From gars@speakeasy.org Tue Apr 24 02:14:36 2001 Date: 21 Feb 2001 00:13:29 -0000 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews09.008 W O T A N G I N G I K C H E Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin KANOHEDA ANIYVWIYA O It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le Ha-Sah-Sliltha O o O ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min Un Chota O o O Aunchemokauhettittea O o o o o O VOLUME 09, ISSUE 008 O o O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse January 27, 2001 O o O Ximopanolti tehuatzin, Cherokee bone moon O inin Mexika tlahtolli Ho-chunk fish running moon ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S ) ==>If you want your Nation represented in the banner of this newsletter<== email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported in this weekly | | newsletter. For daily updates check http://www.owlstar.com/NANews | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ This issue contains articles from ndn-aim, Triballaw, Our Red Earth and Ironnatives mail lists; newslist: alt.native; UUCP email; http://www.sfbg.com/lit/feb01/reviews.html http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/Headlines/showfull.asp?ID=pol/2162001 IMPORTANT!! ----------- In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, all material appearing in this newsletter is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for educational purposes. <----<<<< >>>>----> 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@speakeasy.org ++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org As historian Patricia Nelson Limerick summarized in The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West, "Set the blood quantum at one-quarter, hold to it as a rigid definition of Indians, let intermarriage proceed as it had for centuries, and eventually Indians will be defined out of existence. When that happens, the federal government will be freed of its persistent 'Indian problem.'" "You must understand....I am ordinary. Painfully ordinary. This isn't modesty. This is fact. Maybe you're ordinary, too. If so, I honor your ordinariness, your humanness, your spirituality. I hope you will honor mine. That ordinariness is our bond, you and I. We are ordinary. We are human. The Creator made us this way. Imperfect. Inadequate. Ordinary." "Be thankful you weren't cursed with perfection. If you were perfect, there'd be nothing for you to achieve with your life. Imperfection is the source of every action. This is both our curse and our blessing as human beings. Our very imperfections makes a holy life possible." "We're not supposed to be perfect. We're supposed to be USEFUL." __ Leonard Peltier, "Prison Writings...My Life Is My Sun Dance" +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters! The first article in this issue speaks of the optimism of the plaintiffs in the BIA Trust Fund Suit. The second tells of the loss of yet more documents that might have provided evidence in that lawsuit. Two seemingly unconnected news events in the Canadian press caught my eye. In the first, the government is recommending Saskatchewan Natives take up farming. In the second, the same Canadian government is lamenting the staggering costs associated with family farming, noting the hazards of trying to survive as a farmer. Let's just take a second look at the first two paragraphs... 1 Indians have a shot at winning the Trust Lawsuit... Ooops! no evidence! 2 Indians should take up farming... Farmers are losing their assets! Look, I admit I'm just a mixed-blood trying to make it in this plastic world; but even I'm not so dumb I can't see a pattern. The dominant society still hasn't answered the "Indian Question", but their plan of trick bag treaties and smallpox infected blankets just hasn't changed that much. , , Gary Night Owl gars@nanews.org (*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@speakeasy.org (`-') Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. gars@olagrande.net ===w=w=== gars@sdf.lonestar.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - Indian Trust Plaintiffs Optimistic - History: Carlisle Indian School - Indian Trust Papers Ruined - Rustywire: Sunset - Government Lawyers - Poem: Whispers Undermined Trust Investigation - Poem: Pablo's Prayer - Archaeologists Pack up Townsend - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Marcos: Our Word Is Our Weapon =============== - Two Old Enemies GIVING BACK: Warily Extend Hands =============== - Cherokee Tribal History - Sharing and Caring Update Planned Important Indian Tradition - Tulalips Push for Tribal Bank - Navajo-Lakota Delegation - Penobscot Push to Sharing in Chiapas Define Sovereign Rights =============== - Campbell's Support of Gorton GIVING BACK! Raises Questions =============== - Idaho Senate: No Place for Squaw - No English Only in Indian Schools - Prison Retaliation - TU Professor Works to - Step into the Nightmare Save Euchee Language -- WHEN I GET OUT - Upcoming Events - Native Prisoner - Planning for International -- Email Ban Traditional Games -- Indian Inmates Suing Prisons - Native America Calling --------- "RE: Indian Trust Plaintiffs Optimistic" --------- Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 07:46:02 -0600 From: "John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate" Subj: (FWD)Indian News 02-06-2001 ----- Forwarded by John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate on 02/06/2001 07:49 AM Indian trust fund plaintiffs optimistic BY Greg Langlois 02/05/2001 PABLO, Mont. - Every year, tens of thousands of people try to sign up for tribal membership. The Cherokees get the most applications - about 19,000 annually. If you can prove you're related to one of the people listed on a tribal roll completed in 1906, you too can become a Cherokee. "It's cooler now to be an American Indian than it was 30 years ago," explained Mike Miller, a tribal spokesman. A generation ago, young American Indians were under pressure to assimilate into white society. Now the cultural winds have shifted. On Internet bulletin boards, men and women seek mates who are "FBI (full- blooded Indian) Mohawk" or "FBI Navajo." "Years ago, when I was young, people were ashamed to be Indian," said Stephen Small Salmon, a part-time actor and full-blood member of the Pend d'Oreille. "Now you look at some of these people who claim to be Indian. I see white people dancing like Indians. They drum like Indians. An Indian person is somebody today." Small Salmon doesn't bother hiding his resentment. The "new Indians," as he calls those who embrace their heritage later in life, are able to move back and forth between the white and Indian worlds. They didn't pay the emotional toll their darker cousins faced. Now those same people might be declared just as "Indian" as he is. Small Salmon thinks this is unfair. "If I have one drop of white blood," he said, "that doesn't make me white. Right?" --------- "RE: Indian Trust Papers Ruined" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 06:00:54 -0800 (PST) From: Paul Pureau Subj: Indian trust papers ruined Mailing List: ndn-aim Indian trust papers ruined, letters indicate By Bill McAllister Denver Post Washington Bureau Chief Feb. 16, 2001 - WASHINGTON - At least one box of documents that may be needed by investigators attempting to reconstruct trust accounts for thousands of American Indians has been destroyed by workers at the Federal Reserve Bank in Denver, according to letters obtained by The Denver Post. The destruction, which violates court orders and Treasury Department directives, apparently occurred in October or November 1999, but it was not reported until this week, according to the letters. Dennis Gingold, a former Denver lawyer who is the lead attorney for the Indians, said the destruction was the latest in a series of incidents that had prompted a federal judge to issue contempt citations against two cabinet secretaries in the Clinton administration. "It's a serious problem," Gingold said. "We're learning of documents being destroyed every day." The document destruction is the latest twist in a massive four-year lawsuit filed by the Colorado-based Native American Rights Fund that demands that the government provide a full accounting of the billions of dollars it holds in trust accounts for more than 300,000 American Indians. Because trust records have been poorly or improperly kept, the government cannot reconcile the individual accounts and may owe the Indians as much as $10 billion, lawyers have said. Neither Gingold nor other lawyers involved in the case could say what the documents destroyed in Denver included. One government official, who declined to be named, said that the Justice Department had no reason to believe that trust records were among the documents destroyed in Denver. Gingold said, however, that bank records are crucial to the ongoing investigation because they should include records of any payments that the government has made to the 300,000 Indians who have government trust accounts. Carl M. Gambs, senior vice president and manager of the Denver Fed, declined to discuss the incident. He referred inquiries to the Justice Department. Officials there also declined to comment. In a letter dated Wednesday, Walter T. Eccard of the Bureau of the Public Debt, a Treasury Department agency, informed the Justice Department of the bureau's discovery of the destruction in Denver. "Treasury is quite concerned about this incident," Eccard said, promising a detailed description of what happened. In July 1999, Treasury officials had warned all Federal Reserve banks in the nation not to destroy any records that may be related to a massive lawsuit over the trust accounts. Since then, Gingold and others have learned of records being destroyed at several banks. Those discoveries apparently have triggered a nationwide audit at all federal reserve banks to discover whether other records also may have been lost. It was apparently this effort that prompted the discovery this week about the Denver destruction. Lawyers for the Indians have complained that continued destruction is proof of the federal government's bad faith. By the government's testimony, the accounts are so mismanaged that it's impossible to know their proper balances. Government attorneys have maintained it will take years to reconcile the accounts. Some of them date back as far as 1887 when Congress passed a law designed to make Indians financially independent by giving them 80- to 160-acre tracts of lands. The government was supposed to act as trustee for monies raised from the sale of oil and other minerals on those lands. Copyright 2001 The Denver Post. All rights reserved. ===== Paul Pureau to subscribe to ndn-aim send a blank mail to: ndn-aim-subscribe@egroups.com ndn-aim is now archived on line at Http://www.escribe.com/life/ndn-aim/ FREE PELTIER NOW! STOP ETHNIC CLEANSING OF THE LAKOTA! --------- "RE: Government Lawyers Undermined Trust Investigation" --------- Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 07:24:46 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRUST INVESTIGATOR" Court official says government lawyers have undermined investigation 4.29 p.m. ET (2145 GMT) February 13, 2001 By Matt Kelley, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The court-appointed official investigating record keeping for billions of dollars of American Indians' money contends that government lawyers have insulted him and tried to thwart his inquiry. In a letter to the Justice Department official in charge of the Indian Trust Fund case, Washington lawyer Alan Balaran said Justice and Interior Department lawyers "have reportedly gone to great lengths to malign me both personally and professionally." Balaran oversees and investigates problems with record keeping for a system of federal accounts holding proceeds from oil drilling and other uses of Indian lands. The more than 300,000 Indians who have accounts are suing the government, contending that mismanagement for more than a century cost them more than $10 billion. Balaran did not name the government lawyers in the Jan. 31 letter to Phillip Brooks, but he said they have questioned his ability to read, compared his work to that of a TV detective and falsely said he had never practiced law. Brooks told Balaran in a Feb. 2 letter that Justice Department officials "dispute your perception" that they are trying to undermine the investigation. The Justice Department didn't return calls seeking comment on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth held former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in contempt of court in 1999 for problems in turning over account records. Lamberth appointed Balaran to act as the court's supervisor of the government's attempts to gather and preserve the account records. Balaran repeatedly has cited Interior and Treasury for violating court orders, including waiting for months to notify Lamberth about the inadvertent destruction of records and keeping files in a trash heap on a North Dakota reservation. He announced on Monday that he was launching a formal probe of the Interior Department's Office of Trust Records, which was formed to handle the records involved in the lawsuit. Balaran also plans to investigate the possible destruction of records by officials at the Northern Cheyenne reservation in Montana. Bureau of Indian Affairs officials have denied that any records were destroyed. Balaran asked government lawyers to tell federal workers they are free to talk to him at any time. He wrote that "at least one employee described a palpable fear'' of retaliation for "reporting management's failure to publish site-visit reports that described less than ideal conditions." "I will not tolerate what I consider to be a transparent attempt to undermine the court's orders and I will not accept the conduct of any official who creates an environment where employees fear reprisal simply for contacting my office," Balaran wrote. In response, Brooks told Balaran that "this is neither the time nor the place to address these matters in detail." "I can, however, assure you that every member of this litigation team has been, and remains, committed to assisting you in the timely and efficient accomplishment of your responsibilities," Brooks wrote. Copyright c. 2001 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Archaeologists Pack up Townsend" --------- Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 22:22:11 -0500 From: Donna Subj: Archaeologists pack up Townsend dig >From TN AIM : ------------------------------- Archaeologists pack up Townsend dig 2001-02-17 by Iva Butler of The Daily Times Staff As archaeologists pack up and move off the Native American dig site in Townsend, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has been asked to stop any and all construction work until a protest from the tribes can be resolved. The National Advisory Council on Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C., received a letter from James Bird, the cultural director of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians, asking the council to intervene. They request that the FHWA reevaluate the site and have the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places make a determination on its eligibility as a historic site. In seeking the council's intervention, Bird stated, "The case appears irredeemably tainted by personal and political agenda to the detriment of the heritage resources in the project area." Bird said the Tennessee State Historic Preservation Office (TNSHPO), the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) and the FHWA "have largely bypassed the spirit of the NHPA (National Historic Preservation Act) in their attempts to push the completion of the highway project on an accelerated schedule." He also stated that, thus far, 33 burials plus a mortuary with 25 interments -- for a total of 58 burials -- have been found on the site. "The impending abandonment of the data recovery efforts guarantees that a large number of human interments will remain unidentified and subject to destruction in the road-building process," Bird said. Sundquist linked Bird, who is also the tribal historic preservation officer for the Eastern Band, linked the effort to speed up the project to Gov. Don Sundquist. "Much public controversy has arisen lately that notes Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist's purchase of 10 acres of property in the Townsend area, his partnership in Townsend area businesses and his planned retirement to Townsend have increased the urgency of the highway project completion timeline," Bird said. "These circumstances invoke concern for a conflict of interest." He also said people involved in decision-making, "TNSHPO and the state archaeologist, answer to the governor." In addition to Bird, the organization of United Southern and Eastern Tribes expressed to the advisory council "serious concern about FHWA's treatment of this significant historic property." Advisory council letter Bird's charges led to the advisory council mailing a letter Monday to Mark Doctor of the Nashville FHWA office, said Laura Dean, program analyst for the advisory council. "The letter asked FHWA to have their applicant (TDOT) stop any and all work at the site until we can get the situation resolved," Dean said. At the second of two consultation meetings held in Nashville on the dig, Don Klima, director of planning and review for the advisory council, "asked FHWA to reevaluate the eligibility of that archaeological site for listing on the National Register of Historic Places," Dean said. The site already meets one criteria for this designation, she added. Initially the site was thought to be of value only for research, but Bird disputes this. He said that the FHWA has not sent the advisory council any information about the site since the March 30 consultation meeting. Rich archaeological find Bird said the site is much richer in archaeology than was first thought. A fortified village dating to 1200 A.D. that was occupied by unknown Native Americans was discovered, along with pottery from the 1600s and 1700s, when the Cherokee had villages all the way along Little River. Former Cherokee winter and summer houses have been discovered. Pottery from 300-500 B.C. has been uncovered, as well as grooved ax heads from 500 B.C. to 500 A.D. The oldest items are pit features that date back to 2000 B.C. In the letter to Doctor, the advisory council requested that the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places make a determination on whether the site meets other criteria under the preservation act. Bird said FHWA is depicting it as a burial site, but in fact it is a village site with burials. He said this could ultimately mean more archaeological work needs to be done. Dean said, "FHWA did take another look a the site, but they involved the state historic preservation office and did not involve the tribes. "The site clearly has value to the tribes. It is of religious and cultural significance to them, so they should have been involved in the reevaluation," she said. However, the advisory council is only an advisory group and can't order FHWA to do anything. "We don't have any preservation police," Dean explained. "We would hope FHWA would respond favorably to our request and take the steps to resolve this in an agreeable manner." Concern over security Even though the UT Center for Transportation Research is packing up, the state wants them to keep some people at the site during the day for security purposes. Charles "Chuck" Bentz, head of the transportation center, said the archaeologists will not remove the black plastic that covers much of the excavated area at this time. The 58 grave sites, which the Cherokee have indicated they do not want moved even if the road goes directly over them, are under the plastic in different areas. The Cherokee did not bury their dead in graveyards, but beside or under their homes, so the graves are dispersed between five archaeological sites. An FHWA proposal to cover the graves with concrete pads is being considered, but that is yet to be finalized in what is called a memorandum of agreement. Bentz said artifact hunters will not be allowed on the site, even when the archaeological dig is completed. He said he plans "to ask the state for permission to continue processing the 1,000 to 2,000 bags of dirt currently in the greenhouse." This would involve running water through the soil and screening it to recover any artifacts. Carl "Two-Feathers" Weathers, head of the Native American Indian Movement (NAIM), said he is worried about the security at the site. "NAIM will have people stationed at designated places to watch the sites and call the police if they see any looting," he said. "When those trailers are gone, the artifact hunters will be diving right in. They'll want a piece of history. "Our graves will be left unprotected," he concluded. --------- "RE: Marcos: Our Word Is Our Weapon" --------- Date: Wed, 7 Feb 2001 07:08:11 -0600 (CST) From: owner-chiapas95@eco.utexas.edu (Chiapas95) Subj: Our Word Is Our Weapon:Selected Writings of Marcos,Feb This message is forwarded to you by the editors of the Chiapas95 newslists. To contact the editors or to submit material for posting send to: . ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: RebelGrasshopper@aol.com http://www.sfbg.com/lit/feb01/reviews.html Our Word Is Our Weapon: Selected Writings of Subcomandante Marcos Edited by Juana Ponce de Leo'n. Seven Stories Press, 512 pages, $27.95. By Camille T. Taiara As the clock struck midnight on Jan. 1, 1994, 3,000 indigenous men and women emerged from the highlands of Chiapas in southern Mexico equipped with black ski masks, a smattering of arms, and fake guns made of wood. Within hours they had captured six large towns. The rebellion, they explained, was timed to concur with the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which signified a death sentence for the natives of Chiapas, whose lands contain vast reserves of oil, uranium, and exotic timber. Their demands were simple: Nothing for us, everything for everybody. Using a minimum of violence and exploiting the possibilities for unfettered communication offered by the World Wide Web, the Eje'rcito Zapatista Liberacio'n Nacional (EZLN) has since provided an indispensable model for the struggle against neoliberal globalization that has galvanized popular imagination the world round. Now, seven years into the Zapatista revolt, Seven Stories Press has released Our Word Is Our Weapon, the most comprehensive collection of writings by EZLN spokesman Subcomandante Marcos to date. A modern-day Che Guevara who gave up the comfort of urban academic life for a harsh existence among the disenfranchised, poverty-stricken indigenous communities of Mexico's southernmost state, Marcos writes with unhindered passion, poetic lyricism, and a refreshing dose of humor. In the opening chapter of Our Word he provides intimate character descriptions of a dozen comrades-in-arms - Tzotzil, Tzeltal, and Chol women commanders, soldiers, and nurses who led the EZLN's midnight offensive - and the road that led them to rebellion. What follows is a hundred chapters' worth of incisive socioeconomic analyses of Mexico and its subservient status vis-a`-vis its northern neighbor; communique's to the federal government and the press; speeches; philosophical entreaties; letters to the likes of Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Eduardo Galeano; age-old regional fables rife with symbolism; and humorous, personal accounts of daily life as a Zapatista. In keeping with the Zapatista struggle, Our Word Is Our Weapon is the end result of a five-year-long collective effort among half a dozen contributors and countless activists. Seven Stories Press's Greg Ruggiero and editor Juana Ponce de Leo'n took meticulous care in ensuring a loyal translation of Marcos's writings, even traveling to Chiapas on two separate occasions. The work includes comprehensive footnotes explaining historical references in the texts, as well as a detailed timeline of events, forewords by de Leo'n and renowned Portuguese writer Jose' Saramago (winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998), and an afterword by media activist and reporter Ana Carrigan, in which she provides a historical analysis of the EZLN. The end result is a book that is as useful for novices to the Zapatista struggle as it is for those who have followed the EZLN's every move with care ever since the Zapatistas first began covering their faces in order to be seen. Our Word has earned the highest of accolades from such renowned social critics, writers, and historians as Howard Zinn, Alice Walker, Mike Davis, Eduardo Galeano, Zack de la Rocha, Kurt Vonnegut, and Marti'n Espada. And indeed, Our Word Is Our Weapon is a literary masterpiece that provides an invaluable lens into the Zapatista cosmos and one of the most remarkable minds of our time. _______________________________________________ Chiapas-L mailing list Chiapas-L@burn.ucsd.edu http://burn.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/chiapas-l --------- "RE: Two Old Enemies Warily Extend Hands" --------- Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 07:24:46 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ENEMIES" Two old enemies warily extend hands across the 60th parallel Dene, Inuit pledge friendship, even as First Nations seek expanded rights in Nunavut. February 9, 2001 JANE GEORGE Nunatsiaq News IQALUIT - Inuit and Dene have agreed to talk. It's a simple understanding, but one that means very different things to the parties involved. On Jan. 23, Inuit and the Dene leaders of bands from northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan issued a communique' saying they would "work together in a spirit of friendship and cooperation." In this short release, the Sayisi Dene of Manitoba and the Northlands First Nation of Saskatchewan, along with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. and the Kivalliq Inuit Association, agreed to work towards the signing of a "treaty of friendship and co-operation." The groups agreed to meet again in three months. But Inuit are still uneasy over how to deal with the nations' joint claim to lands in Nunavut. "They're looking at a big pie," said NTI president Paul Quassa about the Dene interest in Nunavut. Quassa said the Dene are probably eyeing more than hunting rights in Nunavut. The Nunavut land claim's agreement's articles 40 and 41 already affirm reciprocal hunting and fishing rights for Dene and Inuit on each other's lands. In fact, Quassa suspects the Dene are lobbying the federal government to have some part of Nunavummiut's selected lands. But Quassa said NTI won't budge on its constitutionally guaranteed land rights. "If they [the Dene] want something, they'll have to give us the same thing," Quassa said. The Dene traditionally hunted, trapped and fished in the lands just below the tree line, which are now in Nunavut. Likewise, the Inuit who now live in the communities of Arviat and Rankin Inlet often ventured into Manitoba. No one is denying the traditional joint-use of the land in question by both Inuit and Dene, although the Dene place more emphasis on it. According to Ila Bussidor, chief of the Sayisi Dene, everyone needs to remember that the existing political borders were imposed on native peoples. "For hundred of years our people respected each other because it was known the land was part of the people," Bussidor said. "It didn't belong to anyone, but was created by God for the use of the Dene and Inuit in general." Bussidor said Dene want to work "nation to nation" with Inuit, drawing on their compassion and sense of kinship as native peoples, perhaps, to gain what the federal government isn't willing to give. The Sayisi Dene, in particular, have had a rough deal. Relocated in the 1950s to Churchill, Man., around a third of the band died due to wretched conditions. They returned 25 years ago to Tadoule Lake, but there, unemployment and social problems hound the 650 or so remaining band members. A treaty with the federal government defines the Dene's aboriginal land rights in Manitoba. Treaty 8 was signed in the late 1800s, and extinguished their claim to lands south of 60. In 1993 the Dene lost a bid to have their rights included in the Nunavut land claims agreement. They then filed at least two court cases against the federal government These outstanding legal challenges have been thrown into what's called case management, a kind of mediation, which is supposed to reconcile the two parties. It involves only the federal government and the Dene. And due to their strict confidentiality agreement, Inuit and officials from Nunavut and Manitoba are in the dark as to what exactly is on the table. With negotiations cloaked in secrecy, everyone is left wondering what more the Dene could want - perhaps land, or maybe a cut in a future mineral-development projects. Manitoba's minister of native affairs, Eric Robinson, who is also the MLA for Churchill, still views the move towards more official dialogue between Dene and Inuit as a positive step. Good relations between the two groups could be essential for achieving some of the goals set by both Nunavut and Manitoba, which include closer economic links and, eventually, the construction of a power grid and road that would necessarily pass through Dene land. The KIA has a good deal of interest in learning more about what the Dene's intentions in the Kivalliq are. An open dialogue, said KIA president Paul Kaludjak, won't hurt. "We told them the door is not shut, the door is open," Kaludjak said. Copyright c. 2001 Nunatsiaq News. --------- "RE: Cherokee Tribal History Update Planned" --------- Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 07:13:09 -0600 From: "John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate" Subj: (FWD)Indian News 02-15-2001 ----- Forwarded by John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate on 02/15/2001 07:17 AM Tribal history update planned The Cherokees want to showcase aspects of their history after the "Trail of Tears." By ROB MARTINDALE Tulsa World 2/14/01 TAHLEQUAH -- Cherokee scholars came to their tribal nation's capital Tuesday to help start the planning process for a permanent exhibit to highlight the tribe's history since the 1830s "Trail of Tears." "The post-Trail of Tears era is a phenomenal story of achievement, suppression and rebuilding," said Cherokee historian Rennard Strickland, dean of the School of Law at the University of Oregon. When the Cherokees arrived in Indian Territory in 1838-39 at the end of the Trail of Tears they had suffered from losing at least a third of their population and all of their possessions, Strickland said. Although strangers in their new country, the tribe within only 15 years had moved into what historians called "The Golden Age of the Cherokees." The Cherokees, Strickland noted, constructed the male and female seminary, the first collegiate-level institution by any Indian tribe, and moved into a sound agriculture-based economy. These and other stories, plus the names of Cherokee leaders and those tribal members who gained national reputations, could be made a part of the permanent exhibit. "It's not just for the Cherokee Nation. It is for all of Oklahoma," said Rayna Green, Native American Indian Studies director for the Smithsonian Institution, who came from Washington. Green designed a Trail of Tears exhibit for the Smithsonian. She has done extensive research on what Cherokee artifacts are available through the Smithsonian, other museums and in private collections. The exhibit is being planned by the Cherokee National Historical Society through the Cherokee Heritage Center, which is independent of the Cherokee Nation. The After the Trail exhibit is being sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Duane King, a Cherokee language expert and director of the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles, said the eastern Cherokees in North Carolina have a post-Trail of Tears exhibit which has developed into an annual tourist attraction. King has served as curator at the Cherokee Museum in North Carolina as well as the Cherokee Heritage Center. Officials at the Cherokee Heritage Center said they hope to open their exhibit on May 12. In the 1830s, Cherokees and other members of the Five Civilized Tribes were forced at Army gunpoint across the Trail of Tears from their homelands in the Southeast to what is now Oklahoma. In the Golden Age, Strickland noted, the Cherokees were pulled into the Civil War, and in 1898 the federal government thought it had closed down the Cherokee Nation. The tribal lands were put up for allotment in the early 1900s and the president appointed the chief of the Cherokees from 1906 until 1970, the author and- or editor of 35 books said. "The tribe in many respects goes underground, but re-creates itself, literally. As you know, the Phoenix is the symbol for the Cherokees. It was the title of their original newspaper." The tribe kept re-creating itself, Strickland said, "until this time when you have an immensely successful tribe that is providing social services, its own leadership, a new kind of education." --------- "RE: Tulalips Push for Tribal Bank" --------- Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 21:44:54 -0800 (PST) From: Martha Elizabeth Ture Subj: Tulalips push for tribal bank Mailing List: TRIBALLAW (triballaw@thecity.sfsu.edu) Exclusive Reports >From the February 9, 2001 print edition Tulalips push for tribal bank Seek to control own resources George Erb Staff Writer The first Native American bank in Washington state could take shape in the Snohomish County city of Marysville, where the Tulalip Tribes have solicited proposals for starting a tribal bank. The Tulalips have received a written response and fielded several inquiries since issuing a request for proposals late last year, said John McCoy, executive director of governmental affairs for the tribes. Tribal officials are still accepting proposals. "We've seen other tribes do it," McCoy said of a tribal bank. "We're interested in it." The Tulalip initiative comes as Northwest tribes, long frustrated by the difficulty in getting loans on the reservation, are talking more and more about starting their own banks, tribal economic development officials say. Native American banks would be more familiar with tribal sovereignty and might be more willing to loan money to individuals and businesses on reservations, they say. The notion of starting tribal banks is also gaining favor on reservations where casinos and other successful businesses are generating new wealth for tribal enterprises and members. A tribe with its own bank might be able to finance its own projects and use the bank to invest elsewhere. "The tribes that are more successful, with more resources and revenues - I'm sure they are looking for ways to invest their resources," said Ralph Honhongva, regional vice president of the Northwest Native American Business Development Center in Seattle. Still, tribes that are making a lot of money from casinos and other business ventures represent a minority of Washington tribes. On rural reservations, far from major cities and highways, tribes often struggle with high jobless rates, little business activity and decrepit infrastructure. "There are tribes that still have a significant way to go - a long ride," said Mark Ufkes, executive director of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Economic Development Corp., based in Shoreline. "There is still a considerable lack of economic opportunity in many of the tribal communities." The Tulalips are particularly entrepreneurial and are blessed by their location three miles north of Everett, with its easy access to Interstate 5. The tribes have a casino and are developing Quil Ceda Village, a business park just west of Interstate 5 between 88th and 116th streets northeast, near Marysville. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville, Ark., and Home Depot of Atlanta have leased sites in the business park. The Tulalips started thinking about forming a tribal bank because of the revenues the tribe is getting from its existing business ventures, along with the prospect of additional revenues from the development of its 2, 000-acre business park. "We're always exploring ways to get the best return for our investment," said McCoy, the tribes' executive director of governmental affairs. "It's all part of self government." The Tulalips asked the banking industry to propose ways of establishing a tribal bank, leaving open such questions as who would be the majority owner, who would provide the start-up capital and what kind of services the bank would offer. Capital requirements for new banks are established by the federal government and expressed in ratios of assets to capital, said Mike Abe, a program manager with the state Department of Financial Institutions. A new bank in its first three years must have capital that represents at least 8 percent of its assets. The department does not have a minimum capital requirement as expressed by a dollar amount, although the agency would be less likely to issue a charter for a bank with less than $3 million in start-up capital, Abe said. Tribes and tribal organizations have ventured into lending in recent years, but no tribe has gone so far as to establish its own tribal bank, economic development officials say. The Tulalips since the late 1980s have accumulated nearly 5 percent of the stock in First Heritage Bank, a Snohomish-based bank with five branches, including one in Marysville. The bank does business with the tribe and its members. The Puyallup Tribe is one of 11 tribes nationwide that have promised to invest at least $1 million in the Native American National Bank, a proposed wholesale bank that would loan money to tribal governments and enterprises. At least two Eastern Washington tribes have started credit unions - the Yakama Nation in Toppenish and the Colville Confederated Tribes in Nespelem. The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, with offices in Portland and Shoreline, is setting up a revolving loan fund that would loan money for economic development projects to smaller tribes that are trying to develop tribal enterprises. The fund now has about $500,000, mostly because of a grant from the Economic Development Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce. Officials with the affiliated tribes are also talking to other prospective investors. Even though the agency has yet to write a check, the affiliated tribes already has $700,000 in loan applications from Northwest tribes. "There is a significant need for capital in Indian Country," said Ufkes, executive director of the agency's economic development corporation. Reach George Erb at 206-447-8505 ext. 116 or gerb@bizjournals.com. Copyright 2001 American City Business Journals Inc. --------- "RE: Penobscot Push to Define Sovereign Rights" --------- Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2001 10:37:24 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PENOBSCOT SOVEREIGNTY" Sunday, February 18, 2001 Tribes' push to define sovereign rights comes to head By PETER POCHNA, Portland Press Herald Writer The Penobscot Indians had their first contact with Europeans in 1604, when French explorer Samuel de Champlain is said to have visited their lands along the Penobscot River. The Indians and the people who settled the land that became Maine have had trouble getting along ever since. The 1700s were marked by wars that pitted the Indians and the settlers against each other. In the 1800s, cholera contracted from settlers decimated the tribe's population. This centuries-old clash of cultures continues in 2001. A legal battle now under way in state and federal court that pits Maine's Indian tribes against the state and some paper companies could establish critical precedents for the rights of the tribes to govern themselves. The case has wide-ranging ramifications not only for the tribes, but for many towns and businesses in central and northern Maine. At stake are such matters as the cleanliness of the Penobscot River, Maine's second largest river, as well as rights of businesses and towns to have a say in how their water discharges are regulated. The importance of the legal clash was apparent this week when about 200 people, mostly tribal members, attended a Maine Supreme Court hearing on the matter in Portland. "What we are really fighting for is to maintain our culture," said John Banks, the director of natural resources for the Penobscots. "For years the state has not given us the respect we deserve." The paper companies, and the 30 or so businesses and towns with which they are aligned, say they are fighting for something important as well. "We do not want them to be able to adopt regulations that affect us without our participation," said Matthew Manahan, an attorney with Pierce Atwood in Portland who represents the coalition of businesses and towns. "This is a pretty fundamental tenet of our democracy." The conflict has gained the attention of tribes from around the country. The National Congress of Native Americans has adopted a resolution in support of the Maine tribes. "We are supporting our brothers who have been subjected to this kind of bad treatment by the state, the paper companies and the courts," said Alma Ransom, one of three chiefs of the Mohawk Nation of New York and a vice president of the congress. While the case has national attention, the conflict comes down to issues that are unique to Maine. The state has a relationship with its tribes unlike any other state in the union. The relationship historically has left Maine tribes with fewer sovereign rights than tribes in other states. The tribes hope that with this case they can regain rights of self- government that they say should never have been taken away from them. On one side of the legal battle is the state of Maine and three paper companies - Great Northern Paper Inc., Georgia Pacific Corp. and Champion International Corp. Aligned with the paper companies, though not named in the lawsuit, are 23 municipalities, such as Brewer, Orono and Millinocket, that have water discharges in or near Indian territories. On the other side are Maine's four tribes the Penobscots, the Passamaquoddies, the Micmacs and the Maliseets. The Micmacs and the Maliseets are not named in the legal action, but are actively supporting the other two tribes. The four tribes together have about 4,500 members in Maine. Their territory covers more than 200,000 acres. The matter before the state Supreme Court is whether the tribes are subject to Maine's Freedom of Access Act. The case stems from a broader dispute over the regulation of water quality near tribal lands. The state wants to take over all water-quality regulations within its bounds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a move the paper companies welcome to reduce red tape. The tribes, which say that the paper companies have too much influence with state officials, want the EPA to continue supervising waters near reservations. The EPA is considering the matter. The areas in question include Passamaquoddy land on the coast near Eastport and Penobscot land along the Penobscot River near Orono. As part of the dispute, the paper companies asked the tribes in May to turn over tribal documents regarding water regulation, citing the Freedom of Access Act. State Superior Court Justice Robert Crowley in September ordered the tribes to turn over the documents. They refused. They claim Crowley's ruling undermines their status as sovereign nations. Crowley subsequently cited three tribal leaders for contempt of court and ordered them to jail. The tribes held off turning over the documents and going to jail by appealing Crowley's decision to the Maine Supreme Court. At the core of the dispute is the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement of 1980. This act defines the relationship between the state and the tribes. Attorneys for both sides say that in some areas the settlement is vague. The way the courts resolve the current dispute could go a long way toward resolving the lack of clarity and determining how much governmental authority the tribes possess. "We were hopeful in 1980 that the settlement would promote a more cooperative relationship," said Mark Chavaree, a member of the Penobscot tribe and the tribe's staff attorney. "Unfortunately it has been more confrontational." The settlement itself emerged from a confrontation that festered for nearly a decade. In 1972, the tribes filed a lawsuit against the state claiming that the state owed them 12.5 million acres of land and a billion dollars in trespassing fees because settlers had swindled the tribes out of their land in the 1700s. The settlement act - approved by Congress - resolved the matter by giving the tribes $54.5 million to buy land, as well as $27 million for a trust fund. It also set forth when the tribes are subject to state regulations, and when they can act like an independent nation. While some states - like Arizona and New Mexico - treat tribes primarily as though they are independent nations, the tribes in Maine have historically been regulated by the state. The land claims settlement determined that the tribes are still subject to state laws, except in regard to internal matters such as tribal elections, finances and child welfare. The current legal conflict essentially hinges on the definition of "internal tribal matters." The land claims settlement doesn't define the phrase. The tribes claim that the documents the paper companies requested amount to an internal tribal matter, because they are related to regulation of the Penobscot River. "The health of that river affects the health and welfare of our people," said Banks. "That's an internal tribal matter." But the paper companies and municipalities say that how the river is regulated affects them, and is therefore not an internal matter. They fear that if EPA retains authority over the tribes' waters, it will give more regulatory authority to the tribes. Their concern is based on the fact that the EPA has granted authority to 18 tribes around the country to regulate waters near their lands. The tribes could enact tougher water quality standards than either the EPA or the state. That could cost the towns and businesses a lot of money. In a case in New Mexico in 1996, the City of Albuquerque sued to get out from under water regulations a local tribe enacted. The city claimed the regulations would require a $250 million upgrade to the city's water discharge system. The city lost the case, and had to make the improvements. "I think the (Land Claims Settlement) is quite clear on this," said Manahan. "This is not an internal matter." As far as the state is concerned, the critical issue is maintaining the historical relationship between Maine and the tribes. As William Stokes, an assistant attorney general for the state, said, that comes down to ensuring that "every citizen in the state is subject to the same set of laws." The conflict will be decided in the next few months on three different levels. The state Supreme Court will issue its decision on whether Justice Crowley was correct in ordering the tribes to turn over documents related to water regulation. A federal appeals court will rule on whether the state court even has jurisdiction over the conflict, and if it should be sent over to federal court. And the EPA will decide whether to turn over regulation of water quality on Indian lands to the state. The EPA on Jan. 12 determined that the state had authority over water regulation everywhere else in the state. It held off on the matter of Indian lands. The tribes anxiously await the decisions. "If the Freedom of Access law applies to us, it takes away part of our culture," said Richard Doyle, tribal governor of the Passamaquoddy. "They are trying to put us in a great melting pot that we have resisted for centuries because our culture is unique. We have a right to exist in our cultural ways." Staff Writer Peter Pochna can be contacted at 791-6329 or at ppochna@pressherald.com Copyright c. Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. --------- "RE: Campbell's Support of Gorton Raises Questions" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 05:29:23 -0800 (PST) From: Paul Pureau Subj: Campbell's support of Gorton raises questions Mailing List: Our Red Earth Indianz.Com http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/Headlines/showfull.asp?ID=pol/2162001-1 Campbell's support of Gorton raises questions FEBRUARY 16, 2001 In a move which has many in Indian Country wondering where Ben Nighthorse Campbell's priorities lie, the only Native American in the Senate has endorsed a letter urging President George W. Bush to nominate Slade Gorton for a federal judgeship. Already under fire for defending fellow Coloradan and controversial Interior Secretary Gale Norton -- whom a majority of Native Americans in a recent survey said would be "harmful" to tribes -- Campbell was one of 48 Republican Senators who signed a February 1 letter in support of the defeated former Washington Senator. But its the one GOP member who didn't sign it, as well as his explanation for not doing so, which has many worried. According to his spokesperson, Senator John McCain (R-Ariz) declined to sign the letter because he disagrees with Gorton on a number of issues affecting tribes. Representing a state which includes most of the Navajo Nation and a number other tribes, McCain has been considered a friend to Indian Country. Gorton, on the other hand, has long been viewed as a foe. During his tenure in the Senate, Gorton introduced bills which would have abrogated tribal sovereign immunity, changed trust land acquisition processes in order to benefit non-Indians, and forced tribes to collect state tax from non-Indian customers of Indian businesses. Now seemingly placed in the middle is Campbell. Up for re-election in 2003, the two-term Senator has a long record of lobbying on behalf of tribes in his state and elsewhere. And unlike Gorton, most of Campbell's bills are successfully enacted into law. Gorton has slipped out of the spotlight since losing the race to freshman Senator Maria Cantwell (D-Wash) last November by only 2,229 votes. He was rumored to be in consideration for the Secretary of Interior position as well as a top spot in the Department of Justice but was passed over by the Bush administration. Now, as Ron Allen, Chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe of Washington puts it, he's looking for "a place to land." Allen was one of several tribal leaders who launched an unprecedented million-dollar media and public relations campaign against Gorton last fall. "Slade Gorton is a politician first and foremost," said Allen. "There's no question his career is alive and well. He's not done." Its where he ends up, though, which could be troubling to tribes. His fellow Republicans, itchy for a conservative to sit on the bench, are asking Bush to nominate him to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals or the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. With three vacancies, the 9th Circuit hears a number of cases involving tribes. Gorton isn't all that unfamiliar with the court either and as Washington's Attorney General in the 1970s, he fought tribes in his state all the way to the Supreme Court in an historic treaty rights case. He ended up losing the case but might be able to have a say in it soon enough. Seeking to protect their treaty rights, Washington's tribes have filed suit against the state and although the case is only at the federal district court level, it could up before Gorton. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals also has three vacancies and hears cases involving tribes. The court recently threw out an appeal challenging Sandia Pueblo's claim to the Sandia Mountains in New Mexico. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer declined to comment on a possible judgeship for Gorton. Copyright c. Indianz.Com 2000-2001. ===== Paul Pureau to subscribe to ndn-aim send a blank mail to: ndn-aim-subscribe@egroups.com ndn-aim is now archived on line at Http://www.escribe.com/life/ndn-aim/ FREE PELTIER NOW! STOP ETHNIC CLEANSING OF THE LAKOTA! Thank you for your participation at Our Red Earth. --------- "RE: Idaho Senate: No Place for Squaw" --------- Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 07:46:36 -0600 From: "John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate" Subj: (FWD)Indian News 02-14-2001 ----- Forwarded by John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate on 02/14/2001 07:50 AM Idaho Senate says no place for 'squaw' in place names Measure to help fight state's racist image wins near-unanimous OK Betsy Z. Russell Spokesman-Review February 13, 2001 BOISE -- State senators cast a resounding vote Monday in favor of doing away with the derogatory word "squaw" in Idaho place names. There was only one dissenter. All of North Idaho's senators voted in favor of the resolution, which starts a process to identify places that should be renamed. The renaming is to be done by the state Historical Society, which already has a policy that place names shouldn't be degrading to any race, ethnic group, gender or religion. "I think it's worthy of our best efforts," said Sen. Ralph "Moon" Wheeler, R-American Falls, who sponsored the resolution in the Senate. "Idaho has a reputation of being racist. This is one of the few actions we can take that would speak volumes in terms of how we feel about other people and other cultures." Sen. Stan Hawkins, R-Ucon, who cast the dissenting vote, said he worries about costs to change signs, maps and legal descriptions. Said Wheeler, "Well, after hunting season, most of those signs need replacing anyway, so that shouldn't be a problem." More than 90 places in Idaho have the word in their names, Wheeler said. Sen. John Goedde, R-Coeur d'Alene, said, "I have a problem from the private-enterprise side -- businesses that are related to place names, such as Squaw Bay Resort. ... Is the (Indian) tribe willing to step forward and compensate them?" Wheeler said he thinks that might be a possibility if businesses are adversely affected. However, the legislation doesn't change private businesses' names. Wheeler told Goedde, "I'm confident that the renaming of that bay could provide a name that will be much more suitable to that beautiful north country of yours." The proposal to make the change came from all five of the state's recognized Indian tribes, led by the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. Chairman Ernie Stensgar, in a news release announcing the start of the tribes' push for the change, said: "The image of Idaho as a haven for racists is unfortunate. The state deserves better. This is an opportunity to help change that image, along with these vulgar and insulting place names. All women, Indian and non-Indian, are diminished by these names. In fact, all Idahoans are diminished." The idea won the unanimous support of the state's Indian Affairs Council, which Wheeler heads and which includes representatives of the state and the tribes. Wheeler said there is some debate about the origin of the word, which some contend comes from a word crudely referring to female genitalia, and others define variously as Indian woman, wife or whore. "Frankly, that really doesn't make a great deal of difference, what the origin was," Wheeler said. "What it means now is a very derogatory term and it is never used as a term of endearment. It's an obscene term." Maine, Montana, Minnesota and Oklahoma have enacted even stronger legislation, banning the use of the word in official place names. Idaho's legislation merely starts the process of re-examining the names. In Idaho, the Legislature is prevented by the state constitution from naming places itself. Sen. Mel Richardson, R-Idaho Falls, said he supported the resolution because "there are enough people that are offended by this we should probably do something about it." But the mostly-bald senator went on, "Are we going to change the Tetons? Some of us might be offended -- maybe we should change Mount Baldy at Sun Valley." Sen. Betsy Dunklin, D-Boise, responded, "It doesn't have anything to do with bald men and Mount Baldy. It's not the same level of offensiveness at all." She said she grew up thinking squaw just meant an Indian female, but she also grew up amid widespread racism that left many Americans unaware of the history of some of the language they routinely used. "It's time to be mature enough to say that our history isn't perfect," Dunklin said. "We have thousands of people of Indian extraction in this state who are hurt deeply by this continued slur upon their women. ... Now that we know, we ought to do better." The measure now heads to the House for final consideration. --------- "RE: Prison Retaliation" --------- Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 03:56:14 -0500 From: "Arthur MedicineEagle" Subj: Help is needed on this one Mailing List: ndn-aim I went to this place and they refused me access to speak with the chaplain,It seems interesting that they protect his behind so much.We could use a sleuth in this matter and dig up some dirt on this guy who is retaliating against prisoners.Please contact Julie in this matter ASAP..... Respectfully Arthur Medicine Eagle --- Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 21:31:49 -0600 From: "Julie" Subj: Retaliation I am in need of immediate assistance. My husband Philip has been moved to TLU-Segregation ("the hole"), because of the petition I posted online asking for the removal of the chaplain at Oshkosh Correctional. They have accused him of posting it since I added his name to my mine in the signature area. Philip was not even aware of the petition until I told him I had posted it. At that time, he asked me to mail him a copy of what it said. I sent him only the initial statement, which was confiscated by security. Apparently, security then pulled up the petition online, saw Philip's name, and locked him up for it. This ridiculous charge could potentially extend his mandatory release date up to 40 days. He is scheduled to be released on February 27th. This is a direct retaliation for all of the work and effort i have put in trying to help the men there fight for their religious freedom. I need help to find an attorney who can put a stop to this immediately. Philip did nothing. As his wife, I have every legal write to use his name. They are using this against him as a way of breaking up the group that Phil has worked so hard to keep together. He was not even allowed to see the packet I mailed to him until after he was locked away in the hole. Men at Oshkosh Correctional have no access to the Internet. So I don't know how they can see that he posted the petition. Please let me know as soon as possible of any person in this area who you think could help with this situation. This is just another instance of Native American inmates being denied their rights and discriminated against. Thank you, Julie Ward ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> To subscribe to this group,send an email to: ndn-aim-subscribe@egroups.com Archived on line at: http://www.eScribe.com FREE LEONARD PELTIER --------- "RE: Step into the Nightmare" --------- Date: Sat, 17 Feb 2001 23:30:32 -0500 From: "Kay Lee" Subj: STEP INTO THE NIGHTMARE So, prisoner's deserve whatever they get? The misery of two million people who live in prison has nothing to do with us? Well, think again, my friends, because this is the future we are creating for ourselves! STEP INTO THE NIGHTMARE NOTE: The introduction to the poem, Step into the Nightmare, was written by Standing Deer. The actual poem was written by his cellie, who had been traumatized by the high security units. Kay Lee ~*~**~*~*~ Fall, 1998 I know something about consuming High Security corrections. I spent some years in the Control Unit at Marion, Illinois -- the prototype of later High Security/Control Unit/Adjustment Center/Ad Seg/Administrative Maximum/ Special Handling Unit, man-made, hell-on-earth nightmares. I was sent to USP Marion in 1976 after being convicted of bank robbery. While there, I watched men's minds deteriorate and dissolve into madness. I nearly crossed that line myself. What do these severe terms of confinement do to the minds of the men? Does living in a cage smaller than your bathroom with constant harassment from guards reduce men to sniveling, quivering jellyfish -- like the parole board wants -- or are some of these prisoners harboring a seething rage, a hatred and lust for revenge so deep that citizens will have to pay with their lives when these men get out? The justification for the death penalty in some minds is "At least they can't kill again." But most of the men in High Security will get out. I do not suggest that all, or even most of those in High Security, will be driven to madness and terrorism. I don't even suggest that most of these men belong in High Security. I am saying that if the State of Texas has its way and builds eight of these things, there will be nearly 5,000 men subjected to this cruel and unusual punishment. If just one out of a thousand seeks revenge for his mistreatment when he gets out, and kills only one person, five Texans will die because of the blunders of their prisoncrats. To bring to the light the truth that High Security doesn't make men better--it simply makes them crazier -- I wrote an article in 1982 which included the poem "When I Get Out", written some 20 years ago by a convict who was in the Marion Control Unit with me in the late '70s. He was executed in 1992 by the State of Delaware, but not before he had killed 19 people. He is an example of the monsters that mind-torture creates, bought by big bucks spent on ever more sophisticated mind-control techniques used in legal, behavior-modification torture chambers. The poem is obviously the product of a totally deranged mind. I had to clean it up, cut out parts of it, and change some of the wording before I could include it. Even so, it still shocks and jolts the reader. "When I Get Out" and my original introduction to it have been published all over the world, including appearances in the books Cages of Steel, Criminal Injustice, Journal of Prisons, and in the intellectual publication, Issues in Radical Therapy. So when the editor of The Huntsville Item asked me for a guest column in December 1997, I cleaned up the 1982 piece with the poem and sent it in. Here is the poem. Listen carefully. You're about to step into the nightmare that prisoncrats have created in your name. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ WHEN I GET OUT When I get out the first thing I'm gonna do is get me a gun to protect myself from the police. Probably more than one gun because there's so many different kinds of police. Maybe a .460 Weatherby with a twelve-power scope for kings, dictators, presidents and popes. A .357 magnum for law enforcement officials in general, and a nice nine millimeter Browning High Power for just plain folks like you. When I get out I want to kill as many people as I can before they get me. I'd like to get the Queen Mother and the Pope and the President if I have the time. Remember when you cut off my eyelids by putting me in a sensory deprivation chamber in total darkness because I wanted to go to my mother's funeral? Remember when you chained me to a bed and beat on my feet with wooden paddles until they turned to blood and swelled up like basketballs? When I get out I'm going to spend the hatred you've taught me by becoming a mass murderer. And all you judges, jurypersons, cops, jailers and executioners can't stop me because it was you who murdered Charles Brooke and taught me that it's cool to kill. It was you who told me I lived in a free country as you ground your heel in my humanity and laughed at my pleas for dignity and spat on my manhood. It was you who dressed up in moon man suits beat me to the floor with clubs and drugged me with Prolixin because I couldn't stop calling my baby daughter's name when she left this world. So, in return of the lessons you have given me I'm going to teach you two things: First, that these sealed-tomb, tiger cages belong to you, Mr. & Mrs. America, and it is you who must accept the responsibility for what you and your hirelings have done to me. The second thing I'm going to teach you is something you should already know but don't act like you do, namely the Christians say "Do Unto Others, etc." the Buddhists say something about "What goes around comes around." In prison we simply say: Payback belongs to me when I get out. It won't be much longer. I'm counting the days. So, you better pray I don't find you, gentle reader, 'cause when I've paid my debt to society, society must pay its debt to me. When I get out ... ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ I never dreamed The Huntsville Item, which is read only by guards, Ku Klux Klan members, and other redneck types, would publish my piece with the poem. But on January 6, 1998, as I was sitting in my cage trying to talk to my cellie out of tattooing MAYHEM on his forehead, here comes Turd Head Red -- a runner at the law library -- with the January 6 edition of The Item. Turd was all out of breath as he handed me the paper with my piece in it. My cellie looked at me and said, "Oh shit." "Oh shit," I replied. So I packed my books and legal files and waited for the guards to gather me up. Three days later, on January 9, here they came, four deep -- two rushed me and handcuffed me behind my back while two began destroying my cage, pouring my legal files out on the floor and stealing everything pertaining to Leonard Peltier, political prisoners, my political files and notes and the draft of The Item piece, plus some books, Cages of Steel, Can't Jail the Spirit, With the Power of Justice in Our Eyes, and other titles. Before they throw you in the hole, they take you to the "infirmary" where a guard posing as a nurse takes your temperature and blood pressure to assure you are healthy enough for solitary confinement. They charge the victim $3 for this service and you have no choice but to go. My blood pressure was 276/148, a reading that means you have been dead for about a week, but the guard/nurse recorded it as 229/121 and claimed it was so high because I was scared of the guards. (Yeah, right! Hee, hee, hee. They really frightened me.) They tried to kill me by refusing me all blood pressure meds. I was held incommunicado without charge for 13 days (never mind their "Rules of Disciplinary Procedure", which says if a pre-trial detainee is held 10 days without a charge he'll be released.) They falsified my lock- up date from 1/9/98 to 1/13/98 in order to comply with the pre-hearing 10- day rule. The charge was "Threatening Capt. Pickett, other correctional officers, and public officials." The FBI laughed at it. The rules also say that in pre-trial hearing you will be allowed all your property. I couldn't even get a stamp, envelope, pencil, or sheet of paper out of my property even though I had tons of writing materials stored in a room about 10 feet from my cage. They had me where prisoners can't come, so nobody could slip me anything or smuggle a letter out. But through an extralegal resource I was able to get word out. Bonnie Kerness of the Control Unit Project of American Friends Service Committee was the first to post my situation on the internet, then Anna Dobbyn in San Antonio, Zoitista. So the cards and letters poured in, along with faxes and phone calls and telegrams. By March 26, 1998, I had received 1,600 letters, and people were calling the prison, faxing the warden and director and writing outraged letters. Whoever thinks that emergency responses are a waste of time and resources can argue with me because if it had not been for the Power of the People, I would be dead today. The authorities figured out how to tame my support. On February 4, they confiscated my legal files and political notes and began moving me from wing to wing for no apparent reason. Then they took my name away from me and on March 26, transferred me to Pack 1 Prison. My name must now be written as "Robert H. Wilson", even though my legal name is Standing Deer Wilson. What they accomplished by changing my name is that now they send all the mail coming to Estelle back to the sender without explanation. This makes all but the most dogged or experienced give up. When they call the warden at Estelle, he says "Wilson is no longer here", and when they call the warden at Pack 1, he says, "Who? Standing Deer? We have no such person!" And we thought we were slick! When they put me on a bus and brought me to Pack 1, I had none of my property, not envelopes, stamps, writing paper -- or any meds. My blood pressure med is Clonidine 0.02 mg three times a day, and if you abruptly cease taking it, you go into withdrawal and your blood pressure shoots sky high -- there are recorded deaths for not getting it. So I went into a blood pressure crisis with a reading of 276/148 and nearly died. The health care professional in the guise of a male nurse told me, "Nothing is an emergency. Put in a sick call request." This happened at 2 p.m. By luck I had an attorney phone call at 3 p.m. from Margaret Gold. When I told Margaret about the denial of Clonidine, she called the medical director and bared her fangs, so they got me to the clinic and put Clonidine and Anlodipine down me and just barely saved my life. The ACLU in Houston is now my good friend, and I've got a lot of help in Texas. On 90.1 FM radio at 9 p.m. every Friday night, "The Prison Show" airs with Ray Hill, an ex-prisoner, as the host. He said kind words about me for two weeks running and gained me more friends, so a whole bunch of folks will crawl down the prison's throat if they try to kill me again. Ted Koppel did four "Nightline" evenings from Estelle's new control unit. One evening he spent the night there to emphasize his journalistic dedication. Now he really knows what it's like to be thrown into a control unit with no company other than the camera crew, sound technicians, producer, director, and guards bringing pizza, coffee, cupcakes, and seeking autographs all night long! Koppel got dynamite interviews from Marta Glass, an ACLU volunteer, Debora Perkey, an ACLU attorney, and Ray Hill, but much of what they said came out of Ted Koppel's mouth live as if he said it. That Friday night Ray Hill started "The Prison Show" saying, "This is Ray Hill and Marta Glass coming to you from Ted Koppel's cutting room floor." Ted Koppel also said, "It's one thing to isolate dangerous inmates 23 hours a day, but it becomes a deeper social problem when those men are literally driven nuts by the process, but then released right back out on the street when their time's up." Hey Ted! That's exactly what I said, but I got 24 days solitary confinement in the hole and lost parole eligibility for another year. Ted Koppel should at least have lost his good time. Attorney Margaret Gold sent Ted Koppel a big packet about how I was locked up and given a major case, destroying my parole possibilities for at least a year, and how the propaganda minister for the TDC lied to the press, saying, "This is not a First Amendment case" and claiming I was not locked up for having my guest editorial published in The Huntsville Item, but rather because they found contraband in my cage and I was "verbally assaultive" to the guards. A total fabrication! There was NO contraband. There was NO verbal assault. There might have been in other circumstances, but I was so happy to be locked up for my publishing a piece I have been trying for 15 years to have published in a mainstream newspaper, knowing it was a clear First Amendment case, that I wanted to keep pristine. By the way, when I went to the hole, my cellie did tattoo MAYHEM on his forehead. Looks pretty good too. In color. In The Spirit of Crazy Horse, Standing Deer ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Standing Deer is still in prison in Texas as he has a life sentence for jewelry theft. Due to a name change instigated by the Texas prison system in an effort to stop support from reaching Standing Deer, he is now known as: Robert H. Wilson #640289 Estelle Unit, 264 FM 3478 Huntsville, TX 77320-3322 You will find other writings by Standing Deer on the web site at http://standingdeer.homepage.com/index.html Standing Deer was involved in the gov's assassination plot against Leonard Peltier. Barbara Fortier is the coordinator for Standing Deer's Defense Committee. She appeared on the Ray Hill prison show last spring. Ray Hill's Prison Show airs on KPFT in Houston Ray Hill, "Citizen Provocateur" can be reached at rayhill@echonet.com URL for KPFT Radio is http://www.kpft.org/index.html KPFT 419 Lovett Blvd. Houston, TX 77006 Business Office 713/526-4000 Fax 713/526-5750 Studio Line 713/526-5738 (526-KPFT) Shared by Kay Lee 2613 Larry Court Eau Gallie, Fl 32935 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Making the Walls Transparent http://www.zyworld.com/kay~lee/garywaid.html Inspired by A Smuggler's Tales From Jails http://www.angelfire.com/la/kaylee/tales.html Both projects of the Journey for Justice http://www.journeyforjustice.org ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Petition to move the Valdes Trial - Please, please sign. http://www.angelfire.com/la/kaylee/valdespetition.html --------- "RE: Native Prisoner" --------- Date: Mon,19 February 2001 20:55:07 -0530 From: "Janet Smith" Subj: Prisoners' Pen Pal List Tell a Native American Prisoner someone cares! The following is a portion of the list of Native American Prisoners incarcerated in prisons throughout the United States. The full list is found at the Native Prisoners Pen Pal list at the following web site: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9118/penpal.html. The list is compiled from contributions by Wotanging Ikche readers, other friends and from Laura Brooks' research on Native American Spiritual Freedom in Prison. If you know of a Native prisoner who would like to be included here, please e-mail Janet Smith at jansatlcom.net@mindspring.com. My thanks to Laura Brooks for giving this list a home on the web. -- - - - Peltier, Leonard #89637-132 Box 1000 Leavenworth, KS 66053 Birthday: 9/12/44 Ancestry: Ojibwa-Lakota -- - - - Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 05:39:59 -0500 From: "Janet Smith" Subj: EMAIL BAN Taken from Ironnatives@yahoogroups.com, written by davedaurelle@worldnet.att.net orion-c@webtv.net wrote: August 1, 2000 -- Internet Gives Prisoners Link to Outside World CHICAGO, IL -- The Internet is helping death-row inmates and other prisoners to plead their cases and seek pen pals, sparking outrage among many families of victims and creating a new debate about the rights of the growing number of prisoners, The New York Times reported. < stuff deleted > Source: The New York Times, August 1, 2000 Copyright 2000, The American Civil Liberties Union However, the following was posted Thursday, Feb 8, 2001 Prison e-mail ban upheld By: Kevin Poulsen Posted: 08/02/2001 at 03:32 GMT Officials at California's most notorious prison won the right to block inmates from receiving printed e-mail messages though the regular US mail, in a ruling by a state appeals court Tuesday. "We conclude that given the unique characteristics of e-mail, the ban on receipt by regular mail of Internet-generated material was neither arbitrary nor irrational and was logically related to the prison's legitimate security concerns," reads the decision by the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, overturning a lower court ruling. The appellate ruling settled a First Amendment suit filed by inmate Aaron Collins, a lifer at the maximum security Pelican Bay State Prison. Collins is one of nearly 300 subscribers nationwide to a service called INMATE Classified, which specializes in providing prisoners with a limited Internet presence, hosting inmate's personal Web pages and forwarding them hard copies of any e-mail sent to their inmate.com address. In 1998, Pelican Bay officials reacted to the service by adopting a new policy prohibiting inmates from receiving anything originating from the Internet. Collins, until recently aaronc@inmate.com, sued, arguing that his free speech rights were violated by the ban. A state trial judge agreed, ruling that the prison couldn't prohibit otherwise-allowed material simply because it originated online. Spam terror In overturning that ruling, the appeals court Tuesday accepted the prison's argument that e-mail, even in printed form, could threaten prison security. The court cited testimony by a police detective who claimed that "ascertaining the source of e-mail messages can be difficult because senders can hide or disguise their identity more easily than can those who send regular mail." The court also agreed with officials that allowing printed e-mail to reach inmates would lead to an "avalanche" of such mail, overwhelming prison screeners tasked with keeping coded messages, narcotics and weapons out of the prison -- a prospect exacerbated by "the likelihood that their e-mail would include junk mail or 'spam' as well as personal communications." Pelican Bay warehouses approximately 3500 inmates, half of whom are isolated from virtually all human contact in the prison's hi-tech Security Housing Unit (SHU), a frequent target of human rights organizations. Copyright c. 2001 SecurityFocus.com, all rights reserved. Janet Smith Owlstar Trading Post http://www.owlstar.com -- - - - Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2001 10:37:24 -0600 From: "Janet Smith" Subj: Indian Inmates Suing Prisons Saturday, February 17, 2001 Indian Inmates Suing Prisons By Daniel J. Chacon Journal Northern Bureau SANTA FE - Nine American Indian prisoners are claiming illegal interference with their religious practices in a lawsuit filed against New Mexico corrections officials. Some of the inmates, who belong to a group called the Red Nation Indian Society, admit being involved in an April 1999 melee that followed similar complaints over religious freedom at the privately run Lea County Correctional Facility in Hobbs, according to their lawsuit. "The trend in this country toward providing or having spiritual services is becoming very strict and stern toward Native Americans because of the misunderstanding and ignorance of Native American practices," said Lenny Foster, a spiritual adviser and director of the Navajo Nation Corrections Project, which provides Indian prisoners outreach and spiritual counseling. "Native American beliefs... are not within the ordinary understanding of what religion is," Foster said in a phone interview from his office in Window Rock, Ariz. Denying Indian inmates their religious freedom "sets back the hope, the positive outlook about life," he said. "It sets in a real depression, and it establishes a lot of tension, frustration and anger." The prisoners, who allege racial discrimination, are asking for a jury trial and punitive damages in excess of $400 million to prevent corrections officials from practicing similar alleged constitutional violations. Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections, Department of Corrections Secretary Rob Perry and five other prison officials, including Jerry Mondragon Jr., the prison coordinator of Native American programs. Wackenhut spokeswoman Margaret Pearson and Corrections Department spokesman Gerges Scott both declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuit. Prisons are required by state and federal law to let Indian inmates practice their religion. Inmates, who must provide proof of their heritage, must be allowed access on a regular basis to spiritual advisers and materials used for religious ceremonies. The inmates who filed the lawsuit this month in state District Court claim their rights have been violated. The men allege that after they formed a self-help group in the Hobbs prison in 1998, Warden Joseph Williams began to dismantle the programs and activities they had established. They were allowed to participate in sweat lodge ceremonies, but problems followed, "including outright refusal to provide firewood," the lawsuit states. The inmates claim they were forced to use chemically treated wood with toxins that could cause serious medical problems. The men allege in the lawsuit that their religious ceremonies were interrupted or stopped on several occasions, and some of their religious instruments, such as a ceremonial drum and eagle and other feathers, were confiscated. The inmates' complaints fell on deaf ears, according to the lawsuit. "Each defendant either ignored the complaints or denied the requested relief so that the abuses and racial harassment continued unabated," it states. On April 5, 1999, one of their sacred religious drums was confiscated, and the inmates claim it was desecrated. "This action was furtherance in a long list of abuses and racially discriminatory actions by defendant Wackenhut," the lawsuit states. The next day, a disturbance broke out in the dining hall and spread to a corridor. Corrections officials said the riot appeared to have been started by several Indian inmates upset over religious freedom issues. Officials have estimated up to 170 prisoners were involved in the fight. Police said one Indian prisoner told investigators that about 50 members of the Red Nation Indian Society met the day before, and 12 voted to riot. The men claim in the lawsuit they were charged as being ring-leaders or participants in the melee to legitimatize the dismantling of their self- help group and the elimination of what few religious activities they were allowed. Wackenhut and other corrections officials, the lawsuit states, "have unlawfully and unconstitutionally subjected plaintiffs to invidious racial and religious discrimination." Foster of the Navajo Nation Corrections Project said he has visited with the inmates, who say the Corrections Department isn't complying with the Native American Counseling Act, which establishes procedures for operating religious programs. "They feel they have entitlement to that act," he said. "I think it's a basic question of compliance and enforcement of that existing state statue. (Personally), I don't think it's being applied fairly." Copyright c. 1997 - 2001 Albuquerque Journal: Albuquerque, New Mexico Janet Smith Owlstar Trading Post http://www.owlstar.com -- - - - New! Native American Prisoners' Penpal Network: http://members.tripod.com/~foltz.k/pages/atlantahome.html Right now, it contains applications submitted by native inmates of the USP Atlanta federal prison with the high hopes of obtaining pen pals and communication with the outside world. Most, if not all, these men, are incarcerated very far from home, isolated, and away from their families and contact. Remember, when contacting an inmate, if you want to send something to them, make sure ahead of time what can and cannot be sent. Items such as money, stamps, tobacco, sage, etc. cannot. Some items have to be designated for group use rather than individual, so please be sure to check ahead of time. Keep them in your prayers and let them know they are NOT forgotten. Janet Smith Yufala Star Clan of the Muskogee Creek Owlstar Trading Post -- www.owlstar.com --------------------------------- Please especially remember Leonard. Leonard Peltier #89637-132, Box 1000, Leavenworth, KS 66053 --------------------------------- Dear Janet, Eddie Hatcher was moved from Central Prison in North Carolina to a county jail. His new address is: Eddie Hatcher, Robeson County Jail,122 Legend Road, Lumberton, NC 28358. Thanks, Marsha Shaiman On Indian Land, PO Box 2104, Seattle WA 98111 --------------------------------- Standing Deer's new address: Robert H. Wilson #640539, Estelle Unit, 264 FM 3478, Huntsville, TX 77320-3322 --------- "RE: History: Carlisle Indian School" --------- Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2001 16:50:00 -0500 From: Barbara Landis Subj: February 3, 1888 INDIAN HELPER from Carlisle, PA THE INDIAN HELPER ----------------------------- ~~ FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS ~~ ============================= VOLUME III CARLISLE, PA. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 1888 NO. 25 ============================= THE BOYS WE NEED. ------------- Here's to the boy who's not afraid To do his share of work. Who never is by toil dismayed, And never tries to shirk. The boy whose heart is brave to meet All lions in the way, Who's not discouraged by defeat, But tries another day. The boy who always means to do The very best he can. Who always keeps the right in view, And aims to be a man. Such boys as these will grow to be The men whose hands will guide The future of our land, and we Shall speak their names with pride. All honor to the boy who is A man at heart, I say Whose legend on his shield is this, "Right always wins the day." -[Golden Days. THE LONGEST WAY ROUND. ----------- Johnny White Bear and Lincoln Red Feather were roommates. They were both good boys, but they always did things in opposite ways and one always came out at the place he aimed for, while the other never did. "How does it happen?" asked Johnny. Only, he did not say it in as good English, for he had not been at Carlisle very long. "It don't happen," said Lincoln. But he could not explain what he meant. One day they sat down to learn their lessons. After they had studied five minutes Johnny said, "I know a quick way to get this, `it' takes too much time to keep saying over these English words; I shall study my lesson in Indian, and then when I come to the teacher, I'll say it to her in English, and I shall have that time to play." "But you don't know English words," answered Lincoln. "Oh, yes, I do." And Johnny went over his lesson with difficulty. "There! he said proudly when he had finished. "I couldn't learn it like that," said Lincoln. "We each have to do it in our own way." And he began to study again. Johnny felt that he was a very bright boy to be able to do what Lincoln couldn't. "I don't go round that long road," he said, "I go through the ground like that, cut across," and he pointed over the fields. Then he sat for half an hour watching the boys digging the cistern. The bell rang and they went to school. Then the recitation came. Lincoln and Johnny both knew their lessons, but Lincoln knew his in English and recited it. Johnny knew his in Indian, but he could not recite it in Indian, and he could not think of the English words at all, he had supposed he should when the time came. It was the old story; Lincoln was there, Johnny wasn't there, he had stuck by the way. "Why couldn't I come out all right as well as Lincoln?" he said to himself. And after school he went to look at the fields that had seemed so good to him. They were farther off than he had thought. A river ran through them, and there wasn't any bridge. "I'll remember," thought Johnny. He had never heard of the proverb: "The longest way round is the shortest way home." ------------------ Chas. Bird writes to Miss Fisher that he is living with his father at White River, eighteen miles from Pine Ridge Agency. Snow is quite deep, "so our cows and horses were scarcely to eat grass." They built a log stable, but their ponies were too wild to go into it. He writes "I am getting along first rate and happier." ---------------- Miss Patterson was telling the little boys about the late blizzard at the west and how well the Indians had weathered it. One of the little fellows who had been listening to her attentively drew himself up and grunted back, "Can't kill Indian; white man die easy." ========================================== (p 2) The Indian Helper. ----------------------------- PRINTED EVERY FRIDAY, AT THE INDIAN INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, CARLISLE, PA. BY THE INDIAN PRINTER BOYS. ----------------------------- Price: - 10 cents a year. (Five cents extra for every change of address after once in the galley.) ============================== Address INDIAN HELPER, Carlisle, Pa. ============================== Entered in the P.O. at Carlisle as second class mail matter. ============================== THE INDIAN HELPER is PRINTED by Indian boys, but EDITED by The-Man-on-the-band-stand, who is NOT an Indian. ============================== The INDIAN HELPER is paid for in advance, so do not hesitate to take the paper from the Post Office, for fear a bill will be presented. =============================== What the Man-on-the-band-stand Heard Some Little Girls Saying. "There," said Rosie, as she pointed to the hill where the boys were sliding. "Do you see how selfish Tom is? He keeps that sled all to himself, though there are ever so many other boys who have none." "Yes," answered Mary, "And that is just the way he does every where. He don't care if any body else has anything or not, if only he can get what he wants." "I think it is so mean to be selfish," said little Lucy, "and some girls are just as bad as that boy. They think of themselves only, and not of any one else." "How much pleasure they miss if they think only of self," said a lady who came up while they were talking. "The greatest happiness we can enjoy comes from making other people happy, and the people who are best liked, and have the most friends are those who are always willing to help others. Think of the persons you like best and tell me if they are selfish." "No, indeed!" answered the girls in chorus. "They're just as kind as they can be and try to make every one happy." "How can I help anybody?" asked the tiniest tot of all, who had been listening to what was said. "Who can tell her ways?" asked the lady. "She can carry notes and go errands for Miss Irvine instead of playing all the time," said Lucy. "And she can bring her books and play things herself instead of always asking somebody else to do it," chimed Rosie. "She can look happy all the time," said Mary. "Yes," said the lady, "Kind words, kind thoughts, kind deeds: you can all give these, and you will make others happy, and be happy yourselves." Etahdleuh Doanmoe writes that his wife, Laura, and the little Richard, who left Carlisle soon after Christmas reached their home in Anadarko, Ind. Ter., safely. He says that Richard is well, but that Laura has been ill since her return. Now, however, she is growing better. Etahdleuh says that he will do all that he can for the good of his people. ==================== Weather like that which has this winter been experienced in the west, has hardly had parallel since the winter of 1873, at which time the thermometer registered in the southern part of the Indian Territory 39 degrees below zero. Our school house was built of cottonwood boards and sweeping the snow out of the house was a regular morning duty. ==================== A very pleasant letter from the matron of the Wichita School Anadarko, Ind. Ter., says that Celia Pickard, one of our old pupils, is at the school there as assistant seamstress and does her work most thoroughly. The matron is pleased with the INDIAN HELPER, and sends us some subscribers. The Man-on-the-band-stand is perfectly willing that everybody else in the world should feel just like her upon this subject. ==================== The blizzard has not all been in the west the Cumberland Valley has had its share and for some days trains ran very irregularly. On Saturday morning, Jan. 23th the railroad officials appealed to Captain Pratt to dig out a train that was buried in the snow. The Captain with Mr. Campbell as aid promptly responded and a hundred Indian boys in addition to the force already at work cleared the three miles of track, and the train passed on to town, probably the only one that ever had a hundred Injuns to start it. ==================== Last Friday evening the Indian Republic Debating Club had a very spirited discussion on the subject, "Resolved that the Chinese shall be excluded." The judges decided by majority that the negative arguments had it. Everybody enjoyed the good things that were said upon both sides and the parliamentary style in which the debate was conducted. It would have done credit to any society. Now that the Carlisle School has two Debating Societies, each wanting to make the best of its opportunities, we shall have some excellent discussions upon the topics of the day. Carlisle must always at least keep abreast with the times. How do the boys, and the girls, feel about making it do more? Rumors of exhibitions to follow reach the old Man's ears, and his heart is fired with expectation of future triumphs that are to be chronicled by him. ========================================= p.3 Sumner Blak Coal writes from Shoshone Agency to Capt. Pratt that he is well, and is earning fifteen dollars a month. ------------------- Miss Burgess went away to her home in California and we printers were very sorry to see her go. We hope she will return again. ------------------- The big cistern is finally in good order and ready to receive the snow as it melts from the roofs to provide us good cool drinks next summer. ------------------- The pupils of our school do not think map drawing foolish, at least they have been making some very good maps - historical and geographical. ------------------- Company B marches well. We are glad to see how perfectly erect most of the young men of that company carry themselves when marching. ------------------- The little folks invalided at the hospital are delighted with a new invoice of nice picture and story books a gift from their constant friend Miss Longstreth. ------------------- A letter from Dakota states that for days together it was impossible to tell whether it was day or night until a path had been shovelled into the outer world. ------------------- The Philosophy Class say "Thank you" to the kind friends in Amherst, Mass, and Westport, Conn., who have given money toward buying apparatus for its experiments. ------------------- Our surroundings have much to do with our manners. The smallest of the Apaches asked the other day for brush and bucket to scrub his room, just because he saw other rooms nice and clean. ------------------- The school have sent loving greeting to our former principal, Miss Semple, in the form of notes from all the pupils. Those of each school are bound in a pretty lettered cover tied with ribbon. ------------------- The boys who worked on the railroad shovelling snow have been made happy by a liberal cash payment for their service. The six who went with the train to Gettysburg and back to help them through have also been well rewarded for their hard work. ------------------- Miss Marion Pratt left this morning for the Misses Ashbridge's Boarding School at Haverford, Pa. Her pleasant face and kindly ways will be much missed by all. She has our best wishes for happiness and improvement in the new home. Somebody asks, "Is The Man-on-the-band-stand that you speak of a real person?" Perhaps he is, perhaps he is not, we will leave you to guess that conundrum. ------------------- Miss Bessie had been explaining to her class the meaning of subtraction. Then she asked each one to write a sentence bringing in the word subtraction. "One little fellow wrote, "We subtract our hairs when they get long." ------------------- The girls think the boys give such nice debates that they are afraid to debate in public although they know they do well in their private meetings. But they mean to try it sometime just to show that girls can as well as boys. ------------------- One of the girls says, "The Man-on-the-band-stand thinks people can have time for everything if they only use their time in the right way, but I have not learned to do that yet," The Man-on-the-band-stand nods his head and whispers, "Try, try, again." ------------------- Miss Patterson is going home today for a visit. What will happen to the little boys? Will they be left disconsolate? The old Man feels sure that they are to be provided for, and that Miss Bessie and Miss Crane, who will be in charge will take good care of them. ------------------- Miss Burgess and Miss Ely were at St. Louis Thursday, Jan. 26, not having been detained on the way by the storm. When Miss Burgess wrote to Carlisle they were upon the point of leaving for Wichita. They intended to spend a day with Miss Hyde end expected to reach National City, Feb. 1st. ------------------- A little boy writes us of a stone be found at Chatauqua, which he was told the Indians used to pound their corn with. It is square at the base and tapers to a point. He has it in his museum. For a little boy of nine to take such an interest in gathering curiosities for a museum looks as if he knew how to use his eyes. ------------------- The proceedings of the Society. After the reading and accepting of the minutes, new names for membership were called for. Dolly J. Gould was of the one names given. She was admitted as a member. As it was our election day, the general program was postponed. The officers elected were as follows: President, Dessie Prescott; Vice President, Clara Faber; Secretary, Eva Johnson; Treasurer, Edith Abner; Marshall, Delia Hicks. The report was read by chairman and the meeting adjourned. ========================================== p 4. CARL LIEDER'S ACCOUNT OF THE SNOW DRIFTS ON THE RAILROAD. ----------- "I don't know whether you will get this letter or not, on account of the weather being too cold for the mail carriers to do their duty and the difficulty of the trains running through drifts of snow on the railroads. It is cold everywhere this winter and even last week the trains on the railroads of this vicinity had a great time to get through the drifts. About ninety of us took shovels and went and helped them out. And after we got through we determined to help the railroad company a little more, so six of us went on another railroad and went to a place called Gettysburg, about 28 miles from here. Two engines were attached to one mail coach, there was a crew of about 50 men. We left Carlisle at 12 o'clock and reached Gettysburg at six. We had a terrible time in getting through. At one place as the train was running fast, it stopped suddenly and we found ourselves in a tremendous drift about ten feet deep, and after we cleared the way, the two engines were frozen already and could not move for some time, and before we reached Gettysburg the two engines were nearly out of water, so we stopped at a stream and all of us carried water in buckets for the engines. It took us half a day to reach that place and we were glad when we got through." -------------- THE DOLLARS GO, BUT THE LIE STAYS. ------------ "Would you tell a lie for five cents?" asked a Sunday School teacher. "No, ma'am." "For ten cents?" "No, ma'am." "For a dollar?" "No, ma'am." "For a hundred dollars?" "No, ma'am, not even for a hundred dollars." "For a thousand dollars?" Henry hesitated. He could buy many things for a thousand dollars. While he was thinking Charlie answered, "No, ma'am," very positively. "Why not?" "Because, when the thousand dollars are gone, the *lie* is the same." Which of these boys was the stouter, morally? Ten cents would have measured the moral strength of some boys. ----------- Let us then be upward doing With a heart for any fate, Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor, and to wait. Enigma. I am composed of 41 letters. My 11, 7, 24, 40 is a source of water supply. My 4, 15, 9, 39, 6, 5, 27 are those who take what does not rightfully belong to them. My 1, 35, 19, 37 is a part of a bird. My 2, 29, 41, 5 is an opening. My 32, 23, 13, 33 is what the snowballs the boys were throwing at each other were, to those who could not dodge them. My 16, 34, 17, 8 is an entrance much used. My 38, 21, 37, 12, 19 is a means of conveyance. My 28, 18, 13, 7 is something Mr. Walker and his boys use. My 30, 3, 31, 14, 25, 39 is a toy. My 10, 26, 36, 20 is what the boys and girls like to do. My 22, 13, 17, 31 is what Comanche likes to do when hitched to his sleigh. My 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27, 28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41 is a good motto for every one. ----------------- Riddle. Formed long ago, though made today, I'm mostly used while others sleep. What few would wish to give away, And none would ever wish to keep. --------------- ANSWER TO LAST WEEK'S ENIGMA: California. -------------- Answers to Conundrums. To cover his head. Don-key. ======================================= STANDING OFFER: - For FIVE new subscribers to the INDIAN HELPER, we will give the person sending them a photographic group of the 13 Carlisle Indian Printer boys, on a card 4 1/2 X 6 1/2 inches, worth 20 cents when sold by itself. Name and tribe of each boy given. (Persons wishing the above premium will please enclose a 1-cent stamp to pay postage.) For TEN, Two PHOTOGRAPHS, one showing a group of Pueblos as they arrived in wild dress, and another of the same pupils three years after, or, for the same number of names we give two photographs showing still more marked contrast between a Navajoe as he arrived in native dress, and as he now looks, worth 20 cents a piece. Persons wishing the above premiums will please enclose a 2-cent stamp to pay postage. For FIFTEEN, we offer a GROUP of the whole school on 9x14 inch card. Faces show distinctly, worth sixty cents. Persons wishing the above premium will please send 6 cents to pay postage. --------------- For a longer list of subscribers we have many other interesting pictures of shops, representing boys at work, schoolrooms and views of the grounds, worth from 20 to 60 cents a piece, which will be sent on request. ------------------------------ At the Carlisle Indian School is published monthly an eight-page quarto of standard size, called THE RED MAN, the mechanical part of which is done entirely by Indian boys. This paper is valuable as a summary of information on Indian matters and contains writings by Indian pupils and local incidents of the school. Terms: Fifty cents a year, in advance. SAMPLE COPIES SENT FREE. Address, THE RED MAN, Carlisle, PA. For 1, 2 and 3 subscribers for THE RED MAN we give the same premiums offered in Standing Offer for the HELPER. ======================================================================= Transcribed weekly from the newspaper collections of the US Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, PA. For more info see http://www.carlisleindianschool.org. - Barbara Landis --------- "RE: Rustywire: Sunset" --------- Date: Sun, 22 Aug 1999 05:26:15 GMT From: "rustywire" Subj: Sunset Newsgroup: alt.native I was driving this evening and the sky had a few clouds which were floating way up there on a pale blue background. As the sun slowly set I had a front row seat through my window. It was a mosaic, a painting no mane could ever make, the colors were pink, blue, reds, orange and glowed. I stopped and watched the scene unfold before me and as I held up my hand, my skin glowed as well from the horizon to the west. A sense of calmness and a desire to find some connection to the land around me occurred to me to be needed, but upon looking at my my own self, I could see the earth and me shared a kinship of color, light and air. I thought about all of us we share this time and often don't stop to look around. In the silent drop of dusk and evening light I realized that such sites are far and few between and make all things seem small and insignificant, the days cares go out the window. I would say take a moment and stand in the sunset of day and take a long look around and by chance if it is a good one I think our fathers, and their fathers sat at some point and pondered all of eternity and with some of our people sang a song to end the day. Yo, it was a good day and pray that tomorrow will find everything fresh and new if not but a few moments. It is good to be alive and so let tomorrow's sunset find me and bathe me in evening light. --------- "RE: Poem: Whispers" --------- Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 15:49:02 -0600 From: "John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate" Subj: Whispers... Whispers in the Blood The chills strike, From nowhere, As you go, Here or there. Something there, Right now, Unseen, Whispers. Hair raises, Goose bumps rise, Almost heard, Almost seen. On mountainside, Upon desert sand, In Museum halls, Whispers. The old ones, Speak to you, From within, And without. Best listen to, Whispers in your blood. John Berry, Oklahoma, 2001 --------- "RE: Poem: Pablo's Prayer" --------- Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 09:45:15 -0600 From: "John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate" Subj: Pablo's Prayer To all, Happy St. Valentine's day - may your hearts be full. He just keeps surprising us - I skipped our prayer at dinner last night and he stopped us - to say this first... Best, John B Pablo's Prayer Thank you God, For Foods, and presents, and Ma-ma, and Da-da, and Grammas, and Grandpas, and Everythings! Pablo Berry, Oklahoma, 2001 --------- "RE: Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days" --------- Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 06:17:44 -1000 From: Debbie Sanders Subj: Hawaiian Book of Days A HAWAIIAN BOOK OF DAYS, week of February 25-March 3 PEPELUALI (February) (Kau-lua) 25 Love is a gift that grows only with the giving. 26 What is once found is never truly lost. 27 I return to the earth to find the place of my beginnings. 28 Within me lie the wellsprings of my own renewal. MALAKI (March) (Nana) March was the season when the malolo, the flying fish, swarmed in the ocean. 1 Everywhere I look, I see beauty. 2 Listen if you would hear the music of the land. 3 Imitate nature in your art. (c) Copyright 1991 by D. F. Sanders Me ke aloha i ka nani, ... Moe'uhanekeanuenue (With love and beauty, ... Rainbow Dream) ======================================================================= GIVING BACK: July 2000 my elder asked, "I read all this negativity, see all this finger pointing. Where is the accountability? Where does anyone say, '...and this is what I am going to do about it.'?" -- This section is dedicated to responses to that question. Please continue to share your gifts of giving. email me at gars@speakeasy.org ======================================================================== =============== GIVING BACK: =============== --------- "RE: Sharing and Caring Important Indian Tradition" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 08:24:19 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SHARING" Sharing and caring important Indian tradition Jeanne Givens says the Coeur d'Alene Tribe is spreading the wealth through donations for education. Jeanne Givens - Special to Handle Extra Nothing has the same feel as cash. Just asked the school superintendents, principals and parent groups who received hard, cold, no-strings-attached cash gifts from the Coeur d'Alene Tribe. The Coeur d'Alenes have given an unprecedented $980,000 for education to North Idaho schools. This is the largest amount donated in the three years of tribal giving. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to assess the region and quickly see the dire needs of local schools. From decaying buildings, to teachers leaving the state for better wages, to an outflow of Idaho's best and brightest graduating students to other states, the educational system is in need of some serious fixing. But the tribe is not in the business of directing or mandating any form of education policy. That's the job of others. However, through Indian gaming, they have brought a new spirit of goodwill and appreciation toward educational institutions. Tribal gaming revenue is the goose laying the golden egg. The Coeur d'Alene Tribal Casino is enjoying success which allows prosperity for tribal members with jobs and a portion to be shared in charitable giving to local schools. David Matheson, gaming director, explains the Indian tradition of giving. "All children are precious. We want all our children to be included in this prosperity. This is our opportunity to stand up and hold together the ways of our ancestors to sharing and caring." Ernie Stensgar, tribal chairman has lived on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation all his life. He views the non-Indians living on the reservation as neighbors. "Our tribe has a commitment to youth, education and the future. Our success allows us to reach out to our neighbors, work with them and to help." For the first time the University of Idaho was given $10,000 for a scholarship for an Idaho Indian student. North Idaho College was given $50,000 for the building of a cultural center on campus. Even small little Sorenson Elementary School received a gift of $5,000 to replace an aging copy machine. Both Kellogg and Kootenai School Districts received $10,000 each and Coeur d'Alene $15,000. Last year the Kootenai School District bought 2,000 books for its literacy program. Post Falls Superintendent Dick Harris gave a pitch to the tribe to once again host the Julyamsh Powwow after getting a $15,000 check. "I would like to have the powwow back." Troy School District was given $25,000. A parent group from Troy wrote the tribe requesting money for repair for a leaking roof for the worst building in the state. The Plummer-Worley School District and Coeur d'Alene Tribal School received the greatest portion of the money: $290,000 and $513,000. From fixing leaky roofs, to stocking a library with good reading material for children, to creating a scholarship for Indian students, without question the money makes a tangible difference. The ritual of giving, as the Coeur d'Alenes have done to local schools in January of each year, is a festive day for many. In Idaho, the talk about education by public officials is clouded by good intentions, pats on the back, and proclamations of doing the best we can with what we've got. But for one day, in the midst of a snowstorm, people devoted to education came together in Worley to celebrate the tribe's success and humbly accept the cash benefits of being a good neighbor. Handle Extra columnist Jeanne Givens is a tribal member and lives in Coeur d'Alene. Copyright c. 2001 The Spokesman-Review. --------- "RE: Navajo-Lakota Delegation Sharing in Chiapas" --------- Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 11:20:28 -0800 (PST) From: Paul Pureau Subj: ICT Lifeaways: Navajo-Lakota delegation shares seeds, friendship in Chiapas Mailing List: ndn-aim ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The rugged journey of a delegation of Navajo and Lakota - in the backs of trucks for 36 hours from Mexico City to Chiapas - was well worth it to reach Zapatista refugees with seeds, traditional songs and friendship, says the Navajo founder of First Nations North and South. Eulynda Benalli, disabled by an automobile accident, said she remembered her grandfather Julian Toledo of Torreon, N.M., who was born on the Long Walk, as she traveled in the back of a covered truck to the Lacandon jungle communities. "The suffering that the people are going through is so reflective of our history, the way they are being rounded up and displaced." At a gathering of thousands of Zapatistas in the Lacandon jungle, Benalli sang the Navajo Freedom Song, given to the Dine' on the Long Walk home from incarceration in Fort Sumner. Benalli was joined by Navajo flutist Andrew Thomas and Lakotas from Pine Ridge including Joanne Tall, Troylyn Yellowood who brought over-the- counter medicines and Geraldine Black Elk Clifford. Thomas said it was overwhelming to look out and see thousands of Zapatistas gathered to celebrate the birth of the movement. He sang of the four hozhoni (beautiful) blankets of the day, dawn, blue skies, twilight and darkness. "I was having a wonderful time!" he said, remembering Zapatistas joining with him in song, with thousands clapping. "I just wanted to share and dialogue my own road." Thomas said his own healing came from a new appreciation for what Native people have, both in the North and South. "This was a trip for healing. It was from brother to brother," said Thomas from the Navajo community of Rock Springs, N.M. "We all have the same color of blood, we are all of the same heart. We are all people of the earth." In support of self-determination, the delegation delivered seeds from the pueblos of northern New Mexico to displaced Zapatistas living in refugee camps, who share a similar climate. The refugees of Acteal, one of the most brutal massacres, were among those receiving Native corn and bean seeds. Pueblo seeds were donated by the Traditional Native American Farmers Association, headed by Clayton Brasoupe from Tesuque Pueblo, N.M. The association, working with permaculture and agriculture projects in Belize, provided Dine' yellow corn seeds from Wide Ruins, Ariz., and native seeds from the Tuscarora Nation in New York for Chiapas. In the highlands of Chiapas, traditional songs and prayers were translated from Navajo and Lakota into English and Spanish, then Mayan dialects. New bonds of friendship were formed, the reason Benalli formed First Nations North and South, now hosting the biweekly TV Zapatista on a local access station in Albuquerque. The delegation of Navajos and Lakotas met with Mujeres Por La Dignatad (Dignity for women), arranging for three Zapatista women to visit Albuquerque and Denver in cooperation with Global Exchange. Benalli said Zapatista women are finding new roles as leaders and organizers, but that has not been historically the situation for Indigenous women in Mexico. "The women there have been oppressed so long." Thomas said he came away with a new appreciation for what Native people have in North America. His message to Native people in the North: "Live to the fullest, we actually don't have a bad deal. We sort of have it made." As for the long truck ride, Thomas said, "A little suffering makes you more confidant of who you are as a Native person. "It makes it richer for me. I was very fortunate." Benalli spent two and one-half weeks in southern Mexico in January, visiting fellow human rights activists in Oaxaca, near the Guatemalan border, before returning home to Albuquerque and work on her doctoral dissertation. In Oaxaca, Benalli arranged for exchanges with the Zapoteca, Mixe and Trique peoples. "In Mitla, an ancient Zapoteca city in Oaxaca, what struck me so much was the ancient buildings had Navajo - Dine' - and pueblo designs carved on them. I was totally in amazement and in wonder about our connections with the South." It was Benalli's fourth journey to Chiapas. The long truck ride was necessary because there were no bus seats for the delegation. The group sang songs, told jokes and tried not to become nauseated from the gas fumes on the cold trucks. "I knew where I was going and I knew it was worth it, but I felt bad for the others, all they knew was that they were in the back of those trucks." But the friendships formed made it worth it. "Indian people from the North really have to get out of the United States to be able to see and understand the concept of no borders," Benalli said. "We are just the same," she said, adding she felt the tremendous strength of the Indigenous people of the Northern delegation and Southern relatives. On her next trip to Chiapas, she plans to deliver books of Indigenous poetry written by youth and elders, coedited with Yaqui friends. "We are willing to plant the seeds for our future generations." Brenda Norrell reports from the Southwest. She can be reached at (520) 490-8558 or by e-mail b_norrell@yahoo.com. Copyright c. 2000 Indian Country Today ===== Paul Pureau to subscribe to ndn-aim send a blank mail to: ndn-aim-subscribe@egroups.com ndn-aim is now archived on line at Http://www.escribe.com/life/ndn-aim/ FREE PELTIER NOW! STOP ETHNIC CLEANSING OF THE LAKOTA! =============== GIVING BACK! =============== --------- "RE: TU Professor Works to save Euchee Language" --------- Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 08:25:31 -0600 From: "John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate" Subj: (FWD)Indian News 02-10-2001 ----- Forwarded by John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate on 02/13/2001 08:28 AM TU professor works to save Euchee language By OMER GILLHAM Tulsa World 2/9/01 With the recent death of one of the few remaining Euchee Indian elders, the effort to rescue the Euchee language and oral history becomes more urgent, a University of Tulsa official said. TU anthropology professor Richard Grounds said the passing of Mose Cahwee, 82, last month was a terrible blow to the Euchee Language Preservation Project, an effort sponsored by a $297,300 federal grant. With the death of Cahwee, perhaps only five Euchee speakers remain, even though an estimated 2,400 people claim Euchee ancestry, Grounds said. "Mose was very active in the language and culture," said Grounds, who is of Euchee descent. "He was kind of a walking encyclopedia. He knew the history and Euchee medicine plants." Since receiving the three-year grant, Grounds has been meeting weekly with Euchee speakers at the Sapulpa Indian Community Center, committing the language and culture to videotape and compact disc. Before his death, Cahwee contributed a wealth of information on Euchee history, which involves hundreds of Euchee families that once lived near Bristow, Sapulpa and Liberty Mounds. The Euchee tribe, also spelled Yuchi, originated in Alabama and Georgia but had a language different from those of neighboring tribes. Through the years the Euchee population here dwindled, as did those who spoke the language. Grounds, however, said the language is not dead, even in its eleventh hour. With his preservation project, he hopes to develop a simple curriculum, based on phonetics since no Euchee alphabet exists, and to teach Euchee to the next generation. Already, Grounds and project assistants Wanda A. Greene and Linda Littlebear Harjo are working with elders to create Euchee words for bicycle, telephone and computer so the language will be current for the 21st century. When the Euchee preservation project is completed in 2003, Grounds said the work and some artifacts will be housed at TU. "The language does not have to pass off the scene," said Grounds, who is learning Euchee himself as he conducts the scholarly project. "It can be kept going, and that is one of our goals." Meanwhile, at the Sapulpa Indian Community Center, Euchee elder Maggie Cumsey Marsey, 82, squints one eye, cocks her head and stares into space as she tries to retrieve a Euchee word for corn soup -- a word she hasn't spoken in decades. Sometimes she brings back a Creek word because Creeks and Euchees often intermarried and learned bits of each others' language. Grounds, who knows some Creek, gently asks Marsey for the Euchee equivalent. "We were told to never forget" the language, said Marsey, who was discouraged from speaking her native tongue when she attended Lone Star school in the 1930s. "I can speak it, but I struggle sometimes, because I haven't said some of these words in 30 or 40 years." The Euchee language preservation project is made possible by the Native American Languages Act of 1992. Grounds said it is "ironic" that a federal government that once did its part to eliminate Indian languages is now trying to help preserve them. Just how many Indian languages are on the endangered list is not known, but too many native tongues have already been silenced, said Shaila Newby, an administrative assistant at the University of Oklahoma Native American Studies Program. At OU, students can enroll in college language courses and learn Kiowa, Cherokee, Choctaw or Creek-Seminole, Newby said. "The continuation of these languages is not there, because the young people are not picking it up," Newby said. "I'm a quarter Cherokee and guilty of that myself." Euchees, like other American Indians living in a "euro" dominated world, have a modest sense of humor about their non-Indian friends and themselves. Elder Josephine Keith, 72, recalls a humorous story of how Euchee adults would lapse into speaking English and then convert to Euchee when a fellow tribal member walked up. "Someone walking up would joke, `I thought there was a bunch of white people around here. Where did they go?' " Keith said. "That would tickle me." Surviving remnants of the Euchee culture include an active ceremonial ground at Pole Cat Creek near Kellyville and a ceremonial ground along Sand Creek south of Bristow, Grounds said. The Euchee Mission Boarding School, which operated from 1894 to 1948 in Sapulpa, bore the tribe's name. Several Euchee families attend the Pickett Chapel United Methodist Church, formerly called the Euchee Church, south of Sapulpa. Marsey said Cahwee's spirit lives on in "u-go-hala-jena" -- the Euchee word for heaven. --------- "RE: No English Only in Indian Schools" --------- Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 08:24:19 -0600 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NOT ENGLISH-ONLY" No ban in Indian schools English-only law doesn't apply, Napolitano says Associated Press Feb. 16, 2001 A voter-approved limit on bilingual education will not stop Indian students from being taught their native languages, Attorney General Janet Napolitano said Thursday. The initiative, Proposition 203 on the state's November ballot, does not apply to tribal or federal schools and federal law restricts its application to state public schools, Napolitano said in a formal opinion. Federal law includes principles of tribal sovereignty and the federally recognized right of American Indians to express themselves through native languages, Napolitano said. That means Proposition 203 cannot prohibit a state public school located on a reservation or elsewhere from teaching Indian language and culture, Napolitano said. "State public schools may offer students classes in Native American languages and culture, whether or not such children are already proficient in English," Napolitano wrote. Proposition 203, which replaces traditional bilingual education with intensive one-year English immersion programs, will bar teachers from speaking in Spanish or languages other than English in teaching immigrant children. Teachers or administrators who willfully ignore the prohibition face being held personally liable for fees and damages and banishment from public school positions for five years. Parents can request exemptions for their children but aren't guaranteed they will receive them. Napolitano's opinion was requested by state Sen. Jack Jackson, D-Window Rock, who asked whether Proposition 203 applied to Indian language programs in schools serving the Navajo Nation. Napolitano said her reply also applied to other federally recognized tribes. Jackson said he sought the opinion at the request of Navajo Nation President Kelsey A. Begaye and local school officials who want to preserve instruction in tribal languages and culture. "Everybody's happy with it," Jackson said of the opinion. "Navajo culture is our relationship with our total universe. It's teaching character - how to be a decent person." But to learn about Navajo culture, "you've got to speak your language first," Jackson said. Arizona tribes had banded together to oppose Proposition 203 and it was defeated in the three northeastern Arizona counties encompassing the Navajo Reservation, which also includes parts of New Mexico and Utah. Tribal officials said they feared the measure could eliminate programs meant to preserve tribal languages. Proposition 203 proponents said they never intended to have its limits apply to American Indian languages and that because of the tribes' sovereignty, did not think it did. Proponents contended that bilingual education, which teaches students with limited English primarily in Spanish, has taught few students sufficient English to excel in school or get decent jobs. The Arizona Republic Copyright 2001, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. Gannett Co. Inc. --------- "RE: Upcoming Events" --------- Date: Sun, 18 Febrary 2001 15:39:14 -0 From: Gary Smith (gars@speakeasy.org) Subj: Upcoming Events Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2001 10:10:23 -0600 From: "D. Mitchell" Subj: Fwd: [tn-ind] RED NATIONS REMEMBERING ------- FORWARD, Original message follows ------- From: monicaarmstrong@webtv.net (Monica Armstrong) RED NATIONS REMEMBERING Sunday March 4, 2001 St. Pius X School 2750 Tucker Rd. Nashville, TN. 37218 Event begins at 1:00p.m. All coming are asked to bring one dish and one drink to share in a potluck supper at 5:30p.m. There will be a commerative walk at 12:00p.m. Meeting place will be in the parking lot of Fountain Square Theatre on Metro Center Blvd. Please arrive a few minutes early if you plan to walk with us. Red Nations Remembering is an event honoring the strength and courage it took for the Cherokee Indians to be removed from the