_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 14, ISSUE 015 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2006 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island April 15, 2006 Cree kiskipizun/gray goose moon Hopi kwiyamuyaw/windbreaks moon Blackfeet matsiyikkapisaii'somm/frog moon Eastern Cherokee nvda atsilusgi/flower moon +-------------------------------------------------------+ | 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 s ch mA mL tL squee Lux -- Okanogan -- News from 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; Frostys AmerIndian, Irin Natives and NativeLit-L Mailing Lists; UUCP Mail 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 Quote: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "This is our land; this is our home." "We gave up 95 percent of our land with guns at our heads. In return there were very few things the government was obligated to do, most of which they have never done. They have never honored their treaties. We do not feel that they want us to live." __ Fay Givens, Executive Director of American Indian Services Inc. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | 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 Sister! The Tory plan in Parliament for First Nations was barely worth one line in the throne speech that defined the new government's path.... The new government "will seek to improve opportunity for all Canadians, including Aboriginal Peoples and new immigrants," it said. That's it. Not one word was uttered about aboriginal housing, health or education issues. Not one single reference was made regarding funding promises made by the Liberals. From where I sit I don't believe this was an accidental slight, I believe it reflected the true nature of a beast that is just marking it's new territory. I also think it will take concerted pressure from a united aboriginal community to wring one single concession. I hope... I pray I am wrong. Dohiyi Ani Oginalii , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- - McCain's 'one good shot' - Manitoba Hydro and Nisichawayasihk stalls in Congress reach Deal - NAs urged to Rally in DC - OPINION: for Trust Case Universal Vote is important - EDITORIAL: Bad Medicine - Ownership touted as - Health Conference solution to Housing Crisis addresses Diabetes woes - Cree plan huge Wind Farm - Health cuts concern Indian Leaders - Yukon, First Nations make up - Mething up Dine' Children on Children's Act - American Indian Women - Mohawk 'Call to Action' and Activism (Part one) - Native standoff is - American Indian Women a Provincial Matter: Ottawa and Activism (Part two) - Sewage spill cuts off Water - Ground broken on Sask. Reserve on Oklahoma Burial Site - BC drops Forest Resource appeal - Interior nominee - Land Claim could also makes D.C. Rounds disrupt new Bridge - Tribes looking at - BC must put Aboriginal Face proposed Land Rules on new Child-Welfare - Beer sales near Bear Butte - Accountability Act must not get unanimous OK infringe on FN Rights - Florida agrees to buy - Ottawa ordered to appear at UN Lake Okeechobee Battlefield - US Canadian cross-border issues - Conference focus aired at Akwesasne on Native American Perspectives - Me'tis Land Claims case - Omaha Tribe's Veterans linked about to hit Courtroom to VA Specialists - Editorial: Probe of Reservation - Census testing needs support Homicides overdue - Tulalips want University - Tribe wants Probate Code on Reservation Constitutional Review - Student strives to - Native Prisoner keep Tribal Languages alive -- Penpal Request - Abenaki Recognition - Rustywire: Shiprock & Tse Nalyehe to be official today & The Twin Heros - CNO and Delaware - John Berry Poem: Canoes to negotiate Recognition - 2009 Games will play up - GIAGO: Tribes' past Watching the Mayflower drop Anchor - Upcoming Events - YELLOW BIRD: Hawk-eyed Birders see Nature's Glory --------- "RE: McCain's 'one good shot' stalls in Congress" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006 08:51:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TRUST REFORM STALLS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?feature=yes&id=1096412744 McCain's 'one good shot' at trust reorganization stalls in Congress by: Jerry Reynolds / Indian Country Today March 31, 2006 WASHINGTON - The "one good shot" promised by Sen. John McCain on trust reform reached an impasse March 28 as Indian leaders disagreed on the elements of reform legislation aimed at trust asset management issues. The hearing on titles II through VI of an ambitious Senate bill, S. 1439, followed a March 1 hearing that set the table for a federal monetary payment to Individual Indian Money trust beneficiaries - title I of S. 1439. According to documents generated by Congress, courts, attorneys, federal agencies delegated by the U.S. government to manage the IIM accounts, and various other investigators, the individual Indian beneficiaries of the trust have been shortchanged of earnings due them from the trust by federal mismanagement of both the accounting system and the underlying revenue-producing assets - land, timber, oil and other natural resources. As part of its stewardship of the resources it holds in trust for individual Indians, the federal government established the IIM accounts to receive the revenue streams flowing from the resources to the individual holders of the resources - the named beneficiaries of the IIM trust. Title I, concerning compensation, and titles II through VI, concerning the fine points of trust asset management, are joined at the hip in the 109th Congress by more than their sequential presence in S. 1439. As McCain stated at the start of the hearing, his colleagues in Congress will not approve a monetary payment for losses in the IIM trust unless they are confident a "Cobell II" will not ensue, based on issues left unsettled in the Cobell v. Norton lawsuit that has entered its 10th calendar year. The Arizona Republican, chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, offered titles II through VI in part to reassure his colleagues. But first they needed the unified support of Indian country. "We're never going to pass this legislation unless we have agreement," he told the morning's second panel of witnesses: Tex Hall of the Three Affiliated Tribes in North Dakota, Jim Gray of the Intertribal Monitoring Association in New Mexico, Clifford Lyle Marshall of the Hoopa Valley Tribe in California, Austin Nunez of the Indian Land Working Group in Arizona and Majel Russell of the Crow Tribe in Montana. The first panel had been government witnesses from Interior, the named defendant in the Cobell lawsuit, offering multiple major points of complex disagreement with S. 1439. McCain was counting on the Indian witnesses for the show of unity that would impress congressional members. He certainly got a partial showing of unity as Hall, Gray and Marshall essentially agreed that the structure and recommendations of S. 1439 are strong. But unanimity was always unlikely in view of the sweeping nature of titles II through VI: establishing a trust asset management policy review commission, an Indian trust asset management demonstration project, a program for the purchase and consolidation of fractional land interests, a restructuring of the BIA and the termination of the Office of the Special Trustee, and an audit of the Indian trust funds. Nunez concentrated on resource mismanagement issues, the mismanagement of the actual revenue-generating resources (land, oil, timber, etc.) as distinct from mismanagement in the system of accounting for and paying out the revenue. (The latter is the subject of Cobell, narrowly considered.) Resource mismanagement issues are sure to slow down the progress of S. 1439 in Congress, Hall said. By the time Nunez said the magic words - "I disagree with Chairmen Hall and Gray" over a place for resource mismanagement issues in S. 1439 - McCain had left the hearing room, not to return. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., as the committee vice chairman, offered a perfunctory remark or two and gaveled the meeting to a close. It had lasted less than one hour. With that settled, attention now turns to Congress and its appropriations committees, as well as the White House. Appropriators in past Congresses have threatened action on Cobell behind the scenes, but without following through on the public record at least. The public record now includes a suggested dollar amount for payment to the IIM beneficiaries: a figure of $5 billion surfaced at a recent meeting of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association. Senate Indian Affairs Committee General Counsel David Mullon, teleconferenced into the meeting, did not confirm the $5 billion figure, which tribal leaders associated with McCain. Copyright c. 1998 - 2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: NAs urged to Rally in DC for Trust Case" --------- Date: Wednesday, April 05, 2006 06:44 pm From: Bill McAllister Subj: NATIVE AMERICANS URGED TO RALLY IN WASHINGTON FOR TRUST CASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NATIVE AMERICANS URGED TO RALLY IN WASHINGTON FOR TRUST CASE WASHINGTON, April 5 - Native drummers will summon American Indians from across the nation to Washington April 11 for a crucial court hearing and a rally over the government's mismanagement of their trust accounts. Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in the historic Cobell versus Norton lawsuit over the government's admittedly broken trust program, has urged that Native people join her for a hearing over the government's effort to remove the judge who has presided over the lawsuit for the past 10 years. Members of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will also be considering an injunction that was issued over the lack security around the Interior Department's computer systems which hold trust data. "These two oral arguments are critical," Ms. Cobell said. "The government's basic idea is that since District Judge Royce C. Lamberth is holding them accountable for what the Court of Appeals has recognized as 'unconscionable' actions and 'malfeasance,' the judge should be ousted. The fact is that Judge Lamberth has patiently and impartially presided over our lawsuit." After the court hearing concludes, drummers from Montana's Blackfeet Nation and other tribes will lead a procession from the courthouse to the front of the Museum of the American Indian. There Ms. Cobell, attorney Keith Harper of the Native American Rights Fund, Chairman Tex Hall of the Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nation and co-chairman of the Trust Reform and Cobell Settlement Workgroup, Chief Jim Gray of the Intertribal Monitoring Association and Mary Johnson, a Navajo woman, will speak. Ms. Johnson has a remarkable story to tell. She lives on the Navajo Reservation in southern Utah on land where oil wells have been pumping non-stop for decades. Yet, as she has testified in the Cobell lawsuit, she has received very little money under the government-administered oil leases for her lands. At 3 p.m. former Senate leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota will join with the Native leaders for a discussion of the Cobell litigation at the Center for American Progress, 1333 H St. NW, 10th floor. The event is open to the public. Individuals who wish to attend the CAP event are requested to RSVP at www.americanprogress.org/cobellrsvp "We have planned a number of events around the court hearing because so many Indians have asked for an opportunity to show the importance of our court fight and to oppose the government's continuing efforts to roll back the court victories that we have won," Ms. Cobell said. -- Bill McAllister Cobell Litigation Team Daniella Leger Center for American Progress --------- "RE: EDITORIAL: Bad Medicine" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006 08:51:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INDIAN HEALTH NEEDS LIFE SUPPORT" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=9067 Bad medicine April 5, 2006 Suit challenges that Native Americans are still waiting for the health care they've been promised In the summer of 2004, Native American activist Kay McGowan spotted David Santacroce at a cocktail party. Santacroce directs the University of Michigan Clinical Law Program that gives students hands-on training with clients who otherwise could not afford legal representation. McGowan, a cultural anthropologist, author and university instructor who is a member of the National Urban Indian Coalition, told Santacroce she had a great potential case for him - suing the federal government to provide promised health care to Native Americans. "If I had a dollar for every person who has come up to me with a glass of wine in their hand and told me, 'I have a great case for you,' I would be a rich man," Santacroce says. But Santacroce listened. And later he and his students researched the issue. What they found was a repeatedly recognized legal obligation based on treaties, codified in legislation, and reaffirmed by Congress and court decisions for the federal government to provide health insurance to all Native Americans. On April 6, the U-M Clinical Law Program plans to file a class action suit in Federal District Court in Detroit on behalf of Native Americans living in this area. If successful, the suit would force the government to provide health care for them and set a legal precedent that could have ramifications for every Native American in the United States. The statistics on the state of health care for American Indians are staggering. According to the 2004 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report "Broken Promises," compared to the general population Native Americans are more than seven times as likely to die from alcoholism, more than six times as likely to die from tuberculosis, four times as likely to die from diabetes, nearly three times as likely to die from accidents, and 52 percent more likely to die from pneumonia or influenza. They have the poorest cancer survival rates of any racial group. The American Indian poverty rate is three times the national average and their life expectancy is 71, nearly five years less than the rest of the U.S. population. As a result of federal assimilation initiatives, nearly two-thirds of the 4.1 million Native Americans now live in urban areas. In metropolitan Detroit, there are more than 38,000 Native Americans, as many as 27,000 without health insurance. Despite this, by far the largest proportion of the budget of the federal Indian Health Services is spent on Indian reservations. These inequities exist in the face of the government's promises to provide health care to all Native Americans. There is one federal government-funded health care clinic to care for the 38,000 Native Americans in southeast Michigan. It provides basic medical care and outpatient programs for such health issues as substance abuse. But by the admission of its own director, it's not comprehensive. And it's not free. Patients pay according to a sliding scale based on income. "Really, nothing is free," says Lucy Harrison, Director of the American Indian Health and Family Services of Southeast Michigan on Lawndale, near Michigan and Lonyo. "There is no longer a free clinic. The Indians who come here are the sickest and the poorest in southeast Michigan. Those people who don't have a dime in their pocket, of course, we have to write that off." Those who need more than basic services are referred to specialists where they often are faced with costs they have no way to meet. "They're in a boat with no oars - absolutely," Harrison says. "You can make referrals all you want, but if there's no money - that's what the problem is. Yet the law said that we would provide health and education." American Indians are adamant that they do not want charity. They want justice. Indians ceded or were forcibly removed from more than 400 million acres of their land. "This is our land; this is our home," says Fay Givens, executive director of American Indian Services Inc., an Indian support group based in Lincoln Park. "We gave up 95 percent of our land with guns at our heads. In return there were very few things the government was obligated to do, most of which they have never done. They have never honored their treaties. We do not feel that they want us to live." Harrison says that this concept is especially relevant in the Detroit area. "We were the first people in the nation here," she adds. "When Cadillac rowed that boat up, this was our territory." There are also social and cultural barriers in place that contribute to health care disparities. Indians were actively at war with the United States for most of the 19th century and efforts to wipe out Native Americans and their traditions, beliefs and culture were very nearly successful. Is it really surprising that they remain wary of the government and its programs? In the late 1940s, the federal government began what is called the Bureau of Indian Affairs Relocation Program, moving Indians off reservations and into urban settings. In the early 1950s, Congress increased funding and enhanced the program. Participants received two years of benefits for either on-the-job or vocational training. The program continued through the 1970s. While some argued that the program put Indians on the road to independence, others argued that it forced Indians from their homes and did not improve their living conditions. "They moved half the Indian people in America into the cities," says Givens. "It was a social experiment to assimilate us and clearly it hasn't worked." McGowan is Givens' sister. She serves as a staff anthropologist for the National Urban Indian Coalition. She represents American Indians at the United Nations through the National Indian Youth Council and is a member of the National Indian Health Care Advisory Board. She and Givens were born in Mississippi and are members of the Choctaw Mississippi Band. They grew up in Detroit. McGowan says that Indians don't want to be assimilated. "We don't want in," she says. "We don't want to adopt what the mainstream sees as priorities. We have our own priorities - our families, religion, generosity. We cling tenaciously to our own values. We are who we are and we do not want to become part of the mainstream. It's insulting to us to become part of the melting pot." What Indians have encountered is a continuing cycle of poverty and racism. According to the Commission on Civil Rights report: "Persistent discrimination and neglect continue to deprive Native Americans of a health system sufficient to provide health care equivalent to that provided to the vast majority of Americans. ... Unfortunately, in this country, race matters when it comes to medical treatment. ... Studies show that people of color are less likely to receive certain medical procedures. Much of the unfair treatment and mistreatment stems from deeply rooted social inequities." Those inequities in southeast Michigan would be largely addressed if the U-M Clinical Law Program lawsuit is successful. The suit would require the federal government to provide comprehensive health care for Detroit-area Indians without cutting funds for reservation-based health clinics. A successful ruling could no doubt set a precedent that would lead to increased funding for urban Indians across the United States. The U-M Clinical Law Program is bringing the suit on behalf of the class and four named plaintiffs, three Native Americans and American Indian Services. "The federal government made promises and, as their very own document says, they broke those promises," Santacroce says. "The government made a pact with these communities, in exchange for the surrender of their lands, to take care of them. And they are not doing it." The Commission on Civil Rights, established by Congress in 1957, does, in fact say that. In "Broken Promises" the commission wrote: "The federal government has a special relationship with Native Americans, commonly referred to as a 'trust' relationship, requiring the government to protect tribal lands, assets, resources, treaty rights, and health care, among other obligations. ... This health care obligation requires the government to provide medical treatment to all Native Americans living in the United States." Indian Health Services, the federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services that is charged with providing health care to American Indians, would not disagree either. While the agency's Web site states that health care is not an entitlement, an IHS official says there is both a moral and legal obligation to provide it. "I think there's definitely a moral obligation," says Diane Dawson, public affairs specialist at IHS in Washington. "I know what you're asking and certainly our answer is that there is a legal obligation." Dawson says that the reason health care for American Indians is inadequate is simple: It is not well enough funded. "No, not to meet the needs," she says. "I think it's pretty well understood that it's not, but we do the best we can with what we've got and we appreciate everything we get." But a good effort is not good enough, Santacroce says. "I don't doubt that any individuals within IHS and in the government are doing their best to deliver medical services," he says. "The point is that their best is legally insufficient and that sits at their doorstep. When the law requires the government to do something, they have to do something. 'We don't have the money' is not a defense. It's as simple as that." Santacroce says that while there have been a handful of cases on the subject of Native Americans' health care brought in the United States and that the government has raised the issue of limited resources as a defense, the issues raised in those cases were different from this one. He says that no one has ever filed a lawsuit matching the scope, reach or specific grounds of the one being filed in Detroit. In a back-lot building at American Indian Services on Southfield Road in Lincoln Park, washers and driers, a couple of stoves and a television set sit waiting for pickup by those in need of them. Just after midday, a generous baker arrives with a donation: Dozens of loaves of bread and cartloads of assorted baked goods. According to McGowan, everything will be distributed to those in need before the end of the day. "Urban Indian Centers are really the end of the line for Indian people," she says. "When you're homeless and you've lost your job and your house, you would come into an organization like ours and we would link you up with the organizations that can help you." Givens says that health care for American Indians is poor across the board, but it is better on reservations. That provides a limited opportunity for some. "We have a lot of cases where individuals have severe health problems and our Indian health clinic in Detroit has a limited array of services," she says. "We would have to send these folks back to their home reserves. Some of them have to wait six months, a year, two years - every tribe is different - to re-establish their residency before they get health care. Some of them die before they establish their residency. "The federal government moved us to these cities. They moved us here and now they're not providing for us. We gave up our land. In return, this was one of the things they were supposed to do. We were supposed to be their wards - their children that they take care of. They don't take care of us." For Native Americans, it is both an issue of discrimination and of survival. "We're living in a hostile environment," Givens says. "It never, never ends. You see people wearing Chief Wahoo T-shirts. The sports teams with Indian nicknames. We are the last people who still have that ax to grind." "Most people don't get up in the morning and think about extinction," McGowan says. "The Iowa tribe has 119 people. The happiest event in their lives is when a baby is born, because that means they might survive. There is nobody else in America that gets up in the morning and thinks about extinction. We think about will we be here four generations or five generations from now. Will we and can we exist? Our survival may be riding on this ability to get health care. That's the way we're looking at this." For Santacroce, it is an issue of making the federal government do what he believes it is obligated to do. "You can't give someone a peanut and say you're feeding him," he says. "The fact is that for many people in this community, there is no health care. There is no peanut. And the government has an obligation. And maybe they prefer that it go away. Well, most people who make promises and then break them feel that way. It doesn't mean the promise goes away." Copyright c. 2006, Metro Times, Inc. --------- "RE: Health Conference addresses Diabetes woes" --------- Date: Sun, 9 Apr 2006 12:13:29 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DIABETES ISSUES" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.lakepowellchronicle.com/main.php?story_id=2731&page=23 Health conference addresses diabetes woes among Native Americans BY LEE PULASKI - LAKE POWELL CHRONICLE April 8, 2006 PAGE - Native Americans and health experts from northern Arizona came to Page for a two-day conference on March 28 and March 29 that addressed the issue of diabetes, which is afflicting Native American tribes in large numbers. The Tuba City Regional Health Care Center directed the conference, designed to share ideas and collaborate on how to eventually conquer the disease. Leaders from three American Indian tribes attended a dinner at Courtyard by Marriott and gave those in attendance inspirational words to help them in the fight against diabetes. Besides Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., American Indians were represented by Hopi Chairman Ivan Sidney and Paiute Chairman Johnny Lehi Sr. Even though the leaders gave some words of wisdom that helped health officials, the most moving speaker by far was a Tuba City woman named Lucille Krause. Her daughter was diagnosed with diabetes at an early age, and she had to leave the conference early to find out her current condition. A mother's worry "My daughter is now 22," Krause said. "She was only 13 years old when she was diagnosed (with diabetes)." Krause's daughter was in a private school at the time, and the two of them did not have contact very frequently. "She wasn't eating, and I didn't know why. The school didn't know," Krause said. "One day, she stopped eating (completely), and she said, 'Mom, I need you to come see me.' When your child tells you that, you don't care if you don't have the money. You don't care how you get there, but you get there." Krause took her daughter, the youngest of three, back home to Tuba City. She took her daughter to Flagstaff Medical Center for some tests, but the doctors did not immediately tell Krause what was wrong. Krause's daughter went back to the private school, and soon after, she got a call that told her that her daughter had diabetes. "I didn't know what was going on," Krause said. "How could my child have diabetes? I didn't drink; I didn't smoke. I chewed Skoal, but that couldn't have done it," she opined as the audience burst into laughter. "Looking at myself, I never had to deal with that. The only disease in my family was heart failure," Krause continued, adding that she asked her ex-husband if there was a history of diabetes; he claimed there wasn't. "I didn't know where to turn. I didn't know who to talk to," she said. "When they diagnosed her, (her blood sugar) was at 1,000, and you know how high that is. If we had not found out, she could have just kept on sleeping. She would have gone to sleep and not woke up." It is important for Native Americans to find out if they have this disease, and if they do, it needs to be treated and kept in check, Krause said. Keeping a healthy lifestyle is important, as well. Krause was raised in the traditional Navajo ways, which involved rising early and performing chores outside like tending the sheep. "From the sixth grade through high school, I ran a mile every morning," she said. "Besides that, we ran a mile to school just so we could catch the bus. That was the childhood life I had." It is important to keep traditional ways as a part of life, Krause said, because healthy eating and exercise are giving way to other, less important tasks. "I got a call a few days ago. My daughter, she stopped taking her insulin for two days, and you know what happens to your body; it dehydrates," Krause said. "We took her to the hospital, and (her blood sugar) wasn't very high, but she was dehydrated." Krause's daughter was having problems with her liver and kidneys; the kidneys were failing, Krause said. After she spoke, Krause had to hurry back to Tuba City, because her daughter was coming home, and she wanted to find out if her child would be all right. "I really hope that she will be all right," Krause said. "I hope we will all be all right. Just get out there and walk with your children." Back to the old ways Shirley pointed out that there are many diseases out there that need to be contended with, but diabetes is an issue particularly for his people. "This is a very important issue that has brought us together today," Shirley said. "We're here to talk about the prevention of diabetes, one of the monstrosities out there affecting our families, our relatives, our nations and other people in the world." The key to conquering the disease, Shirley said, is not necessarily tied to modern medicine. Some prevention methods can be found in some of the traditional rituals that Navajo people practice, he said. As modern culture merged with the Navajo way of life, Shirley said, it introduced certain foreign elements that have been bad for his people. "In the 20th and 21st centuries, we've kind of gotten away from that as a foreign element was introduced to us," Shirley said. "Some of us took it up, with pop and candy, being couch potatoes sitting in front of the television. This is what I feel has infiltrated our way of life. I tell this to my children. The pop that we drink, as far as I know, there is nothing good about it. What's good about pop, other than it tastes good? There is no food value - zilch, zero. Sugar water is all it is." Sugary substances have contributed to his people contracting diabetes, as well as having a high rate of tooth decay, Shirley said. However, eating things like meat, cornbread, herbs, and vegetables in lieu of unhealthy food and drink is the key to preventing diabetes, he opined. "I really believe that going back to our way of life, even in this day, would go a long way toward prevention, not just of diabetes but a lot of other diseases that plague us as humans," Shirley said. He noted that exercise is beneficial to preventing diabetes, even if it's not in the early morning per Navajo tradition. "Even if you just run a little each day, that will go a long way toward giving you good health," Shirley said. "Some say if you can't do that, at least walk a mile a day." Leader is survivor When Sidney took the podium, he pointed out that he knows what it is like to live with a disease that can potentially kill you. While he has never known the suffering caused by diabetes, Sidney is a cancer survivor. "I was in Tucson for my annual checkup. He gave me a clear, mental result, " he said. "I was my worst defeat the day I was told that I had cancer (because of a negative attitude). The first thing that came into my mind was, 'How long do I have to live?' and 'What did I not do that I wanted to accomplish?'" Sidney noted this way of thinking can also take place in people with diabetes, especially those that have to take insulin or go on dialysis to keep the disease in check. "Some people have given up before they even got started," he said. "Medicine is continually working, thank heavens, but we, as an Indian nation, are still faced with distances because we are isolated. It is my vision, working with all of you, to bring the best medical facilities onto our own reservations and being served by our own people. We can't be the second best." Sidney fought his cancer for two years, twice as long as expected because his doctors did not eradicate all the cancer in his first round of chemotherapy treatments. He had to drive himself to Flagstaff three days a week for treatments, a long distance from the Hopi tribe. "I know how I survived. I had the will to continue on," Sidney said. It is important for scientists and health experts to find a way to conquer diabetes, Sidney said, because it is killing many people, including his own Hopi brethren. "Diabetes is among the leading cause of death for our people today," he said. "We all know that, as Native people, we are survivors. We have survived conquest. We have survived poverty. We have survived whatever has faced us, and we are here today. We cannot be conquered, but together, we can be stronger." Sharing is important The diabetes conference is essential, in Lehi's view, because sharing information is the key toward finding answers about this disease. "It is good for all three tribes to be together and share what we know and how we can help each other," he said. "I am thankful for that." The search for answers can't be left in the hands of one tribe or one group of people, Lehi said. That is why a cross-cultural approach is necessary. "One strand of rope is not enough to hold our people together," he said. "But three strong cords of rope is unbreakable. We have the Hopi Nation here and the Navajo Nation and the Paiute. Together, we are unbreakable. We are here to help each other." Lehi recalled one session of the conference that morning where the female presenter referred to "outhouses." "Sometimes we fall into outhouses," he said, recalling the presenter's words. "What we have to do is help each other. If the Paiute fall, the Navajo can come and pick you up. If the Navajo fall, the Hopi can run in and pick you up. We have to help each other." Copyright c. 2006 Lake Powell Chronicle. --------- "RE: Health cuts concern Indian Leaders" --------- Date: Sun, 9 Apr 2006 12:13:29 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HEALTH CUTS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.montanaforum.com/modules.php?op=News&file=article&sid=5040 Health cuts concern Indian leaders Tribal Issues By BECKY SHAY The Billings Gazette April 7, 2006 Tribal leaders will have to unite across reservation and state lines to stop federal cuts to Indian health care budgets, two American Indian leaders said Wednesday at a health conference in Billings. President Bush's proposed 2007 budget would cut $33 million from the Indian Health Service budget that funds 34 urban Indian clinics across the nation. If those clinics are closed, tribal members likely would have to return to their home reservations to receive health care. But the reservation clinics and hospitals are barely able to provide services for those people eligible for care, let alone an influx of others, Montana and Wyoming tribal leaders said. Darryl Red Eagle, a council member of the Fort Peck Assiniboine-Sioux Tribes, said there are already medical "horror stories" because of not enough funding for health care services to his tribe. Dental care is available only on an emergency basis, Red Eagle said, and if someone needs braces the system is backed up until 2017. A tribal elder recently rode to Billings in the back of a pickup to get her medical care, Red Eagle said. A man's gallstones were not considered a matter of "life and limb," so he could be referred off-reservation for care until a duct ruptured and he became infected. The man is in Billings recovering but had to have part of his pancreas removed and is on dialysis, Red Eagle said. Red Eagle held up his left arm and rubbed the elbow where bone chips float, a condition that sometimes hampers use of his arm but that isn't critical enough to make him eligible for IHS treatment. Attending the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council Health Conference this week in Billings gave Red Eagle hope that with strategic planning and creativity, the potential cuts can be stopped and maybe even some new programs established. "There are solutions, but it takes a community to gather our funding," Red Eagle said. "There is strength in numbers. We're bringing all of our resources and numbers together." Anthony A. Addison Sr., co-chairman of the Northern Arapaho Tribe on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming, said there is a requirement in treaties between the government and tribes for federal funding to provide health care. "We need to come together in a unified, collaborative effort to do our best to address these issues," Addison said. "Even though money is not allocated at levels we need ... it never has been funded at those levels." Diabetes, heart disease, drug and alcohol abuse and cancer are debilitating young and old alike, Addison said. Those are ailments that don't stop at reservation boundaries but, in most cases, are more prevalent in Indian Country. Part of the problem, he said, is that too often people have to wait until a condition is advanced before health care is available. "There are preventative measures that can be done," Addison said. "But there's just not enough money to do it." The seventh annual health conference started Wednesday and wraps up today. Organizers said more than 200 registered for the conference, which is being held at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center. The theme of the convention is "Gathering our people, gathering our knowledge, for a healthier tomorrow." Red Eagle spoke at the opening session of the conference, wearing his war bonnet and ribbon shirt. Those are symbols of leadership, he said, and it is up to tribal leaders to promote their cultures, healthy lifestyles and hope. The hope now, Red Eagle said, is that more money can be found to take care of his people. "There is hope," he said. "The reason we still have hope is because of our creativity as tribes and our desire to succeed." Both men said they learned through the conference that there are successful programs they can bring to their tribes. But, they said, it will take resourcefulness and hard work for tribal leaders to find way to subsidize health care and keep their communities healthy. "There's still a lot of work that needs to be done," Addison said. "A lot of lobbying efforts to address the funding issue. We really need these increases for a better lifestyle." Copyright c. 2006 Billings Gazette - Lee Enterprises, Inc. --------- "RE: Mething up Dine' Children" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006 08:51:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="METH IMPACT WILL BE FELT FOR GENERATIONS" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.gallupindependent.com/2006/apr/040406methdine.html Mething up Dine' children McDonald-Lonetree says impact of drug will be felt for generations By Kathy Helms Dine' Bureau April 4, 2006 WINDOW ROCK - Twenty-five percent or more of the children in Tuba City have been exposed to methamphetamine, some through the use and sale of meth in the schools. Public Safety Chairperson Hope MacDonald-LoneTree, in testimony to be presented Wednesday to the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs regarding methamphetamine in Indian Country, refers to the award-winning documentary " 'G' Methamphetamine on the Navajo Nation," and research by Dr. Thomas J. Drouhard of Tuba City Regional Health Care Corp. In addition to finding that one-quarter of Tuba City's children were exposed to meth, Drouhard also found that unlike most illegal drugs whose users tend to be majority male, half the meth users were female. Drouhard said this has an immediate consequence on the next generation, especially when the users are pregnant or mothers of young children. Meth use also correlates directly with a dramatic increase in child abuse and violence, according to MacDonald-LoneTree. "With only about 30 officers available at any given time to respond to calls on our reservation, which is the size of West Virginia, and very limited detention facilities," she said, "we have almost no ability to crack down on meth traffickers, much less on meth users who have engaged in criminal activity, including domestic violence or child abuse, where it is critically important to separate the perpetrator from the victim." With unemployment on the Navajo Nation at more than 40 percent and generally limited economic activity, MacDonald-LoneTree said, "we must look to the federal government to honor its treaty obligations and its responsibility to the first citizens of this great nation and provide adequate funding to address this crisis." The bottom line, she said, is that in order to address the growing crisis, funding increases for Indian Country public safety, health care, education and housing must substantially exceed the rate of inflation currently 3.4 percent, with the medical rate from 8-12 percent. The Navajo Nation has been receiving only about 12 percent of Bureau of Indian Affairs public safety funds, though the 2000 Census showed it had one-third of the national on-reservation Indian population, she said. MacDonald-LoneTree testified before the Senate committee on Valentine's Day regarding the lack of safe and adequate detention facilities in Indian Country. In her testimony approved Monday by the Intergovernmental Relations Committee, MacDonald-LoneTree said that without proper funding the Navajo Nation cannot implement the first prong of the Drug Enforcement Administration's strategy for addressing the meth crisis. The DEA strategy includes three elements: * Enforcement, through various interdiction efforts, and dismantling meth trafficking operations and organizations; * Community engagement and prevention, including engaging schools, churches, chapter houses, businesses and families in an effort to raise awareness to the dangers posed by meth; and * Follow-up through treatment. Because meth has a high rate of addiction, it is not sufficient to just put traffickers in jail, it is also necessary to help those who are addicted to break the addiction and to heal. "Unfortunately, we do not have well-developed empirical data regarding meth abuse on the Navajo Reservation," MacDonald-LoneTree said. However, anecdotal data from the medical and public safety communities, as well as Indian Health Service data, shed some light on the scope of the problem. She said Navajo Public Safety services report a significant rise in violent, domestic and property crimes, with many of the perpetrators involved in meth use. The research is consistent with research conducted by the National Association of Counties, which found that 87 percent of responding law enforcement agencies reported an increase in meth-related arrests starting in 2002, she said. Of the counties surveyed, 58 percent said meth is the largest drug problem they face, compared to cocaine (19 percent), marijuana (17 percent) and heroin (3 percent). Seventeen percent of the counties said that more than half their prisoner population is due to meth-related crimes, while another 50 percent said that at least 20 percent of their inmates were in jail for such crimes. Of those responding to the survey, 70 percent reported an increase in robberies or burglaries due to meth use, while 63 percent reported an increase in domestic violence. Also, 53 percent reported an increase in assaults and 27 percent reported an increase in identity theft. MacDonald-LoneTree said IHS first began tracking meth encounters in 1997, when 31 were recorded. By 2005, there were more than 5,000 encounters. "Methamphetamine use puts our children and therefore our future at risk," she said. Copyright c. 2006 the Gallup Independent. --------- "RE: American Indian Women and Activism (Part one)" --------- Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2006 08:51:11 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="AMERICAN INDIAN WOMEN AND ACTIVISM" http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7740 American Indian women and activism (Part one) Donna Langston April 6, 2006 Editor's Note: Donna Langston is chair of the Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado at Denver. Her piece examines the role of Native American women in three key events: the occupation of Alcatraz Island, the Fish-in movement, and the occupation at Wounded Knee. Look for part two tomorrow. American Indian political activism in the 1960s took place during a time when many groups were actively organizing, groups with branches of their movement dedicated to civil rights pursuits and branches of more radical Power groups. Among civil rights groups of the time were African American organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Southern Christian Leadership conference (SCLC), led by Martin Luther King, and women's groups like the National Organization for Women (NOW). Civil rights groups most often focused on lobbying, education, and creating legal change. Power groups responded to the limits of civil rights groups with more radical rhetoric and actions. Numerous power groups advocated Black Power, Brown Power, Red Power, and Radical Feminism - groups such as the Black Panthers, Brown Berets, American Indian Movement (AIM), and New York Radical Feminists. Many groups borrowed strategies, tactics, theory, and vision from the African American movement. While similarities in goals and tactics can be found among groups of this time period, American Indian groups differed from others in a number of key areas, and also drew on their own unique history of continued resistance and conflict over land and resources. One major difference was that their focus was less on integration with dominant society, and more on maintaining cultural integrity. While African Americans had been denied integration, American Indians had faced a history of forced assimilation . American Indians also faced problems that differed from other groups, since they were owners of land and resources. A central focus of their activism was on gaining enforcement of treaty rights, not civil rights. The Indian movement focused more on empowering the tribe, not individuals, the more common reference point for civil rights groups. At a time when white student groups advised against trusting anyone over 30, American Indian youth actively pursued bonds with their elders and looked to them for cultural knowledge and leadership. While elders had a revered status, they did not necessarily hold positions of tribal authority. Many tribal councils were governed by members of a middle generation who had survived boarding school, but did not always understand the traditional values of elders or the interest among youth in reconnecting to their heritage. Divisions also existed among Indians based on geographical residence; reservation or urban. The status of Indians on reservations was sometimes compared to that of Southern Blacks, while members of urban diasporas were more often attracted to the rhetoric of power groups. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), founded in 1944, was one of the prominent Civil Rights groups of the American Indian movement during this time period. Unlike earlier groups, NCAI membnership was restricted to people with Indian ancestry, and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) employees were barred from leadership positions. Ruth Bronson (Cherokee) was the first executive secretary of the NCAI and served in this position until 1956. In general, the NCAI worked on issues more pertinent to reservation Indians than urban communities. NCAI campaigns included voting rights in the Southwest where Indians were prohibited from voting in state and local elections. Among the lobbying victories of this time period were the 1965 Indian Self-Determination and Education Act, the 1968 Indian Civil Rights Act, the 1972 Indian Education Act, the 1975 Indian Education Assistance and Self-Determination Act, the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, and the 1978 Religious Freedom Act. Another primary issue the NCAI lobbied against was the 1953 Termination Act passed by Congress and singed by President Eisenhower for the express purpose of dissolving the legal status of all tribes. In a 1947 report by William Zimmerman, the Acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs, tribes were divided into categories of immediate or eventual termination. The process began with the termination of the Paiutes of Utah in 1954. Tribes were refused building permits for hospitals and schools since this might encourage some to remain on their land rather than relocate. Congress would only consider compensation for stolen land and resources to those tribes who were willing to develop a termination plan. The termination policy occurred in a time period of widespread fear that American values were under threat from outside the country and from within. Indians who had not assimilated into dominant culture were viewed as un-American by some. In 1960, Dillon Meyer, who had directed the Japanese-Am erican relocation campus during World War II, was named Commissioner of Indian Affairs. One part of the Termination policy was the Relocation Program begun in 1952. This program offered one-way bus fare and the promise of assistance in finding jobs and housing in urban areas for reservation Indians, usually younger tribal members with more employable skills. In 1940, 13 percent of Indians lived in urban areas, but by 1980 more than half were urban. The BIA estimated that 200,000 Indians were relocated under this program, while the Indian Removal Act of 1830 had forced less than half this number, 89,000, to relocate. The high point of termination policy occurred during the period from 1952 to 1962. With the election of Kennedy and democratic administrations, the government's termination policy went into remission. By the late 1960s, both Johnson and Nixon had renounced termination. It was formally overturned in 1972, twenty years after it had been initiated. A renewed interest in tribal values was the exact opposite of what the Relocation Program was supposed to achieve. Both African-American and Indian militancy had increased with migration to urban areas. The growth in urban Indian populations unwittingly set the stage for a renewed radicalism among youth. In the African-American movement, a younger group of students, disillusioned with the limits of civil rights approaches, branched off of the older SCLC to form the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) This type of split also occurred in the American Indian Civil Rights movement, as students formed their own organization separate from the NCAI. The National Indian Youth council (NIYC) was founded in 1961 after an NCAI conference in Chicago during which disputes between Oklahoma and Great Plains tribes and disputes between tribal leaders who dominated NCAI and younger urban Indians occurred. After the Chicago meeting, a group gathered in Gallup, New Mexico, to form NIYC. Shirley Hill Witt (Iroquois) was one of the founders. While the NCAI had held conventions in big cities, NIYC began to hold meetings on reservations. Every Youth council meeting included traditional tribal songs and drum ceremonies. The group employed non-violent, humorous, and symbolic ridicule of white society through their publication ABC, Americans Before Columbus. Perhaps influenced by Third World Liberation movements of the time, they perceived the status of reservations to be that of internal colonies under the rule of the BIA. NIYC supported African-American groups and borrowed many of their ideas and rhetoric. One of the founders of NIYC, Clyde Warrior (Cherokee) spent the summer of 1961 working with SNCC voter education projects. He was one of the first Indian activists to use revolutionary rhetoric and publicly labeled the BIA as a white colonialist institution. The term Red Power was first used by Vine Deloria, Jr. (Lakota) at a national NCAI conference in 1966. The public first became aware of the term in a 1967 news broadcast that featured Clyde Warrior promising that the NIYC would lead an uprising that "would make Kenya's Mau Mau look like a Sunday school picnic." Indian militancy borrowed heavily from African- American models. Sit-ins provided a model for the fish-ins, "red power" responded to the earlier term "black power," and "red Muslims" was a term used by some Indian militants like Gerald Wilkinson (Cherokee/Catawba), a leader in the NIYC. One of the first actions the students joined was the Fish-in Movement in Washington State in 1964. A movement of open resistance had begun that would support new tribal achievements. In 1968, two more youth-led power groups emerged, one on the West Coast and one in the Midwest. Lehman Brightman (Lakota), Director of the American Indian Studies at the University of California campus, formed the Bay Area-based United Native Americans, whose members played a role in the occupation of Alcatraz. Though they envisioned themselves as a national organization, most of their support was in the Bay Area. They are credited with publishing the first inter-tribal militant newspaper, Warpath, in 1968 and issued a call for war on the BIA. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: American Indian Women and Activism (Part two)" --------- Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2006 10:18:59 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WOMEN AND ACTIVISM - PART2" http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7743 American Indian women and activism (Part two) Donna Langston April 7, 2006 Editor's Note: Donna Langston is chair of the Ethnic Studies Department at the University of Colorado at Denver. This portion of her essay on American Indian women and activism explores the takeover of Alcatraz. Part one ran of her piece ran yesterday and part two runs Monday. A group of young community members in urban Minneapolis formed the American Indian Movement (AIM), also in 1968. Modeled after the Black Panthers, they initially responded to the issue of urban police harassment and found themselves targeted by the FBI. By the late 1960s, Indians in Minneapolis formed a third of the state's Indian population, more than any single reservation in the state. Most of the Indians in Minneapolis were Anishinabe. While the membership base of the NIYC was comprised primarily of students, AIM initially drew a relocated urban underclass to their movement. Power groups led a number of effective symbolic actions that challenged and educated society. Power groups, led by youth, often from urban backgrounds, organized separately from whites and focused on the need to reeducate members in traditional tribal ways. Spiritual practices, personal appearance, and hair length, for example, indicated independence from white values. Some divisions occurred as charges of being "uncle tomahawks" (a sell-out, similar to the African-American term of "Uncle Tom" in meaning), or "apples" (red on the outside, white on the inside) were applied to American Indians in the BIA, tribal bureaucrats, educated professionals, and to those with light skin, of lesser blood quantum, or who were otherwise deemed not "Indian enough." FBI infiltrators encouraged these divisions. The first red power action that garnered national and international attention was the 1969 occupation of Alcatraz Island. Other occupations followed this one, including one at Fort Lewis, Washington, the 1972 occupation of the BIA in Washington D. C., and the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee. Post-Alcatraz inter tribal groups aimed their protest at national sites and symbols. The occupation of Alcatraz Island galvanized Indian pride and consciousness, and heralded a new era in American Indian activism. This landmark occupation began in November 1969 and ended nineteen months later, in June 1971. There had been an earlier four-hour symbolic takeover of Alcatraz in March 1964, organized by Belva Cottier (Lakota), which garnered regional media attention . The group of forty, from the Bay Area Council of American Indians, drove claim stakes into the ground (a broom handle was used for one) symbolizing the discovery sticks Lewis and Clark had used. The group offered the government forty-seven cents an acre for a total of $9.40 for the island. The occupying party of forty included twenty-six-year-old Russell Means (Oglala Lakota) and his father. Belva Cottier also pressed a claim to the island through the courts under the Fort Laramie Treaty that gave Indians the right to claim abandoned federal property, but was unsuccessful in court. The action, led by Belva Cottier, remained a topic of conversation among urban Bay Area Indians long afterward. A number of prominent leaders, including Wilma Mankiller and Russell Means, had grown up in California, after their families, along with others from tribes throughout the United States, moved there as part of the federal government's Relocation Program. In 1958, four out of the eight original Relocation Centers were in California: at San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and Los Angeles. Consequently, California was a hotbed for Indian activism. As many Lakota resided in California as on reservations in South Dakota. The Indian population in California was 82 percent urban in contrast to states such as Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska, and North Carolina, where Indians were more than 70 percent rural. Urban residents at this time had more education and lower rates of unemployment: 11 percent in urban areas, compared to 40 percent and higher in rural reservation settings. Being an urban Indian had become an important identity. Moreover, the Indian population had also become a younger group ove rall. An unintended consequence of this concentration of young Indians in urban areas was an increase in American Indian militancy. Urban militancy was matched by a resurgence of nationalism on reservations. The 1969 occupation of Alcatraz, which gained national and international media coverage, was led by students from California campuses and supported by community members of the San Francisco Indian Center. Indian Centers in urban areas were another unanticipated consequence of the government's urban Relocation Program. In urban settings, Indian Centers and bars maintained social contact for participants. Just weeks before students moved to occupy Alcatraz, the San Francisco Indian Center had burned down and members discussed the possibility of building a new center on Alcatraz. An initial landing on Alcatraz occurred on 9 November 1969 and was followed by a larger landing on 20 November by ninety students who began the hard work of building an infrastructure to support a long-term occupation. The prison on the island had been shut down several years earlier. Conditions on the island were desolate: no electricity, no running water. The occupiers pointed out that similar conditions could be found on many reservations. All supplies had to be carried across the bay through Coast Guard blockades. The work of women was essential in the daily running of the island, including running the community kitchen, school, and health center. Yet male figures such as Richard Oakes (Mohawk), head of San Francisco State Native American Student group, and bartender and twenty-three-year-old John Trudell (Santee Lakota), who ran the radio broadcast from Alcatraz, received more media attention at the time and remain better known to this day. An average of approximately 100 occupiers remained on the island on a continuous basis, but thousands of Indians from across the country visited Alcatraz, a symbol of renewed cultural pride and more militant stances regarding self-determination. More than 56,000 Indians took part in the occupation. The occupiers adopted the name Indians of All Tribes, characterizing their backgrounds. Prominent leaders among the student occupiers included Richard Oakes and LaNada Boyer/Means (Shoshone Bannock), the head of the Native American Student Organization at the University of California, Berkeley campus. Richard Oakes occupied the island for a few short months in the beginning, but LaNada Boyer/Means, at age twenty-two, was in the initial landing party and occupied the island from beginning to end. In January of 1968, she had been the first Indian student admitted to the University of California, Berkeley. She later chaired the Native American Student Organization that led the occupation. She wrote a $300,000 grant proposal that sought to turn Alcatraz into a cultural education center. Also present were Madonna Gilbert/Thunderhawk (Cheyenne River Lakota) and John Trudell, who would later become leaders in AIM. The protesters used humor and symbolism to deliver political messages through a document proclaiming their intent to establish a Bureau of Caucasian Affairs ridiculing the BIA, whose policies were routinely criticized by some Indian leaders. Occupiers also shot toy bow and arrows at Coast Guard boats. Among the original student group of seventy-eight occupiers were two informers, a condition that plagued Indian groups. The student occupiers of Alcatraz were not armed, as opposed to those later occupiers at Wounded Knee. The Alcatraz occupation also occurred within the liberal environment of the Bay Area, in sharp contrast to the conservative, rural, South Dakota environment the later Wounded Knee occupation faced. Students were the original occupants of the island, but community members on the mainland such as Adam Nordwell/Fortunate Eagle (Anishinabe) and Grace Thorpe (Sac Fox), daughter of Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe, provided the support that made the occupation possible. Grace Thorpe procured a generator, water barge, and ambulance service, as well as coordinated publicity, including visits by Hollywood stars such as Jane Fonda, Marlon Brando, Anthony Quinn, and Candice Bergen. She also handled public relations on Alcatraz and at the later Fort Lawton occupation. She helped to secure property for the site of Deganawidah-Quetzalcoatl (DQ) University, the first university of American Indian and Chicano students, near Davis, California. Her activism began with Alcatraz; as she recalls, "Alcatraz made me put my furniture into storage and spend my life savings." Grace Thorpe went on to work as a lobbyist with NCAI and attempted to get factories located on reservations so people would be able to have jobs without leaving their lands. She returned to her reservation in 1980 and served as a tribal judge and health commissioner. Thorpe remained an activist throughout her life. In her sixties, with only her social security checks, she started a fight against what she called "radioactive racism" in her own tribal government, which was considering storing nuclear waste. In 1993 she founded the National Environmental Coalition of Native Americans. Another community member, fifty-year-old nurse Stella Leach (Colville), ran the health clinic and was a leader in the occupation toward the end. Dr. Dorothy Lone Wolf Miller (Blackfoot), the Director of Scientific Analysis Corporation, used her office as the headquarters for Indians of All Tribes and procured an education grant to start Rock School on the island and to set up the island health clinic. She also printed the newsletter of the occupation. Numerous community members, such as twenty- three year old Wilma Mankiller, had volunteered support for the occupiers from the mainland and visited the island. Wilma credits Alcatraz with being the catalyst for her initial political awareness, stating, "It gave me the sense that anything was possible. Who I am and how I governed was influenced by Alcatraz." The government offered the occupiers a cultural center at Fort Mason next to Fisherman's Wharf, but the protesters wanted title to the island itself. Stella Leach warned the government that they would create another Wounded Knee Massacre if they tried to remove the protesters. Some criticized the atmosphere on the island during the last few months as being a combination of constant powwows and street fighting. It has been argued that violence and chaos increased as the occupation changed from mostly students to a larger base of people from the streets. It is difficult to know how many infiltrators might also have contributed to dissension. The federal government was eventually able to outwait and outmaneuver the Alcatraz occupiers and finally removed them from the island on 11 June 1971, but the landmark protest had left its impact. Many more occupations were to follow in areas across the country for the next few years, including a three month occupation in March 1970 at Fort Lawton in Washington state that was successful in procuring land for the Daybreak Star Cultural Center; and occupation near Davis, California, that was successful in establishing DQ University in 1971; an occupation of Ellis Island; a 1970 Thanksgiving occupation of the Mayflower by AIM; and numerous occupations of BIA offices, including the headquarters in Washington, D.C. These later occupations were all for short periods of days or weeks. Alcatraz helped to shape public opinion and influence public policy. A top aide to President Nixon later cited at least nine major policy shifts that resulted from the occupation of Alcatraz, including passage of the Indian Self Determination and Education Act, revision of the Johnson O'Malley Act to improve Indian education, and passage of the Indian Financing Act and an Indian Health Act, and the return of Mount Adams to the Yakima in Washington State as well as the return of 48,000 acres of the Sacred Blue Lake lands to Taos Pueblo in New Mexico. Nixon had also quietly signed papers ending the Termination policy during the occupation. Perhaps most importantly, Alcatraz raised political consciousness, as noted by John Trudell: "Alcatraz made it easier for us to remember who we are." Before Alcatraz, Indian activism had been more tribal and regional, with a focus on specific treaty issues. Alcatraz remains the longest occupation of a federal site by Indians to this day. Alcatraz her alded an inter tribal militancy that awakened the American public to the status of American Indians. Cross-country marches by Indian groups continue to use Alcatraz as their starting point, as it was the beginning of a new movement and of a newfound pride and racial consciousness. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Ground broken on Oklahoma Burial Site" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2006 08:41:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="RETURN TO EARTH" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7728 Native leaders, religious group break ground on Oklahoma burial site Organizers: Unique project could help return thousands of remains CLINTON OK Sam Lewin April 4, 2006 In what organizers say is the initial step in creating likely the first such location in the country, a non-denominational religious group joined some of Oklahoma's Native American spiritual leaders in breaking ground on a burial site for ancestral remains. The ceremony, held April 1st and attended by some 200 people, was "a culmination of years of dreaming and visibly showing the goodwill of many neighbors," said Lawrence Hart, a longtime Cheyenne peace chief in the tradition of legendary figures like Black Kettle and White Antelope, men renowned for not carrying weapons and instead using words to solve disputes. Hart is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma and a Mennonite minister. The ceremony that gave Hart such optimism was organized by Religions for Peace-USA, a New York City-based organization that "envision[s] a world in which people of distinct religious communities live together in respect and mutual support, creating paths to peace and justice," according to their website. The group has launched the "Return to the Earth Project" to bring Native American remains to their proper resting place. Executive director Bud Heckman says that the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act-the 1990 legislation designed to return funerary items to their tribes of origin- is "slow and under funded," and that 100,000 remains cannot be identified as belonging to a federally-recognized tribe. In short, they are without a resting place. "These once-beloved mothers, fathers, friends and children are still waiting to be returned and honored with dignity," Religions for Peace-USA said in a statement. "The Return to the Earth Project supports Native Americans in burying unidentifiable ancestral remains currently held in museums, libraries and government depositories." The groundbreaking took place at the Cheyenne Cultural Center in Clinton, founded by Hart in 1977. Officials hope that some day it will house remains originating from states in the south-central Plains. "The ceremony went very well," Heckman told the Native American Times. Hart said about the ceremony that he was "hopeful that it would provide a much needed positive and hopeful moment of reconciliation after years of suffering after the years of anguish and suffering by Native American over this issue." "Religious communities have a unique responsibility to Native Americans for their history of silence or even collusion in historic wrongs against Native American peoples," Heckman said. You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Interior nominee makes D.C. Rounds" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2006 08:39:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="KEMPTHORNE WORKING CAPITOL HILL" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7733 Interior nominee makes D.C. rounds Indian leaders are optimistic, urge quick action on pressing issues Sam Lewin April 4, 2006 The man nominated as the new head of the Department of Interior met this week with senators, although he declined to discuss what transpired during the meetings. Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, tapped by President Bush as the new interior secretary, would replace departing Secretary Gale Norton if confirmed by the Senate. Norton resigned on March 5. Members of the American Indian community are watching Kempthorne, 54, for clues as to how he would act regarding the long-standing Indian-trust lawsuit. After meeting with the senators in Washington, DC, Kempthorne said it would be inappropriate to talk publicly on contentious topics. "I must wait until the hearing itself before I make comments on specific issues," Kempthorne was quoted as saying by the Billings [Montana] Gazette. "That's the prerogative of the Senate, that's the process, and so right now this is just an opportunity to say hello again to a number of my former colleagues and affirm that I look forward to working with them." While reception to the nomination has generally been friendly in Indian Country, officials warn that there is much work that is separate from the Indian trust controversy "Overall needs of Native Americans remain unmet, such as basic infrastructure in their communities, quality affordable housing, education and health care," said Gary Gordon of the National American Indian Housing Council. "As 12% of Native Americans lack plumbing facilities, 11% lack kitchen facilities, 90,000 Native families are homeless or under-housed and 14.7% of homes are overcrowded, [Kempthorne] must be ready to take on these challenges." Gordon also said he hoped that Kempthorne, who is expected to win confirmation easily, would quickly appoint a new deputy secretary for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a position that has been vacant for a year. Shortly after the nomination was announced, officials with the Nez Perce Tribe, based in the Idaho town of Lapwai, gave to the Native American Times a statement from tribal leader Rebecca Miles about the tribe's history with the governor. "We have had a good working relationship with the governor that focuses on cooperation. It is also a respectful relationship," Miles said. Another Idaho tribe, the Coeur d'Alene, also had positive things to say about the Bush nominee. "Coeur d'Alene has constructed a solid foundation working with Gov. Kempthorne on a wide range of issues including gaming and environmental concerns," said Quanah Spencer, the tribe's public affairs director. You can reach Sam Lewin at sam@okit.com Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Tribes looking at proposed Land Rules" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006 08:51:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BIA POLICY CHANGING" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/04/03/news/local/112630.txt Tribes looking at proposed land rules By JODI RAVE Lee Enterprises April 4, 2006 PORTLAND, Ore. - Harrison Tsosie of the Navajo Nation doesn't like Washington bureaucrats telling the tribe how to manage 15 million acres of tribal land held in trust by the federal government. And now a new federal law and proposed Interior Department policies are changing all the rules governing 56 million acres of trust lands around the country. "The big concern of the Navajos is this notion the federal government holds land in trust," said Tsosie, Navajo Nation deputy attorney general. "It provides an opportunity for the federal government to have pervasive control over all activities within the Navajo Nation." Tsosie arrived in Portland with about 200 other tribal representatives from the western half of the United States on Wednesday to attend an all- day comment session with Interior Department staff members. The task at hand: Try to understand the complex, sweeping list of proposed regulatory changes about to dramatically alter the landscape of trust fund management. Tribal representatives pored through a 2.7-pound binder filled with draft regulations affecting anyone who owns land in Indian Country. The binder only addressed changes brought about by passage of the 2004 American Indian Probate Reform Act. Now a year later, the law is taking effect. The proposed regulations discussed Wednesday will help make the probate reform act a reality. They're supposed to be finalized June 20. "I don't know when we've ever done anything - when you look at the binder with the drafts in it - that extensive at one time," said Michelle Singer, an Interior Department staff attorney. "It's huge." The probate reform act affects land ownership rights for hundreds of tribes across the country and some 245,000 individuals. Many of the tribal representatives in Portland said the new changes were alarming. "I feel they've overwhelmed the tribes with all these regulations," said Sharon Red Thunder, realty specialist with the Colville Confederated Tribes of Washington. "They've given us such little time to comment and be consulted when they've been working on these trust reform regulations for years." The reform act will affect probate and life estates, selling, exchanging or buying land, grazing permits, land leases, record and title documents, administrative appeals and new fees for managing trust funds. The Interior Department will release more policy changes, leaving tribes to grapple with the regulatory changes brought on by the American Indian Probate Reform Act. "It was passed in 2004 but there wasn't a lot of education in Indian Country," said Majel Russell, an attorney representing Montana and Wyoming tribal leaders. "DOI didn't come out. I think they did one pamphlet that we all got as Indian landowners. It was a good pamphlet. But that was it. We haven't had a lot of training or consultations." Probate and life estate changes are drawing some of the heavier criticisms. It's now paramount that a landowner has a will if they want to control the future of their landholdings. Typically, if a landowner dies, their spouse or all surviving children will inherit the land. Not anymore. If a will isn't in place, the spouse won't inherit the land. They'll only have use of it while living. And in cases where a landowner owns less than 5 percent of a fractionated parcel, the oldest child, grandchild or great-grandchild will inherit it - not all the children, as in the past. Another contested provision allows the Interior Department to purchase land during the probate proceeding without the heirs' consent if the holding is less than 5 percent - this doesn't apply if a person has a will. If a will doesn't exist, the land falls under new federal probate codes. State probate codes will no longer be followed. "It's a total radical change from the way probates work now," said Russell. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Indian Affairs announced last spring that it would stop doing wills for landowners. Confusion will likely ensue in months to come, said Russell, considering few Indians have wills. Amanda Wilbur, an attorney who lives on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, said only about 5 percent of Indian landowners in South Dakota have wills. Across the country, it's about 10 percent, she said. The massive trust reform initiative is being spurred on by the near decade-long landmark lawsuit filed in 1996 against the Interior Department by Elouise Cobell of the Blackfeet Nation in Montana. The suit provoked a court mandate requiring the Interior Department to provide a historical accounting of land and money accounts mismanaged for tribes and individual landowners dating back to 1887. The Portland consultation meeting marked the end of a 90-day comment period tribes had to voice concerns over proposed regulatory changes. So far, hundreds of comments have been made to staff, which has been sorting through them on a continual basis. "We're going to try and turn them around in a couple weeks," said Singer. "We want to get the next comment period started." That will happen after department staffers publish a second draft. More consultations will follow, she said. Staff members will then produce a second draft of regulatory changes, giving tribes and landowners another opportunity to comment on changes. Copyright c. 2006 Bismarck Tribune, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Beer sales near Bear Butte get unanimous OK" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2006 08:39:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SACRED ONLY IF IT'S SACRED TO WHITE SOCIETY" http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2006/04/05/news/top/news01.txt Beer sales get unanimous OK By Dan Daly, Journal Staff Writer April 5, 2006 STURGIS - After listening to nearly two hours of comment - some for, most against, and much of it impassioned - the Meade County Commission voted 5- 0 to approve a beer license for a new Sturgis motorcycle-rally bar and campground near Bear Butte, a sacred site to many American Indians. Entrepreneur Jay Allen, owner of the Broken Spoke Saloon, bought 600 acres of land north of the butte. He plans to open a new Broken Spoke Saloon and Sturgis County Line Campground on the site for the 2006 Sturgis motorcycle rally. Later, he hopes to open a concert venue as well. But opposition to Allen's plan has been intense. Diverse American Indian groups including the Sturgis-based Bear Butte International Alliance and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of Montana oppose the project. The Meade County Commission received 633 letters on the subject. There was even an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times decrying Allen's proposal. Tuesday's commission meeting culminated a day of prayer and protest by Indian groups that began at Bear Butte and ended on the streets of Sturgis. More than 400 marchers, singing and chanting "Save Bear Butte," walked in a slow procession behind a Lakota drum group and spiritual leader Arvol Looking Horse. The march ended at the front entrance of Meade County Courthouse. Protesters carried signs that read "The End is Near, Jay Allen is Here" and "Develop Your Mind, Not Sacred Sites." Inside, the courtroom-turned commission room had space for only 70 people. Most of the crowd waited outside through the entire meeting. About 25 journalists crowded into the jury box-turned press gallery as Jay Allen made his case for approval of the beer license - and 20 opponents tried to persuade the commission to deny the license. Allen's attorney, Bryce Flint, told the commission that the bar itself would be 2-1/2 miles north of the base of Bear Butte. He noted that other licensed biker bars and music venues, including one across the road from the Sturgis County Line property, are as close or nearly as close to Bear Butte. Among those who spoke on Allen's behalf was Sasha Mullins, who works for the Broken Spoke. She described her boss as a big-hearted person who wants to develop a harmonious environment for his employees and his patrons. Flint noted that Allen's beer-license request meets both legal tests set down by state law - character of the applicant and location of the establishment. He said Allen, who operates Broken Spoke Saloons at motorcycle events in four states, has been found to be a responsible businessman. Flint also said the neighboring landowners support his right as a landowner. The Meade County Commission apparently agreed. There was little discussion among the five commissioners before the 5-0 vote. Dean Wink was the only commissioner who spoke to the crowd. "I'm not convinced that Meade County needs another biker bar," Wink said. "I do feel strongly... that private property rights have been eroded." He said Allen's proposal meets the standards set by the state and the county and therefore deserves a beer license. "I have a problem deviating from the standards we've set down." The decision came despite a series of passionate speeches from Indian people who talked of the sacredness of Bear Butte and its role in their cultural history. They spoke about the need to preserve the sanctity of Bear Butte so that future generations of Indian pilgrims will have a place to fast, pray and cleanse their spirits. Speakers compared Bear Butte to Jerusalem, to Mecca, to the Christian Bible and to Mount Sinai. "Bear Butte is a sacred place, and we need to keep it as our grandfathers (kept it)," said Looking Horse, who is revered in Lakota religion as the keeper of the sacred calf pipe. "When we sit on top of Bear Butte, we communicate with our creator." Carter Camp of the Intertribal Coalition to Defend Bear Butte also spoke. His group is pushing for a five-mile buffer around Bear Butte. He told the commissioners that generations of American Indian soldiers who fought for the United States have come home to Bear Butte to heal their spirits. He said every biker that goes to the new Broken Spoke Saloon will go rumbling past Bear Butte. "The location of this could not be worse," he said. The Northern Cheyenne Tribe, which traces its very survival to Bear Butte, has been buying land around Bear Butte for years, L. Jace Killsback, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council, said. He said the tribe has about 700 acres set aside, and it is trying to buy more. Others said they have no objection to Jay Allen opening a biker bar for the Sturgis rally - but not at this location. The Sturgis County Line proposal also apparently renewed some of the debate in Meade County about the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Jesse Levin, a non-Indian rancher who lives 30 miles east of Sturgis, told the commissioners that she is disgusted by the trash, dust and drunken bikers that she has seen at her place. "When is enough going to be enough for us in Meade County?" she asked the commissioners. State Sen. Stan Adelstein, R-Rapid City, who chairs the House-Senate Tribal Relations Committee, also spoke against the measure, as did Bruce Ellison, a Rapid City attorney. Ellison said the United States was founded on the principle of religious freedom. "We have to figure out a way in which we can co-exist," he said. Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com Copyright c. 2006 Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: Florida agrees to buy Lake Okeechobee Battlefield" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006 08:51:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BLOODIEST BATTLE SITE OF 2nd SEMINOLE WAR ACQUIRED BY STATE" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sfl-44battlefield,0,5665285.story State agrees to buy 2nd Seminole War's Lake Okeechobee battlefield By BILL KACZOR Associated Press April 4 2006 TALLAHASSEE - Debate over who won the Battle of Lake Okeechobee 169 years ago drags on, but victory finally was at hand Tuesday for the Seminole Tribe and others who have been fighting to preserve the historic site. Gov. Jeb Bush and the Florida Cabinet unanimously agreed to spend $3.2 million to purchase 145.5 acres where Seminole and Miccosukee Indians and escaped black slaves fought hand-to-hand with the U.S. Army on Christmas Day 1837. "This was the largest, bloodiest battle of the Second Seminole Indian War," said state Rep. Richard Machek, D-Delray Beach, who spoke in favor of the purchase. The war was part of U.S. efforts to remove American Indians from Florida, then just a U.S. territory with large expanses of unexplored land. Preservationists have been afraid rapid growth in the city of Okeechobee would turn the site into a subdivision or shopping area. It is wedged between a commercial area and a 300-home development. The state is buying the site from the Rowland Foundation, created to benefit orphanages and religious organizations, through the Florida Forever program designed to preserve endangered lands. It will become a state park. Plans include controlled public access with living history events such as reenactments of the battle. It also will serve as a community educational resource and heritage tourist destination. W.S. Steele, historic preservation officer for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which has a reservation nearby, said he has been fighting to protect the site for 21 years and others longer than that. The National Trust for Historic Preservation joined the effort in 2000 by listing the battlefield as one of the country's 11 most endangered historic sites. "Abraham Lincoln said that it was the most desperate single battle in the annals of Indian warfare," Steele said. "It has been described as the largest battle of the fiercest war ever waged by the U.S. government against native American people." About 1,100 soldiers and militia troops led by Col. Zachary Taylor fought with around 400 Indians and escaped slaves. The Army suffered heavier casualties, 26 dead and 112 wounded compared to 11 dead and 14 wounded on the Indian side. The battle was declared a victory in Washington, though, because the Indians were driven from the battlefield. As a result, Taylor earned the nickname "Old Rough and Ready." He also won a promotion and fame that helped catapult him to the presidency in 1848. The Seminoles and their allies, however, avoided capture and removal from Florida, found sanctuary in the Everglades and never surrendered. Steele brought several artifacts recovered from the battlefield to the Cabinet meeting. They included one of only two Seminole pipes from that era known to exist, military buttons, musket balls and a lead flint jaw from a gun. "It was the terminating and decisive battle of a 200-year conflict that began in the 1680s and did not really end until 1858," Steele told the Cabinet. "The significance of this battlefield cannot be overstated." Copyright c. 2006, Sun-Sentinel Co. & South Florida Interactive Inc. --------- "RE: Conference focus on Native American Perspectives" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006 08:51:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INTELLECTUAL APARTHEID" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.ala.org/Template.cfm/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=122404 For Immediate Release ALA intellectual freedom conference program focuses on Native American perspectives and libraries April 4, 2006 CHICAGO - The exclusion of Native American perspectives from mainstream American culture is the topic of an intellectual freedom program, "Acknowledging Native Perspectives on the American Experience," to be presented during the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in New Orleans, June 22-28. The program will look at ways in which libraries and librarians can preserve and promote access to Native American historic and contemporary perspectives that have often been excluded from mainstream American scholarship and culture. It will address the self-perpetuating cycle of bias that has dismissed Native American viewpoints, perpetuated stereotypes, and diminished Native Americans' place in America's history and heritage. The program is sponsored by the Intellectual Freedom Round Table of the American Library Association, in collaboration with the American Indian Library Association and the ALA Office for Literacy and Outreach Services Subcommittee on Library Services to American Indians. Four speakers will discuss the legal, educational, social and cultural perspectives of Native Americans: Arlene Nanquin, a member of the Council of Elders of the Pointe-au-Chien Tribe, Terrebonne Parish, La.; Richie Plass, a musician, poet, traditional dancer, activist, and a member of the Menominee Stockbridge/Munsee Tribe who lives on the Oneida Reservation, Wis.; Christine Rose, the executive director of Students and Teachers Against Racism (STAR) and Changing Winds Seminars, from Fairfield, Conn.; and Rennard Strickland, of Osage and Cherokee heritage, the Philip H. Knight Professor of Law at the University of Oregon Law School, Eugene, Ore. Following the speakers, a panel of four Native American librarians will discuss how libraries are working to respond to Native American issues through their collections, programs and services. The panelists include: Naomi Caldwell-Stone, enrolled member of the Ramapough Lenape Nation, assistant professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Rhode Island; Carlene Engstrom, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribe, director of the D'Arcy McNickle Library at Salish Kootenai College, Flathead Reservation, Mont.; Maria Escalante, director of Library Services at the College of the Menominee Nation, Keshena, Wis.; and Richenda Wilkinson, multicultural librarian, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Ore. The program will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 24, 2006, in the Morial Convention Center, New Orleans. Copyright c. 2006 American Library Association. Copyright Statement. --------- "RE: Omaha Tribe's Veterans linked to VA Specialists" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2006 08:39:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TELEMEDICINE PROVIDES VETERAN TO DOCTOR LINK" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.siouxcityjournal.com//09c7d2a358d4eb5886257146006fdc56.txt Telemedicine links Omaha Tribe's veterans to VA specialists By Michele Linck Journal staff writer April 4, 2006 Omaha Tribal Chairwoman Eleanor Baxter and Al Washko, the director of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Omaha, Neb., will sign an agreement Thursday, giving local Native American veterans access to the medical specialists they need without leaving Thurston County. Wehnona St. Cyr, director of tribal health and of the tribe's Carl T. Curtiss Health Education Center, said the agreement will create a telemedicine link between the center's clinic in Macy, Neb., and doctors at the VA hospitals in Omaha and Lincoln, Neb. Patients who come to Macy will be aided by specialists at the VA hospitals via a video camera for problems ranging from dermatology to cardiology, St. Cyr said. She said the system, which will be up and running around May 1, will benefit about 500 American Indian veterans in Thurston County; about 200 already have signed up, filling out the VA hospital system forms. The VA has trained several clinic staff members to help with the process, so others can be enrolled as they come to use the service. All American Indian veterans qualify to use the telemedicine consulting, but eligibility for further treatment through the VA system would be determined by their military service and the VA's complex benefits ranking system. Copyright c. 2006 Sioux City Journal. --------- "RE: Census testing needs support" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2006 08:39:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CENSUS REZ TEST" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2006/04/04/news/112680.txt Census testing needs support April 4, 2006 The U.S. Census Bureau admits readily that it has had difficulty getting accurate counts of the people who live on American Indian reservations full time or part time. But the Bureau will try to do better in the 2010 census. An experiment going on right now on the Cheyenne River reservation in South Dakota holds promise of demonstrating a repair of the census methods ill-suited for use on reservations. The problem is undercounting. It is the Census Bureau itself that suspects people aren't being identified - it just doesn't know how many. Tribal members on the Cheyenne River reservation should do what they can to help make this experiment work. The incentive is increased funding for a variety of programs for the benefit of the residents. If several hundred - and in the case of some tribes, thousands - of people fall through the cracks of any given census, the tribe loses out by just that fraction of the sum. It's easy for that to happen on reservations. Varying from tribe to tribe and where reservations are located in relation to cities, there is a certain mobility from the reservation to a city or perhaps another reservation and then back home. According to Don Loudner, a member of the Crow Creek Sioux who is advising a Census Bureau committee and serving as its vice chairman, this is a prime way that undercounting happens. Members who regard a certain reservation as home are elsewhere when the counting happens. Also, Loudner pointed out, there are drawbacks in relying on a mail system of distributing forms and having the on-site enumerating be done by outsiders. The outsider comes to the reservation and encounters people who keep information to themselves, such as how many people are in a family. How are you defining family, Mr. Not One of Us? It is a common-sense approach that that the test of counting methods now being done on the Cheyenne River reservation is being done almost entirely by people who live there. That method may end up being practiced on every reservation or tribal land in the country, if the Cheyenne River experiment indicates its effectiveness. The test began on March 13 and will be done in May. Then will come the time for evaluation. Among other things being tried out is that all the forms will be the short version, having only eight questions. The long version only put people off in 2000 when it was trotted out on reservations by outsiders. The hope is that the Cheyenne River research is successful and its result will be useful the next time around, a mere four years from now. Copyright c. 2006 Bismarck Tribune, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Tulalips want University on Reservation" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006 08:51:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TULILIPS CAMPAIGN FOR FOUR YEAR STATE UNIVERSITY" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/265373_tulalip04.html?source=rss Tulalips want university on reservation THE ASSOCIATED PRESS April 4, 2006 TULALIP - Tribal leaders are hoping state officials will consider the Tulalip Indian Reservation as a prime spot in the northern Puget Sound area for a public four-year university. "We're willing to strike a good deal with the state if they build a four-year university in Tulalip," said state Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip. McCoy is a tribal member and manager of Quil Ceda Village, the tribe's 2, 000-acre commercial center and home to the Seattle Premium Outlets and the Tulalip Casino. He did not offer details of the deal the tribe is developing. McCoy did say the tribe has identified three sites within the reservation as possible locations for a university. Two of the three are within Quil Ceda Village. In 2004, a Snohomish County committee on economic development suggested that a four-year university would bolster the county's economy. The Evergreen State College in Olympia, which opened in 1967, is the last public four-year school to open in the state since Western Washington University in 1899. Copyright c. 1996-2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer. --------- "RE: Student strives to keep Tribal Languages alive" --------- Date: Wed, 5 Apr 2006 08:39:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="INTERACTIVE LANGUAGE PROGRAM" http://www.owlstar.com/dailyheadlines.htm http://www.dailyutahchronicle.com/2006/04/Lost-In.Translation-1778679.shtml Lost in translation Student strives to keep tribal languages alive By: Ana Breton April 4, 2006 You will soon be able to prevent endangered languages from extinction right from your home computer. Benjamin Tucker, a graduate student from the University of Arizona, is developing a new Web site that helps children and adults to learn tribal languages phonetically. Tucker presented his linguistics research at the second annual Conference on Endangered Languages and Cultures of Native America last Friday in the Officer's Club. Tucker created an interactive dictionary in which people can read and hear the tribal language Mohave at the same time. "I was saddened by the fact that there are only 30 remaining Mohave speakers left at a local Indian tribe in Colorado," he said. "So I decided to do something about it." Lyle Campbell, director of the Center for American Indian Language, is encouraging Tucker to develop his teaching materials because he doesn't want languages to disappear. "People are really worried that certain languages are becoming extinct," Campbell said. "Particularly, tribal members are concerned because, once they lose their language, they lose their culture." Campbell said that out of the 135 native tribal languages spoken in the United States, more than half of them are going disappear in the next century. Only 20 of the tribal languages have children actively learning them, so documents that revitalize them faster are in desperate need, Campbell said. Victor Golla, professor of ethnic studies at Humboldt State University, delivered the keynote address at the conference and said that proper documentation is vital to keep cultures alive. "Literature is crucial because it contains an entire tribe's rituals, myths, beliefs and social organizations," Golla said. "If we don't document them, we are doomed." Tucker's Web site is still in development stages. More information can be found at www.arizona.com. Copyright c. 2006 The Daily Utah Chronicle. --------- "RE: Abenaki Recognition to be official today" --------- Date: Thu, 6 Apr 2006 08:51:33 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ABENAKI RECOGNITION" http://www.indianz.com/News/ http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article?AID=/20060406/NEWS01/604060314 Abenaki recognition to be official today By Terri Hallenbeck Free Press Staff Writer April 6, 2006 MONTPELIER - A decade ago, Janet Ancel, the legal counsel to Gov. Howard Dean, opposed official state recognition of the Abenaki. Wednesday afternoon, Janet Ancel, the state legislator, stood on the House floor and told her colleagues that the time has come to extend that recognition. "Simply put, it's the right thing to do," Ancel said. Moments later, the House gave preliminary approval by unanimous voice vote to a bill that would officially recognize the Abenaki as a minority. The status is partly about pride but also will allow members of the tribe to apply for designated scholarships and market crafts labeled American Indian. The House is scheduled to take a second vote today on the bill, which has passed the Senate. If the Senate concurs with relatively minor changes the House made, the bill will go to Gov. Jim Douglas, who is expected to sign it. Like Ancel, Douglas is among those whose tune has changed dramatically on the issue. Until recently, state officials vociferously fought Abenaki recognition out of fear that it would enhance the tribe's chances for federal recognition, which could lead to land claims and casinos. Those fears evaporated when the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs denied the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenaki's application for federal recognition in November. Ancel joined the list of one-time opponents who now believe state recognition will have no impact on land claims. "I'm ecstatic," Fred Wiseman, tribal historian for the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenaki in Swanton, said after the vote. The Abenakis' battle for recognition in Vermont has lasted more than 30 years. Rep. Kathy Lavoie, R-Swanton, told her fellow House members that she's seen many changes in recent years that indicate better relations between the Abenaki and other Vermonters in Franklin County. When she moved there 22 years ago, Lavoie said, there was tension between Abenaki and non- Abenaki children in schools. When Monument Road in Swanton was closed because of a dispute over burial grounds a few years ago, property owners were scared, she said. Since then, she said, attitudes have changed on the playgrounds and over burial grounds. She has seen people go from hiding their Abenaki heritage to announcing it. "The time has come for us to recognize the Abenaki people," Lavoie said. "They are my neighbors. They are my friends." Rep. Francis Brooks, D-Montpelier, chairman of the House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee, said that ability to proudly pronounce one's heritage was key to him. He described when an Odanak Abenaki from the Northeast Kingdom came to his committee to testify on the bill. "He said, 'Hello, my name is Richard R. Bernier and I am an Abenaki," Brooks said. "One could feel the pride. Also, one could feel the desire to be recognized as a Vermonter and an Abenaki." Wiseman set up a video camera on the House floor Wednesday to capture the historic moment, just as he did last year in the Senate. This time he came with a tripod, a longer boom microphone and a second camera. His wife, Anna Roy, was in the balcony taping from that vantage point. Wiseman was watching closely to see what Ancel would do. He remembered vividly her statement in 1995: "The position of the state is that in the late 1700s the Abenaki ceased functioning as a tribe and although they have regrouped, it still doesn't meet the legal test." The statement, proving the state's intention to fight the Abenaki, was a low point, Wiseman said. That made her remarks Wednesday in favor of recognition especially important, he said. Ancel said she concurred then with the Attorney General's Office in believing that state recognition would lead to federal recognition, and she strongly opposes casinos in Vermont. Although the St. Francis/Sokoki Band might still appeal the federal decision, Ancel said, the Attorney General's Office has told her the decision is unlikely to be overturned. "Because of that, the whole picture has changed," she told the Democratic caucus during a debate on the issue Tuesday. Douglas supports the legislation under the same premise, said his spokesman, Jason Gibbs. Although all advance indications were that the legislation would pass Wednesday, Jeff Benay, chairman of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Native American Affairs and longtime supporter of recognition, was nervous until he received word by telephone that it had passed. "I was anxiously waiting," he said. "I am really so pleased that this was a unanimous vote." He said he planned to be in the audience for the final vote today. Contact Terri Hallenbeck at 229-9141 or thallenb@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com Copyright c. 2006 Burlington Free Press. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: CNO and Delaware to negotiate Recognition" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:32:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DELAWARE RECOGNITION" Tribes to negotiate recognition By Gregg Simmons Staff Writer CHEROKEE PHOENIX APRIL 2006 TAHLEQUAH, Okla. - Representatives from the Cherokee Nation and the Delaware Tribe of Indians met Jan. 18 to discuss strategies to help the Delaware regain federal recognition. Melanie Knight, CN executive officer, said the purpose of the meeting was to find the interests of each party so they can work on the terms on an agreement. In February 2005, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Delaware were not a federally recognized tribe. The Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 provides Indian tribes may be recognized by an act of Congress, the administrative procedures set forth in Part 83 of the Code of Federal Regulation or a decision of a U.S. Court. Since 1866, when both tribes signed treaties with the U.S., each has repeatedly been in the courts to interpret the treaty incorporating the Delaware into the Cherokee Nation. Knight said since 1996 hundreds of thousands of dollars had been spent on attorney fees surrounding this issue. In 1866, the U.S. agreed to a treaty with the Delaware for the sale of lands in Kansas in exchange for removal to Indian Territory. They were guaranteed rights to participate in any general council or territorial government and peaceable possession. The treaty also allowed for two payments, one for the preservation of their tribal laws, customs and usages not inconsistent with those of the CN and a second payment to settle within the Cherokee territory and become native Cherokees. "We entered into this agreement in 1866 that now we may be agreeing to somewhat modify," Knight said. "I think both parties are open to negotiating that and seeing what the agreement looks like while at the same time making sure that their own interests are protected." When an agreement between the tribes is reached, the CN would consent to jointly seek congressional approval. The two tribes have already found some common interests and are developing positions on a number of issues before they meet again to begin negotiating the terms of the agreement. "Where it presents some difficulties is that when we made the agreement in 1866 it was for the Delaware to come live in Cherokee Nation," she said. "So they have made their home here, and now it presents some challenges with regard to programs that operate based on a geographic representation." Knight said the CN is negotiating with an open mind. "I think we are going to be able to identify those areas where we readily agree and we can set those items aside and concentrate on the items that are going to take more work." gregg-simmons@cherokee.org - (918) 453-5351 Copyright c. 2006 Cherokee Phoenix. --------- "RE: GIAGO: Watching the Mayflower drop Anchor" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2006 08:41:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: THERE WENT THE NEIGHBORHOOD" http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=7724 Notes from Indian Country Watching the Mayflower drop anchor Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji) April 3, 2006 Copyright c. 2006 Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc. There was a cartoon floating around Indian Country several years ago of two Indian men crouched on a hill watching the Mayflower dropping anchor in what is now Plymouth Rock. In the cartoon one Indian is saying to the other, "Do you think we should start thinking about creating some immigration laws?" Of course, the cartoon was funny then and is funny now. The Indians in the cartoon were attired in the regalia of the Indians of the Northern Plains, but I suppose that is how most Americans see Indians in general never mind that the Indians of the East Coast dressed in an entirely different manner. I would venture to say that no other segment of the American population was affected by immigration as much as the American Indian. Lands occupied for centuries by the indigenous people were opened up (stolen) and a flood of settlers converged wiping out the livelihood of the people and forcibly removing many tribal groups to unwanted and unproductive lands. What caused the infamous Trail of Tears? It was the greed of the immigrant settlers salivating over the rich farmlands and homes of the Cherokee people. With the full support of the United States government thousands of happy and productive Indian families were uprooted from their homelands and marched to Oklahoma Territory. Many of the elders and young died on this infamous death march. A lot of recent immigrants profited from this callous takeover of Indian lands. Since 9/11 the American people have been taking a second look at the porous borders between the United States and Mexico. Congress is atwitter with grandiose ideas about how to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. But the one factor looming largest in the newly hatched schemes is greed. Farms and factories would have serious economic problems if their source of cheap labor were suddenly cut off. Latin American immigrants, legal and otherwise, have staged mass protests in hopes of changing the minds of the lawmakers set upon bringing new laws to curb illegal immigration. I find it a little ironic that the protestors are flying American flags upside down while vigorously waving the flag of Mexico. I often wonder why so many thousands of people left their homelands in Norway, Germany, Ireland, France and so many other countries to settle in a land where the only obstacle to expansion and untold wealth was the indigenous people. How many Americans are aware of the fact that thousands of Indians were shipped to the lands in the West Indies as slaves? There they died by the thousands and they also died by the thousands while being used as slave labor in the newly formed Colonies. Unable to find the cheap labor for the cotton fields of America and the sugar cane fields of the West Indies, black Africans were rounded up by the millions and brought to America as slave-immigrants. America found it hard to classify Native Americans in those days. They were not citizens of the United States and they were not immigrants. What were they? They were an obstacle standing in the path of Manifest Destiny. Their lands had to be taken illegally or purchased in order to make room for the influx of immigrants. If America is a shining beacon of hope for legal immigrants perhaps the laws should be adjusted to make it a reality for the illegal immigrants. They also see America as a place where dreams can be lived. Ironically, most of the illegal immigrants are Indians, or Indios as they are known in Mexico, and in Central and South America. Most of their ancestors did not come over on the Mayflower or on the Spanish galleons. They were indigenous to the Western Hemisphere. I admit being surprised when I visited Spain and observed that the people did not look like the indigenous people of the Americas and their restaurants did not serve enchiladas and tacos. No, the brown people of the Americas are Indios and their cuisine of hot chili peppers and tortillas are also indigenous foodstuffs. I still hear people say they are going to a certain restaurant to eat "Spanish food." What would the cuisine of Italy be without a vegetable grown by the Indios called the "tomato?" For that matter all of the chocolate connoisseurs attending the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy would not have had that succulent treat if not for the indigenous people of the Americas. If the citizens of Mexico and other Latin American countries want to immigrate to America they should do it legally even though the first immigrants faced no such provisions. If there were no jobs available, they would not come. The first immigrants would not have come if there were no land available. And as Molly Ivins suggested in her column today, simply arrest those people doing the hiring and it would effectively end illegal immigration. It is written that many of the original immigrants came to this country in search of freedom of religion. It is a sad chapter in our history that although they found freedom of religion they chose to suppress and destroy the religions of the indigenous people. Many Indians look at that cartoon of the two Indians watching the Mayflower drop anchor and wonder "what if?" --- Tim Giago is the president of the Native American Journalists Foundation, Inc., and the publisher of Indian Education Today Magazine. He can be reached at najournalists@rushmore.com or by writing him at 2050 W. Main St., Suite 5, Rapid City, SD. He was also the founder and publisher of the Lakota Times and Indian Country Today newspapers. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. Native American Times. Copyright c. 2005 All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Hawk-eyed Birders see Nature's Glory" --------- Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2006 08:41:37 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: BIRD WATCHERS" http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/columnists/dorreen_yellow_bird/ Hawk-eyed birders see nature's glory Column by Dorreen Yellow Bird April 4, 2006 This was an extraordinary weekend, and I missed it ... well, I missed an incident of major importance, anyway. While I was looking down at dirty dishes and unvacuumed floors, I should have been looking up at the thousands upon thousands of eagles, hawks and other birds migrating through the Red River Valley. Glinda Crawford, a retired professor of sociology at UND, called me on Saturday. She was so excited that she could hardly contain herself. "Come over," she said. "There are hundreds of hawks, eagles and birds migrating over Grand Forks." At one point in the vigil of Glinda and her husband, UND biology professor Richard Crawford, they saw a kettle of 27 hawks soaring. Incidentally, a "kettle" of birds isn't a new kind of soup. It's a word that describes the circling of hawks in a kettle-like shape, as the birds soar high above the earth on air thermals. As Glinda described this birder's prized event, I was wondering why I hadn't seen it. Had I really thought I needed to finish my housecleaning? "Why are people here watching the river?" Glinda asked me. True, the cresting Red and Red Lake rivers also show the power of nature; but right now, there is an open corridor in the valley with thousands of birds passing through. If people would just look up from their TVs, they'd see this extraordinary event happening right here in our urban Grand Forks neighborhoods, she told me with a little edge to her voice. "Yes, yes," I thought, not even trying to make another excuse for missing the bird migration and beginning to feel wounded. Salt poured in with each new bird that she described. In their neighborhood alone, the Crawfords saw 28 bald eagles, 290 red- tailed hawks, 5 rough-legged hawks and 1 broad-winged hawk. An extraordinary day. From an e-mail, I learned that Grand Forks was only a blip on the migration radar. In the Pembina Valley, the event was expanded tenfold. Birders in the Pembina Valley reported seeing 245 bald eagles, three golden eagles, 21 northern harriers, two northern goshawks, 1 Cooper's hawk, 86 sharp-shinned hawks, 3,244 red-tailed hawks, three rough-legged hawks, six merlins and one great horned owl. It was "one of those glorious hawk migrations that we occasionally see on the Red River," Rich Crawford said. But hawks and other birds don't send out invitations to their migration, and it's only a one- or two-day event. Ouch! I wasn't there. It is significant that the red-tailed hawks returned in large numbers. In last couple of years, there was some worry about the health of red- tailed hawks because some were dying of West Nile disease. The migration Saturday, Glinda said, was an indication that they are healthy and growing in numbers. I'm relatively new to birding, as I am to identifying wild prairie plants. I know some plants by the names given to me by the elders, but now I've learned many of the botanical names, too. Plants are easy to identify with a good plant book, and they don't fly away when you try to photograph them. But birds are a bit different. They don't sit still for a photo. I've learned some things about birds now - how to identify them by their outlines, beaks, legs, colorings and so on. I'm still not very accurate, though, because those darn birds don't stop in midair for you to take a good look, nor do they pose for pictures. I have many photos of the tail end of a bird. But I'm learning. Birders amaze me. On some of our prairie tours, Rich could identify birds flying hundreds of feet in the air. When I went out with the Crawfords out on the prairie, Rich knew the names of the birds, their children and grandchildren, I told my sister with a laugh. He's that good. Last week, I was on assignment on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota and saw many hawks, swans and geese, too. And there were a good number of bald eagles. On Monday, a friend gave the prayer for the opening of the 37th Annual UND Indian Association Time-Out week. He saw a golden eagle flying down the road in front of him near Red Lake, he told me. It was carrying a mink. It was a pretty big eagle, he said. That reminded me: In was about the same place, my sister and I saw a giant golden eagle too. It was one of the biggest birds I've ever seen. It was magnificent, and one of those bird sightings you never forget. The elders say that the spirits put different people and events in your path to help you, give you strength, build your character and so on. So, I thank the friends who gave me the gift to help me recognize the people in the bird world. ---- Dorreen Yellow Bird's column appears Tuesday and Saturday. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald/Grand Forks, ND. --------- "RE: Manitoba Hydro and Nisichawayasihk reach Deal" --------- Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2006 09:32:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename=