215 West Fifth Avenue Denver, CO (USA) 80204
CONTACT: Glenn Morris (303)871-0463 Russell Means
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Press Conference
Place: Denver Press Club
1330 Glenarm Place
On Tuesday, November 26, 1991, American Indian leader Russell
Means announced the opening of the national office of the American
Indian Anti-Defamation Council in Denver, Colorado. Means was
joined by numerous Indian and non-Indian colleagues and supporters
to outline the mission and program for the Council's first year.
Assisting Russell Means in the operation of the Council (some of
whom were not present at the press conference) will be an advisory
board comprised of, among others, the following:
Chief Wilma Mankiller - Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
Professor Vine Deloria, Jr. - Professor of Political Science,
and the preeminent theoretician and scholar of Indian sovereignty
and self-determination in the U.S.
Mr. George Carlin - Internationally renowned actor and comedian,
with a long and sincere interest in justice for indigenous peoples.
Senator James Abourezk - Former United States Senator from South
Dakota, former Chair of the American Indian Policy Review Commission.
Mr. Robert Comstock - World famous fashion designer and
environmentalist; enterprises include grassroots economic
development on Indian reservations.
Professor George Tinker - Associate Professor at the Iliff
School of Theology. Nationally renowned for his work on the
effects of Western culture on indigenous nations.
Mrs. Cahuilla Red Elk - Director of the American Indian Life
Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Reverend Gilbert Horn - Director of the Colorado Council of
Churches, and a longtime ally of indigenous peoples.
Professor John Mohawk - Professor of History at the State
University of New York at Buffalo.
Ms. Winona La Duke - Founder of the Indigenous Woman's Network
and recipient of the 1990 Reebock Human Rights Award.
As recents events such as the celebration of Columbus Day, and
the use of Indian mascots at the World Series indicate, Indian
people remain one of the most maligned and misunderstood peoples in
the United States. The seemingly superficial issues of holidays or
team mascots provide the backdrop for a much deeper and pervasive
analysis of continuing anti-Indian racism in the Americas.
The press conference outlined the dramatic need for a national
office dedicated to addressing pervasive anti-Indian activities
nationwide, and has outlined how the Council plans to address
issues of anti-Indian activity - from the Klan to the Atlanta
Braves, from the classroom to the boardroom.
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MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the American Indian Anti-Defamation Council is
the establishment and operation of a national and international
network of education and communication dedicated to the protection,
enhancement, and prosperity of the indigenous peoples (American
Indians) of the Western Hemisphere. Toward that end, the Council
will actively work for the elimination of prejudice, racism, and
racial discrimination directed at American Indians, and will
actively oppose any human rights or civil rights violations against
American Indians. This work will confront anti-Indian racism in
the form of sports team mascots, anti-Indian holidays - such as
Columbus Day - and other representations in the public realm that
demean and defame American Indian people.
A major portion of the work of the American Indian Anti-Defamation
Council will be to monitor the film, television and print media,
to insure a positive public image for American Indian peoples,
and to advise the media on matters of importance to Indian
peoples. In this vein, the Council will provide regular reviews
of new films, books, periodicals, and other media to reflect and
indigenous perspective of the popular and academic media, and to
insure the maintenance of cultural, political, and historical
accuracy in the representation of Indian peoples. Toward this
end, the Council will remind the public of the positive
contributions of American Indians to the world, and will remind
our own people, and the world, of the heroes that have come from
our indigenous societies.
Additionally, the Council will review educational curricula -
consistently one of the most egrigious sources of anti-Indian
depictions and renditions. We will provide consultation and
recommendations to educational institutions from pre-schools to
graduate schools on indigenous perspectives of education, and the
manner in which various disciplines continue to misrepresent or
defame indigenous peoples and our societies.
Of course, the Council will monitor acts of racially-motivated
violence against Indian people, recognizing that violence can
assume many forms. The most obvious is physical violence against
Indian people, but we will also monitor economic, social, and
political violence against Indian individuals and nations -
conditions that maintain us in conditions of political and
economic bondage to the settler governments around us. We support
the right of indigenous nations to express their inherent right
to self-determination, free from any external control or
conditions. The Council will work in active support of Indian
nations moving to break free of the bonds of colonialism, and
moving toward ultimate economic and political freedom.
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PROGRAM OF ACTION FOR 1992
** REVIEW OF FILM, TELEVISION AND PRINT MEDIA FOR ANTI-INDIAN BIAS.
DEVELOPMENT OF RECOMMENDATIONS FOR RESPECTIVE MEDIA.
** DEVELOPMENT OF CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING EDUCATIONAL CURRICULA.
** PROVIDE CONSULTATION TO EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONS TO
CORRECT FOR ANTI-INDIAN BIAS.
** CONFRONTATION OF OPEN AND OBVIOUS ANTI-INDIAN RACISM:
1.PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAMS USING INDIANS AS MASCOTS.
2.COLLEGE AND OTHER TEAMS USING INDIANS AS MASCOTS.
3.DEVELOPMENT OF ANALYSIS AND PROGRAM OF ACTION FOR COLUMBUS QUINCENTENARY.
4.ANALYSIS OF ANTI-INDIAN DECISIONS IN GOVERNMENT:
A. U.S. SUPREME COURT
B. U.S. CONGRESS/PRESIDENCY
C. STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
5. MONITORING ANTI-INDIAN MOVEMENTS:
KKK, PARR, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES
Russell Means
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
+ Joe D. Locust, SR. + Ward Churchill
Co-Chair for Operations Co-Chair for Public Relations
+ Glenn Morris + Sandra Janis
Co-Chair for Legal and Office Director
International Affairs
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Hopi, Lucas, Lauren & Michele Lord * Walk in Peace with
(milo@scicom.alphacdc.com) * our Mother Earth
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