As Keeper of our Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle, I am concerned for
the 2 deaths and illnesses of the many people that participated in a sweat
lodge in Sedona, Arizona that brought our sacred rite under fire in the
news. I would like to clarify that this lodge and many others, are not our
ceremonial way of life, because of the way they are being conducted. My
prayers go out for their families and loved ones for their loss.

Our ceremonies are about life and healing, from the time this ancient
ceremonial rite was given to our people, never has death been a part of our
inikag¹a (life within) when conducted properly. Today the rite is
interpreted as a sweat lodge, it is much more then that. So the term does
not fit our real meaning of purification.

Inikag¹a is the oldest ceremony brought to us by Wakan Tanka (Great Spirit).
19 generations ago, the Lakota/Dakota/Nakota Oyate (people), were given
seven sacred rites of healing by a Spirit Woman Pte San Win (White Buffalo
Calf Woman). She brought these rites along with our sacred C¹anupa (pipe) to
our People, when our ancestors were suffering from a difficult time. It was
also brought for the future to help us for much more difficult times to
come. They were brought to help us stay connected to who we are as a
traditional cultural People. The values of conduct are very strict in any
of these ceremonies, because we work with spirit. The way the Creator,
Wakan Tanka told us; that if we stay humble and sincere, we will keep that
connection with the inyan oyate (the stone people), who we call the
Grandfathers, to be able to heal our selves and loved ones. We have a
³gift² of prayer and healing and have to stay humble with our Unc¹i Maka
(Grandmother Earth) and with one another. The inikag¹a is used in all of the
seven sacred rites to prepare and finish the ceremonies, along with the
sacred eagle feather. The feather represents the sacred knowledge of our
ancestors.

Our First Nations People have to earn the right to pour the mini wic¹oni
(water of life) upon the inyan oyate (the stone people) in creating Inikag¹a
- by going on the vision quest for four years and four years Sundance. Then
you are put through a ceremony to be painted - to recognize that you have
now earned that right to take care of someone¹s life through purification.
They should also be able to understand our sacred language, to be able to
understand the messages from the Grandfathers, because they are ancient,
they are our spirit ancestors. They walk and teach the values of our
culture; in being humble, wise, caring and compassionate.

What has happened in the news with the make shift sauna called the sweat
lodge is not our ceremonial way of life!

When you do ceremony - you can not have money on your mind. We deal with the
pure sincere energy to create healing that comes from everyone in that
circle of ceremony. The heart and mind must be connected. When you involve
money, it changes the energy of healing. The person wants to get what they
paid for; the Spirit Grandfathers will not be there, our way of life is now
being exploited! You do more damage then good. No² mention² of monetary
energy should exist in healing, not even with a can of love donations. When
that energy exists, they will not even come. Only Œafter¹ the ceremony,
between the person that is being healed and the Intercessor who has helped
connect with the Great Spirit, the energy of money can be given out of
appreciation. That exchange of energy is from the heart; it is private and
does not involve the Grandfathers! Whatever gift of appreciation the person
who received the help, can now give the Intercessor what ever they feel
their healing is worth.

In our Prophesy of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, she told us that she would
return and stand upon the earth when we are having a hard time. In 1994 this
began to happen with the birth of the white buffalo, not only their nation,
but many animal nations began to show their sacred color, which is white.
She predicted that at this time there would be many changes upon Grandmother
Earth. There would be things that we never experienced or heard of before;
climate changes, earth changes, diseases, disrespect for life and one
another would be shocking and there would be also many false prophets!

My Grandmother that passed the bundle to me said I would be the last Keeper
if the Oyate (people) do not straighten up. The assaults upon Grandmother
Earth are horrendous, the assaults toward one another was not in our
culture, the assaults against our People (Oyate) have been termed as
genocide, and now we are experiencing spiritual genocide!

Because of the problems that began to arise with our rebirth of being able
to do our ceremonies in the open since the Freedom of Religion Act of 1978,
our Elders began talking to me about the abuses they seen in our ceremonial
way of life, which was once very strict. After many years of witnessing
their warnings, we held a meeting to address this very issue of lack of
protocol in our ceremonies. After reaching an agreement of addressing the
misconduct of our ceremonies and reminding of the proper protocols, a
statement was made in March 2003. Every effort was made to insure our way
of life of who we are as traditional cultural People was made, because these
ways are for our future and all life upon the Grandmother Earth (Mitakuye
Oyasin All my relations), so that they may have good health. Because these
atrocities are being mocked and practiced all over the world, there was even
a film we made called ³Spirits for Sale².

The non-native people have a right to seek help from our ³First Nation
Intercessors² for good health and well-being, it is up to that Intercessor.
That is a privilege for all People that we gift for being able to have good
health and understand that their protocol is to have respect and appreciate
what we have to share. The First Nations Intercessor has to earn that right
to our ceremonial way of life in the ways I have explained.

At this time, I would like to ask all Nations upon Grandmother Earth to
please respect our sacred ceremonial way of life and stop the exploitation
of our Tunka Oyate (Spiritual Grandfathers).

In a Sacred Hoop of Life, where there is no ending and no beginning!

Namah¹u yo (hear my words),
Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White
Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle.

STANDING UP!
by DJ Danforth, Oneida Nation

This article is set to appear in the upcoming Battered Women’s Support Services newsletter in a series featuring men’s responses to ending violence against women.

Today in far too many of our Aboriginal communities across Canada and the United States, families are being affected by the increasingly higher rates of violence and abuse against women perpetrated by men, leaving people to wonder why men could do such things. Colonization has certainly done its damage to our people, which is not to say that men don’t have the ultimate responsibility to make change. When you think about the time that our ancestors had suffered through colonization, it may feel like an eternity ago, but the fact is that colonization still exists to this day.

Colonization comes in many different forms – and one of the clearest examples came in the shape of residential, mission, and boarding schools. Although they were eventually closed (albeit not that long ago), the impact of colonization still remained in the minds of our ancestors, which has had long lasting intergenerational effects. This has lead to various types of culture shock when people eventually returned to their home communities because in essence, they were returning to a place that might have still practiced the same traditional way of life they were forced to forget. Coping mechanisms with drugs and alcohol ensued in many instances to try and block out the pain of residential school, but more often than not the drinking and drugging made the memories even more intense. Simultaneously, it led men to use violence, abuse and molestation in the family, just as they had learned in the schools. And the years that followed the closing of residential schools have not been much better for our communities, what with the sixties scoop and the continual removal of First Nations children into state care, land claims not being resolved, and extreme conditions of poverty both on and off reserve.

As men we hold a huge responsibility in helping to end violence against women. It is not solely the responsibility of women to take a stand against violence and abuse; we in fact hold the largest responsibility of all. By working with women and making contributions to eradicate these cycles of abuse, we can move from a place of being reactive to the problem of violence, which is where we are now by only trying to help after the abuse has already occurred. It is critical that we move to a place of being proactive where we can stop it before women have to become the victims and survivors, and this has to start with our children.

Across the board our children are in much need of the traditional teachings about respecting themselves and their partner, beginning with what the meaning of a healthy relationship even is. These teachings are essential because throughout several of our Aboriginal nations women have always been held with the highest honour because of their ability to give life in its many forms, and the leadership roles they posses within our communities. But we need knowledge in action, not simply teachings of the past that we might give an occasional “nod” to. For myself, this applies to the highest degree in my relationship with my partner because at a very young age I received the cultural knowledge of how to treat women and my responsibility as a man to support the women around me. Yet where do other young men get to have this discussion today?

In present day society, it seems there are a lot of men who are confused about how to be a “good man”, because of the ridicule that we receive for wanting to come to a state of equality with women. When we act with any type of respect towards women we still hear comments like “who wears the pants” or “your leash is pretty tight”, but instead of feeling humiliated by these kinds of comments, it’s important to look on the other side and listen to what women say about men who believe in equality. For us in the Aboriginal community, it means coming to terms with the fact that colonization has had a devastating affect to our people – and looking at concrete ways to decolonize now.

Men seeking to get involved to help end this traumatic issue can get involved by doing small everyday things from starting in their own homes talking to their children about violence and abuse or listening to their companion about what they want and their opinion. Speaking up when you see this happening to relatives or people you know is the first step in getting involved to end violence and abuse against women. I have been fortunate enough to have been asked to write for Masc Magazine which is an online magazine in which men can talk about the gendered issues that we face each and everyday. It also has a blog in which you can write and get responses from the staff or people who have knowledge on specific topics. I encourage people who want to get involved to visit the website www.mascmag.com and explore the links that are provided on the website. Finally encourage and support one another to stay strong in our stance against this issue, you are not alone and there are people who want the same results, we can go a long way with encouragement and support from the entire community.

It is imperative that we all stand together to protect all of our life givers on this earth, our women, because no matter who we are, without them none of us would even have a life to live. So as a young Oneida man I carry the responsibility and commitment of honouring our life givers in the most respectful way that I know how. With the knowledge that I come from a matriarchal society, I acknowledge that as a man it is my job to respect the strength of women. Each of us must learn to honour the roots of our own culture so that collectively we can have a stronger backing in ending violence and abuse against women. I call upon my brothers and my community as a whole now to stand up as modern day warriors, and protect our women and children and the life they give to each and every one of us every day.

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Suzan Shown Harjo: Warrior women pass to spirit world
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009
Filed Under: Opinion 

Sing an honor song. Pray a mourning prayer. Pause for a moment of silent respect for two warrior women who have gone to the Spirit World. Alison Bridges Gottfriedson and Victoria Adele Santana each died at home of natural causes; Vicky on July 17 at the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana, and Alison on July 18 at the Franks Landing Indian Community in Olympia, Washington. 

These exemplary Native women fought for, upheld and lived treaties and Indian rights. They cut their teeth on Native activism of the 1960s and 1970s – Alison, as a poster child of the Indian fishing rights struggle in the Pacific Northwest and on the Trail of Broken Treaties in 1972; Vicky, as a veteran of the takeovers of Alcatraz Island (1969) and Fort Lawton in Seattle (1970). 

Alison was born 57 years ago to the matriarch of the Franks Landing Indian Community, Theresa (Maiselle) McCloud Bridges, and the late-Alvin James Bridges, who died in 1982. They, together with Alison’s sisters Suzette and Valerie (who died in 1970) and uncle Billy Frank, Jr., were arrested myriad times by Washington state agents for fishing on the Nisqually River in accordance with their treaties. Indian peoples throughout the Pacific Northwest were vindicated in 1979, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Washington and reaffirmed treaty fishing. 

Vicky was the daughter of two scholars, a Blackfeet mother and a Puerto Rican father, Rita Brown Santana and Arthur Santana (both deceased), who were with the University of Chicago when Vicky was born 64 years ago in Chicago, Illinois. Raised on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, she became a scholar herself, earning both Juris Doctor and Master of Library Science degrees. Vicky had been a lawyer, judge and policy advisor for the Blackfeet Nation. She provided pro bono legal services for friends and family. She leaves behind a large extended family and more than a dozen godchildren throughout Indian country. 

In their youth, Alison and Vicky both partnered with national Indian political activists from Plains nations – Alison with Hank Adams (Assiniboine-Sioux), who remains a member of the Franks Landing Indian Community, and Vicky with the late-Raymond Spang (Northern Cheyenne). Alison and her longtime husband, Hank Gottfriedson (Similkameen Okanagan), have raised their children and grandchildren at Franks Landing. The Gottfriedsons recently bore the brunt of the local Indian tobacco wars and narrowly escaped prison time, but not the suffocating debt in connection with the Franks Landing smoke shop. 

Alison and Vicky were educators, who worked to bolster tribal governments, revitalize Native languages and keep Indian traditions. Alison was a Founder, with her mother and sister, of the WaHeLut Indian School at Franks Landing, which is a beneficiary of the smoke shop profits, and served as a Member and Chair of its School Board. She also was a Council Member of Franks Landing and a Former Member of the Puyallup Tribal Council. Alison’s name in Shumash is No Shoon, which means My Heart. 

Vicky taught Native legal research and other subjects at the Oklahoma City University School of Law, while serving as Reference Librarian/Native American Resources for the OCU Law Library. She provided legal services to Native peoples and organizations in matters including constitution revisions, legal codes, tribal court development, international law, religious freedom, cultural property, domestic violence and child welfare. She was Policy Advisor to The Morning Star Institute’s 2004-2005 Native Languages Archives Repository Project of the National Museum of the American Indian and the Administration for Native Americans (NMAI print report, 2005; ANA CD report, “Native Language Preservation,” 2007). Vicky’s name in Piegan is Sak Oon IsTaah Saa Kii, which is translated as Last Calf Woman. 

Alison and Vicky reminded me of beautiful birds, but very different ones. Alison spoke in low cooing sounds in the manner of a mourning dove – calm, contemplative and nourishing. Vicky was more clipped and energizing, whether in English or Spanish, always dancing a robin’s dance – perpetually joyous and announcing the arrival of Spring. 

These warrior women sacrificed everything for family, friends and community. They never hesitated to put themselves in harm’s way or to keep and bail others out of trouble. They lived caring, giving and loving lives, and in the end could finally lay down their weapons. 

Author Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.” Vicky and Alison had healing power for spotting people’s broken places and helping them to grow stronger. Neither one thought that was unusual — just the courteous and social thing to do. 

I loved and admired Alison and Vicky, and their passing is wrenching. Those of you who did not know these warrior women can only imagine how much stronger you might have been for their friendship. For you, seek out Native daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmas and warrior women in your Native nations up and down the hemisphere. And sing their honor songs while they live. 

Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee) is an award-winning columnist, poet, lecturer and curator, who has helped Native peoples recover more than one million acres of land, including sacred places. She is president of The Morning Star Institute, a founder of the National Museum of the American Indian and a former executive director of the National Congress of American Indians.

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Suzan Shown Harjo: Warrior women pass to spirit world
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2009
Filed Under: Opinion

Sing an honor song. Pray a mourning prayer. Pause for a moment of silent respect for two warrior women who have gone to the Spirit World. Alison Bridges Gottfriedson and Victoria Adele Santana each died at home of natural causes; Vicky on July 17 at the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Montana, and Alison on July 18 at the Franks Landing Indian Community in Olympia, Washington.
These exemplary Native women fought for, upheld and lived treaties and Indian rights. They cut their teeth on Native activism of the 1960s and 1970s – Alison, as a poster child of the Indian fishing rights struggle in the Pacific Northwest and on the Trail of Broken Treaties in 1972; Vicky, as a veteran of the takeovers of Alcatraz Island (1969) and Fort Lawton in Seattle (1970).
Alison was born 57 years ago to the matriarch of the Franks Landing Indian Community, Theresa (Maiselle) McCloud Bridges, and the late-Alvin James Bridges, who died in 1982. They, together with Alison’s sisters Suzette and Valerie (who died in 1970) and uncle Billy Frank, Jr., were arrested myriad times by Washington state agents for fishing on the Nisqually River in accordance with their treaties. Indian peoples throughout the Pacific Northwest were vindicated in 1979, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Washington and reaffirmed treaty fishing.
Vicky was the daughter of two scholars, a Blackfeet mother and a Puerto Rican father, Rita Brown Santana and Arthur Santana (both deceased), who were with the University of Chicago when Vicky was born 64 years ago in Chicago, Illinois. Raised on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, she became a scholar herself, earning both Juris Doctor and Master of Library Science degrees. Vicky had been a lawyer, judge and policy advisor for the Blackfeet Nation. She provided pro bono legal services for friends and family. She leaves behind a large extended family and more than a dozen godchildren throughout Indian country.
In their youth, Alison and Vicky both partnered with national Indian political activists from Plains nations – Alison with Hank Adams (Assiniboine-Sioux), who remains a member of the Franks Landing Indian Community, and Vicky with the late-Raymond Spang (Northern Cheyenne). Alison and her longtime husband, Hank Gottfriedson (Similkameen Okanagan), have raised their children and grandchildren at Franks Landing. The Gottfriedsons recently bore the brunt of the local Indian tobacco wars and narrowly escaped prison time, but not the suffocating debt in connection with the Franks Landing smoke shop.
Alison and Vicky were educators, who worked to bolster tribal governments, revitalize Native languages and keep Indian traditions. Alison was a Founder, with her mother and sister, of the WaHeLut Indian School at Franks Landing, which is a beneficiary of the smoke shop profits, and served as a Member and Chair of its School Board. She also was a Council Member of Franks Landing and a Former Member of the Puyallup Tribal Council. Alison’s name in Shumash is No Shoon, which means My Heart.
Vicky taught Native legal research and other subjects at the Oklahoma City University School of Law, while serving as Reference Librarian/Native American Resources for the OCU Law Library. She provided legal services to Native peoples and organizations in matters including constitution revisions, legal codes, tribal court development, international law, religious freedom, cultural property, domestic violence and child welfare. She was Policy Advisor to The Morning Star Institute’s 2004-2005 Native Languages Archives Repository Project of the National Museum of the American Indian and the Administration for Native Americans (NMAI print report, 2005; ANA CD report, “Native Language Preservation,” 2007). Vicky’s name in Piegan is Sak Oon IsTaah Saa Kii, which is translated as Last Calf Woman.
Alison and Vicky reminded me of beautiful birds, but very different ones. Alison spoke in low cooing sounds in the manner of a mourning dove – calm, contemplative and nourishing. Vicky was more clipped and energizing, whether in English or Spanish, always dancing a robin’s dance – perpetually joyous and announcing the arrival of Spring.
These warrior women sacrificed everything for family, friends and community. They never hesitated to put themselves in harm’s way or to keep and bail others out of trouble. They lived caring, giving and loving lives, and in the end could finally lay down their weapons.
Author Ernest Hemingway once wrote, “The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places.” Vicky and Alison had healing power for spotting people’s broken places and helping them to grow stronger. Neither one thought that was unusual — just the courteous and social thing to do.
I loved and admired Alison and Vicky, and their passing is wrenching. Those of you who did not know these warrior women can only imagine how much stronger you might have been for their friendship. For you, seek out Native daughters, sisters, mothers, grandmas and warrior women in your Native nations up and down the hemisphere. And sing their honor songs while they live.
Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee) is an award-winning columnist, poet, lecturer and curator, who has helped Native peoples recover more than one million acres of land, including sacred places. She is president of The Morning Star Institute, a founder of the National Museum of the American Indian and a former executive director of the National Congress of American Indians.

From Kevin Abourezk’s column “Red Clout”

Criticism Over Tribal Airport Borders On Racism

By Kevin Abourezk

The first salvo of public criticism directed at tribes receiving federal stimulus came recently when a South Dakota newspaper blasted the Rosebud Sioux Tribe for receiving funding for an airport.

That tribes would be criticized for trying to pull themselves out of conditions most would describe as beyond those of a depression was inevitable.

That the criticism would be couched in language bordering on racist is shameful.

In a May 19 editorial, Madison (S.D.) Daily Leader Publisher Jon M. Hunter criticized $4.1 million of stimulus money that will pay for an airport for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.

Hunter didn’t question that construction of the airport would fall under the provision of rebuilding infrastructure, one of the stated goals of the federal stimulus act. However, Hunter questioned whether a new airport was what was most needed on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation, “where alcoholism and poverty are pervasive, education is substandard and healthcare quality is questioned.”

While failing to support his assertions with facts or statistics, Hunter continued to rail on the horrendous conditions of the reservation.

“Since many tribal members don’t have enough money to buy a used car or the gasoline for it, we would guess that there are a limited number of private or corporate airplanes at Rosebud,” he wrote.

And that’s where Hunter revealed his ignorance.

Not enough money to buy a used car or gasoline?

I think it’s safe to say Hunter has never visited the Rosebud Reservation, or any reservation for that matter. If he had, he would know just how much Indians like to cruise in used and new cars.

While poverty certainly is rampant on the Rosebud Reservation, there are still plenty of people who can afford to buy cars, gasoline and, yes, even plane tickets.

Rosebud Tribal President Rodney M. Bordeaux retorted in a column this week on Indianz.com, saying some tribal members are so angry over Hunter’s “derogatory racial stererotypes” they are considering legal action.

“If the only factual support for these statements are the gut feelings of whoever ‘we’ are, why not simply say all Native Americans are alcoholic, poor, lazy, and uneducated people?” Bordeaux wrote.

I would add that Hunter’s statements are patronizing, yet further proof of the we-know-what’s-best-for-those-poor-ignorant-Indians attitude that so many white leaders in South Dakota demonstrate.

While those leaders constantly fail to do anything to improve the lives of the Indians in their state, they can always be relied upon to criticize tribes for trying to improve their own conditions. When a tribe pursues gaming, those leaders indignantly attack tribal leaders for taking advantage of their own, while failing to offer any other solutions to severe unemployment.

Further, the notion that a tribe has no need for airport access is demeaning at best.

As Bordeaux pointed out, the airport will allow the tribe to transport critically ill patients from the reservation to larger hospitals. A significantly smaller airport on the reservation is barely able to support the more than 270 flights a year that take patients to hospitals beyond the tribe’s borders. Construction of the airport will create about 150 jobs, thus meeting a very clear goal of the stimulus act: job creation.

Hunter’s editorial reminds me of the criticism directed at former Sen. Ted Stevens for his efforts to gain federal funding for the notorious “bridge to nowhere” in Alaska. Where that argument breaks down in this context is in the idea that the Rosebud Reservation is “nowhere.”

Rather, more than 20,000 tribal members call the reservation home. They are mothers, fathers, children and elders who require adequate access to emergency health care. So if an airport can help them get the care they need, that’s exactly what they should use their share of stimulus money to build.

Ignorant white leaders be damned.

Kevin Abourezk’s “Red Clout” columns are available for syndication. Please contact reznet to purchase republishing rights.

Kevin Abourezk, Rosebud Lakota, is a reporter and editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. He writes reznet’s “Red Clout” political blog and teaches reporting at the Freedom Forum’s American Indian Journalism Institute. Abourezk was awarded a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism in 2006.

“Trespass legal for government employees”

By Brenda Aplin

April 22, 2009

One of the saddest days for all Americans happened on April 21, 2009, when precedent was set in the Eighth Circuit Federal Court, Rapid City, SD. Judge Richard H. Battey sentenced Marc Wisecarver to 3 years in prison for protecting himself against a trespasser who had threatened Wisecarver’s life.

Eventually it became known that the trespasser, named Duke Bourne, was a soil conservation officer for the federal government, who said on the stand that he could go anywhere he wanted because he worked for the government.

On April 29, 2008, Bourne drove onto Wisecarver’s property, passed ‘No Trespass’ signs, ignored Wisecarver as he tried to get his attention, and proceeded to chase Wisecarver’s horses with a pickup truck. As the horses circled, Bourne continued to pursue them at a high speed in a tighter and tighter circle.

Wisecarver ran to his house and got a rifle. Firing a shot into the air, he was finally able to get Bourne’s attention. Bourne then turned his vehicle on Wisecarver as if to run him over. That’s when Wisecarver fired a round through the radiator aiming for the ground.

Bourne wasn’t scared. He jumped out of the truck and ran towards Wisecarver stating, “You shot my tire.” Wisecarver said “No, I shot your radiator and your trespassing so get off my property.” At no time did Bourne identify himself or what he was doing on Wisecarver’s property. After being order to leave because he was trespassing, Bourne walked off the property and Wisecarver called the police.

That evening, Wisecarver was arrested for discharging a firearm and destruction to government property. Bourne was never arrested or charged with anything because he was a federal soil conservation officer. Why would a soil conservation officer not identify himself, and why would he deliberately chase horses?

This incident happened on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The Tribal Police Officer, Paul Forney, that evening arrested Wisecarver and said that he was ordered to arrest Marc by the Bureau of Indian AffairsSuperintendent, Robert Ecoffey, along with the Police Captain Milton Bianas and Police Chief Joe Herman or lose his job. Eventually, the charges of Discharging a Firearm and Demage to Government Property were dropped with prejudice in Tribal Court so the charges could not be brought up again. However, that didn’t please the BIA Superintendent so he had charges filed in Federal Court. That’s where the precedent was set that affects all Americans.

On Jan. 29, 2009, a jury immediately found Wisecarver innocent of assaulting a federal employee by reason of self-defense. However, the true assailant, the federal employee Duke Bourne, has never been charged with trespassing, or assault with a dangerous weapon, or attempted murder. This opens the gate for any government employee to assault any American citizen and not be held accountable.

Nevertheless, the Federal Judge Richard H. Battey ordered the jury to consider the destruction to the weapon, the pickup truck, as a charge separate from the acquittal of self-defense. How can blocking a weapon generate a criminal charge? The U.S. Constitution states that citizens have the right to protect themselves.

Of course, Wisecarver damaged the pickup truck. That was the only way he was going to stop Bourne from running over him, in the middle of the country where there were no witnesses. So the jury, under threat of contempt of court by Judge Richard Battey, found Wisecarver guilty of deprivation of government property. The same charge had already been dismissed in Tribal Court. Isn’t this double jeopardy?

On April 21, 2009, Judge Richard H. Battey sentenced Marc S. Wisecarver to three years in a federal prison plus three years supervised release for damage that was less then $2,400.

Wisecarver was trying to protect himself and his property. That is allowed under the U.S. Constitution. The Judge said that Bourne as a government official could go anywhere he wanted. This is where the danger starts for all American citizens. It used to be that only the police could enter property if a crime was being committed. Now, with this case, any government official: city, state, county, tribal, or federal, can enter a person’s property, and if that person tries to defend themselves, they could be sent to prison. The precedent has been set.

The criminal minded will relish this court decision. Even though some states, including South Dakota, have “castle protection laws” allowing a resident to use physical force to protect themselves and their property, which is also in the U.S. Constitution, this Battey ruling sets federal precedent and will impact state laws.

Wisecarver’s public defender is appealing the sentence. In the meantime, however long it takes for the appeal to overrule this judgment, the rest of the United States is wide open to the trespass by any government official, and help the poor soul who tries to defend himself or his property. He or she could get sentenced to three years in a federal prison. What damage has been done to the U.S. Constitution?

####

Brenda Aplin, Exeter, England, has been working with Native American people of the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, U.S.A for almost 7 years. She may be contacted at www.lakota-aid.co.uk

United Nation Human Rights Council

Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 1^st Session

October 1 – 3, 2008

Palais de Nations, Geneva Switzerland

Joint Oral Statement, Points for Consideration of the EMRIP Study on Education

by the International Indian Treaty Council and the

United Confederation of Taino People  

October 2, 2008

Presented by Andrea Carmen, IITC

 

 

Thank you Mr. President.  Taking note of the Council on Human Rights resolution L.17 calling upon the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to “prepare a study on lessons learned and challenges to achieve the implementation of the right of Indigenous Peoples to education”, we briefly offer the following recommendations for the essential elements we believe should be included in the framework of consideration for this study.

 

1.  “Truth in Education” for Indigenous and all children in public schools is  the foundation for the full recognition of past injustices and the development of new relationships based on justice and equality.  

 

We call upon the EMRIP members to examine the ways that States have used public education to rewrite history regarding Indigenous Peoples and the pervasive impacts this has upon the realization and recognition of the rights of Indigenous Peoples by and within countries.  Approved school curriculums often justify past brutalities and current inequities by portraying the actions and impacts of colonization in the guise heroism and noble causes. At the same time they minimize and distort the historical and intellectual contributions as well as the rights of the Indigenous Peoples concerned.

 

In the United States, for example, distortions in history are still being regularly taught in public schools to both Indigenous and non-indigenous children. This has very real impacts in the denial of Indigenous Peoples rights, and even their very existence, in the real world of policy and practice. 

 

Examples include the designation of sites where Indigenous Peoples were massacred by soldiers and settlers as “battlegrounds”.  Myths of discovery and conquest are still perpetuated, from Columbus to the California gold miners, as the heroic actions of “courageous explorers and settlers” laying claim to unused and unoccupied lands, bringing “progress” to untamed wilderness and savages alike. The genocidal brutality that accompanied the introduction of Christianity in the American continent is eliminated or glossed over.  Another glaring example is the so-called fact taught in public schools and repeated by public officials in many countries, that there are no longer any Indigenous peoples left alive in a given Country and region and that these cultures can be relegated to the archives of history.  This falsehood has been consistently repeated regarding islands of the Caribbean, countries such as Costa Rica and around the San Francisco Bay Area of California USA to name just a few examples. 

 

Due to the protest and persistence of many Indigenous Peoples, in some cases the members of the supposedly “nonexistent” Peoples themselves, to correct this systemic misinformation in education systems.  This has begun to be corrected in some places, although far from all.  Case studies where new, more accurate curricula has been introduced could be examined and included in this study.  

 

We also recommend that the EMPRIP call for submission of examples where human rights education, including new school curricula based on Treaty rights and the UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples for example, has been successfully incorporated into public  educational systems for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. We encourage the EMRIP to request examples of these best practices and improvements as well as examples where work still needs to be done in this area. 

 

2.  The historic and current role of imposed and dominant-culture educational systems on the destruction of Indigenous Peoples’ languages, cultures and social structures.   We underscore the profound concerns for the role of public and state sponsored education regarding continuing threats to the survival of Indigenous languages in many regions round the world. Indigenous Peoples recognize that their languages are essential components for the transmission of Indigenous culture, traditional knowledge, spirituality, natural world relationships and understandings and are the basis of our identities as Peoples.  Unfortunately in many countries, the effects of education provided by the state, religious or private entities have undermined  the vitality and even the survival of Indigenous languages. 

   

      We underscore the statement by the North America Regional caucus to the UNPFII7 in April of this Year that “a major factor in the dire situation of many languages and the threats to their survival in the US and Canada is the legacy of deliberate and planned government policies in both countries, including the forced removal of generations of children from their homes, families and communities, attempts at forced assimilation carried out by government agencies, churches, schools and other entities.” 

 

      The IITC calls upon the EMRIP to fully examine the role of dominate culture-based education models as an element of termination policies which continue to have severe and ongoing impacts on Indigenous Peoples’ languages, culture and social structures.

 

      We also invite Indigenous Peoples who have, through their own efforts, created alternative or complementary educational programs, often without any state or other outside support or financing for many years, to preserve and strengthen the use of Indigenous language for new generations of children.  Notable examples are the educational programs in Native languages developed by the Maori of Aotearoa, the Native Hawaiian Peoples, many Indigenous Peoples of Canada and Indigenous communities in Alaska including Chickaloon Village to name only a few examples.  Indigenous Peoples who have achieved successful partnerships with states to incorporate Indigenous languages into state-funded schools and public education programs, for example programs based on use of Indigenous languages in Guatemala and other countries, should be encouraged to present successful models for inclusion in this study.    

 

3.  The essential role of the family and tribal community as well as the vital role of traditional culture in the successful education of Indigenous children.  The removal of children from their communities or “group” is a well-recognized and well-defined violation of international human rights law, and violates articles 7, 8, 10, 12 and other articles of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.   In the United States, Indigenous youth are less than 2% of the population yet they are 15- 20% of the population of incarcerated youth.  Similar or higher rates occur in other countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and in some provinces and regions in these countries the rate is 80% or more. Many Juvenile Detention Centers and correctional facilities consistently deny Indigenous youth equal access to their spiritual practices that could maintain their cultural ties and identity with their communities.  One of many negative impacts is disproportionately high school dropout rates, with many Indigenous children never completing even a basic education.  High rates of youth suicide also attributed to these practices. 

 

In Canada, government and religious authorities have recently apologized for the continuing  inter-generational trauma caused by the forced removal of thousands of Indigenous children in the guise of providing them with “education” in past generations.    

 

The Canadian residential system closed in 1996, but the systematic removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities continues through the Canadian Governments’ foster care program.  At the current time, the Canadian government estimates that one in every eighteen Indigenous children in Canada is in state-sponsored foster care custody, more than at any time during the residential school era.  Indigenous organizations in Canada estimate that more than 27,000 children are in state foster case custody.  

 

The impact on the all round spiritual, intellectual and cultural development of children and youth, as essential underpinning for any successful education model for Indigenous children, cannot be minimized and also warrants attention in this study.

  

4.  Finally, we believe that the implementation of key relevant articles in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is essential to providing an effective rights-based framework for this study.  In particular, the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the corresponding obligations of states affirmed in Article 14 are of central relevance and importance.   These include the rights of Indigenous Peoples to establish and control their own educational systems providing education in their cultures and languages; the rights of Indigenous Peoples especially children to equal access to education provided by the state; and the rights of children living in and outside their communities to have access to education in their own language and culture, as well as state obligations to provide measures in conjunction with Indigenous Peoples to facilitate this access. Case studies of successful models and examples, ongoing obstacles and challenges in the implementation of these rights, as well as support (or lack thereof) provided by states will be of great interest with regards to this study.

 

In closing we express our appreciation for your attention these concerns, and commit ourselves to assist you in this effort.   The education of our children is a shared responsibility of upmost importance for the realization of the human rights and development of the most vulnerable among us, who are also the hope and future of our Nations and Peoples.    

 

Thank you. For all our relations.

My love-hate relationship with Turkey Day

 

As a person descended from slaves, who still has family in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, the place where my family was held in bondage, I was taught that Thanksgiving was a time to celebrate our freedom and the strength of family and community that got us through and brought us over. Thanksgiving is the celebration of our metaphorical crossing of the River Jordan or, perhaps, the Ohio River.

The truth is that Thanksgiving should be a time where we honor the spirits of those living and dead that fought, bled, and died so that our communities could survive. It is a time to gather around our friends and family and to show them through words, food, and laughter that we appreciate their presence and their love. But it is also a time of obligation.

No two peoples living on this land known as the United States of America have such a tragic and intertwined history as African-Americans and Native Americans. Throughout our shared history of enslavement and genocide, forced labor and forceable removal from our homelands, our fates have touched one another: sometimes in acts of solidarity such as the taking in of runaway slaves by the Cherokee and Seminole and other native nations, and sometimes in acts of violence where slaves served with continental armies participating in the massacre of indigenous communities and indigenous communities that served whites as slave catchers.

Since the end of slavery, the relationship between African-Americans and Native Americans has, again, sometimes been one of solidarity such as the brown/black power movements of the 1960s and sometimes one of  betrayal, such as the stripping of citizenship from black members of the western Cherokee Nation earlier this year.

Yet the truth remains that at this time of profound social change and opportunity, leaders of the African-American community and leaders of both urban Indian and Indian nations should be working together on common goals related to sovereignty, reparations, and reclamation. At times the survival of entire segments of the black community have depended on our native brothers and sisters. That history was, intentionally, kept quiet by mainstream authorities. Divide and conquer has always been their primary tactic.

This Thanksgiving, I challenge our communities to commit to not only celebrating our freedom and our family but also developing strategies to build deep relationships with our native kin. In Humboldt County, California, a small grassroots collective called Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County (DUHC) has partnered with the Seventh Generation Fund on a relatively new project called the Honor Tax. The two organizations are working closely with small businesses, non-profit organizations, and individual citizens encouraging them to make a yearly tax payment to the Wiyot Nation. The nation on whose lands Humboldt County sits. This is not a charitable contribution but a tax payment acknowledging that the land itself is not owned by those who sit on it but by the peoples that historically belong to it.

These are the types of endeavours that should be championed by people of African descent. If we, the grandchildren of those held in bondage, are to righteously, and justly, demand reparations in recognition of the trillions of dollars of wealth created from our unpaid labor, then it is our moral and civil obligation to advocate for at least as much  for the indigenous peoples of the United States. In the end, it is my hope that one day all of this land will be restored to those from whom it was taken, but until that day comes, it is our duty to work hand in hand to hold up and restore each as we collectively move towards a just and liberated future.  Let’s transform Thanksgiving into a holiday of thanks for each other and an opportunity to create new river crossings on black and red bridges.

Original posted: Wednesday November 26, 2008 12:30 P.M.

 

John Ridley

Posted November 28, 2008 | 07:59 PM (EST)