_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ ' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) / / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ (_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' ____ _ , ___ _ , ___ / ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' VOLUME 15, ISSUE 022 / /-< / /--/ /-- __/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, WOTANGING IKCHE - Lakota - Common News Wotanging Ikche and Native American News Copyright c. 1996-2007 nanews.org Aboriginal/AmerIndian Perspective about the First Nations of Turtle Island May 28, 2007 Potawatomi te'minkeses/strawberry moon Western Cherokee ansgvti/planting moon Yuchi deconendzo/mulberry ripening moon Kiowa pai tegpan p'a/geese go north 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.indianz.com; www.pechanga.net; www.indiancountrytoday.com; Mailing Lists: Mohawk Nation News, Native American Poetry; 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: + -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- + =================== "... I've said all along, that the Yakamas have the right to freely travel and trade." "That was affirmed back in 1855, and we are reaffirming that right now and the court concurs with that." __ Harry Smiskin, Yakama +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg- | | iance was first presented | I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the | to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat- | of the Republic | ional Congress of American | and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat- | borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI | Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the | as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian | States Constitution, | Nations. | so that my forefathers | | shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ | Journey | In the summer and early fall | The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders | | rode a thousand miles on horse- | For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and | We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way. | For All that fear and fear by sight | | We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for | For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity | We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen. | For all that die and die by greed | | We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this | For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity | We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and | For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the | We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good | | of the People or is it from ego | Treaty Unity Riders | for self. +- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+ O'siyo Brothers and Sisters My half-side, The Lovely Janet, asks, "When is sovereignty only a word?" --- We start each week wondering what needs to be pointed to in this issue. There are always plenty of issues in Indian country. People who have achieved great things, and who deserve the credit. Tribes who have found ways to support their people and provide them with a good life in spite of efforts to undercut them. People whose infamous behavior demands light be shone on it. Government betrayals. Tribal quarrels. Medical crises. Hunger. Homelessness. These are all part of Indian life that we're all too familiar with. This week I've picked a lie. The lie of sovereignty. One act by the BIA this week is substantive proof that no tribe enjoys true sovereignty. This week in this issue there is a story about the BIA invalidating the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma's constitution. What sovereign nation requires an agency of another nation to "validate" its constitution? And let's examine the BIA's objection. It objects because there is a clause in that constitution that specifically removes the BIA's right to approve all amendments to the Nation's constitution. Again - what nation gives another nation the right to approve the most basic document that proves it exists as a nation? Of course the issue immediately at hand is controversial, about the CNO's right to deny citizenship to Freedmen (something they were forced by the US government to do to restore their existence as a recognized tribe). Regardless of what members of other tribes, or the US government think about this issue - it's not our right to control whether the CNO does what we think is the right thing to do. It is their right as a nation to do as they will, even if they are wrong. Show me one other nation, just one, that does not include in its sovereign rights the right to select who its citizens may be. Of course you can't, unless it's another Native American Tribe or Canadian First Nation. +/// Janet Smith owlstar@bellsouth.net /*/+ P. O. Box 672168 OwlStar Trading Post + / * Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A. http://www.owlstar.com * + jewelry, music, flags, herbs -=-=-=- , , Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org Marietta, GA 30007, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org ----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------- Editorial Section: - YELLOW BIRD: Blogger should learn . Sovereignty just a word lesson about Indian Life - Judge Says Oneida - RAVE: Students deserve deserve a chance for Redress more than Victim History - Kempthorne tries to find a balance - HARJO: - Is "NAFTA Super Autobahn" Northwest Indian Tobacco Wars the road to hell - YELLOW BIRD: - Rehberg requests hearing Remember all heroes Memorial Day for Little Shell bill - GIAGO: Clear and present danger - Judge hears Passamaquoddys' to Sovereignty document request - ICT EDITORIAL: Feeding the Spirits - Piles of rocks - EDITORIAL: Indian Act is Racist spark an American Indian Mystery - Incident over Hydro - Tribal Sovereignty Protest Escalates reaffirmed in Cigarette case - Chief calls for - Official's criticism of Veterans National Day of Rail Blockades causes uproar - Natives protest - Soldier highlights at Hagersville Townhouse Site problems in U.S. Army - Harper's "Fool Some Prison Blues" - Saving memories of Indian Veterans - Tribal Police investigating - Bill supporting discovery of Body American Indian Mascots - Sweat Lodges spring up at Prisons - Students share a dream - Native Justice to help Native Communities -- Tribal Court Rulings - BIA disputes Tribe's -- Ipperwash Inquiry removal of Feds from Process -- Heffelfinger firing - Leech Lake innovative - Rustywire: Navajo Jets Child Welfare initiative - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days - Indians could influence - Lee Goins Poem: 2008 Presidential Vote Still Waters Calling Me - American Indian Tribe - Iroquois Nationals banishes blogger square off against Canada --------- "RE: Judge Says Oneida deserve a chance for Redress" --------- Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 07:53:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LAND CLAIM DENIED, BUT DOOR OPENED FOR REDRESS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/22/nyregion/22oneida.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Judge Says Oneida Indians Deserve a Chance for Redress By KEN BELSON May 22, 2007 A federal judge yesterday rejected claims by the Oneida Indian Nation to land in upstate New York, but agreed with the tribe that it deserved a chance to prove it is owed some compensation for property that the state bought 200 or more years ago at unfairly low prices. Ruling in a case that began in 1974, Judge Lawrence E. Kahn of the Northern District of New York said it would be too disruptive to return about 250,000 acres of land to the Oneidas, who claim it was taken from them illegally starting in the 1790s. But he agreed with them that the state paid the tribe just a fraction of what the land was worth and resold it at a huge profit. The damages, when factoring in inflation and interest, could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Oneidas. "The court does not believe that the higher courts intended to or have barred plaintiffs from receiving any relief; to do so would deny the Oneidas the right to seek redress for long-suffered wrongs," the judge wrote. The Oneidas considered the judge's ruling a victory, particularly in light of other recent court decisions that have struck down land claims by Indian tribes. "Everyone agrees the Oneida were cheated by the state," said Carey Ramos, a partner at Paul Weiss, which represents the Oneida of the Thames, who brought the suit along with tribal groups in New York and Wisconsin. "The big question is when will they finally receive relief for this?" The ruling, Mr. Ramos said, "certainly invites a resolution." Christine Pritchard, a spokeswoman for Gov. Eliot Spitzer, said the state would appeal the decision and argue that it is contrary to rulings made in other cases in federal court. According to records submitted by the Oneidas, the state paid the tribe $113,213 for almost 200,000 acres bought before 1829. The state then sold the land for $626,067, for a profit of $512,854. The Oneidas claim that the state knowingly underpaid the tribe. Depending on the interest rates and compounding formula used, the tribe is owed hundreds of millions of dollars, Mr. Ramos said. But even such a large award would be far less than what the tribe originally sought: the current fair market value of the land is probably many billions of dollars. Two other defendants in the case - Oneida and Madison Counties, where the land in question is situated - are effectively absolved. They did not buy or sell Oneida property, so they are not linked to the monetary damages. "We are out of the land claim business," said Rocco DiVeronica, chairman of the Board of Supervisors of Madison County. "It sure is a relief. We felt we were right all along." Copyright c. 2007 The New York Times Company. --------- "RE: Kempthorne tries to find a balance" --------- Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 07:18:41 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DoI SECRETARY BALANCES ENERGY vs NATURAL TREASURES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/29/ news/state/30-kempthorne.txt Kempthorne tries to find a balance Interior secretary juggles natural treasures, energy resources By KEVIN DIAZ and ROCKY BARKER McClatchy Newspapers May 29, 2007 WASHINGTON - Beneath an oil painting of Old Faithful erupting, two jarring documents collided last Monday on the desk of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. One was a New York Times editorial praising him as a "lifeline" for the national parks; the other was a letter from Democrats in the House of Representatives asking him to explain how a Bush political appointee may have improperly removed a California fish from a list of threatened species. Just another day in his wood-paneled office? "That's to be expected," the 56-year-old Kempthorne said in an interview. "A lot of people have visceral feelings about many of the issues we deal with at the Department of the Interior. These are America's treasures." Kempthorne, Idaho's amiable former governor and U.S. senator, returned to Washington a year ago to put a new face on the Bush administration's checkered image on conservation and environment. Long to-do list He had a long to-do list: Save the decaying national parks, minimize the impact of oil and gas drilling on public land, resolve a decades-long row over endangered species and clean up a department tarnished by allegations of political interference in everything from Indian gaming to wildlife preservation. He's received high marks so far for his efforts to revive the nation's parks, and his Healthy Lands Initiative is aimed at offsetting the impact of the Bush administration's oil and gas development in the West. But his hopes for revising the 34-year-old Endangered Species Act are running into political trouble tied to the scandals of his predecessor, Gale Norton. A case in point is a congressional investigation into the actions of Julie MacDonald, who resigned this month as the Interior Department's deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. A holdover from the Norton era, MacDonald left amid allegations that she was involved in removing the Sacramento Splittail fish from the federal threatened and endangered species list to benefit her 80-acre California farm. Kempthorne has remained silent on the issue, which he calls a "personnel matter." Draft leaked MacDonald departed after Salon.com, an online magazine, published a leaked Interior Department draft suggesting a wholesale rewrite of the Endangered Species Act. Environmentalists, who've used the law in a long succession of legal victories, howled. "Tactically, they've just blundered it over and over and over," said Jamie Rappaport Clark, the executive vice president of Defenders of Wildlife and a former director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under President Clinton. "That work product predated me," Kempthorne said. "When I arrived I put a stop to it, because it did not reflect the direction I wanted to go." But where Kempthorne wants to take the Endangered Species Act, the centerpiece of his department's environmental franchise, remains unclear. A decade ago, as a senator, he came close to fashioning a compromise with the Clinton administration that would have required more scientific study and given landowners more say over plans to protect species habitats. But he appears to have abandoned any effort to rewrite the law, saying there's little public support for that. The "improvements" he wants to make, which he hasn't specified, are more likely to be pursued through administrative rule changes. His park policy, on the other hand, has pleasantly surprised preservationists. Within weeks of moving into the ornate interior secretary's office, Kempthorne said he'd reverse a move to shift the balance between national park preservation and visitor services toward more development. The proposed policy would have allowed more motorized recreation, as well as cell phone towers in parks. Kempthorne's policy required park managers to consider not only the impact that these and other new uses would have on the air, water, land and wildlife but also "the atmosphere of peace and tranquility and natural soundscapes." He also convinced Bush to support an ambitious 10-year program to rebuild the parks' visitor centers, offices and housing. His biggest accomplishment, park advocates said, is persuading the Bush administration to increase the National Park Service's budget. The administration has called for spending $208 million more in 2008 than it did in the 2007 budget, one of the largest increases in the agency's history. The Office of Management and Budget left his parks initiative out of the draft budget, Kempthorne said. He was able to get it back in. "He's relentless," said Tom Kiernan, the president of the National Parks and Conservation Association. Kempthorne came to Interior amid the biggest boom in oil and gas development in the West since the 1980s. Federal land managers, especially in the Bureau of Land Management, were issuing new leases, often over the objections of sportsmen, local officials and governors, a charged issue in traditionally Republican states such as Wyoming, Montana and Colorado. Eighty-five percent of the "technically recoverable oil" and 88 percent of the "technically recoverable" natural gas already were available for leasing when Kempthorne took over, according to an Interior report. Kempthorne toured gas fields near Pinedale, Wyo., in August and saw a forest of drilling rigs going up in sage grouse habitat on the edge of big game corridors. That prompted him to develop the Healthy Lands Initiative. It requires the Bureau of Land Management to look at entire landscapes in its resource-management planning process to ensure that new drilling doesn't destroy the best remaining wildlife habitat. It also will provide $22 million to wildlife projects in the region to offset the impact that drilling already has had. Once again, Kempthorne said, he's trying to navigate the ideological divide. "World-class energy resources are sitting below world-class habitat and wildlife corridors," he said. "How do you make sure they are not mutually exclusive?" Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: Is "NAFTA Super Autobahn" the road to hell" --------- Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 12:54:46 -0700 From: "orakwa" Subj: MNN Is "NAFTA Super Autobahn" the road to hell? [Editorial Comment: If you think one worde of this article is fictionalised, look up NASCO or North American Super Corridor using any search engine with any internet browser. Be prepared. Study your prophesies.] IS "NAFTA SUPER AUTOBAHN" THE ROAD TO HELL? MNN. May 18, 2007. The Bush Administration is planning to build a huge Highway from Mexico to Canada. The NAFTA Super "Autobahn" will be a four football fields wide car-truck-train-pipeline corridor from Mexico to Canada. It will be a 10-lane limited-access road with tolls. Jerome R. Corsi of "Human Events" has written extensively about this project which is being done on the quiet. The NAFTA autobahn is mainly going to transport our resources from one million square miles of unsurrendered Indigenous land in the northern part of Turtle Island, through the U.S and Mexico to the countries of the Pacific rim. Then the road will bring containers from the Far East to enter the United States through the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, bypassing the Longshoreman's Union on the docks of the west coast. The Mexican trucks, without the involvement of the Teamsters Union, will drive on what will be the nation's most modern highway straight into the heart of Turtle Island. [See map at end]. We see more containers on trains that are miles and miles long coming from California ports heading east. The west coast is one of the places where they want to put unions out of business. So who benefits? Not the Mexicans! Not the Canadians! Maybe not even the Americans! Certainly not the Indigenous land and resource owners! The northeastern route will go along the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, right through Haudenosaunee territory. Mega bridges to the northern reaches are already planned, one from Kahnawake to Montreal, one over the Ottawa River at Kanehsatake and another from Cornwall over to Akwesasne. Once again we Mohawks are in the way. The Mexican trucks will cross the border in fast lanes, checked only electronically by the new "SENTRI" system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City, known as a "Smart Port", built for Mexico by U.S. taxpayers. Containers from the Far East can be transferred there to trucks going east and west. Super roads are not a new idea. In 1933 Hitler and the Nazis finished the German "autobahn" during the Third Reich. It linked north and south Germany. It was promoted as creating jobs. It was actually built mostly by Russian prisoners of war. The military was involved in the planning to provide mobility for the movement of their troops and weaponry. They were designed with auxiliary airports with aircraft hidden in tunnels or camouflaged in nearby woods. [We don't know what military auxiliary will be built alongside the NAFTA autobahn]. In the end the German autobahn was useless during most of the war due to a shortage of gas and lack of trucks. Tanks and trucks were hard on the fragile surface. Much of the road was bombed. The bulk of the military traffic, men and material ended up being transported by rail. Eisenhower was inspired by the German Autobahn and created a U.S. interstate highway system in 1956. The concession for the tolls on the Texas portion of the NAFTA Autobahn was leased to a Spanish firm, "Cintra Concesiones de infra". Rudy "911" Giuliani's law firm represents Cintra exclusively. The state of Texas was paid $2.1 billion up front and $700 million yearly for 50 years. "Rudy Guiliani Capital Advisors" has been bought out by "Macquarrie", an Australian Consortium which leases and operates U.S. and Canadian toll roads. It can be presumed that the whole corridor will be a private toll road which will need a private military force to protect it. "Euro Money Seminars" of the UK is teaching state and local U.S. governments how to lease public assets such as highways, water works, prisons and schools to international investment groups. One of Giuliani's firms, "Giuliani and Partners", has a component for leasing out private police forces. President Bush does not appear to be anxious to secure the Mexican border. Maybe he has to create express lanes first for the Mexican trucks that will be bringing containers into the heart of the U.S., to bypass U.S. union workers on the docks or in the trucks. 90% of trucking is now non- union because of government union busting. The only places where the unions are still strong are in major financial industrial cities like New York, Boston, Pittsburgh and Chicago. For example, fabricated steel coming in from non-union fabricators have to go to New Jersey, reload onto union trucks and then are driven into New York City by the Teamsters Union. It's to kill off whatever is left of the unions. It's to steal our resources. It's to stop indigenous protest. It's to eliminate anyone who wants to prevent the reestablishment of the oligarcic cultural elite who want to treat the rest of us like slaves. To get the public's [forced] "cooperation" of those cities and towns that are in the way of the corridor, large corporations are being shut down, such as Domtar in Cornwall Ontario and General Motors in Massena New York. A few hundred million dollars has been taken out of the economy on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border. Lost jobs will lower house and property values which can then be grabbed cheaply or easily expropriated by NAFTA under the "eminent domain" stealing act. The public is mostly unaware of the coming North American Union that is planned for the United States, Canada and Mexico. Various U.S. government and state agencies and scores of private NGOs (non-governmental organizations) are working behind the scenes to create this highway. The U.S. government has set up an office in the Department of Commerce called the "SPP Office" for "Security and Prosperity Partnership". The SPP Agreement was signed by Bush, President Vicente Fox, and then- Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Tex., on March 23, 2005. CN Rail and CP Rail in Canada are part of this. Let's see how lucrative it is for them to steal our resources and to cooperate with multinational corporations and the governments they control. As of February 2007, the President and CEO of CN make more than the directors and senior management who make 2.2% of all outstanding shares. This is about $30 million. You can bet that when dividend time comes, they won't be eating Kraft Dinner like the Indigenous people they stole the land and trust funds from to build the rail empire. CN has had record profits on the backs of employees who were fired thus resulting in safety issues. A newly appointed vice-president and chief safety officer was created to address derailments and toxic spills. Many railroad engineers have died due to poor maintenance all in the name of $$$. This autobahn will not benefit Turtle Island. It is a corridor to carry resources that are being stolen from us. It is transported through the U. S. to Mexico and then put it on ships to China and elsewhere. It appears like the U.S. public will not get anything out of it either. The investors and profiteers use U.S., Mexican and Canadian fronts on their various boards. Until 1999, the land in the north of Turtle Island was administered by the Canadian government. Then a "government" was set up similar to a band council, with no authority over resources. This control is still held by the federal government which can make deals to sell it all off to multinational corporations. This is a stupid plan. How will they defend such a long road? These extremes of self-centered despotism are not new. They have risen many times before. 2000 years ago the Han Dynasty in China forced people to do a lot of road work for almost nothing. The penalty for arriving late for work was death. Finally, when a river flooded and the people could not get to work on time, they rebelled and brought the dynasty down. Despotism always falls down in the end. This senseless project is doomed from the start. In the meantime the people will suffer a lot while the abuse builds itself up to the breaking point. If this megalomaniac nonsense isn't questioned right now people can go through decades or even a century of suffering. The U.S. was founded on egalitarian principles they learned from the Haudenosaunee/Iroquois. The U.S. constantly forgets its inspirational sources. When Europeans arrived on our shores they were huddled masses yearning to be free. They were dirty, malnourished and abused. Now they abuse us. It's time for everyone to throw off the shackles of abuse. We have to assert our rights, participate, share and laugh. We were not born to be slaves to corporate greed. Kahentinetha Horn MNN Mohawk Nation News Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com & katenies20@yahoo.com For updates, speakers, workshops, to sign up, go to: www.mohawknationnews.com Please sign the Women Title Holders petition. BOOKS available, "Rebuilding the Iroquois Confederacy" & "Warriors Hand Book" ($10 USD each including shipping). --------- "RE: Rehberg requests hearing for Little Shell bill" --------- Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 10:16:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LITTLE SHELL RECOGNITION" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20070526/NEWS01/705260309/1002 Rehberg requests hearing for Little Shell bill By Tribune Staff May 26, 2007 U.S. Rep. Dennis Rehberg asked Friday for a hearing on his bill proposing federal recognition of the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe. Rehberg, R-Mont., introduced legislation earlier this year to recognize the tribe. "The Little Shell have spent more than a century seeking recognition and being held up by the bureaucratic process," said Rehberg. "It's time we give the tribe an opportunity to discuss the importance of the bill." The Little Shell Tribe is made up of approximately 4,300 members, mostly in the Great Falls area. In 2000, the same year the tribe was recognized by the state of Montana, the Department of Interior issued a positive finding for the tribe, making it eligible for recognition. Since then, little progress has been made. Rehberg's bill seeks to expedite recognition through the legislative process. Such recognition would bring benefits to tribal members. "Federal recognition is essential for the Little Shell Tribe to establish a tribal land base, preserve its sovereignty and culture, as well as gain access to vital services and benefits for tribal members," said Rehberg in his letter to House leadership. "The bureaucrats over at Interior have held this thing up too long," Rehberg said. "Let's have a hearing, discuss the bill, and bring the tribe the recognition they deserve." The tribe has been seeking recognition from the federal government for more than 115 years. Copyright c. 2007 The Great Falls Tribune. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Judge hears Passamaquoddy's document request" --------- Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 10:16:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="PASSAMAQUODDY SUIT" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://bangordailynews.com/news/t/news.aspx? articleid=150258&zoneid=500 Judge hears Indians' document request By Judy Harrison May 25, 2007 - Bangor Daily News BANGOR - Attorneys for the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and for a group that opposes construction of a liquefied natural gas terminal on Indian land were back before a federal judge Thursday arguing over public access to records. U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock at a hearing in September harshly criticized the way the BIA handled requests for documents from We Protect Our Homeland, a group of Pleasant Point reservation residents who oppose the proposed LNG terminal at Split Rock. The group of Passamaquoddys sued the government agency in December 2005 after its requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act yielded far less than they'd anticipated. Woodcock, who was less confrontational Thursday than he was last year, heard summary judgment arguments from both sides in U.S. District Court in Bangor during a 90-minute hearing. He is not expected to issue his written decision until later this summer. After the judge's strong rebuke last year, the BIA released more documents, but Justin Kolber, a Vermont attorney representing the Indians, claimed there still might be documents they are entitled to see. The group is asking that Woodcock order the agency not to wrongfully withhold documents in the future. Plaintiffs also want the BIA to pay its legal fees, though Kolber could not estimate Thursday what the cost might end up totaling. Kolber works for the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic at the Vermont Law School in South Royalton, Vt. Although students helped prepare briefs and sat in on Thursday's hearing, only Kolber argued the case before Woodcock. Robin A. Friedman, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., argued for the BIA and the Department of Interior. Friedman admitted that the BIA mistakenly withheld documents and that it should not have taken four separate searches of records to find the information We Protect Our Homeland was entitled to. He claimed that the group now has all the documents covered under the FOIA and that the documents still being withheld are exempt under the law. Woodcock, who has seen all the documents in question, will decide which, if any, still need to be released to the group. The judge also must decide whether the delays in releasing information violated the reasonable clause under FOIA and what the remedy should be. We Protect Our Homeland filed two lawsuits in 2005 and a third in 2006 because members believe their viewpoints were not represented in May 2005 when the Pleasant Point Tribal Council signed a partnership agreement with Quoddy Bay LLC of Tulsa, Okla. The agreement included a lease to tribal land at Split Rock where Quoddy Bay plans to build a liquefied natural gas terminal. In November, Woodcock dismissed two of the lawsuits, ruling that the organization did not have standing to bring them and that they had been filed too soon. An appeal in one of those cases is scheduled to be heard next month in the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. In September, the judge dismissed a portion of the lawsuit seeking the documents but allowed another portion to continue. "We're very pleased to be able to still be engaged in the process," Vera J. Francis of Pleasant Point, a plaintiff in the case, said after Thursday's hearing. "The BIA and the Department of the Interior has done all it could to deny us access to the process at every step. We've persevered to be able to pursue the truth about the ground lease. We feel a deep responsibility to continue to pursue this." Copyright c. 2005 Bangor Daily News. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Piles of rocks spark an American Indian Mystery" --------- Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 07:15:44 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="DEVELOPER WANTS TO DIG AND SCRAPE" http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/ idUSN1625947520070518?src=cms&pageNumber=1 Piles of rocks spark an American Indian mystery By Jason Szep May 18, 2007 NORTH SMITHFIELD, Rhode Island (Reuters) - In a thick forest of maple, willow and oak trees where 17th century European settlers fought hundreds of American Indians, algae-covered stones are arranged in mysterious piles. Wilfred Greene, the 70-year-old chief of the Wampanoag Nation's Seaconke Indian tribe, says the stone mounds are part of a massive Indian burial ground, possibly one of the nation's largest, that went unnoticed until a few years ago. "When I came up here and looked at this, I was overwhelmed," said Greene, a wiry former boxer, standing next to one of at least 100 stone piles - each about 3 feet (1 meter) high and 4 feet wide - on private land in this northern Rhode Island town of about 10,600 people. "I know it has significance - absolutely," he said. But Narragansett Improvement Co. disagrees, and says it will press on with plans to build a 122-lot housing project over 200 acres (80-hectares) in the area near the Massachusetts border. The firm has hired an archeologist who studied the stones and concluded they were likely left in piles by early European settlers who built a network of stone walls in the area, said company president John Everson. "I don't believe any of these Indian artifacts are on my land," he said. "The whole area is very stony." The case illustrates sporadic tension between developers and Native Americans in rural New England, where land disputes fester nearly 400 years after British Puritans sailed into Massachusetts Bay and settled the area. Across state lines, the Mashpee Wampanoag Indians, who won federal recognition as a tribe on February 15, said this month they want ownership of a 22,000-acre (8,900-hectare) military reservation in Massachusetts to create a free-trade zone. Historians, state officials, private developers and tribal leaders in Rhode Island agree that Nipsachuck woods, where Greene identified the stone mounds two years ago, is culturally and historically significant for local Indians. It was the scene of three battles in the King Philip's War - a one-year fight between Indians and English settlers that killed an estimated 600 settlers and 3,000 Indians, said Frederick Meli, an anthropologist who has studied New England American Indian ceremonial sites for 20 years. The war, the bloodiest conflict of 17th century New England, broke down Indian resistance and led to the westward push by Europeans. "The war here decided who was going to run this country," said Greene, gesturing toward the Nipsachuck woods. ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEY Meli, a former University of Rhode Island professor who works with the local Conservation Commission, estimates the area could contain a burial ground spanning at least 230 acres. Already, the Wampanoags call it their version of Arlington National Cemetery, where U.S. soldiers are buried. "There's lots of ceremonial stonework there," said Meli. The local Conservation Commission is applying for a grant to help pay for an archeological survey of two plots of land owned by a family that borders the area slated for development. They will meet town officials on Monday to propose a survey. They would dig the area, scan it for metal and possibly excavate it, said Meli. If the findings suggests a burial ground, the tribe would then use that as evidence for a case to try to block Narragansett Improvement's housing project, arguing their land could also contain ancient Indian remains. State authorities are watching the process. "What we do know is that it's an important area to a number of Indian tribes. Maybe the piles are related to that (tribal history). Maybe they aren't," said Paul Robinson, Rhode Island's state archeologist. William Simmons, chair of Brown University's anthropology department, said the stone mounds were mysterious but could just as easily have been arranged by European settlers. "Placing the rocks like that could have been a practical solution for farmers clearing fields or meadows or pastures or whatever they were clearing - to get rocks out of the way by piling them atop one another," he said "If you were to dig and find human remains then you would know for sure," he said. Copyright c. Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Tribal Sovereignty reaffirmed in Cigarette case" --------- Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 07:53:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="9TH CIRCUIT COURT UPHOLDS SOVEREIGNTY" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/372496777849537 Ruling reaffirms tribal sovereignty in cigarette case By PHIL FEROLITO YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC May 22, 2007 The three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling dismissing tobacco smuggling charges against two Yakama tribal members. Citing the Yakama Treaty of 1855, a federal judge in June 2005 dismissed smuggling charges against Harry Smiskin, 55, and his 31-year-old son, Kato Smiskin. On Friday, that decision was upheld by three judges from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court in San Francisco. The Smiskins were indicted in August 2004 after more than 4,000 cartons of untaxed cigarettes were seized from a trailer at Harry Smiskin's Wapato home. Conviction would have carried up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Harry Smiskin on Monday said the ruling was paramount to the tribe's sovereignty and treaty. "It really helps the nation. What it does is reaffirms what I've said all along, that the Yakamas have the right to freely travel and trade," he said. "That was affirmed back in 1855, and we are reaffirming that right now and the court concurs with that." Under state law, state authorities are to be notified of any large shipments of untaxed cigarettes. But U.S. District Judge Edward Shae - citing the 1855 treaty - ruled in June 2005 that Yakama tribal members don't have to give any prior notice to the state when transporting goods to market. Tribal members on the reservation aren't subject to state tobacco taxes, and the purpose of the prior-notification requirement is to help the state collect taxes, Shae said in his ruling. The federal government didn't agree with the ruling, and appealed it shortly afterwards. Copyright c. 2007 - Yakima Herald-Republic. --------- "RE: Official's criticism of Veterans causes uproar" --------- Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 07:15:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="OGLALA COUNCILMAN CRITICIZES VETERANS" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2007/05/22/ news/top/doc4653833929739337100576.txt Tribal official's criticism of veterans causes uproar on reservation By Heidi Bell Gease, Journal staff May 22, 2007 Lakota culture has always honored its warriors. American Indians have a higher rate of military service than any other ethnic group, and nearly every family on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation has had relatives in the military. That's why an Oglala Sioux Tribal Councilman's comments about the military have created such an uproar that some residents are calling for his removal. Jason "Jake" Little represents the Oglala/Whiteclay District on the tribal council. At a meeting earlier this month, Little opposed a motion to fund an upcoming veterans powwow, saying he would rather put the money into youth development programs. That way, "they won't have to shot (sic) someone just to go to college," Little is quoted as saying in unofficial minutes of the meeting. "I would much rather see that you know how many of you sitting around here would honor me if I killed a child?" He went on to say, "Thousands of children are killed everyday in wars, .. . perhaps hundreds of thousands in some conflict,s and these people had a hand in it, delivered bullets, delivered food, pushed buttons, called in co-ordinance, some raped, beat, murdered, it's all murder." Little's comments didn't sit well with LaCreek District representatives Kim Clausen and Craig Dillon. According to the minutes, Clausen told Little that as a veteran, she was offended by his comments. "I didn't kill no babies," she said. "I went there to make sure that we're safe here." Dillon's son, U.S. Marine Cpl. Dustin Cottier, served in Iraq in 2004 and earned a commendation for valor under fire. The Lakota come from a warring society, Dillon said, and he believes it is an honor to serve in the armed forces. According to the tribe's veterans services office, there are at least 2, 900 military veterans living on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. About 12 percent of Indian people nationwide serve in the U.S. military. "I grew up always believing that the veterans held a high place in our society," Dillon said, noting that veterans are honored at diverse events including from powwows and basketball games. "We regard our warriors with . .. admiration and respect." Little's comments especially rankled Lakota veterans - many of whom would like to see Little's removal from office. "I couldn't believe a council representative would say something like that about his own tribal veterans," said Duane Brewer, who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam in 1968-69. "It's hard enough when you come back after serving in the war, dealing with your emotions and the traumatic experiences that you've had, and then (to) come home and be called a baby killer and a murderer. ... It's caused a lot of hurt, a lot of anger on the reservation." Brewer also took issue with Little's statement that veterans who serve in conflicts "come back deranged." "It's not deranged. It's PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)," Brewer said. "They don't share their stories and experiences with family, and so it eats them up." "The impact of his words, it's just terrible," said Iva Good Voice Flute, a U.S. Air Force veteran and commander of the American Legion Post in Oglala. "Especially with the conflict we're involved in. ... They (servicemen) don't need this. And their families don't need this. They're under enough stress as it is." Elizabeth Makes Good understands that. Her daughter, U.S. Army Specialist Annalissa Good Soldier, was home on leave from Iraq this month. "She loves being there," Makes Good said. "She's proud to serve for our country." Good Soldier was angry and hurt by Little's remarks, her mother said. "It's freedom of speech, but it wasn't the right time to say it." Lillian Tobacco agrees. Her family's military history is long: Her great-grandfather was a military scout. Three of her children, including Good Voice Flute, are veterans. "At a time like this, how can he say that? Even if it's his thinking, why don't he keep it inside of him instead of letting it out?" she asked. Tobacco pointed out that many soldiers who are deployed leave children at home, and those children hear what people say about servicemen. "I always remember the children," she said. "I want to sound positive." Little says he is thinking of children. "I'm opposed to all wars and conflicts because women and children die, and I don't honor that," he said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "I feel that I'm a person of high moral character. Regardless of what nation-state commits the acts of war, I do not agree. Past or present." Little said the fact that a nation-state sanctions an invasion or war "does not absolve the individual of an act of murder. It does not give any human a license to kill indiscriminately and with impunity." But Little's opposition to the military reflects an issue larger than how a soldier conducts himself in war. It's about whose war it is. "Six years ago, I made the conscious decision, announced it in a local paper, that I was going to burn an American flag in protest of the colonialism and the laws the United States imposed on us as Lakota people," he said. Little did burn a U.S. flag, prompting Lakota veterans to lobby for a tribal ordinance against desecrating or burning a U.S. flag. The law passed. "The people of Oglala District have known for years ... that I detest being occupied by the United States, and I detest this colonial rule we're under," Little, who had also espoused his views on his own radio program, said. "It was no secret, yet I was voted in." Little acknowledges that he, himself, "sadly," is a U.S. military veteran. He served 2-1/2 years with the U.S. Army in the early 1990s, followed by three years in the South Dakota National Guard. "I learned a lot," he said. "It was a good experience." Little said he has received "numerous" calls of support. Veterans say they, too, have received numerous calls from people upset by the remarks. Frank Marshall, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1959 to 1963, called Little's comments "a big slap in the face for all veterans." Only Little's constituents can remove him from office, Marshall said, but veterans can "get together and support their effort to remove him." There will be a meeting at 6 p.m. today at Porcupine Day School. Veterans, military families and other tribal members are invited. Brewer said veterans have agreed to support what Oglala district residents decide to do. Contact Heidi Bell Gease at 394-8419 or heidi.bell@rapidcityjournal.com Copyright c. 2007 The Rapid City Journal. --------- "RE: Soldier highlights problems in U.S. Army" --------- Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 10:16:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LOWER BRULE SOLDIER HIGHLIGHTS PROBLEMS WITH ARMY" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415081 Soldier highlights problems in U.S. Army by: Gale Courey Toensing / Indian Country Today May 25, 2007 FORT CARSON, Colo. - Army Spc. Ryan LeCompte, Lower Brule Sioux, was admitted to a Veterans Affairs hospital in mid-May to be treated for post-traumatic stress disorder after an ordeal that included allegations of racist slurs and medical neglect by the military. LeCompte, 27, who served two tours in Iraq as part of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, and Fort Carson, where he is based, are part of an ongoing investigation by the General Accounting Office into the mental health care services provided by the Defense Department. The GAO is an independent, nonpartisan watchdog agency that works for Congress and studies the programs and expenditures of the federal government. "We will be doing a site visit to Fort Carson among other military installations," Marcia Crosse, GAO's director of health issues, said. A report is not expected before next year. On May 14 and 15, a group of senators sent staff members to Fort Carson on a fact-finding mission on allegations that military officials were downplaying soldiers' mental health problems or trying to get soldiers with mental problems discharged without benefits. The hearings were prompted by complaints from LeCompte's wife, Tammie, and the Veterans of America, who have advocated for LeCompte and other soldiers at Fort Carson and across the country. Tammie LeCompte was scheduled to testify May 24 in front of the Senate Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in a hearing about the incidence and treatment of mental health problems in the military. LeCompte's case is particularly disturbing because of the racist element, said Steve Robinson, director of veterans' affairs for the Veterans of America, who has investigated more than 40 complaints at Fort Carson alone. "The fact that people in his chain of command used ethnic and racial slurs, called him 'sand nigger' and 'prairie nigger' and 'wagon-burner' and other things is very disturbing. I served 20 years in the military. We don't treat people like that in our military and it's not tolerated. When I heard these things, it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and I realized that the moral fabric of what I believe the military to be must be under a tremendous amount of pressure," Robinson said. LeCompte didn't receive the care he deserved, Robinson added. "He didn't have a drinking problem, but he was being punished as if he did. He has a traumatic brain injury and they didn't understand it. They tried to strip him of the only thing he had left when he came back from war, and that is his dignity," Robinson said. Fort Carson spokesman Karen Linne could not comment on LeCompte's medical treatment because of privacy issues. "As far as his allegations of racial slurs, I know that his unit did conduct an investigation into allegations of racial slurs and I am told that part of what they found there was the slurs actually occurred in previous units, not the one he's currently assigned to, but the results of that are not completely final yet," Linne stated. When LeCompte came home in March 2006 from his second tour in Iraq, his life began to unravel, Tammie LeCompte said. He drove his car into a ditch, thinking he had swerved off the road to avoid an improvised explosive device. Sometimes she found her husband sitting in a corner crying, or crawling on the floor at night thinking he was still in Iraq. LeCompte started having nosebleeds and seizures: not grand mal seizures, which knock its victims to the floor, but the kind in which a person zones out and has tremors all over his body. "I didn't know what it was at first, but he was having flashbacks, and so I'd just tell the kids to leave him alone; but over a period of time, his condition just deteriorated and the military just refused to treat him, " Tammie LeCompte said. The LeComptes have four children living with them. LeCompte also endured taunting on the battlefield. "They ridiculed him and called him a 'drunken Indian.' They said, 'Hey, dude, you look just like a haji - you'd better run.' They call the Arabs 'haji.' I mean, it's one thing to worry for your life, but then to have to worry about friendly fire because you don't know who in the hell will shoot you?" Tammie LeCompte said. Army doctors gave LeCompte a mix of drugs, including Seoquel, which is used for acute mania associated with bipolar disorder; Celexa, an antidepressant; and Lunesta, a sleep medication, but they didn't work, Tammie LeCompte said. "Finally, he couldn't handle things and wanted to self-medicate. He drank one night and got a DUI," Tammie LeCompte said. Soon after the DUI, LeCompte entered a private 72-hour acute care treatment facility that is contracted to the Defense Department. "But he didn't check in because he'd been drinking; it was because his leaders were harassing him and he'd just reached the breaking point," Robinson said. LeCompte was locked down for two weeks, during which the facility and the Army kept telling Robinson that only the other entity was authorized to release him. After a campaign of calls and pressure from the senators, a place was found for LeCompte at the Veterans Hospital in Wyoming. In order to get into the hospital, LeCompte had to sign a statement agreeing to be treated for substance abuse, but after a few days the hospital determined that he wasn't a substance abuser and tracked him into individualized treatment for PTSD, Robinson said. LeCompte is scheduled to be released from the VA hospital June 19. LeCompte has invited Robinson to a Sun Dance ceremony in South Dakota in June, where LeCompte will be honored as a warrior returning home. "Native America has always had the tradition of honoring returning warriors back to the community so I'm going to this event to see and experience this proud, strong tradition and try to take away something that I can present to the army to create a warrior tradition for people to understand that when warriors come home they will have problems and there are things we can do to ease their transition," Robinson said. In an ironic twist, LeCompte can trace his ancestors to those who fought the 3rd Armored Cavalry in 1876, when 10 companies of that regiment fought in the Battle of Rosebud Creek. Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: Saving memories of Indian Veterans" --------- Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 07:18:41 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="WARRIOR MEMORIES" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article? AID=/20070528/NEWS0107/705280317/1001&nav_category= Saving memories of Indian veterans VFW post on the reservation is heading to new quarters By Nancy Pasternack / The Bulletin May 28, 2007 WARM SPRINGS - They meet now in a small, windowless space - combination storage and washroom - in a youth activities building called the Spectrum, on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. Gerald Danzuka, 47, and other members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4217 recently planned their annual Memorial Day ceremony from these cramped and noisy quarters. "We just keep plugging away," Danzuka said of the post's 52 members - most of them inactive. Danzuka, a tribal appeals court judge on the reservation and the VFW post's current senior vice commander, served in a U.S. Army mechanized infantry unit between 1986 and 1989, and spent most of the time in camps near the demilitarized zone north of Seoul, South Korea. Like many on the reservation, Danzuka can rattle off a long list of ancestors who served in the U.S. Armed Forces. According to VFW numbers, about 500 Warm Springs residents spent time in uniform, many of them in combat, since the Modoc Wars of 1872-1873. The reservation is currently home to about 150 veterans. Danzuka's father served in U.S. Army Special Forces - Green Berets - during the Korean War, and his stepfather and several uncles served during World War II. His mom served for a time in the Air Force, he said. All are now deceased. "We're running out of the older guys," said Danzuka. "I can't think of anyone here that's left from World War II." He and a few active members of the veteran's post, known as the Elliott Palmer Post - so named for a World War II veteran and Warm Springs tribal member - gathered recently in front of a small white house near some of the reservation's key government buildings. The house has been promised as the group's next temporary home. They hope to move in within the next few weeks. It will become one in a long series of places the vets have occupied over the last 30 years. A headquarters building for the group, erected by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1949 to help preserve the heritage and history of Warm Springs' military service, fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1977. Since then, photographs and other wartime memorabilia collected by generations of Warm Springs veterans have been lost. Members took them home for safekeeping and subsequently died or fell away from the group. A shrinking tribal budget, and lack of attention, Danzuka said, are primary reasons for the group's ongoing displacement and dwindling membership. Warriors Danzuka and other active members - at most, a dozen, he said - meet just once a month. "Usually just a few of us show up, like for Memorial Day," said Marvin Ike, 62, junior vice commander for the post, who had come to join Danzuka outside on this cloudy late afternoon. Ike's U.S. Navy service from 1962 to 1966 included stints in the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam on an aircraft carrier - the USS Kitty Hawk. His great-grandfather had been a scout for the U.S. Army during its battles against the Modoc Indians near the Oregon border with California in 1872. Among the dozens of military portraits covering the walls of the post's makeshift headquarters are copies of several warrior photographs taken more than 100 years ago. The image of Wallulatum, who had also been a U.S. scout in the late 19th century, is among them. His descendants at Warm Springs now include many U.S. military veterans and prominent community members. Military affiliation at Warm Springs, however, is becoming a thing of the past. Fewer than 20 of Warm Springs' now roughly 4,000 tribal member residents are believed to serve currently in the military. Some have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Danzuka said the role that veterans play on the reservation has diminished over the last couple of decades. "Probably the biggest thing we do now," he said, "is funerals." Tribalizing Military ceremonies, as carried out by tribal members on the Warm Springs reservation, are an amalgamation of Armed Forces and Indian martial traditions. The uniforms worn for events, such as veterans' funerals and Memorial Day services, are themselves a unique Warm Springs creation. Danzuka shows off features of his own Indian-style tunic. The shirt was designed by a well-known community leader known as Longhouse Lucy, and fashioned from fabric with a camouflage pattern resembling the military battle dress uniform. Long pieces of ribbon are sewn onto the sleeves - a local tribal accent. "We do tribalize things," said Danzuka. The customary presenting of colors is done to the beating of Indian drums, for instance, and, "we're dancing instead of marching," Danzuka said. They try to stick to the VFW guidebook as closely as possible, he said of the participants. But certain modifications have to be made, both for cultural reasons, and because of the current shortage of post members. Indian military service has always kept some of its roots in ancient warrior tradition, Danzuka said. And a few tribal elders make it their business not to let anybody forget it. Charlotte Herkshan, a tribal member and widow of a career soldier, hosts a veterans dinner each month and leads a series of Indian crafts workshops during the winter months; the participants make beaded gifts to send to current Warm Springs service members. Shauna Queahpama, 35, said she didn't realize when she joined the army in 1989, "just how much my people respected warriors." She spent her four years of service with an air defense artillery unit in Spangdahlem, Germany, and was surprised to receive admiring letters from Warm Springs Elementary School children, and others on the reservation. Queahpama kept some of the cards and letters. But there were gifts she received, via care package, which she savors only in her memory. Relatives sent her hard tack and huckleberries - familiar Warm Springs foods. "I was stingy with those," she said, and they went fast. Danzuka said he received dried deer and elk meat, and Ike remembers the dried salmon his mother sent him while he was in the Navy. He and a friend made quick work of it. "We didn't share that with nobody," he said, laughing. Coming home This Memorial Day, like on most, the remaining active members of VFW Post 4217 will gather in front of the tribal courthouse, where a small, stone memorial stands. It pays tribute to Warm Springs veterans of the Modoc Wars, as well as World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. Soon, Queahpama said, there may be no one to call on for help when service members return to the reservation and struggle to readjust. Her own struggles lasted years. When you return, she said, "you're a totally different person than when you left." Danzuka gets calls from parents, who say, "How do I talk to my son? I don't know him anymore." His own return to the reservation was difficult. "It's like going from a thousand miles an hour, to 10," he said. "When I came back here, I said, `Is anybody moving? Is anybody awake?'" He attributes whatever discipline and drive he has, he said, to his time in the military. Ike credits the military with giving him some of his favorite memories. Like the time John F. Kennedy, then president, came to visit his ship. JFK brought with him one of his famous rocking chairs, "15 of us took turns rocking in it," Ike said, laughing. He got to see Hawaii, Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong and other places he never would have seen otherwise. But, Ike said, the return to Warm Springs - home - was inevitable. It was an important time in the lives of veterans past, and it will be for the current batch. He looked out into the distance. "They always come back," he said. Nancy Pasternack can be reached at 419-8074 or at npasternack@bendbulletin.com. Copyright c. 2007 Bend Bulletin, Western Communications, Inc. --------- "RE: Bill supporting American Indian Mascots" --------- Date: Fri, 25 May 2007 07:33:28 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="TENNESSEE LEGISLATORS SHOW RACIST BACKSIDES" Bill supporting American Indian mascots on way to governor May 25, 2007 NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A proposal to ban state agencies from regulating American Indian mascots is on its way to Governor Bredesen. The version agreed upon by the Senate and House allows schools to "continue to honor certain persons or cultures through the use of symbols, names and mascots." The bill's sponsor, Representative Mike Bell of Riceville, said it would not apply if the symbols were portrayed in a demeaning or obscene way. Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia Lenker said the governor would have to review the bill before deciding whether to sign it. Some schools had complained earlier this year about the cost involved if they were forced to drop Indian mascots. Copyright c. 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. Copyright c. 2007 Bristol Herald Courier, News Channel 11, & TriCities.com Media General, Inc. --------- "RE: Students share a dream to help Native Communities" --------- Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 07:15:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="STUDENTS STRIVE TO HELP TRIBAL COMMUNITIES" http://www.navajohopiobserver.com/main.asp? SectionID=30&SubSectionID=42&ArticleID=5868 Students share a dream to help Native American communities By Sarah Auffret, ASU Special to the Observer May 22, 2007 TEMPE - Three dynamic women who share a dream of helping Native American communities have won national Udall Scholarships at Arizona State University (ASU). Each comes from different backgrounds and have different majors, but their goals are to develop expertise so they can make a difference in the lives of struggling tribal community members. Sharon Cini (Navajo/Hopi), an American Indian studies major, wants to become a health care administrator at the hospital in her grandmother's hometown of Ganado on the Navajo reservation. She grew up in Winslow. Jennifer Jackson (Navajo) of Tuba City, who is majoring in elementary education and family studies, plans to become a school principal and then a superintendent on the Navajo reservation. Andrea Garfinkel-Castro, an urban planning major from Modesto, Calif., has her eye on bringing energy conservation and energy management to affordable housing projects, including those in Native American communities. All are single mothers in their thirties and forties with 10 children between them. They share an intense work ethic, a steely determination, and breadth of life experiences that will make them likely to succeed. Only about 70 sophomores and juniors are selected to receive the $5,000 award each year, which are given to students who intend to pursue careers in tribal policy, health care and environmental public policy. Altogether, 20 ASU students have won Udall scholarships in the past 11 years. Cini is already involved in Native American health care, having worked as an outreach coordinator and parent educator at Phoenix Children's Hospital as well as a substance abuse counselor and a clinician who trains non-Native foster parents for Native children. This spring she began working with the board of the Sage Memorial Hospital in Ganado, a struggling institution that needs leadership and is grateful for her help. A U.S. Navy veteran, Cini follows a tradition-her great-grandmother was a medicine woman and her mother was a nurse at Winslow Indian Health Services for 30 years. "Sharon is a young extraordinary mind who has learned disciplined maturity through her upbringing as well as her service in the Navy," says Donald Fixico, history professor. "Her strength is in her identity as a Native person and a woman who has set important goals in her life. She does indeed practice the Navajo concept of 'Walking in Beauty.' As a Native scholar, I am very proud of her." Michelle Hale, faculty associate in American Indian Studies, says Cini is "a natural leader, an extraordinarily hard worker with tremendous potential that I cannot wait to see developed." Jackson started volunteering in Tuba City schools when her children were young. She has been coaching, sponsoring cultural groups, sitting on parent advisory councils and planning community events. Eventually she developed so much expertise that she was hired as program manager for a tribal social service program and later as a director for a tribal Head Start program. She learned how to collect data and write grants. In August 2005 she enrolled at ASU, determined to become a policy maker who could improve the quality of education for Navajos. She wants to develop a culturally relevant curriculum that meets federal standards and incorporate Navajo language instruction into reservation schools. "Jennifer has exceptional leadership qualities, yet [she] maintains values of the Navajo who are a people devoted to communal life and goals," says Kathryn Manuelito, assistant professor of education. "She is aware of the contradictions that challenge professional Navajo people as they seek to benefit from both the Navajo world and the Euro-western world. Her approach to life is very positive." Garfinkel-Castro is an activist planner for energy conservation in affordable housing, believing that the perception that the poor don't care about the environment is wrong, as is the idea that energy conservation is too costly. Having grown up in modest means, she learned a lifestyle of conservation through necessity. Currently she is working as a volunteer on a community redevelopment project in the Yaqui Indian town of Guadalupe, one that will have energy efficiencies. "As a late-blooming student, one who has had to work hard and be persistent in her search for an education, Andrea brings to her work a high level of maturity and clarity about her values," says Hemalata Dandekar, director of the School of Planning. "Her focus on issues of equity and her concerns about displacement of the poor and access to public resources for disadvantaged populations are clear. "The Udall Scholarship will help her better understand the mechanisms of governmental decision making. She can turn this knowledge to improving the chances of less able groups in our society." Content c. 2007 Navajo Hopi Observer. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: BIA disputes Tribe's removal of Feds from Process" --------- Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 07:34:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="BIA INVALIDATES CNO CONSTITUTION" http://www.pechanga.net/ http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/local/local_story_143093058.html BIA disputes tribe's removal of feds from constitutional process By TEDDYE SNELL Tahlequah Daily Press May 23, 2007 The Cherokee Nation has received notification that the Bureau of Indian Affairs is denying approval for a constitutional amendment Cherokee voters approved four years ago to strip away federal authority. The amendment removed the federal government from the constitutional approval process, and tribal courts subsequently ruled the Cherokee Nation could rescind the approval authority it had granted the federal government. In a letter dated Monday to Principal Chief Chad Smith, Assistant Interior Secretary Carl J. Artmann wrote that after a thorough analysis, Interior Department officials have decided to reject a 2003 amendment to the Cherokee constitution nullifying the requirement that the Interior Secretary approve all amendments. "I do not make the decision to disapprove the 2003 amendment lightly," Artmann wrote in the letter. "I recognize the Cherokee Nation as a sovereign nation capable of managing its government without oversight of the federal government. I also recognize that the United States 1866 treatment with the Cherokee Nation was somewhat unusual in its requirement that the Cherokee Nation recognize the rights of the individual freedmen in exchange for amnesty and the continuation of the government-to- government relationship between the United States and the [Cherokee] Nation." Artmann expressed concern that approving the 2003 amendment now "would be used by some as a validation or evidence of legitimacy of the Cherokee Nation's removal of its Freedmen members from the tribe in apparent violation of the 1866 treaty." Despite information being released Monday to media outlets regarding the decision, tribal councilors and Todd Hembree, council attorney, had yet to see documentation from the BIA. "This was released to the media before any of us received a copy," said Councilor Linda Hughes-O'Leary. "Our tribal attorney didn't even know about it until the Attorney General Diane Hammons told him. I learned about it on Channel 8's Web site!" According to the tribe's press release, the administration feels the BIA letter has "little practical effect, as tribal courts have ordered the Cherokee Nation to implement the amendment, and it has been effective for nearly a year." Considering 70 percent of the tribe's $380 million budget is comprised of federal funding, O'Leary believes the legislative branch charged with allocating funding should have been informed long before the media, as the fed's decision could affect the overall budget. "You have to ask yourself, at what point does the administration's actions constitute willful neglect?" said O'Leary. "I'm trying to reach Todd [Hembree] right now to ask him that very question." James Cason, associate deputy secretary of the interior, wrote Smith on Aug. 30, 2006, indicating "the Cherokee Nation's constitution requires secretarial approval of amendments, and neither the secretary nor any authorized representative of the secretary has approved the amendment." According to Cason's letter, Smith wrote the U.S. Department of Interior June 9, 2006, and advised Cason the Cherokee Nation was withdrawing its request for approval of the amendment removing the federal government from oversight on the Cherokee Constitution and its amendments. "Your letter indicated that you consider the approval of the amendment moot in light of the June 7, 2006, decision by the Cherokee Nation's Judicial Appeals Tribunal in the matter styled `In Re: The Status and Implementation of the 1999 Constitution of the Cherokee Nation,' JAT 05-04," wrote Cason to Smith. The JAT decision was based on a letter from Neal A. McCaleb, assistant secretary to the BIA. The letter states McCaleb intended the letter to "serve as full and final approval of the question" to let Cherokee voters have final approval or rejection of the amendment. Cason took issue with the aim of McCaleb's letter: "While we can appreciate Mr. McCaleb clarifying what he intended, his stated intention is not an adequate substitution for the necessary action of actual approval. As an elected tribal official, I am sure that you can appreciate the difficulties created when a former official attempts to bind his successor by stating what he had intended to do when he was in office. The Cherokee Nation's constitution requires secretarial approval of amendments and neither the secretary nor any authorized representative of the secretary has approved the amendment." Smith believes the tribe's Supreme Court ruling trumps any BIA authority. "The Cherokee Nation Supreme Court spoke clearly that the BIA has no authority to approve the Cherokee Nation Constitution," said Smith in a press release. "If the BIA has its way, the Cherokee Nation cannot even amend our own constitution. This is contrary to federal policy and court decisions handed down time after time over the last 30 years. It is insulting and wrong, and we will take all the appropriate steps to defend our nationhood and right to self-determination ... As Cherokee people, we must stand behind the order of our own Supreme Court." Copyright c. 2007, Tahlequah Daily Press. --------- "RE: Leech Lake innovative Child Welfare initiative" --------- Date: Thu, 24 May 2007 07:34:02 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="LEECH LAKE, COUNTY ON BRINK OF CHILD WELFARE PLAN" http://www.walkermn.com/placed/index.php?sect_rank=1&story_id=232893 Cass County, Leech Lake Band on the brink of innovative child welfare initiative by Gail DeBoer, Staff writer The Pilot-Independent May 24th, 2007 A groundbreaking child welfare initiative between Cass County and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe is scheduled to begin this fall. The American Indian Child Welfare Initiative, created in 2005 by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) and approved by the Legislature, would transfer the responsibility for American Indian child welfare services on the reservation from Cass County to the Leech Lake Band. The Leech Lake Reservation also covers parts of Itasca, Beltrami and Hubbard counties. Those counties will also work with Leech Lake to implement the Initiative. The White Earth Band also is part of the pilot project. That reservation includes parts of Becker, Clearwater and Mahnomen counties. The state will provide funding and support to the Band to develop infrastructure, train staff, and facilitate the transition. The Initiative recognizes the fact that American Indian children are greatly over-represented in the total number of children placed out of their homes due to abuse, neglect or other factors. According to state statistics, American Indian children are six times more likely to be removed from their homes than other children. According to state figures, annual OHP costs for both Leech Lake and White Earth top $4 million in county and federal dollars. This is in addition to other child welfare costs, such as prevention, assessment and family preservation. For many years, Cass County has struggled to contain skyrocketing OHP costs. However, as many as 60 to 70 percent of Cass's OHP cases involve American Indian children. Because most Leech Lake Band members live on reservation land and do not pay property taxes, costs are borne by county taxpayers. On occasion, tribes and counties also have disagreed on child welfare issues such as authority and obligations. Under the initiative, Leech Lake and White Earth would benefit by having greater self-determination regarding the welfare of their own children. A joint meeting to discuss the Initiative, answer questions and work on a Memorandum of Understanding for Cass and Leech Lake, was held May 15 at Northern Lights Casino and Event Center. Also present were representatives of Hubbard, Beltrami and Itasca counties. "We will encounter some difficulties, but we have some very skilled people on board," Leech Lake Band Chairman George Goggleye Jr. told the group. "I'd really ask for the commitment of all representatives in this room." Leech Lake's Executive Director Roger White said the Band "has a visionary plan" that includes hiring a human services director. The new integrated plan would upgrade services to band members, he said. "We need to be self-sufficient and to exercise our sovereignty. Once we are a full-service agency, like the county, we can serve our clients, protect children and work for family preservation. We look forward to helping ourselves more than we have done in the past." In February 2007, a contract for child welfare services between the Leech Lake Band and the state allowed Leech Lake to start using their portion of a $2.4 million allocation to develop Phase I infrastructure - more office space, additional child welfare positions and training, supplies, equipment, etc. Phase II will begin after a memorandum of understanding is signed between the Band and the county, and when staffing and infrastructure are in place and ready to go. Leech Lake will then be able to access its share of the $4.8 million provided by the state. That funding would be used to do assessments and prevention of child abuse, family preservation, out-of-home placements for children removed from homes, and other activities that advance the goals of safety, permanency and well-being for American Indian children. The Leech Lake Band would be accountable to the same state and federal regulations and standards for child protection as are Cass or any other county. "This Initiative is a once in a lifetime opportunity," commented Cass County HHVS Director Dorothy Opheim. "Cass County pledges its full cooperation to the State of Minnesota and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe to facilitate the transition from county responsibility to Tribal responsibility to improve outcomes for American Indian child welfare cases within the Reservation." Copyright c. 2007 The Pilot-Independent, MultiMedia Interactive. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Indians could influence 2008 Presidential Vote" --------- Date: Wed, 23 May 2007 07:15:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="SLEEPING NATIVE AMERICAN VOTE WAKING UP" http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/530230/ Source: University of Utah American Indians Could Influence 2008 Presidential Vote May 22, 2007 Newswise - American Indian voters are poised to begin playing a much bigger role in election politics, if past trends are any indication. That's just one of the conclusions in a new book titled "Native Vote," co- authored by Daniel McCool, Susan Olson and Jennifer Robinson of the University of Utah. American Indians were not even considered citizens until they were granted citizenship in 1924. The right to vote came later in most Western states, and as late as the 1950s the state of Utah was trying to prevent Indian people from voting. Today, the situation has changed dramatically. Beginning in the late 1970s, Indians began to take advantage of the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 and bring litigation to challenge voting discrimination in local and state elections. Many of these suits succeeded through either settlements or trials in reducing barriers to electoral participation. Then, in the 1990s, several Indian organizations made a systematic effort to register American Indians and get them to the polls in ever-increasing numbers. As a result, the "native vote" has become pivotal in some Western states. According to the book, "In 2000, Indian voters helped [Democrat] Maria Cantwell defeat [Republican U.S.] Sen. Slade Gorton [in Washington state], and helped Al Gore carry New Mexico." Two years later, Indian voters again displayed their potential power. In South Dakota, they provided the winning margin for Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson in his very close re- -election bid, and they were credited with helping to elect Democratic Gov. Brad Henry in Oklahoma. Janet Napolitano, the governor of Arizona acknowledged at the 2004 Democratic National Convention that "Without the Native Americans, I wouldn't be standing here today." According to an article in the New York Times on September 24, 2004, "In the last few years, political races from Congress to county sheriff have begun to hinge on the Indian vote ... ." Indian tribes also have become big players in campaign contributions, lobbying and running candidates for office. Co-author McCool says that with the growing influence of the Western states in presidential primaries, the Indian vote will become even more important. "I think it's safe to say that there are specific scenarios where the presidential race could hinge on the vote in some Western states, much like it did on Florida in 2000 or Pennsylvania in 2004. Indian voters have already proven that they can swing statewide elections in Washington, Arizona, New Mexico and South Dakota. If any of these states becomes pivotal in a tight presidential race, the Indian vote could make the difference," says McCool. "Native Vote" is the first book-length analysis of the newfound political power of American Indian people. It describes the long struggle of American Indians to get the right to vote, and explains how they are wielding this power to influence elections, and benefit tribes. The book offers an analysis of the 70-plus court cases in Indian Country that were based on the Voting Rights Act; several such cases are still in the courts. "Native Vote" is the only comprehensive study of these cases. The Voting Rights Act was reauthorized by Congress in September 2006, so there is a strong likelihood that many more cases will be filed in the future. There was a time when American Indians were not considered players on the political stage. That perception has changed dramatically in recent years, and all indications are that Native peoples are now a potent force in Western politics. "Native Vote" explains how this change came about, and how it is affecting contemporary elections. The book "Native Vote" is published by the Cambridge University Press. For more information please visit: http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521548717 Copyright c. 2007 Newswise. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: American Indian Tribe banishes blogger" --------- Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 07:53:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="CHOOSE YOUR WORDS WITH CARE" http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070517/ap_on_re_us/blogger_banished_1 American Indian tribe banishes blogger May 17, 2007 An American Indian tribe has banished a blogger who wrote a magazine article criticizing conditions on the reservation and calling for an end to "cradle-to-grave entitlements." The resolution by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa says Rob Port's column was "injurious to the peace and seriously threatens the general welfare, health, safety, political security and prosperity" of the tribe and others in North Dakota. Port is webmaster for SayAnythingBlog.com. The column ran in the January issue of The Dakota Beacon and appeared on the blog. He says he found out about the tribe's decision from a fellow blogger. "How do you ban somebody from land without even telling them about it?" Port said. "It doesn't seem very straightforward, banning somebody for an opinion piece." Port said he spent about 15 hours "going around neighborhoods and knocking on doors" on the reservation for his column, titled "The Appalling State of North Dakota Indian Reservations." He wrote that people are "perfectly content to live there. Probably because they don't know any better. They were likely raised in housing projects by their parents, who in turn were probably raised in housing projects themselves." Port's column also called for an end to reservations and "cradle-to- grave entitlements." Tribal Vice Chairman Ted Henry said the column unfairly generalizes life on the reservation. "It cut our people down," Henry said. "We do have a lot of good people here. The article doesn't say anything about that. A lot of our Indian people work hard." The tribe adopted a banishment ordinance last year to fight illegal drugs. People who are not tribal members can be banished without warning if the tribe deems immediate removal necessary. The eight-member tribal council unanimously passed the resolution banning Port on May 10. If he sets foot on the reservation, he could be subject to civil contempt in tribal court. Port said he doesn't see a need to visit the reservation again and is unsure whether he'd appeal if given the chance. "I didn't write it thinking I am going to tick these people off," Port said. "I thought, 'I am writing it because people don't think about what's going on in the reservation very often."' Copyright c. 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. Copyright c. 2007 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. --------- "RE: Blogger should learn lesson about Indian Life" --------- Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 07:53:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD: BLOGGER SHOULK LEARN FACTS" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=38587 Blogger should learn lesson about Indian life Dorreen Yellow Bird May 22, 2007 In my travels around the country, the one place I always return to is White Shield, N.D., my homeland. It is a placed reserved for the Sahnish (Arikara) people after millions of acres around us were usurped by the federal government. We have a special connection to this land not only because of historic ownership, but also because it's the final resting place of our ancestors. I say this about reservations and homelands in response to the controversy about blogger Rob Port of Minot and his essay, "The Appalling State of North Dakota Indian Reservations" ("Blogger banned," Page 1A, May 16). Stop blogging, Rob Port, until you have some facts. The 15 hours Port spent on the Turtle Mountain reservation gave him a lopsided view of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa. Port gathered a whole group of people into one bundle, tied a dirty, lazy knot around them and tossed them into the national spotlight. First (and as I'm sure Port will appreciate), the Turtle Mountain band does have problems, and many of its members agree. But here is what Port failed to see on the reservation. In about the 1960s, American Indian people and especially those from Turtle Mountain began coming to universities. The door was opened, and they were encouraged to walk through. They were pioneers. Some of them include Dr. Lionel Demontigny, the tribe's first medical doctor and Dr. David Delorme, its first Ph.D. Today, the list of medical doctors includes Laurie Gourneau, Lisa Erdrich, Rodney and Richard Larson, Janice Wallette, Paula Bercier, Vernon Azure, Penny Wilkie and Adrienne Lavendure. Others in the medical field include Darrell Crissler, optometrist, and Danny Gooden, Allen Belgarde and Cheryl Crissler, pharmacists. Among the tribe's Ph.D. holders are Tammy Jollie-Trottier, Leigh Jeanotte, Viola LaFontaine, Gerald "Carty" Monette, Loretta Delong, Shelly Peltier, Ramona Klein, Denise Lajimodierre, Angie Azure-LaRocque, W. Larry Belgarde, Duane Schindler, Jim Davis, Bill Gourneau, Heid Erdrich, Virginia Allery, Paul Dauphinais, Donna Brown, Lavonne Fox, Betsy Laverdure, Jeff Hamley, Joan LaFrance, Dwight Gourneau and Carol Davis. Tribal members who are lawyers include Jerilyn DeCoteau, Roxanne LaVallie, Richard Monette, Jeff Davis, Bernice Delorme, Eugene Delorme, Monique Vondall and Jan Morley. Louise Erdrich and Duane Champaigne are nationally known writers; there also are six engineers and one architect. There are more than 400 people working on the reservation who have bachelors degrees and about 200 with masters degrees, according to a survey taken by the Turtle Mountain Community College. Are tribal members able to handle money and business? Turtle Mountain has one of the few tribally owned major grocery stores as well as LaDot's convenience store and some hotels and businesses. Then there is James Laducer, a tribal member whose Laducer & Associates Inc., of Mandan, N.D., employs 275 people, making it one of the biggest privately owned American Indian businesses in the country. In other words, when the floodgates open for the Chippewa people, they jumped into the roaring water and swam upstream, bringing many of their people along with them. Those a few of the success stories at Turtle Mountain. These names were assembled to suggest the growth of the Turtle Mountain people in the last 40 years. This growth that is staggering when you think of the historic roadblocks that tribal members worked around and the current bigotry they face. Members return to the reservation, as one professional said, because they feel safe from racism there and can practice their culture without worrying what someone might say about them. So, Indian people should be grateful for being given such opportunities, Port might suggest. But remember: No one has given Indian people anything. We paid - with our lives, the lives of tens of millions who were killed by diseases brought over by Europeans and bilked out of a whole country. The U.S. government supposedly compensated us, but did so with inferior housing, health services and so on. By the way, Port forgot to mention the farm payments mailed from Washington to local farmers (most of them non-Indian), as well as the educational grants that are given to college students - non-Indian and Indian college students alike. Yet, it wasn't so much the loss of land as it was the loss of our children, who were taken and put in faraway boarding schools to be turned into white people. Whites took the tribes' soul, language and culture. Put the moccasin on the other foot, Rob Port. Wouldn't that make you a little cranky, too? Unfortunately, the issue that Port and the pundits now have latched onto is the banishment, which has about as much teeth as a 99-year-old grandfather. It's more of a symbolic move now. For hundreds of years, banishment was the system that worked for Indian people. There were no long court hearings where the richest person could get the best lawyer and the best deal. Instead, it was an agreement - a consensus of the people and the wise elders who ruled. The tribe is violating his right to free speech and free press, Port claims. But really, now. For someone with no voice, he is whining pretty loud. The Herald, the Turtle Mountain Star, the Minot Daily News and the tribal newspaper, the Turtle Mountain Times, are among the many newspapers publishing his copy. He has had lots of Internet and talk-radio attention, too. With his blog on "Pause" and while consulting some resources about history, Port should sit down and think about his backhanded bigotry. That way, next time he could paint a more realistic portrait and not just draw a cartoon. --- Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald. Copyright c. 2007 Forum Communications Co. Fargo, ND 58102 All rights reserved --------- "RE: RAVE: Students deserve more than Victim History" --------- Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 07:53:03 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="JODI RAVE: SAM DELORIA" http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/05/21/ news/local/50-history.txt Says Indian students deserve more than victim history By Jodi Rave of the Missoulian May 21, 2007 The best and brightest Indian college graduates would work for Indian Country if tribes created job opportunities and invited them to apply, said Philip "Sam" Deloria. College professors could help, too, if they stopped objectifying Indians and treating them as victims. Students deserve better, Deloria said. "Whose responsibility is it to help them get prepared to take these jobs working in tribal government?" said Deloria, newly named director of the American Indian Graduate Center in Albuquerque, N.M. "It becomes more of a collective responsibility. "And the tribes that have the money and say, 'We're only going to fund our own students,' that's pretty short-sighted politically, and also as an investment in their own future. They're not only going to be hiring their own students, they're going to be hiring people from all over. It's time tribes really thought about this." Deloria's arrival this month at the graduate center denotes an extraordinary changing of the guard in the arena of federal policy and law analysis. It simultaneously heralds a new era in building Indian Country's brain trust: an emerging corps of Indian graduate students. To nurture that corps, Deloria urges professors to quit perpetuating the theory that Indians are victims of multigenerational suffering because previous generations attended boarding schools: "Get over the trauma," he said. "These kids should not have to succeed and develop healthy attitudes in spite of the Indian people who are supposed to be teaching them in college, " he said. "We sell our kids short when we treat them as victims." Deloria steps into his new role with an opinion, which won't surprise anyone who knows him. "I've seen him in meetings where people have bright ideas and clever approaches to doing them," said Chuck Trimble, a former director of the National Congress of American Indians. "He didn't mind shooting them down. He was able to show the folly." Still, he expects others to have their own ideas. "He's not one of those guys who insists you have to believe what he believes," said Kevin Gover, an Arizona State University law professor. "But he does insist you bring some real thought to your positions. He won't let you get away with conventional wisdom, or saying something that everybody says." Instead, he wants to know: "What do you think?" Deloria's colleagues respect his candor and all take note of his superior analytical skills, honesty, integrity and faith in students. To his credit, his presence is being embraced by the old and new. "I'm thrilled that he will continue to serve as president of our board," said Heidi Nesbitt, acting director of the American Indian Law Center. "He has clarity of purpose that few people have, in any job I've ever had. He's outstanding." Deloria was the law center's longtime director before this month's move to the American Indian Graduate Center, where the door has been opened wide. "He's really beloved," said Shenan Atcitty, the graduate center's board president. "He treats people well who work for him. That's important for an organization, having someone like Sam who will take care of them is key to our organization." The graduate center awards $8 million annually to graduate students who have received more than 12,000 scholarships since the center was founded in 1969. It was created under the auspices of the American Indian Law Center, where it remained for one year. Today the program also administers the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program. Deloria will replace Norbert Hill Jr., who returned to his home state of Wisconsin to work for a local college. ----------------------------------------------- Housed in the University of New Mexico's law school, the American Indian Law Center is celebrating it 40th anniversary this year. Deloria served as its director for 37 of those years, during which time he performed groundbreaking work in analyzing federal Indian policy. "He's someone who understands the whole process of how those policies work in tribal communities at a direct level," said Rebecca Tsosie, an Arizona State University law professor. "He's one of the few people in the entire country who have that level of expertise." Additionally, the center is renowned for creating - in 1978 - the Pre- -Law Summer Institute, a boot camp for aspiring law students. In 1967, there were only 25 known Indian attorneys. Today, there are about 4,000 and an estimated 25 percent of them have completed the PLSI program. "It's been extraordinarily successful," said Gover, who completed the course in 1978. Deloria describes his departure from the law center as bittersweet. He said UNM law school administrators tended to overlook the center, leaving him unimpeded to pursue his own vision. "That's the other side of being the invisible man at the law school," he said. "I had almost complete freedom to do anything I wanted, and that's very important to me, to take whatever position I think is right on an issue. And I was able to get involved on a lot of policy things and to take some positions that were not the fashion of the day." But he said it was time someone else tried to work with UNM law school professors and administrators rather than pursue a second option, which was to relocate the American Indian Law Center to an Arizona campus. Nesbitt, the pre-law summer director who worked with Deloria for 23 years, said he did a remarkable job at the AILC, where he always insisted on finding tools for tribes to help them grow. He never wanted the center to be the end-all answer for tribal communities. "I love that," said Nesbitt. "You see some organizations turn huge. They have gigantic budgets and they do lots of stuff, but it doesn't go back into the community. "Our focus is: 'The community can do this. All we need is to get them the things they need to do it.' " ----------------------------------------------- It's a philosophy that runs contrary to the professors who "objectify real Indian people and real Indian communities," said Deloria, a Lakota from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. "The cultures that exist for many scholars don't exist anyplace else but in academia. "They are not the living cultures of Indian communities. They are theoretical cultures that are made necessary by ideological commitments of college professors, including law professors. They get so wrapped up in writing for each other that they begin to think their conferences are reality and that the rest of the world needs to conform." Welcome to the world of Sam Deloria, who will tell you what he thinks. Gover, who is a former assistant Interior secretary, said it's not always easy to say what is on your mind. But the world of academia creates a platform from which to do so. "One of the main reasons I went to a university after I was in office and trying to practice law for a couple of years, is that I was very frustrated at not being able to say what I really thought about things," he said. "When you're a lawyer with a client or want more clients, there are some things you see that you best not talk about." These days, Gover said he's not worried about being "Indian politically correct." People appreciate alternative thinking, he said. "I learned that from Sam." Of course, there is a downside to speaking up. A lot of people tend to get "pissed off," said the former head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. "In that respect, it's not unlike being assistant secretary." After four decades, Deloria is heartened by the students he sees in college who want to work for their tribes. Now tribes need to think of ways to serve them. "It's really remarkable how few want to disappear into the larger society," said Deloria. "And these are the ones for whom disappearing into the larger society would be easiest." He said he is tired of people saying students are getting rich and not working for their tribes. He asks: How many tribal job offers do they turn down? How many do they get? And how deep is their student loan debt? "Some kid coming back from law school might want to go home and hang out a shingle in some little remote reservation community and just represent regular people he grew up with and he owes $60,000. But if we could find some way to relieve that burden, he might go do that. Instead, he's probably going to be in Washington, working for some big law firm." ----------------------------------------------- Deloria said he's heartened to meet hundreds of students who have goals of being doctors, microbiologists, engineers and entering professions he never heard of. And he said he knows they will do it. "I'm so thrilled these kids have not been reached by that element that tried to make them feel or spend their lives as downtrodden victims. They're just charging right ahead and they're going to do something in their lives and do something for their communities," he said. "They're not feeling sorry for themselves. They're not reliving the last time a village got burned." It's one reason he gets riled when professors promote the idea of multigenerational trauma. "It basically enables an endless generation of Indian kids to use a boarding school that they never attended as an excuse for not taking responsibility for themselves," he said. "We can't afford to let that happen. There's so much academic enforcement perpetuating this, that you're really taking your life into your hands questioning it. It's just nuts. It's such a disservice to our own people, to our own kids. "Yes, it was painful - but come on. We're not encouraging good mental health in our own people because we don't want to sacrifice our own victimhood." But he sees students who aren't wallowing in sorrow. They are saying: We've got work to do. We've got people to help. "It's such an inspiration," said Deloria. "It's such a different world. I tell you. I don't think I could compete with these kids. I'm glad I'm too damn old to have to try. They're smart. They're attractive. They're self-confident. "I'm really impressed with this upcoming generation. And they all have cousins and brothers and sisters back home who need a boost. We've got to do something for them." Reach reporter Jodi Rave at 800-366-7186 or jodi.rave@lee.net Copyright c. The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises. --------- "RE: HARJO: Northwest Indian Tobacco Wars" --------- Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 10:16:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="HARJO: TOBACCO WARS" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415086 Harjo: Northwest Indian tobacco wars by: Suzan Shown Harjo / Indian Country Today May 25, 2007 Two important events occurred in mid-May in the Northwest Indian tobacco wars. First, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives made its largest smokeshop raid in Washington since its record- breaking busts on Northwest reservations in 2003. Second, a federal appeals court upheld Yakama treaty rights and threw out indictments stemming from a 2004 raid at Yakama Nation. On May 15, the ATF raided three Indian smokeshops and two homes in Washington, confiscating undisclosed quantities of cigarettes, money, records and computers. The ATF raids, part of "Operation Chainsmoker," targeted the Blue Stilly Smoke Shop on the Stillaguamish Indian Tribe's land; the Trading Post at Match Point on the Swinomish Indian Tribe's land; and the Frank's Landing Indian Trade on the Frank's Landing Indian Community's land. Frank's Landing has been negotiating with the state since 2005 to achieve a tobacco agreement. Frank's Landing was at the heart of the Northwest fish wars when Washington relentlessly violated treaty fishing rights, until the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the state with its 1979 ruling upholding the landmark Boldt decision. On May 18, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a unanimous decision upholding a lower court ruling that indictments against a Yakama family in a smokeshop raid three years ago violated the Yakama Treaty of 1855. Harry Smiskin and his son, Kato, both Yakama citizens, were indicted in June 2004 under the federal Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act because they didn't notify state officials that they were transporting a large amount of cigarettes lacking the state's tax stamp. The Appeals Court decision reads: "In light of our interpretation of the Right to Travel provision of the Yakama Treaty ... as well as the canons of construction for interpreting Indian treaties, we conclude that applying the State's pre-notification requirement to the Smiskins violates the right to travel guaranteed in Article III of the Treaty." The Appeals Court agreed with the Smiskins that the Indian treaty exception precludes the application of the CCTA to their case: "As we explained in Baker [v. USA], a 'federal statute of general applicability that is silent on the issue of applicability to Indian tribes will not apply to them if ... the application of the law to the tribe would abrogate rights guaranteed by Indian treaties' ... Congress must therefore expressly apply a statute to Indians in order to abrogate their treaty rights ... "There is no evidence that Congress intended to abrogate Indian treaty rights through adoption of the CCTA." Article III of the Yakama Treaty specifically secures to Yakama citizens the right to travel upon the public highways. It provides, in part: "That, if necessary for the public convenience, roads may be run through the said reservation; and on the other hand, the right of way, with free access from the same to the nearest public highway, is secured to them; as also the right, in common with citizens of the United States, to travel upon all public highways." This right to travel provision does not appear in the earlier treaties involved in the May 15 raids, but the Appeals Court decision addresses other matters that would apply to the other Northwest treaties. Federal prosecutors argued that the state's compelling interest was in "leveling the playing field" for other cigarette sellers. But the Appeals Court wrote: "However, even assuming that the State has such a purpose, a restriction must be purely regulatory to supersede an Indian treaty right. Because revenue generation is at least a significant purpose of the State's cigarette tax scheme, as the Government concedes, the scheme is not purely regulatory." The decision goes on to say that "a state regulation must be 'necessary' to its regulatory purpose to supersede a treaty right. The pre- notification requirement is not necessary to the State's alleged purpose of leveling the playing field because there are other ways it could enforce the tax on cigarette sales by Indian tribes to non-Indians." Federal lawyers also argued that an appellate ruling affirming the district court's decision would pose a danger to both state and federal regulation of drugs and "forbidden fruits [and] vegetables." But the Appeals Court disagreed: "This concern is unfounded, if not disingenuous ... regulations with a purely regulatory purpose can be applied to Indians, treaty rights notwithstanding. The restricted goods to which the Government refers are regulated for the public safety, not for a revenue generating purpose. Drug laws, for instance, have the stated purpose of protecting the public from the dangers of drug use and the drug trade, and are not intended to generate revenue for the government. To the contrary, cigarettes are generally legal, and unstamped cigarettes are deemed contraband when individuals transport them without providing notice to the State only for the sake of improving the collection of cigarette taxes and increasing State revenues ['fair playing field' arguments aside]." The Appeals Court noted the "more practical response to such concerns," which the Yakama Nation presented in its amicus brief: "The Yakama Nation is a sovereign nation, with its own government, laws and courts, not a rogue organization or menace to civil order. The Yakama Nation does not and never has asserted that its members have the right under its treaty to traffic in narcotics. For the government of the United States to be suggesting otherwise is irresponsible. "The Yakama Nation must and will intercede as litigant or amicus to protect its members' treaty right to travel when the federal government overreaches, as it has here. But the Nation has no interest in promoting, condoning or protecting activities by its members that pose real dangers to public health, public safety, natural resources, or public infrastructure ... not only because irresponsible overreaching on its part would likely prompt Congress to exercise its constitutional/political power to abrogate or limit the treaty right to travel, but also because the Yakama Nation and its members share the interest all citizens have in public health, public safety, conservation and equitable exploitation of natural resources, and adequate public infrastructure." --- Suzan Shown Harjo, Cheyenne and Hodulgee Muscogee, is president of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C., and a columnist for Indian Country Today. Copyright c. 1998 - 2007 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved. --------- "RE: YELLOW BIRD: Remember all heroes Memorial Day" --------- Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 10:16:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="YELLOW BIRD" MEMORIAL DAY" http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=39091 Remember all heroes Memorial Day Dorreen Yellow Bird May 26, 2007 On a recent late-night, public television program, Winston Churchill, prime minister of the United Kingdom, was featured in his World War II role. It was a timely program because this is the Memorial Day weekend and a time to remember those who fought in wars for this country. As the documentary played, Churchill, Josef Stalin, President Franklin Roosevelt and, of course, Adolf Hitler came to life in actual film cuts from news reels. The film cuts starred the key players in the war who called the public to their side. Yet, for me, it was the blood and guts of the war written on the faces of the men of World War II that I remembered most. It was that dog-tired look on the soldiers' faces as they marched toward battles. Some film cuts were in the desert; some showed beach movement; other cuts showed soldiers moving through cities with guns slung over their shoulders. There were sailors peering stealthily over the rails of great ships watching the shoreline as it burst into great balls of smoke and flames. As I watched, I suspected the fighters knew their enemies were soldiers like themselves and that they were dying, too. As I watched, I thought about my uncle, who served many years ago. Was he one of those faceless men on one of those giant ships somewhere in the gray Atlantic? I remember the night he came home from the war. He was in his white bellbottoms with that jaunty hat sailors used to wear. He was smiling and laughing as the family hugged and kissed him. He had been a prisoner of war for nearly a year, I heard. He never told us about what happened to him and I'm glad I didn't hear the details. I don't think I will forget the details of the death of Army National Guard Cpl. Nathan Goodiron, who died in Afghanistan. I attended the funeral. His parents, Paul and Harriet, are friends. Paul is a Vietnam War veteran who served in the Navy from 1969 to 1972. Cpl. Goodiron, 23, was only a few months from completing his tour in Afghanistan. He was killed on Thanksgiving Day when his vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. Two of Paul's relatives were in the vehicle with him and told Paul the details. Paul, in turn, told me, and those details have stayed with me. Paul is a spiritual man, and that seemed to carry him through his grief. Harriet grieved hard and still holds unto her son, but she, too, is a strong spiritual woman. Master Sgt. Woodrow Keeble (Buffalo), a Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota man, soon will be awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. He died after the war, partly of war-related injuries, I was told. I talked with his son, Russ Hawkins, and he told me Keeble's story. He was an exceptionally brave and honorable man of both World War II and the Korean War. It seems he was a man without fear, a man who was a true hero. These men were not the only heroes. There are men and women farmers, factory workers, clerks who live everyday lives and who have gone through the unimaginable horrors of war and maintained mental well-being. Those both living and dead should be honored. This Memorial Day will be difficult for Paul and Harriet and Nathan's wife, Eileen, and the family. It will be a difficult time for all families the men and women who have been killed in Afghanistan, Iraq or the Middle East. So, we thank and honor those who gave their lives for freedom. We also thank and honor the men and women who have returned. --- Dorreen Yellow Bird is a reporter and columnist. Her columns appear Wednesdays and Saturdays on the opinion pages of the Herald. Reach her at (701) 780-1228 or dyellowbird@gfherald.com Copyright c. 2006 Grand Forks Herald, Forum Communications Co., Fargo ND. --------- "RE: GIAGO: Clear and present danger to Sovereignty" --------- Date: Mon, 28 May 2007 14:06:22 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="GIAGO: THREAT TO SOVEREIGNTY" http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/003121.asp Tim Giago: Clear and present danger to sovereignty May 28, 2007 Indian law, sovereignty and jurisdiction are not "one size fits all" issues in Indian country. There are too many variances in how different states view the Indian nations within their borders and even in how the federal government reacts to issues of sovereignty. With the surge in Indian gaming in states like California, a state where Public Law 280 gives the state government jurisdiction over law enforcement and the courts, the issues are far different than, say, in South Dakota, where the state government has no jurisdiction. When Public Law 280 was first pushed upon the different states by the federal government it was intended to open the doors for state jurisdiction on Indian reservations. The tribes of South Dakota, the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota, have always been strong advocates of their own sovereign status. They had been at war with the state government for too many years to not understand that state jurisdiction in their courts and in law enforcement would automatically bring about severe inequity. The former president of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Robert Burnette (now deceased), fought the idea of Public Law 280 tooth and nail. He pushed the reality that if the state assumed jurisdiction over the tribal courts, jails and law enforcement, the costs to the state would be prohibitive. With nine Indian reservations in the state and upwards of 70,000 Indians, the transition alone would have cost the state millions and implementing and sustaining the process would have cost millions more. South Dakota is a very conservative state and when faced with the prospects of having to shell out millions in order to implement the conditions of Public Law 280, they balked and decided that this prospective entanglement best be left in the hands of the federal government. Mr. Burnett's efforts paid off and South Dakota did not adopt the law. That was not the case in states like California. There was no visible Indian opposition to the suggested law and it passed the state legislature without a problem. The tribes in California are numerous but very small and they have a small land base. They were among the poorest of tribes in America getting little financial support from the state government until the advent of casino gambling. Situated in a state with a large population, the success of their casinos was almost preordained. But problems started to develop when the different tribal governments began to disenroll tribal members. According to Robert Edwards, a former vice chairman of the Enterprise Rancheria, there are now about 3,000 members of California tribes that have been disenrolled since Indian gaming became their main source of income. Edwards himself was disenrolled in 2003 along with 70 other members of his tribe. Edwards said that in too many cases the Bureau of Indian Affairs dodges the bullet in dealing with the problem of tribes disenfranchising members by saying it's a membership issue they cannot deal with because of tribal sovereignty. "That excuse simply doesn't fly anymore as many tribal governments are violating the civil rights and human rights of their members while showing a total disregard for their tribal laws," he said. Are the tribes disregarding tribal law or state law? As sovereign nations they have every right to enact and implement their own laws and tribal laws may not always follow the dictates of state law because oftentimes they are constructed around culture, spirituality and traditions that far outdate state law. One Native American legal scholar requesting anonymity said, "Now apparently California is going to use the disenrollment issue to expand their encroachment on the sovereignty of California tribes. And as they say, `As California goes, so goes the nation.'" She continued, "This is very dangerous, but what can large, land-based treaty tribes do when smaller tribes in P.L. 280 states start us down this path? And if we ever find ourselves in a strong financial position, will we begin to face some of the same issues?" The larger treaty tribes fought for generations to take control over their own future. They fought hard to take back the right to name their own tribal members out of the hands of the BIA. They knew the history of their own membership and considered themselves imminently more qualified to choose their own members. After many years of protest and action, they finally assumed that right. The sad case of the Cherokee Nation is now unfolding and once more the BIA has stepped in to interfere with the sovereign rights of the Cherokee people to select their own membership. If the so-called Freedmen of African American descent win this case, it would set a bad precedent for all of Indian country. One does not have to agree with the decision made by the registered voters of the Cherokee Nation to make the decision to remove the Freedmen from their rolls, but it is the legal right of this sovereign nation to make that decision. Too many Indians have fought and died to earn that right. When the Indian Civil Rights Act was first introduced many tribal leaders fought its implementation vigorously because it infringed upon some of their cultural, spiritual and traditional rights. Many saw the Act as a danger to their sovereign rights and although it has not, to date, lived up to those early fears, the possibilities are still there and what is happening in California and Oklahoma presents a clear and present danger to the inherent sovereignty of the Indian nations. --- Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, was the founder and publisher of Indian Country Today. He was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard in the Class of 1991. His latest book "Children Left Behind, the Dark Legacy of the Indian Missions," is now available at: order@clearlightbooks.com. The book just won the Bronze Star from the Independent Publishers Awards. Copyright c. 2007 Indianz.com. --------- "RE: ICT EDITORIAL: Feeding the Spirits" --------- Date: Sun, 27 May 2007 10:16:34 -0700 From: Gary Smith Subj: NA News Item - - - - - - -- - - - - - - filename="ICT EDITORIAL: ACTIVISM AT THE UN" http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096415089 Feeding the spirits by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today May 25, 2007 Activism at the United Nations The late Muskogee-Creek elder Phillip Deere declared at the historic 1977 address to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, that "We, the Indigenous Peoples, are the evidence of the Western Hemisphere. No matter how small a tribal people may be, each of them has the right to be who they are." This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, which gave birth to a consciousness on, an international level, the conditions of indigenous peoples. The event served as an awakening to Native people all over the world, demonstrating that paradigm-shifting, through dignity and organization, is possible. The Geneva conference, John Mohawk noted, "sought to create Principles of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of the Western Hemisphere that ... might lead to a Declaration of such rights for indigenous peoples around the world." That day is upon us, with the conclusion of the Sixth Session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. For 12 days, the world's indigenous representatives and supporters gathered to, among other things, advocate for the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Although adoption has been delayed, the declaration itself represents the tireless work of scores of indigenous people moving as one body. During a side panel discussion, the Birth of Human Rights, Oglala Lakota activist Bill Means stressed the responsibility of informing "our grass- roots" - of carrying the critical messages of the UNPFII back home to our communities. The heart and spirit of one such messenger, the late Menominee activist and grass-roots leader Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa, was remembered throughout the evening. A promising leader whose work helped establish the permanent forum, Washinawatok was murdered during a visit to the Uw'a people of Colombia in 1999. The Ingrid Washinawatok El-Issa Flying Eagle Woman Fund for Peace, Justice and Sovereignty was founded in her name to continue the spirit of her work, and is guided by the principles shared in the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In memory of Washinawatok, who continues to inspire many good people to do great work, we share a column which originally was published in the summer 1997 edition of Native Americas journal, and by Indian Country Today in May 2003. Working toward an indigenous model Ingrid Washinawatok (July 31, 1957 - March 4, 1999) Since Deskaheh, the Cayuga chief who sought justice from the actions of Canada in the League of Nations in 1923, Native peoples have sought to gain an audience in the world forum. Deskaheh, who had hoped the bilateral treaties signed between the Haudenosaunee and the British Empire would give him standing in the League, met with "cruel indifference," he stated. "My appeal to the Society of Nations has not been heard." While he was able to garner the support of the Netherlands and Japan, who sponsored him to address the League, Canada an