From gars@speakeasy.org Tue Apr 24 02:17:00 2001 Date: 18 Apr 2001 09:25:28 -0000 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews09.016 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 016 O o O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse April 21, 2001 O o O Ximopanolti tehuatzin, Pomo flowers moon O inin Mexika tlahtolli Anishnaabe broken snowshoe moon ( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S ) ==>If you want your Nation represented in the banner of this newsletter<== email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation +-----------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates check | | http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm - also events | +-----------------------------------------------------------+ This issue contains articles from Indianz.com, owlstar.com; ndn-aim, KOLA Newslist, Native Rights, indigenous_peoples_literature, MinnInd, LPDC, Indian Heritage, and NativeNews mail lists; UUCP email; www.JournalStar.com http://www.CharKoosta.com/news1.html http://www.okit.com/Justice4parts/justice1.html 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 speak straight and I do not wish to deceive or be deceived." __ Chief Cochise, Chiricahua +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! This issue is being started at the Big River Tai Paih Annual in Memphis. Elder, Jim Reed, and the rest of the society are incredibly gracious hosts. The long ride from north Georgia was but a moment. Making an equally long drive were the singers from western Oklahoma, lead by Jimmy Reeder. Good weekend, and the long drive gave me a chance to reflect on some of the things I see in Indian Country. The disparity between the tribes who have income and those that do not is growing by the day. The Mississippi Band of Choctaw and Isleta Pueblo have managed to parlay early successes into multi-faceted enterprises that will continue to provide income for their respective tribes no matter what happens to gaming. The Blackfeet continue to make progress, finally getting to improve the facilities that make up Blackfeet Community College. Across the state the Flathead Rez has had another very successful contract fulfilled by S & K Technologies. However, in Billings the Crow are in for some serious belt tightening. Under a republican administration the above will be viewed as pieces of a puzzle they see as "Indian Welfare". The Slade Gortons of that political dogma will never, ever understand the Isleta are not obligated to prop up another Indian Nation any more than Las Vegas is obligated to help clean up Cincinnati after its recent riots. Nor will their ilk ever understand the treaties are binding contracts stipulating payments for stolen lands. They are not now, nor have they ever been welfare in any form. Further, those treaties still require payments to tribes who have managed to escape the grinding poverty most reservations represent. You or I can not default on a loan just because the bank has a vault full of money, and Amerikkka can not default on its obligations to the tribes. Some have even questioned whether tribes have sovereignty. Elder, Sam Blatchford (awarded the yellow feather) answers that question very simply, "Nations don't make treaties with subjects. They only make them with other sovereignties." The U. S. destroyed a lot of Indian ways and Indian families. They owe a lot more than a few, or even a few million dollars. It can start by resolving the Trust Fund mess, giving the Black hills back and doing more than hand wringing for the massive relocations and subsequent abuses at Indian Schools and genocide at IHS hospitals (what do you call involuntary sterilization?) , , 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 ---------- - Court Ruling Could Affect - Statement by Tribal-State Authority Minister of Fisheries and Oceans - Crow Members don't - Traditional Mohawks Receive per Capita Checks call for Day of Rage - FBI has Leads no Arrests - Federal Prisoner - Indian Trust Reform Monitored Phone Restrictions - A Sick Tribe and - Message from Harvey a Dump as a Neighbor about Dreamkeepers.net - Few Environmental Safeguards - Native Prisoner on Reservations -- Incarcerated Indians - Why Indian Country -- Wyoming Prisoners is becoming America's Waste Dump Give Record Donation - Janklow Says Outline - History: Carlisle Indian School Ready For Homestake Bill - Rustywire: The Spring - S&K Technologies Closes - Poem: Views a $325 Million Contract - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Cherokee Trail of Tears Beads - Native America Calling - Upcoming Events --------- "RE: Court Ruling Could Affect Tribal-State Authority" --------- Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 22:37:24 -0400 From: "Janet Smith" Subj: COURT DECISION Santa Fe New Mexican: Court ruling could affect tribal-state authority in parts of New Mexico The Associated Press April 12, 2001 Updated at 5:51 p.m. SANTA FE (AP) - The state could face new limits on prosecuting major crimes in areas near tribal lands under a recent Court of Appeals ruling involving a member of the Navajo Nation, who is in prison for killing six people in a 1994 highway crash near Nageezi. Attorney General Patricia Madrid's office disagrees with the ruling and will ask the state Supreme Court to review the case because of its potential effect on the legal authority of the state in areas of mixed lands, such as in the northwestern New Mexico where there is a "checkerboard" of tribal, state, federal and private lands. The ruling, which was issued late last month, prompted a lengthy dissenting opinion from Chief Judge Richard C. Bosson, who said the decision "only adds to the confusion surrounding the state's criminal jurisdiction to prosecute felonies in a sizeable area of our state." "In my judgment, the majority opinion portends an undesirable turn in the development of New Mexico law regarding state and tribal jurisdictional conflicts," Bosson wrote. The ruling marks the second time in four years that the Court of Appeals has ordered a district judge to reconsider whether the state or the federal government, which prosecutes major crimes for tribal governments, had jurisdiction to bring charges against Travis Frank. Frank, 25, was convicted of six counts of vehicular homicide. His truck veered across the center line on state Route 550, formerly N.M. 44, and hit a car on May 21, 1994. Killed were five members of one family and Frank's stepfather. Frank had a blood-alcohol level of 0.22 percent - above New Mexico's 0.08 percent for legally presumed intoxication. He was sentenced to 24 years in prison and is being held in the north unit at the Penitentiary of New Mexico outside of Santa Fe. The Appeals Court, in a 2-1 split decision, said District Judge Joseph Rich used an incorrect legal analysis in determining whether the accident occurred in "Indian country" within the meaning of federal law. The court ordered the case back to Rich to make additional findings. The site of the accident was on federal land administered by the Bureau of Land Management. The Nageezi Chapter house of the Navajo Nation is about 4 1/2 miles away. Frank contends the area is a "dependent Indian community" and argues the state doesn't have authority to prosecute him. The Appeals Court said the district judge failed to make the proper legal analysis and ordered Rich to follow an approach mapped out by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in decisions last year and in 1999. The judge must initially consider the accident site within the context of the surrounding area and determine a "community of reference." "The purpose of locating an appropriate community of reference ... is to identify the land at issue and, in doing so, attempt to identify the community, if any, most affected by an action. If the community is a `dependent Indian community,' then we owe due deference to tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction," said the court's majority in an opinion written by Judge Lynn Pickard and concurred in by Judge M. Christina Armijo. Bosson said the court's majority had wrongly interpreted a 1998 U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving the meaning of "Indian country." He said the initial question was whether the area of the accident was a "federal set-aside for the use of Indians as Indian lands." Rich correctly decided it was not and the state had jurisdiction, Bosson said. Under the court's majority ruling, Bosson said, Rich must "perform a kind of sociological expedition in search of a 'community of reference.'" Artie Pepin, director of criminal appeals in the attorney general's office, said the court's majority ruling would make it more difficult to determine whether the state could prosecute some felonies cases. Laurel Knowles, the assistant public defender who handled the Frank case, said "I don't necessarily see a major impact" from the ruling. Questions of conflicting tribal-state jurisdiction have always been complex and potentially time-consuming, she said. Bosson said the federal appeals court test cited by the majority decision involved regulatory matters - not a criminal case - and was the "wrong model for New Mexico to define state jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed outside tribal boundaries." "Much of the checkerboard area of northwestern New Mexico may be regarded, depending on the observer's point of view, as within the overall ambit of a tribal chapter or a similar political subdivision," Bosson wrote. "If that is now to be the limit on state jurisdiction to prosecute, then the majority opinion marks a radical shift from precedent. To my knowledge, no New Mexico appellate case has ever limited a state prosecution unless the crime was in fact committed on land that was either within tribal or pueblo boundaries, or an Indian allotment, or on land that was actually set aside for the benefit of a tribe or pueblo and its members." In 1997, the Court of Appeals returned the case to Rich for a similar determination of whether the state had the authority to prosecute Frank. Rich again concluded the state had jurisdiction and that decision prompted the late ruling by appeals court. Copyright c. Santa Fe New Mexican 2001 Janet Smith Owlstar Trading Post http://www.owlstar.com --------- "RE: Crow Members don't Receive per Capita Checks" --------- Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 08:18:43 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CROW PER CAPITA" Crow members don't receive per capita checks By JAMES HAGENGRUBER Of The Gazette Staff Members of the Crow Tribe are angry over not receiving checks from a company that mines coal on the reservation. Federal officials said money from Westmoreland Resources was wired to a tribal account Friday, April 6, but it's up to tribal officials to decide how to spend the funds. Tribal officials could not be reached for comment and did not return repeated phone calls from The Gazette. Each enrolled member of the Crow Tribe receives a check three times a year, including April 10, from lease payments made to the tribe by Westmoreland Resources, said Tilton Old Bull, the tribe's impeached secretary who is suing tribal leaders in federal district court. The checks range from $80 to nearly $200, he said. The checks did not arrive Tuesday as expected, he said. "It ain't much but everybody depended on it," Old Bull said. "Especially with Easter coming up and graduations." wired the money to the tribe last Friday, said Donna Erwin, director of the Office of Trust Fund Management in Albuquerque, N.M. "We did wire the funds per the instruction of the tribe," Erwin said. "That is at the discretion of the tribe how those funds are utilized." Erwin said she could not reveal the amount of the transfer. The money is owned by the tribe because it comes from tribal land leases. The only role of the government in this case is to receive the funds from Westmoreland and send them to the tribe, Erwin said. Crow officials Council meeting Saturday A quarterly Crow Tribal Council meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Saturday Crow Agency. David Turns Plenty, chairman of the tribe's Executive Committee, said two agendas will be presented because the committee is at odds with tribal leaders. The Executive Committee's agenda includes two resolutions that Chairman Clifford Birdinground refuses to present to the people, Turns Plenty said. One of the resolutions is to fire the tribe's law firm, Elk River, of Billings, he said. Birdinground was not available for comment Thursday. The resolutions were put on the agenda with the signed support of at least 100 people, as required by the tribal constitution, Turns Plenty said. were in Albuquerque Wednesday to meet with OTFM to discuss income flows from various tribal accounts, Erwin said. The delegation acknowledged receipt of the Westmoreland funds, Erwin said. Old Bull held a rally Wednesday afternoon in Crow Agency to speak out against tribal leaders. His spokesman, Gerald Redwolf, said tribal members are furious about not receiving a check. "This is the first time there hasn't been a per capita," Redwolf said. "It's not a whole lot, but at least it will buy you some candy, gas and cigarettes." Problems over the per capita payments stem from an ongoing "financial crisis" within the tribe that deepened when the tribe's accountant, John Donham, quit last week, said Gordon Jackson, Crow Agency superintendent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Tribal leaders are working hard to make cash available to meet the needs of the tribe, Jackson said. A new accounting firm has been hired - Ribail, Stauffer and Associates, of Spokane - and work is being done to stabilize tribal finances, Jackson said. "They do have money on the horizon," he said, adding that the BIA is working to approve an agreement between the tribe and Conoco over right- of-way payments. Opposition to the Clifford Birdinground administration is growing, said David Turns Plenty, chairman of the tribe's Executive Committee. Members of the 14-person committee are elected. "The people are really mad," Turns Plenty said. "People are starting to wonder what's going on." More people are now showing up at weekly protest rallies organized by Old Bull and his Apsaalooka Rights Coalition. When the rallies started more than two months ago, less than a dozen people would attend, Old Bull said. About 40 vehicles and at least 100 people attended Wednesday's rally in Crow Agency. The rally was held despite threats of arrest and accusations of treason from the tribe's chief judge, Dennis Big Hair. Old Bull received a memo allegedly signed by Big Hair on Tuesday. "If there's any acts or slanderous speech to impeach any of the Crow tribal elected officials, I will order the BIA Police to arrest you or anyone else for crimes against the peace and dignity of the Crow Tribe," the memo read. There were no arrests Wednesday. Big Hair did not return a call from The Gazette. "Everybody was kind of shocked," Old Bull said of the memo. "My attorney said to me `Tilton, are you a traitor? Have you been selling information to the Cheyenne and Sioux?'" During the rally, tribal members gave impassioned speeches about the need for change. After each speech, car horns were sounded. Faron Iron urged the people to regain "their warrior spirit." "There's a ruling class system and then there's a peasantry," Iron said. "I'm part of the peasantry and we're always getting looted by the rulers. . ... They steal from us." Updated: Fri Apr 13 09:02:16 CDT 2001 Central Time Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: FBI has Leads no Arrests" --------- Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 15:27:09 -0400 (EDT) From: IndigenousNews@webtv.net Subj: FBI has leads no arrests Mailing List: Native Rights From www.JournalStar.com FBI has leads, no arrests in slaying of Native men The deaths of two Oglala men that sparked Native protest marches to the Nebraska village of Whiteclay remain unsolved nearly two years later. Federal investigators have made no arrests in the June 1999 murders of Wilson "Wally" Black Elk Jr. and Ronald Hard Heart, said FBI Special Agent Mark Vukelich of Rapid City, S.D. The men were found beaten in a road ditch just north of Whiteclay. One full-time investigator is assigned to the case and he can bring in more investigators if need be. The agent continues to investigate leads, but so far has been unable to assemble enough evidence for an arrest, Vukelich said. "Prosecutions are decided by the U.S. attorney and they have found insufficient evidence to sustain a prosecution," he said. Authorities are offering a $40,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. So far, the reward fund has generated no leads, Vukelich said. Tom Poor Bear, an Oglala Lakota and relative of both victims, said his family will likely file a lawsuit against the FBI and tribal police for what he called an inadequate investigation. In the wake of the murders, Poor Bear organized marches to Whiteclay and established Camp Justice near where the men were found. - Joe Duggan Printed for educational purposes only: The news that is reported is not necessarily the viewpoint of IndigenousNews To send news reports, subscribe or unsubscribe send email to IndigenousNews@webtv.net --------- "RE: Indian Trust Reform Monitored" --------- Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 07:37:39 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRUST ACTION" http//www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm Monday April 16 7:16 PM ET Indian Trust Reform Monitored By ROBERT GEHRKE, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge appointed a monitor Monday to supervise the overhaul of a federal land program that Indian tribes say robbed them of up to $10 billion. Attorneys representing 300,000 Indian plaintiffs who are suing the Interior Department had complained that the government's efforts to restructure the land trust program, as ordered by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, have been ineffective. "Basically, trust reform has been a myth," lawyer Dennis Gingold said. "They've spent $50 million and not accomplished a thing." Lamberth appointed Joseph Kieffer III to follow the overhaul program and file progress reports with the court. The department must give Kieffer access to employees and information needed for his inquiry. Both sides accepted Kieffer's appointment after three meetings with Lamberth over the last several weeks. "We view this as the first sign of good faith extended by the Department of Interior in five years of litigation," said Gingold, who called it "the most comprehensive judicial oversight of the executive branch that has ever occurred." Justice Department (news - web sites) lawyer Phillip Brooks said "the government is embracing the idea" of trust reform and hopes to move the case forward quickly. "We welcome the appointment of an independent monitor, and we view it as constructive to accomplishing our goals, which are a renewed effort to advance trust fund reform," Interior spokeswoman Stephanie Hanna said. The Indians sued in 1996 over a century's worth of problems with the system that handles about $500 million a year in proceeds from oil wells and other uses of Indian land. The Indians say they are due at least $10 billion. The trust accounts came from an 1887 federal law that divided some reservation land into smaller plots for individual Indians. The government holds the land in trust for the Indians, meaning it cannot be taxed or sold and the government must approve leases. Many of the tracts are leased for uses such as grazing, logging, mining or oil drilling. Proceeds are supposed to have been deposited in government accounts, then paid to the Indian landholders. Since the beginning, however, the accounts have been mismanaged in almost every way imaginable, the government admits. Records were never kept for many accounts, while documentation for others was lost or destroyed. Some of the money was stolen or used for other federal programs. Some lease proceeds were never collected. Thousands of accounts have money in them but no names attached. Last year Lamberth held in contempt then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and fined them more than $600,000 for failing to turn over documents related to the case. He threatened to do the same to Bush administration officials if they should fail to comply. "I don't want it to come to that again, but I am prepared to do what is necessary to get trust reform accomplished," Lamberth said. Earlier, Lamberth appointed Alan Balaran to investigate the fund mismanagement. Balaran will help familiarize Kieffer with the issues of the case. Kieffer has a background in military intelligence. He also was director of litigation for the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, created in 1986 to settle claims by people exposed to asbestos in products made by Johns Manville. That trust's value is estimated at $3 billion. --------- "RE: A Sick Tribe and a Dump as a Neighbor" --------- Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 08:27:54 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ST REGIS DUMP" New York Times, New York Region By SOMINI SENGUPTA ST. REGIS MOHAWK RESERVATION, N.Y. - On this frigid day, on the land where his people have lived for centuries, Paul Thompson is stomping through the snow, offering a tour of the landmarks of his childhood. Over there is the squiggly cove off the St. Lawrence River, where the walleye pike would run upstream to spawn every April. Down there, on the river bank, his folks would greet the fishermen, peer into their crates and pick out the evening supper - perch, bass, or maybe a sturgeon head for soup. And there, just beyond the reservation line, where General Motors set up an engine parts factory in the 1950's, was a mound that the Thompson kids foraged in. They plucked scrap metal and sold it in town for extra cash. They burned the wood at home. Before there were water pipes in every house, Mohawks from other parts of the reservation rowed down the river to get oil drums, rinsed them and used them to collect rainwater for bathing. "Recycling," Paul's sister, Marilyn, called it. That heap turned out to be one of two General Motors waste sites filled with toxic trash, including polychlorinated biphenyls, considered by federal officials to be a probable carcinogen in humans and better known today as PCB's. "That was a gold mine for us," Mr. Thompson said of the dump. Today, he calls it "the bottomless pit." Thirteen years ago, a crew of men, covered head to toe in white spaceman- like suits, covered it with an impermeable sheath. Mr. Thompson, one of the three tribal chiefs, still carries around pictures of that day. The cap was meant as a temporary remedy. But it remains, a 35-foot-high mound draped in snow. The plant has been a federal Superfund site since 1984. Under orders from the federal Environmental Protection Agency, General Motors dredged 30 tons of contaminated soil from the St. Lawrence and hauled toxic sludge from lagoons on company property. Federal officials and tribal leaders have urged families on the reservation not to eat the fish, drink the water or breast-feed their babies, and the level of chemicals found in breast milk has decreased in the last several years. But both waste sites have lain fallow for a long time. And that inaction has now led the state attorney general's office and the Mohawk tribe to threaten to sue General Motors, on the grounds that the dumps "may present an imminent and substantial endangerment" to the well-being of the river, the endangered species that survive in it, and to the roughly 9,000 people here, west of Plattsburgh on the Canadian border. "They have basically flouted the law for 25 years," charged Christopher A. Amato, deputy chief of the attorney general's environmental bureau. "We were hoping that the E.P.A. would step in and put pressure on the company to clean up quickly, but that unfortunately has not happened." General Motors officials call the threatened lawsuit inappropriate and meritless. The attorney general has no right to sue, they contend, because G.M. has complied with the federal environmental agency's orders. E.P.A. officials agree, although they acknowledge that health and environmental risks still exist. "It's a high priority site," said Mary Helen Cervantes, an agency spokeswoman. "We are eager to continue with the clean-up plan." For nearly a decade, G.M. has wanted to seal the dumps permanently and build a wall to prevent PCB's from further contaminating Indian land. Federal officials have approved that plan, but to build the wall, General Motors needs to get on the reservation, and, G.M. notes, the Mohawks will not allow that. For their part, the Mohawks insist that the only acceptable solution is to dig out the toxic sludge - from the reservation as well as the factory site - and get rid of it forever. This lengthy impasse - which the latest legal threat is aimed at breaking - has underscored radically different ways of looking at the natural world. "This is the only place we have, and we're going to be here forever," explained Ken Jock, director of the tribe's environmental division. "Our teachers have told us, when we make a decision we have to look at how it affects the next seven generations. It's a different sense of time." The Mohawk lifestyle has changed over the decades since the engine parts plant and other factories were built next to the reservation. Hardly anyone fishes anymore. If they eat fish, it is the packaged kind from the supermarket. And no one lives off the land. The cucumbers and white corn that the Thompson clan grew on their farm are long gone. Paul Thompson, 56, owns a gas station now. There are a couple of pizzerias, a truck stop called the Bear's Den and several convenience stores. Fast-food spots and two mammoth supermarkets are just beyond the reservation. For more than 25 years, the cove has been contaminated with PCB's. The PCB's got in the fish. Nursing mothers passed on the chemicals to their babies. The PCB's got inside the turtles and the peregrine falcons, and inside the horses that grazed on the grass on the Thompsons' farm. Scientists from the State University of New York at Albany, who have conducted studies on the Mohawk families, recently concluded that those who ate PCB-laced fish might be more likely to suffer from a thyroid disorder characterized by fatigue, obesity and, in children, developmental delays. The Environmental Protection Agency also says other studies show that these chemicals can cause low birth weights and can compromise immune systems. At the squat brick Indian health clinic here, the chief physician, Ben Kelly, saw some two dozen patients one day: nearly a fourth had thyroid disease, and 60 percent had diabetes, he said. Indians nationwide have unusually high rates of diabetes. But here, Dr. Kelly said, he has witnessed a new pattern in their illnesses. Fifteen years ago, when he returned to the reservation from Tufts Medical School, he saw the onset of diabetes in patients in their 50's and 60's. Today, parents drag in their listless teenagers by the ears - only to find diabetes in their blood. Asthma and hypertension are also common, he added. It is not clear whether or to what extent any of these illnesses can be traced to the PCB's. Diets have changed since he was a child here, Dr. Kelly said, and like other Americans, the Mohawks are nowhere near as physically active as they once were. "Times change, no doubt about it," Dr. Kelly said. "And in this instance, not for the better." The nurse practitioner at the clinic, Beverly Cook Jackson, takes a larger, blunter view. "Losing our connection to the earth has had a negative impact on our people, and that makes us sick," she said. "It's not just PCB's. But I don't think it helps if you can't even drink your water." Scientists have concluded that even low levels of PCB exposure here could have caused more serious illnesses than previously detected. "That small relationship we expect to see correlated with reduced I.Q., with poor performance in school, with some abnormality in growth, particularly sexual maturation, and increased susceptibility to certain chronic diseases such as thyroid disease and diabetes," said Dr. David Carpenter, of the public health school at the State University in Albany. "This has adversely affected their health." The E.P.A. is conducting its own national study of the health effects of PCB's, including on the thyroid. Today, Mr. Thompson has diabetes. Four of his five siblings have thyroid disorders. His sister Marilyn had her thyroid gland removed when a tumor was discovered there. All six of her children have asthma; two of them have learning disabilities; another suffers from a thyroid condition; a 2- year-old granddaughter was born with a muscle disorder that has affected her motor skills. One family member had 14 miscarriages. Ms. Thompson, 48, finds it hardest to talk about how PCB's might have seeped into her children's bodies. She nursed all but one of her children. "I just thought my kids would be healthier," she said. Does she think she could have passed on the poisons to her babies that way? "Now I do," she said flatly. "Then I didn't." From her window, Ms. Thompson can see the tower of the G.M. plant, just beyond the snow. If she squints, she can almost picture the children as they once foraged through the dump. "When they put the cap on it," she said, "they had their men in white suits. White suits! Our kids are riding on three-wheelers out there and they never even notified us. I ask myself "Why? Because we are just native people? I look at that every day and I get so angry." A General Motors spokesman, Gerry Holmes, dismisses that notion, and says the company wants to continue its cleanup. Ms. Cervantes, of the E.P. A., credits the company for the progress that has been made so far. "There's absolutely work that needs to be done," she said, "and work that's already been done." Copyright c. 2001 The New York Times Company --------- "RE: Few Environmental Safeguards on Reservations" --------- Date : Tue, 10 Apr 2001 07:49:13 -0500 From: John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate Subj: (FWD)Indian News 04-10-2001 ----- Forwarded by John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate on 04/10/2001 07:50 AM Ex-official at EPA says tribes at risk Few environmental safeguards on reservations, Yellowtail says Associated Press April 8, 2001 BOZEMAN, Mont. _ Residents of America's Indian reservations do not enjoy the same environmental safeguards as other citizens, a former Environmental Protection Agency official says. Bill Yellowtail, the former EPA regional administrator and a 1996 congressional candidate in Montana, said the abundance of clean drinking water many take for granted is "often plain unavailable" on reservations. And safeguards to protect residents from harmful sewage and lead paint in homes are "doubtful to nonexistent," the member of the Crow Nation said during a conference at Montana State University. "Environmental protection is just not there yet," Yellowtail said. After managing the EPA six-state region that includes Montana for the Clinton administration, Yellowtail is now program development coordinator for Off the Beaten Path, a specialized travel company in Bozeman. He predicted reservation environmental issues will grow in importance, calling the environment "the 21st century battleground" in Indian country. While he described himself as a "recovering politician," he urged those at the Friday conference to get involved in politics, calling it the only way to improve life on the reservations. That means being well educated, effective and credible in law, science and administration, he said. "Don't let anybody sell us on the idea that, as Indians, we aren't smart enough to play the other guy's system," he said. The EPA and other federal agencies often contract with states to do much of their work, he said, and tribes can do the same. But to get that work they must improve court systems and government functions, he said. Mainstream environmentalists have resisted criticizing tribes, but those days may be ending, Yellowtail said, citing a controversy last year in South Dakota when the Sioux Tribe proposed building a huge hog farm. The corporate hog farmers saw the reservation as a refuge from environmental regulations, he said, calling that mentality something all tribes should find insulting. --------- "RE: Why Indian Country is becoming America's Waste Dump" --------- Date: Tue, 03 Apr 2001 20:22:26 From: KOLA Subj: Why Indian Country is becoming America's waste dump (by Carter Camp) <+>=<+>KOLA Newslist<+>=<+> [from Erth. Thanks!] source: NativeNews 4/2/2001 WHY INDIAN COUNTRY IS BECOMING AMERICAS WASTE DUMP Carter Camp, Ponca Nation Many circumstances within Indian Country make our homelands the target of the purveyers of Americas waste. In my Ponca Tribe we have had to stop a waste well injection system, several toxic waste incinerators, low level radio active waste disposals, and landfills. But we are a small Tribe with very small land base, the primary targets have been the large reservations like Rosebud with space to conceal these places and mitigate their harm to the people in large cities, those Americans who demand cheap goods but won't allow their waste to be kept close to home. Rosebud is the homeland of the Sicangu Lakota Nation which is the reluctant host to a mammoth pig factory, which (due to a recent Court victory over the Tribe and EPA), is set to become the largest in the world! With at least 33! massive waste lakes which will cover hundreds of acres of clean earth with a horrible hodge-podge of toxic substances. The prime reason we present good targets is the extreme poverty and joblessness on our reservations. Poverty creates within the populance a desperation for jobs which is then reflected in their leaders. After standing for election on a platform of economic development, elected officials quickly learn the near impossibility of creating any sizable number of jobs on reservations. Our people were once confined as far away from the American people as possible on as marginal lands as possible and until modern times, we were kept as "wards of the Government". Suddenly our Tribal leaders are charged with the responsibility of creating jobs for the people, without any financial infrastructure or tax base. Add to this the fact that the hungry people are their own relatives, and a vulnerability is created which waste companies are quick to exploit. Our land base is another large attraction for a waste company. But even for them, our Reservations are usually the last choice of location, they have tried to use land closer to the source of the waste but they have been forced, by the rejection of the American people, to try to locate in Indian Country. The conjuncture of companies in dire need and elected officials desperate for "economic development" is what has put our lands in such jeopardy. When Tribes fought for and gained their present limited Sovereignty, the Bureau of Indian Affairs(BIA) was stripped of its previous iron-handed rule over Tribal Governments. As either a terroristic act of retaliation, or an ironic joke, a dying BIA recognized the old 1934 Indian Reorganization Act(IRA) Governments as legitimate governmental representatives of our Nations. These so-called Governments are in no way Indian governments of any Tribe, they were devised by white bureaucrats in the bowels of the BIA as instruments to carry out their Assimilation/Relocation/Termination policies of the decades 1930-70. The phony IRA Constitutions typically give all governmental powers to a "Council" of from 4 - 20 members. All Governmental Powers is an awesome amount of power to invest in any small group of officials. One could ask which four Americans would be suitable to rule over America with exactly the same unchecked powers they have given the IRA Councils over our people? Corruption and abuse of power are inevitable and endemic to the IRA system. This too creates an opening for the waste companies to exploit. Sweetheart deals with no protections for the Tribe financially, or for the health and environment of the People, are all too common across Indian Country. The latest and the very worst of the purveyors of filth has now joined the attack on our Homelands. Pig Factories!! On the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota a gigantic swine factory has begun operation. All the reasons I listed above have come into play to locate this pork and s*it producer in Indian Country. The fact that once again a smart operator has been allowed to negotiate a business deal wherein the Tribe is left holding an empty bag, is bad enough, but this particular type of business violates everything that is Sacred within our culture. We Indians have always pointed to certain values which have differentiated our societies from the Wasicu. Our concept of this Mother Earth as a living entity which must be respected, our understanding of Water as sacred to all living things, and our basic extending of respect to all life upon this land as our relatives, are all Tribal values violated by the ugly assault. Pigs are intelligent and they are the long time companion of the European people, as Shunka (the dog) is to our people. In these factories pigs are penned to stand in one place, day and night as they are force-fed enormous quantities of feed, hormones and antibiotics. They never see the Sun, smell grass or touch the wind. They live short lives of never-ending torture. Thousands of pigs, standing side by side, in row after caged row (being force fed), produces enormous amounts of body waste and filth, which is washed out with enormous quantities of precious water (supplied free by the Tribe!) into large open sewage, sludge pits where the water either evaporates, flows downstream, or seeps down into the water table. The stink, which is now unbearable for miles around, is about to be multiplied times thirty! The hormone and antbiotic laden pigs are shipped in and out in rapid succession, leaving only their unnatural wastes on the Homeland. Now a Federal Judge has given the filth factory the right to expand! They can even double or triple until it actually becomes the largest pig factory in the U.S.! The Tribe, (now opposed to the factory and facing an unaffordable breech of contract liability) is uncertain about how and if to proceed. Primary in their worry is that the previous administration "waived" the Tribes sovereign immunity from lawsuit. With the advent of spring the pig factory is set to quickly build the "2nd phase" factory, which will double the existing factory! Only grassroots organizing and activism can stop this sick project from proceeding. The Sicangu Lakota people have proven in a referendum vote that they want to halt the project. The EPA and the BIA have belatedly and ineffectively tried to assist in controling the waste but have so far failed. Several organizations and many concerned individuals have voiced their opposition to the factory and their desire to help stop it. We now have the ingredients for a strong grassroots organization to stop this abomination. Over the winter the case was in Court and the matter seems to have been lain aside by most of our people. But now the spring thaw is upon us and we can be sure the pig factory has their expansion plans ready and waiting. It is time for grassroots Indian people to band together to protect this land, this water and our future generations. Carter Camp --------- "RE: Janklow Says Outline Ready For Homestake Bill" --------- Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 10:49:31 EDT From: ErthAvengr@aol.com Subj: Janklow Says Outline Ready For Homestake Bill Mailing List: ndn-aim This thing has to be stopped. With all the accidents lately involving gas and fuel lines in Lead and now this Laboratory in the making, the desecretion to the Black Hills is again being challenged; the accident scenario is increasing regarding the lab and it seems as if , again, money is the objective and fame for South Dakota. Calls to members of the State congressional people has fallen on ' deaf ears' and reactions by staff , with the exception of one, seems to be annoyance that someone would dare give a negative response to it. As in the presidential election, it does not seem to matter to the politicians that some and in many cases, many votes were not counted and /or destroyed......ie. do the people count??? ----- http://www.rapidcityjournal.com JANKLOW SAYS OUTLINE READY FOR HOMESTAKE BILL Janklow says outline ready for Homestake bill By The Associated Press SIOUX FALLS -- An outline is ready of legislation needed to create an underground laboratory at the Homestake Gold Mine, Gov. Bill Janklow said Tuesday. Janklow and officials from the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the state Attorney General's office were in Washington, D.C. last week to hammer out details. They met with the state' congressional delegation, representatives of the National Science Foundation and Homestake officials. An outline has been approved, and now someone will start to write the legislation, the governor said. Congress must approve the creation and operation of the Homestake National Underground Laboratory. Janklow said he also went to the White House to lobby for the lab and was met with a favorable response. "The White House told me the Office of Management and Budget is going to get behind it and support the neutrino laboratory," the governor said. Scientists want a deep lab to shield sensitive experiments from cosmic radiation. Homestake, at 8,000 feet, could be the deepest in the world. The lab could employ more than 400 scientists and technicians, and South Dakota School of Mines & Technology would be deeply involved in the research. The 124-year-old mine is to close at the end of the year. ===== 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: S&K Technologies Closes a $325 Million Contract" --------- Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 08:27:54 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SKT SUCCESS" http://www.CharKoosta.com/news1.html April 6, 2001 S&K Technologies closes a contract for $325 million by Jennifer Greene PABLO -- If you haven't heard of S&K Technologies (SKT), you soon will. Along Highway 93 in Pablo, workers at SKT have been plugging away quietly, garnering contracts worth millions and gaining a national reputation. They recently closed an eight-year, $325 million contract with the United States Air Force (USAF). Visitors to the building first encounter a small waiting room and a secretary behind a secured booth. Visitors must then be "buzzed in" by authorized personnel to go into the work areas because much of the work done at SKT requires high-security measures. For the most recent contract, SKT will make sure broken parts from F-15 aircraft in the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) get repaired efficiently. Greg DuMontier, SKT President and General Manager, said the U.S. sells aircraft to many other countries and repair costs are included in the sale price. When a pilot or a mechanic notices a part is broken, SKT will let them know where the broken part should go. SKT will then track the part with an information technology (IT) system so the customer knows exactly where a part is at any given time and what its status is. SKT staff won't be doing any of the repairs themselves. Instead, they will develop a world-wide network of parts-repair businesses and make sure parts are channeled to the right place. In addition, SKT will be responsible for paying repair costs. As a result, DuMontier said, "$25 million over eight years goes to the IT side. The other $300 million pays sources of repair." Rhonda Whiting, Vice-President of Communications and Education, said a lot of the money will go into infrastructure development and toward education and training goals. DuMontier said when something breaks on an F-15, the part must go back on the plane it came from; parts from different planes cannot be interchanged. New parts can be used as replacements, however. After each part is fixed, a U.S. quality assurance representative must sign off on each repair. Then, the customer will pick up the part at the source of repair. Right now, SKT will track thousands of parts, says DuMontier. Every month, he said about 50 new parts will be added to the list. SKT formed an alliance with TAMSCO, an IT business headquartered in Calberton, MD, with an office in Polson. DuMontier said in the last few years they have worked as a subcontractor for TAMSCO. TAMSCO had a contract for $32 million over a five-year period to track parts for the RSAF. Now, DuMontier said, they will continue working with TAMSCO, using them as a subcontractor for some of the work. At this point, SKT will track parts and pay for repairs for the RSAF's F-15s, but eventually will track parts for F-15s world-wide. An official contract-signing ceremony will take place at the KwaTaqNuk Resort in Polson on May 7, 2001. A bit of background about SKT -- In a building mostly hidden by pine trees along Highway 93 in Pablo, sits one of the Tribes' newest money-making endeavors. S&K Technologies (SKT), an offshoot of S&K Electronics since January 1999, made more than $600,000 in 2000, its second year of operation and the future looks even more promising. S&K Technologies, a tribally-owned information technology (IT) corporation, could be a solid source of economic development on the reservation. "We're not about turning screws," said Greg DuMontier, President and General Manager of SKT. They don't manufacture parts or equipment; instead, they manage information for companies and organizations using the latest technology. Headquartered on the Flathead Reservation, SKT has offices in Washington state, Washington D.C., Ohio, Georgia and Texas. In addition to that, they will be soon tracking F-15 aircraft parts that need to be repaired for the Royal Saudi Air Force in conjunction with the United States Air Force, which sells aircraft to other countries. DuMontier has already visited Saudi Arabia. He smiles as he talks about projects in his office, where intercom messages interrupt conversations, a laptop computer occupies a desk, and black- and-white framed pictures of Native Americans line the walls. Through the office in Pablo and the ones in other states, SKT provides a broad range of IT services for an impressive list of clients that includes: Wright Patterson AFB, National Aeronautical Space Administration, Bonneville Power Administration, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Forest Service, Federal Aviation Administration, Corps of Engineers, the Smithsonian Institute, US Navy, and the United Space Alliance. One of the reasons the company has been so quiet, said DuMontier, is because they wanted to build up the corporation with outlying offices so "rather than giving promises, we will demonstrate success." Dermot O'Halloran, SKT Vice-President of Business Development, said they wanted to establish a foothold for the type of services they offer and show a solid track record. Because of the success of all their offices, more work funnels into Pablo and back to tribal members. The Pablo office has 11 employees and the company is currently advertising to fill 10 more positions. Within the next year, SKT plans on starting construction on a new building. DuMontier pulls out sketches of the facility they plan on building which will reflect the high-tech nature of their business and talks about the general layout of the building. He said they haven't decided exactly where the new building will go yet. However, he said, ideally they would like to provide people with the opportunity to work in their own communities. Rhonda Whiting, SKT Vice-President of Communications and Education, said future plans include figuring out a way to help provide tribal members with opportunities to access a formal education or internships with companies SKT works with. She said if people are interested in the IT field, SKT would consider working with them and providing training opportunities. They are working on collaborations with other tribal departments such as the Department of Human Resources Development and Salish Kootenai College to find people interested in training. She said that depending on experience and education, someone entering the IT field could make anywhere from $24,000 to $40,000 a year to start. She said if someone gets the right training and experience, they could do IT work anywhere. Eventually, she added, they would like to help other tribes step into the IT business because it's a good way "to maintain cultural integrity and boost the economy." In the future, there could also be a way for trained personnel in Pablo to transfer to other offices. Right now, many of these plans are still in the development stage. DuMontier said the eight-year contract will provide more stability for SKT, and, it's hoped, that that will entice people to apply. "If we rely solely on natural resources, traditional sources of revenue, one, [There could be] major environmental consequences [including] the cost to repair damage and two, Those markets are declining. Mills are closing and IT is booming, expanding," said DuMontier. Whiting said that not very many other tribes are doing what SKT is doing except for some corporations in Alaska. "If we do a good job at this, it will open us up for a lot of things," said DuMontier. Copyright c. 2001 Char-Koosta News --------- "RE: Cherokee Trail of Tears Beads" --------- Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 08:18:43 -0500 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRAIL BEADS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailynews.htm Beads of sweat, devotion Women form 16,000 clay pieces for those who suffered on Cherokee Trail of Tears 04/13/2001 Kelly Kurt/Associated Pressews HULBERT, Okla. - The Cherokee bead-makers work without looking up. They've got a journey to document, and there are miles to go. The women iron chunks of cool gray clay into slabs. They cut it into bits, roll the bits between their palms and pierce each one. Each bead represents a person who lived or died in the forced march of Cherokees across the Southeast into what is now Oklahoma. It takes 16,000 beads to tell the story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears. "They're not beads," said Monisha Aleck, who whispers prayers over the clay she takes home and shapes in front of her television. "They're people." They have thousands of beads yet to make and a looming deadline. The exhibit where their work will be woven into a 28-foot-long panel opens at the Cherokee Heritage Center on May 12. The women work with dusty palms in the center's small workshop near Hulbert. No one knows exactly how many Cherokees were forced by state and federal troops from their homes in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee in 1838 or how many died from disease, hunger and starvation in the march west. The women make white beads to represent the estimated 12,000 who survived; black beads represent 2,000 who died; and red beads stand for 2,000 whose fates were unknown. The colors will be woven into a pattern representing footprints on the trail. Photographs accompanying the bead display will document the trek in the new Trail of Tears Terminus exhibit. Curator Tom Mooney said that visitors will leave the exhibit with a picture of "an American holocaust" and how the Cherokees emerged from it. An allocation by Congress made it possible for interpretive exhibits at the beginning and end of the trail. The Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, N.C., houses the first exhibit. The 1,000-mile trail ended in Tahlequah, where the Cherokee Nation makes its headquarters. The Terminus exhibit will include artifacts, American Indian art and life-size models of soldiers. The National Park Service's sponsorship of the exhibit required it to meet the needs of the disabled. The Cherokee Heritage Center found itself searching for beads whose colors could be distinguished by touch for blind visitors. It was disappointed in the commercial samples that turned up. The center's own director of pottery, Pat Stewart, jumped on the job. "I knew we could make handmade beads. But 16,000? That's when we called in volunteers," she said. And they came from all over. One Cherokee woman in California made and mailed in beads in remembrance of her "great-great-grandmother Lavisa," and all others who walked the trail. For some of the volunteers, the mixing of earth and water helps ease their own trail of tears. Sue Dugger's mind drifts to childhood days at her Cherokee grandparents' home. Carolyn Waterfallen sometimes wonders what the Cherokees who made the trip endured. The women were neighbors as children. After lives and careers in far-off places, both returned to Tahlequah to care for ailing parents. Both are dealing with the recent deaths of their mothers. "This is good therapy," Ms. Dugger said, rolling the clay between her palms. For Ms. Aleck, the therapy comes with her recovery from a car accident and the search for Cherokee roots she never knew while growing up in California. "It was something I am," she said. Patricia Adams, a half-Cherokee, knows of ancestors who survived the Trail of Tears, she explained as she weaves together the red, black and white beads. "To me, this is honoring what they all went through for us," she said. Copyright c. 2001 The Dallas Morning News --------- "RE: Statement by Minister of Fisheries and Oceans" --------- Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 10:31:54 EDT From: ErthAvengr@aol.com Subj: Statement by Herb Dhaliwal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans Mailing List: ndn-aim Sent by Senior Staff [NativeNews]..............thanks Statement by Herb Dhaliwal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans: Update on fisheries affected by the Supreme Court's Marshall decision Story Filed: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 5:56 PM EST http://library.northernlight.com/FC20010403880000211.html?cb=0&dx=1006 OTTAWA, ONTARIO, APR 3, 2001 (CCN Newswire via COMTEX) -- Within the past few days, fishing seasons have opened in parts of Atlantic Canada. As the spring progresses, more and more fishers will be taking to the water for the season's work. I think it is an appropriate time to provide an update on the federal government's process to address the Marshall decision. I understand that some people are concerned that "time is running out" to negotiate new fisheries agreements and avoid conflict this fishing season. This is not the case. We are not starting from "ground zero." Last year, the many people with an interest in the Supreme Court's decision showed good will, and worked with us to continue developing positive relationships, channels of communication, and basic agreement on fishing arrangements for last season. Through cooperation, a solid groundwork has been laid, and we are now building on that strong foundation. It is important to understand that signed agreements are not necessary to have a peaceful, orderly fishery this summer. We are ready to provide Mi'kmaq and Maliseet communities with fishery access, consistent with the Marshall decision, whether or not they sign agreements before the fishery in their area opens. Last year, in cases where communities did not reach agreements before the opening of the fishery, we issued licences and tags to ensure they had the opportunity to participate in the commercial fishery with the appropriate authorization. This year, we are doing the same. Already, several Aboriginal communities are participating in the commercial fisheries that are presently open, although they have not signed new agreements with the Federal Fisheries Negotiator, Mr. James MacKenzie. All of the increased commercial access provided last year will be available to Mi'kmaq and Maliseet communities this year, with or without an agreement. That is a commitment we have made to the First Nations we are negotiating with. Of course, we hope that start-up assistance and additional access can be provided through negotiated arrangements that are tailored to the unique needs and wishes of the individual First Nations. Agreements will bring real, immediate economic and social benefits to Mi'kmaq and Maliseet communities by providing for capacity building, vessels, gear, funding for infrastructure, and opportunities for fisheries co-management arrangements. It is also important to understand the nature of the agreements Mr. MacKenzie and Aboriginal leaders are discussing. The one-to-three-year agreements provide for valuable start-up assistance to help Aboriginal communities see immediate benefits from their access to the fishery. Without agreements, we will provide Aboriginal communities with access, which will allow them to participate in the commercial fishery. But start-up assistance - like vessels, gear, and funding for important infrastructure like wharves - will help these communities to prosper. That assistance is only available through negotiated agreements. Reaching agreements will take time, and we need to give the MacKenzie process time to work again this year. It has always been my Department's position that we are providing Mi'kmaq and Maliseet communities with increased access to the commercial fishery in response to the Marshall decision. I appreciate that some First Nations may have a different position. The "without prejudice" provisions in the agreements mean that the federal government and First Nations can sign agreements and still have the opportunity to advance their positions in future negotiations. In fact, the 'without prejudice' clauses have been strengthened in the proposed agreement, in response to concerns expressed by First Nations. A new clause was added that states, "(f)or greater certainty, the parties agree that this Agreement is not and shall not be interpreted to be an extinguishment of a treaty or Aboriginal right." There is an additional clause that states, "For greater certainty, nothing in this Agreement precludes a party from taking positions in future negotiations which differ from the terms of this Agreement." It is very clear that DFO is not defining treaty rights in these negotiations. That is a point that I have made repeatedly in my communications to Aboriginal leaders in the Atlantic region. That point is particularly significant this year, because of the government's two-track approach to addressing the Marshall decision and addressing Aboriginal and treaty rights issues. While my Department continues to provide Mi'kmaq and Maliseet communities with immediate benefits from the fishery, the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development is leading broader discussions on unresolved questions about Aboriginal and treaty rights. DIAND's Chief Federal Negotiator, Tom Molloy has met with First Nations representatives in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Quebec on how they can proceed to address Aboriginal and treaty rights issues. He has also offered to meet with the leadership of Aboriginal communities in New Brunswick to begin considering how they can best work together on these issues. With the DIAND negotiating table in place, First Nations can go to that broader table, having signed fisheries agreements with Mr. MacKenzie, and still advance their positions on Aboriginal and treaty rights issues. In my view, there are real and immediate advantages for Mi'kmaq and Maliseet communities in these fisheries agreements. At the same time, of course, I would not presume to dictate the decisions that these communities and their leaders must make. If Chiefs and their communities decide not to negotiate with Mr. MacKenzie, but would rather wait to sit at the broader negotiating table, I will respect their decision. As we did last year, and consistent with the Supreme Court decision, we will continue to provide them with access to the commercial fishery by issuing communal licences. The opening of spring fisheries does not mean that the negotiating window is closed, nor does it mean that Mi'kmaq and Maliseet communities will be shut out of the commercial fishery. We are providing access to the commercial fishery, consistent with the Marshall decision. But we are also offering a table at which Mi'kmaq and Maliseet communities can express their needs and aspirations in the fishery, and we can negotiate ways to help them meet those needs and aspirations. For additional information on the Marshall decision, including the text of the Minister's remarks to the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans: See the DFO home page - www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca - under "Supreme Court of Canada decision in the Marshall Case." CONTACT: Fisheries and Oceans Canada Heather Bala, Director of Communications Office of the Minister (613) 996-0076 Copyright c. 2001, Canadian Corporate News. All rights reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> 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: Traditional Mohawks call for Day of Rage" --------- Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 18:49:37 From: KOLA Subj: Traditional Mohawks call for "Day of Rage" April 19th <+>=<+> KOLA Newslist <+>=<+> [from Kahahyuhes. Thanks! Mohawk Haudenosaunee cousins take a stand and a walk over their lands and their waters... A yearly event to remind canada and the u.s. of the borders on Mohawk land, not of their making.... /////// From: doxtater From a Yahoo news board. I wonder if there's any such thing as a "traditionalist" because I am not sure what is meant by that. Some people traditionally vote for the band/tribal council. Some people by tradition attend church. Some people observe time honored memorial practices and thanksgiving that existed, by tradition, before 1492. Traditionally -- since the Indian Defense League of America began to assert Iroquois passage undeterred across the medicine line -- Iroquois people steadfastly understood their rights of free, unmolested travel anywhere in the Americas. Anyhow FYI. MD Stop FTAA -FTAA Organizing Updates Traditional Mohawks call for "Day of Rage" April 19th and pledge to open border, welcoming anarchists. Written By World War Three, Target & Warcry This April the heads of State of every country in the Western hemisphere except Cuba will be meeting in Quebec city Canada to sign a trade deal that undermines the rights of working people, environmental protections and human rights. They are very afraid that people will come to Quebec City and ruin their party. So afraid that protesters are being refused entry at the Canadian border. But there's good news. There is an important chance to build solidarity between anarchists and indigenous people. The Mohawk territory of Akwesasne straddles both sides of the Canadian border. The Mohawk people view that border as illegitimate. On April 19th,a group of Mohawks from the Traditional contingent of the Mohawk people will open the bridge at Cornwall to activists wishing to go to Quebec City. They are billing this as a "Day of Rage" in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Canadian radicals and trade unionists are supporting this action on the Canadian side while several different mobilization groups from the U.S. are planning a caravan from the Burlington Convergence to Quebec City through the Mohawk reservation. This is not a blockade. In solidarity with the Mohawk nation's grievances towards the Canadian and U.S. governments and their action upon that day, the caravan hopes to travel without harassment and unfettered to Quebec City. The Mohawk people consider the bridge and border an abomination forced on them by the U.S. and Canadian governments. The bridge is controlled by customs 364 days of the year but one day of every year Mohawk people take over the bridge to assert their sovereignty over their land. They have never given up their lands to these tyrannical nations. This is a chance to build an alliance between Anarchists and indigenous people. There is a lot we can learn from the Mohawk people, who have struggled for centuries against all forms of oppression at the hands of the capitalist system and the governments of both Canada and the U.S. They have never conceded their land. They have never accepted the U.S. or Canadian government as legitimate. They have responded to oppression with armed resistance. The powerful spirit of insurgency has been very effective in the recent past as well. The federal governments have amassed to strike with horrendous force only to back off when it became apparent what they were up against: a people committed to sovereignty at all costs. As Anarchists we aspire to be as strong and defiant as the Mohawk Traditionalists already are. This group of Mohawk Traditionalists - along with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (An organization of poor people fighting to bring power back into poor communities, OCAP) and the Kingston People's Community Union (An organization of community members, PCU) - are using this as a chance to build coalition and organize towards a larger campaign to unseat their rightwing asshole premier of Ontario, Mike Harris. This will be a day of solidarity between radical Mohawks, Canadian Trade Unions, the poor of Ontario (Through OCAP), several radical activist groups in the U.S. and Canada, independent Anarchists, and the Anti-Globalization movement worldwide. A few of the U.S. groups currently involved are NYC DAN, NYC YaBasta! Collective, IMC-NYC, Philly Direct Action Group. The Canadian Guelph Direct Action Group is also down. The border crossing also has the endorsement of the Cornwall Labor Council, the radical Canadian Postal Union and possibly a Canadian AutoWorkers Union. Once over the border the U.S. caravan will be free to join the Canadians for a large-scale caravan to Quebec City. Canadians are still discussing plans to shut down the locks on the Saint Lawrence Seaway if necessary. The Burlington Convergence (Starting possibly the 14th of April. http://www.vermontactionnetwork.org, htp://www.vermont.indymedia.org) is being used as the jump off point and it is strongly advised that those interested be at the convergence by the 17th for training, or by the 18th spokes council meeting at the very latest. This convergence will have teach-ins, workshops, bands, protests and much more. If you can't make it to Cornwall or Quebec you have to come to the convergence. Some realities about working with the Mohawks: Mohawk society, like most societies, is not politically homogeneous. There are Mohawk freedom fighters, but there are also Mohawk police, Mohawk venture capitalists, Mohawk reactionaries and Mohawks working with the Canadian Government. Just as there are Anarchists, Republicans and all kinds of people in U.S. society. This action is being called by a group of Mohawk Traditionalists with radical politics. (So understandably, they have welcomed the U.S. Anarchists to cross their land.) It is possible that we will come into contact with some Mohawks who don't support the action. We may in fact be confronting Mohawk police officers. If this happens we should deal with this in a principled way and stand up to them as police - and not fall into raising racial issues. When possible, we will take the lead from our Traditionalist allies on how to deal with these situations. Considering that the blood of 20 million Indigenous people has been spilled since imperialists first set foot on this country, and considering how fiercely these warriors have always resisted oppression, we consider it an honor to work with these uncompromisingly brave people. They are opening their land for us to reach Quebec City; we should open our hearts and raise our fists. --- end forwarded text Raeann Skenandore Associate Director of Student Services and Operations American Indian Program 492 Caldwell Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 Phone: 607.255.4184 Fax: 607.255.6246 <+>=<+> KOLA Information: http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm KOLA Petitions: http://kola-hq.hypermart.net KOLA Greeting Cards: http://users.skynet.be/kola/cards.htm --------- "RE: Federal Prisoner Phone Restrictions" --------- Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 12:38:08 -0500 From: LPDC Subj: telephone restriction update Mailing List: LPDC Leonard Peltier Defense Committee Update Dear Friends, The new telephone restrictions which limit federal prisoners' phone access to 300 minutes per month, have been implemented. However, prisoner advocacy groups continue to wage a battle to have the new restrictions reversed. And, they do seem to be making some head way, as you will notice by reading the message and the Washington Post article we are forwarding below. We want to encourage you to stay involved in this issue. If you want to follow the work being done to reverse this policy, you can subscribe to a new list serve dedicated to the issue: "In an effort to centralize discussion of issues surrounding the Federal Bureau of Prisons new 300-minute per month restriction on inmate telephone calls, we have created a new listserve, BOPphoneregs@yahoogroups.com. If you are interested in joining, please click here and type "Subscribe" in the subject line. There seems to be a lot of action on this issue, and it would be helpful if everyone can keep abreast of developments. Also, please be advised that Federal-C.U.R.E., DC Prisoner Legal Services, the National Prison Project, the ACLU's National Capitol Chapter and others are evaluating legal, policy, and advocacy avenues by which to effect change." If you are interested in learning more about this and other current prison issues you can also subscribe to the Critical Resistance list serve below: To join, send a message to critresisteast-subscribe@egroups.com. LPDC staff will be visiting with Leonard Peltier in person twice weekly to make up for the lack in telephone communication, although the extra travel expense and time away from the office will be somewhat straining. It will also be helpful if supporters continue writing to Leonard Peltier on a regular basis: USPL Leonard Peltier #89637-132 PO Box 1000 Leavenworth, KS 66048 (letters and cards, paper back books, photos-NOT Polaroid, and U.S. Postal money orders are the only thing Leavenworth officials allow prisoners to receive.) Leavenworth Prison has allowed two phone interviews recently, although the reporters in both cases complained of being cut off prematurely. All reporters continue to be denied access to interview Leonard in person. Please continue to mention this in your letters to Congress. Thank you. In Solidarity, LPDC ----- Original Message ----- Date: Wednesday, April 04, 2001 5:15 PM From: Charlie Sullivan To: cure Subj: 300 minutes Dear Friends, we came close to having the below article on page one. It was on page two! Yesterday, Dr. Kathleen Hawk Sawyer, Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, asked John Vanyur, Senior Deputy Assistant Director for Correctional Programs Division, to contact Fred Mosely, Chair of CURE's Federal Chapter, to hear our concerns on this issue. Fred together with Kay Perry, National Coordinator of the eTc Campaign to reduce inmate telephone costs, had a conference call for almost 40 minutes with Mr. Vanyur. Fred pointed out the impact on the family that this limitation will have. As an example he used himself. When he was in the federal system, he helped his children with their homework over the phone. Kay made this point too, but also told Mr. Vanyur that she thought the limitation policy might be copied by the state systems since the "feds set the pace" for the state systems. We plan to follow up and ask for a face-to-face meeting with Dr. Sawyer. Now, what can you do to help? First, I think you should realize that we are in for a long and hard struggle on this. I don't think the average person thinks a 300 minute limitation is a big deal. Initially, I thought it sounded okay to me. But, as Fred and Kay and others began to talk to me, I realized that not only should there be no limits, but also THIS IS AN EXTREMELY IMPORTANT ISSUE! Thus, the leaders of this struggle UP FRONT MUST BE THE FAMILIES AND FRIENDS OF PRISONERS EVEN MORE THAN USUAL!! You are going to have to call your two U.S. Senators and one U.S. Representative (they can be reached through the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 or 225-3121). Have your two Senators and one Rep. call Dr. Sawyer at 202-307-3250 and protest this policy. Email them the article below, but most should have seen it yesterday on Page 2. Call you local newspaper esp. if you are near a federal prison. Write Dr. Sawyer personally at Federal Bureau of Prisons, 320 First St. NW, Wash. DC 20534 Fax 202-514-6878. This is not going to be won overnight! Charlie ----- Original Message ----- Date: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 4:01 PM From: Charlie Sullivan U.S. Restricts Phone Calls by Federal Inmates Limit of 300 Minutes a Month Will Increase Recidivism, Prisoner Advocates Maintain For 23 years Alvin Bronstein filed, and often won, lawsuits to end overcrowding in the nation's jails and prisons. (Robert Peyton, Philadelphia Inquirer - KRT) By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, April 3, 2001; Page A02 Federal prison inmates will be limited to 300 minutes of telephone calls per month under a new policy launched yesterday by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, which is hoping to crack down on abuse of phone privileges by some prisoners. But critics say the new policy, which applies to more than 140,000 inmates in the federal prison system, will only further isolate criminals from family and friends, contributing to recidivism. Previously, federal inmates could make unlimited telephone calls and pay for them from personal debit accounts, which include money earned in prison or sent by relatives. Each prisoner also was permitted 120 minutes per month in collect calls. The new rules limit all telephone calls to 300 minutes per month, regardless of who pays the bill. The limit does not include calls made to defense attorneys or other legal advisers. Traci Billingsley, a Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman, said that 75 percent of federal prisoners already use phones less than 300 minutes per month. Placing limits on the rest will help control attempts by some inmates to run drug rings or other criminal operations from prison, she said. "There have been some instances in the past of inmates abusing the phones, using them for illegal or disruptive purposes," Billingsley said. "Telephone security has always been a concern of ours. We feel this will help us identify and limit any abuses." But prisoners' rights advocates complain that the limit, which amounts to an average of 10 minutes per day, unduly restricts inmate access to family members, many of whom live hundreds or thousands of miles away and cannot afford regular visits. In the District of Columbia, for example, some 8,000 prisoners will be in federal custody by Dec. 31 as part of the federal government's takeover of some functions previously performed by the District government. Federal prison officials say they will try to house inmates as close as possible to the District, but many already are incarcerated as far away as New Mexico. "One of the things we know about recidivism is that close contact with family is one of the key factors in determining whether [released prisoners] will get into trouble again," said Alvin J. Bronstein, co- founder of the ACLU's National Prison Project. "This policy seems to run counter to that." In a letter sent yesterday to Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), a prisoner advocacy group, argued that the new phone rules contradict a recent court settlement on telephone use, visiting privileges and other inmate policies. CURE also maintains that security is not an issue, because all telephone calls in the nation's 98 federal prisons are routinely monitored or recorded. The group is considering litigation over the issue. "Abuses can occur within 300 minutes," said Charles Sullivan, CURE's executive director. "There is nothing magic about 300 minutes. . . . These calls are being paid for by the prisoners. If they want to pay to talk to their family longer, we ought to let them." The federal prisons recently completed installation of a new telephone system allowing use of the debit accounts, which use punch codes to keep track of prisoner calls and billing. Prisoners can use the system only to call 30 pre-approved telephone numbers. Calls to lawyers must be arranged separately and made from special phones that are not electronically monitored. Calling costs for federal inmates range from 4 cents per minute for local calls to 85 cents per minute for calls outside North America and Mexico. A portion of the cost is pocketed by DynCorp, which runs the system. The rest pays for commissary expenses, cable television subscriptions and other inmate benefits, Billingsley said. Copyright c. 2001 The Washington Post Company ===== Leonard Peltier Defense Committee PO Box 583 Lawrence, KS 66044 785-842-5774 www.freepeltier.org To subscribe, send a blank message to < lpdc-on@mail-list.com > --------- "RE: Message from Harvey about Dreamkeepers.net" --------- Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 17:07:07 EDT From: JTRoad@aol.com Subj: Message from Harvey about Dreamkeepers.net Mailing List: ndn-aim Friends-- This is Harvey Arden, with a few words about Dreamkeepers.net. The Dreamkeepers.net website continues to grow by leaps and bounds... And will be doubled in size around May 1...Our ultimate vision is to have a LivingBook website for EVERY Elder in Indian Country...plus many many other compatible Multimedia Books by non-Elders dedicated to Indian Way and Traditional values. Please send as many interested people as possible to dreamkeepers.net Individuals need to step forward and offer to become 'correspondents' and 'enablers' for Multimedia LivingBooks for Elders they know personally and can work with. Universities around the country are being asked to create websites within Dreamkeepers.net and create cross-disciplinary programs to go out and "Bring the Elders to the World" via dk.net. We are also in the early stages of creating a Dreamkeepers Childrens Project, to bring the Elders and the Children together. Today's Elders are the last link to the old Sacred Way and the old days... and we who have caring hearts must come to them respectfully, and gently, and ask them what messages and what personal knowledge they care to share with the world today as well as with the Seventh Generation to come. The Internet has suddenly made this possible for ALL Elders...whether those who lead their Nations and speak in world forums like the UN, or the little old Granny making corn soup in the Mudhouse at Onondaga. Please help us send out this message as widely as possible...go to dreamkeepers.net and sign up for the Dreamkeepers Project. And send this notice on to a few good friends. Work with us! /Harvey Arden The Dreamkeepers Project Dreamkeepers.net http://dreamkeepers.net "Bringing the Elders to the World...and the World to the Elders" ===== 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: Native Prisoner" --------- Date: Mon, 16 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: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 22:32:00 -0400 From: "Janet Smith" Subj: INCARCERATED INDIANS - 1 http://www.okit.com/Justice4parts/justice1.html Native American Times - April 9, 2001 Incarcerated Indians A continuing series revealing glaring disparities in the judicial systems for American Indians PART 1: A view of the distorted statistics from initial police contact to denial of parole By Ruth Steinberger Problems of racial disparity throughout the entire judicial system raises alarming questions regarding Native Americans in confinement. In February, 2000, the number of people in state and federal prisons in the US topped 2 million, leaving the US with one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world, exceeded by China, Iraq and other countries with notably poor human rights records. Of the two million people in confinement in the US, a seriously disproportionate number are people of racial and ethnic minorities. Issues of racial, ethnic and economic disparity affecting those coming in contact with both state and federal judicial systems are well documented. Statistics show that from initial contact with police to length of sentence, the differences disproportionately punish Native Americans, ultimately affecting families and communities as well. Organizations including the NAACP and the American Civil Liberties Union call for urgent action to address these problems. Glaring disparities in access to adequate legal representation for the poor has been publicly noted by the American Bar Association. Recognizing disparity as a fact of life, states are required to keep records of the racial component of those who are incarcerated, as compared to the racial make-up of the state or jurisdiction entitled Disproportionate Minority Confinement (DMC). However, while discussion escalates over the causes of DMC, the trend continues and the situation seems far from being addressed. For Native Americans, problems including racial profiling, confessions obtained under questionable circumstances, frequently inadequate legal representation and processing through courts that have historically been hostile toward Native Americans have marred access to equal processing through the courts. While the origin of the problems are complex, and it is impossible to highlight one particular fault, statistics reveal that the sum of those problems places Indians into confinement far earlier, and for less serious crimes than other Americans. Additionally, indications are that being denied parole opportunities may increase the sentences served by Indians even further. Currently there are over 26,000 Native Americans in adult correction facilities including state and federal prisons, as well as jails both within and outside of tribal jurisdiction. While Indians are roughly 1% of the US population, Indians make up 1.6% of the population of prisoners in the Federal Prison System and 1.3% of prisoners in state systems. Comprising roughly 10% of the population of South Dakota, according to the most recent SD DOC statistics, Native Americans comprise 21% of male prisoners and 34% of incarcerated women. Numbers vary from state to state, with Minnesota's population 1.2% Native American, yet Indians represent nearly 7% of prisoners in that state. Across the board, the situation is alarming. Nick Braune is a lobbyist and activist from Yankton, South Dakota who recently ran for State Representative from District 18, SD. Braune said, "Profiling brings individuals into the legal system who otherwise may not be there. Obviously this is just the beginning. It's foolish to believe that once within the system the racial targeting will diminish or disappear. At each level of processing, Indians can be confronted by outright racism, as well as often the problems traditionally faced by low- income individuals." Indeed, each level of processing reflects disparities that account for the ultimately alarming statistics relevant to Native Americans in confinement. According to a 50-plus page report released by the South Dakota Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights in March, 2000, no Native American Judges serve within the South Dakota State courts. While 80% of individuals processed through the Federal Court in Rapid City are Native American, only two Federal Public Defender positions serve Rapid City, leaving low-income people processed through those courts seriously underrepresented. The report cited numerous examples of whites in South Dakota given very lenient sentences, or not being charged at all, for causing the deaths of Native Americans, while Indians are incarcerated for theft and other relatively petty offenses. Activist Ted Means commented on the 15 days in jail spent by the white man who, while driving drunk, ran over and killed his 11 year old daughter, Kimberly. Means said, "Had the situation been reversed and I ran over and killed his daughter, I'd still be in prison today." Recent national coverage of the death of "Boo" Robert Many Horses, 24, who died after four white youth placed him head down in a garbage can after he became unconscious, reveals little change in this area. The four youth were not charged and the cause of death was listed as "asphyxiation". In November, 2000, Attorney General Janet Reno said that an investigation would not be opened into that report. Tim Giago, author, publisher of Lakota Journal and founder of Native American Journalists Association has worked in the field of Indian news reporting for years. Reflecting on the endless number of lengthy reports that are periodically compiled and then left to sit on desks in Washington, DC, Giago said, "This is something we're used to. It seems it's done to appease people, and make people think something will be done about the problems." Jennifer Ring is the Director of the ACLU of the Dakotas. Ring receives hundreds of pieces of mail each year from Indians in confinement throughout North and South Dakota. Ring explains, "In terms of the disparity, a lot goes into it. Up front, Indians are facing a lot of racial prejudice. While the worst probably occurs before someone is actually in the courtroom, it is detected at all levels. It begins when you look at what the police choose to do with someone, their actions either mitigate or aggravate the persons circumstances. The person will get their day in court, but in reality, they've already had a trial by the law enforcement." Ring explained her comments further, "This is as simple as the decision of whether to arrest someone or give them a warning. This is further reflected in the seriousness of the charges placed against the person." Ring says that the explanation of poverty sounds simple, but is not. She says that those things that produce mitigating factors are out of reach for many Native Americans living in areas with high unemployment and high poverty rates. The courts will be more lenient on a juvenile who is active in sports or other activities which can be costly or simply unavailable within a reasonable distance. Ring said, "The worst factor of all with law enforcement is that profiling creates a self fulfilling prophecy. If profiling goes unchecked, of course arrests will be made, then they see Indians as criminals, and use that as the the basis for stopping more Indians, etc. They are then less likely to give a break that they would choose to give to non-Indians. A prime example of racism is the war on drugs. Most cocaine users are white, and they typically buy from other whites. The myth that drugs are a minority issue is what places the focus on minority communities. If police were at the suburban shopping mall, they'd find some soccer moms in tennis shoes doing cocaine and buying it from other soccer moms. That is just not where they focus, so it is not where arrests occur." Minority women sentenced for drug crimes continue to be the fastest growing segment of the US prison population. For adults, there are a number of components to statistics on racial disparities facing Native Americans throughout the judicial system. Mike Guilfoyle, Seneca , of the consulting firm Johnson, Basset and Shaw, serves as a consultant to tribal governments, and to state and federal programs throughout Indian Country. Guilfoyle explained that the disparities absolutely cannot be dismissed. The median of a prisoner in the US is 34 years, yet the median age of an American Indian prisoner is slightly under 20 years of age. Guilfoyle serves on the Advisory Board of the Youth Law Center, an organization that achieved a recent settlement on behalf of youth held in a correctional facility in Plankinton, South Dakota. Mike Guilfoyle cites that philosophical issues, as well as concrete ones, are relevant to Indians being processed through courts which are often the judicial arm of a state government that may have been hostile toward tribal sovereignty as a whole, and toward Indians directly. In an earlier interview, Mike Guilfoyle explained that, "In a government to government relationship, one nation does not send law enforcement to arrest, try and then incarcerate members of another nation." He explained that without using traditional tribal methods of conflict resolution including mediation, appropriate victim compensation, and most importantly with the involvement of extended family, Indians are denied access to a justice system that is operating within the context of traditional heritage. Guilfoyle said, "Traditionally, the most severe sanction was banishment, which of course in earlier times meant severe hardship." He added, "Indians did not incarcerate as a punishment. We did not have jails and prisons." Ironically, due to federal sentencing guidelines, Indians get the least access to sentencing alternatives or leniency in length of incarceration. This problem was highlighted in the Civil Rights Commission Report released earlier this year. Statistics regarding Native Americans and parole that do exist , and the many statistics that are conveniently "not being kept" reveal other issue facing Native Americans. According to US Department of Justice statistics, American Indians had a per capita rate of prison incarceration about 38% higher than the national rate. At the same time, the per capita rate of Native Americans on parole is about the same as that of the general population. Federal sentencing guidelines eliminating parole accounts for only a portion of this alarming figure. Roughly 14-20% of prisoners who apply for parole each month in the state of South Dakota are approved for release. However, according to Mike Winder, spokesperson for the SD DOC, the state of South Dakota keeps no breakdown by race of those who are released on parole. There is no way to tell during any month if even one of the 14-20% who are released are Native American. Some Native American families trying to assist loved ones in creating appropriate release plans, with housing and job offers, report that parole is repeatedly denied. Fear of reprisal against the prisoner keeps some families from speaking out, however, with documentation in hand on the opportunities offered to the prisoner, many believe that parole is denied based on race. Attorney Mark Solar, of the Youth Law Center, filed the suit on behalf of youth at the DOC facility at Plankinton, SD, that was settled on December 11, 2000. In a Lakota Journal interview Solar said, "Investigating the training school in South Dakota, while Native Americans make up roughly 10% of the population of the state, Native American youth made up at least 40% of those who were incarcerated. Many of those had problems which required treatment that they were not getting. There is not a lot of data on Native Americans in institutions." He added that the lack of data creates a lack of assistance for Native American youth. Solar explained that, "Often facing similar circumstances, there is very little data separating Latino youth who are incarcerated. However, the few studies that do exist reveal that Latino youth are treated much more severely than others." Commenting on solutions to the problem of disparity for incarcerated Native Americans, Solar said that the problems will not be addressed until the states begin to collect the information. Solar said, "Most of the information is anecdotal. It's people's experiences and certainly it's important...the lack of data and record keeping are really a big problem-it makes it difficult to highlight the problem and so it gets denied by those in a position to offer solutions. Public officials want to see proof, which is data, and then other public officials fail to keep track of that data." Perhaps Belva Black Lance of Mission, SD, explained it best. Speaking of the difficulty in maintaining a family while one member is incarcerated over 350 miles from home Ms. Black Lance said, "What this problem is doing is destroying our families. Children are the ones who loose the most." This article, Part 1 of a continual series was originally published in the Lakota Journal, Rapid City, South Dakota Graphic by Jason Wolters- -editor@lakotajournal.com Ruth Steinberger is the first journalist to collect the data necessary for her continuing series on Incarcerated Indians. e-mail Ruth at rhsteinberger1@yahoo.com Coming Next Week: Part II includes a complex set of issues Janet Smith Owlstar Trading Post http://www.owlstar.com -- - - - Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 12:54:57 EDT From: ErthAvengr@aol.com Subj: Wyoming Prisoners Give Record Donation Mailing List: ndn-aim http://www.indianz.com Prisoners give record donation APRIL 13, 2001 Inmates at a Wyoming prison have made the largest donation to the state's Silent Witness Program. The inmates collected $3,000 over the last 18 months from hobby sales and donated it to the domestic violence prevention project. Inmates donate $3,000 in fight against domestic violence (AP 4/13) The Associated Press RIVERTON, Wyo. (AP) - Inmates at the Wyoming Honor Farm have donated $3,000 to the state's Silent Witness Program, the largest donation to the domestic violence prevention project to date. "Inmates may surprise some people," Warden Gary Starbuck said. "They typically want to give back to the community and make restitution for the crimes that they've committed." Attorney General Gay Woodhouse welcomed the donation. "We can do a great deal toward our goal of eliminating domestic violence with this large donation," she said. "It will increase our ability to raise awareness and bring training and educational opportunities to people regarding domestic violence." The inmates collected the money over the last 18 months from proceeds of hobby sales. Inmates are routinely encouraged to take up collections, Starbuck said. Recent examples include money donated to a victim whose vehicle was rammed by an inmate who escaped, to refurbish two bicycles later given to the local Safe House and for the American Cancer Society. ===== 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 --------------------------------- 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, 08 Apr 2001 22:12:59 -0400 From: Barbara Landis Subj: HISTORY: CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL - APRIL 6, 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, APRIL 6, 1888 NO. 34 -------------------------- THE HAPPY PHILOSOPHER. -------------- Year in, year out, I trudge along, And this the burden of my song: Nor hip nor hap shall trouble me Whilst straight ahead God's light I see. Their loads grow light who bravely start, And trudge along serene of heart. The sun shines down on every one, With cheer for all-the glorious sun Of their own load the clouds do frown- Why should their shadow cast me down? So year by year I trudge along, With this the burden of my song, Nor hip nor hap shall trouble me Whilst straight ahead God's light I see. MARY MAPES DODGE. --[Selected. ------------------ FROM THE INDIAN QUESTION TO THE WEATHER. --------- "But they fall to the level of those around them, after they go back to their people, I am told," said a western lady to the writer. She took the grounds that all money spent on Indian education was money thrown away, and that they would never become a thriftier people. "Yes," I answered, "the Indians are nearly as bad as the white race in that respect. I know white young men and women of the first circles, who, after they returned from a course of study and training in the very best schools and colleges fell in the face of good influences, below the plain from whence they were taken to be educated. A goodly proportion of educated Indians however, have made most excellent records under most depressing and degrading influences at home. Indians at Carlisle are taught and do learn to love industry and to hate idleness. Hundreds of Indians taken from western reservations have worked upon Pennsylvania farms, and there proved so faithful and skillful that they received good wages and were desired above other classes as helpers. After a very few years of such life an Indian boy gains that self-reliance and manliness which makes him a good and desirable citizen. You and I need the moral support we absorb unconsciously from our surroundings. We must have good society, church, and a certain standard of excellence continually before us to keep us in place as respectable members of the community. Take away from us all the supports found in the civilization round about us, and cast us as most of our returned pupils are thrown, into a cess-pool of vice, filth and idleness, with nothing to do but to stay in it and breathe its loathsome air at every breath, do you suppose that we could remain the same spotless saints we now claim to be - worthy examples to the Indian?" The lady had no more to say upon the Indian question, but began immediately to talk about the weather. ------------------- OUR GUARDHOUSE. --------- Extracts From Compositions of Two Indian Boys. Our old Guard House was erected in 1776, by some of the prisoners that were confined under the authority of General Washington, who was then the Commandant of the armies. Those prisoners were Hessians from Germany, who were hired by the British to assist in crushing liberty in these United States of America. No doubt they worked very hard in putting in some of those large stones. It is strongly built (65x22 ft.), with walls whose thickness is 6 ft., consisting of stone on the outside and the rest brick. The walls extend to some 18 ft. up forming an arched ceiling, but the outside wall is 8 ft. high meeting the roof made of tin which runs up to some 18 or 20 feet. It has three light-rooms (18x10 ft.) and four dark cells (7x6 ft.) One of the large rooms is for the guard and in in the middle part. (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. ------------------------------- "Pains taking and persistent hard work, with common sense, will make a genius of almost any one." ------------- General Crook when asked if the Apaches were treacherous, replied: "Oh, yes, that is a characteristic of the human family." ---------------- A NEW WAY TO GET WELL. ------- Will yourself to get well! Many people cure themselves of sickness now by using their WILL power. It is easy to die if we just give up to all our pains and aches and think we are more sick than we really are. The Man-on-the-band-stand knows a little boy out in Kansas who gets hard head aches. One day he came in from school looking pale and sick, and he said, "Mamma I have the head-ache, and I must go to bed." His mamma is a kind hearted woman and loves her little son, dearly. She wanted to say to him, "I am sorry, Charlie. Yes, go to bed, dear, and I will put a cold cloth on thy head. But she knew that would make him feel worse, and she wanted to do the best thing for him, and make him WILL himself to get well. So she said "Nonsense! Thee is not sick! Thy head does not ache! It DOESN'T ache. Hush! No! Thee has no head-ache. Go out in the air! Stir around! Help milk! Go to the barn and help milk! "But I can't, Mamma. Oh, my head-aches so badly!" "No, it doesn't. Thee must say, too, it does not ache. Thee must not give up to such a little thing. Go right out! Go!" "The boy obeyed, but walked slowly off toward the barn. Soon he began to think, "My head does not ache so very much. I guess I will walk a little faster." When he got to the barn he met his little brother who had something funny to say. Then he got interested in the cows and horses and soon forgot all about his headache and returned to the house with the glad news. "Oh, mamma, my head is entirely well. I told it to stop, and it did stop." So we all may do when sick. Our WILL is a great power in our own hands and we must use it if we wish to get well. ------------- Business. The following letter written in rather poor English shows that the Apache who wrote it is getting into business ways while at his farm home and he is learning to make bargains. DEAR CAPT: We talk with Mr. C. about $lO month. Mr. C. says he give me $8 month but I say I wanted $10 month how that do. Because I know very hard work every days, when potatoes plant and pick potatoes and in the summer time sun hot. First he ask me how much I go get next summer. I tell him I want, $10 month. He give me $8 first month, and three months make $24. If he don't give me $10 I take $9 three months, $10 July, $10 August. We don't fight about it but just we fix. ----------------- Frances E. Willard, the great Reformer and Temperance Worker called, on Wednesday. "It is Business that will keep the Indian boys and girls with us," she said enthusiastically, after looking at the printers work so handily at the type and presses. "The foreman of this printing office will never have a desire to return to the blanket. He knows too much about business." The helpful words of cheer and encouragement left, in the very few moments she spent in the printing-office will cause Miss Willard's face to be ever remembered. ----------------- Willie Butcher who went to his home last summer among the Chippewas in Wisconsin writes that he is well and having a good time. His people are soon going to Sugar Bush, we expect, to make maple-sugar. Send us a lump, Willie. The Man-on-the-band-stand has one sweet tooth. ----------------- Marbles have had their day among the small boys and tops are the fashion now. ------------------------------------------- (p. 3) Lovely Sunshine! Oh! Stay with us! Felix I. E. Feather has joined the printer's ranks. --------- Details for Girls' work were changed Monday morning. --------- Have you noticed how green the grass is getting in spots? --------- Mrs. Campbell's solo last Sunday morning charmed her hearers. --------- It is lunch now, at the Teachers' Club instead of dinner, at noon. --------- A little white boy on the grounds would like to know if rabbits lay eggs. --------- What? Two Altos of the choir in disgrace? How shocking! --------- A game of ball Tuesday night was entered into with vim by a number of the boys. --------- The farm fever has begun. A number have gone out for the summer and others are anxious to go. --------- The floral decorations in the chapel arranged by our Principal and others were very pretty Easter morning. --------- There were not so many fools this all fools' day as guess it was because the rest of April fell upon Sunday. --------- Levi Levering, Chester Cornelius and Samuel Townsend sang a very pretty opening hymn last Sunday evening. --------- The eggs and omelet so plentiful Easter morning for breakfast were relished by the whole school. --------- Saturday night's talk on the customs of forty years ago sending letters, and other, made us all glad we are living today, instead of then. --------- Oranges grow on vines in this country. At least, the vine in front of the teachers' dining-room bore an orange. It may have been tied on, but it was a real live, orange, anyhow and reminded us so much of California. --------- The Oneidas who came from Wisconsin and entered our school last week are Richard Summers, Briggs Cornelius, Miner John, Nelson Smith, Thos. Schanandore, Lorenzo Cornelius, Susan Summers, Cecilia Wheelock, Sophy Coolong, Leila Cornelius, Electia Schanandore, Louise Schanandore. The Red Man for April will be an unusually interesting number. --------- It looks lonesome around the Captain's home now, with Mr. Mason, Miss Marion and Miss Nana all away. Only Richenda and Mamma and Papa left. --------- Miss Phillips gave each of her friends a beautiful colored Easter egg Sunday. The Man-on-the-band-stand was left out again but he doesn't like eggs anyhow. --------- There were 1,OOO yards of string to the kite sent up Tuesday evening. It was a new thing and greatly pleased the three or four hundred lookers on. My! but didn't it fly nicely. --------- That's right, girls! Go to the gymnasium as often as possible and pull away on the weights, and swing the clubs and wands and dumb-bells until you get as strong and as straight as you ought to be. --------- John Given and Don Campbell escorted Mrs. Given, Miss Rote and a dozen girls to town Tuesday evening, to the Mission entertainment. The girls were not at all afraid while in the charge of such brave defenders. --------- Can we not now see the little company of worshippers in the woods of Indian Territory so vividly pictured last Sunday night by the speaker who told of an assembly he came upon while traveling in that country ? --------- PASSING REMARKS OVERHEARD BY THE MAN-ON-THE-BAND-STAND: "Why in the world does that boy who rings the chapel bell ring it so LONG? He rings it as though the east wards of the town, and the school-buildings and the township were all on fire?" ANOTHER: "The little boys keep step nicely, but the others go like a lot of ducks waddling along the path." ANOTHER: "Of what use is the sign, =91Keep off the Grass?' Why, the boys run all over it as much as they want to. Maybe the sign is meant only for the girls." ANOTHER: "A certain young man who has been here for over four years was detailed one evening to take Raymond's place of work. He was obliged to find the teachers' rooms to make certain collections, and, do you know, he got all mixed up, and didn't know one room from another? How strange! Four years! And don't know where the teachers' rooms are! Why it would take such a person fifty years to learn the names of the streets and prominent business houses of even a little town like Carlisle." ------------------------------------------ (Continued from First Page.) It was used by the military forces until 1879 when the Barracks were turned into an Indian School. By its ruins in the inside wall it seems at times there might have been thirty or fifty prisoners trying to break out. It is now used only for strong headed or refractory Indian boys at this school. RICHARD DAVIS. ------------- I was once told by an old gentleman of Carlisle that this stone building was not at first, a place for confining soldiers for mis-conduct, but was a magazine, and later on was made into a place of confinement. If it could only speak and tell us of the time since it's erection, what interesting stories it would have to tell. It would tell of the old patrols during the Revolutionary War, and the later battles in the neighborhood. FRANK DORIAN. -------------- FOR THE INDIAN HELPER. COCKATOO. What a magnificent bird our Cockatoo was From tip to tip of his wings he measured a yard. He was as white as snow, except that under these wings and on the top of his head there were a few yellow feathers. When he was angry, or when strangers were too familiar, for he was very dignified, this yellow crest would slowly rise until it stood with the top-most feather projecting forward almost on a line with his hooked beak. One night some visitors came into the room where his cage was. Cockatoo had retired, and was preparing himself for sleep by a dance on the round of his cage. He was so slow, very solemn, he lifted one foot and gave him-self a swing, then the other in the same way, and he looked so droll that one of the strangers burst out laughing. Cockatoo went on swinging himself with an offended air. But when funnier and her laugh still louder, the bird stopped, backed into the corner of his cage, put up his crest to its highest and was too angry to move again until she had gone away. When Cockatoo was fond of people he was very gentle with them There was one lady to whom he used to tell his secrets walk up to her, seat himself on her shoulder lay his bill on her cheek, and open and shut his mouth in the funniest way without a sound and he was most apt to do it when strangers were about. He was giving her his opinion of them. One day Cockatoo had a hit of looking-glass given him. He turned it this way and that in his claw, and then made a sudden dart behind it to see the bird that had been looking at him. He was fond of getting upon bureaus and looking behind mirrors in the same way. Some one sent his mistress the picture of a cockatoo, when this was shown him, he looked at it, and after a minute his crest rose up high with a spiteful air. He ate very little but that was the beat. When a piece of cake was handed to him he would reach out and take it daintily in his claw, turn it round, bite off every morsel of crust, eat a few nibbles out of the middle of it, and throw the rest on the floor of his perch. He did the same thing with bread and butter, although he was not allowed much of the last. His wings were clipped, or some day he would have disappeared altogether. As it was, poor Cockatoo, he went too far. Once he was lost all night in the woods near the house, but some boys saw him and told his master, and Cockatoo was ready enough to be taken home. But this last time one of the young men in a college nearby saw him on a tree, thought he was a white hawk and shot him, - why should he have shot the bird even if it had been a hawk? Poor Cockatoo fell, some neighbors who knew his home carried him there; he seemed to understand that his friends wanted to do something to help him. But it was of no use. In a little while he died. F. ------------------ Enigma. I am made of 9 letters. My 8, 6, 9, is food that horses eat. My 7, 4, 6, 1 is what is found in the hills of Pennsylvania, and is what we burn in stoves. My 7, 1, 6, 5, is something that looks like an oyster. My 8, 2, 3 is a low kind of an animal which gets very fat sometimes. My whole is a game in which some of our girls and even the officers of the School are becoming very interested. --------------- Why is the early grass like a penknife? Ans.-Because the spring brings out the blades. --------------- Is the sponge an animal? --------------- ANSWER TO LAST WEEK'S ENIGMA: Prospect Point. --------------------------------- 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 from the newspaper collections of USMHI, Carlisle Barracks, Carlisle, PA. For more info see http://www.carlisleindianschool.org. - Barbara Landis --------- "RE: Rustywire: The Spring" --------- Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 22:05:44 -0000 From: "John Rustywire" Subj: the spring Mailing List: indigenous_peoples_literature@egroups.com I stood with my grandson, I am an old man and we came to my spot on this mountain top. I have been here many times and with me, all those that have come before have taken a little of their vision and shared it with me. I can see far and it is pretty, clear across the valley and all the places there. My sight is not so good but I know it looks the same, it is beautiful. My great grandson has helped me to this spot. I can not remember his name, but he looks a little like me when I was his age. His body is young and strong. He helped to stand tall and erect. I told him the story of his fathers and how we had survived to bring him life. His eyes are bright, wide and innocent. He listens patiently to the rambling talk of an old man. Look over there, that is the place I have spoken about, it is a spring. There you will find fresh cold water. When you are thirsty you can take a drink and wash yourself on a hot day. You can lie down next to it on the grass, soft earth and enjoy the day. He looked at me and said, I can't see it. I can not see so clearly, but I know it is there. I tell him how it sits against the mountain, how the earth is cracked there and a small stream flows into a pool, somehow made through time. My vision is not that good. I tell him how it has always looked. There is nothing there, Shi Che' (honored grandfather) There is only a road and an oil well. Oh, yes, I remember. The tribe was having a hard time and so the need for money was great, those were tough times. Someone needed the water to put back into the earth to bring up oil way down there, below. My spring is no more. Where have we gone with these things my grandson, I am sorry it is not here for you. I didn't take care of it like I should have and now it is gone. I can't remember all that was here, but yet some of these things are gone. Remember there was a time when it was there and that it refreshed us so. I wish I could give you a drink. How is it so that this water is gone forever. Who can take away water, but yet it is so. The grass is gone and so is the quiet spot. I stand here, and those behind me in the shadows, my fathers weep and so I find myself standing with tears streaming down my cheeks. I feel old and tired and my soul hungers for what was once ours. My heart cries our a mourning song for the morning dove, the plants, the mountain tobacco and the quiet times that are no more.... This List http://www.egroups.com/list/indigenous_peoples_literature/ --------- "RE: Poem: Views" --------- Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2000 09:23:14 -0600 From: "John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate" Subj: SunDown SunDown Standing with the old men, Before the glory, Of the red and purple sunset, Giving thanks. With thanks, For another day, Of breath and life, With my relations. Speaking without talking, Before Creator, With thanks, For what is given. Days end will come, To us all, May we go on, With thanks. Standing straight and clean, At sundown, Of another day, Give thanks John Berry, Oklahoma, 2000. --------- "RE: Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days" --------- Date: Mon, 09 Apr 2001 06:21:49 -1000 From: Debbie Sanders Subj: Hawaiian Book of Days A HAWAIIAN BOOK OF DAYS, week of April 22-28 APELILA (April) (Welo) 22 To know true power, capture the wind in your sails and journey to the place which no one has ever seen before. 23 Three things sustain life -- food, hope, and an abiding sense of wonder. 24 Give me the beauty of nature to restore my spirit, where the morning dew glistens in the sunlight, and the wind is the only sound that I hear. 25 A wave upon the sand takes only a little of the land and gives the blessings of the sea in return. 26 The family, ohana, goes on from generation to generation: the seeds of tradition we plant bear fruit in a thousand different ways. 27 Morning sunlight flees -- how brief my contemplation of life's mysteries. 28 Be strong when others are weak, and they will support you in your time of need. (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, 16 Apr 2001 11:24:50 -0500 From: Eric Martin Subj: NAC Topics + Earth Day Special 1) NAC Topics for April 16-20 2) Different Drums - "Earth Day Special" ******************************* 1) NAC Topics for April 16-20 ******************************* 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 - 04/16: Where's the BIA Director?: On the campaign trail, candidate Bush met with Indian leaders promising much-needed funds and improvements in our communities. But nearly one hundred days into the Bush Presidency, we still don't have a Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The recently released federal budget contains only a two- percent increase for Indian programs, causing some to speculate that Indian Country is not a priority. Who do we hold accountable? Guests include Suzan Harjo of the Morning Star Institute. TUE - 04/17: Biopiracy in Chiapas: In the last five centuries, Indigenous communities in Mexico have faced colonization, impoverishment, resource exploitation and increased militarization. The new attack on indigenous peoples of Mexico is in the form of biopiracy by transnational corporations that are appropriating and patenting life forms and indigenous knowledge for research and sale. Guests include Antonio Perez Mendez of the Tsehltal Nation of Chiapas and Ryan Zinn of Global Exchange. WED - 04/18: Sacred Earth, Sacred Lands Alliance: More than 500 people will gather in Seattle this weekend for the Sacred Earth Conference to develop strategies for building alliances to protect sacred lands. Native communities engaged in frontline struggles to protect their lands from coal mining, timber harvesting, oil drilling and rock climbing are joining forces with tribal leadership and social justice organizations to secure sacred sites and religious freedom. Guests include Chris Peters of the Seventh Generation Fund. THU - 04/19: Bush's Environmental Report Card: Environmentalists are reeling from the Bush Administration's efforts to dismantle environmental protections and cut funding for environmental programs by $52 billion over the next decade. Bush also backed out of the global warming treaty, opposed new standards to reduce arsenic in public water supplies and is promoting oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Rockies. What's next? Invited guests include Anishinaabe author and activist Winona LaDuke. FRI - 4/20: Child Abuse Awareness: April is Child Abuse Awareness and Prevention month. What defines child abuse? Is it okay to spank and discipline your child or is that now considered abusive? How can we work together to protect our children from child abuse? And how can we strengthen our communities and families so we that we can