Wotanging Ikche--nanews08.042

Gary Night Owl (gars@netcom.com)
11 Oct 2000 01:58:21 -0000

Articles sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]

_ __ _____ __ _ __ ___ ____ _ __ ___ O
' ) / / ') / / ) ' ) ) / ) / ' ) ) / ) O o O
/ / / / / / /--/ / / / ___ / / / / ___ O o O
(_(_/ (__/ ( / (_ / (_ (___/ '__/_ / (_ (___/ ' O o o o o O
____ _ , ___ _ , ___ VOLUME 08, ISSUE 042 O o O
/ ' ) / / ) ' ) / / ' October 14, 2000 O o O
/ /-< / /--/ /-- Yurok acorn gathering moon O
__/_ / ) (___/ / ( (___, Blackfoot moon when ducks leave
KANOHEDA ANIYVWIYA Ha-Sah-Sliltha Otapi'sin Atsinikiisinaakssin Un Chota
Es'te Opunvk'vmucvse ni-mah-mi-kwa-zoo-min Aunchemokauhettittea
Ximopanolti tehuatzin, inin Mexika tlahtolli It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le
( N A T I V E A M E R I C A N N E W S )
This issue contains articles from First Nations, Nat-Film,
& Triballaw mailing lists; Newsgroups: alt.native; UUCP email;
http://hometown.aol.com/rayann6/StevieThompson.html
http://www.aics.org/justice/camp.html
http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/000910deadbeat.html
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/news/articles/1003copkillersent-ON.html
http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/001007bilingualindians.html

Articles appearing have been previously posted for public dissemination
and/or permission for inclusion has been secured.
Letters of authorization are on file. A list of those granting permission
to repost their words in this issue are listed at the end of part A.
I thank each of you for allowing your words to be shared with the people.

IMPORTANT!!
-----------
To all who send copywrite protected articles, make very sure you have
permission from the copywrite holder (a newspaper, the AP, a magazine, an
author) because a new law is now in effect that says you can be prosecuted
even if there is no monetary gain. Just because a newspaper has a website
where it posts some or all of its editions does not grant permission for
their redistribution. Be careful and be sure you pass on the items you do
with full permission.
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

"When our father heard that the Americans were coming across the Great
River westward...We heard of guns and powder and lead - first
flintlocks, then percussion caps, and now repeating rifles. We first
saw the Americans at Cottonwood Wash. We had wars with the Mexicans
and the Pueblos. We captured mules from the Mexicans, and had many
mules. The Americans came to trade with us. When the Americans first
came we had a big dance, and they danced with our women. We also traded."
__ Manuelito, Dine'

O'siyo Brothers and Sisters!

Excerpts from a post by Koga Suyeta 14 Aug 2000 00:44:10 -0500

The over-riding issue is Peltier.
Peltier requires our undivided attention now.
--- if Clinton will not sign the paper, we have a very serious problem,
because Bush won't sign & Gore won't sign. It must be Clinton & the
option remains his only until January 20.
The focus, for once, needs to be on the man & only the man.
Mail mail mail. Calls calls calls. Money money money.
Don't be baited.
The over-riding issue is Peltier.
-- - - -
Sincere thanks to Dr Alan Cheney <amhlair@earthlink.net> for adding the
words of the Chickasaw to the banner.
It-hah-pe-hah Ah-num pah-le 'Together we are talking'
-- - - -
Long time readers will remember a stand we took (each of you) against
the Prosecuting Attorney of Rossville, TN, the Attorney General of
Tennessee, and the Governor who were going to let a "good-ole-boy" with
a multipage rap sheet get away with the murder and crippling of Apaches.
PLEASE read the first article of this issue; and send your letters to
the Minnesota authorities who are about to do the same thing. Do not
let this Ojibway brother disappear in a veil of silence.
-- - - -
I have again been granted the honor of serving as MC at the Ft. Payne,
Alabama Veterans' Powwow October 14 and 15. It has brought to mind the
many we left behind. I wish to share a poem I have shared before. It
was written by Jimmy D. Shields.

VIETNAM VETERAN

I was in a LAND called "VIETNAM",
From HOME so far away.
I thought I was serving my COUNTRY.
While some men turned away.
I have LIVED with PERSECUTION
For doing what they say was RIGHT.
I was among the "MEN of MEN",
The MEN who went to FIGHT.
In the wake of all I've seen,
I retreat inside MYSELF,
To reinforce the walls of SOLITUDE,
To PROTECT GOD's given WEALTH.
And in this WORLD the BLUES,
Are shadowed only by the GRAYS,
And the SILENCE of the NIGHT
Is much LOUDER than the DAY'S.
Yes, I'm a "VIETNAM VETERAN"
With MEMORIES that won't go away.
My SOUL still ROAMS in VIETNAM,
While LIFE passes by, "DAY after DAY".
JIMMY D. SHIELDS (copyright)
-- - - -
I thank those who have written, asking for addresses to send food, funds
to buy fuel, blankets and other help for the winter.

Pathways To Spirit, a Colorado non-profit organization,
Carmeen Klausner, Director
(970) 282-8573 for funds to help place a mobile home on Pine Ridge.

Pioquark@aol.com
Clay Watson
Pioneer Industries
1100 E. 24th St.
Cheyenne, Wy. 82001
(307)778-7860
pioquark@aol.com http://members.tripod.com/~dikani/pioneer.html
These donations will be gifted to the Rose Bud and Pine Ridge Reservations
in South Dakota and the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.
I'm on the road a lot, out back loading the truck etc. PLEASE
leave a message if there is no answer..

Supporting the elders through personal contact:
Adopt A Grandparent
Mountain Light Center
PO Box 241
Taos NM 87571
TEL: 505 776 8474
FAX: 505 776 8050
For information call 800 291-8474.
email: agpmlc@aol.com

>From BIGMTLIST
The Dineh could use some blankets to help with the cold winters.
Bonnie Whitesinger
Box 1073
Hotevilla, AZ 86030
Since UPS doesn't deliver to PO boxes, you would have to use parcel post.

I am asking readers of this newsletter to continue to respond as a
caring community, not as the apathetic, uncaring empty beings the dominant
society so often is. We do not warehouse our elders. Our ancestors taught
us that every single member of our community is too valuable to forsake.
We do not shoot our wounded.

The tragic plight of our elders on the various reservations is so great,
their peril so real, their walk so close to the edge that I will continue
to feature contact addresses where you can send donations of clothing,
food, blankets, money to purchase fuel and repair throughout the winter.
As new contacts are received they will be added to the list. PLEASE help
the elders. PLEASE help grow this list and help ALL the elders.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
If any of you have addresses/contacts to add to this list for other Rez's
PLEASE email me with them soon. Winter winds have already brought snow.
email to gars@speakeasy.org
-- - - -
The dominant society again celebrated one of the worst excuses for a
holiday anywhere. There are articles in this issue to help correct some
of the gross misconceptions being taught many children. Try to get the
truth into the hands of teachers. Even if they don't have the honor to
teach the truth, they will have the burden of knowing their lies.

Peace! Night Owl
, , Gary Night Owl gars@nanews.org
(*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@speakeasy.org
(`-') Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. gars@olagrande.net
===w=w=== gars@sdf.lonestar.org

----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------
- Please Let People Know - National Tribal Justice
- Natives Arrested Resource Center
Blocking Columbus Day Parade - Child Support Orders Stalled
- NO to Columbus Day - Tribal Police Officer's Killer
- Questionable American Heroes Sentenced
- Put Indian School - Native Prisoner
in Pueblo Council's Hands - History: Carlisle Indian School
- Sins of Sand Creek - Rustywire: Broken Leg
- Indian Activist Calls - Poem: Point
for Ski Resort Boycott - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days
- Epitaph for the Chief - Indians Fear Prop. 203
- From Sea to Shining Sea May Destroy Languages
- Anger Mounts - English Only Turns Back Clock
- Canadian Media Hits Snooze Alarm on Race Relations
- First Nations - Brent Michael Davids
Can't Meet Corbiere Deadline Performs in Wisconsin
- No Teeth No Action - Upcoming Events
- Pow Wow Molestor Sentenced - Native America Calling

--------- "RE: Please Let People Know" ---------

Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 19:12:51 EDT
From: Rayann6@aol.com
Subj: Please let people know

http://hometown.aol.com/rayann6/StevieThompson.html
The Death of Stevie Thompson
For court dates see bottom or call Elizabeth Langer, Victim Advocate
(651)266-3161
THE DEATH OF STEVIE THOMPSON
On July 21,2000
Two men were charged Friday in connection with a beating that left a man
in St.Paul dead. According to police, the argument started over a pack of
cigarettes. Steven Thompson, 43, a Ojibway, was found Wednesday morning
in an exterior stairwell of the Landmark Center in downtown. Stevie died
later at Regions Hospital. Two homeless men were charged Friday in the
incident, Joseph Steinhauser, 28, was arrested Wednesday at the Dorothy
Day Center, a drop-in agency that serves the homeless. Jacob Thompson, 23,
(no relation) turned himself in to police. He is not related to the
victim. The criminal complaint quoted a witness who said that Steinhauser
(also known as G.I. Joe) was angry because he thought Steve had take some
of his cigarettes. Stevie Thompson was asleep at near the Landmark Center
when Steinhauser and Jacob Thompson started yelling at him about taking
their cigarettes. They told him to stand up and fight but Stevie was too
intoxicated to do anything. Jacob Thompson then "beat the crap out of
Stevie, hitting him in the head, kneeing him in the stomach, throwing him
to the ground, and then kicking him several times in the head.
Steinhauser and Jacob Thompson then left but returned 20 minutes later.
Steinhauser picked Stevie up and put him over his shoulders, carrying
Stevie to a bus stop bench and body slammed him very hard onto the bench.
Stevie's head bounced off the back of the bench, then the seat of the
bench and then onto the concrete sidewalk. A pool of blood could be seen
where Stevie's head was. The initial assault happened approximately
shortly after midnight on July 19,2000 and the second incident
approximately 1:00am. Steinhauser and Jacob Thompson then left again.
Stevie managed to get in a stairwell area close by and was there when
Steinhauser and Jacob Thompson returned again. At this time Jacob
Thompson went down the stairwell where Stevie was and started beating on
Stevie for 10-15 minutes. when Jacob Thompson came to the top of the
stairs he had a sewing kit, scissors and 57 cents that he had taken from
Stevie. Jacob Thompson said he had gone through Stevie's wallet. Jacob
Thompson the urinated on Stevie. Steinhauser said that Stevie had gotten
what he deserved. Stevie did not deserve what these two animals did to
him.
PLEASE SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR STEVIE THOMPSON'S FAMILY BY COMING TO THE
ST.PAUL COURTHOUSE AT 15 W. KELLOGG BLVD.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24TH AT 10:00 AM FOR STEINHAUSER
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26TH AT 11:00 AM FOR THOMPSON
Janet Smith
Owlstar Trading Post
http://www.owlstar.com

--------- "RE: Natives Arrested Blocking Columbus Day Parade" ---------

Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 14:49:55 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="Parade Arrests"

Native Americans arrested blocking Italians' Columbus Day parade
City of Denver shamed by actions of Denver police and media
CIGN Press
DENVER, Colo. - As Italian-Americans went back on their word and carried
out a Columbus Day "March for Italian Pride," Native Americans honored
their vow and carried out non-violent civil disobedience in the spirit of
Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
More than 1,000 Native Americans from throughout Indian country
protested along the streets of downtown Denver, while 147 Natives and
supporters were arrested in a city so heavily-guarded it looked like a
militarized zone.
"We have an obligation to resist state-supported hate speech!" said
Glenn Morris, American Indian Movement leader, as Native Americans arrived
at the Denver City and County Building downtown.
On a bullhorn, Morris told those who chose to be arrested to gather on
the center steps. Then, led by American Indian activist Russell Means and
Rosebud Sioux elder Yank Badhand, the crowd marched downtown where
Italian-Americans were heading toward them in the parade.
Already, Denver police were in formation and waiting for Native
Americans to approach. First, Morris asked city officials to revoke the
parade permit and halt the parade. When city officials refused, Native
American women protesters and supporters sat down in the street and
blocked the path of the parade.
As sage and sweetgrass burned, Denver police began arresting the women
first, including the elderly and disabled. Those who offered even a hint
of resistance were placed in plastic handcuffs. At this point, the crowd
became angry and began shouting at police.
After all women were arrested, police arrested the men, including
American Indian activists Morris, Means, George "Tink" Tinker, professor
of Indian studies at a graduate school of theology, Ward Churchill,
professor of American Indian studies, and Native American young people
carrying sage and eagle feathers.
Protesters were upset and chanted loudly, "The People United Will Never
Be Defeated!" as Native Americans and supporters were taken away by Denver
police to waiting buses.
One man screamed, "How many Denver police does it take to arrest a
woman!"
Another yelled, "This is America!"
Still another called out, "No more Columbus Day! We will never go away!"
Meanwhile, members of the Denver media in the crowd made insulting
remarks to one another as they talked on their cell phones and laughed
about Native American demands to halt Columbus Day.
The Sons of Italy motorcyclists, a few floats of bright-balloons and
heavy equipment were in the parade. But, Native Americans were most
offended by a large banner proclaiming that Christopher Columbus came in
the name of Jesus Christ.
Gracie Tyon-Foot, Lakota civil rights observer, was disgusted with the
way Denver police smiled and waved to Italian-Americans as they marched
alongside and guarded them in the parade, after arresting Native American
women and elders.
"The police pretty much led the parade," said Lois Connor-Graham, Ojibwe
from Minnesota, also disgusted with the lack of respect from Denver police.

Tony Walks, Standing Rock Sioux, said it was another broken treaty and a
sad day for Native people. "The police showed no respect."
Andrea Gopher, Chippewa from Montana, captured the arrests and support
on video as the crowd pressed her against the police barricade.
Impressed with the solidarity of action, Gopher said, "I'm going to take
this video back and show the people what can be accomplished."
Surprisingly, however, Italian-American young people came out in numbers
in support of Native Americans. One group passed out fliers in a nearby
park afterwards.
"I'm here in solidarity with Native Americans and the American Indian
Movement," said Italian-American Jill Dreier, as she called out, "Italian
pride, not genocide!"
It all began at sunrise, with the heavy flow of unmarked and marked
police vehicles arriving in downtown Denver as Italian motorcyclists and
local Italian businessmen prepared for the parade. Police were positioned
on every street corner downtown and SWAT teams waited nearby.
When Native Americans began gathering at 8 a.m. at the City and County
Building, Morris pointed out that Italian-Americans had signed an
agreement with Indians and Chicanos, and the parade permit should be
revoked.
"They betrayed their word! They destroyed any honor they claimed and
this comes after 508 years of the theft of our Indian children and the
theft of Indian land."
"We asked them to remove one word from the parade: Columbus. We asked
them to celebrate their pride without the mention of a man who carried out
genocide who was a murderer and an enslaver."
"They could not find it in their hearts to do so."
"We even gave them Acoma pots and they threw them away!" said Means of
Native negotiators' gifts to Italian-Americans.
"This is flat-out racism!" Means said. "People don't like being treated
this way! We are human beings!"
Calling the city and county government "trailer-trash" for refusing to
halt the celebration of Columbus, Means said Columbus is a laughing matter
as a navigator. "You can't be more off-course than one-half of a world!"
"Columbus was a slave trader!"
At the top of the steps of the building, hanging a banner protesting
genocide, Ambrose Keeble, Hunkpati Dakota from South Dakota, said, "We are
the guardians of the ancestors. No one is here to talk for them, so we
are."
"They would convict Columbus of crimes against humanity if he were alive
today. He put our people in cages and took them to Spain.
"They said he was a good navigator, but he never found India. He was
lost all the time. Even on his deathbed, he still believed he found
India."
Because of Columbus, Native people have suffered for 508 years, he said.
Chiapas human rights activist Valery Alzaga said Mexican-Americans came
out in support of Native people. "The history of the oppressed is never
listened to," she said.
Luis Espinosa, Mexican-American, said Indigenous peoples throughout the
world have been oppressed by criminal systems of conquest and slavery.
Chicano students from North High School from the Nayan Amaru Paynal
(Pretty-eyed Serpent Messenger Club) protested Italian-Americans' refusal
to honor the negotiated agreement.
Ivan Anaya said, "Another broken treaty."
"It's like we're repeating history," said club member Sam Lara.
Morris and Means thanked Chicano and Mexican-American students, teachers
and activists for joining Native Americans in protest.
Colorado StreetMedics leader Dr. R.S. "Doc" Rosen, who served at Wounded
Knee and in Selma, Alabama, was with his team of 25 medics walking through
a downtown park after the parade.
Dr. Rosen, with his team of volunteers, was relieved that conflicts were
restricted to a few loud arguments and there was no violence.
One offensive poster in the park, which led to heated arguments where a
fight almost broke out, was, "Hey, Leroy Lame-Ass, Get Your Historical
Facts Straight The Next Time You Want To Try to Overthrow the 1st
Amendment."
Most Italians, however, said they wanted no violence and were relieved
that it was a peaceful protest.
As protesters were being charged with misdemeanors, Native Americans
gathered at the Four Winds Survival Center and praised the restraint of
Native Americans for allowing themselves to be arrested peacefully and
without struggle in the highly-charged atmosphere.
Reflecting on the parade, Doug Johnson of Independent Media Center said
it best.
"Harleys, Humvees and dump trucks? Is that Italian pride?"
c. 2000 California Indian Gaming News - All Rights Reserved

--------- "RE: NO to Columbus Day" ---------

Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 14:49:55 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="NO to Columbus Day"

Canadian Aboriginal News
NO TO COLUMBUS DAY
Gathering Place First Nations,Ca
Found this, thought all might enjoy.
Dodie Editorial in Houston Chronicle
There is not, I believe, a figure anywhere in history, as misrepresented
as Christopher Columbus. His name and the subject of the "discovery" of
the Western hemisphere, entails a glossing over of so gruesome a truth, so
completely, for so long, it can only be referred to as propaganda. If the
Nazis had been as efficient at perpetrating such lies and distortions
about their genocide, we would currently be celebrating an Adolph Hitler
day, as well. This is more than just a different "take" on historical
events, to be sure.
Firsthand accounts of the cruelties inflicted on the people Christopher
referred to as UNA GENTE INDIOS-a gentle people with God, are very clear
about the man's true nature, and the real legacy of the Admiral of the
Ocean Seas: "The Christians, with their horses and swords and pikes began
to carry out massacres and strange cruelties against [the Indians]. They
attacked the towns and spared neither the children nor the aged, nor
pregnant women nor women in childbed, not only stabbing and dismembering
them but cutting them to pieces as if dealing with sheep in the
slaughterhouse. They laid bets as to who, with one stroke of the sword
could split a man in two or could cut off his head...they took infants
from their mothers's breasts, snatching them by the legs and pitching them
headfirst against the crags...They made some low, wide gallows on which
the hanged victim's feet almsot touched the ground, stringing up their
victims, in lots of thirteen, in memory of Our Redeemer and His twelve
Apostles, then set burning wood at their feet and thus burned them alive."
-Bartolome de Las Casas, The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account
(originally published in 1547) reprinted by Johns Hopkins Press, 1992, pp.
43-55.
As if it weren't enough, the nature of the brutality is not the only
issue here. Lest one think that acts such as these were isolated incidents,
the totality, the utter efficiency of the genocide unleashed on the
Indigenous people of Hispianola, ( The Dominican Republic, and Haiti ) is
revealed by the net effect on the population there: ....the population
decline [of the island of Hispaniola] after 1496,...with an estimate of
the original island population of just under 8 million. [The population
declined] from 8 million to 28,000 in just over twenty years. That ...is a
carnage of more than 99 percent, something we must call closer to a
genocide." -Kirkpatrick Sale, The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher
Columbus and the Columbian Legacy (NY: Plume Books, 1991), pp. 160-161.
Obviously, Christopher Columbus was a murderer. A man worthy of mention
in the annals of history, only in regard to the devastation he unleashed,
in his quest for riches, and glory.
Invariably, however, when this issue is addressed, the knee jerk
response, by those interested in the status quo, is something along the
lines of "But the Italian community will be offended if they cannot
celebrate this holiday".
Really? This is akin to not wanting to offend German people by not
having an Adolph Hitler day, or Southeast Asians by not having a Pol Pot
day, or Africans by not having an Attila the Hun day. Ditto the Iraqis
wanting to celebrate Saddam Hussein.
Would anyone suggest that Italians have no other aspect of their culture
to celebrate, than a butcher of millions of people? Surely, there are
other icons, other imagery they would rather present as indicative of
their contributions to the world. I have more faith in our Italian
neighbors than to believe this.
The argument has no merit. Certainly, no offense is meant to the Italian
community, or anyone else for that matter, in regard to eliminating this
holiday.
The real issue here, is whether we should memorialize a man who
unleashed, promoted, and directed the first wave of genocide in this
hemisphere. Should we improperly, inaccurately, and dishonestly, educate
our children? The time has come to eliminate this holiday. Rename it in
honor of the people directly affected by the carnage unleashed by Columbus.
There is no day of recognition, in regard to Indian people, not one. Not
a single Indigenous leader is recalled, not one contribution is promoted,
not a single suggestion that Indigenous people once thrived here, and
forever influenced the character of this and other nations. This would be
a huge step, towards a constructive, productive dialogue, between American
Indians, and the rest of the dominant society.
What's done cannot be undone, and that is not the goal here. It's more
about honesty, and respect. It's the right thing to do-
Lawrence Sampson Director- Southeast Texas American Indian Movement
Reprinted under the Fair Use:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international
copyright law.
Canadian Aboriginal is a Native-owned news service.
c. Copyright 1999 Canadian Aboriginal.Com
Please send comments to editor@canadianAboriginal.com

--------- "RE: Questionable American Heroes" ---------

Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 14:49:55 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="Questionable American Heroes"

Canadian Aboriginal News
Questionable American Heroes
www.denverpost.com/news
By Diane Carman Denver Post Columnist
Oct. 5, 2000 - In the pantheon of questionable American heroes,
Christopher Columbus stands tall among those with blood on their hands.
But he is far from unique.
As Congress considers establishing a monument to the Indians slaughtered
at Sand Creek in 1864, it's appropriate to consider another questionable
hero whose name is plastered across Colorado from city streets to an
exalted mountaintop.
It's time to take a second look at John Evans - millionaire railroad
magnate, land speculator, second territorial governor of Colorado and
perpetrator of an official policy of "extermination" of Indians who
"infest" the plains.
Without John Evans' calculated and duplicitous behavior, the Sand Creek
massacre couldn't have happened. That was well known even in 1864, which
is why he was removed from the territorial governorship. So it's
especially obnoxious that the Colorado General Assembly of 1895 renamed
14,000-foot Mount Rosalie after him.
Evans' apologists point to his role in the establishment of Northwestern
University and the University of Denver, but "that's like saying Hitler
did some good things, too," said University of Colorado historian Ward
Churchill.
"I'm quite concerned about the notion of balance when it comes to
genocide," he said. "This was a holocaust. What can balance that?" In
"Sand Creek and the Rhetoric of Extermination" by David Svaldi, the
documentation of Evans' single-minded strategy to "kill and destroy" the
Indian population in the Colorado territory for the purpose of expanding
his railroad, promoting his political ambitions and enabling white
prospectors to mine gold on traditional Indian lands is thorough and
chilling.
In a series of letters to the secretary of war and the commissioner of
Indian affairs, Evans exaggerated Indian hostilities. When officials
repeatedly demanded facts to support his claims, Evans refused, responding
only with rumors and innuendo.
Then when the federal government agreed to help finance a small
volunteer militia (instead of the 10,000 troops Evans requested), the
governor was hellbent on making it look like his specious claims of a
tribal "alliance" and widespread "Indian War" were true.
In the fall of 1964, when the Third Regiment under Col. John Chivington
had spent its authorized 100 days on the plains without a skirmish, Evans
started to panic. To make matters worse, Col. George Wynkoop arranged for
Black Kettle, White Antelope and Bull Bear to meet with him in the Camp
Weld Council to negotiate peace.
"What shall I do with the Third Regiment if I make peace?" said Evans,
who was personally embarrassed by the public's ridicule of the "Bloodless
Third." So he promised the Cheyennes and Arapahos that if they surrendered
to the military at Fort Lyon and established an encampment at Sand Creek,
they would be protected. Then he authorized Chivington to slaughter them
and conveniently arranged a trip to Washington, D.C., so it would appear
he had nothing to do with the attack.
"It's like naming a mountain after a Nazi," said Churchill
KOLA Information: http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm
Reprinted under the Fair Use:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international
copyright law.
Canadian Aboriginal is a Native-owned news service.
c. Copyright 1999 Canadian Aboriginal.Com
Please send comments to editor@canadianAboriginal.com

--------- "RE: Put Indian School in Pueblo Council's Hands" ---------

Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2000 08:44:50 -0500
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 10-04-2000
From: "John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate" <berryj@okstate.edu>
----- Forwarded by John D Berry/grad/res/Okstate

Put Indian School in Pueblo Council's hands
Editorial, The New Mexican
10/3/2000
In Phoenix, where an Indian school found itself in the path of a high-
rise row, the school's campus was closed and it became a pawn of land-
swapping between the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and a Florida
developer.
The courageous newspaper columns of the Arizona Republic's Joel Nilsson
stalled, and eventually diverted, the commercial spread - but what
happened
down on the desert could happen in Santa Fe, where our Indian school
also sits on land that is prime for property speculation.
The Cerrillos Road campus today is home away from home for 550 boarding
students, most of them from the region's pueblos. Shamefully neglected by
BIA, the school is a shambles, despite its new math-and-science building.
Lest the agency's leaders get notions about selling off those 115 acres
southwest of downtown, Sen. Pete Domenici is taking steps to prevent such
a move. He has introduced a bill transferring authority over the school to
the All Indian Pueblo Council of 19 New Mexico pueblos, for whom Congress
would hold the land in trust.
That's the status held by our nation's Indian reservations - which, in
effect, the Indian school would become.
Reservations having become linked in the public mind with gambling,
Santa Feans who for years were taunted by rumors of a casino/convention
center on that site by now are raising eyebrows over any reservation-izing
of the school. But the senator has foreseen just such a threat; he has
written in a prohibition against gambling and states clearly that the
land's use would be limited to "educational, health or cultural purposes
of the Santa Fe Indian School."
BIA has plans for a new campus in back of the old buildings along
Cerrillos -but federal bureaucrats' failure to maintain them is a leading
reason why the new buildings are needed.
Pueblo leaders, nearly all of them living within a few hours' drive of
the school, are likely to be better stewards of the property and more
accountable to the students and faculty.
Last year, when one of the school's top graduates wrote eloquently of
its deficiencies, he caught Sen. Domenici's attention. Famed for his
follow-up, Domenici has responded.
His Capitol Hill colleagues should take his word on the need for change
at SFIS - and approve this bill before adjournment.

--------- "RE: Sins of Sand Creek" ---------

Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 17:55:14 -0700
From: frazierd@rockymountainnews.com
Subj: "Sins of Sand Creek"

Gary,
Below is an article you may like.
The copyright permission is enclosed

Sins of Sand Creek
Letters detail massacre of American Indian women, children By
Deborah Frazier-Denver Rocky Mountain News Staff Writer
frazierd@rockymountainnews.com
Two long-lost letters surfaced in an Evergreen home this month that
bear grisly testimony to the 1864 slaughter of 163 Cheyenne and Arapaho
by U.S. troops at Sand Creek.
The letters were written by two Army officers who refused orders to
kill the terrified men, women and children encamped under a white flag
of surrender and a U.S. flag in southeastern Colorado.
"The letters are ground zero for a congressional investigation in
1865," David Halaas, chief historian of the Colorado Historical Society,
said Thursday.
An investigation team located the site of the massacre last year.
Halaas said the letters pinpoint where the killings and mutilations occurred.
"These are the most important evidence we have about the Sand
Creek Massacre," Halaas said, adding that the letters are authentic.
An Evergreen woman, Linda Rebeck, found the letters this month in
a box of her elderly mother's papers. Rebeck's great-grandfather had
been a farmer near the site of the massacre by U.S. troops.
She released the letters Wednesday to Republican Sen. Ben
Nighthorse Campbell on the eve of a hearing on his bill to establish a
memorial at the massacre site in southeastern Colorado.
Capt. Silas Soule and Lt. Joseph Cramer, Army officers who refused
orders to kill American Indian women and children in the 1864 Sand Creek
Massacre, wrote the letters to Maj. Ed Wynkoop, about two weeks after
the massacre. They detailed the horrors performed under the leadership
of Col. John Chivington.
"A squaw ripped open and a child taken from her," wrote Cramer, in
hope of stopping Chivington from getting a promotion in the aftermath of
the massacre. "Little children shot while begging for their lives."
Soule was equally descriptive.
"Hundreds of women and children were coming toward us and getting on
their knees for mercy," wrote Soule, who was later murdered in Denver by
an ally of Chivington's. "Most of the Indians yielded four or five scalps."
The letters to Wynkoop worked. A series of federal investigations
followed, Halaas said.
In an 1864 treaty, "the U.S. government agreed that this was a
massacre of a peaceful people under the American flag and promised
reparation," Halaas said. "This is the only time I know of that
reparations were promised."
No payments were ever made.
Cramer and Soule had been stationed in southeastern Colorado near
Bent's Fort. They were commanded to follow Chivington and his troops to
the Cheyenne and Arapaho camp, where about 500 Indians slept peacefully
under an American flag.
The two officers were ordered to follow Chivington to the Indian
camp. When they arrived and the attack began, they ordered their troops
not to fire, knowing that Chivington would try to oust them from the
military, Halaas said.
"I told the colonel (Chivington) that I thought it murder to jump
them friendly Indians," Cramer wrote. "He says in reply, 'Damn any man
or men who are in sympathy with them."'
The letters were handwritten and sent to Wynkoop in Washington,
D.C. But each of the officers made handwritten copies - including the
copy that Rebeck found. Halaas said the writing matches other letters by
Soule and Cramer.
"We'd heard of these letters, Halaas said. "Both of these men
testified before Congress and said almost the same things. What they saw
was so horrible that they went after Chivington, knowing he was going to
go after them."
Rebeck said her mother inherited the letters from her mother, whose
father was Mark L. Blunt, a successful Arkansas Valley farmer who had
known the Bent family and had stayed at Bent's Fort near the massacre
site. A restoration of the fort still exists.
"Mother told me once that she had letters about Sand Creek, but I
never read them," said Rebeck, who read them for the first time this
month and contacted the Colorado Historical Society.
"It was hard to see little children on their knees have their
brains beat out by men professing to be civilized," Cramer wrote.
Rebeck also found nine or 10 affidavits, part of the congressional
investigation, that were written by a company clerk in red and blue ink.
"Today there are people who still believe that the soldiers did not
commit atrocities," Halaas said. "Let them read these letters and them
see the passion. These men are shocked. They are angry. And they feel
guilty."

--------- "RE: Indian Activist Calls for Ski Resort Boycott" ---------

Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2000 19:53:48 -0400
From: "Svhyeyi Aga Koga - Evening Rain Crow" <crow@psouth.net>
Subj: INDIAN ACTIVIST CALLS FOR SKI RESORT BOYCOTT

Thursday, October 5, 2000
Indian activist calls for ski resort boycott
By DAVID SHARP, Associated Press
Copyright 2000 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
An American Indian activist called Wednesday for a boycott of Big Squaw
Mountain because the ski resort's owner declined to change the name,
despite protests that the word "squaw" is offensive.
David "Spirit Bear" Walton, a driving force behind a state law
enacted last year that requires new names for places like Big Squaw
Township, accused the owner of the Greenville resort of arrogance in his
refusal to change the name.
Resort owner Jim Confalone "must be made to realize that he has to
forfeit the name or he will forfeit the dollars," Walton said.
Confalone, who maintains that squaw is a term of endearment, not an
insult, said he has no plans to change the resort's name because he has
received support from Mainers for keeping it the way it is.
"I'm quite fond of Indians. The last thing I'd ever want to do is
something that would hurt the Indians," said Confalone, whose resort is
exempted from the state law because it is a private entity.
Two tribal representatives to the Maine Legislature said the word squaw
translates roughly to "whore."
In all, about two dozen Maine mountains, waterways and other features
bearing the name are affected by the law, which bars the word from the
names of public places across the state.
Confalone said state lawmakers rejected the views of a majority of
residents. In a telephone interview from Miami, he said that he has
studied the history of Indians, and that he and others interpret the
word squaw to be a term of endearment applied to the female head of
household.
Nonetheless, he said he would be willing to meet face-to-face with
Walton, whose group is called American Indian Movement, Northeast
Woodlands.Only then, after hearing for himself why the word is
offensive, would Confalone begin to consider changing the resort's name.
"Squaw Mountain is part of our history, and before I change the
history of Squaw Mountain and the rest of the area, I've got to hear
from David 'Spirit Bear' Walton and meet him," he said.
Confalone said that based on his observations, he believes 75 percent
or more of Mainers support keeping the name.
Walton did not immediately return a call seeking additional comment on
his boycott notice.
But he suggested that Confalone was making things harder on himself by
his attitude. "Confalone's arrogant stance is contrary to the spirit of
the Maine Legislature," he said in a statement.
Big Squaw Mountain Resort consists of about 1,200 acres. The state also
owns about 2,000 acres on the southern half of the mountain. Additional
land is owned by Plum Creek Timber Co.

--------- "RE: Epitaph for the Chief" ---------

Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2000 16:57:05 -0400
From: Mike Wicks <Mike.Wicks@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subj: EPITAPH FOR THE CHIEF

Mailing List: First Nations <First_Nations@home.ease.lsoft.com>

FROM THE NATIONAL COALITION ON RACISM IN SPORTS AND MEDIA (NCRSM)
NCRSM IS A HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION DIRECTED BY PROMINENT NATIVE AMERICAN
LEADERS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
10/8/00
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Vernon Bellecourt, NCRSM President. (612) 721-3914
Cyd Crue, NCRSM-IL, President. 217-355-6757

EPITAPH FOR THE CHIEF
The National Coalition on Racism in Sports and the Media (NCRSM) will
sponsor an ecumenical prayer and pipe ceremony, and workshops on
eliminating racism October 13th and 14th, 2000 in conjunction with the
University of Illinois homecoming celebrations. Eleven years have passed
since NCRSM first requested that the University discontinue
institutionalized racism. NCRSM, along with a rapidly increasing host of
national and international religious, educational, and political
organizations demand that the University of Illinois comply with the
diversity clause in its mission statement. Sending an emphatic message to
the University and Champaign/Urbana community, Vernon Bellecourt declared,
"Our efforts will not cease until the racist symbols, "Chief Illiniwek"
and "Fighting Illini" are eliminated. It is about the survival of our
people! It is about the future of our children and equal access in
education!"
NCRSM leaders invite the Champaign/Urbana community to join the prayer
and pipe ceremony and work together toward a new millennium of increased
racial harmony with Native peoples. A reception in honor of distinguished
guests Dennis Banks, American Indian Movement Grand Governing Council;
Vernon Bellecourt, President NCRSM, and Don Messec, NCRSM Board of
Directors will begin at 7:30 p.m. October 13th in Lincoln Hall 304, 702
South Wright Street. A press conference will be held October 14th at
10:30 a.m. before the ecumenical prayer and pipe ceremony that will take
place front of UIUC Football Stadium at 11:30 a.m. Following the prayer
ceremony educational sessions and organizational workshops will be held in
Lincoln Hall 304, 702 South Wright Street, Urbana.
Cyd A. Crue
Department of Sociology
University of Illinois
217-355-6757
http://www.aics.org/NCRSM/index.htm
"Never again will we allow unflattering and stereotypical images of Indian
people to deface the halls of government or lead the American people to
shallow and ignorant beliefs about Indians. Never again will we attack your
religions, your languages, your rituals, or any of your tribal ways."
Kevin Gover, Assistant Secretary - Indian Affiars
Department of the Interior
September 8, 2000
http://www.aics.org/justice/camp.html
n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n>=<n
= American Indian Cultural Support There are none so blind =
n P.O. box 1783 as those who will not see n
= Lutz, FL 33548-1783 =
n http://www.aics.org/index.html Mike.Wicks@mindspring.com n
= http://www.mindspring.com/~mike.wicks/index.html =
<http://www.mail-archive.com/first_nations%40home.ease.lsoft.com/index.html>

--------- "RE: From Sea to Shining Sea" ---------

Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 14:49:55 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="Mi'kmaq Support"

>From sea to shining sea
By Troy Hunter
Windspeaker Contributor
VANCOUVER
It was high noon on a busy Friday when a couple of hundred Aboriginal
people took to the streets and marched from the Vancouver Aboriginal
Friendship Centre to Harbour Centre, the building where the Department
of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has their Pacific regional headquarters.
The march was to show support of the Mi'kmaq Indians at Burnt Church,
N.B. for exercising their treaty right to a commercial fishery, under
seige by the DFO and the Canadian government.
The busy intersection of Seymour and Hastings was completely blocked
for more than a half-hour with protesters singing songs, beating hand
drums and waving banners in the air.
It was announced that the office of DFO Minister Herb Dahliwahl was
occupied, and a list of demands was read out over a bullhorn.
The demands included a call for the resignation of Dhaliwal for
authorizing the use of excessive violence against Mi'kmaq fishermen.
Protesters also insisted that DFO recognize and affirm the Mi'kmaq and
Maliseet people's legal and constitutionally recognized right to fish,
hunt and gather, that the DFO officers be brought to justice, and that
the government of Canada recognize the legal decisions of its highest
court, the Supreme Court of Canada, and begin implementing the Marshall
decision (which affirmed the Mi'kmaq's treaty right), and the Delgamuukw
decision in order to protect and affirm Aboriginal rights and title.
Larry Wong, an Aboriginal veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces is from
the Kitwanga community. He carried an inverted Canadian flag in the
rally.
"I am ashamed of this country that I served 22 years in the Canadian
Armed Forces, standing on line for Canada only to come back without a
uniform," he said. "I have a right to be ashamed of this flag that I
fought for."
The flag was burned during the rally. Patricia Kelly from Cheam, B.C.,
a community that also recently protested the treatment by Canada in a land
rights question by erecting a road blockade, was one of the people who
lit the flag on fire.
"I want Canada to stop burning Burnt Church and for Chretien to know we
remember the White Paper," she said, referring to the now notorious
policy paper presented in 1969 by then-Indian Affairs minister Chretien
calling for the assimilation of Native people. "The flag burning is my
way of showing support and solidarity for the people of Burnt Church."
Canadian Aboriginal is a Native-owned news service.
c. Copyright 1999 Canadian Aboriginal.Com
Please send comments to editor@canadianAboriginal.com

--------- "RE: Anger Mounts" ---------

Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 14:49:55 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="Anger Mounts"

Anger mounts
By Paul Barnsley
Windspeaker Staff Writer
BURNT CHURCH FIRST NATION, N.B.
Mi'kmaq lobster fishers are finding themselves in hot water for doing
the same thing that the Supreme Court of Canada acquitted Donald
Marshall, Jr. of doing a year ago.
After several weeks of mounting tensions in Atlantic Canada after
Mi'kmaq fishers began their season in August, things began to heat up in
earnest on the morning of Sept. 23 as a deadline imposed by federal
Fisheries and Oceans Minister Herb Dhaliwal came and went. DFO officers
then began removing traps, prompting a response from Mi'kmaq fishers
when DFO officers moved in close to shore on Sept. 26. The federal
officers retreated, rather than force a showdown, and at press time on
Sept. 27, there was an uneasy standoff in progress.
In the days leading up to the deadline, Native leaders from all parts of
the country descended on the northeastern New Brunswick reserve located
a half-hour's drive east of Miramichi to show their support. The fight
is seen as a pivotal battle in the war to protect gains made by
Aboriginal people through a succession of court cases that stretches
back more than 10 years. Native leaders complain that federal and
provincial politicians refuse to respond to the changes in the law
mandated by the high court decisions because they fear a political
backlash.
Non-Native fishers did not distinguish themselves with their actions in
the days immediately before and after the deadline. Newspapers regularly
carried stories with quotes containing obscenity-laden threats delivered
by individuals who felt their livelihood had been threatened.
And three non-Native people in a boat were arrested on Sept. 22 after
shots were fired on the waters off the Burnt Church wharf. Liquor and
drugs were seized and police reported the three men were intoxicated.
One man was later charged.
But the root cause of this confrontation, one that has the potential
to turn into a clash that could rival the confrontation at Oka, Que. in
1990, is too complex for those without advanced degrees in
constitutional law to solve in a reasonable fashion. Government
officials, who have that kind of expertise, or at least have access to
those who do, haven't made things any calmer with their actions.
Twenty lawyers with extensive experience in Aboriginal law signed
their names to a press release on Sept. 7 that stated the Department of
Fisheries and Oceans' position on the Indigenous lobster fishery is dead
dead wrong.
"The Department of Fisheries and Oceans acts as if it has an absolute
right to regulate the treaty fishery in Atlantic Canada," the release
states. "In fact, the department has a limited ability to regulate the
treaty fishery. In order for it to exercise that function, it must meet
specific criteria."
The lawyers go on to say that they've seen nothing to convince them the
minister has met those criteria. Quoting from Marshall Two, the Supreme
Court's highly unusual clarification of its original Marshall decision,
the lawyers say the government can only limit treaty rights if there are
pressing and substantial public needs. And even then, the government is
required to consult the Aboriginal people involved.
Marshall Two is widely seen as the high court bowing to political
pressure. It was issued after violence occurred between Native and
non-Native fishers off the Burnt Church wharf on Oct. 3, 1999 and there
was widespread anger prompted by the original court decision recognizing
the Mi'kmaq's treaty right to fish. Lawyer Bruce Wildsmith, one of the
20 lawyers who signed the release, represented the Indian Brook First
Nation in Federal Court as the band tried to convince the court to issue
an injunction prohibiting the DFO's enforcement measures against Indian
Brook lobster fishers. In court, Wildsmith pointed out that, according
to the clarification of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn fishing
charges against Donald Marshall, Jr., Marshall was actually guilty. That
leads to the almost farcical situation where the clarification of their
decision actually contradicts the original decision even though the
court refused to overturn the original decision.
"This is something the Supreme Court of Canada came up with on its own,"
Wildsmith told Mr. Justice Denis Pelletier in Halifax Federal Court on
Sept. 7. "The Supreme Court of Canada is wrong on this one."
"It's one thing for them to say they made a mistake," Judge Pelletier
replied, smiling. "It's another for me to say they made a mistake."
But the Federal Court justice did not disagree with Wildsmith. He
eventually ruled he couldn't grant the request for an injunction because
he would then be deciding the question of rights without hearing full
evidence and argument.
Even government employees in other departments are critical of DFO's
position on this issue. Bill Montour, the Indian and Northern Affairs
regional director general for the Atlantic region, told Windspeaker that
the striking down of one line of the Indian Act in the Corbiere decision
has created a huge work-load for his department. He said DFO has done
little or nothing to react to the Marshall decision, a much more
detailed and far-reaching decision.
A Toronto researcher penned an opinion piece for the Financial Post
that appeared on Sept. 26. Lawrence Solomon, executive director of Urban
Renaissance Institute, a division of Energy Probe Research Foundation,
specializes in examining resource issues from an environmentalist point
of view. He put forth the theory that the government's actions can be
easily understood if you have a solid understanding of the political
forces at work in Atlantic Canada.
Solomon agrees with the lawyers that DFO is not acting according to the
law of the land.
"I read the court decision," he said. "What struck me about the support
that the non-Natives are getting is that it's all based on the notion
that the government has the right to regulate. The Marshall decision
was, I thought, fairly clear that that right is subject to various
conditions and those conditions just aren't being met. He is convinced
that, with an election expected as early as November, the politics of
patronage is behind the otherwise confusing actions of the federal
government.
"The government clearly is concerned about losing Atlantic Canada and
wants to regain seats that it lost. The employment insurance clawbacks
have been in the news, have been front page news in Toronto, and that's
because Chretien wants to go back to the previous regime that didn't
claw back as much. Regaining seats is very important in the Liberals'
plans and I think it would be very difficult politically for them to do
anything to offend the white vote," he said on Sept. 26.
On that same day, the Liberal government announced it would change the
employment insurance system by eliminating changes introduced in 1997
that reduced benefits for repeat users - seasonal workers like fishers.
When Minister Herb Dhaliwal claims he's ordering the enforcement
measures against the Mi'kmaq for conservation reasons, Solomon doesn't
believe him.
"Really, DFO really hasn't been that interested in conservation. It
really runs the department for political purposes," he told Windspeaker.
When he was asked whether there was a threat to the lobster stocks, he
said yes, but not the way the minister is portraying it.
"I think there's definitely a threat to the stocks," he said. "The
threat is primarily coming from the non-Native fishermen who are putting
pressure on DFO - and usually being very successful -pressure to keep up
the rate of harvesting.
In his piece for the Financial Post, Solomon detailed enforcement
regimes in place in other countries and concluded the DFO was doing the
worst job possible of conserving lobster stocks. He maintains that using
the right to fish as a way to generate political capital is dangerous
and has already been shown to be ineffectual in protecting cod and
salmon stocks. He said that if fishers were given control of a specific
area, they wouldn't be out in the water grabbing every lobster they
could get before another fisher beat them to it.
"The best regulatory regime would be to give people secure rights to
their fisheries and then you wouldn't need this kind of regulation," he
said. "You wouldn't have governments making trade-offs between how much
and how far can we push the fishery to create jobs before we take too
big a risk. The people in charge of the fishery would be making those
kinds of decision and they would tend to be very conservative, they
wouldn't want to take risks because it would be their livelihood. The
more local, the better, and even at the individual level.
"The ideal situation would be for DFO to step out of the picture, to
give non-Natives as well as Natives all the rights - hand them over.
Then there won't be any need to regulate them because they'd do a much
better job than DFO would."
When the government announced it would undo the 1997 cuts to employment
insurance benefits to fishers, the Opposition howled that the Liberals
were buying votes in Atlantic Canada. Solomon agrees.
"It's one factor. The communities that fish, they get their livelihood
from fishing, as well as employment insurance. The votes are
concentrated. So there are quite a few ridings that would go one way or
another depending on how the fishing communities viewed the Chretien
policies. The tail often wags the dog in politics. Just a few seats,
because those seats are swing seats, the government may want to keep
them happy."
He believed the fisheries minister was caught in a political trap and
acted in a way that would cost his party the least, even if it meant
sacrificing the rights of Native people.
"I think that what Dhaliwal was facing was a lot of bloodshed. I think
he recognized the fishermen's union was capable of a lot of violence. He
felt he had to take control," he said. "He didn't want to bring in the
troops to control the white fishermen but he could appear as a strongman
to them by suppressing the Natives and basically pacifying the white
fishermen. That's the effect of what he's done. He's wanted to show that
he's in charge in order that the non-Native fishermen didn't take the
law into their own hands any more than they did. It's sort of a
backwards way of preventing bloodshed."
John Paul, 33, is a member of the Burnt Church First Nation. He is in
the final year of his undergraduate studies in Native studies and
criminology at Fredericton's St. Thomas University, a two-hour drive
from his home territory.
Paul spent some time volunteering as a fisheries officer for his band
this summer before embarking on a speaking tour on behalf of his chief
and council. He was in Calgary the last week in September.
After almost 80 per cent of his community voted to follow their own
Esgenoopetij First Nation fisheries policy rather than the DFO policy,
he volunteered and worked with the Lustiguj Rangers, First Nation
fisheries officers who have been trained to perform the same function as
DFO officers.
During his second shift on the water in late August, Paul was on the
first Mi'kmaq boat to be rammed by DFO officers.
He also believes that his people are being sacrificed by the government
and the non-Native fishers, who aren't being honest about their true
motivations.
"DFO offered the union fishermen $10- to 12-thousand apiece just to stay
off the water," he said. "That tells me two things: Number 1 is, you're
not in there just to get Natives out of the water; number 2, you've got
enough money to turn down $12,000. In a province like New Brunswick?"
He was asked if fear was the predominant emotion in his community as
they realize the forces they're up against. He said the time for being
afraid was long past.
"It's anger. I hear them saying 10,000 traps, 4,000 traps. Get it right!
It's gone beyond feeling like, 'gee, what are we gonna do.' It's gone
beyond that. They've pushed so much that nobody's feeling sympathetic
for anything any more. I'm not going to say I'm speaking for everybody
but I'm speaking for a good majority of my community," he said.
The issue of the number of traps is one that the band appeared to try
to get an independent observer to verify. Chief Wilbur Dedam tried to
convince DFO to hold off on the threat to remove the traps by arranging
for neutral third parties to count the traps. Before the count could be
completed, DFO began its enforcement action.
The number of traps DFO has since claimed to have seized creates the
impression the Mi'kmaq were fishing irresponsibly, but Dedam and his
council say the numbers are unreliable. Union of British Columbia Indian
Chiefs president Stewart Phillip, who was in Burnt Church in late
September, accused DFO of fudging the numbers, saying it's a wellknown
tactic employed by the government in West Coast fisheries.
On Sept. 8, the Atlantic chiefs moved their policy conference from
Halifax to Burnt Church to show their support for the lobster fishers.
The chiefs unanimously supported Dedam and his community in their stand
and, Paul said, the community is almost unanimous in its support for the
chief and council.
"They are now," he said. "It was questionable at first because we didn't
know where he was going, but when he got a hold of James Ward, that's
what pulled in his strong back-up. The people are backing him. The
council came together and said, 'We've got to fight it. That's all there
is to it.' There was two or three against it but the majority spoke. We
had councillors on the water and that was impressive."
Canadian Aboriginal is a Native-owned news service.
c. Copyright 1999 Canadian Aboriginal.Com
Please send comments to editor@canadianAboriginal.com

--------- "RE: Canadian Media Hits Snooze Alarm" ---------

Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 14:49:55 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="Media Silence"

Canadian media hits snooze
By Paul Barnsley
Windspeaker Staff Writer
BURNT CHURCH FIRST NATION, N.B.
Human rights activists are saying that, once again, the national press
missed an opportunity to take a close look at a problem that is national
in scope and of fundamental importance to the way Canadians see
themselves.
Rick Dedam handed it to the CBC on a silver platter and the CBC dropped
it. Nobody else picked it up.
Dedam is the Mi'kmaq man whose Hitachi 2900A video camera captured the
now infamous incident where a Department of Fisheries and Oceans boat
rammed a much smaller Mi'kmaq fishing boat with such force that those in
the boat had to jump for their lives. Burnt Church Chief Wilbur Dedam
later demanded that the DFO officers on the boat be charged with
attempted murder. So far, no action has been taken in that regard.
But the images on the videotape are so graphic that many Native
observers are comparing it to the Rodney King video; amateur video that
showed Los Angeles police officers savagely beating a black man. That
video caused a full-scale media storm across the United States and
around the world.
There was no such storm in the Canadian media, although a few faint
voices were heard. In similar situations in the past, anti-racism
workers have pointed to a national case of denial when it comes to
facing up to virulent racism in Canada.
Dedam, however, has seen his video make a difference in several
individuals, even if the national press or other groups haven't seized
on it.
"Yeah, that was mine," Dedam said, brandishing his camera as he stood
outside Nenooe Esgol (school) on the Burnt Church waterfront where the
Atlantic chiefs converged to show their support for Burnt Church on
Sept. 8. "Some people tell me that that piece of footage woke up a
nation. I'm kind of proud of that."
Dedam said he was awakened early one morning and told there was trouble
on the waters. He was able to record the incident and then he turned his
video over to CBC-TV news. Later, when he saw the tape on the air, he
saw that editors had inverted the order of the incidents on the tape and
made it look like the Mi'kmaq fishers had started the confrontation by
throwing rocks at the DFO boat. Dedam angrily demanded that the error be
corrected and, after one newscast, it was.
On Sept. 7, as lawyers argued the Indian Brook First Nation's request
for a Federal Court injunction against DFO enforcement measures taken
against Native fishers, observers outside the law courts in downtown
Halifax noticed a well-dressed non-Native woman emerge from the court
building. She looked in the direction of several demonstrators who had
attached the Warrior flag to a light pole and were drumming, and then
she approached the demonstrators. There were a few tense moments as the
demonstrators prepared for a confrontation.
"I've never done this before," the woman said, looking very
uncomfortable. "But what I saw on TV the other night mortified me. I
cried. I just felt I had to stop and say something. That wasn't right."
Noel Bernard, a band councillor for the Wagmatcook First Nation near
Baddeck, N.S., is a former RCMP officer. He said he appreciated the
woman's gesture but found it unusual and surprising. His experience has
made him believe the racial tensions caused by stereotypes of Native
people have a dehumanizing effect that prevent non-Native people from
reaching out as that woman did.
"They forget we've got feelings, too," he said.
Far away in Alberta, a weekly newspaper editorial summed up the thoughts
of a lot of Canadians who saw the tape and who may never have given
Aboriginal rights issues any serious thought before.
Joan Plaxton, writing in the Valley News, conceded that extraordinary
measures have to be taken in explosive situations.
"Extraordinary measures does not mean unreasonable force," she wrote.
"[T]he ramming of a boat by a larger vessel is tantamount to
premeditated murder. The incident did not appear to be an error in
judgment according to eyewitness accounts and video evidence. By
resorting to this kind of violence, the DFO gives Canada a black eye in
the community. We have rightly earned the reputation of being
peacekeepers. Will we be looked at in the same light now?"
National Chief Matthew Coon Come told the Policy Conference of Atlantic
Chiefs what he thought of the incident when he addressed them at the
Halifax Sheraton Hotel on Sept. 6.
"This is not solely about fish. This is about life, and the land and
resources that support our existence and well-being. This is about
Canada's persistent policy of dispossession of our lands and resources.
This is about a repressive government that has finally showed its true
face to the world in the past few weeks," he said. "This is Canada's
hidden character. . . . Mr. Dhaliwal, you are responsible for attempts
to harm or perhaps even murder our people. Thank God that no one was
killed. Your officials tried. That is clear for everyone to see. Nothing
could be more obvious-running over our boats, attacking people in the
water, sinking boats. What a wanton and sickening disregard for life
your troops have shown."
DFO officials said, immediately after the incident, that an
investigation would be conducted. The spokesperson said it was possible
there was a mechanical problem with the boat or some other explanation.
Canadian Aboriginal is a Native-owned news service.
c. Copyright 1999 Canadian Aboriginal.Com
Please send comments to editor@canadianAboriginal.com

--------- "RE: First Nations Can't Meet Corbiere Deadline" ---------

Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 14:49:55 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="Corbiere Deadline"

First Nations can't meet Corbiere decision deadline
By Paul Barnsley
Windspeaker Staff Writer
OTTAWA
The Assembly of First Nations is saying its members can't meet the
Supreme Court of Canada's Nov. 20 deadline to accommodate off-reserve
residents in band elections.
Canada's court of last resort struck down a section of the Indian Act
in the Corbiere case last year. The court delayed the date when the
decision would take effect for 18 months in order to give the Department
of Indian and Northern Affairs and First Nations' councils time to come
up with a non-discriminatory means of including off-reserve members in
band politics.
On Sept. 27, the AFN issued a press release saying the government's new
regulations, published Sept. 2, will expose First Nations to "lawsuits
and potential liabilities as a result of the federal government's flawed
handling of this matter."
"First Nations have not been given adequate information or resources to
implement the new election regimes that will be in force after Nov. 20,"
Matthew Coon Come, the national chief, said. "We are suggesting that
First Nations turn the problem back to its originator - the federal
government."
Dwight Dorey, president of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, the
national organization that represents off-reserve residents, doesn't
have much sympathy for the chiefs on this issue.
"My position is that the time allowed by the courts was enough," he
told Windspeaker. "The AFN and Indian Affairs just left it too long. I'm
adamantly opposed to any delay in implementing Corbiere."
Several court cases are being, have been or soon will be fought over the
rights of off-reserve members. In Alberta especially, oil-rich bands are
not anxious to have their political control threatened by the inclusion
of off-reserve members. Some First Nation political observers see
trouble on the horizon for Coon Come since he has strong support in
Alberta.
The AFN press release said the organization "welcomes the concept of
voting rights extending beyond reserve boundaries. This is consistent
with the mobility rights of First Nations' citizens and the idea that
First Nation governments represent all their citizens. This strongly
held principle is a fundamental part of National Chief Coon Come's
platform, the First Nations' Peoples Agenda."
While the AFN claims the government has not provided enough money and
expertise to clean up the Indian Act and allow First Nations to deal
with the change in the law, Dorey said the government did provide
consultation dollars.
He sees the effort to delay the implementation of Corbiere to be a sign
that First Nations are resisting the court decision.
"There's been a significant increase of the number of bands that have
come up with custom election codes," he said. "That course of action has
led to the exclusion of off-reserve members."
Canadian Aboriginal is a Native-owned news service.
c. Copyright 1999 Canadian Aboriginal.Com
Please send comments to editor@canadianAboriginal.com

--------- "RE: No Teeth No Action" ---------

Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2000 14:49:55 -0500
From: Gary Smith <gars@Speakeasy.org>
Subj: NA News Item
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
filename="Indian Claims"

No teeth, no action, charge First Nations
By Trina Gobert
Windspeaker Staff Writer
OTTAWA
First Nations are growing impatient with the Indian Claims Commission
and its lack of authority and scope in regards to deciding land claim
issues.
"Right now the government is the judge, the jury and the whole thing.
They've got all the power," said Grand Chief Perry Bellegarde of the
Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. "That is not proper. That is
not right. So we've got to look at revamping to have an independent
claims tribunal with some authority and power. Right now they are just a
recommendatory body and the government decides in what manner to use
their finished reports."
James Prentice, ICC co-chair, said the powers of an independent claims
body are subject to negotiation between Canada and the Assembly of First
Nations.
"Generally speaking, the difficulty that this commission has is that it
doesn't have the authority to make binding decisions," said Prentice.
"It can only make recommendations and the commission was set up on that
basis."
The Walpole Island First Nation concluded working with the ICC last
May on their specific land claim of Boblo Island. The First Nation is
pleased with the final report but is still waiting for a response from
the government.
"The commission reviewed and verified our research and validated our
interest in Boblo Island, which has never been extinguished," said Dr.
Dean Jacobs, director of research for Walpole Island First Nation. "We
were pleased with the process. The issue now is they [the government]
are saying 'don't call us, we will call you,' and we haven't heard from
anyone yet."
Once the ICC releases a finished report to the government, the
commission no longer retains any authority in regard to how or if the
report is considered, explained Prentice.
"The government, as a courtesy, advises the commission of their
position, but then that is the end of it," said Prentice. "We agree it
has no teeth and we have been one of the loudest voices in saying that
that needs to change. But I wouldn't agree that it serves no purpose,
because we have many, many First Nations that come to the commission."
The commission has finished more than 50 inquiry reports for First
Nations since its work began in 1991. The ICC's 1998-1999 annual report
accounted for three settlements and 21 accepted reports, out of the
inquiry reports it presented to the government. Cases relating to
fiduciary duty, treaty land entitlement, and prairie land surrender are
the main areas in which it operates.
"Those are really the three predominant areas that our work comes from;
so in two of the three areas, I think the commission has been very
successful," said Prentice. "The government disagrees with the fiduciary
duty issue."
"In Saskatchewan alone we have over 500 specific claims," countered
Bellegarde. "There is a backlog to our claims here that are not being
dealt with adequately. A more appropriate independent, arms-length,
mechanism has to be established to be put in place across Canada and
they have got to get behind that."
The ICC has most recently disappointed members of Carry The Kettle
First Nation. Since 1997 the First Nation has been working closely with
the ICC, researching the band's claim that the Cypress Hills area was the
selected land that the First Nation and the Crown agreed upon in the
signing of Treaty 4 in 1877.
When the Assiniboine people agreed to sign the treaty, they were given
the chance to select the land on which to reside. They selected their
traditional land of the Cypress Hills. The Crown was in agreement with
the selection and a "meeting of the minds" between the two parties was,
in the Assinboine people's viewpoint, established.
"The land was surveyed as the agreed selection. A farm instructor was
sent to teach the Assiniboine people agriculture, and they were given
treaty payment as residing in that selected area," said Elsie Koochicum,
treaty land settlement/specific claims co-ordinator of the First Nation.
In 1880, the government forcibly relocated the Assiniboine by cutting
their food rations. They feared the people would join the Louis Riel
rebellion that was going on nearby at the time.
"Big Bear and Sitting Bull were in the area as well. There were around
6,000 Indian people," said Koochicum. "So the government figured that
there would be a major rebellion starting up and I believe they had only
55 mounted police in the area."
Although the Assiniboine made efforts between 1881 and 1882 to return to
their traditional homeland where they faced starvation, they eventually
had no choice but to relocate to the area in which the First Nation is
located today.
The ICC concluded their inquiry by stating that the band does not have a
reserve in the Cypress Hills and that under Canadian law a reserve is
not a reserve unless both the First Nation and the government recognize
it as such.
"We asked them to hold off on their report and not to send it, but to
come and explain their decision to the community in person," said
Koochikum. "It becomes frustrating because our Elders partook in the
inquiry for the last three years and for them at the end just to walk
away and not even see them, I don't think that is very respectful."
"The report reflects the best job that the commission can do in terms of
its thinking, and its all kind of set out in the report," said Prentice.
"I have heard that they are disappointed and I can understand that."
The commission has never traveled to a community and got into a dialogue
about its report after the report has been issued, said Prentice.
Interpreting the finished report or commenting upon it with others would
not be appropriate for the commission to partake in, he explained.
"Our authority is to conduct an inquiry and make a recommendation and
once a recommendation is released to the parties, we really don't have
any authority."
Bellegarde is disappointed with the recent report that the ICC concluded
for Carry The Kettle First Nation.
"Now with the ICC ruling that they don't have a claim, we will be
assisting them (Carry The Kettle) to look at other options," said
Bellegarde.
"Within the community, our Elders, they are the ones who are
heart-broken," said chief of Carry The Kettle First Nation, Kurt Adams.
"That is the way they feel because as far as we're concerned, we are
trying to get justice done here. We're reaching out for justice but
nothing was done."
Carry The Kettle has approached National Chief of the Assembly of First
Nations, Matthew Coon Come, in the hopes that he will take their case to
the international forum of the United Nations.
Canadian Aboriginal is a Native-owned news service.
c. Copyright 1999 Canadian Aboriginal.Com
Please send comments to editor@canadianAboriginal.com

--------- "RE: Pow Wow Molestor Sentenced" ---------

Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2000 13:58:48 EDT
From: ShngSprt@aol.com
Subj: Pow Wow Molestor Sentenced------------------only 9 mo.??
------- FORWARD, Original message follows -------
From: <ishgooda@voyager.net>
To: <NatNews@egroups.com>
> Sent by Dodie..thanks
Mark W. Hardin, 54, was sentenced on June 26 to a charge of felony
first degree sexual conduct with a child. Hardin received nine-months to
be served. In addition, he received 25 years probation and was ordered
to pay $1000 in fines, including court costs. This is Hardin's second
charge of sexual misconduct within a two-year period. Hardin is
originally from Wonder Lake, Ill. In March, Hardin was the subject of an
online powwow alert issued by the Spotted Eagle Warriors Society in Cass
Lake, Minn. Hardin, Caucasian, was known to hang around powwows and look
for children to molest. He was described as having a gift of gab through
which he gained support from many individuals in the Indian community.
He preyed mainly on single-mother families with young boys.
Hardin presented himself as a mentor and, after gaining the parent's
trust, would make roaches (head ornaments for dance outfits) and dance
outfits for the boys. He took the boys for sleepovers at his Bemidji
home or for weekend trips on the powwow circuit.
He is serving his sentence at the Pennington County Jail in Thief
River Falls. He received three months credit for good behavior and will \
be released in November. (Robert DesJarlait)

--------- "RE: National Tribal Justice Resource Center" ---------

Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2000 22:59:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Martha Ture" <mture1@seeyouonline.com>
Subj: NATIONAL TRIBAL JUSTICE RESOURCE CENTER

Mailing List: TRIBALLAW (triballaw@thecity.sfsu.edu)

NATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS FUND PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 29, 2000
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: John E. Echohawk, NARF Executive Director
(303) 447-8760
Judge Jill E. Shibles,
NTJRC Executive Director (303) 245-0786

NATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS FUND WELCOMES NEWLY ESTABLISHED
NATIONAL TRIBAL JUSTICE RESOURCE CENTER
BOULDER, CO - The Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is pleased to
welcome the National Tribal Justice Resource Center (NTJRC) to Boulder,
Colorado. The Resource Center is currently setting up its offices at
NARF's National Indian Law Library - 1522 Broadway.
The National Tribal Justice Resource Center, a project of the National
American Indian Court Judges Association (NAICJA), has been established
with start-up funding from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of
Justice Assistance. The purpose of the Resource Center is to make
available a wide range of resources to tribal judges and court personnel,
as well as tribal justice systems. Some initial services to be provided
include:
+ creating a clearinghouse of existing written tribal judicial resources
+ providing a free searchable database of tribal justice system opinions
+ developing and expanding internet resources available to tribal courts
+ establishing a toll-free "Helpline" offering technical assistance
+ establishing a mentor system for tribal justice systems
+ assessing tribal justice technical assistance needs
Jill Shibles (Penobscot), Executive Director of the Resource Center,
is the former Chief Judge of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court in
Connecticut, Appellate Justice for the Passamaquoddy Appellate Court of
Maine and the Mashantucket Pequot Court of Appeals, and First Vice-
President of NAICJA. She will be joined by Tina M. Farrenkopf, Esq.
(Passamaquoddy) who will assume the duties of Associate Director on
November 1, 2000. Farrenkopf most recently was the Clerk of Courts with
the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court, and is currently the Co-Chair of the
United South and Eastern Tribe's Inc.'s Tribal Justice Committee. The
Resource Center is presently conducting a national search for its third
staff position of Office Manager (www.naicja.org/jobs.htm).
"The National Tribal Justice Resource Center has the potential to
provide very real and practical benefits to every Native American and
Alaska Native tribal justice system in the United States," says Jill
Shibles. "It will allow us to assist tribes, to strengthen their methods
of government and improve the climate within tribal lands for economic
prosperity by offering tools to enhance tribal justice systems."
John Echohawk, Executive Director of the Native American Rights Fund is
pleased with the collaboration. "NARF is very honored to be a partner on a
project of this caliber. A national resource center that can provide
reference and technical assistance to Indian tribal court systems is long
overdue. We look forward to having the National Indian Law Library provide
access to its unparalleled collection of tribal opinions, tribal codes and
tribal constitutions."
The Native American Rights Fund has collaborated with NAICJA, the
Resource Center's parent organization, on previous projects. Most recently,
NARF and NAICJA worked with the National Congress of American Indians to
develop a Model Tribal Notice Law (MTNL). If adopted by Indian Tribes, the
MTNL would provide for giving adequate and timely notice to Tribes of
cases in a Tribe's court to which the Tribe is not a party, but which
raise issues of tribal sovereignty or tribal jurisdiction. The three
groups are also developing a similar Model State Notice Law.
For further information on the National Tribal Justice Resource Center,
please visit www.tribalresourcecenter.org or www.naicja.org.

--------- "RE: Child Support Orders Stalled" ---------

Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 22:19:37 -0700 (MST)
From: "Chris Milda (_Akimel O`odham_)" <chris@Flamestrike.HACKS.Arizona.EDU>
Subj: Child support orders stalled (Fwd)
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
http://www.azstarnet.com/public/dnews/000910deadbeat.html

"Tribal culture and traditions play very heavily in this. Some
people don't think tribal law should be used to extract money
from people this way. They think it's too draconian."
Stan O'Dell, Arizona Attorney General's Office

Sunday, 10 September 2000
Tribal courts seldom recognize state decisions
Child support orders stalled
By Carol Ann Alaimo
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Debbie Morales says the road to her financial ruin began at the border of
the Pascua Yaqui Indian Reservation.
It wasn't gambling debts that pushed the South Tucson Police dispatcher
to file recently for personal bankruptcy. It's the trouble she's had
getting child support for six kids she had with her Yaqui ex-husband, she
says.
Morales, 37, is one of thousands of Arizonans who have discovered a
little-known fact about the state's child support collection system: It
often hits a legal roadblock when entering Indian country.
Most of the state's 21 tribes - including the two in the Tucson area -
do not automatically honor child support orders issued by Arizona courts,
officials say. And most have no formal system for chasing down parents -
usually fathers - if they don't pay up.
That can leave moms like Morales tangled in legal red tape, forced to
start their child support battles all over in a tribal court with no
guarantee of success.
Most tribal courts don't dispense the same penalties the state courts
impose on a nonpaying parent, such as suspending a driver's license,
issuing an arrest warrant or ordering a parent to go to job training and
find work.
"There's no such thing as a deadbeat dad on the reservation," says
Morales, a non-Indian who's struggling to raise her brood on her $10.60-
an-hour job.
Her ex-husband, Juan Morales, 37, said in an interview that he plans to
pay off his $20,000 bill for back child support but is currently
unemployed because of a back problem.
Rodolfo Mares, an assistant attorney general with the Yaqui tribe, says
the tribal court system works well for people who understand it. Most
problems arise because of ignorance of tribal law, he said.
Bianca Varelas, an administrator in Pima County's child support
enforcement office, puts it this way: "I'd have an easier time collecting
child support from a father in Poland than from someone on a reservation
20 minutes down the road."
State government officials have no firm numbers, but estimate several
thousand Arizona parents at any one time are having tribal jurisdiction
problems when trying to collect support or establish paternity.
Pima County has about 100 or so cases like this on the books at any
given time, out of almost 21,000 involving court orders.
But those numbers don't reflect parents who may abandon their support
claims out of frustration, officials say.
Such legal snags occur across the country because, by law, Indian tribes
are sovereign entities with the right to run their own courts as they see
fit.
They can't be forced to follow the same rules as state child support
agencies, though a handful of tribes around the United States have done so
voluntarily.
Now the U.S. government is trying to entice more tribes to follow suit.
Under new federal regulations expected to go into place early next year,
the government will pay 90 percent of the cost for tribes to set up their
own child support programs compatible with non-tribal systems.
For many years, child support collection was seen as a moot point in
Indian country because of persistent poverty and unemployment.
But with casinos generating new wealth and jobs on some reservations,
there's renewed interest in the issue.
Michael Kharfen, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human
Services, which is backing the new native child support plan, says that
while most tribes still have unemployment rates over 50 percent, "we do
recognize that some tribes have been successful with gaming.
"And there are people with employment and income and earnings as a
result of that."
Mares, of the Yaqui tribe, disputes widespread jurisdictional problems.
"There should be no difficulty getting child support collection on a
regular basis," he says, provided someone knows how to go about it.
Most tribes require "foreign" court orders - those from a state or
county court - to be "domesticated" before they are acted on. That means a
person must apply to a tribal court for another hearing. A tribal judge
then reviews the case and eventually could issue a parallel support order.
Stan O'Dell, a lawyer in the Arizona attorney general's child support
enforcement section, said the tribal system seems to work best in cases in
which the Indian parent pays willingly, which is often the case.
Problems arise when a parent won't pay and the tribal courts don't
follow up to force the issue, O'Dell said. Some tribal courts are still in
their infancy and may vary in sophistication, he said, and some tribes
don't have courts or judges at all.
Debbie Morales said the Yaqui court system is so lax, her ex-husband has
skipped his last three child support hearings without any legal
consequences.
If those no-shows had happened in county court, a warrant would have
been issued for the man's arrest, county officials say.
Morales says her ex-husband used to be a devoted dad and good provider
to their children, now ages 10 to 19. But he's worked only sporadically
since moving back to the reservation after their 1994 divorce, she says.
Each time he leaves a job, Morales says, she has to chase him down
herself and take him back to tribal court. He's now about $20,000 in
arrears from missing so many of his $448 a month payments over seven years,
she says.
Juan Morales, an iron worker, acknowledged he hasn't attended tribal
court to explain the nature of his health condition because he doesn't
think the Yaqui court should be hearing the case since it was started in a
Pima County court.
He said he has paid support in the past when he was working, and plans
to again. "Every time I start working I put in that I owe child support. I
know I'm behind," he said.
By comparison, in county court, chronic nonpayers are monitored by a
judge - not the other parent. They are required to report to court once a
month and can be ordered to find work or attend job training.
And, they can be sent to jail if they don't comply.
Another Tucson woman says she was surprised by the response she got from
the Tohono O'odham's Desert Diamond Casino when a Pima County court
ordered her ex-husband to pay more than $300 a month in child support.
The casino returned the court order with a form letter, "basically
telling me that they were a sovereign nation and they didn't have to honor
it, period" said the woman, who asked not to be identified because she
said she was afraid of retaliation by her ex-husband.
Alex Ritchie, an aide to Tohono O'odham tribal chairman Edward Manuel,
agreed Desert Diamond would not honor a county support order because it
isn't valid on the reservation.
He referred questions to the tribal court administration office, which
did not return repeated calls.
Kharfen, of Health and Human Services, said that under the new federal
rules, tribes would have the power to use sanctions such as license
suspensions - and in extreme cases, arrests - to force working parents to
pay up.
And they'd have to honor child support orders from state courts, without
the need for separate tribal court proceedings.
Tribes would also have to register their own support orders in a
national registry and disclose the names of new tribal and casino
employees to a national hiring registry.
Those two databases are now crosschecked to track down parents who are
ordered to pay support in one jurisdiction but dodge payments by skipping
town to work elsewhere.
But those concepts may be a hard sell in some parts of Indian country.
O'Dell, of the state Attorney General's Office, has been dealing with
tribal child support issues since 1994.
He says many tribal leaders balk at the idea of jailing so-called
deadbeat parents, or releasing information on tribal members to outside
governments.
"Tribal culture and traditions play very heavily in this. Some people
don't think tribal law should be used to extract money from people this
way. They think it's too draconian."
Yet a few Arizona tribes have found ways to work with state officials.
The Navajo Nation, the largest tribe in the country, voluntarily set up
a child support system in 1997 because of pleas from single mothers on the
reservation, says Flora Henderson, of the tribal program.
Navajo women complained they couldn't get child support when fathers of
their kids moved off reservation and went to work. So tribal leaders
turned for help to the state governments of New Mexico and Arizona, which
now jointly provide about $500,000 a year to run the program.
Last year, the Navajo tribe collected $1 million in child support. Some
went to reservation women, and some went to non-native women off the
reservation who'd had children with Navajo men.
The program contains some twists tailored to Navajo culture. For example,
a section on paternity testing notes that Navajo people consider their
blood to be sacred - but specifically mentions that men cannot raise that
spiritual objection to get out of taking a paternity blood test.
Other provisions respect the financial limitations of some Navajo
parents, Henderson says.
Those who don't have a job can work off their child support obligations
by doing chores for the other parent, such as hauling in winter firewood
or planting crops. "We've actually had several families reconcile that
way," Henderson says.
The Navajo child support office has also started giving lectures to
teens at local high schools.
"We're doing this because it's the right thing to do, and it's what our
people want," said Henderson. "And if we didn't do it, who would we be
hurting? We'd be hurting our own children."
Contact Carol Ann Alaimo at 573-4138 or at caalaimo@azstarnet.com

--------- "RE: Tribal Police Officer's Killer Sentenced" ---------

Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2000 17:44:07 -0700 (MST)
From: "Chris Milda (_Akimel O`odham_)" <chris@Flamestrike.HACKS.Arizona.EDU>
Subj: Tribal police officer's killer sentenced to 42 years (Fwd)
- - - - - - -<Forwarded news>- - - - - - -
http://www.arizonarepublic.com/news/articles/1003copkillersent-ON.html

Tribal police officer's killer sentenced to 42 years
Associated Press
Oct. 3, 2000 07:40
PHOENIX - A Whiteriver man was sentenced Monday to 42 years
in prison and ordered to pay about $3,300 restitution for
murdering White Mountain Apache Tribal police officer Tenny
Gatewood Jr.
Frank Monte Banashley Sr. will have to serve at least 85
percent of the sentence issued by Judge Robert C. Broomfield
under federal sentencing rules.
Banashley, 39, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. As
part of his plea, Banashley admitted that he and his son
broke into the Hawley Lake Store on Dec. 9 and stole
six-packs of beer and soda.
The pair left in a pick-up truck and were stopped by Gatewood
about 11:30 a.m. As Gatewood started to arrest Banashley and
placed handcuffs on one of his wrists, Banashley said, "No
you can't do this to me" and the men struggled, according to
court records.
Gatewood drew his gun and told Banashley he was resisting
arrest then shot the man once in the shoulder.
At that point, Banashley's son, who had stayed in the truck,
got out and grabbed Gatewood, forcing him to the ground.
The elder Banashley then picked up a rock and struck Gatewood
in the head several times before picking up the officer's
gun. He then said, "You shoot me, I'll shoot you," placed the
gun at the back of Gatewood's head and pulled the trigger,
according to court records.
An autopsy report listed both blunt-force trauma and a
gunshot wound to the head as co-causes of death.
Banashley's son, Frank Jr., pleaded guilty to accessory after
the fact to the second degree murder of a federal officer. He
was sentenced to nine years in prison and ordered to pay
restitution of about $3,300.
Before the incident, the Banashleys lived on the White
Mountain Indian Reservation. As part of their sentences, if
they complete their time in prison, they may not return
without the written approval of their probation officers.
Copyright 2000, The Arizona Republic. All rights reserved.

--------- "RE: Native Prisoner" ---------

Date: Mon, 9 October 2000 20:55:07 -0500
From: "Janet Smith" <jansatlcom.net@mindspring.com>
Subj: Prisoners' Pen Pal List

Tell a Native American Prisoner someone cares!
The following is a portion of the list of Native American Prisoners
incarcerated in prisons throughout the United States. The full list
is found at the Native Prisoners Pen Pal list the following web site:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/9118/penpal.html. The list is
compiled from contributions by Wotanging Ikche readers, other friends and
from Laura Brooks' research on Native American Spiritual Freedom in Prison.
If you know of a Native prisoner who would like to be included here, please
e-mail Janet Smith at jansatlcom.net@mindspring.com. My thanks to Laura
Brooks for giving this list a home on the web.
-- - - -
Peltier, Leonard
#89637-132
Box 1000
Leavenworth, KS 66048
Birthday: 9/12/44
Ancestry: Ojibwa-Lakota
-- - - -
Self, Terry Sitz, Jonathan Wesley
#253-474 #226-595
PO Box 69 2294 Slagle Rd.
London, OH 43140-0740 Leesville, LA 71446
Date of Birth: 6/20/93
Ancestry: Cherokee/Blackfoot

Eugene Little Fox Baxter Manuel Redwoman
ADC 15041713400 # 24920
ASPC-Safford/Tonto Unit 700 Conley Lake Road
P.O. Box #2400 Deerlodge MT 59722
Safford, AZ 85548 Ancestry: Northern Cheyenne
Send herbs to
c/o Chaplain(N.A.I.)
Arizona State Prison Complex Safford
Tonto Unit
P.O. Box #2400
Safford, AZ 85548
-- - - -
New! Native American Prisoners' Penpal Network:
http://members.tripod.com/~foltz.k/pages/atlantahome.html
Right now, it contains applications submitted by native inmates of the USP
Atlanta federal prison with the high hopes of obtaining pen pals and
communication with the outside world. Most, if not all, these men, are
incarcerated very far from home, isolated, and away from their families
and contact.
Remember, when contacting an inmate, if you want to send something to them,
make sure ahead of time what can and cannot be sent. Items such as money,
stamps, tobacco, sage, etc. cannot. Some items have to be designated for
group use rather than individual, so please be sure to check ahead of time.
Keep them in your prayers and let them know they are NOT forgotten.
Janet Smith
Yufala Star Clan of the Muskogee Creek
Owlstar Trading Post -- www.owlstar.com
---------------------------------
Please especially remember - this is the "Year of Leonard".
Leonard Peltier #89637-132, Box 1000, Leavenworth, KS 66052
---------------------------------
Dear Janet,
Eddie Hatcher was moved from Central Prison in North Carolina to a county
jail. His new address is:
Eddie Hatcher, Robeson County Jail,122 Legend Road, Lumberton, NC 28358.
Thanks,
Marsha Shaiman
On Indian Land, PO Box 2104, Seattle WA 98111
---------------------------------
Standing Deer's new address:
Robert H. Wilson #640429, Estelle Unit, 264 FM 3478,
Huntsville, TX 77320-3322

--------- "RE: History: Carlisle Indian School" ---------

Date: Sun, 08 Oct 2000 23:24:03 -0400
From: Barbara Landis <blandis@epix.net>
Subj: History: Carlisle Indian School, August 19, 1887

Mailing List: NAT-FILM <NAT-FILM@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
[Editorial Note: These reprints are being included in this
newsletter so that you might know the mind of those who
ran institutions like Carlisle.]

THE INDIAN HELPER
-----------------------------
~~ FOR OUR BOYS AND GIRLS ~~
=============================
VOLUME III CARLISLE, PA. FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 1887 NO. 2
-----------------------------
If in this world you would succeed,
You must be brave and true;
Don't stand aloof and slight your work
Because 'tis hard to do.
If troubles come and sorrows rise,
Then show yourself a man;
Let courage nerve you for your work,
And do the best your can.

And in your study or your play,
Determine to excel;
Don't lag behind, but "hoe your row,"
And strive to hoe it well.
In all your play, in all your work,
Just try the golden plan;
Be ready, active, brave and bold,
And do the best you can.

Life's battle now is fairly on,
And there is work to do.
Will you be active in the fight,
And to your colors true?
You see the men around you now
Who thus their lives began;
Then courage take, brave efforts make,
And do the best you can.
----------------
THE MAN-ON-THE-BAND-STAND TALKS WITH MISS BURGESS AFTER HER RETURN
FROM DAKOTA.
------------
M.O.T.B.S.: "Did you really find the Indians so filthy as you would
have us believe from your last letter?
M.B.: "Yes, indeed! Why if I should describe the worst things I saw
you would not allow such a letter to be published in your little paper.
Many of the Indians are very unclean, but I do not care to talk of
that. They are no worse than the low people of our crowded cities, and
in many respects not half so bad."
M.O.T.B.S.: "That is true! Can you not give us an account of the more
interesting things you witnessed."
M.B.: "I can tell you about the beef issue. Will that do?"
M.O.T.B.S.: "Certainly. Certainly! That will do very well. I saw you
both at Rosebud and Pine Ridge and noticed that you took down the main
points."
M.B.: "Well, at Rosebud the issue came on Monday and on Sunday before,
the Indians from all parts of the reservation came into the Agency.
Some came in lumber wagons; many on horseback and a few in carriages.
They bring the whole family, usually, dogs and all, and tent for the
night.
In the morning bright and early they began to make preparations for
the happy day.
The young men put on paint and feathers and donned their brightest
blankets, their best moccasins and most elaborately trimmed leggings.
The young women wore gay-colored skirts, and shawls and those who
could afford it had on elk-teeth sacks. They, too, paint their faces
yellow and green and red, and the part to the hair is given some
brilliant color.
Horse-racing and games are indulged in before the issue begins, and
every one has a chance to see every one else and talk over the news or
gossip a while. It is truly a gala day for young and old.
Now let us turn our eyes from the wonderful spectacle before us - of
three thousand restless, prancing, dashing horse-back Indians scattered
over the prairie, to the poor penned up cattle, who show by their
excited movements that something terrible is in store for them.
In one corral there are about 200 head of fine-looking fat cattle. In
with them riding around among the long horns are three or four brave
cowboys.
Now they drive them through a gate which opens on a pair of scales.
The cattle do not like the looks of the gate, and it takes considerable
urging to make them go in, four and five head at a time.
When squarely on the scales, the gate is securley fastened, the cattle
weighed and the number called out and written down by three or four
different parties detailed by the Agent and the contractors to watch the
weights that there may be no cheating on either side.
---------------------------------------
Continued on Fourth Page.
==============================
(p 2)
The Indian Helper.
-----------------------------
PRINTED EVERY FRIDAY, AT THE INDIAN
INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL, CARLISLE, PA. BY THE
INDIAN PRINTER BOYS.
-----------------------------
Price: - 10 cents a year.
(Five cents extra for every change of address
after once in the galley.)
==============================
Address INDIAN HELPER, Carlisle, Pa.
==============================
Entered in the P.O. at Carlisle as second class
mail matter.
==============================
THE INDIAN HELPER is PRINTED by Indian boys, but
EDITED by The-man-on-the-band-stand, who is NOT an Indian.
==============================
MISS FISHER TAKES US A TRIP TO MT. WASHINGTON.
-------------
A year ago the girls and boys of the HELPER went with me to call on
Mrs. President Cleveland in the beautiful city of Washington. This year
they may go to see the chief of the Presidential Range of Mountains -
Mt. Washington.
If we could only touch Aladdin's lamp, and all go there in reality,
but we will do the best we can with the mind's eye, and they shall be
highly favored and make two trips - one right into the midst of as dense
a cloud as ever hung over a mountain, and the other on a bright sunny
day.
Friday at 1:40 P.M. we left the pretty village of Plymouth, N.H., and
for two hours rode through a beautiful country; the hills gradually
growing higher, till we found ourselves among the White Mountains, and
as the cars came to a stand-still the breakman shouted "Fabyan's."
Think of three "Girls' Quarters" joined together and you will know the
size of this fine hotel.
On the first floor are the large hall, parlors, dining room - all made
pleasing with baskets and pots of ferns, Japanese umbrellas, fans and
other pretty ornaments.
The first thing to do on entering is to register - that is write name
in a big book. Then a bell-boy takes you to your room upstairs.
Soon I came down and seated myself in one of the comfortable chairs on
the balcony; and there I saw Mt. Washington was in front of us several
miles away, but its top was capped with a cloud.
That night I went to bed with a big wish I can tell you, for a bright
tomorrow.
In the morning the sun did shine for a little while and though the
clouds began to gather, about a dozen people, who like myself thought they
must go then or never at 9:20 took an open car, called an "Observation
Car," to the base of the Mt.; then changed into the one coach drawn by the
strong little engine that looks as if it were kneeling on its front legs,
being built in this way so that the smoke-stack may be vertical in going
up or coming down hill.
The clouds thickened about us, and we went slowly up between walls of
fog, the engine pushing behind and giving a "click" "click" as the
cog-wheels worked along the cog-rail.
We could see the track for a little distance in front, slanting like
the steep part of a toboggan slide.
After a ride of an hour and a quarter, we were at the top, and found
ourselves in a furious rain-storm.
A man with a big umbrella stood at the car door and helped us across
the platform into the hotel, which is a much larger building than one
would expect to find so high up among the clouds.
A bright coal fire was burning in the large hall and people were glad
to gather around it and get warmed and dried.
In one corner of the hall a lady was selling pictures, and all manner
of pretty things mostly made of wood, with views of the mountains on
them, and nothing was cheap, I assure you. One sheet of paper and
envelope cost 10 cents.
While we were taking our dinner, which we made as long as possible for
two reasons, one being that we had nothing else to do, and the other
that it cost $1.50 apiece, the rain ceased, and every one grew happier.
I went out but could not see two rods away, then I realized that we
were really among the clouds; and now I know what those beautiful white
masses in the sky are made of; and they are wet, to say the least.
The wind blew hard, and when I was about setting out to see where one
of the plank walks led, a gentleman said, "You'd better let me go with
you, or you will blow away," and I don't know but I should have.
After that I went in the writing room, where there were pens and ink,
and wrote letters till time for train to start on the downward trip at 2
o'clock.
We were a disappointed party for we knew those walls of fog were
hiding from us wonderful sights.
The second journey we will take at another time.
---------------------
A pleasant letter from Carlos Montezuma, our educated Apache friend
who is studying medicine in Chicago, and clerking in a drug store to pay
his way through College, expresses gratification to hear of our success
in raising money for the new buildings going up here this summer. Says
he, "I hope the time will come when all of the buildings will be donated
by wealthy *Indians*."
========================================================
(p. 3)
Camp will break next week.
--------
Miss Irvine is off on a month's leave.
--------
Miss E. Patterson returned Saturday night.
--------
Miss Stafford is attending college at Ada, Ohio.
--------
Big boys' quarters will be done in two weeks.
--------
Our girls are making handsome bead-work this vacation.
-------
Mr. Campbell was down from camp a few minutes, Saturday.
-------
The grass on our parade never was more beautiful than now.
-------
School is to open on the first with Miss Fisher as Acting Principal.
-------
Mr. Jordan and his boys are busy getting the boilers in shape.
-------
Don't deceive even in little things! It is just as bad as lying or
stealing. Don't do it!
-------
Miss Fisher returned to us Tuesday, having spent a pleasant month
among friends in New England.
-------
Miss Cutter writes from her New England home that she is having a good
rest and enjoying her vacation immensely.
-------
Captain Pratt returned unexpectedly from Ocean Grove, Tuesday
morning. The Man-on-the-band-stand thinks he did not stay half long
enough to get a good rest.
-------
Miss Burgess found the neatest, cleanest printing-office she ever saw
when she got back from Dakota. The boys did splendidly all the time and
deserve a great deal of credit.
-------
Mr. Standing's talk Saturday about what he saw in Indian Territory was
very interesting and to the point. Oh, if our pupils could only see
with OUR eyes what would be good for them!
-------
Pollock Spottedtail is working in a little printing-office at Rosebud
Agency, Dak. He is putting to a very severe test the knowledge gained
in only four months in this office.
-------
After three months faithful and most efficient service in the
printing-office, J.B. Given has closed out his work with us and entered
upon a two weeks vacation, to make ready for a year's study in the town
high school, from where he hopes to graduate next summer.
-------
When rules are partly given up and the pupils are allowed to do nearly
as they please that is the time we can easily find out the weak ones. A
boy who keeps in place because he is afraid to disobey is made of poor
stuff. A boy who keeps in place becasue he wants to do right is the one
who will take the lead in this world. He is a boy of PRINCIPLE.
The new Sioux girls do not seem to be at all home sick. Some of the
older boys felt a little sad the next day after arrival.
-------
Ah, ha! Those little girls will not eat the bark of strange trees any
more we guess. About a dozen were sick Saturday night.
-------
Miss Agnes Woodman, Bucks Co., who, it will be remembered visited our
school in the spring, reports that at a large temperance meeting held at
Buckingham meeting house on the 13th eleven of our boys working in that
county on farms, took part in a concert recitation, a class recitation
and made speeches, and did their parts well.
-------
We are pleased to record that our Omaha friend, Mr. Frank LaFlesche,
who has been for several years past in a subordinate position in the
Indian Department at Washington, has just been promoted to a $1200
clerkship. His promotion was made solely on the score of proven
fitness, and as the Phila. Press says editorially, "His case is one
which is full of encouragement for the philanthropic men and women who
are working so earnestly for the betterment of his race."
-------
Camp Items.
The camp was visited by Messrs. McFadden and Goodyear. The cars came
a little too soon for them Monday morning, and they were obliged to run
half dressed to make the train, but they got there and finished their
wardrobe after making sure of a ride.
Mrs. Campbell and Irene, were up for a day.
Blackberries are nearly ripe, and ther will be plenty of elderberries.
Misses Ella Patterson and Bender spent Wednesday with us.
J. B. Given and Jesse Woodward came Wednesday to stay a week in the
mountains.
Mr. Lewis and wife and grandchild stopped over on their way to
Gettysburg from Carlisle.
The camp has several pets: Work Together has adopted John, one of
Mrs. Howe's dogs and John has all the delicacies that the camp affords
while Henry Brezette and Richard Coulter each have a kitten to whom they
give their share of the milk.
The mountains are full of hazlenuts and "chincapins" but they will not
be ripe until after we break camp.
A large party from Mt. Holly visited the camp Tuesday afternoon and
seemd to have a pleasant time. With the party was a lady from
Philadelphia who had 20 Indian girls in her school.
Frank West and Albert Anderson are at camp for the rest of the term.
Obed Rabbit visited camp again on Wednesday.
Chas. Redmore, Alex. Manabove, Loomis Smith and Noble Prentiss visited
camp on Sunday while Ocoyame and Johson Webster paid the school a visit
the same day.
========================================
(p. 4)
Continued From First Page.
From the scales the cattle are driven through a shute made narrow at
the bottom and sloping out toward the top which is about five feet from
the ground. This trough-like shute is just wide enough to admit one
animal and long enough for eight or ten to stand one behind the other.
The cattle don't like to go through the shute, and would not if they
were not beaten with heavy sticks and kicked and yelled at or otherwise
brutally forced.
When once in, they are packed as closely together as they can stand
one behind the other, and a bar is placed across the shute to the rear
of the last animal and there the creatures have to stand and be branded
with red-hot irons.
Poor things! How they do squirm and kick and twist to get away, but it
is of no use.
Once in awhile a fierce animal manages to get over the side, and once
I saw a steer fall over backwards, and there in that narrow place he lay
with feet up in the air.
There was no way to get him up but by lifting him by the head and
turning him end over end.
I expected every moment to see his neck broken, but it didn't break.
Often a horn is broken off close to the head, or other injury produced
which must cause intense suffering.
But white people and Indians alike become callous, and the brutal
treatment of these poor dumb animals is looked upon with seeming
indifference by all and actual pleasure by some.
As fast as the cattle are branded they are turned into an open corral.
When all are finished they are run into the original corral and driven
through the shute again for issuing.
Every thirty Indian receive a beef. The Indians are formed into what
are called consolidations.
Each consolidation has a head whose name alone appears on the beef
issue roll.
The agent employs the loudest voiced Indian as crier and as the
animals pass out of the shute one at a time and are turned loose upon
the prairie, the name of the head of each consolidation is called, and
one or two young men then give chase to the frightened beast.
Now comes the excitement! The Indians imagine they are on the buffalo
hunt, and away they go, whooping and yelling and shooting at the wold
steers running in different directions.
Sometimes a wounded animal dashes with mad fury among the quiet
lookers-on.
Then there is a great scattering, and the loud hurrahs and frightened
shouts of men and women only add to the excitement and pleasure of the
occasion.
In a short time the full 200 are killed, and groups of Indians all
around far and near may be seen dressing the meat.
If I should describe the way the Indian women dress an ox; how they
eat the liver and kidneys raw, the blood streaming down each side of the
mouth, and how they mix the filthy parts of the beef with the clean, and
throw all together in the bottom of a dirty wagon and haul it in the
broiling hot sun for miles, I am afraid you would not relish meat.
Indeed it takes a very nicely prepared tenderloin to tempt my meat
appetite, since looking upon that awful scene.
But as you pass around through the camps a few days after, and see
meat, see nothing but meat everywhere, strung on poles to dry you can't
help but think it looks nice and clean.
Most Indians would rather have meat to eat than any other food, and
now that the buffalo are no more, many of the bribes are supplied as
above described.
How much better and more manly though it is for men to earn their food
by honest work as our boys on farms and at the school are doing.
They who depend upon rations without work are the Indians who are
killing themselves off by their own laziness and filthy habits.
I was glad to see that some did not depend wholly upon the beef and
flour given by the agent. As we passed around among the camps we came
upon patches of corn, potatoes and watermelons.
And many were putting up hay for winter and building log-houses,
showing that the Indians are beginning to look ahead and provide for the
future.
Some years ago when we first went to Pine Ridge and Rosebud, there
were no such signs of progress.
---------------