vast arsenals and ammunition from the FBI under the table, according to court testimony of former GOONs (e.g., Duane Brewer, federal appeals court, 2 Oct 1991). During these years up through the Oglala shootout, the GOONs, BIA police, and local non-Indian "vigilantes" (mostly ranchers who participated in under-the-table sales of Indian land, or illegally grazed livestock on Indian pastures) assaulted hundreds of AIM members and supporters. At least 300 people were killed, mysteriously disappeared, or were brutally assaulted during these years; in the two years between the Wounded Knee occupation and the Oglala shootout alone, there were 61 such murders that were fully documented. In one instance, the GOONs were called in to attack the town of Wanblee (which had a concentration of AIM sympathizers), shooting up the town over a two-day period while the FBI and BIA police on the scene sat and watched, doing nothing. According to one former GOON, this attack was called because the AIM members "needed to be taught a lesson". During this period, the traditionalists and AIM supporters lived in a state of constant terror, never knowing when the next truckload of GOONs or white "vigilantes" would suddenly drive by shooting at everyone in sight. The FBI, despite having the highest concentration of agents-to-citizens of any jurisdiction in the United States, investigated very few of these murders, and these token "investigations" were half-hearted at best. In desperation, tribal elders asked AIM members to come provide physical protection from the government- sponsored attacks; Leonard Peltier was among those who answered the plea in early 1975. November 1972 - At the conclusion of the nationwide march the "Trail of Broken Treaties" in Washington D.C., AIM leaders staged a sit-in at the BIA offices to obtain lodging for their elderly that the BIA had previously promised them. During this non-violent protest, riot squads suddenly attacked and assaulted them. In self-defense, the protestors ended up occupying the building for a week; during this occupation they discovered BIA documents that described, among other atrocious policies, the "quiet genocide" of coerced sterilization of many thousands of young Indian women in various western states (approximately 40% of all Indian women of childbearing age) against their will, or completely without their knowledge by government doctors. As part of the illegal COINTELPRO operations, the FBI compiled massive files on AIM members, including Peltier; AIM Leaders were often jailed indefinitely for minor or contrived offenses. Because of the poverty of most of these people, they were seldom able to afford bail (which was usually set abnormally high), and their cases were delayed or buried in court dockets. Thus, many languished in jail for months, even though the fabricated charges were usually dismissed, while their families dependent upon the father for food, clothes, and shelter became even more impoverished. Meanwhile, the harassment, rapes, brutal physical assaults, destruction of private property, and murders perpetrated against AIM members and supporters were conveniently ignored by law enforcement. February-May, 1973 - In order to gain publicity about the political repression, BIA policy atrocities, the illegal sale of their sacred land by BIA puppet-dictator Dick Wilson, and the pollution of their water supplies and resulting diseases, AIM decided to stage a symbolic, non- -violent demonstration at Wounded Knee, the site of the U.S. Cavalry's massacre of hundreds of unarmed Indians nearly a hundred years before. In an effort to quell the embarrassing publicity of the government's Indian policies, federal law enforcement (under the direction of the FBI) responded with an enormous military attack, which escalated into an armed conflict and siege, lasting 71 days. The government ordered over 560 arrests and handed down 185 federal indictments against AIM members and supporters in the Wounded Knee case; yet over 97% were ultimately dismissed or acquitted. Over six hundred other AIM supporters around the country were also arrested on bogus and essentially unprovable "related charges" such as interstate travel with the intent of helping the Indians. Once again, many innocent activists, targeted for their political views, suffered lengthy incarceration and other intimidation before the contrived charges were dismissed. Shortly before the Wounded Knee Occupation trial of Russell Means & Dennis Banks (two of AIM's most important leaders), the defense's most important witness, Pedro Bissonette, was murdered while on the way to meet with one of the AIM lawyers. At the trial, the prosecution knowingly presented false evidence, infiltrated the defense team with an FBI informant, and was caught repeatedly lying to the judge. The blatantly illegal actions of federal prosecutors and FBI agents at the trial provided a showcase to the American public of how low the government would stoop to circumvent justice at any cost. Judge Fred Nichols finally lost all patience with the FBI and prosecution, and dismissed the charges in disgust, stating that "the waters of justice have been polluted" and that it was obvious the "FBI were determined to get the AIM movement and completely destroy it". Similar patterns of misconduct pervaded subsequent trials of many AIM activists over the next four years. 3) VIOLATIONS OF DUE PROCESS: THE FBI PLOT TO FRAME PELTIER 22 November 1972 (more than 2 years BEFORE the shootout) - Two off-duty policemen in a Milwaukee restaurant harassed Peltier; when he verbally confronted them, they pulled guns on him. Peltier surrendered without a struggle, was handcuffed, then severely beaten in the paddy wagon. Then (just as the FBI had been doing with other AIM leaders for years), he was amazingly charged with attempted murder. Because there were many witnesses, he was easily acquitted of the obviously fraudulent charge. At the trial, Anne Guild, the girlfriend of officer Ronald Halvinka, testified that Halvinka had previously shown her a photo of Peltier (sent to the local police from Washington), boasting that he would be "catching a big one for the FBI". Although this fraudulent murder charge was exposed in court as FBI-sponsored harassment, the FBI to this day still uses this fabrication in publicity releases, describing Peltier at the time of the shootout as a "murder fugitive" with a criminal history. In reality, Peltier actually had ZERO criminal convictions before the shootout. In early 1976, Peltier was finally captured in Canada. Myrtle Poor Bear, who had been in and out of mental hospitals with a long history of psychological disorders (prosecutor Lynn Crooks referred to her as a "fruitcake"), was kidnapped and held incommunicado at a hotel by FBI agents in order to produce affidavits that were used as the sole basis for Peltier's extradition. Her mental condition was already known to the FBI; these same agents had used her previously to produce false affidavits against other AIM members in another case. Her first affidavit explicitly stated that she was NOT at the shootout site, but that Peltier was her boyfriend and had confessed to her in a bar. Days later, threatened with death by the FBI agents, she produced a second affidavit that stated she was there but was not an eyewitness. These first two affidavits were concealed from court during the extradition trial, in favor of the third account (produced days later) which claimed she was an eyewitness. Later she admitted under oath that she had never even met Peltier. Government prosecutors have later admitted that the affidavits were coerced and fraudulent. On national TV (CBS) in September 1989, Prosecutor Crooks said "I don't agree that we [prosecution] did anything wrong, but....it don't bother my conscience one whit if we did." [The Canadian Parliament, with all three political parties in support, have sought an annulment of the extradition, on the grounds that the U.S. violated extradition treaties.] The judge originally scheduled to try the Peltier case was Judge Edward McManus, who also presided over the trial of the other two defendants, Bob Robideau & Dino Butler. When these two were acquitted of the shootings on the grounds of self-defense, McManus was astonished to find himself mysteriously removed from the Peltier trial, replaced by Judge Paul Benson, who himself owned land that had been illegally taken from the Indians. Benson was well-known as an anti-Indian racist; he often made blatantly racist remarks in justifying his highly questionable rulings against Indians. Judge Benson was even reversed by a higher court in the US v. Lavallie case (1981) for expressing anti-Indian sentiments in the courtroom. Benson already had a record of colluding with FBI and Justice Department prosecutors in railroading other civil rights activists (particularly AIM defendants) obviously the reason he was chosen to preside over the Peltier case. Judge Benson ran a very unusual court. He refused to allow the defense to: 1) use a self-defense argument; 2) present evidence concerning the FBI's reign of terror over the preceding three years; 3) present testimony regarding the FBI's illegal COINTELPRO operations against AIM leaders; 4) question FBI agents on discrepancies between their testimony and their written reports; 5) bring Myrtle Poor Bear to the stand to testify of her coercion by FBI agents into signing the false affidavits resulting in extradition. Every one of these preposterous judicial tactics used by Benson had been recommended in detail before the trial, in the FBI memo of 20 July 1976 to the FBI director, regarding why they had lost the case against the other two defendants. Not coincidentally, FBI's own documents (released years later under the Freedom of Information Act) also revealed improper pre-trial meetings between the judge, the prosecution, and the FBI.... During the trials (original and appeals), FBI agents: frequently lied under oath, then changed their accounts when evidence revealed their fabrications; extorted or coerced others to commit perjury as false "witnesses"; engaged in jury tampering (by informing the jurors that their lives were in danger from AIM terrorist attacks); and illegally withheld evidence that they were required by law to release evidence that disproved the prosecution's entire case. All of this was verified and fully documented years later (1980-81) when a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) suit by Peltier's attorney's finally forced the FBI and Justice Department to release 12,000 pages of evidence they had suppressed from the original trial. As is standard procedure, all the law enforcement radio transmissions were recorded; the State Attorney General William Janklow [who later became Governor] explicitly confirmed that all the radio conversations of the event were indeed taped, but that the FBI had asked him to keep them confidential. When the case finally came to trial and defense attorneys filed for release of the tapes as evidence, state police said no such tapes had ever existed (and their location and content still remain hidden). Even though the defense team finally obtained the release of 12,000 pages of illegally suppressed evidence in 1981, the prosecution still continues to withhold 6000 pages of evidence; the FOIA loophole they use is to categorize this evidence as "national security interests". This ludicrous classification, which applies to threats from foreign powers, is rather ironic given that the government keeps insisting to Canada (who is still upset about the fraudulent extradition) that the Peltier case is a "purely domestic matter." On 21 November 1993, an application for executive clemency was filed with the Justice Department. According to the Department of Justice, it takes them about 6 months on average to process this paperwork, before it gets forwarded to the President for consideration. However, the application has been languishing at the Attorney General's office for over three years many times longer than normal with no word on when it will be completed and passed on to the White House. TO BE CONTINUED --------- "RE: Stop Ptarmigan Trail" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 21:11:26 -0400 From: Larry Innes Subj: Innu Nation Seeks Injunction to Stop Ptarmigan Trail Mailing List: INNU-L FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 6 March 1997 INNU SEEK INJUNCTION TO STOP THE PTARMIGAN TRAIL (Sheshatshiu) The Innu Nation is seeking an injunction on Friday in Federal Court to stop the Ptarmigan Trail. Work started on the Trail in mid-February after the Trail's proponent, the Eagle River Development Association, received nearly $600,000 in federal funding from Human Resources Development Canada and the Labrador Comprehensive Agreement. "We are not going to allow this project to proceed. Akamiuapishku (the Mealy Mountains) is too important to us. We are not going to allow more of our land to be developed without our consent. The decision to fund the Ptarmigan Trail was made without so much as even informing the Innu Nation. Once again, our rights were totally ignored!", stated Daniel Ashini, Director of Innu Rights and Environment. The Ptarmigan Trail is intended to link Goose Bay to the South Coast, running south through the Kenamu River valley and east across the southern slopes of the Mealy Mountains to Paradise River and Sandwich Bay, a total distance of approximately 250 kilometers. It will cross many areas of vital importance to the Innu, including Mishtua-utshasku and Iatnekupau (Parke Lake). It also runs through the heart of the proposed Mealy Mountains National Park. "We know that the Trail is going to have a significant impact on the land, fish and wildlife on which Innu depend. It opens up thousands of square kilometers of the Innu homeland for exploitation not only by snowmobile users, but by cabin developers and non-Innu hunters. The Trail bisects the winter range of the threatened Mealy Mountain caribou herd." continued Ashini. "But most importantly, it cuts through an area which is of special spiritual significance to the Innu people. Several of our elders have told us that if the trail goes ahead, it will destroy a part of their lives." "Governments and other interests must learn to respect the fact that Innu have rights. This is our land. We will do what is necessary to defend it.", concluded Ashini. Background information is available on the Internet http://www.web.net/~innu 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 email: innuenv@web.net fax: (709) 497-8396 --------- "RE: Innu Win Court Order" --------- Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 21:23:19 -0400 From: Larry Innes Subj: Innu Win Court Order to Stop Ptarmigan Trail Mailing List: INNU-L FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 10 March 1997 Innu Win Court Order to Stop the Ptarmigan Trail (Sheshatshiu) A Federal Court judge today ordered an immediate halt to construction of the Ptarmigan Trail and a suspension of federal funding for the project. Justice Teitelbaum issued interim orders against both the Eagle River Development Association and the federal government. The order against construction binds the Eagle River Development Association from spending any federal money on the project, and prevents any person from performing activities related to the construction of the project for a period of 10 days. The order against the federal government restrains Human Resources Development or ACOA from providing funding for the project for a period of two days, pending further arguments by federal lawyers in court tomorrow. The Ptarmigan Trail is intended to link Goose Bay to the South Coast, running south through the Kenamu River valley and east across the southern slopes of the Mealy Mountains to Paradise River and Sandwich Bay, a total distance of approximately 250 kilometers. It will cross many areas of vital importance to the Innu, including Mishtua-utshasku and Iatnekupau (Parke Lake). It also runs through the heart of the proposed Mealy Mountains National Park. Work on the trail has already begun, and approximately 100 km of trail has been cleared. "Obtaining this interim order is a huge victory for the Innu people, but it is only the first step for us in putting a stop to this insane project", stated Daniel Ashini, Director of Innu Rights and Environment. "We are now proceeding to a full judicial review of the federal government's decision to fund the project. We expect that the courts will agree with us, and find that the Minister of Human Resources made the wrong decision in this matter. The Ptarmigan Trail has too many impacts on the land, the wildlife and the Innu people to be allowed to proceed." [This is a victory, but a temporary one. The Innu Nation urgently needs your support to make sure that the Ptarmigan Trail is never built. Please fax, write, or call Minister of Human Resources Pierre Pettigrew, Minister of the Environment Sergio Marchi, Minister of Indian Affairs Ron Irwin and Minister of Canadian Heritage Sheila Copps and ask them to stop the Trail! More information for supporters is on the Innu Nation WWW site.] 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 email: innuenv@web.net fax: (709) 497-8396 --------- "RE: Royal Commission 5-4" --------- Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 04:59:00 +0000 From: don.rayment@uptowne.com (Don Rayment) Subj: Royal Commission 5 - 2 Mailing List: UpTowne Online Services [Editorial note: This is a continuing series of a public release of a Royal Commission Report. Paul Antone posted it to the UpTowne listserver maintained by Don Rayment.] Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples Gathering Strength Housing and Living Conditions: Meeting Urgent Needs Despite significant public spending over the past decade, housing, water supplies and sanitation services for Aboriginal people fall far below Canadian standards in many communities. Overcrowded and dilapidated houses, unclean and limited supplies of water, inadequate disposal of human wastes these conditions pose an unacceptable threat to the health of Aboriginal people and reinforce feelings of marginalization and hopelessness. * Houses occupied by Aboriginal people are twice as likely to be in need of major repairs as those of other Canadians. On reserves, 13,400 homes need such repairs, and 6,000 need outright replacement. * Aboriginal homes are generally smaller than those of other Canadians, but more people live in them. * Aboriginal homes are 90 times more likely than those of other Canadians to be without piped water. On reserves, more than 10,000 homes have no indoor plumbing. * About one reserve community in four has a substandard water or sewage system. * In the North, solid waste dumps and untreated sewage are contaminating earth, land, fish and animals. Ensuring that Aboriginal people have safe housing and adequate water and sewage services should be a high priority for government action first, to reduce threats to health and second, to avoid saddling new nation governments with a shelter and services crisis. There are several long-standing impediments to action: * The cost of meeting the full needs of Aboriginal people for shelter, water and sanitation services is high, and governments are reluctant to accept it. * First Nations argue that the provision of housing and services is a treaty right. The federal government disagrees. * Construction in rural and northern communities, where many Aboriginal people live, is technically difficult and therefore costly. The housing market is too small and too dependent on the fortunes of resource industries to work well. * Financing for new construction through banks and other lending institutions is difficult to arrange on reserves because of restrictions in the Indian Act and confusion about individual home ownership. The coming of self-government offers a golden opportunity to recast national, provincial and territorial policies governing Aboriginal housing and community services. As it stands, governments are simply not keeping up with desperate need. In some cases, they have cut useful assistance programs before they met their targets. Until Aboriginal nations can take over the field, Canadian governments have an obligation to ensure adequate shelter for all Aboriginal people. Most Aboriginal people can make a contribution some by taking on mortgage responsibilities, others by supplying labour or materials for construction and repairs or paying rent for existing units. This they should do, to the fullest extent possible, to free up scarce funds to help those in greatest need. We propose that Canadian and Aboriginal governments, and Aboriginal people as individuals, contribute resources enough to ensure that housing needs are fully met within 10 years. The long-standing bones of contention standing in the way of action can be solved as follows: * We believe that Aboriginal people and communities should help to meet their housing costs. We propose that federal and provincial territorial governments take on about two-thirds of housing costs and Aboriginal people, once they reach a certain income level, take on about one-third. * Regional Aboriginal institutions can be established to manage the financing, construction and maintenance of homes and community infrastructure. * The issue of the treaty right to housing can be dealt with in the new treaty processes we propose. * The issue of home ownership on reserves should fall under the jurisdiction of new Aboriginal nation governments and should be resolved in a way that provides incentives for residents to maintain and improve their homes. As for water and sanitation, the federal government's Green Plan (a special initiative that ended in 1995) went some way toward closing the gap in basic services between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities. But the job is not yet done. Current federal projections lay out a timetable of at least nine years before all substandard facilities can be repaired or replaced. This is simply not fast enough for so fundamental a determinant of health and community morale. Most of the communities with acute water and sanitation needs are small. Bringing their services up to standard will not require complicated technology or a big bureaucracy. It will require appropriate technology, adequate funding and knowledgeable, well-trained people to operate and monitor essential services. We propose doubling the speed of remediation, so that all communities will have adequate water and sanitation services within 5 years. Just as poor housing and services have harmful effects on health and well-being, so a turnaround in this sector could have broadly regenerative effects. For example, * Communities will be able to pool their building requirements, creating still more possibilities. For example, the needs of a group of communities could support a cement company and other specialized businesses. * Other economic spin-off effects could be greater still. Federal, provincial and territorial governments should be ready with equity capital to help stimulate local businesses in concert with the housing boom. Home building is more than assembling bricks and boards. In OujJ- Bougoumou, Quebec, a project to build new houses, using traditional culture and values along with modern design and technology, became the starting point for community healing and renewal. Just a decade ago, the living conditions of the Cree of OujJ-Bougoumou were described as the worst in the developed world. Today, their situation has improved to the point where the United Nations recently chose their new village as one of 50 exemplary communities around the world. It can be done. Aboriginal Control of Aboriginal Education: Still Waiting Aboriginal people often say, Our children are our future. By extension, then, the future depends on the effectiveness of education. Education shapes the pathways of thinking, transmits values as well as facts, teaches language and social skills, helps release creative potential, and determines productive capacities. Aboriginal people are well aware of the power of education. Greater control over their children's education has been a demand for at least three decades. Parental involvement and local control of schools are standard practice in Canada but not for Aboriginal people. Instead, they have long been the object of attempts by state and church authorities to use education to control and assimilate them, during the residential school era, certainly, but also, more subtly, today. By seeking greater control over schooling, Aboriginal people are asking for no more than what other communities already have: the chance to say what kind of people their children will become. In the main, Aboriginal people want two things from education: * They want schools to help children, youth and adults learn the skills they need to participate fully in the economy. * They want schools to help children develop as citizens of Aboriginal nations with the knowledge of their languages and traditions necessary for cultural continuity. The present education system does not accomplish either of these goals. The majority of Aboriginal youth do not finish high school. They leave with neither the credentials for jobs in the mainstream economy nor a grounding in their languages and cultures. They are very likely to have experienced the ignorance and hatred of racism, which leaves them profoundly demoralized or angered. Many of our proposals for change in education have been advanced before, by commissions and task forces stretching back to the 1970s. It is clear what needs to be done, and it is long past time to do it. * Transfer of administrative responsibility for reserve schools to First Nations is a step in the right direction. But schools are still staffed primarily by non-Aboriginal teachers, and curriculums and teaching methods were designed for students with different needs and cultural backgrounds * Almost 70 per cent of Aboriginal children are taught in provincial or territorial schools, but the mainstream education system has few mechanisms of accountability to Aboriginal people and has made few attempts to reach out and involve Aboriginal parents. * In all jurisdictions, spending on Aboriginal education is inadequate to reverse accumulated educational deficits. Even so, Aboriginal people retain their conviction that education can be a positive force in the pursuit of bicultural competence and confidence for their children and themselves. They believe that education can contribute to the holistic development of Aboriginal people of all ages, from infants to elders. To this end, we recommend the development of Aboriginal-controlled education systems, recognized by all governments and able to plan and deliver lifelong learning. Further, we are recommending that provincial and territorial schools take steps to ensure that the education they provide is fully appropriate for their Aboriginal students. Education policy needs to ensure that appropriate learning takes place at each stage in the life cycle. Early Childhood Education In education, as in health, childhood is the foundational stage. Traditional family life provided a firm foundation of security and encouragement for Aboriginal children. Aboriginal families of today are not always able to provide this. Parents may be hampered by the effects of poverty, alienation, residential school experience, and dysfunctional family or other relationships. Many Aboriginal children arrive at school with special needs for understanding and support to liberate their in-born capacity for learning. Like all children, Aboriginal children need to master the intellectual, physical, emotional and spiritual tasks of early childhood. Equally, they need grounding in their identity as Aboriginal people. We propose that all Aboriginal children, regardless of status or location, have access to dynamic, culture-based early childhood education. For elementary schools, we propose that * all schools, whether or not they serve mainly Aboriginal students, adopt curriculums that reflect Aboriginal cultures and realities * governments allocate resources such that Aboriginal language instruction can be given high priority, where numbers warrant * provincial and territorial schools make greater efforts to involve Aboriginal parents in decision making ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet: don.rayment@uptowne.com (Don Rayment) This message was processed by NetXpress from Merlin Systems Inc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- This multi-part series will be presented over the next several issues. My thanks to Don and Paul for bringing this to my attention. gary --------- "RE: Tribes Tax Oil Companies" --------- Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 08:44:58 -0500 (EST) From: FirehairSS@aol.com Subj: NARF Legal Review UUCP email CHEYENNE AND ARAPAHO TRIBES WIN RIGHT TO TAX OIL COMPANIES The Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of OK won a major victory August 23 1996 in Mustang Production co. v Harrison, the U.S. Court of Appeals, tenth Circuit upheld the tribes right to tax oil, gas production on allotted lands. The allotments - 160 acre parcels held in trust by the federal govt. for members of Tribes - are scattered throughout nine counties in western OK. The parcels are virtually all that remains of the Cheyenne and Arapaho 4.5 million acre reservation which the federal govt took back in 1890. In reviewing the case, the federal appeals court held that "the Tribes have an inherent sovereign power to tax economic activities on their lands, and because allotted lands are within their jurisdiction, the Tribes have the power to enact and enforce a severance tax on oil and gas production from allotted lands." The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes first enacted the tax in 1988 to raise $1 million annually for roads, schools, housing for it's 10,000 members,many of whom live in poverty. Nineteen oil companies, who for decades have been extracting oil and natural gas from the allotments, immediately challenged the tax. the Tribes retained NARF to defend their rights, and "Mustang" became the first major tribal tax case. to be heard in Tribal court. As the Case proceeded through the tribal court system, then into federal court, the federal government entered the case as "amicus curiae" (friend of the court) in support of the Tribes right to tax. This precedent-setting decision makes it clear that the allotments are subject to tribal jurisdiction. "Mustang will directly affect several pending cases in OK, NM, regarding tribal jurisdiction on activities on allotments. It will also assist the many tribes throughout Indian country whose reservations were reduced to allotments until Congress ended the allotment policy in 1934. In November, the oil companies petitioned the United States Supreme Court for review of the case. The Tribes will file their response in February, 1997. --------- "RE: New Moon Unity Prayer" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 01:08:05 -0500 From: "flattery" Subj: New Moon Unity Prayer, March 9, 1997 UUCP email [Editoral Note: This call is too late for the March new moon it was intended for, but is included because the request to participate applies to every new moon in 1997] Every new moon in 1997 at 5 am in Ashland, Oregon (8 est, 7 cst, etc), we will be praying for Unity. Unity is an understanding that we are a part of life, that we have our place on the Hoop of Life, the four legged, the birds, the fish, the ones that crawl upon the earth, and all and plant and tree species. All of these are prayed for in the beautiful all inclusive prayer "All my Relations". This Unity is metaphysical. On March 9, we will add to these prayers respect for all Sun Dancers, respect for sobriety and respect and survival for the buffalo in Yellowstone National Park. We Lakota and the Buffalo are one. If we don't take care of the buffalo, when the buffalo are gone we will be gone too. When Buffalo Woman came with her bundle, there were seven ceremonies in her bundle, but no enrollment card. When a Sun Dance ceremony is done properly, it can heal. If a Sun Dance ceremony is done without respect for women and without respect for sobriety, it can make people sick. If a Sun Dance is done without respect for our Sun Dance brothers who do not have enrollment cards, that disrespect can also make people sick and unbalanced. At least two of our brothers have already committed suicide because they were not allowed to complete their Sun Dance pledge, due to no fault of their own. We ask for prayers of respect for these brothers and their families. Their blood is just as red as those of us who carry cards. Their devotion is just as sincere. The issue is racial authority versus spiritual authority. Government can give one a card granting racial authority, but no government can issue a card assuring spiritual authority to any person. Spiritual authority comes only from fasting and prayer, the ceremonies we have been through, and a personal relationship each of us has with our Creator(s). Seven Lakota Virtues or Laws Just as the Euro-Americans have their ten commandments, the Lakota have Seven Laws, or Virtues. All Sun Dancers are bound by these laws or virtues. This is the Sun Dance Way. 1. To carry the welfare of the people in your heart. To be generous, to share and to give. 2. To have pity and compassion for all things that move. 3. To have respect and to show your respect by honoring them. 4. To have a great mind. To use your mind to be patient and to be tolerant, to control yourself. 5. To seek humility. To be humble at all times. 6. To be Brave and courageous. To have fortitude. To have principles and to live by them. 7. Wisdom. To have an understanding of these laws and to live by them every moment of your life. These Seven Laws were presented to the U.N. by Birgil Kills Straight, Arvol Looking Horse, and a Grandmother, 1993 (reprinted with permission) We invite you to join our prayer circle, " all my relations." Dave Chief, Oglala Lakota, Sun Dancer and Elder --------- "RE: NAT-IMATION Answers" --------- Date: Sat, 8 Mar 1997 20:54:12 -0500 From: Joe Campagna Subj: Important:.NAT-IMATION in answer to some questions Mailing List: NAT-FILM [Listowner Helmina Makes Him First; helping to create, inspire, and guide the project since 1990 has asked for cooperation (and prayers) by all people for the sake of all the children and future generations.] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [un-edited - out of computer memory] Dear parties who have expressed an interest in NAT-IMATION; a project whereby _the_type_use_of_ and approach to technology will be shared among all Nations: NAT-IMATION (projects/plans which lead to NAT-IMATION) was designed to compete with morning television, childrens video tapes, video games, and music-based videos, implementing common virtues, and initially shared traditional stories with proper origins stated; what the people of their respective nations decide to program into it as values and the particular language of choice, is also anticipated in the plan. It is also understood that some teaching may be particular or private to one Nation, or not wished to be expressed in these methods at all. In short, the first projects may be "stencil-type" to be programmable in other languages where desired. Since many will be digital or can be later made digital; adjustments may be made for things like precise sound forming local features to audio alignments where one tape will be dubbed into many languages (where human forms and not wireframe or cartoon animation is utilized/can also be used for wireframe human image manipulation). Integration of cartoon with actual elders from a given nation will be edited together for a personal and more direct, applicable presentation. Having found, in trying to set up the forthcoming NAT-IMATION program on the listserve, there will be many talents and people. They are needed. You are needed. "To give in this capacity of ones time and talents is a timeless, priceless, everlasting loving gift." Some are already here, yet more are urged to come forward to help organize this long awaited supplemental, and vital element. Individual and non-media-based language projects will be supported as well, with the joint efforts yet to focus on unity and interleaving of production ideas and development for a high, one-generation success rate. There is every hope that a working understanding will be reached so that true networking in these fields may be attained. There is an actual Nat-imation pre-production plan and series of projects, and non-commercial products that will promote traditional linguistic education for full bi-lingual or tri-lingual development. These things will be divulged as the NAT-IMATION workgroup assembles. These projects will want to support current and future schools of thought by all positive methods. Maintaining delineation between similar languages used will be explored as part of the program as method for releases of language materials are established. The assembled NAT-IMATION groups may customize the production plan according to the personnel at hand and to the consensus of the group weighed by the direction and needs of the project beneficiaries who we all recognize as future generations. There have been some concerns posted to the list about this technology taking the place of an elder or human interaction, etc. On the contrary; the traditional approach, and approaches expressed by Native linguists using other methods will be cohesive when applied by said schools of thought as well as majority of childhood-time away from technology, and back to traditional activities, and methods, etc; will be promoted and expressed in all projects; as expressed and desired. The NAT-IMATION group may work in teams and keep each other (teams) apprised of activities and developments through a general report to the NAT-IMATION LIST. Every so often the NAT-FILM group will be posted a progress report as determined by the NAT-IMATION groups; to inform of advancements and of needs, and if something or someone is needed to help, from there, a call for materials, papers or talent via request may be sent to NATIVELIT-L, Nativeweb, AISES, NAT-LANG, NATIVE-L, NAT-EDU, etc, etc, and any university library -- all with hopeful results. There has been some unexpressed concern by some about certain personal thoughts or priorities; credits for ideas and work brought forth from personal contributions being recognized is a priority, and contracts are available as it is an understandable reasoning that compensation should be due project contributors once the financial support plan is ready to utilize the broadcasts and video distribution if that is needed. The actual financial plan for a corporate-free grassroots economy must remain unexpressed for the time--being, as not to overwork the issues. There is a financial plan which is foolproof when implemented and will be comprised of additional personnel. All who contribute will be acknowledged many years to come, regardless. As it should be. It is understood that some may enter Natimation with a project already in the works and this will be acknowledged and respected, highly. Some people already here, and some waiting in a holding pattern for NAT-IMATION to commence, such as linguists and researchers, filmmakers, producers, people with a VCR and an idea or location, technicians, animation software people, web developers, and others, like people with a vision and and Idea. Please do not be shy or hesitant, as your help is surely needed. Interpolated notes from United Native Culture and Language Exchange 1992-1995 Originally extrapolated from ideas by Dakota and Lakota people during 1990-97 Words compiled and expressed from project notes by Joe Campagna Caretaker, Nat-Film I apologize for not contacting interested parties and answering posts individually, and sooner - have been swamped trying to absorb all what's going on around while checking/making arrangements for new people to meet the list online from remote locations. ____________________________________________________________________________ by NAT-FILMgroup, UNAT & UNITED Native American Television Broadcast Council Ask about the NAT-IMATION native language vcr/TV/web group--> Info@UNAT.org --------- "RE: Review: Killing the White Man's Indian" --------- Date: Wed, 19 Feb 97 15:29:51 EST From: "Glen WELKER" Subj: Killing the White Man's Indian (fwd) Source: "Research.Latino" marinez@msue.msu.edu Fergus Bordewich. Killing the White Man's Indian:Reinventing Native American at the End of the Twentieth Century. New York: Doubleday, 1996. 400 pp. Bibliography and index. $27.50 (cloth), ISBN 0-385-42035-8. Reviewed for H-PCAACA by Robert C. Doyle, University of Strasbourg Killing the White Man's Indian is a powerful book that takes readers well beyond the long-held myths, what the author calls the "patina of popular culture" 17), and headlong into the harsh complexities of Indian identity as it exist today. Leaving behind any taint of mindless stereotyping, Bordewich takes on the massive and seemingly impenetrable social questions present among the Native American tribes today: Who are the Indians of the 1990s? Are they part of American society, and if so, on what terms? How are Indians to make use of Western culture? What does it mean to be "Indian" in the modern world? With on-site research that often required a great deal of direct observation and interaction with tribal members around the country, the author shows conclusively that he's no preacher or cheap polemicist eagerly propagandizing anyone's cause. For example, he explains why mystics like Chief Seattle and Black Elk have achieved near godlike status among many environmental ideologues; then he reminds us that the historical Seattle's mysticism was more a figment of Ted Perry's theatrical imagination in 1972 than anything close to reality. Black Elk, although his commentary in John G. Neihardt's Black Elk Speaks (1979) achieved near guru status among members of the Native American Church, radical environmentalists, and other modern animists, Black Elk himself was a devout practicing Roman Catholic during his adult life (226) and traveled to Sing Prison, among many other places, to work as a catechist preaching the Christian Gospel. Conversely, the author traces the true horrors inflicted on tribal integrity in remarkable detail and fairness: war, conquest, and diseases during contact in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; illegal removals and treaties that meant little when land and wealth entered the equation; the lasting humiliations imposed by the Dawes Act of 1887; the paternalism of the Bureau of Indian Affairs up to the present era; grave robbing and souvenir grabbing by visitors and anthropologists, and the continuing alphabet soup federal legislation that from 1969 has granted the tribes increasing levels political sovereignty. Institutions like Harvard University and the Universal of Nebraska have returned so-called human and cultural artifacts for burial proper tribal use; the BIA now acts more in an advisory role than as a dictator, and the tribes themselves are directing their own affairs internally. But, according to Bordewich's research, therein lies a rub: where wealth and power appear, can graft and corruption be far behind, even in traditional communities? Bordewich takes no sides; human failure, like success, has no identity. Without any doubt, the most shocking chapter, at least for this reviewer, entitled "A Scene Most Resembling Hell," a stand-up description of real- time alcoholism on the reservations today. It took courage to approach this topic when we all know how sensitive it remains. It took courage to cite James O. Whittaker's incisive "Alcohol and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe: A Twenty-Year Follow-Up Study" (1982), which examined alcoholism scientifically. Bordewich concludes from the literature and from his own experience that alcoholism is virulent among Indians, but it is no more resistant to treatment among them than it is to other Americans (p. 263). The author then traces the heated cauldron of Indian sovereignty, one of the most gripping and potentially divisive problems in Indian country today. What does it mean to be a nation? Can there really be a "nation" inside a nation are the tribes playing with rhetorical, if not political, dynamite? Certain the reservations' legal status is complex, if not mystifyingly foreign, to outsiders. Why can a tribe open a fully functioning gambling casino in a st that prohibits a state lottery, or even bingo at the local firemens' carnival Where does the money go? Who or what is accountable for revenues? Why can some places serve clientele seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day? These and other question only begin to approach the author'exposition about life in Indian country now. Killing the White Man's Indian is an eloquent and disturbing book that need be read and reflected upon. It tells a sad story but is yet filled with hope and trust that Native Americans will continue to find their own way in multicultural America--or make one. This review is copyrighted (c) 1996 by H-Net and the Popular Culture and the American Culture Associations. It may be reproduced electronically for educational or scholarly use. The Associations reserve print rights and permissions. (Contact: P.C.Rollins at the following electronic address: Rollins@osuunx.ucc.okstate.edu) Posted here in compliance with the FAIR USE DOCTRINE for educational purposes. This is an educational forum. Not for commercial use. --------- "RE: Poem: In Their Eyes" --------- Date: Tue, 11 Feb 1997 15:08:10 -0600 From: Nokwisa Yona Subj: An Offering UUCP email IN THEIR EYES I saw the dream The yesterday The today The tomorrow Alive and sparkling in her eyes On her cheeks the glow of pride As the young hand reached out in Greeting to the Warrior And the Spirit no longer quiet within her Sparked and danced to the Drumbeat of the Mother I saw the future of our People the past alive within her The young People around the Drum Their hearts singing voices carrying back for their People their Ancestors their Parents their Children yet to come In their eyes shown the courage of generations of Dreams yet unbidden of Truth future Wisdom battles to be won Hearts upon their sleeves trailing Ribbons Colors of the Directions Our future -- With Respect and Love In Spirit Nokwisa --------- "RE: Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days" --------- Date: 97/03/01 23:23 From: Debra F. Sanders Subj: Hawaiian Book of Days genie email A HAWAIIAN BOOK OF DAYS, week of March 16-22 MALAKI (March) (Nana) 16 Arise, oh Sun, and warm the land with your passage! 17 Though I have no wings, my spirit flies upon the wind! 18 Strength is the warrior within. 19 The land is rich in abundance for those who know where to look. 20 In the song of the ocean, I find healing. 21 Let me be like the dolphin -- joyous in the knowledge of my freedom! 22 The sun's light brings new life -- the moon's glow, renewal. (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, 13 March 97 08:00 -0500 From: Janet Smith (evestar@juno.com) Subj: Upcoming conferences and powwows not previously posted to Mailing Lists NATCHAT or NATIVE-L UUCP email Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 09:42:03 -0500 (EST) From: Plt7@aol.com Subj: Dallas American Indians With Disabilities A follow-up to the American Indian with Disabilities Community Needs Assessment meeting is being held March 20, 1997 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. This is a survey results meeting. The meeting is at the American Indian Center, 2219 W. Euless Blvd., Euless, Texas. For more information call 817-545-9555. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Mar 1997 13:33:47 -0800 From: Pauline Shafer Subj: Alexie and books: Alexie event in Seattle (fwd) ******1997 Spring Powwow Benefit Dinner and Performance****** Student group, First Nations at University of Washington, is proud to invite you to attend a very special evening of dining and performance. On Sunday, March 16th beginning at 5 pm at the Ethnic Cultural Center, First Nations will host a dinner that will be followed by performance across the street at the Ethnic Cultural Center Theater. This year's powwow committee has been very fortunate to be offered the talents of these fine artists to help raise money for the Spring Powwow: Sherman Alexie - novelist, poet, all around great writer who needs no introduction! Chrystos-radical feminist poet extrodinaire, maybe only other Native writer to have been called "angry Indian writer" more times than the Shermanator! Arthur Tulee- Yakima poet extrodinaire Wesley Thomas- Navajo scholar/weaver/poet Andre' Picard- Nez Perce dancer, drummer, singer Pauline Escudero Shafer- Apache poet We will most likely also be joined by local female fancy dancer Michelle Guzmana and friends. But they are not yet confirmed. This promises to be a wonderful evening. Tickets are $10 for students and $25 for the general public. All proceeds will be going for the powwow. First Nations @ UW was formed in 1994 to bring the UW Spring powwow, which traditionally kicked off the powwow season, back to campus. After a few years of being held off campus, through a lot of hard work on the part of the committee a successful powwow was held at Hec Edmondson Pavilion. FirstNations @ UW must raise all the money for this powwow themselves. A small percent of the funds do come from on-campus, but it must be solicited by the group each year. A large portion is generated through fundraising by the committee, such as this Performance event. So come join us on March 16th! There will be door prizes, a dinner and the performances. "Aboriginal Voices" magazine has graciously donated 80 copies of the issue that featured an article on Sherman, to be given to the first 80 ticket purchasers. You'll not only receive a night of excellent fun, but will know you helped contribute, as the performers of this event have, in the success of the powwow. To purchase tickets please contact Pauline at pali@u.washington.edu 206-543-9082, which is the American Indian Studies office, which Director Marvin Oliver has graciously consented to being an upper campus powwow headquarters for this year. American Indian Studies Center Box 354305 University of Washington Seattle, WA. 98195 or these First Nations @ UW Officers Andre' Picard & Morris Richards, Co-Presidents Esther Dittler, Treasurer Pauline Escudero Shafer & Misty Hammontree, Co-Secretaries Michael Bloomer & Phil Ward, Co- Senate Representatives at 206-543-4635, extension 12. Which is the First Nations @ UW office at the Ethnic Cultural Center. Tickets can be mailed to you or held at the door for you. also Powwow dates are April 11, 12, and 13. Host drums are Red Bull and Yellow Jacket, world champion drum groups. More details will soon be released. Thank You! Pauline --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 06 Mar 1997 18:06:56 -0800 From: void@slip.net (M 5tevens) Subj: Renegade Artists Indian Rock & Roll show and fundraiser Renegade Artists present John Trudell, United Satanic Apache Front, Cherokee Rose, and Tribal Dada. With artistic mini-skits and guest speakers, including Lenny Foster of the Navajo Nation Corrections Project. The show is a benefit for wood and spiritual needs of Native American Prisoners. March 22nd 1997, 7:30 pm at the Continuing Education Center, 1634 University N.E., Albuquerque, NM. Admission is $10. This fundraiser is running concurrently with a contemporary Native American art show, which is called "Themes on 21st Century America", and includes the following artists; Bob Haozous, Bill Soza Warsoldier, Diego & mateo Romero, Mitchell Zephier, Bobbi Kitsman Emerson Jenike, Prince Delbert Nagel, Beverly Causona, Reverend Steven Johnson Leyba, Fern Shegohee, Duke Sine and Delmar Boni. Reception to the art show on March 22nd, admission free, times from 10am - 12pm at the Kimo Theatre Gallery, 417 Central N.W., Albuquerque. call 505 265 2577 for information. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just as this went to press, I received word from the "Bring Peltier Home Spring Clemency Tour" organization that a stop has been added to the Georgia itinerary listed in a previous issue of Wotanging Ikche. Monday, March 14, in the DeKalb College South Campus Gym in Decatur, GA (near Atlanta) there will be a show from 7-10 p.m. with local performers (including Cherokee Rose and Selina), Dennis Banks and other noted Peltier supporters, and probably several national celebrity performers. I was amazed at the low cost for admission -- only a $5/head donation to Peltier's defense fund. For further information, call 404-872-4213 (Oglewanagi Gallery in Atlanta) and speak with Tom or Vicki. ================================================================= Powwows this coming weekend from _News From Indian Country_ March 13-16 3rd Native American Celebration. Tampa, FL Info: 813-626-1692 March 15 15th Annual Homestead Intertribal, Cupertino, CA Info: 408-241-7999 March 15-16 McNeese State Univ., Lake Charles, LA Info: 318-475-5123 March 15-16 27th Cal State, Cal State Univ., Long Beach, CA Info: 310-985-4962 March 15-16 9th Nachez, Nachez, MI Info: 601-446-6502 March 15-16 3rd United Natives Indian Education, Poulsboro, WA Info: 360-779-8786 March 15-16 25th Ann Arbor, "Dance for Mother Earth", Ann Arbor, MI Info: 313-763-9044 ===================================================================== -------------------------------------------------------------------------- --//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//-- 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: Dr. Robin Silver, Glenn Welker, Firehair, Dave Chief via Elaine Flattery, Nokwisa Yona, Janet Smith, Larry Kibby, Larry Innes, Debra F. Sanders, Paul Antone via Don Rayment, Bernadette Chato, Scott Tippetts -//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//--//-- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Part B of this newsletter has already been distributed via the NATIVE-L or NATCHAT mailing lists. --------- "RE: Conferences and Powwows - online" --------- Date: Thu, 13 March 97 08:00 -0500 From: Janet Smith (evestar@juno.com) Subj: Upcoming conferences and powwows already posted to Mailing Lists NATCHAT or NATIVE-L UUCP email Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 12:43:22 -0600 From: eaglerok@northernnet.com (feather eaglerock) Subj: International All Veterans Reunion Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) International All Veterans Reunion planning underway The city of Grand Rapids, Minnesota is hosting the first annual International all Veterans Reunion on Labor Day weekend in Grand Rapids. The location is the Itasca County Fairgrounds where camping can begin as soon as Monday, Aug. 25. The event is open to all combat and non-combat personnel, as well as support veterans and their families. The Visitors and Convention Bureau, located at 1 NW 3rd St., Grand Rapids, MN 55744, will provide information on lodging, vacation and visitor plans. Their number is 1-800-472-6366. Other contact numbers include co-chairman, Brian Carlson, 1-218-327-1522 or Jon Tinquist, 1-218-328-6240. >>> -------------------------------------> Bernard J. Rock, Sr. Leech Lake Pillager Band Spotted Eagle Warrior Society North Central Minnesota Native American Veterans Outreach and Resource Center "Vets helping Vets" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 11:01:39 -0500 From: ishgooda@tdi.net Subj: AIM GRAND COUNCIL Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) (The following information originates with AIM Arizona) PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE AND WIDEST DISSEMINATION 3/10/97 The Arizona Chapter of the American Indian Movement (AIM) is proud to announce the annual meeting of the AIM Grand Council to be held in Phoenix, Arizona, March 13-16, 1997. The Grand Council is the governing body of AIM and decisions concerning AIM's involvement in American Indian issues for the coming year will be made at this conference. The Grand Council will convene at the Baseline Mansion, 2501 E. Baseline Rd. Phoenix, Arizona. A press conference will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 13th at this site. Members of the Grand Council including Larry Anderson, Dennis J Banks, Clyde Bellecourt, Vernon Bellecourt, Mike Haney, William A Means and Herb Powless will be in attendance as well as Executive Directors and Representatives from AIM Chapters nation-wide. Topics to be discussed by the Grand Council will include: Use of the word "squaw" in geographic place names Big Mountain Montana's buffalo slaughter Leonard Peltier Education of American Indian children Grave desecration Artifact and remains repatriation and any and all concerns brought before the Grand Council by AIM Chapter Representatives. A social pow-wow is also being planned for Saturday March 15th in the village of Guadalupe, Arizona as part of this conference. For more information, please contact Vernon Foster, Executive Director of the Arizona Chapter of AIM @ (602) 668-8926 or Andy Mader, Prison Liaison for the Arizona Chapter of AIM @ (602) 610-0935 or e-mail AIMAZ@aol.com. --------- "RE: Rockefeller Indigenous Fellowship" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Mar 1997 23:11:02 -0500 From: sahtu@aol.com Subj: Rockefeller/UC Davis Indigenous Fellowship Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) Here's a fellowship announcement I found on Karen Strom's site . -------------------------------- Rockefeller Foundation Humanities Fellowship for Indigenous People of the Americas Indigenous Research Center of the Americas Department of Native American Studies University of California, Davis The October 1997 - June 1998 Program "Articulating Indigenous Sovereignties and Autonomies: Visual and Performance Arts" During this academic year the Indigenous Research Center of the Americas (IRCA) will select two fellows from North America and two from Latin America who will be offered individual residencies of four or three months each. The program is seeking indigenous creative artists in visual arts, music, performing arts, film, video, traditional and popular arts, writers in the field of art criticism, and curators/writers of exhibition theory. The Rockefeller Foundation Humanities Fellowship for Indigenous People of the Americas The Indigenous Research Center of the Americas, as part of the Native American Studies Department, is an interdisciplinary research program at the University of California at Davis, committed to the study of and by indigenous people and to the understanding of their identities within growing processes of globalization. The purpose of the Center's unique hemispheric approach is to provide a thorough comprehension of the cultural and social complexity of contemporary indigenous peoples. The Center sponsors visiting fellows whose research and intellectual and creative activities deal with issues that include, but are not limited to, the following: the indigenous diaspora and transnational migrations throughout the hemisphere; the ethnopolitical movements of indigenous peoples around issues of cultural sovereignty and political autonomy; indigenous feminisms and sexualities; indigenous linguistics, literary and cultural studies; indigenous artistic expressions; critique of colonial discourses; and the effects of globalization on indigenous communities. Description of the Fellowship The fellowship offers an opportunity for indigenous and non-indigenous intellectuals-scholars, artists, and practitioners-with experience in the field of Native American Studies, to pursue the study of these issues on a hemispheric, regional, and local level. Fellows selected from North America and Latin America will have the opportunity to interact with each other and with the Center's faculty, as well as contributing to the growing network among indigenous peoples of the hemisphere. Fellows will participate in seminars, colloquia, lectures, and other activities in the academic and community life of Davis and Northern California. In addition to enjoying privileges at all University of California libraries, visiting fellows will have access to computers, working space, and secretarial support in the Department of Native American Studies. As well, the fellows will be affiliated with the Gorman Museum, an integral component of Native American Studies. Eligibility The Fellowship Program is open to any individual who might or might not belong to an institution of higher education or a research center. Community and tribal practitioners, and artists are welcomed to apply. Conditions of Fellowships The Fellowship offers four awards of either $ 17,000 each to be used as individual salary during a four month period of residence without a studio or $12,750 each to be used during a three month period with a studio. Travel expenses to and from the UC Davis Indigenous Research Center of the Americas will be provided by the Program. Selection Committee The selection committee consists of six members, four from the University of California system, and two from indigenous grassroots organizations. Responsibilities of Fellows Fellows are expected to live in Davis during the four/three month period and participate in the academic activity of the Center and the Department of Native American Studies. Fellows are invited to think of their participation in this fellowship program as an opportunity to contribute with their original writings and/or arts toward the elaboration of a series of collected works to be published by the Indigenous Research Center of the Americas. Application Procedures Applications for 1997-98 must be postmarked by March 15, 1997. Applications consist of: (1) a statement of purpose, no longer than five pages, that indicates the specific working plan for the four/three month in-residency (please include a list of any special requirements for work/space and/or equipment that you might need); (2) a curriculum vitae or resume (3) three letters of recommendation, one of which ought to address directly the proposed project; (4) a short sample (10-20 slides, video, and/or audio) reflective of the candidate's current work, and/or publications. The complete packet must be mailed to the Program by the candidate. Announcement of Awards Recipients of the awards will be notified by the end of June 1997. Application Deadline: March 15, 1997 IRCA Fellowship Program Native American Studies Department University of California Davis, CA 95616 USA Fax (916) 752-7097 E-Mail indigenous@ucdavis.edu Visit our World Wide Web Page at http://cougar.ucdavis.edu/nas --------- "RE: Two Jesuits Arrested" --------- Date: 11:11 PM Mar 9, 1997 From: moonlight@igc.apc.org Subj: TWO JESUITS ARE ARRESTED IN PALENQUE ("LA JORNADA" 9-3-97) Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) "La Jornada", March 9, 1997 TWO JESUITS ARE APPREHENDED IN PALENQUE (Translation: Monique J. Lemaitre) San Cristobal de las Casas, March 8. Jesuit priests Gonzalo Rosas and Geronimo Hernandez-the latter an advisor to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN)-, as well as two Indigenous leaders from Palenque, were detained by the Judicial State Police accused of being allegedly involved in an "ambush" suffered yesterday by a Public Security contingent in that locality, after having evacuated two plots of land, and during which two policemen died and four more were wounded. The diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas protested for the detention of the priests, which it qualified as a "new arbitrary act" against pastoral agents of the Catholic church in Chiapas. It stressed that it is not by means of church persecution, nor creating new situations of violence, nor acting in function of false accusations that the conditions of peaceful coexistence and respect for the law and the rights of the poor will be achieved. In a communique, the diocese headed by Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia for the past 37 years condemned the detention and said that the necessary steps to solve the causes which originated the Zapatista armed conflict are not being met, and quite the contrary (the authorities) are still resorting to the old methods which make the goal of achieving a state of law ever more unattainable. Indigenous leaders, priests and nuns from Palenque made it known that tonight the situation in that place is "very tense", since at 7:00 P.M. some 300 policemen from the Public Security stood themselves in front of the parish with two coffins and shouting "Killer priests. Justice!". The same thing happened at the Coordinator of Social Indigenous Organizations Xinich (Ant in chol), of which the detained farmers are members. In the offices of Xinich they cut the electricity, and in both cases they arrived with their car's sirens at full blast, after undertaking an unusual march with the coffins through the streets of Palenque. The conflict began yesterday morning, when some 150 state policemen evacuated "in a violent manner" the plots Emiliano Zapata and Plan de Ayala, located in Palenque. Following this action, the farmers who have been in power of the land plots owned by Manuel Huerta since 1994 dispersed and blocked the highway in the area of San Martin Chamizal. By phone, some representatives of the association assured that around 3:00P.M. yesterday a helicopter flew over the area of the highway blockade and immediately dozens of policemen appeared shooting to open up the way, which they succeeded in doing after a brawl, without anybody from either group being reported wounded, at least until last night. However, until this afternoon, the Coordination of Social Communication of the State of Chiapas issued the press communique # 2071 to inform that around 5:00 P.M. yesterday some elements of the State Police who were unarmed were attacked by members of the Organization Xinich when they were about to eat, hours after having completed peaceful evacuations in two plots. "The result of the ambush is of two policemen dead: Carlos Urbina Mendez and Freddy Molina Jimenez; and five wounded: Ismael Hernandez Cruz, Edgar Mendez Reyes, Rafael Dominguez Hernandez, Rosemberg Silvestre Francisco and Julian Roblero Roblero who are getting medical attention at the Isstech Clinic in Palenque and hospitals in Villahermosa, Tabasco". Because of these events the State Judicial Police began the investigation 166/CAJ74/997. Later the same office issued the communique 2073 in which it informed that Father Gonzalo Rosas Morales was detained because he is being pointed as the"alleged person directly responsible for the aggression against the State Police", while his colleague Geronimo Alberto Hernandez Morales and the farmers Francisco Gonzalez Gutierrez and Ramon Parcero Martinez are being held as "presentados" before the State's Attorney's Office "to investigate the ambush". On the other hand, the diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas discarded any participation by the two priests in the events. Because, it said, both priests arrived in Palenque at 5:30 in the afternoon last Friday, from San Cristobal de las Casas, where they had participated in the annual diocese assembly which ended Thursday night. The times do not coincide: the farmers of Xinich assure that the highway blockade occurred at 3:00P.M., while the police assert that it was at 5:00 o'clock. The official communique was only issued late today. According to the local diocese, "everything was prepared", since in today's edition, a daily from Tabasco and another one from Chiapas published notes in which they accuse father Gonzalo of having participated in the "ambush". Meanwhile, David Fernandez, Director of the Human Rights Center Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez denies that the detained Jesuits have anything to do with what happened. Fernandez assures that "Gonzalo was yesterday (Friday) in San Cristobal de las Casas, so that he was not a witness". He added that the Center Pro Juarez immediately denounced the case before the National Commission of Human Rights as well as before The Secretary of the Interior ("Gobernacion"), and requested official information from the Government of Chiapas, "without having received any answer up to this moment". THE DETENTION According to Fernando Ortiz Cruz (a leader of Xinich)'s version, since 11:00 this morning a helicopter flew over the area where the offices of the Association are located and where the now detained were at the time. By telephone from Palenque he explained that at 2:15 P.M. both priests, driving a pick-up truck each and with two companions each, left toward the community of San Martin Chamizal, after having participated in the march of Women's International Day. As they were passing the Cattlemen's Union ("Union Ganadera"), both pick-ups stopped-it was not explained why-and at that time several judicial policemen approached them and forced them out of the vehicles at gun point. They put the priests and the two farmers in other vehicles and left with them, while the person giving this account was threatened so he would leave immediately the place without being detained. Father Geronimo Hernandez is advisor to the EZLN since the table on Indigenous Rights and Culture was established between the Federal Government and the rebel group. In 1991 he organized together with several indians a march on foot from Palenque to Mexico City to denounce the repression of the government of then Governor Patrocinio Gonzalez Garrido. In the first days of 1994, after the armed outbreak, he was confused with Subcommander Marcos, and although he was accused for the same reason of belonging to the armed group, he was not detained but was nonetheless harassed. These Jesuits are not the first to be detained in the diocese of San Cristobal de las Casas. In 1991 the parish priest of Simojovel Joel Padron Gonzalez was apprehended, accused of invading a plot of land. In 1995 three foreign priests were expelled from the country. (Elio Henriquez and Angeles Mariscal, correspondents and Triunfo Elizalde) --------- "RE: Native America Calling" --------- Date: Mon, 10 Mar 1997 09:05:38 -0700 (MST) From: Bernadette Chato Subj: Schedule for Native America Calling Mailing List: NATIVE-L (native-l@gnosys.svle.ma.us) Here's the latest schedule for *Native America Calling.* Since we produce a new show every day, we are always looking for knowledgeable people (preferably Native Americans) to be guests on our show. If you have a recommendation for a guest after reading the topics for upcoming shows, please e-mail our producer directly at harlan@unm.edu. Or e-mail to me at chato@unm.edu. Your help is appreciated. Thanks. BC ========================================================================== TO: NEWS DIRECTORS, PROGRAM DIRECTORS, GENERAL MANAGERS FR: NATIVE AMERICA CALLING DT: MARCH 7, 1997 RE: SCHEDULE FOR MARCH 10-14, 1997 Native America Calling, the first national call-in radio program to focus on Native issues, began daily one-hour feeds on 6/5/95. Feed Time: M - F, 1300 - 1359 ET Channel Info: Digital Frequency B68.2 Galaxy 4, Transponder B Broadcast Rights: Each program is designed for live use. The fee to carry NATIVE AMERICA CALLING is determined on whether the station is a member of AIROS. There is a set fee for AIROS members; if not a member, fee is based on station's annual revenue. Questions: Programming, Harlan McKosato, NAC Producer 505-277-5201 Distribution/Promotion, John Gregg, AIROS 402-472-0941 ---------------------------------------------------------------- **** P R O G R A M S U B J E C T T O C H A N G E **** Watch the DACS or your FAX for updates!! ---------------------------------------------------------------- Host: Tom Beaver Wellness Host: Sharon McConnell PROGRAM SCHEDULE FOR 3/10 - 3/14: Mon - 3/10: "Where White Men Fear to Tread": He's perhaps the most talked about...and certainly one of the most controversial...figures in Indian country. Activist/actor Russell Means joins us live in Studio 49 to discuss his autobiography and all of his latest projects, including an upcoming film about the ongoing Crazy Horse Malt Liquor battle. Tue - 3/11: Yup'ik Masks...the Living Tradition: >From Yup'ik territory in southwestern Alaska comes a powerful exhibit of masks called "Our Way of Making Prayer: the Living Tradition of Yup'ik Masks." The exhibit has made its way from Toksook Bay to the Big Apple. It's currently showing at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York. Guests include Marie Meade, who formed the translations from Yup'ik to English for the exhibit. Wed - 3/12: Math & Science: Tribal educators have long contended that America's education system has not provided adequate incentive for native students to pursue careers in the fields of math and science. How can we make these studies interesting, applicable and culturally relevant to our young people? Guests include Carolyn Algin, president of Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute. Thu - 3/13: Individual Indian Money Accounts: In the largest class action suit ever filed against the federal government...more than 300,000 Native Americans are suing the BIA, Department of Interior, and Treasury Department in an attempt to regain millions and millions of dollars in lost or stolen money. Guests include Paul Homan, special trustee of the BIA's Office of Trust Fund Management. Fri - 3/14: Dial-A-Doc/Wellness Edition: Two doctors make a radio house call to answer listeners' questions about their health. While the physicians describe some health problems accompanying the arrival of Spring, for the most part "Dial-a-Doc" topics are determined by listeners who call into the program. As always, listeners are encouraged to pass along some of their favorite remedies and cures as well. *Native America Calling* is produced and directed by Harlan McKosato (Sac and Fox from Oklahoma). Tom Beaver (Muscogee Creek from Minnesota) is Host/Associate Producer, and Features Producer/Editor is Bernadette Chato (Navajo from New Mexico). *NAC* is a production of Native American Public Telecommunications, Inc. Offices for *Native America Calling* are located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The program is produced at the studios of KUNM at the University of New Mexico. The staff of *Native America Calling* can be reached at 505-277-5201 or by fax at 505-277-4286. Address correspondence to PO Box 40164, Albuquerque, NM 87196, or e-mail to native@unm.edu. For information on how your local public radio station can carry the program, call John Belindo, AIROS at 1-800-571-6885 or e- mail to his attention to jbelindo@unlinfo.unl.edu. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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