From gars@speakeasy.org Tue Apr 24 02:16:37 2001 Date: 11 Apr 2001 00:08:35 -0000 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews09.015 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 015 O o O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse April 14, 2001 O o O Ximopanolti tehuatzin, Cherokee flower moon O inin Mexika tlahtolli Lakota moon of the greening grass ( 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/dailyheadlines.htm - also events | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ This issue contains articles from Indianz.com, owlstar.com; KOLA Newslist, Big Mountain, ndn-aim, INDIAN Heritage Triballaw and NativeNews mail lists; UUCP email; Newsgroup: soc.culture.native; http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/Headlines/showfull.asp?ID=law/432001-1 http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/ http://www.daily-times.com/s-asp-bin/ref/Index.ASP?puid=3D4290&spuid= 3D4290=&Indx=3D777664&Article=3DON&id=3D50735346&ro=3D0 http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/Headlines/showfull.asp?ID=env/442001-1 http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?section=local&display=content /local/crowtribe.inc 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.'" "I am sending a voice. A vision has been given. It is one with many visions telling about a journey...A Spiritual Journey. You are on it. I am on it. We are all on it. It is the Journey back to the Heart. The time has come for us to mend this sacred hoop of life. We are all related. I am sending a voice." __ Gilly Running, Lakota +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! It's spring. The grass is greening, summer birds are returning and the final third of this newsletter is events listings. There are powwows and festivals near just about anywhere in the United States and Canadian events are not far behind. Some of you will be attending these events for the first time. If you attend more than one, please realize they are not all the same. Some will be little more than Indian-themed side-shows. Some are closer to family get-togethers for the Indian community. If you are fortunate enough and well thought of enough you may be invited to some traditional stomp ground or a society hosted gourd dance. Whatever and wherever just relax and enjoy the festivities or ceremonies and learn from them; but let common sense and respect guide your personal behaviour. Elders are still elders. Love them for the gifts they carry and listen when one speaks to you. What you are receiving is a blessing. Children are still children. Don't hold them to the same standard you hold an adult to. You will become aware that each child has a LOT of aunts and uncles watching and caring for them. It should be that way everywhere, but sadly, it is not. Ask traders to explain what you do not understand. If the one you ask doesn't know, take that as a clue you may be standing at the wrong booth. Do ask if what is being sold is really Indian made. You can buy trinkets and junk at any flea market. Whether or not it's enforced, know this - if you are told something was made by a Native brother or sister, it legally must be made by someone who can prove they are Indian. If it is not, both maker and seller are subject to heavy fines. Enjoy yourself and have a safe journey. , , Gary Night Owl gars@nanews.org (*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@speakeasy.org (`-') Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. gars@olagrande.net ===w=w=== gars@sdf.lonestar.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - John E. Baker Sr. - Miccosukee Tribe Vanishes - Supreme Court rejects from the U.S. Census Manybeads Case - Sawmill to Reopen - United Nations under Tribal Ownership Human Rights Commission - Kiowa Meeting - A Hopi Statement Yields Unclear Results to Lehman Brothers - James Cosner Hate Crime Case - Flathead Co-op Vote - Call for Investigation may be a Political Signal of Pepper Spray Use - Six Nations: - Rosebud: Elder Brothers Meeting Double Escapee Gets Seven Years - Hiding Genocide: The NMAI - The Artworks of Leonard Peltier - N.M. Foundation Wants - Native Prisoner Indian School Mural Saved -- Letter From Manuel - Learning Today/Leading Tomorrow - History: Carlisle Indian School - Navajo Unite with - Rustywire: Fall off the Wagon ... the Nation's Other Large Tribes - Poem: Views - Gwich'in Nation: - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days We Come from the Caribou - Native America Calling - Is Crow Tribe going Broke - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: John E. Baker Sr." --------- Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 18:31:53 -0400 From: "Janet Smith" Subj: ELDER PASSES ON http//www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm Former Ute tribal leader dead at 82 April 9, 2001 John E. Baker Sr., a former Southern Ute Indian Tribe chairman who has been credited with leading the tribe through a major transitional period, died Friday at his home in Ignacio. He was 82. Baker served from 1956-60 and 1961-62 as chairman of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, according The Southern Utes: A Tribal History. He also served as a Tribal Council member for many years. http://www.durangoherald.com/1news4249.htm Janet Smith Owlstar Trading Post http://www.owlstar.com --------- "RE: Supreme Court rejects Manybeads Case" --------- Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 08:04:17 -0700 (PDT) From: Robert Dorman Subj: Supreme Court rejects Manybeads Case ------- FORWARD, Original message follows ------- From: Black Mesa Support >From: Msdarkstar1@a... [ndn-aim] http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/Headlines/showfull.asp?ID=law/432001-1 Mailing List: Big Mountain List Supreme Court rejects Navajo case APRIL 3, 2001 Navajo families and activists disputing an agreement which would move them off Hopi tribal land in Arizona had their freedom of religion challenge rejected by the Supreme Court on Monday. By doing so, the Supreme Court let stand an appeals court ruling which dismissed the case altogether. In April 2000, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Hopi Tribe was an indispensable party to the case but could not be sued due to sovereign immunity. The Navajo residents of Hopi Partitioned Land, or HPL, however, have viewed their dispute as one between themselves and the United States government. Known as the Manybeads case, it was filed 13 years ago to challenge the 1974 federal law which requires them to move off the land. The residents, most of whom are sheepherders, have argued the law violates their Constitutionally protected right to freedom of religion. If they are required to move, they say they won't have access to ancestral land they consider sacred. A federal court in Arizona disagreed and in 1989 ruled the residents didn't have valid claims. Subsequently, the residents, the Hopi Tribe, and the Navajo Nation began negotiations to find a resolution to the issue. The talks resulted in what is now known as the Accommodation Agreement. Among other provisions, it requires the residents to sign 75-year leases with the Hopi Tribe and it was successfully pushed through Congress by Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), becoming law in 1996. While some families accepted the agreement, the Manybeads plaintiffs withdrew support, leading to their challenge remaining in the court system. But their arguments were dealt a major blow when an Arizona federal court in 1999 rejected a similar case, Clinton v. Babbitt, due to lack of involvement of the Hopi Tribe. So when the Manybeads case finally made it to the 9th Circuit, it was quickly dismissed on the same grounds. Since then, the residents have been given various deadlines to sign the agreement or be removed by the federal government. So far, no formal eviction orders have been requested by the US Attorneys Office in Arizona. The last official deadline for relocation was February 1, 2000. In a letter to supporters of the remaining residents last spring, McCain reiterated his support for the law he helped pass and said repeal of it, or the 1974 law, would "would lead to a return to the failed policy of joint use and lead to more conflict." McCain said Congress would continue to evaluate how relocation is carried out, however. Since 1974, about 14,000 Navajo tribal members have relocated from Navajo land. Several thousand Hopi tribal members have relocated from Hopi land as well. Lee Phillips, an Arizona attorney for the 17 Manybeads plaintiffs, did not return calls seeking comment. The Hopi Tribe was unavailable for comment. Get the Manybeads case: Manybeads v. US No. 9015003 (9th Circuit Court of Appeals April 18, 2000) Manybeads v. US (730 F. Supp. 1515 October 20, 1989) Copyright c. Indianz.Com 2000-2001. ===== Paul Pureau to subscribe to ndn-aim send a blank mail to: ===== Black Mesa Indigenous Support (BMIS) is a group of individuals acting to support the sovereignty of the indigenous people affected by mining activities on Black Mesa, who face forced relocation, environmental devastation, and cultural extinction at the hands of multi-national corporations, and United States and tribal governments. ========================================= Please visit http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/pagea~1.htm for more background on the Big Mountain relocation issue. To post to the list, email your message to redorman@theofficenet.com. To subscribe, send an email to: BIGMTLIST-subscribe@topica.com. --------- "RE: United Nations Human Rights Commission" --------- Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 17:32:23 EDT From: Robert Dorman Subj: UNHCR-KeeWatchman ------- FORWARD, Original message follows ------- From: Condor952@aol.com Subj: News of the 57th session of the UNHRC on BM, MG, and LP Mailing List: Big Mountain List --------------------------------------------------------------------- United Nations Human Rights Commission Fifty-seventh Session, March 19 - April 27, 2001 Oral Intervention, International Indian Treaty Council Agenda Item 11 (e) Religious Intolerance Thank you Mr Chairman, My name is Kee Watchman. I am a delegate from the International Indian Treaty Council. I have been sent here to speak for the community where I have lived my entire life, Cactus Valley-Red Willow Springs. We have been subject for over thirty years to confiscation of our livestock, rules preventing us from building homes or even maintaining the homes we have, continuous police harassment, harsh restrictions on our religion and the threat of forcible evection from the lands of our clans have called home for thousands of years. I believe what I had said, applies to all Indigenous communities who are also subject to these same laws in the United States. The international community's attention has been focused on our plight for over 20 years. Every year some of us have some before you to tell our story and ask for justice. There have been three Special Rapporteur's reports, two in 1989 and another in 1998 on the situation we face. The issues are clear. The United States government, for reasons of its own policy, is actively and knowingly destroying our families, our livelihood, our sacred places and our way of life. It has given itself statutory authority to use whatever force necessary against us to accomplish its goals. Lately, we had heard strong rumors that Peabody Coal Company still wants our rich and low sulfur coal that lays underneath our feet, hearing this only reaffirms our own intuition of why we had been faced with this force relocation policy by the United States government. We in our communities still face the ever encroachment of Peabody's mining operations towards our direction. Even with those families who had signed face yet, still another relocation policy of the future generation's. As well, the Hopi Tribal Council recently had given permission to construct a cellular tower on the very peak of our shrine called (Dzil'na S'ai) or Big Mountain without any consultation. This desecration of our Holy Mountain will only add further insult to a deep injury caused by this force relocation policy. We sympathize and support our Apache relatives to the south, where they are struggling to protect their Holy mountain called (Dzil Nchaa Si An) or also known as Mount Graham. This Holy Mountain is being desecrated by telescope projects by the University of Arizona, the Vatican andby Max-Planck Institute of Germany. The United States government is far from protecting our rights, as it promised in the Treaty of 1868, is the major violator of these rights. We worked for years on a mediated "settlement" whichin the end took from us even more of our land, livestock, and our cultural and religious freedoms. We have appealed to the President, the Congress and the Courts of the United States, and have not been able to change our government's course of action. Therefore, we have come before this body and the international human rights community. My organization will work with the Working Group on Indigenous People and the Sub-Commission for the protection and promotion of Human Rights, in order to develop a new resolution on this issue, to be presented to the 58th Commission session. This resolution should: A) provide for full-time monitoring of human rights violations in the Dine' Country; B) make provision for rendering adviceand guidance from the international community to the United States on itsresponsibilities under existing treaties, the UN Charter and otherinternational instruments; C) providing an avenue of appeal to some international tribunal where the United States and its officials could beheld accountable for their actions. We are well aware of the pressures the United States has brought to bear in the past on this body, the Sub-Commission and the Working Group. We have faith, however, that those who hear and understand our words will take this opportunity to protect our rights, and by doing so the rights of all indigenous peoples and of all the peoples of the world. In closing Mr. Chairman, IITC would like to state that Indigenous peoples worldwide regret that Executive Clemency was denied to an Indigenous and environmental rights defender, LeonardPeltier. This case is an example of the injustices Indigenous peoples are facing today. We want to renew our call for the immediate release for Leonard Peltier and we are asking the Commission to request the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers and the Working Group on Arbitration Detention to visit and investigate the care of Leonard Peltier and report to next Commission's session. Thank you Mr. Chairman and all my relatives, Kee Watchman, CactusValley-Red Willow Springs/Big Mountain region. ========================================= Please visit http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/pagea~1.htm for more background on the Big Mountain relocation issue. To post to the list, email your message to redorman@theofficenet.com. To subscribe, send an email to: BIGMTLIST-subscribe@topica.com. --------- "RE: A Hopi Statement to Lehman Brothers" --------- Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2001 19:47:24 -0700 From: Robert Dorman Subj: A Hopi Statement to Lehman Brothers ------- FORWARD, Original message follows ------- From: Kc4behopi Mailing List: Big Mountain List Anonymous Hopi Traditional, VOICES FROM OUR ANCESTORS AND OUR GREAT CREATOR I am from Hopi Nation. We have come here to talk to Peabody Mining Company about coal and water. Traditional and priesthood people don't want this mining. The Hopi prophecies say that we have to protect land and life. If we don't protect our beautiful Earth- our Heaven, our Mother, We will suffer with her. All over the country water will be contaminated and the air will be polluted. Living creatures will die from poisons left by industry. Peabody is also depleting our precious water resources. This is what Peabody is doing to the land in Arizona. We Hopi are a Sovereign Nation. We have never signed any treaty with the US government, or with ANY government. Yet, the United States government did not see this and created the so-called Hopi Tribal Council. The United States government said that if 30 percent of the Hopi people vote to elect the Tribal Council this will be a legitimate council. But this did not happen. Less than 30 percent of the Hopi people voted, and some of the voters were not even Hopi. Furthermore, John Boyden was a lawyer who worked for Peabody Coal. He was instrumental to the creation of the Hopi Tribal Council. He was biased, and not an impartial advocate for the Hopi people. Our ancestors fought against the creation of a Hopi Tribal Council which was not representative of the Hopi people, but the US government did not listen. Our ancestors warned that someday this would happen. White men will say that it is our own people that sold this land. I will not accept this. Because the Hopi Tribal Council was created by the US government, they follow the white man's constitution and by-laws instead of the Hopi Laws and Constitution. I am glad that our ancestors never signed any treaties with any Government. Maybe someday someone will help the Hopi by investigating the Hopi Tribal Council, and revealing the injustice. I cannot understand the Hopi Tribal Council. They claim that they helped stop the Balcan Mine in the San Francisco Peaks at Flagstaff, Arizona. But it wasn't the Hopi Tribal Council that stopped the Balcan Mine. It was their boss, Bruce Babbit. Babbit, as secretary of Interior paid one million dollars to close the mine. Maybe this can happen at Peabody Coal too. But I doubt it. Bahana, or white men, have obligated themselves to man made laws, instead of Creators Laws. By this he has neglected his original vow. This means not only his downfall but damage to the Earth as well. Today the rights of Native peoples are being violated all over this country. All Native peoples defend land and life as we do, in order to live. Our roots are rooted in our Villages and it goes up to the whole Universe. If we break these roots, the world will get out of balance. Leading us to great destruction and judgment. The path of the Great Spirit has become difficult to see by almost all men. Even by many Natives, who have chosen instead to follow the path of white men, for material wealth. Many people no longer recognize the true path of the Great Spirit. They have in fact no respect for the Great Spirit or for our precious Mother Earth, who gives us all Life. Now our Brothers and Sisters become well educated in the ways of the Bahanas. They turn against their own leaders. They say they are going forward, not backward. They say the leaders never do anything good for them in material ways. Now they are disregarding the Great Laws. They ignore the advice of the traditional leaders. We know from the previous worlds; there are warnings that people go out of balance. They no longer listened to their leaders and priests who warned them of danger and many times tried to guide them on the right path and repent. Instead they were laughed at and made fun of. One day the great destruction began to. People panicked. Some ran back to the Priests begging, "Oh, Great Ones, please help save us, we will reform." "We have warned you many times," the priests replied loudly. "Nothing can be done now. The time has come for you to depart, but you all deserve on least thing. Take your riches and your wealth and go down." THIS is a small part of our history. I don't want this darkness to fall upon us again. The signs are here. We Hopi don't believe in Voting. If you speak for the Creator you are a majority because the Great Spirit is the Majority. We don't believe in voting because if the few believe in Creator, then they become the Majority. The Hopi believe that it will come to that. Maybe one or a few people will left and if they believe in the creator than they will be in the majority. So it is today, when we speak to you, Lehman Brothers. Even though we are just a few here, we speak for the Creator, who is the majority. Therefore we demand you to stop the Peabody Coal Mining and the slurry. We demand again. Stop the coal mining and the coal slurry. I pray for you and hope that we open your eyes and you find the majority in your heart. These are the voices from our ancestors. Our ancestors prophesized that this would happen. Now, we are repeating this prophecy from beginning to end. Thank You Traditional from Hopi Nation ========================================= Please visit http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/pagea~1.htm for more background on the Big Mountain relocation issue. To post to the list, email your message to redorman@theofficenet.com. To subscribe, send an email to: BIGMTLIST-subscribe@topica.com. --------- "RE: Flathead Co-op Vote may be a Political Signal" --------- Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 08:43:15 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="FLATHEAD CO-OP" Tuesday, April 3, 2001 Flathead Co-op vote may be a signal of coming politics Members of the Flathead Electric Co-op over the weekend provided what could be an inspiration to other businesses caught in a power bind -- and maybe to the public. They threw out the people they believe are responsible for an impending electricity rate increase averaging 29 percent -- 31 percent for residential consumers. Unlike other co-ops in Montana, Flathead Electric has in effect gone into the deregulated electricity market to cover its supply obligations. "Shame on the board and shame on management," member Don Siblerud said at a meeting Saturday. "There are 26 electric co-ops in Montana, and 25 of them signed long-term power supply contracts. Those co-ops aren't faced with the increases we're facing." Our purpose here isn't to dissect the Flathead rate hike -- the fact is, the co-op's board is not entirely to blame. In a nutshell, in 1997, when it was a small co-op serving customers in rural northwestern Montana, Flathead signed an almost-sufficient long-term contract with the Bonneville Power Administration. A year later, PacifiCorp decided it wanted to consolidate its business in larger metropolitan areas, so it sold its Montana business to the Flathead Electric Co-op. It seemed like a good fit. PacfiCorp viewed the Kalispell, Whitefish and Columbia Falls markets as rural, but to the Flathead Co-op they were urban -- they increased the cooperative's size by a factor of at least eight. To supply these new customers, Flathead signed some more long-term contracts with BPA and PacifiCorp. The contracts were subject to market fluctuations, but at the time the market seemed pretty stable. The rest, of course, is history. Spot electricity prices have shot up, and the Flathead Co-op is left holding the bag. At the co-op's annual meeting over the weekend in Kalispell, more than 700 people showed up, and they vented their frustration by voting out two longtime trustees. And that is our point. Montana Power Co.'s 285,000 small consumers are likely to be facing increases of at least the same magnitude on D-Day (July 1, 2002, when deregulation kicks in for them). The Legislature might make it happen even sooner, to soften the eventual sticker shock by storing up a cash reserve. The difference is, Montana Power customers can't vote the MPC board out of office. But legislators -- especially those few remaining who were around in 1997 to vote for deregulation -- might want to note that D-Day 2002 occurs just four months before the next general election. Copyright c. 2001 Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Six Nations Elder Brothers Meeting" --------- Date: Wed, Mar 21, 2001 09:48:00 -0700 From: Carmen Thomas Subj: Elder Brothers Meeting... Greetings All My Relations, Am passing on the good news of our Traditional Council talking about taking action as a United People again. Gloria Thomas, Clanmother from Onondaga Deer of Oswege Territory forwarded this message onto me. Let us pray now that our Traditional Leaders are beginning what is the start of many GOOD Things for the People and our Future. Her notes are below: Meeting Set for the Elder Brothers On Friday March 16, representatives from the Onondaga, Mohawk, and Seneca nations across Haudenosaunee territory visited the Haudenosaunee Resource Centre to discuss the need for ongoing meetings of the Elder Brothers. Representatives from Akwesasne, Kanasatake, Onondaga, and Tonawanda, urged the gathering that action must be taken now to retain our languages, ceremonies, and government if we are to remain Haudenosaunee. The highlights of issues and questions discussed were: 1. Reviewing Our Strengths . Haudenosaunee people are ready to act now to maintain our identity. . Haudenosaunee persistence and strong support system enable us to survive as a people. 2. What are the Issues? . The Haudenosaunee must unite and agree on how to resolve matters that impede the Confederacy Council to function as a government such as duplicity of titles, the time of year to condole chiefs, the role of community councils and Grand Council. . There is a need for widespread knowledge of the Great Law across the territory, including the process to condole chiefs; the role of Chiefs and Clanmothers; and restoring Haudenosaunee languages to understand and communicate our traditional practices. 3. What is Needed to Bring us Back to our Vision? 3.1 It was agreed to set an Elder Brothers' meeting for Friday March 23 at Onondaga (Syracuse, NY) to review the issues raised and that all communities be informed. 3.2 It was agreed that direction from the March 23rd meeting be presented at a 2 day Grand Council meeting on Saturday March 31 and Sunday April 1 in Onondaga (Syracuse NY) and that communities be informed by proper protocol. A social will be held on Sat. 3.3 It was discussed that a working group consisting of 2 - 4 representatives per community across Haudenosaunee territory recommend solutions to Grand Council regarding: . include the Younger Brothers to work for the good of all Haudenosaunee. . pull together all solutions to unite the Hodenosaunee. . an agreed time that condolence can occur throughout the year. . what to do about duplication of titles. . review how Nation Councils for each community can work in conjunction with Grand Council? what about Six Nations? where will Grand Council meet? . have at least 2 people knowledgeable about the Great Law at each Council meeting. . what does it mean to "build rafters" as mentioned in the Great Law? --------- "RE: Hiding Genocide: The NMAI" --------- Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 08:55:19 -0500 From: Carter Camp Subj: Hiding Genocide : The National Museum of the American Indian Mailing List: ndn-aim Hiding Genocide - from the Native American Village Hiding Genocide: The National Museum Of The American Indian by Carter Camp, Ponca Nation December 6, 1999 Seems we rez-based Indians always are slow to react to events taking place in Washington D.C., by the time we wake up the damage is done. The new "Redskins" stadium is one place we could have made a stand if we were serious about the mascot issue. Another cultural rip-off being foisted on our people is the National Museum of American Indian going up in D.C.. I once warned about about it in a letter carried by Indian Country Today in the early nineties, but a small voice is easily drowned out when millions of dollars are being spent and the voice of the GreatWhiteFather anoints Indian leaders. For a decade or more the Smithsonian fundraising machine has gone merrily along, draining much needed funds away from the Indian community and diverting Americas attention away from the economic, cultural and legal devastation going on across our homelands. Our leaders are grinning and shuffling into line to endorse another whitemans dream, and our artists and writers can't seem to wait for a grant, the ultimate pat on the head from the hand of power. Am I the only Indian who doesn't trust the graverobbing Smithsonian or who questions the basic premise of the use of this unique space on the National Mall? The only good thing I can see coming from this place is it probably will have an Indian-artist designed front entrance, properly blessed by a medicine man, that we can use to protest the various acts of genocide as they are carried out and we ourselves become artifacts. Just what we Indians need, a museum to celebrate our "disappearance" (albeit with a nod to our survivance) before we're quite dead! All is normal in Indian Country. Once upon a time there were two open spaces for museums on the National Mall. African Americans coveted a space as did Hispanic, Jewish and Native Americans. Many interest groups, from Veterans to the D.A.R., also wanted the rare spaces. Congress in its wisdom awarded one site to a very politically powerful (and deserving) Jewish applicant and another to the very politically powerful Smithsonian Institution, their 'keeper of the loot.' Then the "fool the Indian" process began and it proved to be very easy. Just put an Indian face on it(out of the vast Smithsonian collection) and it magically becomes an "Indian" project. With a shamans wave, shape changes and crypt-worms become our friends, close enough to be Indian- endorsed as keepers of our precious past and tellers of our history. Is it merely my imagination that over the generations of conquest and looting, enumerating and studying, digging and classifying, collecting and recording, the Smithsonain might have learned and be USING our own sacred secrets to blind our leaders to the real plan? What else explains the lack of a desenting voice as our leaders and artists shamble all in a line? Indians stand REDLY in the way of the American dream. For centuries Americans have dreamed we are "vanishing" and have tried hard to make it true. The Smithsonian was created to enclose us in their white past and to chronicle our demise, what medicine has made them our friends? Where has Coyote been lately? Contrast the two new museums and you can see how they are used to support a conquerors, cleansed view of history: For the Jewish museum no thought at all was given to using it to show the world ancient Jewish culture and artifacts. They could have displayed scenes of ancient Jewish life - hunting, tanning hides and pastoral living. Like an Indian museum. It would have been beautiful and easy for people to enjoy. It wasn't done that way for one reason...The Jewish people were in charge and they decided for themselves what aspect of their history to show the world. They decided with one voice to use the rare space as a shield to protect their people against a repeat of the Nazi holocaust. Jewish politicians funded and protected Jewish intellectuals, artists, historians, Rabbis and survivors as they crafted a way to commemorate their dead and to use their past to protect their future. They refused to allow the dreams of others to distort the truth of their horror, and now their museum is a powerful testament to a Jewish dream, not a gentile revision of reality. Our space, and the worlds window to our Nations, was turned over to the Smithsonian Institution to enshrine the lie of 'manifest destiny' and the historical inevitability of the American Holocaust. Americas museums have always been a prime purveyor of the big lies of American history, now the largest and worst is given an army of non-Indian historians, anthros, romance writers and a couple of Indian scouts, to define us to the world. THEY decided with one voice NOT to use our rare and precious space as a shield of truth against the American Holocaust, or to prevent the conclusion of its evil purpose against my people. We still die, our sacred sites still are paved over, our dead dug up, our children stolen and mis- educated. Missionaries search the jungle for the last of us. It hurts me to think about the many atrocities we may have been able to prevent had we Indian traditionalists, (for whom the American Holocaust still burns freshly) been able to tell a true history of our own people. I envy my Jewish relatives for serving their people so well. Our Indian leaders have seen fit to sell our history so the Whiteman can bend it to fit the myth they use to avoid histories judgement... Better for tourism in Washington D.C. too. The Indian artifacts to be displayed in Washington and New York would be much better displayed by the people they were stolen from (or bought, same thing) upon their own reservations and homelands. If Americans want to know about my Tribe, the Ponca, they should learn from us, here at our home, they might invigorate our economy and begin to see us as Poncas and not "Indians." By coming here they might realize that after 500 years, vanishing is no longer an option. The dispersal of the Smithsonian collections back to the Tribes would benefit our children the most. They would realize the artistry and beauty of their peoples history and the value of their Nations. They would come to understand that the years since white contact have been only a short, ugly wart on the beautiful history of our people. It would give them faith that one day we will pass back into beauty. Artifacts in Washington DC are dead, cut-off relics in nothingness. At home they are freed from limbo and recharged with life and need. Even Artifacts need to be Ponca or Navajo or Makah. Americans sensibilities will have been spared at the cost of continuing depredations against Indian people. Americans will go to the Holocaust Museum and be told the horrible truths of what Hitler and the Nazi's did to the Jews. They will cry for the victims and mourn with the survivors, in the end they too will be determined to protect the Jewish people from a repeat of the Holocaust. All thinking people support this. They will also be comforted (and exempted) to know that America defeated the Nazi, stopped the killing and helped Jews return to their homeland. Next, Americans can walk over to the museum of 'Indian' history. They will be amazed and pleased at the beauty of our past. Scenes of tipis, tanning hides and pastoral living will hide the blood covering every- square-inch of America. Our blood. They will go home marveling at our ancient art and beauty and a little sad we had to pass into history because our buffalo suddenly "vanished." They may even feel a twinge of guilt at the part their ancestors played in our demise. But they will go away without seeing or knowing the "time of horror" each and every Tribe went through upon contact with the European. They will go home without realizing how much of the slaughter was an officially inspired, government planned, racist policy of genocide. They will not realize the depth of the crime committed so they will not understand the crimes being committed today or the need for reparations to heal the devastation. They will not understand that there were entire Societies for whom the "final solution" worked. Entire Tribes, as whole and complete as the the Jewish Tribes, were completely erased from mother earth. Their language will never be heard, their poetry, music, science and art is lost to the world, because they met a people who believed in their own, god given, superiority and the inferiority of all else. (The base cause of all genocide). They will go home without feeling the need to help Indian Nations secure their own homelands or becoming determined there never be another American Holocaust. Worst of all, they will go home not knowing that our people still suffer ongoing policies of genocide and attacks on our existance. Missionaries and Governments still work and plan to erase us from the face of our Mother Earth. Indian Country, from the Artic to Anartica, is still awash in the blood of our People. Should American Indians be suspicious about the placement and content of these two Museums? Jew and "Indian?" Did it take some C.I.A. psy-war expert to figure out how best to cover-up the murder of over 200 million people? Will this museum, with a mere nod to the 500 year holocaust, stand as the permanent enshrinement of the American lie and the final resting place of Indian history? I believe there should be a holocaust museum on Americas National Mall in Americas Capitol city. But not one of the European disaster. It must be a Bright Red Museum of the American Holocaust! It must call the roll of entire Nations of beautiful people who succumbed to to the genocidal onslaught. "IT MUST BEGIN OUR TIME OF MOURNING BY ENDING OUR TIME OF FEAR." ...for all my relations... Biography: Carter Camp is a member of the Ponca Nation and an active member of the American Indian Movement ===== 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: N.M. Foundation Wants Indian School Mural Saved" --------- Date : Fri, 30 Mar 2001 07:33:26 -0600 From: John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate Subj: (FWD)Indian News 03-30-2001 ----- Forwarded by John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate on 03/30/2001 07:34 AM N.M. Foundation Wants Indian School Mural Saved BY KRISTEN MOULTON THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE 3/28/2001 BRIGHAM CITY -- A New Mexico foundation has entered the fray over the planned demolition of the Intermountain Indian School's gymnasium, which features a 6-foot-by-12-foot mural by renowned Indian artist Allan Houser. The Allan Houser Foundation, based in Santa Fe, has written letters to nearly a dozen senators and representatives, Utah's governor and the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, trying to enlist support for saving the mural. Houser, who painted the mural directly onto the plaster wall of the gymnasium foyer, taught for 11 years at the boarding school, where thousands of children, mostly Navajos, were educated from 1952 until 1984. "This mural is so important to American history, to Utah history and especially to Native American history," said Bob Haozous, one of Houser's five sons and the executive director of the foundation that has more than 12,000 pieces of Houser's art. "It should be saved." The owner of the 90-acre school campus, New York-based Cape Advisers, has transformed several of the abandoned school buildings into townhouses, but has begun demolishing the rest. It doesn't make economic sense to rehabilitate them, says partner and project manager Matt Petersen. Single family homes, townhouses, apartments and some shops are planned for the development, dubbed Eagle Village in honor of the school's mascot. Petersen, who earlier said he planned to demolish the gym near the west end of the campus by summer, said Tuesday he will give the foundation more time to find a benefactor. "I'll work with them as long as I can," Petersen said. Cape Advisers already has saved about 20 other paintings on doors and walls of the old school, and may consider donating the Houser mural to the foundation, he said. Other Houser murals in the school's auditorium theater were painted over decades ago and the auditorium itself was later demolished. The gym mural, which shows a Navajo man on a galloping horse against a backdrop of mesas and other riders, has become the ace in the hole for Francelle Boman, a Brigham City woman who wants to save the entire gym. Boman runs a concession stand at the gym, which has been used for basketball tournaments, clinics and indoor soccer the past three years. She wants to keep the gym open for the city's youths, but realizes the mural may be the only asset valuable enough to stave off the wrecking ball. She contacted the foundation, as well as the Utah Division of History, which is weighing whether to get involved. On Thursday night, Boman will present the Brigham City Council petitions signed by more than 400 people, urging the council to save the gym. The council previously approved the developer's master plan for the property. Haozous said the Houser Foundation does not want to interfere with the developer's plans and has no money of its own to save the mural. "Our goal is to get it donated to the National Museum of the American Indian. The bottom line is we want to preserve it." Nelson Foss, the foundation's archivist, said removing the mural would be costly, probably around $40,000. He said Petersen has agreed to give the foundation three weeks. "If we can't do it by then, we're probably not going to get it done," he said. Houser was a Chiricahua Apache whose ancestors lived in Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico. Born in 1913, he became a world-famous painter and sculptor. He was the first Indian to receive the National Medal for the Arts, from President Bush in 1992. He died in 1994. He was selected as a featured American Indian artist for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Twenty of Houser's works will be on display next winter in Salt Lake City, Haozous said in his letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and others. "This international recognition of one of the most important 20th- century American artists is seemingly incompatible and in direct contrast to the desecration of Allan Houser's mural as a part of Utah's history," the letter said. A Hatch spokesman said the letter is being reviewed by a staffer in charge of Indian affairs. --------- "RE: Learning Today/Leading Tomorrow" --------- Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 10:43:47 -0700 From: John Wm Sloniker Subj: Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow Mailing List: INDIAN Heritage Rapid City Journal: News Index http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/ Youth told they are all pre-judge-ists By Heidi Bell Gease, Journal Staff Writer RAPID CITY -- More than 575 students from a handful of states are spending the weekend at the Indian Youth 2001 Conference, studying issues they will face as future leaders. "Learning Today, Leading Tomorrow" is the theme for this year's conference, sponsored by the Blackpipe Youth Council, Crow Creek Tribal Schools and Lower Sioux Indian Community of Morton, Minn. The conference kicked off Thursday with a tipi-building contest, Lakota- language bowl, hand games and other contests. Friday, students attended sessions on topics ranging from alcohol to gangs to racism, before an afternoon field trip to Bear Butte. Terry Star, a tutor at Todd County High School, spoke to students about racism and about the prejudice that precedes it. "Who in here is prejudiced, raise your hand," he said. When a few hands went up, he continued, "The rest of you are lying." Star said it's human nature to "pre-judge" things and people. What's important is that we don't take negative actions based on those pre- judgments, he said. Education is the key to understanding others, he said. "It's important to know our own history ... but equally important to go out and learn about somebody else's culture." Star has studied Irish history, and he told students that the Irish were once considered to be on the low rungs of society, just as Indians were. "They had it just as bad," he said. Star said that students at Todd County aren't split by race. Instead, they tend to form friendships and cliques based on shared interests and musical tastes. Students are bothered to find that parents and community members tend to be more divided along racial lines, he said. "We want to show our community here that we're a family within our walls," Star said. In parting, Star told students to try to overcome their own biases through education. "Go out and learn about somebody else," he said. "They're just as scared of you as you are of them." The conference continues Saturday with more speakers, afternoon visits with Indian elders and other activities. It concludes Sunday with a brunch and honoring ceremonies. You may call reporter Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419, or send e-mail to heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com. Copyright c. 2001 Rapid City Journal --------- "RE: Navajo Unite with the Nation's Other Large Tribes" --------- Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2001 14:22:59 MDT From: senior-staff@nativenewsonline.org (Senior Staff) Subj: Navajo unite with the nation's other large tribes Mailing List: NativeNews http://www.daily-times.com/s-asp-bin/ref/Index.ASP?puid=3D4290&spuid= 3D4290=&Indx=3D777664&Article=3DON&id=3D50735346&ro=3D0 Navajo unite with the nation's other large tribes By Steve Devitt/ Daily Times Correspondent WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. - The Council of Large Land-Based Tribes is a reality. Last week, 12 members of the Navajo government chartered a plane and flew to Billings, Mont. to meet with tribal representatives from Montana and Wyoming. After four days of meetings, the 10 tribes fashioned a charter for the new organization. According to the charter, a tribe must have at least 100,000 acres to join the council. Tribes will get one vote on the council for every 100,000 acres. The Navajo have a land-base of 16.2 million acres. The tribes in Montana and Wyoming have a total land-base of 10.4 million acres. Edward T. Begay, Speaker for the Navajo Nation Council, initiated the organization with a meeting in Window Rock last fall. He said there was a great need for large-land base tribes to organize. Many Indian organizations, he said, set priorities that benefit smaller tribes, such as Bridgeport Indian Colony of California that has a total of 37 tribal members and 40 acres of land. As a result, he said, the Navajo and other large land-based tribes "have often been overlooked in the formation of national Indian Policy." Ervin Keeswood, Sr., a delegate from Hogback and the chairman of the Intergovernmental Relations Subcommittee for the council, agreed. "The Navajo Nation does a good job bringing Navajo issues to the forefront," he said of the tribe's constant lobbying effort in Washington. The problem is, he said, that many other tribes are pursuing similar issues "and it's hard to get Congress to favor one tribe over another." Currently, the most popular tribal organization is the National Congress of American Indians, which represents 228 of the nation's 552 recognized Indian Tribes. Indian leaders who attended the meeting in Window Rock last fall clearly felt the organization was not doing the larger tribes much good. According to its charter, the new council will support and uphold the sovereignty of the member tribes; foster the government-to-government relationships between the member tribes and the U.S. government; develop council position on issues impacting member tribes when consensus can be reached, and, provide for coordination of lobbying efforts by council member tribes with federal, state and local governments. Tribes with membership in the council now include the Navajo, Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Blackfeet, Assiniboine Sioux, Chippewa Cree, Northern Arapaho, Salish Kootenai, Eastern Shoshoni and the Cheyenne River Sioux. The Indian leaders decided to establish a one-year interim term for officers for the new operation which will include a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. During the first year, the officers, selected by the various tribes, will put together the by-laws of the organization. Those by-laws will determine how tribes will use their allotted votes, whether by delegates or block voting. During the first year, the president and treasurer will come from the Rocky Mountain region (Montana-Wyoming) while the vice president and secretary will come from the Navajo Nation. It was decided at the meeting in Billings that the officers would rotate from region to region. The Navajo Nation's Inter-Governmental Relations committee is expected to meet next week to select the officers from the Navajo tribe. Navajo leaders are planning to meet with representatives from the Great Plains states in Aberdeen, S.D. on April 12 to ask them to join the council. --------- "RE: Gwich'in Nation: We Come from the Caribou" --------- Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 06:26:19 -0700 (PDT) From: Paul Pureau Subj: Gwich'in Nation: We Come from the Caribou Mailing List: ndn-aim Indianz.Com. In Print. http://www.indianz.com/SmokeSignals/Headlines/showfull.asp?ID=env/442001-1 Gwich'in Nation: We Come from the Caribou APRIL 4, 2001 Faith Gimmel is fighting for two nations. One, the Gwich'in Nation, is composed of 15 villages in Alaska and Canada, representing 10,000 people who call one of the coldest regions in America their home. The other is better known as the Porcupine caribou herd, whose 130,000 members are in the middle of a nationwide debate about the future of one of the most pristine spaces in the country. To Gimmel, the two are one and the same. As coordinator for the Gwich'in Steering Committee, Gimmel is the primary spokesperson for the Gwich'in Nation. But as a member of a tribe whose culture revolves almost entirely around the caribou, she is soon becoming the spokesperson for a group of animals whose population may be threatened by oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska. "We're culturally reliant on the herd. We're spiritually reliant on the herd. We're socially reliant on the herd," says Gimmel. "We have our own traditional songs and dances that tell of our historical relationship to the caribou. Our creation stories are even about how the Gwich'in and the caribou were once one." To hear Gimmel talk about the caribou is to hear a story about the Gwich'in themselves. Whether its sustenance, clothing, or social structure, every aspect of Gwich'in society is connected in one way or another to the herd. And as debate over drilling in ANWR increases, the Gwich'in are now finding themselves politically tied to the caribou. Having seen development fended off by Congress and the Clinton administration for the past few years, Gimmel acknowledges her people are now in for a much bigger fight. But Gimmel believes President George W. Bush and Secretary of Interior Gale Norton are in for a battle as well. Both have argued that development can occur with minimal impacts on the environment. Gimmel disagrees with the argument, along with the idea that development in the refuge will satisfy the nation's growing, and pressing, energy needs. Although the figure is disputed by drilling advocates such as Arctic Power, an Alaska lobbying firm, Gimmel says the refuge promises but a few drops of oil. "My people are faced with losing thousands of year of culture for six months worth of oil," says Gimmel. "Why should the Gwich'in be faced with sacrificing our way of life for short term economic gain? That's not fair or right. This country needs to learn from mistakes of the past where industrialization has harmed indigenous cultures." Gimmel has plenty of supporters. A number of Alaska Native villages, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), environmentalists, and Senators from Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) to Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) oppose development. Many others want drilling, too. Arctic Slope Regional Corp., an Inupiat Eskimo-owned Alaska Native corporation, oil companies, and lawmakers like Senator Frank Murkowski (R-Alaska) are pushing for development. For those who haven't made up their mind, Gimmel paints her job as a simple one. "I'm just educating people about the Gwich'in way of life and how reliant we are on the herd, how our culture will be devastated by oil development," she says. Along those lines, Gimmel is one of the keynote speakers at the National Wildlife Federation's annual meeting in Washington, DC, this week. The meeting begins today and Gimmel will put her lobbying and education skills to work, hoping to convince Americans why the Gwich'in viewpoint is one that should be heard. "We come from the caribou. That's what we believe," says Gimmel. "What befalls the caribou befalls the Gwich'in. What befalls the Gwichi'n befalls the caribou." ===== Paul Pureau to subscribe to ndn-aim send a blank mail to: ndn-aim-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.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: Is Crow Tribe going Broke" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 09:59:39 +0100 From: "anne.bates" Subj: Is Crow Tribe going broke? Mailing List: ndn-aim http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?section=local&display=content /local/crowtribe.inc Is Crow Tribe going broke? The Crow Tribe is on the verge of being broke and is scrambling to find enough money to pay its 1,000 employees by week's end, according to the tribe's accountant, John Donham, who made those allegations after quitting Tuesday afternoon. Donham, who has been the tribe's accountant since 1999, said he has disagreed with leaders over the spending of tribal funds since they took office in July. He said tribal officials are misusing federal funds and said hundreds of employees need to be fired or tribal accounts will be depleted. Although Donham's relationship with the tribe has been in chaos for nearly two weeks, tribal officials were shocked that Donham went public with his concerns. The tribe is not broke, and mass firings are not planned, said tribal spokesman Leroy Not Afraid. "This is totally a complete surprise," Not Afraid said. "It's unfortunate that he would use the media as a courtroom. It sounds like tribe is on trial. We totally disagree with that." Tribal officials might find themselves in an actual courtroom soon. A class action lawsuit full of allegations similar to those made by Donham has been filed in federal court by Tilton Old Bull, the ousted tribal secretary, who, until October, was in the inner circle of the tribe's leaders. Donham is a defendant in Old Bull's lawsuit. "This whole thing could blow up. They're broke," Old Bull said. "It's going to be really interesting by the end of the week. They're scrambling to try to meet payroll." Accountant fired and rehired Chaos defined the final days of the relationship between Donham Accounting Inc. and the Crow Tribe. In early March, Donham warned tribal leaders that a massive layoff was needed to prevent draining tribal accounts. On March 23, Donham was fired. "Without cause," he said. Later that day, Crow Chairman Clifford Birdinground apologized to Donham and rehired him. Early last week, Mort Dreamer, a senior adviser to the chairman, delivered a letter to The Gazette that portrayed Donham's firing as an act by a renegade group of tribal employees. "The attack had no merit," Dreamer wrote. The group said Donham was not a licensed accountant and fired him to prevent him from accessing federal funds to cover the tribe's paychecks issued March 22, Dreamer said. The group, which included the tribe's general counsel, obtained early paychecks for themselves to avoid not getting paid. "Quite frankly, they took care of themselves and sacrificed the remaining 1,000 tribal employees who depend on their paychecks for survival," Dreamer wrote. First Interstate Bank in Hardin refused to cash Crow payroll checks the day Donham was fired. Not Afraid said the bank accepted the checks by Monday. The tribe has employed an in-house accountant since the late 1980s, after the federal government stepped in because of financial mismanagement. "The tribe's accountant is a professional, with a professional staff and a license," Dreamer wrote. "The tribe depends on its accountant to maintain and control its budget in order to maintain its record of clean audits." The state of Montana said Donham lost his license to be a certified Public Accountant in 1995 when he failed to pay a $70 renewal fee. Because of this, Donham cannot advertise himself as a CPA or use the designation behind his name, said Susanne Criswell, administrator for the state's Board of Public Accountants. In a letter to tribal officials dated March 24, Donham used the designation "CPA" behind his name. Why Donham was rehired Old Bull said Donham was rehired because the tribe was afraid that he would reveal the tribe's financial troubles. "He's going to spill the beans and leave," Old Bull said last week. Tribal leaders met with Donham on March 26. In the meeting, Donham agreed to continue working through April 27, but demanded the tribe place $150,000 in an escrow account for his firm. "If at any time from now until April 27, 2001, our firm projects that the escrow account is less than the anticipated billings, the tribe will increase the escrow by an amount indicated in our written request," Donham wrote. Donham also demanded that the tribe pay for his legal bills stemming and from Old Bull's lawsuit. He also said certain employees must stop working for the tribe through the end of April, including Jean Bearcrane, Rena Frank, Rhea Goes Ahead, Earl Bearcrane and Andrew Old Elk. The tribe's three top officials agreed to the demands, Donham said. At least one of the stipulations were violated Monday when three of the barred employees were allowed to return to work, Donham said. "We had an agreement," he said. "It's no different than our original contract." Donham quit Tuesday at 5 p.m. and cut all his ties with the tribe. "We are not going to ask for any compensation," Donham said. Donham's list of problems Donham gave The Gazette a two-page letter Wednesday announcing his decision. The letter also alleges a series of financial problems: a.. The tribe has 300 more employees than it can afford. This represents a 78 percent jump in payroll costs over the previous tribal administration even as revenues remained the same. b.. Tribal funds earmarked for "special projects" were pulled out of an account at First Interstate Bank in November to meet budget shortfalls. The projects were not listed, but Old Bull said the money was likely $3 million designated for construction of a new Little Big Horn College. c.. On March 2, Donham told the tribe that its funds would be depleted by the end of March unless a loan was obtained or a massive layoff occurred. d.. The tribe is trying to secure at least a $53 million bond against the wishes of Donham. The tribe would have to pay fees of up to $1 million to an investment bank and would need to pay additional interest with money from the tribe's 107th Boundary Settlement trust. e.. Federal funds have been improperly used to meet cash flow problems in the tribe's "unrestricted funds." Why the tribe is broke Donham said that before quitting, he informed federal officials of "situations where we felt anything was wrong" with tribal finances. He said the government is particularly interested in areas where federal dollars may have been improperly used. "The government will get very mad about that," Donham said. He would not give details. Old Bull said the tribe is "broke because of wild spending." He said leaders have taken expensive trips to Washington, Las Vegas and Denver. "When you're broke, or you anticipate you're going to run low on money, you need to stay put, you need to stay home," he said. "When they go somewhere, they don't just take three or four people, they take 30 or 40." Tribal Spokesman Not Afraid said tribal leaders "do not agree with Mr. Donham's interpretations." Donham was hired to oversee the tribe's centralized account system, Not Afraid said. Tribal leaders were never "fully informed" that the tribe's financial management of federal funds were breaking any rules, he said. "The tribe had full confidence in Mr. Donham's advice," Not Afraid said. "Mr. Donham's signature was on all federal (payments to the tribe)." Not Afraid said current tribal leaders inherited many of the financial problems from a previous administration and have been burdened after losing a recent utility tax case and resort tax revenue. "We hope as a tribe we will not have to make any future cutbacks," Not Afraid said. "However, if we fall short in any program, we will have no choice." The tribe used funds for special projects only when no other funds were available, Not Afraid said. Financiers "verbally assured us that it was legal," he said. Not Afraid said the tribe feels jilted by Donham and is going to speak with attorneys about how to handle the situation. He said Donham's firm made "well over $1 million" in its relationship with the tribe. "Burning a bridge with the Crow Tribe is not a smart thing to do in Indian Country," Not Afraid said." ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> 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: Miccosukee Tribe Vanishes from the U.S. Census" --------- Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2001 09:48:02 -0700 From: Martha Elizabeth Ture Subj: Miccosukee tribe in Glades vanishes from the U.S. census Mailing List: Triballaw Published Friday, April 6, 2001 Miccosukee tribe in Glades vanishes from the U.S. census BY JASON GROTTO jgrotto@herald.com The U.S. Census Bureau has lost an entire American Indian tribe, the Miccosukees. For more than 140 years, the tribe has lived among the sawgrass, mangroves and cypress trees of the Everglades. They make their homes along the "old trail" just south of Tamiami Trail, building traditional chickees, thatched with cabbage palms, alongside modern structures complete with digital satellite dishes. During the 1990s, they have built a giant casino, made millions from gambling and lured tourists from all over the world with their colorful patchwork jackets, wood carvings and air boat rides. But according to figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau on March 27, the Miccosukee reservation is empty. Its population: 0. The Miccosukees know otherwise. "The community leaders encouraged the people to take part and participate in the census, and many of them did," said Ron Logan, the Miccosukee tribal planner who headed up the census effort. "So for them not to be reflected in the census, is a real disappointment.' Although the 2000 Census was ballyhooed as the most accurate and complete count ever, The Herald has discovered that the Census Bureau did not include the tribe in its tally, and neither the bureau nor the tribe is sure how or why. Ironically, the 1990 Census, widely considered inaccurate, showed there were 94 Miccosukees on the reservation. Tribal officials estimate that 500 people live there now, with an additional 150 people residing outside but near the tribal land. "A number of things could have happened," said Ed Gore, the Census Bureau's assistant division chief for Field Programs. "American Indian boundaries are sometimes off, so the people may be counted but are not included in that area. The tribe should certainly follow up with us, especially if there are people there." Although the idea the tribe may be dispersed inside a wider geographic area sounds plausible, census figures do not jibe with that explanation. The Miccosukee reservation falls inside a vastly larger census boundary called tract 115. Yet tract 115 shows only 15 American Indians living there -- out of 5,189 total. American Indians long have been among the most undercounted racial groups. In 1990, for example, they had the second highest undercount rate in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Fleeing North Florida to the river of grass to elude capture and deportation by U.S. troops during the Third Seminole War in 1858, the Miccosukees watched as white settlers in 1928 blazed the Tamiami Trail that cuts across the Florida's southern peninsula. While decades of demographic changes swept across South Florida, morphing like a racial and ethnic kaleidoscope, the Miccosukees have been a constant amid the marshes. Today, many of the Miccosukees reside on a narrow sliver of reservation land along Tamiami Trail, 27 miles west of Florida's Turnpike. Because Census numbers are used to allocate federal dollars to American Indian tribes for services like health clinics and schools, the Miccosukees said they took the 2000 Census seriously. In fact, they asked the Census Bureau to hire Miccosukee census-takers in an effort to allay centuries of distrust. The Bureau did that, but somehow the numbers didn't get included in the final count. Some Miccosukees believe the current mix-up is to be expected from the United States government. "We weren't counted? That's nothing new," said one man, emerging from his house on the reservation, who declined to give his name. Others shrugged it off. "I might have gotten a form, but I probably threw it away," another man said. In all, The Herald spoke with five reservation residents; only one remembered filling out a census form. If the Census Bureau missed the Miccosukees living on the reservation, the chances that it caught traditional Miccosukees living off the reservation, in areas like Big Cypress National Preserve, are slim. Traditional Miccosukees are people who have rejected the notion of living on reservations. They reside in more traditional camps -- with thatched houses arranged in what they consider a more authentic fashion - - further west along the Tamiami Trail. "I haven't had anybody from the government come here," said Billy Doctor, a member of the Miccosukee Otter Clan who does not recall filling out a Census form. "I'm kind of isolated here." Herald staff writer William Yardley contributed to this report. Copyright c. 2001 The Miami Herald and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved. http://www.miami.com/herald _______________________________________________ Triballaw mailing list Triballaw@thecity.sfsu.edu http://thecity.sfsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/triballaw --------- "RE: Sawmill to Reopen under Tribal Ownership" --------- Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 08:16:34 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SAWMILL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm Sawmill to reopen under tribal ownership By:Michael Shinabery, Staff Writer April 06, 2001 White Sands Forest Products, devoid of activity after last year's closure, is gearing back up for processing logs after its purchase on Monday by the Mescalero Apache Tribe. The mill was producing about 30-million board-feet per year before closing. An Alamogordo landmark that once employed 150-180 people, and put $7-8 million annually into the economy before closing last year, has been purchased by the Mescalero Apache Tribe. White Sands Forest Products, Inc. (WSFP) - long known as "the sawmill" - went out of business when access to logs on the Lincoln National Forest steadily declined after WSFP lost access to timber on the Lincoln. In 1993, the Mexican spotted owl was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. The listing eventually shut down logging and forced WSFP to subsist on small, part-time contracts with private property owners. On July 7, in Weed, then-WSFP General Manager Mark Hare told U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) that the company had "been nearly without logs for seven years." Yesterday, however, Mescalero President Sara Misquez said the Tribe would resume operations this year. "The Tribe expects to hire at least 30 to 50 employees at the sawmill within the next six to eight months, and hopes to be able to employ an even greater number as the mill returns to full operation," the Tribe announced in a press release. To Alamogordo Mayor Don Carroll, the announcement means "a good boost for the economy and," he said, "I think good for the ecology of the area to see that the logging industry may not be dead in Otero County." "The reopening of the sawmill will help local forest management and will bring back jobs in the communities around Alamogordo," Misquez said. "The Mescalero Apache Tribe has tried to be a good neighbor, and we want to keep the local economy strong." Carroll concurred. "Alamogordo's always had a good relationship with the Mescalero Tribe," he said. The Mescaleros, a sovereign nation, have harvested their forest for decades, maintaining a sustainable-yield timber program. Logging proponents such as Otero County Commissioner Michael Nivison have pointed to the Mescaleros' forest as a model of good management of forest resources and health. According to Mescalero Forest Products General Manager Jimmy Bridge, Mescalero "made up between one-third and one-half of the production at the White Sands mill before it closed in July 2000." Of every logging dollar from timber cut on the Lincoln, county roads receive 12-1/2 cents, and 12-1/2 cents go to New Mexico schools. Since the 1980s, Nivison said "the county's receipts ... have declined 91 percent" and in 2000 he said "we got zero receipts." The question on Alamogordo City Commissioner Don Cooper's mind today was whether any former employees remained in the area that could be rehired. "Their experience and their familiarity with that mill would be really great for (the Mescaleros)," Cooper said. "I'd just love to see as many as the old employees that are there, to be able to get back to work there." In July 2000, Lupe Martinez at the New Mexico Department of Labor (NMDOL) on Alaska Avenue said the department would "be looking in to the prospect of retraining programs" for former employees. This morning NMDOL Area Director Eddie Beagles said there are former employees still in town. "First thing, they have to come in and talk with us and qualify," Beagles said. "We have to base it on the local labor market information as to what job openings are available out there. Right now it looks very promising, as they open and start (producing) logs." Copyright c. Alamogordo Daily News 2001 --------- "RE: Kiowa Meeting Yields Unclear Results" --------- Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 08:43:15 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KIOWA HEARING" Kiowa meeting yields unclear results 2001-04-03 By Ron Jackson Staff Writer CARNEGIE -- It is unclear if Kiowa Tribe Chairman Billy Evans Horse dodged a recall Monday after a bizarre public hearing that resulted in three different votes and mass confusion. "This was a circus," said Gene Quetone, speaking on behalf of Horse, who was absent. "But it's always like that. Nobody follows proper procedure." The Kiowa Business Committee's first vote ended 3-2 in favor of sending the recall issue before the tribal hearing board. But Business Committee Secretary Emily Satepahoodle -- a Horse ally -- said she "accidentally voted yes" and asked to rescind the vote. Vice Chairman Brenda Doyeto Myers overruled Satepahoodle and made a motion to accept the vote. Committee member Randlett Hall Zotigh seconded the motion. Satepahoodle, meanwhile, continued to talk over committee members in an effort to obtain a verbal vote. At one point, committee member Joycetta Bear Elliott asked, "What are we voting for?" Satepahoodle then announced a 3-2 vote against sending Horse's recall to the hearing board, and asked for a third vote for clarification. By then, Kiowa tribal members in attendance were in an uproar. Lester Short, who served Horse with his recall papers March 13, addressed the crowd. Short charged Horse with not upholding the tribe's Nov. 4 election results in which tribal members voted 140 to 63 to oust tribal attorneys R. Brown Wallace, Liz Brown and Thomas Fricke. Quetone said Fricke is still on the tribe's payroll but that it is not in violation of any ordinance. "As you can see, this is how they conduct business," Short shouted. "There is total disregard for our laws. They have no respect for the people." The public hearing ended with Horse's allies, Willy Tartsah, Sonny Tartsah and Satepahoodle, quickly leaving the building. Tartsah and Satepahoodle declined to comment. Myers and Satepahoodle face their own recall hearings this month. Copyright c. 2001 The Oklahoma Publishing Co. --------- "RE: James Cosner Hate Crime Case" --------- Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2001 20:07:00 From: KOLA Subj: United Native America Press Release: James Cosnor case San Jose, Ca <+>=<+>KOLA Newslist<+>=<+> From: MIKECHEROKEE@aol.com United Native America 4-4-01 Press Release Mayor of San Jose Ca. will rebuild Columbus statue with city money DA. Robert Baker has filed hate crime charges on James Cosner For smashing a Columbus statue The true beginning history of the state of California is that it was legal to kill Indian men, women and children and take control of their land, this payment for death was backed up by the federal government. Today in the year 2001 Mayor Ron Gonzales of San Jose, California has announced that he will use city tax dollars to reestablish a Columbus statue in front of the new city hall, the statue was donated to the city by an Italian American group. San Jose's DA, Robert Baker has filed numerous charges on James Cosner for smashing a statue of Columbus on city property, one of the most ridicules charges is calling it a hate crime, which carries three to five years more if convicted. The Indian community has informed San Jose officials that paying tribute to Columbus with our tax dollars is a national sick joke! The true history of Columbus cannot even be taught in our schools. It is becoming more obvious that James Cosner will not get a fair trail in San Jose, DA Robert Baker has taken it upon himself to set James Cosner's bail at $70,000 in court before a judge this past Monday. When James Cosner was first arrested the DA wanted his bail set at $50,000 and a judge overturned that to make it $20,000. The court hearing this past Monday was to set a trial date for the case, James Cosner was present, the DA at that time requested that the new judge raise Mr. Cosner's bail to $70,000 in which the judge did so. Mr. Cosner's attorney informed him that he did not have to be present for the judges ruling, DA Robert Baker then issued a warrant for James Cosner for failure to appear. It is obvious that DA Robert Baker has set such a high bail as to keep Mr. Cosner detained in jail as this is an outrages amount of bail for a simple case of vandalism. James Cosner has showed the DA's office that he is prepared to go to court on this case, but is finding it difficult in the manner that DA Robert Baker keeps trying to add charges and increase his bail at each court appearance. In talking to Robert Baker, he advised me and the Indian community to stay out of this issue and not offer moral support to Mr. Cosner. He stated to me that our group should not associate ourselves with Mr. Cosner, that he was not a person to stand up for. In over a thirty minute conversation with Mr. Baker he repeatedly denounced James Cosner, and that the Indian community should not stand up for him for smashing a Columbus statue. I informed Mr. Baker that the Indian community would support Mr. Cosner and I asked why is it so important for the city to pay tribute to a murderer, rapist and slave trader as history truly knows, he had no commit. We asked DA Robert Baker to drop the hate crimes charges, this was not done, we asked Mr. Baker if he would agree to ask the court to give Mr. Cosner community service time on the vandalism charge, instead Mr. Baker's true intention's have been to add as many charges as he can and ask for the maximum jail sentence on each charge. Mr. Baker has made it clear that he has a personal vendetta toward James Cosner and should be taken off the case and stop looking for judges to support his vendetta. This is a simple case of vandalism, the DA want's to make it a capitol crime. The country is aware of the justice in California, you can almost cut your wife's head off killing her and get off free. You can be found guilty and ordered to pay financial restitution and never have to pay a dime of it. You can stand in the hallway of your apartment complex and watch your dogs kill your neighbor and the DA does not know if a crime has been committed or not, at the most they will kill your dogs for you. If you have money and being a national figure you can have your girlfriend killed and her unborn baby and only have to do about 25 years at the most. If you smash a statue of Christopher Columbus, rest assured if it's done in San Jose, California you will be looking at 25 years. Let's not even get into gang members being rotated in and out of jail to prey on the community committing unspeakable crimes. James Cosner and the Indian community do not have hate in their heart toward the Italian community, we ask that the Italian community celebrate their heritage not the man Columbus. We ask that our country stop teaching our children that Columbus is a hero, as it is definitely not true. I myself am a member of Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, I also have Italian heritage, I do not celebrate the man Columbus! The American people are telling our government to stop the state sponsoring of a terrorist holiday for Columbus who is the equal of Hitler. The German's celebrate their heritage not Hitler and the Irish celebrate their heritage, it's time for the Italian community to stop supporting the inhuman holiday Columbus and celebrate their heritage as all ethnic groups do in this country. For more information and updates on the James Cosner case go to our web site at www.UnitedNativeAmerica.com, we will follow this case and all of the injustice that is being portrayed, at this time there has not been a court date set for Mr. Cosner, DA Baker is still adding up the charges. Mike L. Graham United Native America www.UnitedNativeAmerica.com Rt. 6 Box 243 Muldrow, Oklahoma 74948 918-427-9894 email: MIKECHEROKEE@aol.com --------- "RE: Call for Investigation of Pepper Spray Use" --------- Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2001 08:55:19 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PEPPER SPRAY" Amnesty International calls for Investigation of Pepper Spray Use By Ruth Steinberger NativeTimes On March 27, 2001, the London based human rights organization Amnesty International, issued a public statement condemning the use of pepper spray on Native American juveniles in the Pine Hills Correctional Facility in Miles City, Montana. Amnesty International also called for a full and independent inquiry into the use of force and OC (pepper spray) in the Pine Hills facility. After receiving information through the Native American Times website in early March, the organization began investigating the story. In the recently released public statement Amnesty expressed concern that authorities at the facility have failed to adequately monitor the use of the spray and that documentary evidence suggests that Native American youth had been disproportionately victimized by the spray. Information regarding the use of pepper spray at the facility surfaced after three boys were charged with assault following an incident in which one of the youth had obtained an empty can of pepper spray and attempted to spray a guard. Documentation on the incidents reveals that pepper spray was used as a first resort by staff when dealing with Native American juveniles, documents contain conflicting information from staff members regarding the same incident. Though a review of incident reports is to be made by the director of the facility within 24 hours after an incident, Pine Hills Director Jim Hunter, did not review incident reports spanning 14 months until they were requested through the process of discovery by an attorney representing one of the boys charged as an adult. On February 14, 2001, Bud Heringer presented documentation and testimony from the youths to the Montana Senate Judiciary Committee. A bill to ban the use of pepper spray in juvenile facilities in the state was introduced, but was tabled for this session. Superintendent of DOC, Steve Gibson denied the allegations of racial intent behind the sprayings and said that the documentation released by Heringer is false. This documentation was largely the discovery documents released by the state to Cynthia Thornton, attorney for one of the youths, as well as a tallying of the number of incidents reported within those documents. At the Senate Judiciary hearing, Steve Gibson called the allegations, "Inaccurate and an insult to the professional staff at Pine Hills." In a letter sent to Montana Governor, Judy Martz, Amnesty International expressed concern, "At reports regarding the frequent and repeated use of Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) pepper spray to control disturbed children, most of them Native Americans......." The letter cited international standards for the treatment of juveniles in confinement, as well as the standards calling for adequate mental health care. Said Heringer, "I have recently interviewed another boy who was released this past January. His story is similar to the others, and very detailed, he gave me the names of female guards who watched them shower. What is amazing is that officials from the state claim these youth are lying. It would just be too incredible that the first three boys remembered the incident involving one boy who was sprayed in the exact same way. These boys did not get together at some point to decide to all remember an incident in which another juvenile was victimized in the exact same way." A recent investigation by the Montana DOC, under DOC Supervisor Bill Slaughter, concluded that no wrongdoing had occurred. Slaughter said, "We already did our internal investigation and what has been reported has not been accurate at all." He said that the use of pepper spray was entirely appropriate in the circumstances in which it was used. Reflecting on the DOC investigation, Heringer said, "The embezzler shouldn't be doing his own audit and the bank robber does not investigate the robbery. We need a truly independent investigation, and a thorough one. We need the governor to appoint a lawyer, one who is not tied to those within the system, to go over every nook and cranny and find out what was happening here. There is one thing you call this, it's cover up." Heringer told Native American Times that he spoken with youth who have recently been released and that reports "are still piling up." In a recent interview with a Native American boy, Heringer said the boy alleged that while he was at the Pine Hills Correctional Facility, he was pepper sprayed, then handcuffed and shackled, guards then grabbed the chain between his wrists and the one between his ankles, moved cutting both his wrists and ankles. "I have been in other facilities all over the state, and the problems that the boys report to me are all in the Pine Hills Facility," said Heringer. In a letter to the press issued by Steve Gibson on March 9, 2001, Gibson stated that pepper spray can be a safer and more humane method of handling a disturbance than restraints. According to the policy manual for the facility, however, pepper spray is meant to be used as a last resort, only when lesser uses of force have failed, or when the activities of a juvenile are an immediate threat to themselves, others, or property. Serious health effects are noted in the manual. "I have sat at a table with youth who were handcuffed and shackled, and we have had some really good meetings. Believe me, a child who has been pepper sprayed isn't laughing, he is crying and is in extreme pain," said Heringer. "To compare pepper spray to restraints, and claim that pepper spray is a good, safe, or humane way to go, is a totally deceptive statement." In the Public Statement that was issued by Amnesty International on March 27, 2001, says that, "Amnesty International believes that the use of painful, inflammatory, chemical agents is not an appropriate or humane way to control disturbed children. In fact, it appears that the use of the spray may have caused some children in the facility to become more agitated or resistant." Native American Times is c. Copyright 2000-2001 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Rosebud: Double Escapee Gets Seven Years" --------- Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 08:31:32 EDT From: ErthAvengr@aol.com Subj: Rosebud: Double Escapee Gets Seven Years Mailing List: ndn-aim http://www.rapidcityjournal.com Double escapee gets seven years By Journal staff RAPID CITY -- A Rosebud man who slipped away from corrections and police custody twice since last summer will spend seven years in prison after pleading guilty to escape charges. Bevis "Ray" Richards, 31, apologized for walking away from the Community Alternative Center in Rapid City on July 10, 2000. He told 7th Circuit Judge Merton B. Tice on Wednesday that concern for his children led him to leave the center, where he was serving a five- year sentence for a 1999 fourth-offense drunken-driving conviction in Pennington County. He was caught in Cherry County, Neb., in late November but escaped again from an exercise yard at the county jail in Valentine on Jan. 18. Tribal police captured Richards in Rosebud on Feb. 1 and returned him to Rapid City. He pleaded guilty to escape on March 14. Tice said state sentencing laws meant Richards would serve a mandatory minimum of seven years on the escape charges. Maximum penalty on the escape charge is 10 years and a $10,000 fine. ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> 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: The Artworks of Leonard Peltier" --------- Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 10:41:34 EDT From: EarthPillow@aol.com Subj: PRESS RELEASE: Leonard Peltier / Dig-Factory.com 4.4.01. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Dig-Factory.com/LPDC :: :: Dig-Factory.com, in association with Mojo's Daily Grind and the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, is proud to present PAROLE DENIAL: THE ARTWORKS OF LEONARD PELTIER. :: :: Mojo's Daily Grind 2714 Guadalupe Street Austin, TX 78705 Contact: Wade Beesley Ring: 512.477.6656. EMail: wade@mojosdailygrind.com :: :: MAY 01 2001 through JULY 01 2001 :: :: The aim of this exhibit is to affirm infinitely free and creative soul expressions of one Leonard Peltier, and in doing so increase awareness regarding his political imprisonment of the last 25 years, all in furtherance of Mr. Peltier's absolute FREEDOM. All proceeds benefit the LPDC and Mr. Peltier's family. :: :: The LEONARD PELTIER DEFENSE COMMITTEE is the center of communication between Leonard Peltier, his supporters, the media, key officials, his attorneys, and his family. The LPDC facilitates the national campaign to gain Mr. Peltier's release. Email: LPDC@idir.net Ring: 785.842.5774. :: :: Leonard Peltier is a citizen of the Anishinabe and Lakota nations who has been unjustly locked behind bars for 25 years. Amnesty International considers him a "political prisoner" who should be "immediately and unconditionally released." To many Indigenous Peoples, he is a symbol of the long history of abuse and repression they have endured. To the international community, the case of Leonard Peltier is a stain on America's Human Rights record. Nelson Mandela, Rigoberta Menchu (U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights), and the Dalai Lama are only a few who have called for Peltier's freedom. Join these noted personalities and millions of others worldwide in helping to secure the freedom of Leonard Peltier: The Oglala Lakota Nation Willie Nelson Rage Against the Machine Rep. Maxine Waters Rep. John Conyers Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell Ramsey Clark, former Attorney Gen Natl. Congress of American Indians American Indian Law Alliance Archbishop Desmond Tutu Winona Ryder Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians Indigo Girls Natl. Assoc. of Criminal Defense Lawyers Assembly of First Nations Val Kilmer Alice Walker Oliver Stone Peter Coyote Martin Luther King III Robert Redford Peter Matthiessen Whoopi Goldberg Coretta Scott King U2 Amnesty Intl. :: :: For more information: FREEPELTIER.ORG. :: :: DIG-FACTORY.COM is a State of the Art Imagineering Cooperative which coordinates online and physical events and exhibitions in furtherance of community intimacy, tolerance, compassion, personal actualization, and interpersonal communication using word and image integration in art. Our focus is creativity in freedom of expression, liberation of spirit, and life education and fulfillment through awareness and candid dialogue -- all cultural profits. Contact: Chris Weige / Michael Medrano Ring: 512.481.0090. Email: EarthPillow@aol.com, DigWorldCharm@juno.com :: :: Forthcoming shindig info, including s p e c i a l guests, can be gathered by staking out http://www.dig-factory.com. --------- "RE: Native Prisoner" --------- Date: Mon, 9 April 2001 20:55:07 -0530 From: "Janet Smith" Subj: Native Prisoner News Tell a Native American Prisoner someone cares! -- - - - Peltier, Leonard #89637-132 Box 1000 Leavenworth, KS 66053 Birthday: 9/12/44 Ancestry: Ojibwa-Lakota -- - - - Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2001 14:18:37 -0700 (PDT) From: orion-c@webtv.net Subj: Letter From Manuel Mailing List: Iron Natives Just received a letter from Manuel and he has finally gotten paperwork as to why he is in Max........ If I haven't told anyone this, Manuel was in a group that he was required to pay for, and they were supposed to have all of these groups that the "counselor" DIDN"T have. When Manuel complained, the counselor got into trouble and the VERY DAY she got into trouble, Manuel was sent to Max. Security.......Now this sleaze bag is recommending that Manuel do A YEAR in MAX!!!!!!!!!! I am asking, no, I'm BEGGING, if you haven't written a letter in his behalf already, PLEASE do it NOW.....He is asking for our help, and he is a man of Honor and is VERY proud and him asking for help is a BIG THING for him........ All of this is going to mess up his chance for parole, and it makes me sick because he has a good record there until this happened. This is a BS incident and he is going to pay dearly for it..... He says::::: It's a retaliatory measure for getting a unit counselor in trouble for not holding groups. The same day she got into trouble is the same day she locked me up for intimidating and put me under investigation. I have one of the best records in this whole prison and because there was some racial tension in another unit with a couple Bro's and some white supremests they say "my" name came up but here's what's bogus about that whole story. I'm in close-3 and I can't even be around "any" of these guys because they are in close-1. Remember, I can't even mingle with almost 90 percent of the prison. I'm making preparations for a legal issue, the only problem is, that the Judge is sitting on my case and almost every piece of my legal work is done so I need a Lawyer to inquire about it or maybe even take it on from the outside because I'm in here and an inmate, the judge sees no real importance in ruling on it. So now I have one of the best records in the prison and I'm sitting in Max for a year without a write up..... The second thing Carol is, you are the main person in this and my whole defense is focused around you and the people you and Brigitte have to bring awareness to this. Remember there are also Native Brothers who are in the same situation and are hoping you also help bring awareness to this. I need those letters to immediately start coming in today, this instant :) So if you could please ask people to start the letters and e mails coming, I would really appreciate it" What more can I say? I know they are messing with him because I write to him every day and he says in this letter he has only heard from me "twice" in 2 weeks!!!! I would also like you to know that if you wrote him and he hasn't answered, he is out of stamps and borrowed the one for my letter so be patient, as soon as he gets stamps he will answer your letter. So, as for me, I will continue to e mail, and snail mail the prison and now I plan to get the media involved. I have already written to a couple Native papers but I haven't heard anything back from anyone. My visiting form was approved so I plan to go see him asap..... Thanks to all of you who have helped in this situation, and to anyone who hasn't, PLEASE do it now.....Manuel needs us... Respectfully, Carol, and Manuel http://www.angelfire.com/wy/nainmatessupportgrp/index.html --------------------------------- 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, 01 Apr 2001 22:37:49 -0400 From: Barbara Landis Subj: History: Carlisle Indian School - March 30, 1888 INDIAN HELPER. [Editorial Note: These reprints are being included in this newsletter so that you might know the mind of those who ran institutions like Carlisle.] THE INDIAN HELPER ----------------------------- ~~ FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS ~~ -------------------------- VOLUME III CARLISLE, PA. FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1888 NO. 33 -------------------------- A PROVERB. --------------- Listen to the water-mill Through the live-long day, How the clanking of the wheels Wears the hours away. Languidly the autumn wind Stirs the greenwood leaves, From the fields the reapers sing Binding up the sheaves, And a proverb haunts my mind As a spell is cast,- "The mill will never, never grind With the water that has passed." Take the lesson to thyself, Loving heart and true, Golden years are fleeing by, Youth is passing, too. Learn to make the most of life, Lose no happy day, Time will never bring thee back, Chances swept away. Leave no tender word unsaid, Love while life shall last! For- "The mill will never grind With the water that has passed." Work while yet the daylight shines Work with strength and will! Never does the streamlet glide Useless by the mill. Wait not till to-morrow's sun Beams upon the way, All that thou canst call thine own Lies in thy today. Power, intellect and health, May not, cannot last, "The mill will never, never grind With the water that has passed." -[Selected. --------------- OUR WILMINGTON TRIP. --------------- MR. MAN-ON-THE-BAND-STAND - DEAR SIR: I have some news to tell, if you care to know, about the trip that Capt. Pratt, Miss Leverett and six of us pupils had to Wilmington. At Harrisburg where a new station was erected, we stopped for half an hour. While were were waiting, four of us took a walk in the streets. We got to Wilmington between the hours of four and five P.M. Capt. Pratt was invited to one house, Miss Leverett to another, the boys were scattered, too, Annie and Lily stayed together, and I was taken to Miss Worrell's home. I didn't know what happened to the others, but I had a very pleasant talk with the friends where I was. There were only three in the family, the mother, father and the oldest daughter, who is looking after the dear ones, the rest were all married. The mother is seventy-nine years old and her husband is just a few months older. They asked me many questions about our school and about our western homes. The old gentleman had many things to ask, and after finding out what he wanted to know, he came up to me and said, "Have you any objections for me to feel your hair?" I told him, no, I had not, so he smoothed it down for a few moments and then said, "Well, well, I found different from what I thought. I expected to find it coarse aud stiff, why, it is like other people, not any difference at all." He didn't intend to go to the meeting, but finally he concluded to go with us. The meeting was held at the Central Presbyterian Church. The exercises commenced at 8 o'clock. First there was singing by the church choir and after that we gave an entertainment which lasted about two hours. At half past six in the morning we took the train for Philadelphia. Capt. Pratt and the boys stayed for a later train, to take the boys to the shipyard. Miss Leverett took us girls to John Wannamaker's store, where we saw the most beautiful and valuable things. After seeing nearly all, we looked for Captain Pratt, but did not find him, we went down to the dining room and while eating our ice cream, Captain found us, which did not seem as if we were seeking for him by the way we were found. About half an hour later, we all got together and went to the station, and after we had our dinner we went to the Zoological Garden and passed through the different buildings, we saw parrots and other birds which I will not stop to name, other animals as bears, wolves, foxes, several kinds of deer, and two little --------------- (continued on Fourth Page.) --------------------------------------- (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. ------------------------------ Address INDIAN HELPER, Carlisle, Pa. Miss M. Burgess, Manager. ------------------------------ 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. ------------------------------- The Y. M. C. A. The Y. M. C. A. met in the chapel on Thursday evening, the 8th. President Levering announced that the meeting was for the purpose of electing new officers as the time of the present officers had expired. The election proceeded and resulted as follows: For President-Frank Lock, Vice President -Chester Cornelius, Recording Secretary-Kish Hawkins, Treasurer-Stacy Matlack. Committee on Membership-William Tivis, Chairman, Odellah Ahtley, Wilkie Sharpe, Phillip B. White, Harvey Townsend. Committee on Devotion-Percy Kable, Chairman, Charles R. Moore, Staley Norcross, Levi St. Cyr, Henry S. Bear. The meeting also fixed that the Sunday afternoon prayer meetings will be changed to the evenings. The meeting adjourned. SECRETARY. --------------- The Republic. The Republic Debating Society met in school room No. 10. The new business brought in was to postpone the public entertainment which was to be held the 30th inst., until sometime in April. After a lively discussion, the House decided to do so. It was then moved and seconded, to elect new officers, as the terms of the present officers have expired, and the following members were elected : President-Frank Lock, Vice President-Dennison M. Wheelock, Secretary-Howard Logan, Treasurer-Frank Jannies, Marshal-Henry Standing Bear, Reporter-John Londrosh. The members of the Committee on Arrangements-Kish Hawkins (chairman) John D. Miles and Charles D. Wheelock. SECRETARY. --------------- Almost an April fool. The band boys marched out of quarters Wednesday noon, each with instrument in hand. With heads erect and soldierly grace they took a position under the large walnut tree. "What now?" thought the lookers on. "Oh! They are going to serenade Misses Ely and Burgess," thought some. "They are at Capt. Pratt's house," said a passing teacher who was anxious not to have the boys play at the wrong place. The boys were bewildered. "The ladies are at the Captain's house just now. Play up there!" advised another kindly teacher on her way to the school room. Boys still bewildered! Finally it dawned upon the leading cornet player why so much free advice was given, and the next passer by was graciously informed that the boys had gathered to have their picture taken. The Man-on-the-band-stand just ha-ha'd? --------------- Prof. Rittenhouse said in his talk Sunday, that committing other sins was like taking a baited hook into one's mouth, but swearing was like taking the hook without bait. Another illustration was that the rent paid for a very large estate in Scotland was just three kernals of corn-of no value-only to show who owned the place. So swearing only showed that the Devil is the master served. --------------- The-Man-on-the-band-stand is very much obliged to Miss Cook, Miss Sparhawk, and Miss Seabrook for kindly writing in the shape of copy what he has had to say during the last two months in the INDIAN HELPER. The chief clerk has now returned with a gain of six pounds more of good health. So, look out, boys and girls! Six pounds more behind a lead pencil will move it so fast that it will surely catch every think, do and say. But then! If you think and do and say only what is right there can be no harm in putting it down in black and white. ---------------------------------------------- The printers had a treat of California oranges yesterday. --------------- The sun has seemed to be sulking this week or he may have had a bashful fit. We call it "weather." --------------- Miss Edith Johnston, who has been spending a fortnight with her sister, Mrs. Cambell, went to her home in Lancaster today. --------------- There is a story of little boy whose minister asked him to spell "kitten." "I'm too old to spell that," he said "try me on cat." --------------- Miss Nana Pratt left us Wednesday for St. Louis. Everybody will miss her gentle face and her unselfish ways; but best wishes for a delightful visit go with her. --------------- A letter from Louisa Wilson, one of onr returned Rosebud Sioux girls, says she is living at Valentine, Neb., and likes it. Daniel Milk has married Victoria Standing Bear. --------------- The club table, Wednesday evening, wore an orangely beautiful tropic appearance and had a delightfully Californa fragrance, that we all tastefully enjoyed. Thanks to the donors. --------------- Misses Ely and Burgess after a delay of some days in Los Angeles, caused by the engineers' strike on the Santa Fe Railroad arrived at the school Tuesday evening and were greeted with a warm welcome by everybody. --------------- John Davis is clerking in Mr. Bibo's store at Grant, New Mexico. He says he likes the business and is treated well. John was among our best Pueblo boys, and his many friends here wish him well. --------------- The class had been drawiug maps and there was a whole row of them upon the black-boards. The comment upon them by one the boys was, "Five blackboards, five companies, and that one" pointing to a large wall map - is the Sergeant Major marching ahead." --------------- Jason Betzinez, ten months in school writes about Bees. I see the bees in the summer. The bees make the flowers is honey is very good and sweet. And the bees work in the summer time the flowers and make honey. And the bees are not lazy in summer and the bees live in the bee-hive. But the bees is very sting too." "Did you see any Indians out there?" was asked of one who arrived this week from California. "Indeed we did, and they were the worst looking creatures you need ever wish to see. Why! Those Indians along the Colorado River plaster their heads with mud." "Ah," said the inquirer. "I see! They are following the Dawes Bill to the letter. They are taking their lands in severalty."-A Standing, joker. --------------- "Population" said the teacher, "means the people who live in a place or a country." "What's the Indian population; how many?" asked the smallest boys in class. "About 260,000," was the answer, "In Alaska too?" queried the little fellow, who wanted to be posted. "No, there are 260,OOO in the United States, not counting Alaska." "Then there's two more now, that they didn't count, since Fred and Henry came," was the boy's triumphant answer, referring to the two Alaska boys who recently entered the school. --------------- Work in the Snow. A man employed by the Pacific R. R. Co. is stationed at the top of a mountain called Summit Spur, in Washington Territory. It is his duty to see that the railrond track over the mountain is kept open in winter. If work is needed to be done on the track he telephones to men stationed below. He lives all alone on the mountain, and cooks for himself. The snow is often up to the eaves of his little house, and he has to keep the snow shoveled from his windows and door. The thermometer often stands at 18 and 20 degrees below zero. Sometimes snow-slides occur in the mountains, aud snow-falls are always heavy. They could not keep the railroads open if it were not for the large snow shovels which are used to clear off the snow. These shovels have many revolving knives which chop the snow very fine, it is then thrown about fifteen feet from the track. The shovel is drawn by two engines up a grade of two hundred and twenty feet per mile. The pass is three miles high on one side and four miles on the other. This shoveling machine does the work of a thousand men. [Our Little People. ------------------------------------------- (Continued from First Page.) --------------- dogs, but the dearest ones to me were the little bits of monkeys. The last place for some of us to see was Mr. Allison's iron factory. Just a few minutes after three o'clock, Miss Susan LaFlesche, and Dr. Thomas Miles, and I went to Lincoln Institute to see some of our friends there. The school mother took us around the rooms. They were kept very neatly, they had white spreads over their beds, some of the girls were practising on the organ and on the piano. They had a nice dining room, the white table cloths were nicely spread over the tables, and the table napkins were placed in the tumblers. I saw Mary Tyndall's sister and Ellen Hansel's sister, both of them are well and doing well. I was in great hopes that I would hear the scholars recite, but they were writing letters, so that there were no recitations. I wanted to find something to tell my scholars when I came home. Miss La Flesche is coming to visit us for a few days the first chance she can get. She is going to graduate about a year from now. JEMIMA WHEELOCK. --------------- Letter from the Country. TAYLORSVILLE, BUCKS CO.PA., MARCH 16, 1888. MAN-ON-THE-BAND-STAND - DEAR SIR: I judge may be that you and the readers of the HELPER would like to know what we have here a few days ago. It was a white soft substance came from the clouds above our heads. This took place on the Monday and Tuesday, with hard wind, snowing both days without rest. In some places the snow was about seven to nine feet deep on the drifts, the roads in some place has not opened yet for the wagons to go through. On the Monday morning about half past eight I start to school. Of course the folks tell me they hardly know would be any school, but my determination was to go to school, so I start. Just over the gate, away goes my hat off my scalp, among the hard snow drifts, my chase was very unsuccessful to get my hat back again but I soon discovered at the roadside where the biggest drift was. I start to climb on the fence and thinking how in the world to get my hat, but their was no time for thinking on that occasion for the hard wind came soon after I stuck into the drift as far as my waist, there was a hard struggle every time I move the further I go in, at last I reach the fence rail, then I was all right. When I reach the school house there was nobody there, so I stood on the school house wondering how I get home in a few minutes I start again, the wind blew in my face I could not see one foot before me, it was dark and make the tears run down my cheeks. I hope you have dry roads to travel at Carlisle. FRANK EVERETT. MY HOME. --------------- I have a home where I used to live. I used to take care of cows every day. In the evening I would put the cows in the yard and in the morning my mother would take her pail and I would help her. Sometimes we would get two pails or four pails full of milk and she would give me my lunch and I would go out and take the cows out of the cow yard and I would take them where there are lots of grass and sometimes I would catch rabbits and I would play with them. I did not know who made me. Some people worship idols but I never went to church. We play every day, we did not know about Sunday. The people used to paint their faces and they would not go to church. We used to swim every day when it was sunshine. We have houses like blocks and flat roofs and a chimney or two are on the top of the houses. We don't sleep on beds as we do here but we sleep on floors with some little beds under and mice would run over us in the night time. The cats would get after them sometimes we would hear them scream when the cat catch them. When I got up I would go down to the water and I would wash myself and then I would eat my breakfast and I would play with bows and arrows. SICENI NORI. --------------- Enigma. I am composed of 13 letters. My 1, 11, 5, 6, is used for smoking. My 2, 10, 4, 6, is a flower. My 13, 3, 9 is a toy. My 1, 3, 6, 13 is a cornpower. My 7, 3, 13, 8, 6,12, is a material. My 7, 2, 10, 8, 3 is a kind of oil. My 12, 10, is a negative. My whole is a place of interest in Niagra Falls. --------------------------------- 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: Fall off the Wagon ..." --------- Date: Sun, 10 Dec 2000 17:03:38 GMT From: rustywire Subj: fall off the wagon and let it run over you Newsgroup: soc.culture.native The sound of fighting filled the small Indian boys ears; the sounds from the next room usually came with the holidays. Everything would start out nice and then someone would pull out a bottle of booze. He knew what that bottle meant; it always came later in the evening. The laughter was loud, the jokes and later insults would fly, accusations and hard words made to one another. Then it would grow quiet and the fighting would start, but maybe not this time. When you are small and young you want to have a Christmas like you see in books and on TV with everyone happy, to feel safe, secure and with no worry. Yet when you live like this there is no place to go, you have find a place to rest, a corner of the bed, or somewhere in the house where you just hope nothing will happen, but it always does. His father got chased out of the house just after Halloween and had not been home. The little boy started to sell newspapers for a dime each and got to keep a nickel. His mother worked cleaning rooms and he and his little sister helped since money was short. It was near Christmas when he heard the familiar stomping of feet on the porch and squeak of the screen door. His father was home, they called him Chili Man, because when he got cold or angry his face went red. He peeked out at him and saw that he was bringing in wood. No one spoke to him since he was chased out drunk and arguing months ago. No one knew where he had gone to. He brought in a bag and put it by the wash basin. It was quiet all afternoon. When his Mom got home them two spoke quietly. It was near Christmas Eve and the boy was worried and prayed there would be no fights this time. He closed his eyes and wished hard that it would be a "good Christmas". Times were hard and to avoid staying home he took his little sister sledding on an inner tube dragging her around in the snow up the hill and back down. It was cold and they played all afternoon. He saw Chili Man come to the bottom of the hill and watched him as he started a small bonfire for everyone there. He could see him from afar and thought this is how it is supposed to be, to have fun without that "stuff" around. He went to the fire to warm up and Chili Man did not say much but added wood to the fire and then went home. The boy took his sister up the hill one more time and they went really fast down hill. It was fun, but they had to go home. He walked slowly to the small house they rented in the city. It was next to the forest and they walked by many nice houses. He could see the Christmas lights and the trees and the families in their living rooms. How would it be to live like that, to just once have a Christmas like that. When they got back to the little house, he saw something he hadn't seen there before a wreath on the door with Christmas lights and ornaments on it and it brightened the place a little bit. He went in and took off his coat; it was cold and wet and put them by the stove to dry off. He took off his shoes and looked at the table, supper was almost ready to eat. He helped his sister with her coat and made sure he put them so they could get them quickly in case they had to run out of the house later. He went to the room where they slept on mattresses put on the floor they had no bed frames. He stepped into the room and there was a bed, with a wooden frame and some dresser drawers with a mirror. Usually his clothes were in boxes all mixed together but they were all in drawers. He opened the top drawer and found his favorite toys there. How could this be? He wondered where did it come from; he was surprised and went to find his mother. They were there at the table, Chili Man, his mother and sister. She had a bed and drawers just like him. "Mom, where did the beds come from?" His mother interrupted him and told him to sit down, he found his place. Knock! Knock! The sound came from the door. Chili Man got up and opened it. The boy could see it was the ones who liked to party, his heart fell. Chili Man, said, "I can't go with you guys, I quit that stuff, can't do it any more." The one with Red Eyes said, "You must be on the wagon", he laughed, "Why don't you fall off the wagon and let it run over you." Chili Man said, "No, I am not going anywhere with you anymore, got to stay home, it's Christmas." The boy looked at Chili Man with wonder. He said, "Daddy, did you stop drinking that stuff" His father, Chili Man, turned and looked at him and said with steady clear eyes, "Yes son, I haven't had any of the stuff and I am not going to have it anymore." The little boy looked at his father studying his face, looking into his eyes and wanted to see if what he was saying was true. "I have been in a place to help me stop drinking, and got a job at the thrift store the last few weeks. I was lucky to get some things for you and your sister." his father, Chili Man went to the back door and opened it and then he reached out and brought in a tree, not just any tree but a Christmas tree, all decorated and set it inside their small place. He brought out presents, they were all wrapped up and put them under the tree. The boys heart leapt for joy, and he turned to go back to see his mother and sister at the table. It was a simple Christmas just off the rez, but it was the best one he ever had, because Chili Man from that day on never made him wish he lived somewhere else anymore. His father took care of them, all of them from then on. It was home and Christmas like any child should have. The little boy was so happy and the next day they all went sledding, the Old Man, his Mom and his sister and him and it was a good day for such things. rustywire@yahoo.com --------- "RE: Poem: Views" --------- Date: Sun, 28 May 2000 10:29:08 -0400 From: "Dreamwalker" Subj: Views Views So many times I have looked upon tomorrow with hopes and dreams with anticipation of what might be...... Now in circular vision I see the interconnectedness of yesterday and today of the meaning therein of the gentle flow So life fails and we go on we leave this plain we move on to new tomorrow's Death is not an end this I believe for yesterdays visit me Warriors hold me Tomorrow in all it's uncertainty lives breathes coalesces beyond our senses that does not mean it is not real For I have felt the breath of those long gone the touch of those who have crossed over and I know I know The end is not the end tomorrow is but a hinge to a door we knew not existed Crys The Tears/Dreamwalker~Lakota copyright 2000 --------- "RE: Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days" --------- Date : Mon, 02 Apr 2001 06:42:50 -1000 From: Debbie Sanders Subj: Hawaiian Book of Days A HAWAIIAN BOOK OF DAYS, week of April 15-21 APELILA (April) (Welo) 15 Whale song calls me in my dreams. 16 The luminescence of the ocean at night glows like Pele's fire upon the sands. 17 The land is perpetuated in life. 18 Whisper to the wind your secret longings. 19 The blossoms of the shower tree form a golden lace upon the green grass. 20 Cherish the fragile beauty of nature -- it is ours to borrow, not to keep. 21 Sail the ocean by moonlight, and you may find the secret island of the ancients. (c) Copyright 1991 by D. F. Sanders Me ke aloha i ka nani, ... Moe'uhanekeanuenue (With love and beauty, ... Rainbow Dream) --------- "RE: Native America Calling" --------- Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2001 10:54:05 -0500 From: Eric Martin Subj: NAC Topics for April 9 - 12 NAC Topics for April 9 - 12 Listen LIVE in RealAudio every M-F 1-2pm ET at http://nativecalling.org/ just click on "Listen LIVE Online" or "Also available for WebTV users" MON: 04/09: Music Maker: Clan/destine They won Best Pop/Rock Recording at the Native American Music Awards in 2000. They performed at the American Indian Inaugural Ball in January and now they'll perform live in Studio 49. This all-Native band based in Arizona blends the magic of powwow with contemporary acoustics. We'll talk about their present release, "Amajacoustic", their beginnings and their upcoming tour schedule. Join us for our Music Maker edition featuring Clan/destine. TUE: 04/10: An Indian on Broadway: In 1975, Creek actor Will Sampson blazed a trail for American Indians in film with his timeless portrayal of Chief Bromden in Ken Kesey's classic "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." On Sunday, (April 8th) his son, Tim Sampson, made his Broadway debut as Chief Bromden in the Steppenwolf Theatre's stage production of Cuckoo's Nest. Have stereotypes in the entertainment field of Native people evolved over the years? Our guest is Tim Sampson, who will join us live from New York. WED: 04/11: Native Americans and the National Parks: The mythology of gifted land is strong in the National Park Service, but our greatest parks were "gifted" by people - Native Americans - who had little if any choice in the matter. The story of national parks and Indians is, depending on perspective, a costly triumph of the public interest, or a bitter betrayal of America's indigenous people. Should Native people be granted special access and privileges to park service land because of this history? Guests include Philip Burnham, author of the book "Indian Country, God's Country." THU: 04/12: Native Seat in the United Nations?: Indian Nations possessed the attributes of sovereign, independent states under international law as it existed at the time when European explorers arrived. In fact, framers of the U.S. Constitution respected the status of Indian tribes as nations capable of entering into international agreements. Now there are proposals to give Indian Nations a seat in the United Nations. Will it finally be granted? Guests include law professor Tony Bothwell and Onondaga attorney Tanya Frischner of the American Indian Law Alliance. Also listen to NAC online (on various formats) through these great AIROS affiliates: CIUT in Toronto(RealMedia) on Mondays only (during the first hour of urbanative) 1-2pm ET - http://www.ciut.fm KGNU in Boulder, CO (RealMedia) on Sundays 3-4pm MT NAC repeats during Indian Voices - http://www.kgnu.org/ KNBA in Anchorage, AK (Windows Media) M-F 9-10am AK Time - http://www.knba.org/knba/knba.htm KSFC in Spokane, WA (Winamp Format) M-F 10-11am PT - http://www.kpbx.org/listen.htm KUNM in Albuquerque, NM (RealMedia) M-F 11-noon MT - http://kunm.unm.edu/programming/ WOJB on the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Reservation (QuickTime and RealMedia) Monday - Thursdays noon - 1pm CT - http://www.wojb.org/ --------------------------------------- Eric Martin NAPT Web Communications Specialist emartin2@unl.edu 402.472.3287 To subscribe to AIROS' electronic program guide e-mail airos@unl.edu with the subject heading subscribe. --------- "RE: Upcoming Events" --------- Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2001 15:39:14 -0 From: Gary Smith (gars@speakeasy.org) Subj: Upcoming Events =================================== Date : Thu, 5 Apr 2001 10:18:40 -0500 From: John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate Subj: 10th Annual Keepers of the Treasures Conference 10th Annual Keepers of the Treasures Conference 2001 "Strengthening Our Languages" Preservation - Restoration - Revitalization April 17-20, 2001 Inn Suites Hotel 475 N. Granada Ave. Tucson, AZ Co-Sponors: Ak-Chin Indian Community Gila River Indian Community Pacua Yaqui Tribe Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community Tohono O'odham Nation National Park Service For Conference Information and Registration call: Alida Montiel or Wenona Benally at (602)258-4822 Inter Tribal Council of Arizona WEBSITE: Http://www.keepersofthetreasures.org =================================== Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 10:20:52 -0600 From: "John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate" Subj: (FWD)Brave Hearted Women Conference (fwd) ------- FORWARD, Original message follows ------- Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 18:11:12 -0600 (CST) From: Melinda Micco Please post to your lists. Thank you. Melinda Micco A Gathering of Brave Hearted Women A Conference to Bring Together Indigenous Women Promoting Positive Change 7:00 pm, Friday, April 13, 2001 Ceremony honoring Nativ