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@netcom.com
++ It is archived at http://www.nanews.org
++ There is also a hyperlinked version of the Current Issue at
http://bearvisions.com/NativeNews/NEWS.html
Borries Demeler advises AISESnet doesn't exist anymore, instead there is now
NativeNet where people can search for archives of Wotanging Ikche issues:
_ All past AISESnet archives (1992-1998) can now be found in:
http://aises.uthscsa.edu/discussion/
_ All new messages will be archived in:
http://nativenet.uthscsa.edu/archive/nn-dialogue/archive.html
The mailing address for AISESnet/NativeNet the lists have changed.
Please make a note of the new address.
The old address aisesnet_discussion@listserv.umt.edu should *NOT*
be used any longer. Instead please use:
nn-dialogue@nativenet.uthscsa.edu
Downloading Wotanging Ikche on AOL From: MAANG1419@aol.com <Valentina>
Just thought I would share some info. I could not download on to a .txt
because I kept getting the message (when I tried to retrieve it) that the
text editor could not handle the volume. This time I downloaded it on to
a .doc and when I retrieved it out of file manager, IT WORKED.
"Possession is a disease with them. These people have made many rules
that the rich may break but the poor may not...
They claim this mother of ours, the earth, for their own and fence
their neighbors away; they deface her with their buildings...
That nation is like a spring fishnet that overruns its banks and
destroys all who are in its path. We cannot dwell side by side."
__ Chief Sitting Bull, Hunkpapa
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
| Indian Pledge of Allegiance | The Indian Pledge of Alleg-
| | iance was first presented
| I pledge allegiance to my Tribe,| on 2 December '93 during the
| to the democratic principles | opening address of the Nat-
| of the Republic | ional Congress of American
| and to the individual freedoms | Indian Tribal-States Relat-
| borrowed from the Iroquois and | ions Panel in Reno, NV. NCAI
| Choctaw Confederacies, | plans distribution of the
| as incorporated in the United | Indian Pledge to all Indian
| States Constitution, | Nations.
| so that my forefathers |
| shall not have died in vain | Walk in Beauty! Night Owl
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
| Journey | In the summer and early fall
| The Bloodline | of 1998 the Treaty Unity Riders
| | rode a thousand miles on horse-
| For all that live and live by law | back, carrying a staff and
| We Stand, we Call, We Ride | praying each step of the way.
| For All that fear and fear by sight |
| We Hear, we Listen, we Ride | These prayers were offered for
| For all that pray and pray by strength| each of us, and that the Unity
| We Feel, we Move, we Ride | of all Peoples might happen.
| For all that die and die by greed |
| We Hurt, we Cry, we Ride | Tatanka Cante forwarded this
| For all that birth and birth by right | poem on behalf of all the Unity
| We Smile, we Hold, we Ride | Riders that we might stop and
| For all that need and need by heart | ask if the next words we say, the
| We Came, we Went, we Rode. | next act we make is for the good
| | of the People or is it from ego
| Treaty Unity Riders | for self.
+- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -+
O'siyo Brothers and Sisters!
I again ask for your help.
- If you are in any way involved in support for Native Prisoners, anywhere,
- If you know of support groups that provide information and guidance to
assist any involved in assistance to Native Prisoners
- If you know of resources of any nature to support Native Prisoners
- If you can provide legal assistance to any of these issues
please contact my wife at jans@atlcom.net or myself at gars@netcom.com.
If you live in the Atlanta area, can pass a background check, and are
willing to join us three times a year at USP-Atlanta please contact us.
The next event is September 26, and to be confirmed for admittance at
that time you need to get your paper work in during the next few weeks.
The need for this support is critical.
Peace! Night Owl
, , Gary Night Owl gars@netcom.com
(*,*) P. O. Box 672168 gars@nanews.org
(`-') Marietta, GA 30297, U.S.A. gars@igc.apc.org
===w=w== Fax: 770-528-9643
----------- News of the people featured in this issue ----------
- Indian Activist Larry Kitto Dies - Tulalips Resume Clam Harvest
- A Young Lakota Sioux - Family Memorial Desecrated
Girl Needs a Kidney - Choctaw Center to be Dedicated
- Governor/Indians to Meet - Tribes Seeks Protection
- Tribal Outrage Rises Anew for Symbols
- AIM and WhiteClay - Dr. Bruce Clark Departs
- Whiteclay - Babbitt Appears Before Grand Jury
- Booze Sales Banned - Babbitt Backs Indian Fund Oversight
On Blackfeet Reservation - Sundance Banned at Camp Anna Mae
- Vultures are Circling - Sundance Will be Held
- Partytime in Vancouver Despite Hopi Ban
- AFN editorial for Leonard - Excerpts from Messenger News Briefs
- THE Gathering of Nations - Mohawk Police
- Vancouver - Peltier Support
- Your Invitation from AFN During Clinton's Visit
- Your Invitation from NCAI - Native Prisoner
- Largest Native Business - Navajos Looking for a Home
Conference Ever - A Hundred Years Ago
- What is AFN - Poem: In The Wind
- What is NCAI - Verse: Hawaiian Book of Days
- Caldwell People Need Support - Upcoming Events
--------- "RE: Indian Activist Larry Kitto Dies" ---------
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 10:50:24 -0500
From: berryj@okstate.edu
Subj: (FWD)Indian News 07-13-99
Roger Iron Cloud
FirstNations Listserv
202.358.3252
rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov
Indian Activist Larry Kitto Dies
.c The Associated Press
07-11-99
ROCHESTER, Minn. (AP) - Larry Kitto, a lobbyist who was a powerful force
for American Indian tribes in Minnesota and who was fined in connection
with a federal investigation of Interior Department action on a casino,
has died at the age of 52.
Kitto died Friday at Methodist Hospital of a bacterial infection for
which he was being treated at the Mayo Clinic.
He was a member of the Santee Sioux tribe, spending his early childhood
on the Santee reservation in Nebraska, and represented many of Minnesota's
Dakota and Ojibwe tribes.
KItto was quick to respond to any legislative proposal he considered a
slight to Indians people or a threat to tribal sovereignty.
"He was not afraid to speak out against some legislators when he thought
they were crossing the line on racial issues," said Senate Majority Leader
Roger Moe, a friend of Kitto for 20 years.
Kitto also worked to mobilize Indians politically. He helped enlist
reservation support for Bill Clinton's presidential campaigns, and
generated turnout on South Dakota reservations for U.S. Senate Minority
Leader Tom Daschle first election to the Senate.
Kitto was a key figure in investigations of the Interior Department's
refusal to allow several Wisconsin tribes to convert a dog track at Hudson,
Wis., into a casino.
Kitto represented casino-rich tribes in Minnesota and Wisconsin that
opposed the Hudson proposal. The unsuccessful casino group alleged that
the opposing tribes won a favorable decision from the Interior Department
by donating more than $400,000 to Democratic candidates in 1995 and 1996.
Along with another lobbyist and a law firm, Kitto was fined $85,000 last
year for repeatedly failing to turn over documents in the civil suit
challenging the rejection of the proposed casino.
Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has denied allegations of political
interference in his department's decision on he casino.
Kitto is survived by his wife, Mary Jo; two daughters, a sister and four
brothers.
Funeral arrangements were pending.
--------- "RE: A Young Lakota Sioux Girl Needs a Kidney" ---------
Date: Fri, 09 Jul 1999 19:45:18 GMT
From: nativelit@earthlink.net
Subj: A Young Lakota Sioux Girl Needs a Kidney!!
Newsgroups: alt.native,soc.culture.native
A Young Lakota Sioux Girl Needs a Kidney!!!
"Please help Tasha if you can!"
A young Lakota Sioux girl needs a kidney. She has been diagnosed with
end stage renal disease. She is now living with 10 percent of her
kidneys. The disease is estimated to run it's course by spring, by which
time she will need a kidney. She lives on the Pine Ridge Reservation in
South Dakota. So far she doesn't have a donor.
Her name is Tasha Apple and her home page is:
URL: http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hollow/7035/
http://www.yvwiiusdinvnohii.net/KidneyNeeded.htm
My name is Amanda Takes War Bonnett and I am her aunt.
My email address is warbone-@gwtc.net
Update as of May 9, 1999!
"5/9/99 - Since the page was created for Tasha on 2/02/99, she has been
hospitalized and is now at a Colorado hospital. What is left of Tasha's
kidneys aren't working well and she is having problems with her heart. We
are praying one of her aunts will match and be able to donate her a kidney.
We pray Tasha gets stronger to receive this kidney, and her heart will be
able to take the strain of the operation. We ask for prayers for Tasha.
Please continue to enjoy Tasha's homepage. A card or letter in real mail
would be nice too. You can send them to:
Tasha Apple, P.O. Box 234, Martin, SD 57551
They will be sent on to Tasha. Thank you in advance for your prayers,
thoughts, and cards." --Amanda Takes War Bonnett
--------- "RE: Governor/Indians to Meet" ---------
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 16:21:04 -0500 (CDT)
From: Freedom Heart Rising <freedom@prairienet.org>
Subj: Governor/Indians to meet<FWD>
------- FORWARD, Original message follows -------
<+>=<+>KOLA Newslist<+>=<+>
Mainstream news article
----------------
June 28, 1999
Governor, Indians to Meet
http://omaha.com/Omaha/OWH/StoryViewer/1%2C3153%2C178569%2C00.html
BY TODD VON KAMPEN
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Pine Ridge, S.D. - Nebraska Gov. Mike Johanns plans to meet with Pine
Ridge Indian Reservation leaders and Sheridan County, Neb., elected
officials sometime during the next two weeks.
The meetings are in response to the weekend's violence-marred "rally for
justice" march from Pine Ridge to nearby Whiteclay, Neb., which ended with
looting of a grocery store that was also set on fire. Oglala Sioux leaders
said Saturday's event wouldn't be the last demonstration of tribal claims
to Whiteclay.
Johann's staff was working Monday with the Nebraska Indian Commission to
set up the meeting as early as this week, said Chris Peterson, a Johann's
aide.
The meetings will not take place in Whiteclay, Peterson said. They will
probably be in Lincoln or in Scottsbluff or Gering, Neb., where Johanns
has previously scheduled visits planned.
Johanns is eager to meet with the Indian leaders, Peterson said.
Tom Poor Bear, an organizer of Saturday's event, said Sunday that
neither a visit by Johanns nor a break in the investigations into the
deaths of two Sioux men three weeks ago will stop Indians from trying to
halt Whiteclay's bustling beer trade or asserting that the reservation
once again includes the town of about 25.
"To me, even if the case is solved - which I pray and hope for - and
Whiteclay is still open, I feel there will be more Lakota deaths if
Whiteclay is kept open," he said over a hamburger and fries at Big Bat's
Texaco. "It will not end until it is closed down and the land is back in
the hands of the Lakota people."
Poor Bear is a half-brother of Wilson "Wally" Black Elk Jr., 40, and a
cousin of Ronald Hard Heart, 39, whose bodies were found June 8 just
inside the reservation's borders about one-quarter mile north of Whiteclay.
Saturday's rally was triggered by a lack of law enforcement information
on the deaths, frustration over Whiteclay's alcohol business and
allegations of racism by Sheridan County residents and law enforcement
officials.
Johanns said Sunday from Lincoln that while the two Sioux deaths were
tragic, arson is illegal.
"It's a very sad statement. It doesn't promote any cause," Johanns said.
"The people responsible will be held responsible... Two hundred and
fifty people got together, and the adrenalin started pumping."
American Indian Movement leaders Russell Means, Dennis Banks and Clyde
Bellecourt will return next weekend, Poor Bear said. Banks and Bellecourt
left Sunday for their homes in Minneapolis. Means was to leave Monday for
his home in California, Poor Bear said.
A letter signed by Sioux spiritual leader Oliver Red Cloud was to be
sent Monday to Johanns, asking him to be present at the end of another
Indian walk to Whiteclay, Poor Bear said. He also planned to contact the U.
S. Justice Department, the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission, the
Nebraska Indian Commission and the Sheridan County Chamber of Commerce.
"It's not going to be a letter demanding the governor be here," he said.
"It's going to be an invitation for him to come down and deal with this
matter in a responsible way."
Johanns noted that he has visited all the American Indian reservations
in Nebraska.
Johanns said AIM members' demands to return Whiteclay to the Oglala
Sioux were rhetoric.
"They know I don't control that land," he said.
Nebraska law enforcement officials reopened Whiteclay to traffic Sunday,
but Nebraska State Patrol cars and Sheridan County Sheriff's Office
cruisers were in full view. Whiteclay's handful of businesses remained
closed Sunday, including the four beer outlets and VJ's Market, the looted
store.
Most businesses appeared to be reopening Monday, said Tom Hotz, owner of
the Whiteclay Jack and Jill.
Whiteclay was quiet after the Saturday violence, said Terri Teuber,
spokeswoman for the Nebraska State Patrol. Most residents left town
Saturday to spend the night elsewhere. They began returning Sunday.
Troopers scaled back their presence Sunday and Monday.
When the rally began, leaders led the walkers through Whiteclay, then
turned around and returned to the north edge of town for speeches. About
1:45 p.m., the rally appeared to be breaking up. Some demonstrators who
had scattered up and down Whiteclay's four-block-long main street tore
down the "Welcome to Nebraska" sign and carted it off to the other end of
town, egged on by rally leaders.
"Let's take that Nebraska sign back where it belongs - way over there!"
Poor Bear said as the sign came down.
About 25 to 30 people then started throwing cans at the windows of VJ's,
after which an unknown number of people broke into the store, looted it
and started a fire. After Nebraska, South Dakota and tribal police moved
in and firefighters from Pine Ridge tried to contain the fire, Poor Bear
and other rally leaders persuaded demonstrators to leave the town and
return to Pine Ridge.
No one was seriously injured. No arrests had been made as of Monday
morning, but the investigation continued.
Tribal police estimated the size of the rally at 250 walkers and 150
cars, although Poor Bear said that up to 1,500 people took part. He said
he felt at peace despite the violence, adding that VJ's owners had
mistreated Indians in the past while Hotz at Jack and Jill respected and
helped Indian customers.
"What was so beautiful was that when we left Whiteclay, there were two
eagles flying over where the bodies were found," he said. "That means
Tukashala (the Great Spirit) sent Wally and Ron down in eagle form to fly
over us, watch over us and protect us."
Four officers from the Sheridan County Sheriff's Office were joined by
17 Nebraska State Patrol officers and 25 Pine Ridge Reservation police
officers in stopping the outburst.
Poor Bear and AIM leaders contend that Whiteclay should be inside the
Pine Ridge reservation - not just outside it.
Indian leaders should be pursuing that claim in the courts where it
belongs, said Nebraska State Sen. Bob Wickersham of Harrison, who
represents the northern Panhandle. He said he doubts that ending
Whiteclay's annual beer sales of 4 million cans would stop Indians from
driving outside the officially alcohol-free reservation for beer. If the
reservation line was moved 10 miles south, "the businesses will be moved
11 miles south," said Wickersham.
Meanwhile, others in both Sheridan County and Pine Ridge said AIM
leaders don't realize that many whites and Indians in the area have
learned to live in peace in the years since the 1972 slaying of Raymond
Yellow Thunder of Gordon and the 71-day AIM-led occupation of Wounded Knee,
S.D., in 1973.
At the Catholic Church of Immaculate Conception in Rushville, the Rev.
Robert Karnish led parishioners Sunday morning in prayers for peace and
the poor.
"That the difficulties yesterday in Whiteclay not poison the hearts and
minds of people of good will, we pray to the Lord," he said.
After the Mass, longtime Rushville-area residents Charles Hinn, 73, and
Stella Otte, 74, said the area's Indians and whites will suffer from the
perceptions being spread by AIM leaders. Hinn, owner of several businesses
in Rushville, Gordon and Scottsbluff, Neb., said he has some second-
generation Indian customers and has worked hard to build respect and trust
on the reservation.
But "the misconceptions of people - the people in Rushville when they
see people out of order or drunk in Whiteclay - they misjudge the people,"
Hinn said. "They don't see all the good people up there who have nice
homes and pay their bills and go to work every day."
Otte, a retired nurse, put in many years tending to Indians in
reservation and Sheridan County hospitals and teaching nursing to Pine
Ridge residents. She watches Indian and white youths play sports on the
same teams and attend high school proms with little concern for the color
of each other's skin, she said.
"There are so many people here who have good friends up there, people up
there who have good friends down here, who feel it's wrong to let things
that happened years ago ruin the progress that we've made here," Otte said.
"Does hatred ever conquer evil? I don't think so."
Later, at Big Bat's, Eugene Black Bear Jr. of Wounded Knee said hatred
hurts Indians and whites alike. "The ones that hate, they're the ones who
make trouble for the innocent people," said Black Bear, 58. "They're the
ones who get killed."
Jasper Spotted Elk Big Foot, 71, said he didn't like Means, Banks and
Bellecourt and doubted that they were making their case the right way. His
grandfather, Big Foot, was the leader of the Sioux band massacred by the U.
S. Army at Wounded Knee in 1890.
"Let them talk," he said. "Whatever they're talking about, they've got
to do it right."
--------
World-Herald staff writers David Hendee, Nancy Hicks,
Erin Grace and Leslie Reed contributed to this report.
--------- "RE: Tribal Outrage Rises Anew" ---------
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 22:02:17 -0700
From: John Wm Sloniker <johnwms@SERV.NET>
Subj: (N/P) Tribal Outrage Rises Anew
Los Angeles Times Main Page
http://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/
NATION & WORLD
Sunday, July 4, 1999
In Land of Wounded Knee and 1973 Siege, Tribal Outrage Rises Anew
By STEPHANIE SIMON <Stephanie.Simon@latimes.com>
Times Staff Writer
PINE RIDGE, S.D. -- It's about pain.
It's about poverty so stark, the median income falls $20,000
below the national average. And health so poor, life expectancy for
men is a bleak 56. And jobs so scarce, unemployment runs above 80%.
It's about all these problems and more.
But the flash point--the trigger that roused the Oglala Lakota
on this desolate reservation to rally Saturday for the second angry
week in a row--was beer.
Too much beer, too easily available.
The Lakota long have banned alcohol on their reservation here in
southwest South Dakota, a vast and remote territory that spills from
shadowy buttes to rolling plains of wildflowers. It's illegal to sell
alcohol here, and it's illegal as well to bring it here or to drink
it here.
But just two miles down the road, across the state line in
Nebraska, the tiny unincorporated town of Whiteclay has no such
prohibition. Whiteclay, population 22, has four liquor stores lining
its one scruffy block. It sells more than 4 million cans of beer a
year, according to Native American leaders.
Crumpled cans of Budweiser, Busch and Colt 45 malt liquor litter
the road back to Pine Ridge. Car crashes and boozy assaults are all
too common along the way--as are drunks bumming money or passed out
on the road.
Public intoxication is by far the most common criminal charge on
the reservation. And tribal police made more than 1,100 arrests last
year for drunken driving--this in a community of just 24,000, where
many of the adults do not have cars.
Among sober residents of the reservation, resentment of
Whiteclay runs high. When two Pine Ridge men were found dead in a
ditch off the main road to Whiteclay last month--murdered, police
said, though they have identified no suspects--the simmering
frustration exploded.
According to rumor, a Whiteclay businessman or a Nebraska
sheriff's deputy was the killer. And though the FBI offered a $15,000
reward for information, many Lakota believe that detectives are
slacking off on the investigation because they don't care who killed
two unemployed Indians on their way home from buying beer.
Outraged over the murders, outraged about beer and outraged too
about long-standing claims that the land under Whiteclay should be
part of their reservation, Lakota tribal leaders decided that it was
time to stand up and shout.
They invited three old firebrands from the American Indian
Movement, all veterans of the 1973 standoff with federal officials
on the Pine Ridge reservation at Wounded Knee, to lead them.
Setting aside personal spats that had kept them apart for years,
Russell Means, Clyde Bellecourt and Dennis Banks--all considered
founders of the Native American civil rights movement--converged
on the reservation last week to run two "rallies for justice."
A June 26 march disintegrated into violence when a few dozen
protesters--apparently intoxicated--smashed the windows of a
Whiteclay grocery store and stole cigarettes, soda and watermelon
before setting the building on fire. The outburst frightened
Whiteclay merchants, who said that the mounting anger took them by
surprise after years of mostly amicable relationships with Native
Americans.
"I feel the tension now," said Tim Hotz, owner of another
Whiteclay grocery store. "But I never felt it before."
Hoping to prevent further trouble, Whiteclay's 22 residents
shuttered their stores and evacuated the town Friday as 100 Nebraska
state troopers moved in to block off the area. The officers remained
in position Saturday, standing three-deep in full riot gear on the
state line to prevent marchers from entering Whiteclay. Means led
several Native Americans through the police lines anyway, and he and
eight others were promptly arrested. But the hundreds of other
marchers retreated to a nearby lawn to chant prayers and sing to
the beat of traditional drums.
Their largely peaceful Saturday march was surely passionate.
More than 550 Native Americans hiked under a blistering sun, stopping
several times along the way to pray.
"There is rage here, America," Banks shouted at one point to
rousing cheers. "Don't you understand? There is rage here."
Bellecourt, an imposing man with a long ponytail just starting
to gray, added his indignation: "What's happening in Pine Ridge now
is a symbol of what's happening all over the nation. Somewhere in
America, we have to make a stand. We made a stand here in 1973, and
we're making a stand here now."
He wasn't just talking about beer.
Indeed, though they called again and again for Whiteclay to shut
down all alcohol sales, the beer was for many protesters a stand-in
for deeper concerns about the future of their reservation--about the
future, in fact, of all Native Americans.
They spoke, with despair, of the scourge of alcoholism, of the
hopelessness that comes when only one or two adults in 10 can find
work. They spoke of their frustration with law enforcement officials
who have not yet tracked down the killers of Ronald Hard Heart and
Wilson Black Elk, the two men found decomposing by the roadside.
They spoke too of their anger at feeling ignored. True,
President Clinton is scheduled to visit the reservation Wednesday,
a trip scheduled long before the rallies, to discuss economic
development. But in general, many Lakota complained, Americans seem
more concerned about Kosovo than the appalling conditions on
reservations in their heartland.
"They just don't care," said Eileen Janis, 38.
"Blacks, whites, Hispanics, Asians, Jews--their causes all get
a lot more attention than ours," agreed Michael Yellow Bird, an
assistant professor in the Native American studies department at the
University of Kansas. "It's very frustrating for indigenous peoples
to be ignored in their own homeland. This is our country, after all."
By bringing back big-name AIM leaders Means, Banks and
Bellecourt, Pine Ridge residents said that they hope to give their
lagging civil rights movement a new spark.
Or, as Janis put it: "We need to tell the people here that we
don't have to take it anymore."
During the 71-day standoff at Wounded Knee in 1973, the AIM
leadership "talked about self-governance, about how we needed to
control our own destiny," said Roberta Ecoffey, 51. For a time, she
recalled, that message held sway at Pine Ridge. People living on the
reservation took pride in their heritage, resurrected old traditions
like sun dances and sweat lodges and worked hard to make their
reservation a better place. But now, the momentum has slipped.
The AIM stalwarts, she said, "needed to be here again."
The faded little reservation town of Pine Ridge is a jumble of
trailers and ranch homes, some with satellite dishes out front, more
with clotheslines out back. There's a Pizza Hut and a Taco John's, a
gas station and, on this July Fourth weekend, several fireworks
stands.
But more than its buildings, Pine Ridge is about history. The
1890 massacre by U.S. Army troops of at least 150 Native Americans
at nearby Wounded Knee remains a potent symbol of injustice for the
American Indian Movement.
There's triumph here too. Many residents on the reservation
trace their ancestry to the great Sioux chiefs Red Cloud and Crazy
Horse, who annihilated Lt. Col. George A. Custer and his troops at
the battle of the Little Big Horn in Montana in 1876.
But history--even history plus a few feisty rallies--may not be
enough to spark the changes so many at Pine Ridge want.
Though they sympathize with the tribe's concern about
alcoholism, Nebraska officials said that they cannot stop Whiteclay
from practicing good old-fashioned capitalism. The only way to shut
down the liquor stores, they said, would be for Native Americans to
stop patronizing them so the market would dry up.
Even if the government could yank the liquor licenses, "you have
to ask, what would happen if Whiteclay closed?" asked Nebraska state
Sen. Bob Wickersham, who represents the area. "Human behavior being
what it is, if you're addicted to alcohol, you're going to get it
somehow."
Tribal leaders agreed that closing Whiteclay's liquor stores
would not end alcoholism on the reservation. But they maintained that
removing the temptation of cheap beer within walking distance of Pine
Ridge would deter many people from daily binges.
And just by calling attention to the issue Saturday, rally
organizers said that they had scored a victory.
"Today the world knows our dilemma," tribal President Harold
Salway said. "Today the world knows our poverty and our abuse of
alcohol served from Whiteclay. And how it denigrates and destroys our
spiritual base."
Copyright(c) 1999 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved
http://www.latimes.com/HOME/HELP/WEBSITE/copyright.htm
AMERICAN INDIANS
http://www.latimes.com/cgi-bin/archsearch-cgi?DBQUERY=keywords%28
american+indians%29&DATE=last+6+months&SECT=&SORT=d%3Ah&NITEMS=25
AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT
http://www.latimes.com/cgi-bin/archsearch-cgi?DBQUERY=keywords%28
american+indian+movement%29&DATE=last+6+months&SECT=&SORT=d%3Ah&NITEMS=25
LAKOTA SIOUX INDIANS
http://www.latimes.com/cgi-bin/archsearch-cgi?DBQUERY=keywords%28
lakota+sioux+indians%29&DATE=last+6+months&SECT=&SORT=d%3Ah&NITEMS=25
--------- "RE: AIM and WhiteClay" ---------
Date: Wed, 07 Jul 1999 14:11:21 -0400
From: Albert RunningWolf <arwolf@cnz.com>
Subj: AIM and WhiteClay
Newsgroup: alt.native
This was received from a trusted source
>From the Offices of: AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT
WHITE CLAY UPDATE
E-mail Address: MADAGE@aol.
Greetings
I have just got off the phone with AIM leadership at Pine Ridge. The
encampment at White Clay has been named CAMP JUSTICE. At present this
is not a military style occupation but our warriors have brought the
town to a stand still. The AIM leadership has been meeting throughout the
night and have decided to proceed via legal avenues, while at the same
time maintaining our encampment at White Clay. I was advised a full
blown occupation did not take place Saturday due to the large number of
elders & children at the march.
However the town has been effectively closed down.
I have been requested by the AIM leadership to put out a call for
warriors to be at CAMP JUSTICE, AKA White Clay this Saturday early in
the morning for a show of strength and commitment to our people. This
action will most probably include defending the lives of our people and
Indian land. At this time, Camp Justice is no place for children.
Destruction of property is prohibited by AIM leadership.
The property and buildings at White Clay will be turned into schools and
facilities for our people. If you come to Camp Justice, please understand
conditions are primitive Please understand this action is not of the
tribal leadership.
It is of the Oglala people AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT, and those people
dedicated to justice.
It is my plan at this time to leave from Columbus, Ohio on Thursday
morning.
My route will be through Indianapolis, Peoria, Des Moines. Please let me
know if anyone wants to caravan or donate much needed supplies. I will
confirm that later today. Thanks for all the prayers and words of support.
IN THE SPIRIT OF CRAZY HORSE,
STILL STRONG!
-- Albert Running Wolf Chairperson A.I.M. Central Indiana Support Group P.O. Box 102 Brookville, IN 47012 765 647-5362 (fax & voice mail) 765 647-4947 (personal) ...still strong in the spirit and in the struggle!--------- "RE: Whiteclay" ---------
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 00:28:31 EDT From: AIMAZ@aol.com Subj: WHITECLAY
I just got off the phone with Floyd Hand. It is 9:06 Arizona time and he asked that the following information be sent out.
DONATIONS ARE TO BE SENT ONLY TO HIM OR RUSSELL MEANS. The address has been sent out however, they now have a bank account to make things a little less confusing. The tracking number is 10410371914 and account number is 297658. The bank is Stockmens National Bank in Rushmore, Nebraska. You can take the donation to your nearest bank and have them do a bank to bank transfer. This is the fastest and safest way to get the money to WhiteClay. Floyd is asking that all donations be made to that account. This should clear up any confusion about who is permitted to receive donations for WhiteClay. They will be needing money for food, oil, gas, bail, etc. He also asked for anyone out there who has a credit card and would be willing to use it to secure port-a-potties for the next 30 days. If you are able to do that, please contact Floyd personally at 605-867-5762. They are still asking for people to come and join Camp Justice however, please heed the warnings... Don't travel through Nebraska at night (especially Indians), please come prepared to listen to the wishes of the Lakota people and respect their ways....NO WEAPONS, NO DRUGS, NO ALCOHOL. This is also not a place for children. Posts stating that donations be sent anywhere other than the above mentioned bank account or to Floyd and Russell are to be disregarded. In Struggle, T Secretary, AIM AZ.
--------- "RE: Booze Sales Banned On Blackfeet Reservation" ---------
Date: Fri, 09 Jul 1999 10:45:17 GMT From: wlfskr@leba.net (Pat Morris) Subj: Booze Sales Banned On Blackfeet Reservation
Newsgroup: alt.native
Booze sales banned on Blackfeet reservation 4.36 a.m. ET (836 GMT) July 9, 1999 BROWNING, Mont. (AP) - A five-day ban on alcohol sales on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation could be the forerunner of year-round prohibition. The ban from Thursday night until Monday night was imposed by the Blackfeet Tribal Council in an effort to control drinking during North American Indian Days, the biggest annual celebration on the reservation. "There have been too many crashes and too many deaths in recent months," said Herman Whitegrass, a chemical dependency counselor. "We have to take off our blinders and take action to save lives." The ban will be reinstated during next month's Heart Butte Society Celebration, and tribe officials are interested in prohibiting alcohol sales all year. They plan a series of public meetings on the idea. Whitegrass said officials will monitor the next five days closely. "We will use this as a measuring stick," he said. "We will chart how many crashes there are and how many other problems - things like people going to the emergency room for things like abuse." Many of the 27 alcohol vendors on the reservation near Glacier National Park in northern Montana say permanently prohibiting sales would simply drive people off the reservation to buy booze. "There is a problem. I'll admit that, but I think you're compounding the problem by taking away something that's legal and making people go farther for it," said Norris Gilham, whose mother owns Ick's Place bar and liquor store in Browning. "There's a lot of enterprising people here. They're going to see a way to make money and start bootlegging." Tribal law already bans alcohol sales on religious holidays, including Christmas and Easter. http://www.foxnews.com/js_index.sml?content=/news/national/0709/
--------- "RE: Vultures are Circling" ---------
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 1999 20:22:30 -0500 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subj: Vultures are circling...
Newsgroup: alt.native
d'laan'te'... Sitting with Maggie a cpl of weeks ago, discussing my modest contribution to current efforts to set up all-Indian Mediators' Network & this article explains why it's so necessary.. A small smile to help you with this heavy story.. Wen I first proposed the idea to some heavyweights in ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) a few mths ago, they thought I wanted to be a mediator. "Have you done much work in situations of conflict?" they asked. & when I smiled & said yes, they asked at what school I'd learned my conflict resolution skills.. "The Kalishnikov School", I answered. And believe it or not they actually wrote it down.. (hehehe) jaom/e'ne'thekwe' -------------------------------------------------- The Globe & Mail Saturday, July 10 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/gam/National/19990710/URESIN.html Lawyers swoop to cash in on native claims Leaders worry the suffering of residential-school victims is exploited by fees as high as 40 per cent of awards ERIN ANDERSSEN The Globe and Mail Headline/Frontpage Article Saturday, July 10, 1999
The lawyers came to the Peigan reserve in the new year, pitching justice and promising money. Word had spread in the Alberta community before they arrived, and so about 50 people gathered in the rented hall to hear what they had to say. The strangers were dressed in weekend clothes as if to woo a crowd not warmed by white men in suits. They spoke for a while, about suffering and lawsuits, and then they set to work signing people up. A lawyer claimed each corner of the hall, and one by one, the people would sit before them and tell how they'd been slapped and punched and fondled in a dreadful institution so many years ago. They scrawled their names on a contract, agreeing to pay as much as 40 per cent of whatever their suffering was deemed worth by the courts, and the lawyers packed up and went away. Residential-school claims have become a burgeoning industry for Canada's legal profession, with a lot of money to be made. "To bring this all up about the residential schools is so hard," said Elizabeth Crow Flag, a member of the Peigan First Nation who lived in one of the schools for most of her childhood, and attended part of the meeting. "There are all kinds of lawyers jumping into this. They're going to make all kinds of money off us." As cases grow, Ottawa becomes increasingly anxious about its liability for its role in the school system, which removed native children from their homes and placed them in institutions where many endured physical and sexual abuse. The federal government already estimates that current lawsuits -- which total more than 3,330, divided among about two dozen lawyers -- could cost $330-million or an average of $100,000 each, although that is assuming they are settled out of court, and does not account for former students who have yet to come forward. But there is a distasteful flavour, perhaps unavoidable, to the legal business of residential-school abuse. Since most of their clients cannot afford to pay hourly fees, lawyers take these cases on contingency, getting a percentage of the final award. In some provinces, the lawyer's cut if the claim goes to trial can be as hefty as 45 per cent -- the subject of much grumbling in native communities. To get those contracts, lawyer are recruiting new clients through public meetings, personal phone calls, even ads in the yellow pages. And native leaders are raising concerns that the system might be exploiting their people yet again. Late last year, Phil Fontaine, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, fired off a letter to the country's law societies, objecting to the heavy-handed tactics of some lawyers. Last month, the Law Society of Saskatchewan passed a new rule that prevents its members from holding meetings in communities unless they are invited by prospective clients, and requires them to mark all documents sent by mail to solicit business as "advertising material." The regulation, a specific reaction to the residential-school issue, refers to clients in "weakened states" and forbids lawyers to settle fee arrangements until they meet with each client. In fact, the Law Society of Saskatchewan is investigating a complaint against a team of lawyers who held a meeting on a southern British Columbia reserve for former students of residential schools from several communities, including the Pavilion First Nation. The law society appointed an investigation committee -- the step preceding any ultimate formal charge -- after receiving the complaint from B.C.'s Provincial Residential School Project. The native organization complained to the law society that the two Saskatchewan lawyers -- Tim Turple and Mike Mantyka, of the Merchant Law Group -- travelled to the reserve to "recruit victims" and "make money" at their expense, without taking into account the trauma that people may suffer in recounting their experiences. "The vultures are coming. They know where the money is," said Rick Alec, a counsellor on the Pavilion reserve and a former residential-school student, who forwarded the complaint to the residential-school project. He said people are recounting their years at the institutions for the first time to lawyers -- not therapists -- and are not being informed fully about the stress of testifying at trial. "People talk about getting rich off it; they're not told what they have to do to get it. The bottom line is: I want your name on this contract." He added later: "My people are not ready for it. There's about five generations of hurt here." But Mr. Turple said his firm, which represents about 3,000 former students of the schools, was responding to an invitation from an elder in the community. He said the reserve had counsellors at the meeting. And he said that he and Mr. Mantyka participated in a sweat lodge afterward. "We don't drive around to reserves recruiting people," said Mr. Turple, who did not want to comment specifically on the complaint. "We're extremely sensitive to the pain people have experienced. Wherever possible, when court action opens up old wounds, those affected must have the benefit of counselling." Still, other lawyers recognize the dangerous ground, particularly with the numbers of claims growing. "Usually lawyers don't get big cases in bunches," said David Paterson, one of the lawyers representing former residential-school students in a case in Port Alberni, B.C. "But if you have a slew of major cases, and clients who are inexpert in dealing with lawyers, then the potential [for problems] is there. I've heard enough stories to believe that there are problems out there." Maggie Hodgson, the residential-school policy adviser for the AFN, has her own stories. She remembers the day that a sobbing middle-aged native man knocked on the door of her Edmonton home. He had just come from a lawyer's lobby, where he had been asked to fill out a questionnaire recounting the abuse he had experienced. Then he was sent away, without even talking to the lawyer he had just hired. "He passed in the questionnaire and that was it," Ms. Hodgson said. "He was writing about sexual abuse and it was very frightening to put it down on paper, particularly when you haven't talked about it for 30 years." Ms. Hodgson, who is working with the federal government on a program to resolve claims out of court, hears regular concerns from communities across Western Canada about exorbitant contingency fees, and the meetings lawyers have been holding -- which she considers a "feeding frenzy" on reserves. "Lawyers have 150 to 200 people fill out a questionnaire without any care or concern," Ms. Hodgson said. "People die that way. Or they get back to drinking after they've been sober for a long time." The meetings occasionally occur in communities in which a local lawyer already represents many residents. Some victims who have already signed with the outside lawyers have been asked to speak before a crowd of prospective clients. "That's like using the victims to market their firm," Ms. Hodgson said. "It's like, 'I have a barbecue and I can testify it's a top-line barbecue,' except that they're doing it to people who are very vulnerable." Native leaders have linked a number of suicides on reserves in the past few years to the stress of discussing abuse for civil suits or criminal cases. Marlon Watts is convinced that is why his brother died, just a few months after he testified in the Port Alberni case. He was drinking heavily, Mr. Watts says, and one night in October, he fell off the Nanaimo sea wall and drowned. "It was really tough for him," said Mr. Watts, who is also a plaintiff in the case. "He'd never seen a therapist. I never heard my brother's own story until that day in court." Mr. Watts says he regrets going ahead with the lawsuit. People "don't realize how serious this is," he said. But the legal community has its own case to make. Many of the former students live in remote communities, and lawyers say town-hall style meetings are the best way to reach them, to let them know that they have the right to sue over the abuse. "We are trying to get the message to these people," said Tony Merchant, who adds that his firm often visits reserves by invitation from the band council. "It's the only way they're going to get the message. They're not getting it from newspapers and the electronic media." The work is complicated by the fact that many of the potential clients are poorly educated -- some speak little English or do not read it -- and are unfamiliar with the legal system. When faced with complaints about high contingency fees, lawyers such as Mr. Merchant, who criticizes native leaders for not making an issue of residential schools years ago, point out that if they did not take chances on these cases, the victims would never see justice. A 35 or 40-per-cent contingency fee, they say, is fairly average in lawsuits over automobile accidents. Many reserves are organizing their own meetings with lawyers to educate their people. But more natives working with former residential-school students believe that lawyers should not enter the picture until the person concerned has dealt with the past, through therapy or healing circles. "You walk to the darkest side of your life," Mr. Alec said, "and you just hope you come back in one piece. We're great survivors. Now it's time for us to learn how to live." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright c. 1999 The Globe and Mail
--------- "RE: Partytime in Vancouver" ---------
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 11:45:51 -0500 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subj: Partytime in Vancouver
Newsgroup: alt.native
Cultural Extravaganza Draws International Stars A cultural extravaganza planned by the Assembly of First Nations is expected to be a major attraction for the 5,000 leaders, delegates and spectators who will descend on Vancouver for the Annual General Assembly in July. The extravaganza, to be held Thursday evening, July 22, at the Renaissance Hotel, will feature performances by critically-acclaimed musicians, dancers and comedians such as Red Bone and A. Paul Ortega. "This event will be truly spectacular. We have an incredible line up of legendary performers representing all of the Indigenous nations. It's definitely a must see," said Jennifer Wood, event organizer. Red Bone is one of the most successful Native American rock bands in history. With 30 years experience, five world tours and record sales of 18 million, the band is one of the headliners for the cultural performances. For those with milder tastes, there's the music of A. Paul Ortega, an elder and tribal chairman of the Mescalero Apache Nation in Mexico. Mr. Ortega is well respected by his peers for his country/folk style. His original music and albums have sold millions throughout North America. Don Burnstick of the Alexander Cree First Nation in Alberta will offer spectators a few good laughs. Mr. Burnstick is one of the top First Nations comedians in Canada. His understanding of grassroots lifestyles and perspectives makes for a unique set. He recently appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Other performers include the "Xipe Totec" Aztec Dancers, Tom Ware and Blues Nation, the Freebird Band of Manitoba and the "Warrior's Dream" Dancers. There will be a small entrance fee for the extravaganza. Other cultural activities include a family pow wow at the B.C. Friendship Centre and a Salmon Barbecue and Cultural Night at the Squamish First Nation on July 20. There will also be entertainment at the Honouring Dinner on July 21. For more information, contact Boye Ladd at (306) 596-7359. Copyright c. Assembly of First Nations National Indian Brotherhood 1999
--------- "RE: AFN editorial for Leonard" ---------
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 11:09:57 -0500 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subj: AFN editorial for Leonard
Newsgroup: alt.native
The Messenger - June 1999 (AFN's monthly newspaper) Editorial Peltier Case Reveals Double Standard in the Justice System In Indian Country, there are events that serve as constant reminders that we still have a long way to go to be treated fairly on Turtle Island. There's the shooting death of Dudley George, concerning which calls for an independent inquiry have never been answered. The shooting deaths of a mother and her child in Tsuu T'ina and another young man in Whitehorse are other reminders that we suffer more harshly from the justice system than others. Another such travesty of justice is the continued imprisonment of Leonard Peltier for the incident at the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975. Leonard was charged, convicted and imprisoned for the shooting deaths of two FBI agents. However, over time, it's been shown that there's no proof that he ever fired the shots which killed the officers. Furthermore, his extradition from Canada wasn't even legal. It was secured under false pretenses, with affidavits containing fabricated and false information. We all remember the case of David Lamont and Christine Spencer, the two Canadians who were convicted in Brazil of kidnapping a wealthy businessman and forcibly confining him, all in support of a revolutionary group in Brazil. The Canadian government fought for their release, even after it was proven that they were in fact guilty and they had admitted to the crime. Lloyd Axworthy, the minister of Foreign Affairs, and other ministers such as Allan Rock and Anne McLellan all lobbied publicly and privately for their release. The Government of Canada actively supported their transfer to a Canadian prison to complete their jail terms (they were released from prison a few days after their transfer from the Brazilian jail). Then there's the on-going campaign to prevent convicted murderer Stan Faulder from being executed in Texas for the murder of a woman in 1975. Some of these ministers, if not all, are involved in every effort to save his life. This is where First Nations citizens really have to question the scales of justice in Canada when they are involved. When was the last time these crusaders for the rights and freedom of the unjustly accused or the unfairly treated spoke in defense of Leonard Peltier? The courts have recognized that Peltier was illegally extradited but the Canadian government has never so much as recognized that fact, much less done anything to correct the injustice. It's time we spoke out about Leonard Peltier and his case. The government must act if we are ever to believe that the law of the land applies equally to First Nations citizens and non-Aboriginal Canadians. Only when the government puts as much effort in securing his release as it did for Lamont and Spencer and in at tempting to prevent the execution of Faulder will we believe that there is justice for us in Canada. Until then, it's fair to say that the law has two standards, one for First Nations and another for the rest of Canada. Lloyd Axworthy's phone number is (613) 995-1972 (E-mail address: axworthy.l@parl.gc.ca), Anne McLellan's phone number is (613) 992-4621 (E-mail: McLellan.A@parl.gc.ca) and Allan Rock's phone number is (613) 941-1266 (E-mail: rock.a@parl.gc.ca). Let them know what you think about this case. If we speak as one, we will make a big difference in correcting this travesty of justice. Jean LaRose Copyright c. Assembly of First Nations National Indian Brotherhood 1999
--------- "RE: THE Gathering of Nations" ---------
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 11:12:28 -0500 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subj: THE gathering of Nations
Newsgroup: alt.native
from The Messenger - June 1999 edition 1999 AGA Represents First True Meeting of First Nations and Indian Tribes By Gail Boyd
This summer's joint gathering between the Assembly of First Nations and the National Congress of American Indians represents an historic first in North America. Although the First Nations of Canada and Indian Tribes of the United States first came together 60 years ago, this meeting is the first-ever planned by Indians, for Indians and focusing on the advancement of our Nations, something organizers of the last gathering would have never imagined. The University of Toronto and Yale University hosted the initial gathering through a conference entitled "The North American Indian Today". Held in Toronto from Sept. 4 - 16, 1939, the conference brought together anthropologists, sociologists, officials, missionaries, traders, as well as Indians, to confer on the question of the past, present and possible future of the 350,000 Indians in the United States and the 115,000 Indians in Canada. Organizers planned the meeting with the hope that "in the spirit of mutual quest, respect and understanding, we may reveal the actual condition today of the white man's Indian wards, and in a scientific, objective and sympathetic spirit, plan with them for their future." Conference topics included, as related to both countries, the History of White Expansion, History and Policies of Indian Administration, Economic Problems of the Indian, Indian Land Problems, Indian Health Problems, Problems of Indian Education, and The Problem of Race Tension, among others. "The Indian problem is one of acculturation, that is, the effect which Western civilization has had on Indian peoples who not so long ago lived under another civilization. By civilization, is meant the sum total of the material, social, intellectual, spiritual, and recreational life of a people; in other words, the way a people live and the way they look at life," wrote Professor Charles T. Loram, Department of Race Relations, Yale University and conference chairman. "We are deliberately setting out to modify the Indigenous culture of the Indians," wrote Professor Loram, adding that in the end, the civilization of the white man must prevail. "The culture of 500,000 Indians or even 10 million Indians if we include Mexico, cannot prevail over that of 140 million whites, particularly when the white man's culture is so convenient, so powerful, and so dominating - no one really believes that Indian culture can ultimately prevail on the American continent. A number of fine people, including a large number of Indians, honestly believe that the sooner the Indian divests himself of his hereditary culture and becomes a member of the general citizenry and a participator in the dominant culture, the better," he said. Resolutions passed by the Indian members of the conference, however, seemed to indicate otherwise. Resolution No. 2 reads, "Whereas it is the democratic ideal in Canada and in the U.S. to develop a wide measure of self-expression and self-determination among all the various groups composing the nations, be it, therefore, resolved , that we hereby go on record as hoping that the need for an All-Indian Conference on Indian Welfare will be felt by Indian tribes, the delegates to such a conference to be limited to the bona fide Indian leaders actually living among the Indian people, and further, that such conference remain free of political, anthropological, missionary, administrative, or other domination." In appreciation for their invitation to the conference, one devoted to finding solutions to the Indian problem, the Indian delegates passed a resolution that "by way of returning the compliment, we wish to assure that our white brothers will be invited to participate in any conference that we Indians may call in the future for the purpose of finding solutions to the white man's dilemma in a social and economic order that has, during the past decade, gone on the rocks." The 1999 AGA clearly demonstrates that the Indians of North America neither had nor have any intention of divesting themselves of their hereditary culture to become a part of the dominant culture. Copyright c. Assembly of First Nations National Indian Brotherhood 1999
--------- "RE: Vancouver" ---------
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 11:42:58 -0500 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subj: Here come da flood (sorry)
Newsgroup: alt.native
d'laan'te'... I've been bombarded with requests for info re the biggest gathering of the Nations in history, happening in Vancouver 19-23 July. Instead of replying individually I'm going to post a slew of articles here, one time & one time only. I get my info from the AFN's monthly newspaper, The Messenger, which is available online at the AFN website <www.afn.ca> so if you want more detail, please go there. It might seem like a ng flood but I don't do it often so masi:cho for your understanding.. & sorry if any of these posts are repeats too. See you in Vancouver.. jaom/e'ne'thekwe' (Will the world see representation of all First Nation politicians, or will they see First Nations? YOUR presence in Vancouver will make the difference... Besides, this is also the biggest celebration in centuries, & we haven't had a good party in a century or two.. So come & eat & dance & sing.. Tell the world the Nations LIVE!)
--------- "RE: Your Invitation from AFN" ---------
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 11:43:54 -0500 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subj: Your invitation from AFN
Newsgroup: alt.native
Agenda for Joint Gathering Includes Development of International Protocol By National Chief Phil Fontaine For the first time in 60 years, a historic gathering will take place on the traditional territory of the four founding nations of Burrard, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsawwassen First Nations of the Coast Salish People. As part of the upcoming 20th Annual General Assembly which will be held July 20-23, 1999 in Vancouver, First Nation leaders and Tribal Chiefs will meet through a Joint Summit of the Assembly of First Nations and the National Congress of American Indians. It is anticipated that this joint gathering will renew historic ties and begin a process of strengthening the political, economic, and cultural relationship that exists between the First Nations in Canada and the American Indian Tribes in the United States of America through the signing of a protocol document between the AFN and the NCAI. The signing of the protocol will have great historic significance because it will include, but will not be limited to, specific matters such as border-crossing rights, First Nations child custody and adoption issues (including repatriation cases), and other common issues of interest or concern. It is believed that this event will strengthen our political, economical and cultural alliances with other Indigenous peoples of the entire hemisphere of North and South America. In addition to the 5,000 expected delegates from First Nations and American Tribes to witness the signing, are representatives from the Canadian and U.S. governments, as well as Indigenous leaders and dignitaries from Mexico, Central America, Taiwan, New Zealand and other countries. As always, the week-long event will kick-off with the 9th Annual Assembly of First Nations/ Peter Gzowski Invitational Golf Tournament at the University Golf Club on Mon., July 19. Proceeds will go to the Canadian literacy program for First Nations. On Tues., July 20, the first AFN/NCAI Joint Session will begin with the opening ceremonies and a Grand Entry of all delegates, followed by welcoming and opening statements by various leaders in attendance. Then, a Joint Indigenous Leaders' Council will be convened to begin a dialogue on trade, culture, politics and human rights. On July 21 and 22, both national organizations will attend their respective assemblies to discuss specific agenda items . At the time of writing, the AFN AGA draft agenda items are (and not limited to) the following: Treaties, the Mitchell Case (trade & border issues), the Delgamuukw National Review, the LTS joint initiative, the First Nations Governance Centre, Housing, Health, Report of the Urban Strategy Task Force and elections issues. On Fri., July 23, the second AFN/NCAI Joint Session is being planned to center around the joint ratification and signing ceremonies of the historical protocol agreement that will be followed by the closing ceremonies of the joint assembly. Other activities will include cultural activities at the B.C. Friendship Centre in the evenings, daily entertainment and performances by Indigenous entertainers, and the AFN dinner on Wed., July 21 that will honour our past National Chiefs and the first all-female Chief and Council of the Ocean Man First Nation in Saskatchewan. A cultural extravaganza hosted by the AFN is planned for Thursday evening, July 22. Confirmed traditional dancers for the cultural extravaganza are B.C. Dancers of British Columbia, "A Warrior's Dream" Dancers from Saskatchewan, and the "Xipe Totec" Aztec Dancers of Mexico City. Other First Nation or American performers confirmed for this event are Red Bone, of Los Angeles, California; A. Paul Ortega of Mescalero, New Mexico; and our own Cree comedian, Don Burnstick of Alberta, who just recently performed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. There is much planned for this Assembly, and it makes us very proud and honoured that we are taking steps to make this assembly a most memorable and historical one whereby all of our Nations can come together in unity and solidarity. Please come and join us for this celebration. National Chief Fontaine is a member of the Sagkeeng Anichinabe First Nation in Manitoba. He was elected National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations on July 30, 1997. Copyright c. Assembly of First Nations National Indian Brotherhood 1999
--------- "RE: Your Invitation from NCAI" ---------
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 11:44:40 -0500 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subj: Your invitation from NCAI
Newsgroup: alt.native
Indigenous Nations Forging Ties in the 21st Century By W. Ron Allen, President National Congress of American Indians On July 20, 1999, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) will gather the Indigenous leaders of Canada and the United States for the first time in 60 years. There are many benefits to this long over due assembly, but I believe the most important advantages are strengthening the sovereignty and unity of our nations and enlightening non-Indian society about our peoples and governments as we enter the 21st century. The theme of our joint conference is "Uniting First Nations: Tecumseh's Vision". NCAI's last annual gathering adopted the theme of "Many Nations, One Family". These themes are symbolic of the wisdom of our elders and describe the growing unity and cooperation among Indian Nations in protecting our core values of tribal self-determination and self-sufficiency. Our gathering says a great deal about the strengthening efforts by Indian Nations to organize and cooperate on the national and international levels. The history of Canada and the United States share a common thread in their contemptuous treatment of Indigenous people of the North American continent. The historical battle between our respective nations and the federal governments (including the provinces and states) is over control and jurisdiction. The non-Indian society has a long history of attempting to terminate the legitimate authority of the Indian Nations' over their people and their lands. Our predecessors survived these efforts at eradication and assimilation and have succeeded in reestablishing many of our rights and opportunities within the larger society. Now, we must continue to strengthen our governmental and economic capacities to counter the continuing movements to remove our rights and terminate our way of life. The First Nations of North America must become stronger political and economic powers. Protection and restoration of the cultures, traditions and welfare of Indigenous communities has always been the purpose of Indian self-government. If our nations are going to preserve our rights to self-government we must make culture, tradition, and the welfare of our children and elders our first priority. Secondly, too few people within the larger society are aware of the history and purpose of Indigenous self-government. Our political future depends upon our efforts to educate the public about the historic promises and noble purposes of local self-government for Indian communities and thereby create a climate of positive relationships. I am confident that our joint assembly in Vancouver will do much to advance this goal. The survival of our nations and our cultures is also directly related to our governmental capacity to defend our right for independence. However, our nations' resource bases are generally weak. If we are going to become more effective in the 21st century, the leadership of our communities must focus on building our economies. The simple fact is that capacity costs money. Our governments cannot depend on the federal governments to provide for all the needs of our communities, including jobs, health, education, housing, social and elder care services, natural resource management, as well as the governmental functions including courts and enforcement. Economics must become the leader to meet our governmental revenue needs and begin to resolve the social ills that have plagued our communities for too many years. In the United States, some of our Indian Nations have natural resources to utilize, but they are generally inadequate to meet the need for consistent, meaningful revenues to provide for our governments. In recent years, the emergence of the gambling industry on some reservations has significantly enhanced a number of our economies. Yet, this opportunity is not a panacea because it is not commercially feasible for most remote reservations, not legally available in many states, and many do not accept it as a business they want in their communities. Therefore, in the future we must expand our efforts at economic development and begin to tap into the plethora of opportunities in trade, value-added industries and technology. I firmly believe that our joint gathering will lead to many economic interchanges that will strengthen our capacities as individual nations and as a collective of nations with common goals. My heart is filled with hope and determination as we prepare to trek northward for this historic assembly. Because of our common histories as Indigenous peoples of North America, we all carry this same hope and determination to fulfill the visions of our ancestors and propel our communities into a bright future where First Nations from Canada and the U.S. engage in vibrant cultural, governmental and economic exchange; strengthening our ability to thrive as nations in the 21st century. Mr. Allen is a member of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe. He has held the position of NCAI president since 1995. Copyright c. Assembly of First Nations National Indian Brotherhood 1999
--------- "RE: Largest Native Business Conference Ever" ---------
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 11:47:06 -0500 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subj: Biggest NA Biz Conf ever
Newsgroup: alt.native
Largest Native Business Event Slated for Vancouver The largest First Nations trade show ever held in Canada, AFN-NEXUS'99, will be held July 21- 23, 1999, organized to run concurrently with Annual General Assembly. The event is being co-hosted by the Assembly of First Nations and the Native Investment & Trade Association (NITA). Over 300 exhibitors are expected, representing the financial, professional, resource, manufacturing, services, gaming and arts and crafts sectors. The exhibitors will have the opportunity to do business with the huge number of delegates in attendance, the western Canadian business community, and the significant amount of foot traffic that this ground-breaking and dynamic event is expected to generate. The business conference, International Indigenous Business in the next Millennium, will run each day before the tradeshow starts and will explore exciting new opportunities for inter-Nation trade and collective economic development strategies. A fantastic stage at the centre of the trade show exhibit area will feature continuous colourful cultural performances and entertainment by First Nations and other Aboriginal artists and entertainers (free to the public). For information: Tel: 1-800-337-7743 or (604) 925-6677 Fax 1-888-684-0881 or (604) 913-0559 E-mail: nita@bc.sympatico.ca
Copyright c. Assembly of First Nations National Indian Brotherhood 1999
--------- "RE: What is AFN" ---------
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 11:47:50 -0500 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subj: What is AFN?
Newsgroup: alt.native
AFN Lobbies on Behalf of 630 First Nations in Canada The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is the national representative/lobby organization of First Nations in Canada. There are over 630 First Nations communities in the country. The AFN Secretariat is designed to present the views of the various First Nations through their leaders in areas such as: Aboriginal and Treaty Rights, Economic Development, Education, Languages and Literacy, Health, Housing, Social Development, Justice, Taxation, Land Claims, Environment, and a whole array of issues that are of common concern which arise from time to time. The Chiefs meet annually to set national policy and direction through resolution. The National Chief is elected every three years by the Chiefs-in-Assembly. The Chiefs meet between the annual assemblies every three to four months in a forum called the Confederacy of Nations to set on going direction. The membership of the Confederacy consists of Chiefs and other regional leaders chosen according to a formula based on the population of each region. The AFN receives most of its operating funds from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. The overall structure of the AFN is based on the Charter of the Assembly of First Nations, which was adopted in July 1985. The principle organs of the AFN are the Chiefs-in-in-Assembly, the Confederacy of Nations, the Executive Committee, the Secretariat (AFN/NIB), and the Council of Elders. The Executive Committee is comprised of the regional Vice-Chiefs, the National Chief, and the chairperson of the Council of Elders. Chiefs of the respective regions select the Vice-Chiefs. For more information, visit www.afn.ca or call (613) 241-6789 or e-mail general@afn.ca. Copyright c. Assembly of First Nations National Indian Brotherhood 1999
--------- "RE: What is NCAI" ---------
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 11:48:34 -0500 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subject: What is NCAI?
Newsgroup: alt.native
NCAI Serves to Protect Rights and Benefits of 558 Indian Tribes The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) is the oldest, largest and most representative national Indian organization serving the needs of a broad membership of American Indian and Alaskan Native governments. As the pre-eminent national Indian organization, NCAI is organized as a representative congress aiming for consensus on national priority issues. The NCAI was founded in 1944 in response to termination and assimilation policies that the United States forced upon the tribal governments in contradiction of their treaty rights and status as sovereigns. NCAI stressed the need for unity and cooperation among tribal governments for the protection of their treaty and sovereign rights. NCAI has grown over the years from its modest beginnings of 100 people to include 250 member tribes, while still representing the interests of all 558 tribes throughout the United States. Now serving as the major national tribal government organization, NCAI is positioned to monitor federal policy and coordinated efforts to inform federal decisions that affect tribal government interests. NCAI serves to secure the rights and benefits to which the Indian people are entitled; to enlighten the public toward the better understanding of the Indian people; to preserve rights under Indian treaties or agreements with the United States; and to promote the common welfare of the American Indians and Alaskan Natives. The current issues and activities of the NCAI include protection of programs and services to benefit Indian families, specifically targeting Indian Youth and Elders; promotion and support of Indian education; enhancement of Indian health care; support of environmental protection and natural resources management; protection of Indian cultural resources and religious freedom rights; promotion of the rights of Indian economic opportunities both on and off reservations; and, protection of the rights of all Indian people to decent, safe and affordable housing. For more information, visit www.ncai.org The NCAI offices are located at 1301 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 200, Washington DC 20036. Tel. (202) 466-7767 Fax (202) 466-7797 Copyright c. Assembly of First Nations National Indian Brotherhood 1999
--------- "RE: Caldwell People Need Support" ---------
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1999 12:06:02 -0500 From: not@inthe.game (justanoldman) Subj: Caldwell people need support
Newsgroup: alt.native
d'laan'te'... Someone had asked me about a First Nation community here in Ontario that was recently awarded $37-million to buy land, as they have been waiting for the land promised them by treaty for a century or two.. It's called Caldwell First Nation (part of the huge & powerful 'Nishnawbe Nation). Since getting their $$ to purchase land for a real community the Caldwell families have become targets of hate-mongers & white supremacists in the region. Buildings have been vandalized, racist graffiti scrawled on their homes & vehicles, cars have had tires slashed, windows have been shot out, etc., etc. (In short, they've been shown the reality of 'christian love' that the dominant society is so proud of..)
Anyways, the Caldwell people now have a website up: <www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/6024/>
If you have trouble with that address you can get to it via a link on AFN's website @ <www.afn.ca>.
Please check it out & leave msgs of support if/when you have the time to do so. They will really appreciate your gesture of solidarity as they run the gauntlet of hatred on their way to the home they've waited so long to reach. masi:cho... jaom/e'ne'thekwe'
--------- "RE: Tulalips Resume Clam Harvest" ---------
Date: Wed, 7 Jul 1999 19:26:26 -0700 From: John Wm Sloniker <johnwms@SERV.NET> Subj: Tulalips resume clam harvest
Tulalips resume clam harvest on disputed island http://www.seattletimes.com/news/local/html98/shel_19990619.html by Nancy Montgomery <nmon-new@seatimes.com> Seattle Times Snohomish County bureau After years of court battles and a series of standoffs over who owned the clams on the shores of Hat Island, members of the Tulalip Tribes this week quietly dug up their biggest shellfish harvest on the private island in a decade. With the weight of the U.S. Supreme Court behind them, tribal members dug about 3,000 pounds of clams on the island west of Everett over four days this week, when tides were at their lowest ebb since 1991. The action came 10 years after property owners on the exclusive island drew their guns in an angry confrontation to keep the Indians from the harvest. "This harvest has gone relatively smoothly. No incidents," said Derrick Toba, shellfish biologist for the Tulalip Tribes. Some of the landowners were harvesting clams next to tribal members. The Tulalips, who long ago used the island to initiate young warriors and traditionally subsisted on clams from its shores, won a federal court decision in 1994 that said they were entitled to half the harvestable shellfish on Washington beaches, except for artificial beds. The decision was an extension of the 1974 Boldt fishing decision affirming tribal rights - based on treaties dating back to 1855 - to half the state's harvestable salmon. Despite the ruling, the Tulalips did not harvest clams on the island for several years because of landowners' angry protests. The landowners said the clams were theirs and that their property rights were inviolable. The group appealed U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie's 1994 decision. In May of this year, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the property owners' petition to rehear the case, settling the matter. Logan Harris, spokesman for the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, said the 3,000 pounds of clams taken by the Tulalips this week represented only 15 percent of the harvestable clams on Hat Island. Tribal members are allowed five days a year to harvest on any beach. They have one day remaining on Hat Island. The Tulalips have not announced when they will use their last day. During the harvest Monday through Thursday, the turnout ranged from five to 14 tribal members, Harris said. The 1994 court decision requires the tribe to do a shellfish population count, keep track of how many clams it harvests and give 30 days' notice before either surveying or harvesting. Toba said animosities remain between the Tulalips, resentful they were denied the right to harvest the clams these past years, and property owners. "I think it's going to take some time for both sides to come to a working relationship that would benefit both parties," he said. Representatives of the Hat Island Community Association, a property-owners group, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Posted at 09:41 p.m. PDT; Saturday, June 19, 1999 E-mail Comments to Editor : Opinion@seatimes.com Seattle Times: Table of Content http://www.seattletimes.com/news/ The Seattle Times: Search Archive http://www.seattletimes.com/extra/search.html The Seattle Times: Browse by date http://www.seattletimes.com/todaysnews/browse.html Seattle Times: Special Reports http://www.seattletimes.com/news/special/ Permission requests and information http://www/seatimes.com/general/info.html Copyright (c) 1999 The Seattle Times Company http://www.seattletimes.com/news/general/copyright.html
--------- "RE: Family Memorial Desecrated" ---------
Date: Tue, 6 Jul 1999 19:30:11 -0500 From: Bernard & Feather Rock <eaglerok@NORTHERNNET.COM> Subj: Family Memorial Desecrated
Mailing List: Minnesota Indian Affairs <MINN-IND@tc.umn.edu>
Leech Lake Reservation -- Desecration of family memorial to hit-and-run victim on Hwy 2 Vandalism desecrates memory of loved one Twice in the past two weeks somebody destroyed and threw into the ditch on Highway 2 east of Bemidji, a flowered cross, white cross and several bunches of flowers. Family and friends of Derek Brown had placed them there to mark the spot where he was found early last fall, the victim of a hit-and-run driver. As Derek's father, I ask myself, why would somebody be so evil and to destroy this small memorial? What would possess a person to want to only debase our family's tribute to Derek? My family still does not have closure regarding Derek's death even though we have posted a large reward for information leading to the solving of this incident, and now something like this happens. We will continue to maintain this memorial to Derek because the love and friendship we have for him will overcome the evil and spite that certain individuals possess. if these people have any kind of courage and don't like what we are doing in remembrance of derek, why don't they tell us, instead of sneaking around in the dead of night desecrating the memory of our loved one? A. John Wind Jr. Cass Lake >>----------------> North Central Minnesota Native American Veterans Outreach and Resource Center Vets helping Vets Leech Lake Indian Reservation <------------------<<
--------- "RE: Choctaw Center to be Dedicated" ---------
Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 08:11:43 -0500 From: berryj@okstate.edu Subject: (FWD)Indian News 07-02-99 Roger Iron Cloud FirstNations Listserv 202.358.3252 rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov
Choctaw center to be dedicated today c. Tulsa World 7/1/99 WILBURTON -- Dedication ceremonies will be held Thursday for the Choctaw Nation American Indian Center at Eastern Oklahoma State College. Formerly known as Johnson Hall, the center was renovated with a $1.2 million contribution from the tribe. A cooperative agreement provides for a director of American Indian programs at the school, which will dedicate as much as $50,000 annually for academic and need- based scholarships, a tribe spokesman said. The facility is expected to be ready for occupancy in the fall.
--------- "RE: Tribes Seeks Protection for Symbols" ---------
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 1999 10:50:24 -0500 From: berryj@okstate.edu Subj: (FWD)Indian News 07-13-99 Roger Iron Cloud FirstNations Listserv 202.358.3252 rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov
Tribes Seeks Protection for Symbols .c The Associated Press By REBECCA LOPEZ 7-09-99 ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - To the Zia Indians of New Mexico, the sun is a sacred symbol. Their stylized version is painted on ceremonial vases, drawn on the ground around campfires and used to introduce newborns to the sun. But the symbol - a red circle with groups of rays pointing in four directions - also adorns the state flag, the governor's stationery and the yellow pages, peddling items from pest control to portable toilets. The Zias and other tribes are looking to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to stop commercial exploitation of their sacred symbols. An 8-year-old Zia girl, her father and grandfather at her side, was among 150 tribe members and others who testified Thursday to a panel of patent office officials about the misuse of such symbols. "I'm one of the 146 tribal members under 12 years old," said Sabrina Pino, who just finished the third grade. "We represent the future of the pueblo and we hope you will protect it from being trademarked from anyone in the private sector." Prompted by a law passed last year, the patent office is asking Indians to suggest how to establish a list of official insignia that would be protected from trademark, as are flags, coats of arms and other official symbols. It would offer tribes no protection from outside use. Similar meetings are scheduled next week in Arlington, Va., and San Francisco, where five California tribes will seek protection of symbols of their heritage, such as pictographs, basket designs, dance regalia and tribal songs. "We all have a common thread about preserving our cultural heritage," said Reba Fuller of Tuolumne Band of the Me-Wuk tribe in California. "I've talked to various groups all over the country to let them know about this law and that we need Native American input as it will have a direct impact on the Native American community." Unlike Zia Pueblo, which is seeking $74 million in compensation from the state, Fuller's tribes are not seeking monetary compensation. The Zias are asking for $1 million for every year the symbol was used as the flag's emblem. The tribe doesn't expect it will actually receive that amount, but it would like the state to acknowledge the emblem belongs to the Pueblo, said Peter Pino, the tribe's administrator. Tribes are not asking that businesses rid their products of Indian references, such as product names: Jeep Cherokee or Winnebago. What they want is for the government to prohibit businesses from trademarking symbols, just as they do with insignias of municipalities, states and foreign nations. "Tribes should be able to protect their symbols in the same way as states, cities and counties do," University of New Mexico law professor Kenneth Bobroff said. "And especially so. Because unlike non-Indian symbols, these are religious."
--------- "RE: Dr. Bruce Clark Departs" ---------
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 23:27:21 -0500 From: sisis@envirolink.org (S.I.S.I.S.) Subj: Bruce Clark departs - an interview (1 of 2)
:-:-:-:-:-:-:-Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty-:-:-:-:-:-:-: INTERVIEW WITH DR. BRUCE CLARK ON THE EVE OF HIS DEPARTURE FROM CANADA TO SEEK ASYLUM AND SANCTUARY ABROAD - June 19, 1999
SISIS: I am speaking today with Dr. Bruce Clark, author of "Indian Title in Canada," "Native Liberty, Crown Sovereignty," and the coming "Justice in Paradise," which is due for a fall release from McGill-Queen's University Press. Dr Clark was recently disbarred as "ungovernable" by the Law Society of Upper Canada in a continuing campaign of persecution by the Canadian settler state. Dr. Clark, the first thing I want to know is how you defined your own law career. I know that in media reports and legal circles, you were always referred to as a "native rights lawyer," but how did you see yourself?
Bruce Clark: I saw myself as a proponent of a specific definition of justice. Ralph Waldo Emerson said that truth is the summit of being, and justice is its application to affairs. In my sort of rambling about the field of philosophy, I personally haven't come across a better definition of justice than that. And for the purpose of my particular life I define my aspirations or ambitions in advancing the interests of justice as the application of truth to affairs. Specifically, what emerged as a result of my experience was that I also came across a philosophical opinion by David Hume who identified third party adjudication as the cornerstone of the rule of law. So, for me, if the objective is that justice is the application of truth to affairs, then the means to that objective is third party adjudication. Parties A & B have a dispute, they can either duke it out or they give it to an independent and impartial third party to adjudicate, and that's the mechanism of the rule of law. That's been my goal in life. It happened that the testing ground that was thrust upon me was the native rights issue. It could have been any other issue, it just so happens that it was the native rights issue.
SISIS: In the past you have deflected attention from your role in the various struggles of Indian people. Do you see yourself as part of their struggle, the struggle they are engaged in against the Canadian settler state that illegally applies its jurisdiction to unceded Indian territory?
BC: No, I am not directly a part of their struggle. I am a tool for them in their struggle. But their struggle is not my struggle.
SISIS: So you are basically a messenger.
BC: I'm a messenger for them, but I'm a messenger for myself of a different message. My own personal message is that justice is the application of truth to affairs. From my perspective humankind needs this urgently in the sense that we are without question in the time of a new world order, and as we speak, the institutions of this order are groping about and trying to form themselves. And it seems to me the next century or so is either going to witness an imperial tyranny of a very dark and sinister sort or it's going to get the point that the order in the global village is premised upon justice as the application of truth to affairs. To me that concept precludes phenomena such as imperial countries like Canada and the United States applying and policing abroad human rights standards they themselves don't respect at home. For example the standards of precluding genocide. To illustrate, we have Canada and the United States and several other European countries presuming to override the concept of national sovereignty to enforce human rights standards in Yugoslavia. Now that's perhaps a very laudable principle that there are fundamental human rights that supersede the concept of national sovereignty. But if the rule of law is to function, its cornerstone is equal application of law. That is, no person or state is above the law. So if those human rights are to be applied in Yugoslavia, and if we are also to have a rule of law, then those same standards must also be applied domestically within North America. The alternative is another form of imperial tyranny. So, to me, the whole native rights issue in Canada, and the United States, tests in microcosm some larger principles.
SISIS: The 1995 Gustafsen Lake incident would be a perfect example of that.
BC: Well, it is because Gustafsen Lake illustrates what happens to a group of people, such as those who were in the Gustafsen Lake encampment, who run out of remedies under the rule of law or who live within a society that thwarts the rule of law, leaving no other remedy than self-help in the physical sense. So in that sense it illustrates the process.
SISIS: Internationally we are not that far into alleged organized international law. The United Nations (and its conventions) are not that old. But it seems to me that the criminals, or those who can be accused of atrocities and criminal actions, control much of the process. What do we do to overcome this?
BC: The answer to that question is precisely what is going on in the world right now. Humanity is kind of groping toward answers to it. By the way, I should preface this by saying that although the institutions such as the United Nations are new, the concept of international law isn't. And the concept of standards inherent in the human condition also isn't new. We had the whole set of religious standards that prefaced the European invasion of North America. Those religious or natural law standards found expression for international law purposes; for example, in the Papal Bull Sublimus Deus of 1537, which essentially said the same thing that the genocide convention reiterated in 1948 in this century. And that is that it is a fundamental human right not to be made a victim of genocide by other humans. Now, given the constancy of that standard, what we are really groping for are the institutions, the mechanisms for enforcing that standard, and that is very much in a state of a flux. Particularly because until very recently the concept of national sovereignty has precluded the universal application of this human rights standard. What we are seeing in the Balkans right now is the former concept of national sovereignty completely superseded by this concept that foreign nations can apply human rights standards regardless of the concept of national sovereignty. That is a very, very significant development in human affairs. It raises the question "will we have a genuine rule of law," that is, will those same standards apply equally to the United States and Canada, for example. Now, we know that the United States' response to Madame Justice Louise Arbour's statement that so far as she was concerned, if she found that NATO countries committed genocide in Yugoslavia, that theoretically, they too were subject to the same sanctions. The United States reacted by saying that: "she's fallen out of our tree," essentially, she must be crazy, nobody is going to apply these standards against the United States.
SISIS: She did, however, dismiss Yugoslavia's allegations of genocide against NATO as nothing more than "pure political polemic."
BC: Well she may have, but the principle she raised, in theory, was that those standards could arguably be applied against the United States and Canada. Now, she may have gone on from that to say that in fact, those countries, so far as she was concerned, didn't breach those standards, but that's a different question. That's a different question from whether the standards, in principle, can be applied. And by the way, I hold no particular brief for Louise Arbour in these circumstances. The tribunal which she was heading up is the utter antithesis of the rule of law in the sense that it denies the concept of equal application. Its jurisdiction to police genocide is restricted to the country of Yugoslavia, which essentially means that the country from which she hails, Canada, is exempt from the process. That in principle thwarts the rule of law. That isn't my point. My point there is that if we are going to have institutions that genuinely enforce the rule of law, and by means of it achieve justice as the application of truth to affairs, there will have to be equality of application. That is, Canada and the United States will have to be subject to the same standards. That is why the native rights issue is such a strong testing ground for that: because genocide simply is a fact on this continent. Historically, that isn't a difficult proposition to establish. In the modern context, the last few chapters are being written. Indians are being victimized by genocide. Some of them, I think, are my clients. The point is that the process which was begun in the 19th century is still being carried on today. So, in principle, the issue is that Canada and the United States are participating in forms of genocide. Essentially this is what I tried to raise in the courts, and when I did that, I ran into a profound conflict between justice as the application of truth to affairs and what one might call the semiotic field of what's acceptable in terms of the language one can use on this continent. Basically, one cannot tell the whole truth yet about genocide in North America because words like genocide and complicity in genocide just aren't part of the lexicon and morphology that is acceptable. The body politic as an organism simply rejects that whole invasion of its linguistic field. And the form that rejection takes, for example in my case, is the trivialization and demonization of the messenger. Nobody here looks at what I say, really, I don't think. Nobody ... with notable exceptions such as yourself and a few perhaps equally quixotic people who are concerned about the truth regardless of political correctness. But aside from that, for the most part, the rejection is absolutely total. And that's what I have experienced in this society.
SISIS: So who or what body of law, Dr Clark, is supposed to hold countries like Canada and the United States accountable for their genocidal policies against Indian peoples?
BC: Well, there isn't any. But this is what is taking shape on the world stage right now. We have now human rights standards which, with the events in the Balkans, are moving into a position of paramountcy so far as the text of the law is concerned. That raises the question that you just identified: what institutions are going to enforce these standards? And since the standards are emerging, not too far behind, the institutions will have to fall into place. So that's what is happening right now. The institutions, we do not yet have them, but they are in the process of being formulated. Right now the great police man on the world stage is NATO. NATO is very unsatisfactory. In terms of the rule of law right now it is simply being enforced by the powerful: the United States and Canada, and the powerful European countries. It is a classic situation of might is right in the sense that those countries themselves are above the same law which they are enforcing.
SISIS: But who will create appropriate institutions?
BC: Well, humankind. They will simply have to emerge as humankind goes along. Either we are going to enter a period of a very sinister tyranny, which, I think, given the technological means of destruction that humankind now has, this tyranny unlike the other ones could result in some cataclysmic destruction of humankind and the earth. You know, we've always had empires, we've always had the principle of might is right, but empires come and go; the difference with the imperial situation in the world right now is the technological power the empire has. It's capable of destroying itself. Well, it's also possible that humanity, with these huge brains that it has, may evolve to a higher level and simply see that isn't satisfactory. It may identify its short-term interest with money and power and comfort. But if we are going to have long-term survival, then we will have to create institutions that can carry on. I am hoping that one of those institutions that conceivably might emerge is justice as the application of truth to affairs under the rule of law, epitomized by third party adjudication.
SISIS: Not to be pessimistic, but wouldn't it be in the interest of the imperial powers to prevent such institutions from developing?
BC: Well, if all they want to do is remain imperial powers; that is to say, perpetuate the traditional imperialist approach, which is "might is right," then yes, it is against their interest. On the other hand, we may advance - sort of by a bootstrap operation - to a higher plain of existence. You know, the native prophecies sort of stop at this point, and to me, they say essentially that we, as in humankind, are coming to a crossroads. We are either going to enter some kind of enlightened form of existence or things are going to become very, very dark indeed. And so far as I know, the native prophecies don't really take it beyond that, beyond the point of the crossroads.
SISIS: Coming back to Gustafsen Lake, in the past you have called it an ugly chapter in Canadian history. Do you think, judging by the recent developments, including your disbarment, and the pressure to silence Wolverine and others from speaking about Gustafsen Lake, do you think this chapter is finished yet?
BC: Well, yes, the chapter is finished, and having been written, it exists in a permanent sense. The question that remains is whether at future remove, the chapter will be reread and lessons taken from it.
SISIS: This is a letter that B.C. premier Glen Clark wrote to union organizations and others who wrote to him asking for a public inquiry into the Gustafsen Lake standoff. It reads: "Thank you for your letter of August 26, 1998, requesting a public inquiry into the events at Gustafsen Lake. I apologize for the delay in my response. As you know, the police are responsible for keeping the peace in British Columbia and for ensuring the public's safety. When incidents at protest sites involve violence, serious threats of violence or property damage, police act to investigate Criminal Code of Canada violations. The Criminal Code applies to everyone in British Columbia. "Those charged with Criminal Code violations as a result of incidents at Gustafsen Lake have been before the Courts. As Premier, I cannot interfere in any particular judicial decision. In Canada, the judiciary function is a separate body and Court rulings are not subject to review by any level of Government. The events at Gustafsen Lake have been dealt with appropriately by our criminal justice system. The Province has no intention of reviewing this matter further through a public inquiry. I appreciate your taking the time to express your views. Sincerely, Glen Clark, Premier." Dr. Clark, do you see anything wrong in this letter?
BC: Yes, there is a willful blindness to one half of the law, and a knowing, criminally knowing willful blindness. The issue that was introduced by Gustafsen Lake was the conflict of law issue between constitutional law respecting native rights on the one hand and on the other hand the application of the criminal law. That was the legal issue. In this letter what the premier is doing is the same thing the police and all the courts have done. They are restricting their focus to the federal law dimension, that is, to the criminal law aspect. They are ignoring the conflict of law issue. They are ignoring the legislation and the precedents that define the substance of the international and constitutional law, and if they would read those, what they would find (and I say that a little bit tongue in cheek, because they know that the law says this; and it is in this sense that their pretense that the issue is restricted to the application of the criminal law itself is criminally fraudulent) what the international and constitutional law precedents and legislation say is that until there is a treaty there is no jurisdiction on the part of newcomer society, no legislative and court jurisdiction relative to the territory in question.
SISIS: So the Criminal Code of Canada does not apply to non-treaty areas.
BC: That's right. When I say that the legislation and the precedents of international and constitutional law say this, they say it overwhelmingly. This isn't sort of an abstract, technical little ivory-tower point. This is very simple, clear and plain; both issue and resolution of the issue. The European occupation of North America, very simply, was premised upon newcomer jurisdiction, being derivative - that is that since the Indians were first and were regarded for legal purposes as human beings, it was understood that the Indians have territorial jurisdiction, and the newcomers do not, until such time as a treaty is made, whereby the newcomer society acquires territorial jurisdiction from the former society: from the native society. And there's been no repeal. That's what I did my doctorate on. There's been no repeal of that previously established international and constitutional law. What there has been instead is a jurisdictional invasion of the Indian territory, such as in British Columbia, and the premature, that is legally premature application of federal and provincial law, including the Criminal Code. That's the issue. And again, what premier Clark is doing in this letter is simply criminally evading the issue.
SISIS: So how much of what we know as Canada has been legally acquired through treaty or cession?
BC: Well, ostensibly, most of the country from the Ontario-Quebec border up to the Rocky Mountains has been acquired by treaties. With the James Bay Treaty in 1975 much of northern Quebec was covered. So, essentially, that leaves, uncovered by treaties, Canada west of the Rockies and Canada east of Montreal: east of the St. Lawrence; far Atlantic and far western Canada obviously are not covered by treaties of the kind I am describing. Now, as to the vast part of central Canada, there remains a question whether the treaties, some or all of them, are valid. That is, if some of those treaties were guns-to-the-head treaties, arguably, they are simply not valid documents, because treaties are a contract and the essence of a contract is consent. And if the consent is forced, then there is no consent. So, from that perspective, arguably, 85 or 90 per cent of Canada may still, jurisdictionally, be Indian country, to which the Criminal Code does not apply. Now that legal situation may be, and obviously is, completely unsatisfactory. The fact that the law says the white people shouldn't be there, doesn't alter the fact that they are there. Well, the answer to that is to look at the law, in my terms, the answer at least - since the standard is justice as the application of truth to affairs - is to have the truth come out. The answer is not, in my view at least, that which the present courts and government of Canada have adopted, which is willfully to blind side the international and constitutional law on the pretense it simply doesn't exist. (continued) :-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-:-: S.I.S.I.S. Settlers In Support of Indigenous Sovereignty P.O. Box 8673, Victoria, "B.C." "Canada" V8X 3S2 EMAIL : <sisis@envirolink.org> WWW: http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/SISmain.html
--------- "RE: Babbitt Appears Before Grand Jury" ---------
Date: Fri, 9 Jul 1999 11:56:06 -0500 From: berryj@okstate.edu Subj: (FWD)Indian News 07-09-99 Roger Iron Cloud FirstNations Listserv 202.358.3252 rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov
Babbitt Appears Before Grand Jury .c The Associated Press 7/8/99 WASHINGTON (AP) - Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt has made a second apperance before a grand jury investigating whether campaign gifts influenced the rejection of a proposed Indian casino in Wisconsin and whether he lied about it to Congress. "I came here to answer all of their questions. I'm happy to do so," Babbitt told reporters as he left the federal courthouse on Wednesday. He called the proceedings "very professional" but would not comment further. Babbitt had also testified before the grand jury on June 30. The 14-month investigation by Independent Counsel Carol Elder Bruce into the Interior Department's rejection of a request by three Chippewa tribes to open a casino in Hudson, Wis., is apparently nearly conclusion. Bruce has indicated she wants to wrap the matter up by mid-August. The special prosecutor is trying to determine whether Babbitt lied under oath before a Senate committee about the circumstances surrounding the casino decision, particularly whether it was influenced by promises of campaign contributions to the Democratic Party by other tribes opposed to the casino. The rival tribes later gave the Democratic National Committee nearly $300,000. Babbitt has vigorously denied any connection between campaign contributions and the decision to reject the casino. He also has denied intending to mislead senators during the sometimes contentious Senate hearing on the matter. But a longtime friend, Paul Eckstein, a lobbyist for the tribes seeking the casino, testified to the same Senate Governmental Affairs Committee that Babbitt - during a meeting the day the casino decision was made - alluded to Democratic campaign contributions and pressure from the White House to have the matter settled. Babbitt has said Eckstein misunderstood the conversation.
--------- "RE: Babbitt Backs Indian Fund Oversight" ---------
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 09:13:30 -0500 From: berryj@okstate.edu Subj: (FWD)Indian News 07-11-99 Roger Iron Cloud FirstNations Listserv 202.358.3252 rironcloud@acf.dhhs.gov
Babbitt Backs Indian Fund Oversight .c The Associated Press By H. JOSEF HEBERT 7/10/99 WASHINGTON (AP) - While defending in a civil lawsuit his plan to correct widespread problems with a $500 million Indian trust fund program, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt says some court supervision of the trust accounts are justified and welcome. Babbitt resumed testifying today after more than eight hours on the stand Friday in the month-old trial of a lawsuit filed by American Indians demanding the courts overhaul the trust fund system. Under the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the system has been plagued by shoddy bookkeeping and missing records. Insisting he is a longtime supporter of Indians dating back to his work 30 years ago as legal adviser to the Navajos, Babbitt clashed repeatedly with plaintiff attorney Elliott Levitas over how aggressive Babbitt has been in dealing with Indian trust fund reform. Today, Levitas cited a Senate hearing transcript from January 1993, when Babbitt, then only five days into his job as interior secretary, promised action "in 60 days" to look into trust fund accounting problems. At the time, the transcript showed, the remark was greeted with laughter, noted Levitas. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth was expected to hear closing arguments late next week, although it's not certain when he will issue a decision. Babbitt, the closing government witness in the case, said Friday that he would favor a court-appointed advisory committee to oversee and settle dispute as the government overhauls the management of the trust fund system. But he insisted it would be wrong to take responsibility for the accounts from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Interior Department. "The involvement of the court is very important," he said. "It sends a message that's heard in Congress, particularly on the budget issue." Babbitt defended a plan he put in place a year ago aimed at correcting decades of problems in administration of the Indian trust fund which the government concedes includes a record-keeping morass that has made it impossible to determine how the money, involving more than 300,000 personal accounts, should be distributed. When questioned by the plaintiffs' lawyer, Babbitt acknowledged that his plan would not resolve all of the problems, but using a nautical metaphor he insisted, "We are proceeding toward the safe harbor. ... We're almost there." Attorney Elliott Levitas suggested to Babbitt that ships have been known to sink close to shore and that his plan falls short of ensuring that tens of thousands of Indians, many of them poor, will receive the trust fund money due them. Congress directed in 1994 that the management problems be corrected. The plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit are asking Lamberth to appoint a special master to take over the program from the BIA, and eventually turn management of the accounts over to a private corporation. "The BIA has a poor track record," Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Nation and the lead plaintiff in the case, said during a break in the trial Friday. She said she has no confidence in Babbitt moving aggressively to correct the problems. Cobell said the government, in addition to straightening out the trust fund records, should reimburse Indian account holders the money that has been lost over the years because of the problem. "It's at least into the billions of dollars," she maintained, although the government has argued such estimates are broad exaggerations. The trial is limited to issues on how to correct problems in the Indian trust fund management system. Lamberth has left the question of whether the government must reimburse Indians any money - and if so, how much - to a second trial, probably later this year. The government has acknowledged the Indian accounts are in disarray. Incomplete receipts and disbursement records are scattered in more than 100 BIA offices and many of the accounts are only a few dollars - a few pennies in some cases - because holdings over the years have been splintered as inheritances moved through generations of Indian families. The money comes from rent, royalties and other income from 11 million acres of land owned by individual Indians, many of whom are very poor. The lawsuit address only accounts held by individuals. The BIA also controls an additional $2.5 billion in trust funds that belong to tribes, but that is not at issue in the case.
--------- "RE: Sundance Banned at Camp Anna Mae" ---------
Date: Thu, 08 Jul 1999 13:27:52 -0800 From: BIGMTLIST <redorman@theofficenet.com> Subj: Sundance Banned at Camp Anna Mae
Mailing List: Big Mountain List <bigmtlist@hotmail.com>
In my phone conversation with Louise Benally today, I learned that a permit application for holding the sundance at Camp Anna Mae on HPL has been turned down. The claim of the Hopi Tribe is that it was agreed that last year's dance would be the last one on HPL (see documents below). However, that statement contradicts the original agreement made with Ferrell Secakuku in 1996, which was to the effect that the sundance commitment was for four years. Ruth Benally was forced to sign the different agreement last year, in spite of the earlier agreement that would have allowed for the sundance to be held this year, or she would not have been given the permit. The sundance has been held annually since July 8, 1986, in protest of the US Law that made trespassers out of the Dineh families living on their own ancestral land. The Hopi Tribe is also demanding that the sacred Sundance arbor be taken down, or they will tare it down. The sundance is a very sacred ceremony, and although not part of the Dineh religious tradition, it has been done by Lakota sundancers at Camp Anna Mae as support and unity with the Dineh. A sundance commitment is very binding and sacred to the individual dancer. It is a commitment made by the dancer with Spirit, and can NOT be broken without serious spiritual consequences. Not allowing the sundance could have grave consequences for the individual dancers, whose only sundance opportunity may be to dance at Camp Anna Mae this month in a few days. In my opinion, although the Dineh are trying their best to appease the Hopi Tribe in regards to sundance permits, livestock permits, permits, permits and more permits, the whole permitting process is basically an instrument of harassment used by the Hopi Tribe against the Dineh who reside on HPL. The Hopi tribe's legal justification is that the US Government has given them title to that land. It neglects to consider the illegal and corrupt processes that went into the making of the law that gave them that ownership. This ownership is enforced by the BIA/Hopi enforcement "army" against the peaceful Dineh, who just want to herd sheep and raise corn and pray and live as they have for generations upon their sacred land. Supporters are asked to protest this further human rights infringement by writing, emailing, faxing, or phoning the Hopi Tribe. The letters from the Hopi Tribe are reproduced (from a FAX) at the bottom. ================================================= THE HOPI TRIBE Wayne Taylor, Jr. CHAIRMAN Phillip R. Quochytewa, Sr. VICE-CHAIRMAN June 4, 1999
Ruth Benally P.O. Box 1042 Hotevilla, AZ 86030
Dear Mrs. Benally:
This letter is to inform you that your request to hold a Sundance on the Hopi Reservation was considered but was denied by the Hopi Land Team on May 27, 1999. This decision is based on the conditions that were placed on the approval given last year, which you had agreed to. The condition was that the Sundance held last year would bc the last Sundance to be held on the Hopi Reservation and any future Sundances would be held off the Hopi Reservation.
You also agreed to remove all structures within two days after the conclusion of the Sundance, which you failed to do (See attached letters, request form and Field Trip Report #1792). These structures still remain standing as of this date.
Other conditions which remain to be a critical concern to the Hopi Tribe is the danger of fire and further damage to the area. We appreciate your understanding in this matter and respectfully request that you abide by this decision.
Wayne Taylor, Jr., Chairman The Hopi Tribe
Attachments Xc: Land Team Tim Atkcson, A & P Hopi Resource Enforcement Arnold Taylor, DNR Clayton Honyumptewa, OHL Betty Tso, DDAY Roman Bitsue, NHLCO Scott Canty Kelsey Begay, President, Navajo Nation John McCain, Senator P.O. BOX 123 - KYKOTSMOVl, AZ. - 86039 - (520) 734-3000 ========================================== THE HOPI TRIBE Wayne Taylor, Jr. CHAIRMAN
Phillip R. Quochytewa, Sr. VICE-CHAIRMAN July 7, 1998
Ruth Benally P.O. Box 64 Kykotsmovi. AZ 86039
Dear Mrs. Benally:
Your request to hold a Sundance on the Hopi reservation on July 15-19, 1998 is approved with the understanding and condition that this be the last Sundance held on the Hopi reservation. After this year, if you are to hold another Sundance, it will have to be held off the Hopi reservation.
Also, due to conditions of the land and the large number of people anticipated to attend, the Hopi Tribe is very concerned about the fire danger on the range lands . Enclosed is an Executive Order signed by myself and Vice Chairman Phillip Quochytewa, on the Extreme Fire Danger, which places restrictions within the exterior boundaries of the Hopi Reservation.
I also wish to alert you about the Hantavirus that is a major health concern at this time. You should inform the people in attendance about this danger. I am also enclosing the Executive Order signed by myself and Vice Chairman Phillip Quochytewa which places the entire Hopi Reservation under a Hantavirus Alert and some information on this disease
Accordingly I am placing the following additional conditions on this approval:
1) There shall be no open fires permitted unless and until a control plan is submitted by your group and approved by this Office.
2) You must agree to assume full liability for any damages to persons or property resulting from the sundance, including any damages caused by fires.
3) You are informed, and must agree to inform all persons attending your event that possession of alcohol and drugs is strictly prohibited on the Hopi Reservation.
4) You must agree to restore the site of the event to its original conditions within a reasonable time or agree to reimburse any and all costs incurred by the Hopi Tribe to do so. P.O. BOX 123 - KYKOTSMOVI. AZ. - 86039 - (520) 734 3000 - Fax (520) 734 2259
As the staff of the Office of Hopi Lands has informed you, we will have the Hopi Rangers patrolling the area, as well as the monitors, this is mainly for the safety of people attending your ceremony. I hope you can appreciate our concern for the land and will do everything you can to minimize any damage to the area. Sincerely, Wayne Taylor, Jr., THE HOPI TRIBE Chairman
XC: Franklin Hoover, Office of General Counsel Land Team Keith Secakuku, Hopi Range Enforcement Services Leigh Kuwanwisima, Cultural Preservations Office Clayton Honyumptewa, Office of Hopi Lands File
I HAVE READ THE ABOVE AND I UNDERSTAND THAT BY SIGNING THIS LETTER. I AGREE TO THE CONDITIONS SET FORTH. Ruth Benally 7/10/98 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ You are on the BIGMTLIST, a moderated mailing list of Big Mountain relocation resistance information (not discussion or debate). To unsubscribe, email redorman@theofficenet.com with "unsubscribe" in the subject header. For non-list members receiving this post as a forwarded message, you may subscribe by emailing redorman@theofficenet.com with the word "subscribe" in the subject header. For Big Mountain and other activist internet resources, visit "The Activist Page" at http://www.theofficenet.com/~redorman/welcome.html Also, for great internet tools please visit: http://www.msw.com.au/cgi-bin/msw/entry?id=1271
--------- "RE: Sundance Will be Held Despite Hopi Ban" ---------
From: BIGMTLIST <redorman@theofficenet.com> Date: Fri, 09 Jul 1999 11:42:23 -0800 Subj: SUNDANCE WILL BE HELD DESPITE HOPI BAN
Mailing List: Big Mountain List <bigmtlist@hotmail.com>
The following information comes to me from Jim at Media Island International Louise Benally tried to call me, but couldn't get through, so she called Jim. However, I would like to comment, first. No disrespect is intended toward the Hopi people or the Hopi tribal government by making this post. The intent is to emphasize the spiritual importance of this sundance. Permit or no permit, this sundance is too important to be closed down. The Hopi are asked to respect the sanctity of this ceremonial camp and not to cause disruptions or stop invited guests from attending; just as they wish to keep disruptions from their own ceremonies, they should show this same respect toward this sundance. The Hopi are spiritual people. They recognize sacred things. They try to guard their religious practices from exploitation and degradation. Therefore, they should understand this and realize that spiritual commitments take precidence over man-made laws. The Dineh must not be bound by Hopi Tribal decisions that infringe or their spiritual right to sponsor this sacred ceremony, regardless of whether or not it is part of the Dineh religious tradition. Politics, government, laws, race, and economics aside, we are all human beings. We have a connection to the Creator. When we pray, that is a sacred thing. That is between us and the Creator. The place where we pray is sacred, too. Its spirit supports us in our prayers. (Maybe it is praying at the same time, too..I don't know.) To tell someone that they cannot pray in the way that they choose is wrong. If the place where they choose to pray is sacred, and they are told that they cannot pray there, then that is wrong, too. It doesn't matter what race or tribe you are, you have a right to pray. I urge the Hopi Tribal government, which is made up of fel