From gars@speakeasy.org Tue Aug 17 20:59:08 2004 Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 15:38:01 -0700 From: Gary Night Owl To: Internet Recipients of Wotanging Ikche Subject: Wotanging Ikche--nanews12.034 _ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 12, ISSUE 034 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2004 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island August 21, 2004 Mvskogee hiyo-rakko/big harvest moon Cree opunhopizun/moon young ducks begin to fly +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Much more happens in Indian Country than is reported | | in this weekly newsletter. For daily updates & events | | go to http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm | +-------------------------------------------------------+ Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin -- Blackfeet -- News for All the People Ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min -- Ojibwe -- We Are Talking About Ourselves Aunchemokauhettittea -- Naragansett -- Let Us Share News Kanoheda Aniyvwiya -- Cherokee -- Journal of the People O Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse -- Creek -- People's New News O o O Acimowin -- Plains Cree -- Story or Account O o O Tlaixmatiliztli -- Nahuatl -- News O o o o o O Agnutmaqan -- Listuguj Mi'kmaq -- News O o O Sho-da-ku-ye -- Teehahnahmah -- Talking Birchbark O o O Un Chota -- Susquehannic Seneca -- The People Speak O Ha-Sah-Sliltha -- Ditidaht Nation -- News of the People Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli -- Nahuatl -- For you we offer these words It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le -- Chickasaw -- Together We Are Talking Dineh jii' adah' ho'nil'e'gii ba' ha' neh -- Navajo Nation -- What's Happening among The People News Okla Humma Holisso Nowat Anya -- Choctaw -- People(s) Red Newspaper Hi'a chu ah gaa -- Pima -- The stories or the talk of the People Native American News -- Language of the Occupation Forces ++>If you speak a Native American language not listed above, please send us your words for "News of the People." We'd rather take up this whole page saving these few words of our hundreds of nations than present a nice clean banner in the language of the occupation forces who came here determined to replace our words with their own. email gars@nanews.org with the equivalent of "News of the People" in your tribal language along with the english translation <================<<<< >>>>================> This newsletter is produced in straight ASCII text for greatest portability across platforms. Read it with a fixed-pitch font, such as Courier, Monaco, FixedSys or CG Times. Proportional fonts will be difficult to read. <================<<<< >>>>================> This issue contains articles from www.owlstar.com; www.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; NDNAIM and Frostys AmerIndian Mailing Lists; UUCP email 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 | | Once a language is lost, it is | | Limerick summarized in "The | | gone forever | | Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken | | * Of the 300 original Native | | Past of the American West... | | languages in North America, | | "Set the blood quantum at | | only 175 exist today. | | one-quarter, hold to it as a | | * 125 of these are no longer | | rigid definition of Indians, | | learned by children. | | let intermarriage proceed as | | * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders;| | it had for centuries, and | | when they die, their language | | eventually Indians will be | | will disappear. | | defined out of existence." | | * Without action, only 20 | | "When that happens, the federal | | languages will survive the next| | government will be freed of | | 50 years. | | its persistent 'Indian problem.'"| | Source: Indigenous Language | +-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --+ | Institute | |http://www.indigenous-language.org| This issue's Elder Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + ======================== "We as a Nation need to be recognized as a Nation and work government to government with the United States and Canada. There needs to be someone from the Blackfeet Nation, sitting at the table when everything is said and done." __ Chief Earl Old Person, Blackfeet Nation +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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! Quoting from my half-side, Janet, in last week's editorial: This petition rests on the assumption that the U.S. government has a benign interest in protecting and perpetuating Indian spiritual ways. Nothing could be further from the truth. Asking the U.S to regulate our traditions leaves foxes guarding the henhouse, and it further perpetuates the notion that the poor helpless Indians need the Great White Father to protect them from threats both from "the bad man" among the whites and those within their own nations. In short -- we look weak and unable to govern ourselves, let alone others. And that's exactly the way the U.S. government wants us to continue to appear. In this issue we learn in an interview by the Native Times how the tribes only recently regained power through savvyinsight by tribal leaders and confusion at the policy level. Please carefully read this piece. We learn from past mistakes and past successes. Control of your own destiny is the key. When tribes quit relying on dominant society government for needs and decisions, whether in the U. S., Canada, Brazil or Mexico, we gain power, and lose nothing but patronizing handouts and policies designed to control and subjugate. In this same issue is an article describing how the Miccosukee are trying to bargain away some of their hard-earned sovereign rights in order to give solace to one member, Kirk Billie, who has been forgiven by the tribe for the loss of two children; but whom the U.S. is determined to imprison. Giving up any sovereign rights not only endangers the future of the Miccosukee, it also weakens that of all other tribes. Lost sovereignty is a lot like new taxes. There is nothing temporary about either. Both invite long-term manipulation, loss of personal responsibility and liberty. The lead story, "Court ponders definition of American Indian" gives chilling insight just where this all can lead. When we relegate our decisions to the dominant society, no matter how small and insignificant that relegation may seem, we encourage "fort uncle" mentality. The evidence is right here. The assumption is that only a U.S. court is enlightened enough to determine who is or is not an Indian. This is the ultimate in hypocrasy and utter bullshit! If Tribal Nations are sovereignties and not just slave nations, they and they alone should decide who is and who is not a citizen of that nation. You sure don't see Luxemburg deciding who shall be granted Canadian citizenship. Neither should some court or other instrument of the U. S. determine who is a citizen of ANY tribal nation. Then the rest is academic. If Joe is a member of tribe X, Joe is an Indian. Finally, in case anyone out there missed President Bush's response at a recent appearance before journalists of color at a Unity conference, the bottom line is that he does not clearly understand what sovereignty means when it comes to Native nations. Sadly, he probably isn't alone among U.S. officials in this ignorance. , , Gary Smith (*,*) gars@speakeasy.org P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ---------- - Court ponders - Entertainment: definition of American Indian Two Cultures woven together - Tribe proposes reduction in powers - Fly-In Planned - How Tribes regained Power in Honor of Will Rogers - Anderson urged to - Native American Day take greater control of BIA and Stamp unveiling - Elders help Young - Growing Gwich'in numbers learn Real-Life Lessons means shrinking Benefits - CHUCULATE: Pope' deserves place - Not much info coming down in Statuary Hall the Mackenzie Pipeline - Indians plan rites - Aboriginal Women's lives devalued at Mountain Meadows - Seized Lobster Traps burned - Cobell meets with - Suspicious Fire New Mexico Officials destroys Smith Metis Records - Blackfeet: Clean, - Cuba's forgotten Tribe bountiful Water to flow soon experiencing a rebirth - Center celebrates Heritage - Demands for Aboriginal - GIAGO: Mt. Rushmore: Court Appointment dropped Shrine To Hypocrisy - Appeals Court ruling - Blackfeet Council on Tribal Gas & Tobacco Tax heard at Joint Commission - Kanesatake Police Chief quits - Ancient remedy 'shrinks Cancer' - Native Prisoner - Tribal Teens to teach Youths -- Elder refuses to dangers of Alcohol let son's death go - Cultural Preservation: - History: Carlisle Indian School Fruits of their Labor - Rustywire: - School tapping Culture of Tribe Winter Boarding School Nite - Historic School gets Facelift - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Dine' Prez on Youth Day: - Rustywire Poem: Teach yourself Broken Reservation Road --------- "RE: Court ponders definition of American Indian" --------- Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 21:01:35 EDT From: MJLaBurt@aol.com Subj: Court ponders definition of American Indian Mailing List: NDNAIM http://www.spokesmanreview.com/local/story.asp?ID=3D20128 Court ponders definition of American Indian Spokane Tribe wants to prosecute former BIA agent in tribal court Bill Morlin Staff writer August 10, 2004 What does it take to meet the legal definition of an American Indian? Is it simple enrollment in a federally recognized tribe? Does the question turn on cultural traditions =E2=80=93 sweet grass, tribal drums, stick games, powwows and sweat lodges? Or is it the percentage of ancestral blood in someone's veins? Senior U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush of Spokane is wrestling with that complicated legal question after a daylong evidentiary hearing Monday. The hearing, which was recessed indefinitely until another witness can be questioned, centered on former Bureau of Indian Affairs agent Duane Garvais. He professes pride in his Native American heritage but says he doesn't meet the current legal definition because he is not an enrolled member of any federally recognized tribe. The federal judge must decide if Garvais meets the legal definition of being an Indian. "This is really judge-made law as to what an Indian is," Quackenbush said at the end of the daylong hearing. "Even Congress, with its plenary powers, has not set forth any definitive definition," the judge added. In 1990, when Congress attempted to clear up the definition, it passed a law which says "an Indian means any person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States as an Indian," Quackenbush said with a smile from the bench. The Spokane Tribe of Indians, represented by Spokane attorney Mark Vovos, contends Garvais meets the legal definition of being an Indian and, therefore, should be subject to prosecution in the tribe's court. The Spokane tribe wants to prosecute the ex-BIA agent for allegedly misappropriating undercover drug funds during investigations on the reservation. The tribe pursued its own case after the U.S. attorney's office reviewed it and decided criminal charges weren't warranted. Even if the federal court determines Garvais meets the legal definition, he still may be protected from tribal prosecution because of a federal "supremacy clause" that gives immunity to federal law enforcement agents. Garvais contends he is being targeted by the Spokane tribe because he inv estigated fellow police officers on the Spokane reservation in 2001 on allegations they were involved in tape deck thefts and drug trafficking. No charges were ever filed, but the Spokane Tribal Council passed a resolution asking the BIA to transfer Garvais off the Spokane reservation. Garvais was transferred, placed on paid administrative leave and then fired in February. The BIA said Garvais didn't meet the legal definition making him eligible for "Indian preference" when he was hired by the agency. In an opening statement to the court, Vovos said Garvais participated in Indian cultural issues as a child growing up near the Tulalip Reservation in Western Washington. "He held himself out as an American Indian to the U.S. Marine Corps," Vovos told the court before presenting Garvais' military records. Vovos then called a series of witnesses who testified Garvais was given Indian housing when he worked on the Spokane reservation and medical exams at a health clinic only open to Native Americans. Garvais participated in Indian basketball games, owns Indian artifacts, including an eagle feather, and has given away sweet grass as a cultural gift. "He enjoyed the benefits of tribal affiliation and social recognition as an Indian," Vovos argued to the court. "We're not able to (present) any evidence before you that he was formally enrolled" in an Indian tribe, Vovos said. Spokane attorney Les Weatherhead, representing Garvais, said the Spokane tribe has no jurisdiction over the former BIA agent because he isn't a member of any tribe. Garvais' ancestors were Caucasian and Indian "and he's proud of his Native American ancestry," Weatherhead said. "But no tribe of Indian recognizes Mr. Garvais," he said, "and now the federal government doesn't recognize him as a Native American." Garvais doesn't have Indian fishing or hunting rights, doesn't own any reservation land and doesn't get "per capita payments" paid to enrolled tribal members, Weatherhead told the court. Garvais' grandfather was a one-quarter blood enrolled member of the Colville Confederated Tribes, Weatherhead said, but Garvais' mother, Mary Wenger, was denied enrollment. He was raised by his mother and stepfather in a middle-class family in Western Washington and didn't attend Native American religious ceremonies or cultural events as a child, Weatherhead told the court. In the early 1990s, Garvais located his biological father, the late Ken Garvais. He told his son of ancestral ties to the Fort Belknap Assiniboine Tribe in Montana. Quackenbush recessed the hearing and postponed his ruling until an enrollment officer for that tribe can be located for further questioning. --------- "RE: Tribe proposes reduction in powers" --------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 08:28:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MICCOSUKEE/BILLIE CASE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.sun-sentinel.com/~story?coll=sfla-news-broward Tribe proposes reduction in powers By John Holland STAFF WRITER August 12 2004 MIAMI - They've had a standoff with armed federal agents, refused to cooperate in a murder investigation and spent the better part of a decade fighting what they called "white man's justice." All to protect their sovereignty and help a member of their tribe who they say is being railroaded by prosecutors. On Wednesday, Miccosukee leaders agreed for the first time to give up some of that sovereignty in hopes of getting Kirk Douglas Billie out of jail. It didn't work, but the concession marked a sharp reversal and underscored their support for Billie, convicted in 2001 of drowning his two young sons to spite their mother. Last year, the Third District Court of Appeal overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial for Billie, who has been jailed since 1997, when he rolled his girlfriend's truck into a canal off the Tamiami Trail while the boys slept in back. Billie says he was in a drunken stupor and didn't know the children were there. Prosecutors call it deliberate. Billie's lawyers want him freed on bond and returned to the reservation until the trial, tentatively scheduled for Aug. 23, is finished. Attorney Dexter Lehtinen, who led the tribe's seven-year fight against state interference, promised under oath the tribe would now cooperate fully. If Billie were freed and ever missed a court hearing, the Miccosukee police would arrest him and turn him over to state prosecutors, Lehtinen said. "This amounts to a binding waiver of sovereign immunity ... and if we didn't turn him over, you'd be free to come pick him up like he was in Hialeah," Lehtinen said. Assistant State Attorney Reid Rubin, who repeatedly clashed with the tribe when seeking cooperation before the first trial, was skeptical. "There are no conditions that can guarantee he'll return for trial," Rubin said. "When we wanted help before, the tribe told me, `No, forget it, we're never helping you, so go away.' That's what we've been dealing with." Judge Bertila Soto ruled that Billie remains a danger to the public and refused to grant bail. While the violent deaths of Kurt Billie, 5, and Keith Billie, 3, stunned South Florida, it was the actions of Miccosukee leaders after the drownings that attracted national attention. Tribal elders forgave Billie for the "terrible accident," and ruled the matter settled, "Indian to Indian." The tribe also refused to cooperate with state prosecutors, angrily confronted U.S. Marshals who tried to serve subpoenas and railed against what they called centuries of abuse. They claimed complete immunity to state courts, and a federal judge backed them on almost every legal issue, ordering state agents off Indian land. Prosecutors responded by trying to snatch witnesses when they left the reservation, and Billie's ex-girlfriend, Sheila Tiger, accused the government of kidnapping her. She was arrested on her way to a grocery store and secluded in a Miami hotel until she gave a videotaped deposition. When the new trial begins, jurors won't be told of Billie's long history of abusing and terrorizing women, which was introduced during the first trial, the appeals court said. The lack of witnesses and strong disagreement over whether Billie intended to hurt the boys seemed to hinder the case at trial. But after Billie coldly recounted incidents that included beating a pregnant girlfriend with a broom handle, pounding another girlfriend with a baseball bat and breaking his mother-in-law's nose, a jury convicted him of two counts of second-degree murder and a judge sentenced him to life in prison. Copyright c. 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel. --------- "RE: How Tribes regained Power" --------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 08:28:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRIBAL POWER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=4900 How tribes regained power Researcher credits savvy leaders, confusing policy Sam Lewin August 11, 2004 A sociology doctoral student has extensively researched how entrepreneurial American Indian tribal leaders exploited federal policy to gain new authority and access to a decision making process that had been off-limits for years. The American Sociology Association has invited Erich Steinman to speak to the organization's annual conference about the emergence of tribal governments. In an interview with the Native American Times, Steinman, 38, describes a journey that has been unprecedented in American history and may be among one of the country's greatest success stories. Native American Times: How long did it take you to compile this research? Steinman: I have been actively working on this project for about three to four years and that was preceded by about a year of working on a teaching project relating to tribal sovereignty and treaty rights involving the Macaw [Tribe] up here in the State of Washington and the renewed practice of whaling. Before that I had been involved in some treaty issues in Minnesota and Wisconsin where there is a lot of conflict regarding spearfishing rights by the Anishinabe people. So that background informed how I thought about things when I began my focus research. NAT: Some information is available online, but to go all the way back to the 1970's you would have had to tap into other sources of information. Steinman: I used everything I could possibly find. I used proceedings of conferences that were available in libraries. I went to the offices of the National Conference of State Legislatures where they have programs on state/tribal relations. The people at the Governor's Office of Indian Affairs in Washington were very generous and basically opened up their files to me. I spent hours and hours going through boxes of mostly uncategorized documents and interviewing people who were participants in those processes in the 70's, 80's and 90's. NAT: In a nutshell, what have you learned about the last three decades? How were American Indians able to take control of their own destiny? Steinman: By having a long-term vision and being persistent in promoting that wherever there were opportunities that could pay off. The long-term vision is essential and the ability to put it into practice is what has really made efforts by tribal leaders as successful as they have been. NAT: Could you expound a bit on how Indian leaders exploited ambiguities in federal policy? Steinman: Originally, the government signed treaties with tribes and entered into a sovereign-to-sovereign relationship. Over time, the U.S. engulfed reservations and most people in the federal government and most non-Indians assumed tribes would become completely assimilated and that distinct groups would basically disappear-that Indians would just become individuals. They tried to do that, but because tribes survived-when courts in the early 70's decided to honor treaties even though others claimed that they had become anachronistic- then here we have these tribes, they are still around, they have these rights-but what are they? They have never formally entered the union of the states but they are these sovereign and semi-sovereign entities within the United States. Federal policy, meaning Congress and the President, was not closely matching what the courts were doing in the 70's. So that was the ambiguity. What exactly did their sovereignty, which was affirmed by the courts but not really taken into account in federal policy, mean on a practical level? In the vacuum of that ambiguity, the tribal leaders that I write about had a vision. And lacking other people who had a clear vision, [tribal leaders] were able to insert an interpretation of tribes as sovereign governments along with the understanding that the historical relationship between tribes and the federal government was still active. It was still something like a protectorate relationship as opposed to thinking that Indians had become citizens of the state like any other racial or ethnic group. NAT: This is unprecedented in American history, isn't it? Steinman: Yes, [but] it is part of a phenomenon in the post-Colonial world where nations that were founded partly by displacing Native peoples are trying to grapple with how these peoples and their tribal nations relate to the larger settler states. It is a fascinating historical development and unique in American history. I would put in a caveat to say that in the 30's there was a policy in the U.S. that reversed previous attempt to assimilate tribes. That was called the Indian Reorganization Act and to some degree that recognized tribal governments but it also kept them, unfortunately, under the control of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. It did not mean in practical purposes that tribes had renewed power, and the federal government imposed reforms on tribes and changed traditional practices so that many tribal members looked on [the Indian Reorganization Act] as culturally foreign. NAT: How did the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 affect tribal powers? Steinman: It added another stream into tribal government activity. The act was in response to Indian gaming that had already been in motion-it didn't cause Indian gaming. The Indian Gaming Act, to some degree, limited tribal sovereignty by requiring tribes to enter into compacts with the state. Tribal leaders were hoping that the policy would be even clearer to say, `Well, of course you are sovereign and you can do whatever you want to do.' Congress has shown a piecemeal approach. They don't necessarily have a grand philosophy. The people who have the vision are the tribal leaders. Congress doesn't have a clear vision. When there are scandals or problems then they figure they have to do something. The story that I have told is that when there are opportunities, tribal leaders have been effective at many key points in inserting a vision of a tribe's place in policy making. But not in every instance have they been able to have that vision accepted by Congress and I would say IGRA is very much a compromise. But the powers of gaming have obviously made tribal governments stronger. They have tremendously more resources. So even though gaming was not the cause of this renewal of tribal governments that I am focusing on, it now gives them more resources to be powerful social, political and economic factors. NAT: We are in uncharted territory here. Where do you see this going in the next twenty years? Steinman: That is a great question. It may be a period where there are not any major breakthroughs or developments like we have seen in the past 20 years. I don't have a crystal ball-but tribes have become increasingly sophisticated as governments in developing themselves economically and socially and there is a tremendous renewal that continues all across Indian Country. I don't see fundamental, backward steps being possible even if opponents want to push them back and take away rights. I think that would be hard to imagine right now. At the same time, the level of federal funding for tribes as part of the trust relationship is always a contentious issue. Reagan in the 80's cut budgets for many Indian programs, some of which went through tribal governments. I can't speak much for the moment as far as what Bush has done, but tribal leaders have been paying close attention to make sure that the ongoing trust obligations are not ignored when it translates into support for tribal governments. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2004 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Anderson urged to take greater control of BIA" --------- Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 08:27:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ANDERSON/BIA" http://www.indianz.com/News/2004/003869.asp Anderson urged to take greater control of BIA August 16, 2004 The exit of several top Bureau of Indian Affairs aides gives assistant secretary Dave Anderson an opportunity to make positive changes at the troubled agency, observers say. Sen. Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) supported Anderson during his confirmation and welcomed his arrival at the BIA. But he said tribal leaders in his state are frustrated because the agency hasn't been responsive to their needs. "My hope is that this management shake-up in the BIA Washington office will establish the possibility of a new era of real cooperation between the Federal government and tribes in addressing the pressing problems facing Indian Country," Daschle said in a statement on Friday. Tex Hall, chairman of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), agreed that Anderson should take advantage of the situation to bring in a team that supports his vision. Hall has been concerned that senior aides in the Washington, D.C., office were not supporting their boss. "I think it's only normal for people to get a chance to select their staff that shares their philosophy," Hall said. "That's just standard business practice with any tribe, with any corporation, and it should be with the assistant secretary position." But the resignation of Aurene Martin, the BIA's second-in-command poses additional questions about accountability. In a controversial move, she had been in charge of all federal recognition, gaming and gaming-related land acquisitions. Citing his past involvement in the Indian gaming industry, Anderson recused himself from all those subject areas, so he cannot resume them when Martin departs. Yet as of last week, department officials did not know who would take over her duties when she leaves September 10. Normally, another senior aide would assume the principal deputy assistant secretary's position on an acting basis until a replacement is found. However, the most logical person for that job, Woodrow Hopper, the deputy assistant secretary for management, is being reassigned out of state as part of the management shuffle, department sources said last week. Anderson still has a month to bring in a person of his choosing. But the short time period raises the possibility that the two aides remaining in the Washington office -- attorneys Theresa Rosier and Michael Olson -- may take a larger role during the void. Neither person was subject to Senate confirmation although Martin has called on them to appear on her behalf before Congress. Another possibility for the position is George Skibine, a career bureaucrat who is currently the acting deputy assistant secretary for policy and economic development. It is common for career staff to take on such roles, particularly during the transition periods before and after an election. For much of the past four years of the Bush administration tribal leaders have been unhappy with the BIA's leadership. They were insulted when former assistant secretary Neal McCaleb agreed to split the agency into "trust" and "non-trust" entities without first consulting them. The plan was eventually scaled back but resurfaced in the form of a reorganization that most tribal leaders oppose. They criticized the "top heavy" plan as beefing up resources for the Washington office and the Office of Special Trustee while leaving reservation-level agencies behind. Martin and some of the aides that have since departed the central office, including former chief of staff Jerry Gidner, rushed to implement as much of the reorganization as possible before Anderson arrived. Martin was responsible for appointing Hopper and for asking Skibine to take on the economic development role. The only exception was Brian Burns, the chief information officer who was hired by McCaleb in the summer of 2002. As part of the reorganization, Martin also shuffled around most of the BIA's directors. Some were required to leave the Washington office to work in the field. Others already in the field were moved to different regions of the BIA. Anderson, however, did have a hand in selecting the regional directors of the Great Plains and California areas. Those positions were finalized last month. Copyright c. 2000-2004 Indianz.Com. --------- "RE: Elders help Young learn Real-Life Lessons" --------- Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 16:09:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SOUTHERN UTES" http://www.durangoherald.com/~article_path=/education/edu040814.htm Elders help young Southern Utes learn real-life lessons By Dan D'Ambrosio Herald Staff Writer August 14, 2004 IGNACIO - Southern Ute elder Lillian Seibel has a story to tell about racism. The story involves an American Indian customer and a non-Indian customer, looking to buy a refrigerator in an appliance store. Seibel told her story, as did several other elders, in the form of a skit for an audience of young people at the 2004 Southern Ute Youth Conference this week. Seibel played the role of the non-Indian customer. The clerk in the store is attentive to Seibel, offering her a deep discount on the price of the refrigerator. The Indian customer doesn't fare as well. "The clerk ignores the Indian," Seibel said. "Finally he's done talking to me and all that time he ignores him. Then he gives him a higher price." A non-Indian friend of the Indian customer enters the store next and is given yet another price - still significantly lower than the price given to the Indian customer. "It's based on real life," Seibel said of the skit. Indians experience other forms of racism in stores, Seibel said, including clerks who seem to pay an inordinate amount of attention to them when they're not asking for help. "Clerks stick close by," she said. "That's happened to me." Seibel volunteered her time along with about 20 other elders and community members, to help organize the speeches, music and other activities - including skits - that made up the three-day youth conference. The conference ended Wednesday. Southern Ute Indian Tribe Health Services Division Head Elise Redd, who organized the conference at the SunUte Community Center, said the involvement of the elders and other community members was a first for the event. She said the youth conference has been held for the past several years. The skits on racism, which were also presented by the young people in attendance, came on Monday, the first day of the conference. There were also speakers covering a wide range of topics each day of the conference, from anger management to gang life. "I'm not sure there are gangs (on the reservation), but we have wannabes," Redd said. The second day of the conference featured Litefoot, a member of the Cherokee nation, who is a rap artist and an actor, appearing in "The Indian in the Cupboard," among other films. Litefoot spoke about spirituality and leading a "prayerful life," and gave a free concert sponsored by the Tribal Council on Tuesday night. "The kids reacted wonderfully (to Litefoot)," Redd said. "He held the kids' attention for two hours." The third day of the conference included presentations on sexually transmitted diseases and musical performances by pianist Gideon TwoCrow and guitarist Johnathan Chevarillo, with the afternoon left open for basketball, rock climbing, volleyball and arts and crafts. Darwyn Baldwin, 11, who traveled from Cudei, N.M., to attend the conference, was busy making a dreamcatcher Wednesday afternoon when he reflected on the experience he'd had. "It was O.K.," Baldwin said. "I learned not to do drugs or it will mess up the rest of your life." Katrina Naranjo, 13, who was shooting baskets with a sure touch in the community center gym on Wednesday, said she learned a lot at the conference, including the facts on HIV and AIDS, and the responsibilities that come with having a baby. "I liked the speeches they gave," said Naranjo, who is the Junior Miss Southern Ute. "The last three days were really fun, I thought." Redd said between 120 and 150 young people attended the conference each day, ranging in age from 6 to 19. She said organizers were delighted with the turnout, given that they had been hoping for about 80 children to attend. "We gave the kids the message that we do want to listen to them and we do care about them," Redd said. At the end of the conference, about 20 volunteers put their names and phone numbers on a list to be distributed to the children attending the event. "They can call any of us," said Southern Ute elder Arlene Millich. "We are committed to helping them." Contact Staff WriterDan D'Ambrosio here . Copyright c. 2004 the Durango Herald. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: CHUCULATE: Pope' deserves place in Statuary Hall" --------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 08:28:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHUCULATE: HONORING POPE'" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.abqtrib.com//081104_opinions_eddie.shtml Pope' deserves place in Statuary Hall Eddie Chuculate August 11, 2004 For the Pueblo people, specifically, the greatest legacy of the revolt of their ancestors has been that they have endured with their cultural integrity intact, free to speak their languages, live on their own lands and perform their ancient dances. - Alfonso Ortiz (1939-98), San Juan Pueblo Tuesday marked the 324th anniversary of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, an uprising in Santa Fe in which some 400 Spaniards were killed by Pueblo Indians who were sick of it all. They were led by Pope' of San Juan Pueblo. Like Custer in 1876, the Spaniards had it coming. And there was hell to pay. Now, Pope"s statue will sit alongside one for the late Sen. Dennis Chavez, representing the Land of Enchantment at the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C., most likely in the spring. An American Indian and a Hispanic. How fitting. How ironic. How controversial. Some do not want Pope' to be New Mexico's second individual to be included in the hall, calling him a killer and a tyrant, forgetting it was the Spaniards who first murdered Pueblo Indians and cut the feet off of Acoma warriors and made slaves of their children. States are allowed two representatives to the hall, established in 1864. Some would submit that the famous San Ildefonso Pueblo potter Maria Martinez, who died in 1980, should be the second New Mexico representative. But as Cliff Fragua, the Jemez Pueblo stone sculptor who won the commission to carve Pope', told me Sunday, without Pope' there would have never been a Maria Martinez or a Pueblo arts culture. Pope"s actions, organizing about 8,000 warriors and expelling the Spaniards from the territory, meant 12 years of peace from their tyranny. While some tribes around the country are losing their traditions, language and history, the Pueblo Indians are traditionally strong, thanks in large part to Pope', who bitterly opposed any European influence. Recently, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque made a gutless decision and scrapped a performance of a play by Marc Calderwood based on the revolt. Apparently the center was frightened by the New Mexican Hispanic Culture League of Albuquerque, which vowed to use all available avenues to combat the "anti-Hispanic diatribe." Apparently, history and the truth hurt. It aired nationally Sunday morning on American Indian Radio on Satellite out of KUNM-FM (89.9) in Albuquerque. Admittedly, it seemed heavy-handed and overly dramatic at first, then dissolved into boring. However, Calderwood's original script was meant for a live performance. But those wanting to learn about the Pueblo Revolt would do well to crack open a book. All the hubbub surrounding the play paints an unfair picture of kinship between Hispanics and Indians in New Mexico. In the summer of 1997 I retreated from San Francisco to live at Jemez Pueblo. After culture shock wore off, I found relations between the races to be mostly civil. When someone ate the last of my green chile chicken casserole, the first question out of my mouth wasn't whether the culprit was Indian or Hispanic. In the dark, there is no skin color. Let's face it. The early history between the races is terrible. Time can't heal all wounds. An Indian and a Hispanic deserve slots in the hall. It should be Pope', whose courage to fight back against oppression and brutality has helped make New Mexico the singular and unique state it is today. ---- Eddie Chuculate (Creek/Cherokee) is a Tribune copy editor who writes about American Indian issues. His column appears on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month. Reach him at 823-3677 or echuculate@abqtrib.com. Copyright c. 2004 The Albuquerque Tribune. --------- "RE: Indians plan rites at Mountain Meadows" --------- Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 08:31:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="MORMON MASSACRE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/ci_2392365 Indians plan rites at Mountain Meadows Sept. 7: Spiritual leaders hope a healing ceremony will banish the bad feelings that linger from the massacre By Rhina Guidos The Salt Lake Tribune August 11, 2004 Spiritual leaders from several American Indian tribes will gather this summer at Mountain Meadows with the aim of healing the rift among those at odds over a massacre thought to have been orchestrated by Mormon pioneers in 1857. Paiute Indians were once blamed for the slaughter of members of a group of Arkansas settlers heading west, which took place near what is now the southern Utah town of Enterprise. "It's like a big open wound and it will be closed," said Larry Williams, a Cherokee spiritual leader, who will take part in the five-day healing ceremony for the Mountain Meadows Massacre. Organizers say they will also invite leaders of the Mormon church to take part in the ceremonies. Dale Bills, spokesman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said he couldn't comment on plans to attend because his office wasn't aware of any offers presented to church members. "We'd love to hear about it, but we're not aware of the opportunity," he said. The event will begin Sept. 7 at the site where more than 120 settlers from the group known as the Fancher train were slaughtered. Though many reputable historians believe Mormons committed the killings, some also believe Paiutes took part in the massacre Sept. 11, 1857. Raine Bowen, one of the event's organizers, said the Utah State Parks and Recreation Department has granted a permit so they may hold American Indian ceremonies at the site. To date, no Cherokee ceremonies have taken place there even though some of the victims descended from Cherokees, Bowen said. Forensic analysis of remains accidentally unearthed at the massacre site in 1999 revealed that some of the slaughtered emigrants had distinct American Indian characteristics, attributed to the Cherokees. "We're looking to bring a blessing for the dead and to settle their energies," said Bowen, who is a Cherokee. Bowen said anyone is welcome to attend, to offer prayers, to write letters and express remorse for what happened in the past, or to offer tobacco, which is considered a way to communicate between the spiritual world and humans. "We want them to do whatever is necessary for healing," she said. "Even if you can't be there in body, be there in spirit." Some spiritual leaders will hold all-night ceremonies, while others will open the day with prayers, Bowen said. No cameras or recording devices will be admitted since the ceremonies are sacred, she said. "It's no political statement and we request that people come down with a good heart to bring about the healing," Bowen said. Bob Taylor, Sr., a Northern Ute who serves as one of three spiritual advisers to American Indians in Salt Lake Valley, will attend. And Bowen said organizers are also contacting other spiritual leaders, including some from the Goshute and Paiute tribes. In 1999, LDS Church representatives participated in activities during a monument dedication that honored the victims, and it sponsored a graveside dedication Sept. 11, 1999. But Bowen said it's important that American Indians orchestrate their own ceremonies on the site to bring peace to their ancestors' spirits. Organizers aren't seeking to place blame on anyone, she said, but want to get past the bad feelings that the massacre continues to evoke. It will also serve to get past a similar tragedy, she said. "We're looking at it as doing the healing not only for Mountain Meadows but for others dealing with Sept. 11, 2001," she said. "Until we can remove the cloud of guilt and shame of this, there can be no healing." rguidos@sltrib.com Copyright c. 2004, The Salt Lake Tribune. --------- "RE: Cobell meets with New Mexico Officials" --------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 08:28:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="COBELL/NEW MEXICO" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://news.yahoo.com/story&u=/usnw/20040811/pl_usnw/elouise_cobell_ Elouise Cobell, Lead Plaintiff in Cobell v. Norton Indian Trust Litigation, Meets With New Mexico Officials to Discuss Landmark Case August 11, 2004 To: National Desk Contact: The PR Consulting Group, 212-683-8100, Dan Strechay, 973-809-8912, Jim Haggerty, 917-453-1510 SANTA FE, N.M., Aug. 11 /U.S. Newswire/ -- On the same day that U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) campaigned for reelection in Albuquerque, Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff in the landmark Cobell v. Norton Indian Trust litigation, met with members of Governor Richardson's administration and vowed to make resolution of the Individual Indian Trust case a key issue in New Mexico in the coming weeks. Trust reform is a key issue in "battleground" states like New Mexico; Cobell will continue the effort to bring justice to more than 500,000 plaintiffs in the largest lawsuit ever filed against the United States government. "Governor Richardson has been a force behind the trust reform movement for more than a decade," Cobell said. "Working with the Governor, Secretary of Indian Affairs Shendo and everyone in the Richardson administration, we intend to make New Mexico a battleground state for the just resolution of this acrimonious lawsuit." "This is not a Republican or Democratic issue," Cobell continued. "There are members of both parties who support us in our efforts. But there is no doubt that New Mexico will be an important state in the weeks to come, and we intend to ensure that trust reform remains part of the debate." Cobell and other members of the Cobell litigation team met with Benny Shendo, Governor Richardson's Secretary of Indian Affairs, and Hilary Tompkins, counsel to the Governor, to update the Richardson administration on the status of the case, including more than five months of mediation. Secretary Shendo pledged the full support of Richardson administration in the coming weeks, as New Mexico becomes a key state in the 2004 presidential election. "The U.S. government could resolve this lawsuit today if they really wanted to," Secretary Shendo said. "They've engaged in the kind of scorched-earth litigation that would make a tobacco company blush. They've taken American Indian money for leases and mining and grazing-with no accounting for where it went and why it isn't getting to the families who own the land." "The federal government has lost every single courtroom battle on the merits in this case," Shendo said. "It is time for the Bush administration to stop fighting this losing battle and to start doing what is right." About Cobell v. Norton Cobell v. Norton was originally filed in 1996 by lead plaintiff Elouise Cobell, who had tried for years to get an accurate accounting of funds held in trust by the U.S. government for individual Indian-owned land that had been leased by the federal government for mining, grazing, oil and gas exploration and other uses. In two separate trials, a federal judge found that the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Treasury engaged in "fiscal and governmental irresponsibility in its purest form" in maintaining and accounting for the trust assets belonging to 500,000 individual Indians. http://www.usnewswire.com/ Copyright c. 2004 U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ Copyright c. 2002 Yahoo! Inc., and U.S. Newswire. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Blackfeet: Clean, bountiful Water to flow soon" --------- Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 16:09:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WATER" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.greatfallstribune.com/~/1038361.html Clean, bountiful water to flow soon By JARED MILLER Tribune Regional Reporter August 13, 2004 BROWNING - Crystal clear water could be flowing from taps in East Glacier Park and Browning later this year, ending a 30-year-struggle to provide enough clean water to both Blackfeet Reservation communities. A $12.5 million project to relocate the towns' water source is on schedule and on budget, said Stewart Miller, project manager for the Blackfeet Planning Department. "All of the activities that we have been involved with to date have been achieved at or below our projected cost estimates," Miller said. The Blackfeet Tribe is spearheading the effort with financial help from federal, state and local agencies. With the system complete, Browning and East Glacier Park no longer will depend on clouded wells and unfiltered stream water for drinking and washing. Rather, the communities will draw from the cool depths of Lower Two Medicine Lake in the reservation's southeast corner. A 15-mile pipeline will deliver water to roughly 1,200 permanent and seasonal residents and business owners in East Glacier Park and roughly 5,000 in the greater Browning area. For decades, lack of clean water stunted development on the 1.5-million acre reservation in Glacier County -- stalling plans to build sorely needed homes and health care facilities and start businesses. Browning's current water source, a series of wells west of town, produce high concentrations of manganese and sodium, giving the water a muddy, rusted color. Some homes in Browning occasionally go without water altogether because the wells are inadequate. Plans to bring in a $1.5 million kidney dialysis center and build a $4 million nursing home in Browning were on hold indefinitely because of the problem. East Glacier Park pulls its water unfiltered from the surface of Midvale Creek. The water is clouded by turbidity, and residents and businesses have been under a boil order since about 1992. Merchants there serve bottled water to customers, said John Lucke, co- manager of the East Glacier Water and Sewer District. Officials and residents in East Glacier Park and Browning worked unsuccessfully for decades to forge a solution to their shared water woes. Officials credit the current project's success to coordinated efforts involving several levels of government. State and federal agencies partnered with the Blackfeet Tribe, the East Glacier Water and Sewer District, the town of Browning and Indian Health Service to complete the work. "It's just a perfect example of all the partnerships needed to do these large projects," said Robert Leigland, acting state director of United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development in Montana. The USDA's Rural Development Agency kicked in more than half of the project's cost with $7.2 million, while Indian Health gave more than $1 million, the Environmental Protection Agency $720,000, the Treasure State Endowment Program more than $1.3 million and the tribe's housing program $1.5 million. Another $1.3 million came in the form of a block grant. New construction Stoddard Construction of Valier broke ground on the project in the fall of 2002. In 2004, the company completed installation of a $1.4 million intake system at Lower Two Medicine Lake. The other primary contractor on the project is Chief Construction of Billings. Construction should be completed this month on two water storage tanks between Lower Two Medicine Lake and East Glacier. The next phase is a $300,000 home for the water treatment plant. Workers will install treatment equipment, worth $1.5 million, this fall. Workers also will install the last section of 20-inch water main from the water treatment plant to Browning this fall. The finished system should come on line soon after. "We're on target," Miller said. "We should be able to achieve that." Rate increase Upon completion of the water system, East Glacier Water and Sewer District infrastructure will become property of the Blackfeet Tribe. The tribe will install meters in East Glacier to determine billing and help detect leaks. Residents in both East Glacier Park and Browning can expect a monthly utility rate increase of about $9 as a result of the project. Terry Sherburne, owner of Mountain Pine Motel in East Glacier Park, said the new system is a welcome improvement over the current system, which has sickened some guests. Sherburne said clean water is worth the higher bills. "It's something that you've got have," Sherburne said. Shirley Gobert, who lives on the west edge of Browning, said she's never had water problems but her grandchildren across town have. "Sometimes their water pressure is really low, and sometimes it's so dirty that can't wash laundry or do nothing," she said. Gobert said she's not thrilled with the $9 a month increase. It will bring her utility bill to about $50. "I guess you just have to live with it if you want better service," she said. Also, the project will not effect the Bureau of Indian Affairs irrigation system that originates at Lower Two Medicine Lake, Miller said. "We won't draw any water out of the lake that is reserved for irrigation," he said. Big ideas Tribal officials already are working to take advantage of the new water system. Tribal planners have initiated work on a 47-bed nursing home and a 13- station dialysis center in Browning. Both facilities should be completed by mid-2005, Miller said. Construction also is under way on 28 new homes on Browning's northwest end. "If we did not have the water project under way, we would not be doing these project," Miller said. Officials also will focus on improvements to the sewer lagoon system in Browning to assure it can handle increased water flow, Miller said. At the request of the tribe, Indian Health Service has been working on sewer system improvements. IHS also has inventoried the East Glacier Park water and sewer systems. "We anticipate there will be some improvements initiated there as well," Miller said. Browning already has replaced thousands of feet of water mains and service lines to assure the water distribution system will handle the new water supply, Miller said. The town also is in the process of replacing 4.5 miles of concrete asbestos water main on the west end of Browning. ---- Miller can be reached by e-mail at jarmillegreatfal.gannett.com, or by phone at (406) 791-6573 or (800) 438-6600. Copyright c. 2004 Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Center celebrates Heritage" --------- Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2004 16:09:12 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com/~archive=474&num=13260 Center celebrates heritage By Valerie Gritton/The Daily Times August 12, 2004 FARMINGTON - In December a traditional Native American hogan was constructed on a grassy knoll behind the Farmington Inter-tribal Indian Organization. The hogan was officially welcomed into the world by Navajo medicine man Francis Mitchell, who performed a traditional hogan blessing ceremony Wednesday. A hogan blessing ceremony is performed only after the last nail has been put in place and no ceremonies can be held in a hogan until it is blessed by a medicine man. Mitchell said the Navajo hogan was built when the first Navajo child, Changing Woman, was about to have her first puberty ceremony. "Since that time, the deities set that procedure that when you build a dwelling, you are supposed to anoint it," Mitchell said. During the ceremony, Mitchell used white and yellow corn meal to represent the male and female species; corn pollen was used for the spirit and for the energy of the people, animals, livestock, bird fowl and "anything else we might include with it that walks and breeds and grows," Mitchell said. Additionally, the items were sprinkled throughout the four corners of the structure to bring good and harmony. The inter-tribal organization was started by the Navajo during a time of civil unrest in Farmington. "FIIO was organized to help (Farmington) with our efforts and provide a place where Navajos can come to get information regarding the purchasing of goods and services in Farmington," said Mayor Bill Standley. "I think that we've advanced considerably in understanding and communicating with our Navajo residents and our visitors to our community." The city helped finance and build the hogan - they used funds received through a community block grant. Edward Smiley, director of the inter-tribal organization, said the hogan will be used to conduct Navajo language classes and ceremonies. Tours will also be available to the public so non-natives can get a glimpse of Navajo culture. "I think at this time and age various nationalities are being educated through different customs," Smiley said. "In this way (non-natives) will have a chance to see the hogan itself, how it's built, how it can be used and they will have a part in it." Approximately 21,000 people visit the inter-tribal organization annually. Inter-tribal President Bradley Hight said the hogan will bring a piece of Native American culture to natives who can not get home. "It is important to keep their culture alive in an urban area so they don't forget where they came from," Bradley said. "It also teaches youngsters, no matter where you go in this world, you can have your culture. Just because you leave home doesn't mean you leave it behind." Valerie Gritton: valerieg@daily-times.com Copyright c. 2004 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. --------- "RE: GIAGO: Mt. Rushmore: Shrine To Hypocrisy" --------- Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 08:31:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: MT. RUSHMORE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.yankton.net/stories/081104/opE_20040811004.shtml Mt. Rushmore: Shrine To Hypocrisy By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) Copyright c. 2004, Lakota Media Inc. August 11, 2004 I was cursing the high cost of gasoline as I filled my gas guzzling truck at a local service station when a car with Michigan plates pulled up next to me. A middle-aged man with a young boy seated in the passenger seat asked, "How do I get to Mount Rushmore from here?" It so happened he was in an ideal place for perfect directions so I pointed out the way and he drove off to see the "Shrine of Democracy." It's funny how a simple thing like a tourist asking directions can bring back so many memories. I remember posing in front of Mount Rushmore for an article that appeared in People magazine on July 22, 1991. Heavens to Betsy, that was 13 years ago. I think I was a lot more angry at America in those days because I seem to have mellowed a lot since then. But the problems that prompted my anger are still there after all of these years. At the time the United States government was going to spend $40 million to renovate Mount Rushmore and President George H. W. Bush came to South Dakota to make the announcement on the 215th anniversary of the United States. I was upset because every speaker invited to address the celebrity gathering was white. Since the tribes of the Great Sioux Nation were still in the midst of an epic struggle to regain some of the land in the Paha Sapa (Black Hills) where Mount Rushmore is located, a struggle that had been ongoing since the late 1800s, I felt that in order to put on an honest face, an American Indian, preferably a Lakota, should have been invited to speak. I felt strongly at the time that the true history of the Lakota people's fight for justice should have been a topic of discussion. Of course this never happened because it was much too controversial and not in keeping with the spirit of joy the president wished to convey. I was angry because just down the road from Mount Rushmore where the $40 million was about to be spent repairing the faces made of stone was a sovereign nation of 20,000 people living on an Indian reservation that had just been proclaimed by the U. S. Census Bureau as the single poorest county in America. And guess what? Thirteen years later Shannon County, the seat of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, is still counted among the three poorest counties in America. The annual per capita income is about $2,400 and the unemployment rate still hovers around 85 percent. There are still homes without running water or electricity and having a telephone is considered a luxury. In 1976, the 200th anniversary of the United States, Indian activist Russell Means made the comment that the Lakota people would "blow out the candles on America's birthday cake." That's all it took for South Dakota's state troopers and the city and county law enforcement officers to make Indians visiting the Black Hills fair game. If America's Muslim population feels that it is being profiled since Sept. 11, 2001, they should have been an Indian in South Dakota in 1976. There was great fear that Means and his cohorts would somehow find a way to damage Mount Rushmore because in the same statement, Means called Mount Rushmore "The Shrine of Hypocrisy." When addressing the illegal seizure of the Paha Sapa by the United States after the Supreme Court offered a paltry monetary settlement for a land that had yielded billions in gold, uranium and other mineral and natural resources, Justice Harry Blackmun said, "A more ripe and rank case of dishonest dealings may never be found in our history." I wrote at the time that great nations are judged by how they treat their indigenous people, and the United States ranks near the bottom in its treatment of its aboriginal inhabitants. I hope the tourist from Michigan and his son enjoyed visiting the Shrine of Democracy because they will probably never know the true history of the mountain and of the faces carved on there. You will not find this history written down at the Shrine because why spoil the joy found in the carvings for the tourists? The complaints of a few thousand Indians will never be noted at the Shrine because they are merely footnotes in the history of America. Each and every face carved on that Mountain had a history of committing acts of atrocities, both physical and emotional, against the indigenous people of this land and though they are honored by the rest of America, there is a mixed bag of feelings about them from the Indian people. So, as Russell Means noted, thousands of Lakota will always look upon Mount Rushmore as "The Shrine of Hypocrisy." ---- Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, is the former editor and publisher of Lakota Media Inc. He is the winner of the H.L. Mencken Award and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He can be reached via e-mail at giagobooks@iw.net. Copyright c. 2004 Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan. --------- "RE: Blackfeet Council heard at Joint Commission" --------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 08:28:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BLACKFEET SOLICIT IJC" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.goldentrianglenews.com//glacier_reporter/news/news5.txt Blackfeet Tribal Council heard at International Joint Commission August 11, 2004 By Blackfeet Tribe Public Affairs Press Release For the Glacier Reporter Delegates from the Blackfeet Tribe traveled to Lethbridge, Alberta, to meet with the International Joint Commission. In attendance for the Tribe were council representatives Earl Old Person, Betty Cooper and Pat Thomas, Mike Tatsey of Blackfeet Water Resources, Craig Iron Pipe and Shannon Augare of Blackfeet Governmental Affairs, and Theda New Breast, Blackfeet tribal member. The IJC is made up of six representatives, with three appointed by the President of the United States to represent U.S. interests. The Canadian government also appoints three representatives to communicate their interests. The joint commission deals with the water of the Milk River and St. Mary River. Their duty is to see that each country gets their fair share of the water from these rivers. Issues facing the commission today include whether they will revisit the treaty of 1921, and if the commission will let the Montana and Canadian tribes play a major role. The Blackfeet Tribe is soliciting and demanding that the IJC consider bringing a Blackfeet tribal representative from the Blackfeet Confederacy to sit at the table with them and help make decisions. They feel that with an offset number of representatives there will be no stalemate. With a Blackfeet tribal representative from the Blackfeet Confederacy, both sides of the border will be represented where the U.S. and Canada will have no argument about who has the advantage. The Blackfeet leadership of today said it is time to step up and be heard. "We as a Nation need to be recognized as a Nation and work government to government with the United States and Canada. There needs to be someone from the Blackfeet Nation, sitting at the table when everything is said and done. The water starts with us and they need to negotiate the issues with us," said Earl Old Person. Copyright c. 2004 Glacier Reporter, Golden Triangle Newspapers. --------- "RE: Ancient remedy 'shrinks Cancer'" --------- Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2004 08:28:21 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHAPARRAL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3555566.stm Ancient remedy 'shrinks cancer' August 11, 2004 An ancient native American treatment for cancer has been shown to have a beneficial effect despite scepticism from the medical establishment. Chaparral, an evergreen desert shrub, has long been used by native Americans to treat cancer, colds, wounds, bronchitis, warts, and ringworm. But experts dismissed its worth, and warned it could be dangerous. Now researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina have shown an extract may shrink some tumours. Chaparral tea was widely used in the US as an alternative anti-cancer agent from the late 1950s to the 1970s. However, the American Cancer Society said there was no proof that it was an effective treatment for cancer - or any other disease. And the US Food and Drug Administration warned against its use after research showed it could damage the liver and the kidneys. However, initial results from the latest study show that an extract of the shrub appears not only to be safe, but to have a positive effect. The researchers tested a refined extract taken from chaparral called M4N. They injected it into the tumours of eight patients with advanced head and neck cancer that had not responded to other forms of treatment. The trial was primarily designed to test whether the extract was safe. The results were encouraging - patients seemed to tolerate it well, and there was no evidence of the serious liver damage previously associated with chaparral use. However, the study also produced some evidence that the extract had begun to shrink the tumours. The researchers now plan a larger study aimed at showing whether the drug really does work. Trials important Henry Scowcroft, science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "Chaparral does not have a good track record as an anti-cancer treatment, but this finding is interesting and suggests that the active ingredients of the plant should be investigated further. "Plants are an extremely useful source of anticancer drugs. For example the drugs vinblastine and vincristine from the periwinkle plant are used to treat many different cancers. "And Taxol, which is obtained from the bark of yew trees, is used to treat ovarian and breast cancer. "It is extremely important to test plant extracts thoroughly before they are routinely used in people, to make sure they have no harmful side effects. "This is why clinical trials of the M4N chaparral extract will be so important." Head and neck cancer is usually treated with surgery and radiation, although a few drugs have shown some promise. But because patients usually do not realise they have cancer until it has spread, it is very hard to treat. Results of the study were presented at an International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer in Washington. Copyright c. 2004 BBC. --------- "RE: Tribal Teens to teach Youths dangers of Alcohol" --------- Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2004 08:13:19 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ALCOHOL PREVENTION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_np=0&u_pg=1638&u_sid=1170968 Tribal teens to teach youths dangers of consuming alcohol August 10, 2004 SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) - High school students from the Winnebago, Omaha and Santee Tribes will help teach elementary school children on the reservations about the dangers of using alcohol. American Indian languages, traditions and spirituality will be incorporated under a curriculum called "Protecting You/Protecting Me." Mothers Against Drunk Driving developed the program for a broad audience and tailored it to the tribes. "Underage drinking permeates all races and ethnicities; its tragedies are felt in every community across the country," said Wendy Hamilton, MADD national president. "We want to ensure all students can relate to the lessons so they can make smart, healthy decisions about alcohol," she said. On Thursday, a sacred drum beat echoed at South Sioux City's Marina Inn as about 40 youths were recognized for pledging to abstain from alcohol and to become role models to younger children and community leaders on the reservations. In the towns of Winnebago, Walthill, Macy and Santee, program coordinators will work beginning this fall with the students to implement the program in the schools and in the communities. MADD used a grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention to adapt the curriculum, and received help from the Red Road Project for Native American Youth Leadership. The Red Road Project was created from a joint grant out of the U.S. Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. The Red Road Project works with teenagers, children and leaders of the reservation communities to help prevent alcohol abuse. Contact the Omaha World-Herald newsroom Copyright c. 2004 Omaha World-Herald. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Cultural Preservation: Fruits of their Labor" --------- Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 08:27:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HUCKLEBERRY TIME" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/5429890p-5366050c.html Fruits of their labor By Anna King, Herald staff writer August 15th, 2004 MISSION, Ore. - In the early morning light outside the longhouse on the Umatilla Indian Reservation, 17 women and girls hurriedly packed supplies into several vehicles in preparation for their day's work - to gather huckleberries for an upcoming feast. The Native American women, ranging from 3 to 73 years old and all wearing traditional wing dresses, were following a practice of their ancestors that has been handed down from generation to generation. It's a practice, they say, that has gone on since the beginning of time. The huckleberry harvest represents an important time of the year for Mid-Columbia tribes. The berries are the last of the traditional subsistence and ceremonial foods gathered from the land before winter. Tasting the huckleberry with a sip of water is celebrated by the tribes as a renewal of the Creator's promise that the foods always will return. Marjorie Waheneka, one of the group's leaders, said she and other tribal members strive to continue the traditions of the past, like huckleberry picking, to help younger generations understand the old ways. Yet, she said, the traditions are harder to follow as time goes on. But they do their best, she said. "I was glad my grandparents were alive to show me the ways and tell me why it was important," she said. The group packed into a big white van, a newer red pickup and a silver minivan parked outside the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation longhouse to begin the more than two-hour ride into the Blue Mountains. They represented the Umatilla, Colville, Warm Springs, Wanapum, Walla Walla and Cayuse tribes. Linda Jones, 59, remembered making the trip as a child with other pickers, bumping along primitive roads in vintage trucks. But even that mode of transportation was quicker than what her grandmother used. "They went by horseback," she said. "They would tell me which way they would go and how many days it took to get there." This year's caravan started the more than 100-mile journey traveling down the scenic highways of Northeastern Oregon, passing sprawling fields of shorn wheat and small towns along the way. North of Elgin, they navigated Umatilla National Forest roads, finally crawling up a narrow ribbon of gravel clinging precariously to the hillside. All the vehicles eventually were coated in a fine white powder of dust. A few times, they had to slow for deer and elk. In a field of the low, bushy huckleberries, the older women helped the tiniest girls tie their berry picking baskets around their waists using long belts of braided yarn. Some of the baskets were the traditional, tightly woven variety; others were craft-store vintage. The smallest girls' baskets were fixed with bells so their mothers could hear where they wandered in the woods. Once everyone was ready, they lined up in a row from oldest to youngest to pray before venturing out to pick. "We are here to gather the new foods, our sister the huckleberry," said Waheneka, leading the prayer and singing. "We go forth today with happy hearts, laughter and good thoughts. "I will sing one song to open our way, to clear the path for a good harvest. As you sing the song, open your heart and clear your mind. Don't let your mind go back to memories too far. Let us remember we are here for the people for the community." Waheneka explained that the pickers must be happy and have a good heart when they gather ceremonial foods. No one should think about those they have lost or become sad, she said, because that could transfer into the food and make someone who eats it ill. Women who are pregnant, who have lost a baby, who are in mourning for a family member or who have recently been widowed aren't allowed to gather the traditional foods, she said. "It's just not a good thing to do," Waheneka explained, stooping to pick the small berries. "Your body is on fire from the loss, and if you touch anything it dries it out." The pickers fanned out into the forest in small groups of two or three. In the days of Waheneka's grandmother, the women would take sweat baths before sunrise and douse themselves in cold river water for a week to prepare for the picking. "It's one of the traditions that has kinda fallen by the wayside, for lack of access to a sweat house," Waheneka said. Another tradition harder to keep alive is traditional dress, she said. Ceremonial pickers in years past would wear new, brightly colored wing dresses, which are like a shift and named for the flaps of material that extend down the wearer's arms. The pickers also would wear their hair in braids and don soft moccasins. But because of the weather conditions and modern times, some of this year's pickers wore fleece vests, windbreakers, long johns, tennis shoes and galoshes over their moccasins. "I never saw my grandmother wear store-bought shoes," Waheneka said. "She always wore handmade moccasins." In another berry patch, Anna Withers and her 12-year-old daughter Miriah "Atnewwa" Withers picked side by side. Miriah's Native American name, Atnewwa, means yellow jacket, her mother said. Miriah's grandmother gave her the name because ever since she was a little girl she has had quite the temper, Withers said. "She is pretty to look at, but don't touch," she said, laughing. Withers was the only white woman picking. Her long red braids and pale face stood out among the others. After she married a Native American man, she started participating in the longhouse activities because she wanted her children to know that side of their culture, Withers said. Miriah initially was upset when she learned she would have to go berry picking. She wanted to play in a basketball tournament with her friends instead. "When the kids get older and into stuff, it gets harder to make them do the right thing," Withers said. "They get at a certain age and they want to tell you what they're doing." Withers said one of the problems in passing down tribal traditions is that many participate only when they are young. Then they move away, marry or find different interests when they are young adults, she said. But some return and pick up the practice again years later. "A lot of the women my age - I'm 35 - they are just starting to come back," she said. Another difficulty is mixed heritage. Withers said her family has experienced prejudice from both sides. She said some people looked at her funny when she first went to the longhouse. And she said her daughter has been called "Indian trash" at school. But such taunts and troubles are lost in the mountains. Squatting low in another patch, Jones laughed as she watched several young girls, one who was 3 years old, learning to pick. The group thought berry picking was a game. "This is how they learn," Jones said. When her tiny great-niece couldn't find any berries, Jones flipped a leafy branch over, showing her how the berries grow underneath. "That's how they get protection from the wind and rain, too," Jones told the girl. Jones said she enjoys having the young girls' company. "It gets too quiet when we all get going. Then they just jabber away." No one is allowed to eat the berries before the feast. The first taste must be in the longhouse, after spiritual services. To keep the young pickers from eating their fill, the women gave them hard candy and chewing gum. Picking the tiny berries - which range from purple to red to black - and not tasting them is no easy task, even for the experienced. "I have to sing so I won't think of eating them," Jones said. After the first taste at the ceremony, they can eat the berries for the rest of the year and gather more for their families. In the old days, the berries were dried; today they are canned or frozen. Playing as much as picking, three small sisters raced to see who could gather the most berries. Donya Fegan, 5, said she liked being with her family in the woods. "I like filling my basket," she said, smiling. With stained fingers, she proudly tipped her basket - about the size of a small pickle jar - to show onlookers her haul. Pouring 3-year-old Lysandra Fegan's basket into a larger container, Jones crooned praises to the pint-sized girl. "Let me help you pour it out," she said. "Ohhhh, there! You did a good job!" After several hours of intense picking, the women filtered out from the shade of the tall pines and white fir into a clearing filled with sunshine. They unpacked heavy denim quilts, paper plates and cups, and food for a picnic. Fruit, potato salad, lunch meat, sandwich bread, cookies and chips were amassed in the middle of the quilts. The girls eyed the goodies hungrily, but waited. "We did a good job this morning. We need to keep up the pace," Waheneka said to the group. "We are bringing the new foods down so the people can eat them, especially our elders." She signaled for everyone to sip from a small amount of water that had been poured into each cup, a way to signify that water is necessary for all life. Then hands grabbed at the food, passing it around the circle, and everyone ate hungrily. When lunch was complete, the pickers tied baskets back on their waists and returned to the woods for another go. Kathy Fegan walked slowly with her three daughters, teaching them lessons in the forest that was their living classroom. At times, the girls disappeared behind 3-foot-tall huckleberry bushes, with only the tops of their heads visible. Pointing to a couple of stripped huckleberry branches, Fegan said, "That's how a bear eats. He grabs the leaves and all." Sounds of the forest caught the young girls' attention. Eagles cried, invisible in the canopy above. Angry chipmunks ran down the tree trunks and chattered. And the rushing wind threatened rain. Fegan patiently explained how a tree grew when her charges questioned her about a massive upturned rootball. She said her ancestors once followed the berries up the mountain as the season continued and berries at higher elevations ripened. And the berries used to be closer to home, she said. "As the years went by, it just got overpicked," she said. "Now they are farther and farther away." Now the region's tribes also have to compete with other cultures for the berries. Asians and Latinos often pick huckleberries to sell, and often use rake-like tools that strip the berries and leaves off the plants. "It takes the green ones and everything, so you only have one season that way," Fegan said. "There are no laws on the berries. It's just who gets there first." Lydia McKenzie, Fegan's mother, picked berries with deft movements of her nimble fingers. Near the day's end, her bulging basket carried a large load. McKenzie said she finally was getting back to her people and traditions after spending 24 years in Mississippi. She returned home after a divorce. "I can remember my mother hollering, 'Quit playing and get picking,' " she said, with a wide smile. "When I do that my grandchildren just laugh." McKenzie said she has lost many of the traditions she learned as a child. "When I was little, all I talked was my native language (Cayuse)," McKenzie said. But when she went to school, her teachers punished her for speaking anything but English. They used to lock her in a dark basement without lights to scare her. "They didn't want me to speak Indian because they couldn't understand," she said. Finally, a honk from a car horn broke the hush of the woods. It was time for the berry pickers to return. The elders instructed the young girls to collect ferns to cover the berries. After a few minutes of searching, they returned. "What exactly do ferns look like?" they asked. Soon, the bright green plants were placed over the berries in the baskets to keep them from spilling. Long leather thongs were laced through loops in the top of the baskets to keep the ferns in place. The women and girls' hard labor had only begun. The berries would be taken back to the longhouse to be washed, and during the next two days, they would prepare the loads of other foods needed to be prepared for the feast. "It's not just the gathering, cooking and serving," Jones said. "You're not done until the last dish is done. My mother used to say this isn't for showing off, this is work." Copyright c. 2004 Tri-City Herald, Voice of the Mid-Columbia Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Washington --------- "RE: School tapping Culture of Tribe" --------- Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 08:27:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SALT RIVER SCHOOL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.azcentral.com//0816sr-saltriver16Z8.html School tapping culture of tribe Campus tailored for reservation teens Jordana Mishory The Arizona Republic Aug. 16, 2004 12:00 AM SALT RIVER RESERVATION Today's opening of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community's first high school means students no longer will have to eat lunch outside or attend assemblies in a trailer. Complete with a cafeteria and an auditorium, the $22 million high school at Chaparral Road and Country Club Drive is funded largely by the tribe's gaming revenues. Community leaders said they hope Salt River High School, which will serve students in the seventh through twelfth grades, will attract the many reservation teenagers who attend Mesa Public Schools and provide them with a secondary education that emphasizes Native American studies. The high school is able to accommodate 560 students, more than twice as many students as its predecessor, Desert Eagle Secondary School. "The last school was literally falling apart," said Allison Ducat, a faculty member for the past six years. Desert Eagle Secondary School consisted mostly of trailers. Ducat said her old classrooms were used in World War II on Luke Air Force Base. Her colleagues talked about how the science classes didn't have lab space, the music classes didn't have enough practice rooms and there was no gym for physical educa- tion. Salt River High has laboratories, computer labs, a gymnasium and a library. Building a high school has been a goal of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community since the 1970s, said Hans Klose, the chairman of the education board. The community asked for help from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but the money never came through, Klose said. For years, many students were bused off the reservation to schools in Scottsdale, then Mesa. Desert Eagle was an alternative school for Mesa until 1996, when it became a charter school. In 1998, gaming revenues allowed the tribe to begin planning for a high school, Klose said. In 2000, the tribe started designing the school with their Native American culture in mind. Shaped in a half-moon, the building is a clay-red with sand-yellow stripes to signify the desert and Red Mountain near the reservation, said Principal Martina Ashley. Windows throughout are etched with basket designs. The culture extends to the school's curriculum, which includes Native studies, including history and crafts such as beading. The native language, O'Odham, is mandatory. Klose said adding elements of the culture into the curriculum will help make school more fulfilling. "It will bleed into other areas of study as well, such as science, math and literature," Klose said. "The students will take other lessons more to heart." Because Salt River High School's facilities rival those of local schools, the community said it hopes more students will stay on the reservationand learn about their native history and connect with fellow students. "The kids from here feel like they can't be themselves at public school," said Frances Lopez. Her daughter, Roxanne, starts 10th grade today. Ducat said the school reflects the community's dedication to education. Copyright c. 2004 The Arizona Republic. --------- "RE: Historic School gets Facelift" --------- Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 08:27:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NAVAJO PREP SCHOOL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.daily-times.com/artman/publish/article_13360.shtml Historic school gets facelift By Lillian Kelly/The Daily Times August 16, 2004 FARMINGTON - Three historic buildings on the campus of Navajo Preparatory School, which was first established in Farmington by the United Methodist Church in 1891, will be renovated and expanded over the next year. The school, which stands on West Apache Street, is now operated by the Navajo Nation. The $11 million price tag for this phase of construction includes renovation of three structures as well as a new gym and a new entrance to campus. The ground work began two weeks ago, and Project Manager Cliff Johns said the project is expected to be complete by October 2005. MacDonald Hall, Morgan Hall and Dodge Hall - historic brick dormitories named after former chairmen of the Navajo Nation - will be gutted and transformed into classrooms, meeting rooms and computer labs. "These buildings have been untouched for years and years and years. This is the first time they are going to be changed. We do not want to bulldoze them down because there is so much history. People have such rich, intimate ties to this place. This phase is part of the master plan to preserve the rich history, and the buildings are being preserved in accordance with national historic preservation standards," said Betty Ojaye, executive director of the school for Native students. Walking through MacDonald Hall, which was built in 1912 and named for Peter MacDonald, Johns said the scratched wooden floors and the windows designed to slide on a rope will be replaced. "Some walls are coming out in order to create a few classrooms," said Johns. He said the building will also receive new plumbing and electrical systems. However, installing new wires and pipes will be a challenge because there is little space between the floorboards and the actual floor, he explained. "It will be a challenge to maintain its structural integrity," said Johns. "The health and safety of our students is foremost. They deserve good facilities that are safe and modern to meet our college preparatory program. We have not been able to operate efficiently without ample electricity. We want modern educational technology in these buildings," said Ojaye of the school that serves approximately 200 students each year. Morgan Hall, built in 1929 and named for Jacob C. Morgan, housed the Mary Eldridge Library. Its large, empty first floor will be the home of a computer lab, said Johns. The upper floors will be used as office space and classrooms. The basement of Dodge Hall, built in 1925 and named for Chee Dodge, has served as a study lounge, TV room and a general recreational space. This will become a conference room and computer lab, said Johns. The construction crews will salvage the brick on the outside of each building by sandblasting it. The roofs will be replaced, said Johns. The three empty buildings, which have been closed for the past year, are surrounded by a fence. When the fence comes down in fifteen months, the renovated structures will have more than 16,000 additional square feet. This new construction will be added to the back of each building and provide more classroom and meeting space. "The buildings will be linked with a cat walk system," said Johns. Each new addition will have a elevator and will be compliant with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Also by October 2005, there will be a new gym across campus. The 26,000 square feet that will be added to the old gym. "It will be an updated, modern facility," said Johns. He said this space will be made available to the local communities, chapter houses and tribes. "We have worked hard for three years to make this project come to fruition. It is a complicated rehabilitation and historic preservation project that requires overlapping coordination with various agencies including the Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department, Bureau of Indian Affairs, the City of Farmington and community stake holders. The students were involved in the planning and design stages and they cannot wait to see the buildings go up, especially their new gym," said Ojaye. "The main thing is providing a better facility for the kids, an environment where they will be motivated to learn. I know when you build various facilities, there is a distinct feeling of a learning environment. We have already accomplished this with our new dorms," said Johns of the Phase I construction that was completed in 2003 and included four dormitories. Phase III includes plans for more dorms, a new student center and more athletic fields. Lillian Kelly: lilliank@daily-times.com Copyright c. 2004 Farmington Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper. --------- "RE: Dine' Prez on Youth Day: Teach yourself" --------- Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 08:44:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SOVEREIGNTY THROUGH EDUCATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/081604youthday.html Dine' Prez on Youth Day: Teach yourself By Pamela G. Dempsey Dine' Bureau August 16, 2004 WINDOW ROCK - With school just around the corner for some or already in progress for others, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. hosted a Back-To-School Presidential Youth Day over the weekend. Crediting the idea to his youth intern and future presidential candidate, Alray Nelson, Shirley raffled off school supplies and backpacks to the crowd of parents and students gathered in front of the president's office. The all-day event featured sports clinics and study tips from Shirley himself. sovereign independence," Shirley said. "Standing on your own two feet." "If you can educate yourself as much as you can ... that is the way to Education for Native Americans is two-fold, Shirley said. Foreign ways and native ways. "We have secrets yet to be discovered," he said. "Don't forget yourself; don't forget your way of life." In addition to sitting up front, asking questions, doing homework, and listening to your teachers, Shirley had another tip to offer. "Stay off drugs," he said. "Drugs have killed thousands of the five- fingered, intelligent, earth-dwellers called man." Candace Begody, student body president of Ganado High School, told the crowd she believed education was an idea. "It's an idea of a way of life," Begody said. Whatever it is, some students in attendance looked forward to school. "I like social studies," said Avery Lee, 11. "You get to learn about things in the community and learn about other communities." Like Lee, Brandon Barney, an incoming sixth grader, said he looked forward to studying math, reading, and Navajo Language. But, Barney said, he wasn't looking forward to the school's food. While Shirley did not comment on cafeteria food, he did encourage the crowd to honor the veterans, remember the soldiers, and register to vote. "They're the reasons why we live in a free society," Shirley said. And to remember one thing. "You're coming down to the bottom line," Shirley told the students. "You're not doing it for anybody; your doing it for yourself." Copyright c. 2004 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: Entertainment: Two Cultures woven together" --------- Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 08:27:07 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="A SINGER'S JOURNEY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.theglobeandmail.com//TPEntertainment/TopStories Two cultures woven together ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN meets Lila Downs, the classically trained Mexican-American singer who has embraced the native heritage she once rejected By ROBERT EVERETT-GREEN August 16, 2004 They say that doubters make the best converts. The Mexican-American singer Lila Downs knows a little about that, having spent years of her life trying to reject the native culture she now regards as a precious inheritance. "I was in denial of my Indian roots," she said of her adolescent years, when she bleached her black hair and shrank from the effusive otherness of her mother's Mixtec community. "It was very painful for me to accept that this part of my family was always speaking their native language that everyone else made fun of." Downs grew up shuttling between Oaxaca, her mother's home in southern Mexico, and Minnesota, where her Scottish-American father made films and paintings and taught at the University of Minnesota. When he died of a heart attack in 1984, his 16-year-old daughter was forced to confront the Mixtec reality that would eventually transform her life and music. Downs is most widely known for her performances on the soundtrack of Frida, the Julie Taymor film about the mixed-race Mexican painter Frida Kahlo (Downs also had a brief on-screen role, singing a tango during a Sapphic dance scene involving Salma Hayek and Ashley Judd). Downs won an Oscar nomination for a closing-credits duet with Brazilian singer Caetano Veloso, with whom she performed on the Academy Awards broadcast. Her own recordings are so many solutions to the puzzles of identity. She has recorded traditional songs in native languages with pre-Columbian instruments (on Tree of Life), as well as original pieces that sound archaic but that include rap and reggae rhythms. Her latest album, Una Sangre (One Blood), is as diverse as the New York eastside neighbourhood where she lives with her husband and creative cohort, Paul Cohen, and works with a group of musicians from Mexico, Colombia, Chile and Brazil. Quite apart from the fusion of sounds and styles, Downs's ability to merge the distant past and vibrant present is such that the CD might as well have been called Una Vez (One Time). Her journey towards this kind of unified mongrel art was not a simple matter of replacing a white paternal culture with a brown maternal one. It was her mother, after all, who first steered her away from Mixtec songs toward opera, which Downs dutifully studied at her father's university. "I was going to be an opera singer, mainly because that was the choice that was offered to me," she said, a few hours before her performance at Harbourfront's Planet IndigenUs festival on Friday. "If I had known about a jazz school, like Berklee [in Boston], maybe I would have done that instead." Her teachers couldn't agree on her true vocal character, and she was schooled at various times as an alto, mezzo-soprano, coloratura and dramatic soprano. It was like a conservatory enactment of her deeper struggles with identity. Her dark looks and dramatic style seemed a natural fit with roles such as Bizet's Carmen. But her encounters with Susan McClary, an eminent postmodern musicologist at the university, convinced her that a Frenchman's conception of a Spanish Romany woman was not going to bring her closer to her own truth. "She was one of my favourite professors, and I think she kind of drove me to drop out," Downs said. She left the university and took up with the self-selecting tribe that used to follow the Grateful Dead from city to city. She made and sold jewellery outside the concerts to survive, and tried to ignore the thunderous sounds of her mother's disapproval. She returned to Mexico to study the traditional weaving of the Triqui women. Their way of illustrating tribal narrative in their work became the basis of a thesis she wrote (about "a language of resistance, that women are creating, about their place in history and time") when she went back to Minnesota, to complete a double degree in music and anthropology. Her intense interest in what the Triqui women were doing couldn't be fulfilled merely by writing about it. She had to do it herself as well, and she returned to singing to make it happen. The craft suitable for Bizet and Richard Strauss, however, would not be enough. She had to relearn the nasal, outdoor style of Mexican folk singing, and sound and diction of the other popular styles she had heard from her mother, who was a singer in Mexico City when she met Downs's father. "I think you can tell, on the albums, how I've been moving away from my operatic training," she said. Tree of Life was a pivotal experience in that regard, because it had to do with Mexican music in its least Europeanized forms. Her researches for that disc took her to a pre- Columbian codex, and into corners of her heritage she couldn't ultimately accept for herself. "It was kind of about finding out that I'm not so purely Indian as I thought," she said. "As I became more in contact with my Indian community, I realized that their ways of thinking were quite different from mine. There's something very conservative there -- which is why they have survived -- that I'm not so fond of. . . . They're very afraid of the other." In this sense, the most provocative and personal number on Una Sangre may be Malinche, a traditional-sounding original song that takes a sympathetic view of the native woman who acted as translator (and lover) for the conquistador Hernan Cortes. Mexican nationalists regard her as a traitor, but for Downs, La Malinche was "our first diplomat," through whom the violent collision of cultures was filtered and, perhaps, softened. La Malinche was also Downs's mother, and herself, because both married outside their native culture. Her ambition, she said, is to be that kind of diplomat, who conveys messages both ways, and who is the beginning of something, not its betrayer. "Native American cultures are very much alive, and many people don't know this," she said. "We're speaking our languages, and some of us are living in the full splendour of our identities. Music happens to be a wonderful way of expressing this." Her performance at Harbourfront was the best proof, a joyous and sometimes cheeky celebration of the ways that different traditions can be made to dance together. For an hour, a space along the waterfront became as Mexican as Oaxaca itself, and as international as the ocean that touches Europe and Africa on one side, and the Americas on the other. Copyright c. 2004 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Fly-In Planned in Honor of Will Rogers" --------- Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 08:31:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WILL ROGERS FLY-IN" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=4892 Fly-In Planned in Honor of Cherokee Cowboy Will Rogers Event will commemorate 69th anniversary of Rogers' death OOLOGAH OK Jennifer Tedlock August 10, 2004 Humorist, radio and movie legend, and Cherokee cowboy Will Rogers' life was cut tragically short in late summer 1935. The plane he was riding in, piloted by famed aviator Wiley Post, crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska. This year marks the 69th anniversary of that accident. Rogers, originally from Oklahoma, was an adventurer from his youth. He was born on the banks of the Verdigris River in what would later become Oologah, Oklahoma. His life and enduring sense of adventure will be remembered at the annual Will Rogers Fly-In at 9 a.m. on August 15, 2004. The event will be held at the Will Rogers Birthplace Ranch, two miles east of Rogers' hometown. Rogers' and Post's untimely deaths were the result of an ill-fated trip to find the best aviation route around the world. As the story goes, the two flew into fog in a plane designed by Post against the advice of local pilots. After getting lost, Post and Rogers landed the plane, with its special pontoons for amphibious landings, on a small lagoon. It was during their ascent from the lagoon that the plane's engine cut out. Rogers and Post were world-renowned in their fields. Rogers - a movie star and humanitarian, and Post - a pioneer in aviation; the two were mourned by presidents and common men alike. Each now has an Oklahoma airport named after him, and a memorial museum devoted to Rogers' life and times is located in Claremore, Oklahoma. For more information about the fly-in call 918-341-0719 or 1-800-324-9455. Native American Times is Copyright c. 2004 Oklahoma Indian Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Native American Day and Stamp unveiling" --------- Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 15:44:24 -0500 From: aesitsi-icg@webtv.net (Dale Mitchell) Subj: Fwd:Press release >From: Pbctsalagi@aol.com NATIVE AMERICAN DAY AND STAMP UNVEILING In a ceremony on September 11, 2004, The United States Postal Service will unveil a stamp depicting the stone statue found near Lebanon, Tennessee, at the site where it was unearthed in 1939. The event will take place at the Sellars Farm State Archaeological Area, a Mississippian Period mound and village occupied from 1000 to 1300 AD. The unveiling will be a featured part of "Native American Day: Honoring the Ancient Ones." As part of the ten stamp pane, "Art of the American Indian" being issued to commemorate the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington on the National Mall on September 21, the statue stamp will have special cancellation on a pictorial cache envelope. The complete pane will sell for $3.70 or with the cache envelope for $5.00. Additional envelopes can be purchased for $1.50. The ceremony, beginning at 9:30, will open with an "Honor Song for the Ancestors" performed by Little Corn, the Ancestor's Drum, a Native American group from Nashville, and will be followed by the unveiling and the stamp sale. Also, the new Interpretive Kiosk will be dedicated by the Tennessee State Parks, marking the completion of Phase One of the Sellars Farm Area development. "Native American Day: Honoring the Ancient Ones", 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM, also offers a number of activities centering around the archaeological area and the life style of the Mississippian Indians who inhabited it. A series of demonstrations and presentations can be visited on the trail leading to the village site. Alice Green will present stories from the Mississippian tradition. "Miss Alice", librarian at Watertown, hs been giving Storytime at Wilson County libraries for years. Doug Jones, primitive reenactor, will demonstrate period bows and arrows, stone and bone tools, flintknapping and throw sticks. John Froeschauer of the Tennessee State Parks will demonstrate spear throwing and the use of the atlatl. Parris Stripling, flint knapper, will demonstrate knapping techniques. September 11 also marks the beginning of the 2004 Tennessee Archaeology Awareness Week and a special display will be presented by the MTSU Anthropology Department and Dr. Kevin Smith.. Walking tours of about a mile and a half of the mound and village archaeological site will be available after the unveiling ceremony throughout the day until 3:00. These will be over natural terrain paths, so comfortable shoes are advised. Admission and activities are free. Parking is on site. To reach the Sellars Farm State Archaeological Area southeast of Lebanon, Tennessee, From Interstate 40 go south at the(Watertown/Sparta Pike exit 239B) on Highway 70 for two miles. Turn left on Poplar Hill Road. Sellars is 3/4 mile on the left before the Spring Creek Bridge. --------- "RE: Growing Gwich'in numbers means shrinking Benefits" --------- Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 08:31:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GWICH'IN POPULATION" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://north.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=aug10gwicheduc10082004 Growing Gwich'in numbers means shrinking benefits August 10, 2004 INUVIK, N.W.T. - More Gwich'in than ever before want to be enrolled in the land claim group - and that's putting pressure on the First Nation's benefits fund. Of the 300 adults who applied last year, more than half live in southern Canada. Many were adopted out as children or have recently been married to beneficiaries. Many have never set foot in the territories. The education fund is one of the resources feeling the most strain. The number of Gwich'in students applying for bursaries has more than tripled over the last year. The group's annual general assembly in Fort McPherson heard that more Gwich'in are enroling in post-secondary education and training courses than ever before. And about 30 per cent of this year's applicants live in southern Canada. Barb Crawford, the manager of the Gwich'in Education and Training Center, says the increase is making it harder to give everyone a slice of the pie. This week Crawford called 40 students to tell them they didn't make this year's cut. "Everyone's quite understanding, with the assembly and the information regarding the financial situation people realize that we are restricted by the amount of funding we have," she says. Crawford adds that competition for the money will increase as the number of applications increases. Bursaries once covered tuition and rent. Now the most a student will receive from Crawford's office is $200 a month. But Crawford stresses that, regardless of where beneficiaries call home, they are all entitled to the same treatment. "We're assisting them in education to better their lives and their children's," she says. "And whether they choose to contribute to Edmonton or Lethbridge is not a negative thing. "At the same time, the impact it has had is on the budget." Crawford's job might be easier next year. At the Gwich'in annual assembly over the weekend leaders agreed to double the bursary fund to $200,000. Copyright c. 2004 CBC. --------- "RE: Not much info coming down the Mackenzie Pipeline" --------- Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 08:31:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PIPELINE SILENCE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.theglobeandmail.com//20040810/IBBIT10//?query=aborigina Not a lot of info coming down the Mackenzie pipeline By JOHN IBBITSON August 10, 2004 You might think this is all inside-baseball stuff, and maybe it is. But $7-billion is at stake. Today, Prime Minister Paul Martin leaves for an extensive tour of the three northern territories. He will meet with premiers and aboriginal leaders, discussing an agenda that involves economic development, land claims and, of course, health care. The most important agenda item is federal-territorial co-operation in securing approval for the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, one of the largest infrastructure projects in Canadian history. The applications for permission to construct the pipeline will be filed this month. If all goes well, approval will take two years, and construction - estimated at $7-billion - another two years. Southern markets are counting on the 60 to 70 trillion cubic feet of natural gas that will flow south from the Mackenzie Delta. But first, there are environmental concerns to be assuaged and outstanding land claims to be settled. As well, nothing will happen without a revenue-sharing agreement involving the federal, territorial and aboriginal governments. Moving the file on these issues will be at the top of the agenda when Mr. Martin meets Northwest Territories Premier Joe Handley in Inuvik tomorrow. The problem is, there will be little, if any, media coverage of the event. Usually, when a prime minister travels across Canada or overseas, his tour managers arrange for reporters from the national press gallery to travel on the plane (we pay our share of the cost), or the trip is announced far enough in advance to give media outlets time to organize their own travel arrangements. In this instance, however, word of the trip only surfaced last Tuesday, and the itinerary was not released until Friday. Press Gallery representatives scrambled to charter an airplane. But it quickly became clear that the cost would be prohibitive - at least $7,000 a head, not counting the cost of getting up there - and there was no guarantee that a media plane would even reach many of the Prime Minister's destinations before he had departed. The CBC is represented in the Far North, and some outlets will send reporters to one location or another, and try to arrange for freelancers to send in reports from the PM's other stops. But this will be secondhand and second-rate coverage at best. Scott Reid, acting director of communications in the Prime Minister's Office, said the trip was organized quickly, to fulfill Mr. Martin's pledge to visit the North soon after the election. Short timelines and short runways made it logistically impossible to include media in the entourage. "The situation is far from ideal," he acknowledged, promising better planning in the future. This is not the first time Mr. Martin has ignored the annoying Press Gallery pack. In early July, he flew to Sun Valley, Idaho - his first foreign foray after the election - to deliver a speech on Canada-U.S. trade. Again, there was no notice until the last minute and no provision for the media. Fortunately, Sun Valley is not Pangnirtung, and most major outlets were able to get reporters to the scene in time to cover the speech and to scrum the Prime Minister afterward. Why should the Prime Minister never travel without accompanying press? For one thing, he could get shot. More plausibly, tours such as this northern one encourage newspapers and networks to explore the major issues that prompt them. In the case of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline, a prospering and increasingly confident territorial government is demanding greater autonomy over its natural resources - including a burgeoning diamond industry - and swift federal attention to unresolved land claims, which is why Mr. Martin's meeting with Mr. Handley deserves full coverage. In an interview, the Northwest Territories Premier said his own government was scrambling to prepare for the Prime Minister's arrival and for the accompanying talks, despite virtually no advance warning. "But I do really appreciate him coming up north, so early in his mandate," he added. Here's hoping that someone is there to take a picture. jibbiston@globeandmail.ca Copyright c. 2004 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. --------- "RE: Aboriginal Women's lives devalued" --------- Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 08:31:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="NATIVE WOMEN" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.whitehorsestar.com/auth.php?r=34356 Aboriginal women's lives devalued: group By Kelly-Anne Riess August 11, 2004 With 500 first nations women missing across the country, the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) has decided to do something about it. The president from the Ottawa-based organization was in Whitehorse Monday to talk about its Sisters in Spirit campaign. It's hoped that $10 million will be raised for research and education related to violence against aboriginal women. "We are becoming a service industry," Kukdookaa Terri Brown, president of NWAC, said about first nations people. "We are creating jobs for police, corrections officers and social workers. If we weren't kept in oppression, there wouldn't be those jobs." Over the next five years, NWAC wants to document the number of aboriginal women missing or killed in Canada. There will also be research into the circumstances of these disappearances. It's also hoped a hotline will be set up to report missing person cases. Twenty women showed up at Hellaby Hall on Monday to meet with Brown. "They were very glad to have a safe place to talk about women and viol ence and they expressed a need for further talking circles," said Elisabeth Asp, president of the Yukon Aboriginal Women's Council. During the morning, the women spoke about their concerns over addictions and women in conflict with the law. "They want more first nations working in frontline positions, in leadership positions, like the Women's Directorate," said Asp. She said there is a strong need for women to support each other. Asp said systematic barriers and racism hold first nation women back regardless of their education. Some women at the talking circle said there is even sexism within first nations communities. "We need to get women at the table. We need women chiefs. We need women in decision-making positions," said Brown. She said the North has the highest rates of violence in Canada. "This in itself is totally unacceptable," said Brown. Several of the women gathered for the talking circle mourned the loss of Rose Boya, a woman who was stabbed in her downtown Whitehorse home nine years ago. "There were tears shed," said Brown. The man accused of Boya's murder was later acquitted. Brown, who grew up in the Yukon, knew Boya well. "You don't see any thoroughness by investigators. When one of our sisters called about the Boya case, police said it was still open," said Brown. "These killers walk free and that puts us at risk. We don't know who they are and if they are still in the community." Brown said the police and the justice system need to be held accountable. The current justice system devalues aboriginal women's lives, said Brown. She said first nations need their own committees to oversee complaints regarding the police. She also said there need to be safe houses for women. "Women are dying every day," said Brown, adding a justice committee would strengthen women's voices, even if the committee had no clout with the police. She said the media haven't paid enough attention to women whose remains have been found on Robert Pickton's pig farm. The British Columbia man, who faces more than a dozen murder counts, is in custody but has not yet gone to trial. "The only real mention of them is their profession as sex trade workers," said Brown. "Something needs to be done right away. These women are someone's daughter. They are mothers and sisters." She said women in the sex trade are usually marginalized young women. "They weren't born prostitutes. They were conditioned that way. Maybe they were abused as a child," she said. NWAC has already received $20,000 from the federal government and hopes to get additional income from other sources. Brown said she hopes women who give their time to any safe houses or a hotline will be paid. "That is why we are raising money," she said. In Whitehorse, Asp said women will continue to have monthly talking circles to further address the issue. Copyright c. 2004 Whitehorse STAR. --------- "RE: Seized Lobster Traps burned" --------- Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 17:20:01 -0000 From: "frostyca2000" Subj: Seized lobster traps burned Mailing List: Frostys AmerIndian Seized lobster traps burned YARMOUTH, N.S. (CP) - Lobster traps that were to be used as evidence in an illegal fishing case burned on a federal wharf early Monday in a fire that authorities say was suspicious. The blaze damaged the fisheries wharf in Yarmouth, N.S., and a federal Fisheries Department patrol boat. RCMP have been called to investigate. "There seems to be no question that (the fire) was intentionally set," said RCMP Const. Craig Smith. No suspects have been identified and Smith said authorities are "very early on in the investigation." Of the 84 traps on the wharf, 20 were damaged, said Cal Boudreau, a federal Fisheries official. He said the fire also caused minor damage on board the patrol boat Geliget. "The damage to the boat is minimal," he said. "It's just scorched. There is some damage to the dock, which is fixable." A gasoline can was seized as evidence after it was found atop an unburned pile of traps. On Sunday, the Fisheries patrol boat brought in a load of traps, which were seized as part of a crackdown on the illegal lobster fishery. Fishery officers have been hauling illegal traps out of the water along the southwestern shore over the last three days. Late last week, federal officials seized more than 600 kilograms of what they alleged were illegally caught lobster. Copyright c. 2004 CANOE NEWS SERVICE. CNEWS --------- "RE: Suspicious Fire destroys Smith Metis Records" --------- Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 08:44:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="METIS RECORDS BURNED" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://north.cbc.ca//View?filename=agu16metisfire16082004 Suspicious fire destroys Smith Metis records August 16, 2004 FORT SMITH, N.W.T. - The office of the Fort Smith Metis Council was destroyed by fire early Monday morning. Fire fighters spent hours putting out the flames. Metis local president Ken Hudson the building contained records important for researching their land claim. He says the loss is critical. "The building itself can be replaced," says Hudson. "We have insurance, but just the amount of paperwork dating back to Day One for the Metis is all in that building and it's lost." The Fort Smith Metis are currently in the midst of that research. The RCMP say the cause of the fire is suspicious. Hudson was told the fire may have been started on the outside of the building. He says they will be setting up a temporary office in the Roaring Rapids Hall. Copyright c. 2004 CBC. --------- "RE: Cuba's forgotten Tribe experiencing a rebirth" --------- Date: Wed, 11 Aug 2004 08:31:57 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TAINO" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://news.yahoo.com//ts_chicagotrib/cubasforgottentribe~ Cuba's forgotten tribe experiencing a rebirth By Gary Marx Tribune foreign correspondent August 10, 2004 In a sweltering coastal settlement, Alejandro Hartmann pulled out a spiral notebook and jotted notes as a local peasant described his family's ties to a long forgotten indigenous group that is witnessing a modest resurgence. "What is the name of your mother and father?" Hartmann asked Julio Fuentes, a wisp of a man parked on a wooden bench. "Where do they live? How old are they?" Hartmann fired off a dozen more questions as part of his effort to complete the first census of the descendants of the Taino Indians, an indigenous group that once thrived in this remote region of eastern Cuba and later were thought to be extinct. "Julio is a mixture of Spanish and Indian like many people," explained Hartmann, a historian and Taino expert. "I want to eliminate the myth once and for all that the Indians were extinguished in Cuba." For years, anthropologists widely believed this island's once-powerful Taino Indians were exterminated shortly after Christopher Columbus sailed into a pristine bay and walked the steep, thickly forested terrain more than 500 years ago. Hard-working people The explorer spent only a week in the area in 1492 but described the Taino as gentle, hard-working people growing crops and navigating the crystalline waters in huge dug-out canoes. But, in a familiar story throughout the Americas, war and disease decimated the Taino, whose sense of identity was further razed over the centuries by racism and by generations of intermixing with whites, blacks and others who settled here. Today, it's difficult to differentiate Taino descendants from the average Cuban peasant, or guajiro, as they are called. Yet, Hartmann and a group of experts continue to press ahead, rewriting the tale of the Taino's demise in an effort to set the historical record straight and foster recognition among the island's 11 million residents of the group's contribution to Cuban life. With a new museum, academic conferences and other projects, they also are trying to nurture a nascent sense of identity among the hundreds-- perhaps thousands--of Taino descendants who are scattered along Cuba's impoverished eastern tip. "We are recovering knowledge that was forgotten, knowledge that my parents and grandparents had," said Fuentes, 51. "A lot of people had knowledge but lived and died without knowing its Indian origin." Experts say Taino influences are everywhere. The palm-thatched huts common in the region are similar to those built centuries ago by the indigenous group. Some farmers till the soil using a long, sharpened pole known to the Taino as a coa. Fuentes said he uses a coa to remove old plantain trees and dig latrines, while harvesting beans, sweet potatoes and other crops according to the four lunar phases--a belief system of indigenous origin. Some coastal residents fish with small nets in the Taino style and crabs are trapped using a crude, box-shaped device that has changed little over the centuries, experts say. Culture permeates Cuba