Paging Gazhekwe

[gazhekwe]

Seattle Times -- Originally published December 15, 2011 at 8:07 PM _ Page modified December 16, 2011 at 8:01 AMJustice Department report blasts Seattle police

By Mike Carter and Steve Miletich
Seattle Times staff reporters

A federal civil-rights investigation into the Seattle Police Department has found routine and widespread use of excessive force by officers, and city and police officials were told at a stormy Thursday night meeting that they must fix the problems or face a federal lawsuit, according to two sources.

The meeting, attended by Mayor Mike McGinn, Police Chief John Diaz, members of his command staff and others, ended in raised voices and bitter accusations by city and police officials, upset at the Justice Department's findings, the sources said. One source said the language in the agency's report, to be officially released Friday, is "astoundingly critical" of the department.

Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, who heads the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, flew to Seattle from Phoenix on Thursday and will address a 9:30 a.m. Friday news conference alongside U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan. The sources confirmed the city will get a chance to work with the Justice Department to address the issues, or it will face a federal lawsuit that could result in fines, penalties and even the appointment of an outside special master to oversee the Police Department.

McGinn, reached Thursday night, declined to discuss the report until its official release. He disputed that the meeting was contentious. Thomas Bates, the executive assistant U.S. attorney in Durkan's office, confirmed the meeting but declined to characterize it or discuss the contents of the report.

Friday's announcement comes 11 months after the Justice Department launched a preliminary review of Seattle police at the request of Durkan and others. Evidence uncovered in that review led to a full-scale civil-rights investigation, announced March 31, to examine whether Seattle police engaged in "systemic violations of the Constitution or federal law."

The investigation focused on the use of force and allegations of biased policing against minorities. Three weeks ago, the Justice Department issued a sharply worded letter urging the Police Department to immediately address a policy that allows officers to invoke their protections against self-incrimination in even the most routine use-of-force issues. Justice officials said the policy made prosecutions of errant officers difficult and undermined public confidence.

Last week, in response to the letter, Diaz ordered sweeping changes in how the Police Department develops standards and expectations of officers, and created new panels to monitor and oversee the use of force by police. Diaz has invited the Department of Justice to participate in a top-down rewrite of his department's policies and procedures.

The Department of Justice investigation is civil, not criminal. Its goal is to bring the Police Department in compliance with the Constitution and federal law if police practices are determined to be in violation. That could be done through a variety of means, ranging from a negotiated consent decree to a lawsuit.

The downtown King County Jail underwent a similar investigation in 2007 and the Justice Department required it to make significant changes in its care and treatment of inmates, under threat of a federal lawsuit. Such investigations often take years to complete. The jail investigation lasted nearly two years.

Justice's most recently announced findings, released Thursday and detailing widespread racial profiling by the Maricopa County, Ariz., Sheriff's Office, took more than three years.

Perez announced the findings of the Arizona investigation via a conference call with reporters. He will announce the Seattle findings in person.

The FBI and Department of Justice investigators interviewed police officers, their commanders and citizens. Assistant Chief Jim Pugel, who was a liaison between Seattle Police and Justice, said the department turned over tens of thousands of documents. Records show the Department of Justice also obtained dash-cam videos in connection with a number of use-of-force complaints.

The federal agency initiated its review in the wake of several highly publicized confrontations between officers and minority citizens, including the fatal shooting of First Nations woodcarver John T. Williams in August 2010 by Officer Ian Birk. The shooting was found to be unjustified and Birk resigned.

The shooting prompted a letter calling for the investigation, authored by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and endorsed by 34 community groups.

The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into the Williams shooting. No charges have been filed.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com
Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.

[gazhekwe]

http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl...r_12-16-11.pdf

Excerpt on Use of Force:

1. SPD’s Use of Force
We find that SPD engages in a pattern or practice of unnecessary or excessive force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 14141. We base our legal conclusion on numerous factual findings, including the following:

• When SPD officers use force, they do so in an unconstitutional manner nearly 20% of the time. This finding [[as well as the factual findings identified below) is not based on citizen reports or complaints. Rather, it is based on a review of a randomized, stratified, and statistically valid sample of SPD’s own internal use of force reports completed by officers and supervisors.
• SPD officers too quickly resort to the use of impact weapons, such as batons and flashlights. Indeed, we find that, when SPD officers use batons, 57% of the time it is either unnecessary or excessive.
• SPD officers escalate situations and use unnecessary or excessive force when arresting individuals for minor offenses. This trend is pronounced in encounters with persons with mental illnesses or those under the influence of alcohol or drugs. This is problematic because SPD estimates that 70% of use of force encounters involve these populations.
• Multiple SPD officers at a time use unnecessary or excessive force together against a single subject. Of the excessive use of force incidents we identified, 61% of the cases involved more than one officer.
• In any given year, a minority of officers account for a disproportionate number of use of force incidents. Over the more than two-year period reviewed, 11 officers used force 15 or more times, and 31 officers used force 10 or more times. In 2010, just 20 officers accounted for 18% of all force incidents. Yet, SPD has no effective supervisory techniques to better analyze why these officers use force more than other officers, whether their uses of force are necessary, or whether any of these officers would benefit from additional use of force training.

This pattern or practice is also the product of inadequate policy, training and supervision. SPD fails: [[1) to properly monitor or investigate the use of force; [[2) to implement adequate policies on the proper use of various force weapons; and [[3) to adequately train its officers on the use of force, particularly the appropriate use of various force weapons. The chain of command does not properly investigate, analyze, or demand accountability from its subordinate officers for their uses of force. In particular, we further find that the secondary review process is little more than a formality that provides no substantive oversight or accountability. Tellingly, of the approximately 1,230 internal use of force reports we received, covering the period between January 1, 2009 and April 4, 2011, only five were referred for “further review” at any level within SPD. Moreover, in our investigation, we found no case in which a first-line supervisor was held accountable for the inadequate investigation or review of a use of force incident.

[gazhekwe]

The Thick Dark Fog, one man's work toward community recovery from the trauma of the boarding school experience. This is one of several American Indian films that won acclaim at film festivals this year.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uxtV...layer_embedded

[gazhekwe]

Some music for the season, Jana Mashonee sings in Ojibwe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu2HI7v0n3Y

This movie is lots of Christmas fun in an Indian ski resort:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0jilST65Uk

[gazhekwe]

Seattle police fail to even see a problem

Danny Westneat
Seattle Times staff columnist
The good news first: Our cops are not as out of control as the police were down in Los Angeles a decade ago.
Nor are they as violent as cops in New Orleans. Or as racist as the crew in Phoenix run by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, found last week by the feds to have discriminated abusively against Latinos.
But make no mistake: Seattle police now are on this same disgraceful list. Lower down. But on the list just the same.
The hammer the federal Department of Justice [[DOJ) smashed on the Seattle Police Department last week was a stunner.
It's not that Seattleites didn't know our cops had issues. In recent years we've seen them on grainy display, in flickering videos on the nightly news.
But the meaning of the blistering report last week was in no way hard to make out. Unfortunately, that didn't stop Seattle police and political brass from trying to rationalize it anyway.
The feds found that one in every five times Seattle police used force to restrain or subdue someone — pinning their arms, taking them to the ground, tasering them, whacking them with a baton — the cops did so in a way that was excessive. Or, worse, unnecessary. To degrees that violated the person's constitutional rights.
Police here report using force about 600 times a year. Which leads to an embarrassing new stat. If the feds are right, it means the cops have violated someone's constitutional rights by use of force, somewhere in this city, an average of once every three days. For years.
That's so mind-boggling it can't be true, said both the police union and police chief. In unison for once.
The feds were blunt to say that if anything, they understate their case. They say the cops often sugarcoat accounts of their own use of force [[by saying, for instance, the suspect was "escorted to the ground"). Or, they just don't mention it in reports at all.
Maybe the feds are guilty of hype. They are prosecutors, after all. But even if the report is only half-true, it still means police are roughing someone up unnecessarily once a week. Can't we agree that's a problem?
Apparently not. As one onlooker described the crouch at police headquarters: "I haven't seen that much denial since I went to my first AA meeting."
Chief John Diaz has been trying. He didn't close blue ranks after the shooting of the Indian woodcarver, John T. Williams, a year ago. For that he deserves enormous credit.
I also agree with Diaz that the police have been making grudging progress. Though not without a near-mutiny among the troops.
But these findings damn all that. It says the problems are systemic, ingrained and cultural. "Starting at the top," it adds.
Diaz has been in SPD for three decades. So have all his command staff. How can we expect people there for 30 years to bring about change? Even if they want to.
One of the top outside candidates for chief, Sacramento, Calif.'s Rick Braziel, had an answer to that when he interviewed here last year. It was: You can't. Reportedly he came with a list of top command staff that had to go.
But then he withdrew. Maybe he saw how weak our leadership is? How intransigent our police union?
The reaction last week from many police and parts of City Hall was disbelief. We're shiny Seattle. How could this be true? The feds must be out to get police around the country.
Please. A few months ago, this same federal division ended an almost-identical investigation into the Austin, Texas, police. It, too, was prompted by cries of brutality from the NAACP and other groups.
But unlike here, in Austin the feds "did not find a department systematically engaging in the violation of people's civil rights," according to them.
The police chief there — who was, tellingly, hired from outside — agreed to 160 reforms suggested by the Justice Department. Here's what even one of the top critics, a local civil-rights leader, told the Austin press about how it all played out.
"Because of DOJ's investigation, the Austin Police Department has changed course, and Austin now has a better and more professional police department," he said.
I'm not seeing how this will be said about Seattle. Not without some big changes at, or at least near, the top.
Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.

[gazhekwe]

It's the beginning of winter, a time of quiet, stories, spiritual conditioning. The days have already begin to be lighter as the sun has begun setting later. After the solstice, it will begin rising earlier, making the days truly longer, about 3-4 minutes per day more daylight.

Solstice will arrive tomorrow night, at 12:30 a.m. EST [[officially occurring on December 22

nd), bringing on the shortest day and the longest night of the year.

Here in North America there is evidence of celebration and worship of the winter solstice, at places like Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, the site of an ancient indigenous city from 600-1400 AD. The site contained 120 earthwork mounds built over an area of roughly six square miles [[80 remain) and is the largest archaeological site left by the Mississippian culture, which had complex and advanced societies all across the Midwest and eastern North America.

Woodhenge, a circle of posts within this ancient city-structure, consisted of a circle of posts that were used to make astronomical sightings. Archaeologists discovered Woodhenge and found that the placement of the posts marked both the solstices and equinoxes. Further analytical work showed that the placement of these posts was by design, with such artifacts as a beaker found near the winter solstice post that bore a circle and cross symbol which symbolized the Earth and four cardinal directions.

In rural Peebles, Ohio, the Great Serpent Mound, believed to have been built by the Fort Ancient people between 1000 and 1550 AD, slithers away from the winter solstice. The Great Serpent Mound is possibly the best-known serpent effigy in North America, stretching out nearly a quarter of a mile in the unmistakable form of a uncoiling serpent. The serpent’s head is aligned to the sunset during the summer solstice, the coils and tail are believed to point to the sunrise on the days of the winter solstice and the equinoxes.

During the period between 1150 AD and 1375 AD, a still unexplainable series of mounds were built by the ancestors of the Creek Indians in Georgia, western North Carolina and the eastern edge of Alabama. These five-sided mounds are unique to the region, and were “perfectly arranged on the apexes of a triangular matrix, stretching for several hundred miles,” according to an article by Richard Thornton, part of an alliance of Muskogean scholars. “One leg of the isosceles triangles was true north-south. Another leg was true east-west. The hypotenuse was the angle of the solar azimuth at sunset on the winter solstice. How the accurate surveying of such long distances was accomplished by the indigenous people of the region has never been explained,’ he wrote.

Indian Mounds across the country, from Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma to Town Creek Indian Mound in North Carolina, have connections to the winter solstice. Here is a good list of American Indian mounds in North America, with some of them having special winter solstice celebrations.

This winter solstice for the Maya of South America is a hugely important time for rebirth, reflection, and renewal as the end of one cosmic cycle arrives with the beginning of a new cycle. Winter solstice ceremonies and celebrations have been an important component of Central and South American indigenous communities for many millennia. There will be celebrations everywhere, from El Salvador and Guatemala to Belize and Peru. ...

In Machu Picchu, there is a large column of stone called an Intihuatana, which translates to “hitching post of the sun,” with a ceremony that takes place each June 24 in Sacsayhuamán during the Peruvian winter solstice. There are more celebrations during the southern hemispheres winter solstice in June in places like Mapuche, in Southern Chile

Read more:
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...#ixzz1h6mhrd00

[gazhekwe]

WASHINGTON – 2011 saw some new and old heroes alike emerge in Washington, D.C., rooting and pushing for tribal and Indian interests. Here we list some of the notables:

Debra White Plume: This Lakota activist spent many long days and nights in Washington this year thanks to the federal government’s wrangling on whether to allow the installation of an expanded Keystone XL Pipeline across her homelands. Arrested for peacefully protesting the plan at the White House in early September, she became increasingly comfortable explaining Native resistance in front of large crowds of protesters. “We have to stand up for Mother Earth. We have to stand up for our sacred water—for our children, our grandchildren, for the coming generations,” she told a large group via megaphone just before her arrest. Throughout, she became a go-to Native voice to explain the cultural, health, and sovereign impacts. As the year wore on, young and old Indians alike would ask her on Facebook for the latest updates from D.C., and she was more than happy to share. But she was also fond of going home, getting away from the crazy trenches of Washington, to remember firsthand why she continued the fight.

Robert Williams: Normally a respected Indian law professor based at the University of Arizona, Williams trekked to the nation’s capital in October on an important mission to protect the rights of six First Nations of British Columbia. The Lumbee tribal citizen presented evidence at a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States that showed Canada has systematically ignored tribal land claims while permitting destruction of Indian lands through widespread clear-cutting that led to deforestation, pollution and possible climate change effects. He and his clients ultimately hope to achieve a huge precedential impact on indigenous rights to property. Until then, they wait for a report from the commission. “No one thinks these claims are going to be solved overnight,” he said at the time, “but we’re on the right path.”

Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., emerged in June as a congressional anti-tribal union advocate. New to Congress this year, she introduced legislation in an effort, she said, to clarify that the National Labor Relations Board does not have jurisdiction over tribally owned businesses on reservation land as a matter of tribal sovereignty. “The legislation stands to defend tribal sovereignty and promote economic opportunities on reservations lands by eliminating ambiguity in existing federal law,” she said. These words were music to the ears of some tribal constituents who fear unions and their impacts on tribes, and they hoped to continue to hear the right things from the politician in the years to come.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii: Set to retire at the end of his term in January 2013, he has spent almost 40 years in political office supporting Native rights. He continued to do the same throughout 2011 as the chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, which held numerous hearings under his watch this year on long overdue matters of tribal sovereignty, culture, and business. In the coming year, he’s expected to make another push for Native Hawaiian federal recognition, which he’s been rooting on unsuccessfully since 2000.

Elouise Cobell: Ironically, this champion of the Hill for many Indians couldn’t make it to D.C. for the hearing in June that would ultimately see the overseeing court finally approve the $3.4 billion settlement she played a major role in brokering. Instead, she testified by phone, strongly as always: “One hundred twenty-four years of abuse of our trust is enough. Fifteen years of intense, difficult litigation is more than enough. Too many of us have died without justice. Any more delays will mean that still more will die without justice. Enough is enough.” In October, Cobell herself passed away due to cancer. By then, the settlement had been approved by President Barack Obama, Congress, and the courts. But appeals were and are still pending, so she never got to know for sure whether any Indians would receive payments as the result of her years of work in Washington.

Kimberly Craven: No matter how unpopular it makes her to those who simply want a quick check, she’s the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate lady who continues to appeal the Cobell settlement. This class member doesn’t believe the settlement is right or fair, so she has kept up the battle. As reported by the Arizona Daily Star in September, “[h]er objection states, among other things, that anyone whose Individual Indian Money account was mishandled would receive less than those whose accounts were not mishandled, even though the first group suffered more financially.” Elouise Cobell was always admired for keeping up her fight for what she believed was right, and Craven is cut from the same cloth. Expect her to be a major force in Washington on this matter in the coming year.

Larry Echo Hawk: This head of Indian affairs at the Department of the Interior has appeared more and more willing to vocalize the unique sovereignty concerns of tribal nations within the context of working for the federal bureaucracy. Case in point: After announcing in November that the federal government is easing its rules for the approval of leases on lands it holds in trust for tribes and individuals, Echo Hawk publicly critiqued the fed’s previous errors: “In times past, a lot of federal laws and regulations have exhibited a paternalistic-like attitude from the federal government to First Nations leaders and communities,” he told Indian Country Today Media Network. Often, tribal and federal interests collide, which sometimes makes it easier for a federal Indian employee – even a top federal Indian employee – to just be quiet, not rock the boat. Get the paycheck, build the legacy, and then move on. But Echo Hawk has seemed quite willing to try to build an understanding within the federal government for tribal sovereignty. If that gets him in trouble, he appeared up for the risk this year. It was riskier behavior than we’ve seen from him in this role than in the past. Let’s hope it continues.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...#ixzz1hBuVvFzJ

To these, I would add:

Former Bay Mills President Jeffrey Parker. Under his leadership, Bay Mills Indian Community increased its land base, challenged restrictions on locating Indian casinos, established community supported footprints in Vanderbilt and Flint, worked with the state and Bay Mills Community College to sponsor charter schools statewide, worked to increase the tourism industry at Bay Mills. The Health Clinic grew, students continue to improve their achievements. More and more residents are completing higher education and they can return to help their community with the infrastructure that is being developed.

[gazhekwe]

White House Laments GOP’s Mikkanen Rejection

WASHINGTON – The White House is expressing disappointment by a Republican-led senatorial rejection of President Barack Obama’s nomination of Kiowa tribal citizen Arvo Mikkanen to be a federal judge in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
A White House official noted that Senate Republicans were the driving force behind sending the nomination back on December 17, making it clear that they would not move forward. The official said that the Obama administration is “obviously disappointed” by this action, which appears to be unjustly politically motivated.

There are currently 19 judicial nominees pending on the Senate floor, 16 of whom passed the Senate Judicial Committee unanimously without a single Republican dissent, yet there has still not been a vote by the full Senate to confirm them, largely due to GOP stall practices. By tradition of the Senate, single senators hold large amounts of power in slowing down the confirmation process, even when their political party is not in control.

It was opposition from Oklahoma Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe, both GOP members, who jointly played a key role in blocking Mikkanen, currently an assistant U.S. attorney in Oklahoma City. They would not allow his nomination to be heard by the full Judicial Committee, and they have not concretely said why.

Coburn has only said publicly that Mikkanen was unacceptable without offering clarification, and both senators have complained that they were not consulted prior to the nod.

Adding weight to the mystery, an editorial in the Okahoman newspaper suggests that Mikkanen’s background is similar to that of federal appeals court Judge Jerome Holmes, whose 2006 nomination to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was supported by both senators. Plus, Holmes had no prior experience as a judge, while Mikkanen does.

Under Senate procedure, home state senators to nominees are charged with granting the Judiciary Committee permission to move forward on considering a nomination, and both Coburn and Inhofe would not do this.

The maneuver is a major loss to Indian country. If he would have been confirmed by the Senate, Mikkanen would have been the only American Indian to currently serve on the federal bench, out of a total of 875 federal judgeships. He also would have been only the third Native American in history to secure a federal judgeship.

Indian legal experts have long said that tribal law gets shortchanged in the federal legal arena because so few judges are well-versed and experienced in it. This is one reason why federal cases are often harmful to tribal and Indian interests, according to many tribal analyses.

By most accounts, Mikkanen was more than qualified for the position. The American Bar Association had granted him a unanimous rating of “qualified” after Obama nominated him in February.

In his 16 years as assistant U.S. attorney, Mikkanen has overseen criminal and civil cases, with much experience devoted to Indian country. He has served as a trial and appellate judge for Court of Indian Offenses and Court of Indian Appeals for the Kiowa, Comanche, Apache, Wichita, Caddo, Delaware, Fort Sill Apache, Ponca, Pawnee, Kaw, Otoe-Missouria, and Tonkawa Tribes. From 1991 to 1994, he served as the chief justice of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Supreme Court.

Many in Indian country, including the National Congress of American Indians, had commended Obama’s nomination, and now many are shocked and angry.
“Assistant U.S. Attorney Mikkanen has served our country for many years as a federal prosecutor, and with his vast experience in both federal and tribal law, he is an excellent choice for the Federal District Court in Northern Oklahoma,” Jefferson Keel, president of NCAI, said upon his nomination.

Eight other judicial nominees were returned to the White House on December 17.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...#ixzz1hHQBGXSF

Gazhekwe notes: Is the GOP's only agenda really making America fail under Obama? That is a crying shame, if so.

[gazhekwe]

Abenaki storytellers Joseph Bruchac and his son Jesse tell the story of Gluskonba and the Snow Bird in English and Abenkai:

Kita. N8wad sahagipebonek. sahagidebihlab wji pm8wz8winnoak saohosabanik wigw8mw8k ala meskamen8ssa mijw8gan, agwachi 8gmaikok.
Listen. Long ago there was a hard winter. It was hard for the people to get out their wigwams or find food, even on snowshoes.

Ni pm8wz8winnoak lokwazobanik Klozk8ba wijokamid.
So the people called Gluskonba, the one who helps the people.

Klozk8ba paia odanak. Ta8lawi masgilek san8ba z8bossa waz8lik.Wijaw8n Seg8gw pmosala ta wijokama. Pam8gwenikok Seg8gwi piasso w8bignob ta walignob.
Gluskonba came to the village. As a giant he could walk through the deep snow. With him was Skunk, who traveled with him and helped him. In those days Skunk’s coat was white and beautiful.

Chaga 8da akwips8n, “pm8wz8winnoak idak, “mziwi pazgo n’machinabnaji.”
“If this snow does not stop,” the people said, “we will all die.”

“n’kloziji spiwi Waz8li Sibs,” Klosk8ba ida.
“I will talk to Snow Bird,” Gluskonba said.

M8jassa lagwiwi wajok t8ni Wz8li Sibs s8skadali. Seg8gw nozokozo kwelbiwi. Ms8gwata ni Seg8gw legida wji pazgwen Klozk8bai al8mtok li nakwaltak. T8ni adoji paiak wajoi Waz8li Sibs, Seg8gw alwa klajid. Klozk8ba aspig8dawassa w’tali Waz8li Sibs. Ps8noo wji welganikok.
He started toward the mountain where Snow Bird stands. Skunk followed behind. The snow was so deep Skunk had to jump from one of Gluskonba’s footprints to the next. By the time they got to Snow Bird’s mountain, Skunk was almost frozen. Gluskonba climbed to where Snow Bird stood. Heavy snow fell from its wings.

“Nid8ba,” Klozk8ba ida, “kd’achowi kbaa welganal.” Klozk8ba gagalnem madagenipik8n. “Chaga kia 8da kbaaw k’welganal, n’klabidonalji nspiwi io pik8n.”
“My friend,” Gluskonba said, “you must close your wings.” Gluskoba held up a ball of rawhide string. “If you do not close your wings, I will tie them with this string.”

“N’lokaji ta8lawi k’nadodmawi,” Waz8li Sibs ida. Agma kbaa w’welganal ni akwips8n.
“I will do as you ask,” Snow Bird said. It closed its wings and the snow stopped falling.

Kwanossassa pedgipaiak odanak, Seg8gw namiha kdag Sibs wskijiwi kdag wajok. Wassahla pmewasin wji w’welgwanikok.
As they walked back to the village, Skunk saw another bird atop another mountain. Light came from its wings.

“Kagwi sibs na?” Seg8gw nadodmawa.
“What bird is that?” Skunk asked.

“Na Kizokw Mgezo,” Klozk8ba 8zidawa. “Kwani w’welgwanal taodanaal, wassakwhla.”
“That is Day Eagle,” Gluskonba said. “When its wings are open, there is light.”
T8ni adoji paiak odanak, alwa mziwi waz8li sogebasob. Pm8wz8winnoak idak wliwni Klozk8bak. 8da awani ida wliwni Seg8gok. 8lawi sahaga wji agma achi, mziwi pazgo wanalm88did.

When they got back to the village, most of the snow had melted away. The people thanked Gluskonba. No one thanked Skunk. Even though it had been hard for him to make that journey, everyone had forgotten him.

Seg8gw moskwaldahla. “Nd’elokaji kagwi wji w’mikwalmiididji.” ida.
Skunk became angry. “I will do something to make them remember me.” he said.
Paml8gwik, Seg8gw s8gnapolwa. M8jado madagenipik8n. Odosan wajok w’tali Kizokw Mgezo S8skad. W’klabidonal Kizokw Mgezoi welgwanal kbaa kakaswi.

That night, Skunk sneaked away. He took with him the ball of rawhide string. He went to the mountain where Day Eagle stood. He tied Day Eagle’s wings shut with many knots.

T8ni adoji achakwiwik, 8da wassahlaga. Pm8wzowinnohlabanik zagzoak. “T8ni wassakw?” k8g8lewak.

When the next day came, there was no light. The people became afraid. “Where is the light?” they cried.

Pezdanokok, Klozk8ba odosan li Kizokw Mgesoi wajok. W’gwagwajo kadklabido Kizokw Mgezo, kanwa Seg8gw kizitob wz8mi klabidonal agwachi agma 8da w’polwawi pazgwen welgwan. Ni wji kagwi, li pamgisgak, ibitta pabasiwi kd’akinna w’waj8nem wassakw adoji.

In the dark, Gluskonba made his way to Day Eagle’s mountain. He tried to untie Day Eagle, but Skunk made so many knots that he could only free one wing. That is why, to this day, only half the world can be light at one time.

“Awani loka io?” Klozk8ba alidah8zo. Niga namiha al8mptok wji Seg8gw. Nozokamenal nidali t8m8 Seg8gw pmosaljid kao.

“Who did this?” Gluskonba thought. Then he saw the tracks of Skunk. He followed them back to the place where Skunk pretended to sleep.

“N’wawaldam kagwi kd’elokab. Ni paligen, “Klozk8ba ida. Sigwana wdamw8gan wskijiwi Seg8gok. Ni wlito Seg8gw majim8gwezid ta waligen w8bigen piasso mkazawigen. Anegitta ni Klozk8ba nozna nspiwi witkweljial Seg8gwi beskwanek wlitonal w8bigenol m8m8ligenol, wji mikolawama t8ni aligek piasso asma w’palhamen.
“I know what you did. It was wrong,” Gluskonba said. He emptied his pipe on Skunk. It made Skunk smelly and turned his beautiful white coat black. Then Gluskonba ran his fingers down Skunk’s back to make white stripes, to remind him what his coat looked like before he did that bad thing.

Ni Seg8gw kezbna aligid pamgisgak.
So Skunk came to be as he is today.

Seg8gw gwagwajo kashamen majim8gwak mskikoisikok, w’kizitonal majim8gwakkil achi. Kanwa Klozk8ba nasa wskijiwi mskikoisikok, kizitonal wlim8gwakkil.

Skunk tried to wipe the scent off on the grasses, making them smelly too. But Gluskonba breathed on the grasses, making them smell sweet.

Ni t8ni Wlim8kkil Mskikoal kezbna.
And that is how sweetgrass came to be.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...#ixzz1hTxS9ayL

Abenaki pronunciation guide:
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/abenaki.php

I'm not sure about the 8. It looks like it represents the on sound, with a kind of nasal n.

[gazhekwe]

I see people have been stopping in even though I have been distracted lately and have not been stopping by with tales and news. Well, here is an interesting take on the National Defense Authorization Act. Welcome to the club!

Americans Are the New Indians

By Ruth Hopkins

January 7, 2012

On New Years Eve, President Obama signed The National Defense Authorization Act [[NDAA) into law. Essentially the law does what previous NDAA incarnations have- it provides funding for the U.S. military. The controversy over this version of the NDAA arises from Section 1031. It gives the federal government, in particular the president, global authority to apprehend and detain anyone, including American citizens on U.S. soil, who are suspected of terrorism, assisting terrorists, or who are perceived as being in league with “associated forces.” The law also states that those detained may be held without being charged or receiving a trial, “until the end of hostilities.” In other words, perhaps indefinitely. That’s right: indefinite detention without trial is now codified law in the United States of America.

Section 1031 should be distressing to Americans and especially American Indians. While lauded as legislation that will offer the United States and her interests greater protection and enable us to win the War on Terror, Section 1031 tramples on Habeas corpus [[a common law legal action that allows prisoners to seek release from unlawful detention) and constitutional rights promised to U.S. citizens in the Fourth Amendment [[protection against unreasonable searches and seizures), the Fifth Amendment [[right to a Grand Jury and protection against double jeopardy and self-incrimination), the Sixth Amendment [[right to a public, speedy trial, to be confronted by witnesses, and to have the assistance of public counsel), and the Fourteenth Amendment [[right to due Process and equal protection). One may infer that Section 1031 puts the First Amendment [[right to freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly) in jeopardy too, because the wording of the law is so broad and vague that what exactly is deemed “terrorist” activity or aiding “associated forces” is left open to interpretation. It’s not unrealistic to foresee that citizens will become wary of participating in any dialogue, group or activity that may put them in danger of being seized by the government and detained indefinitely. Understand that Section 1031 will also supersede the rights enumerated in ICRA, The Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, that makes most of U.S. Constitutional rights applicable to Tribes.

In your analysis of this law, I encourage you to put any personal politics aside. It doesn’t matter whether you support President Obama, or if you’re voting in the next Republican Presidential Primary. Section 1031 spells doom for the United States as we know it, and opens the door to turning the United States into a military run regime where freedom is an illusion, and innocent Americans are taken from their families and communities and locked away without being charged or given a trial, possibly for the rest of their lives. Think about it. What determines whether an activity supports terrorism or “associated forces”? Could someone be seized under Section 1031 for clicking on a website later found to be affiliated with someone on a terror watch list? Possibly. Could political activists protesting government activities be arrested under this law? More likely than not. So what do you think the chances are that Section 1031 could lead to natives being seized by the government for going against federal interests in the course of protecting native lands, natural resources, sacred sites, civil liberties and tribal sovereignty? Remember, we natives have often found ourselves at odds with the federal government, and with good reason. We are proud, sovereign nations that pre-date the United States. Our ancestors were the original “insurgents.”

Reportedly, the Obama administration asked that language prohibiting American citizens military detention without due process be removed, and for the bill to give the President definitive authority for detaining people, instead of the State Department. Under Section 1031, Americans considered militant can be placed on a capture or kill list by a secret White House panel of top officials that advises the President of their decisions. While President Obama has promised not to use the new indefinite detention authority seeded to him under Section 1031 against U.S citizens, how the law is interpreted and utilized by future U.S. Presidents is anyone’s guess. I’m disappointed in the Obama administration’s short-sightedness concerning the multitude of disastrous ramifications that NDAA Section 1031 could bring for the American People as well as the U.S. Tribes Obama has promised to stand up for.

Mainstream society snickers at conspiracy theorists who warn us about the Illuminati, FEMA camps, and fascist government control, but laws like NDAA Section 1031 remind us that we should not blindly follow leadership, elected or otherwise. We cannot allow ourselves to be ruled by fear- of terrorists, the government, or any other force. Our grandparents did not fight, suffer and struggle for survival just for us to duck our heads in the sand and hide. We should stay informed, take heed and do all we can to protect our legal rights. Only a handful of corporations control the global economy. We must do all we can to insure that the interests and welfare of the people take precedence over greed and those who would dominate us.

The fate of Section 1031 now rests on the shoulders of nine judges responsible for interpreting the law: The United States Supreme Court. If they don’t overturn Section 1031, it could result in another Wounded Knee or Sand Creek- and Americans are the new Indians.

Ruth Hopkins [[Sisseton-Wahpeton/Mdewakanton/Hunkpapa) is a writer, speaker,former science professor and tribal attorney. She is a columnist for Indian Country Today Media Network and LastRealIndians.com. Ruth may be reached via Twitter, Facebook, or by email at cankudutawin@hotmail.com.


Read more:http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...he-new-indians http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...#ixzz1itsolbEP

[gazhekwe]

Here is some fun art in a romantic mood, Romantic Native:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=py4Jc...ayer_embedded#!

[gazhekwe]

New York aimed to force Indian tribes to collect $130 million in cigarette taxes for the state. But, the Indians refused to buy the cigarettes and pay the tax and are now making their own brands to sell tax free. Now the state is short the money, and the Big Tobacco companies have lost their sales to the tribes as well. Oh, well.... See the whole story below.

The New York legislature’s scheme to bolster the state’s coffers by forcing Indian nations to collect taxes on cigarettes sold on reservations has gone up in smoke.

The state’s tax collectors were recently calling around to convenience-store owners, wondering what happened to the tax dollars that were supposed to be rolling into the state, the New York Post reported January 12. The state had projected $130 million in extra taxes – and included that amount as revenue in the current budge – but the money didn’t show up. Post columnist John Crudele wrote that he has a memo which was sent to members of the New York Association of Convenience Stores from its President Jim Calvin that said, “I got a call from Gov. Cuomo’s budget office yesterday. In examining cigarette tax receipts so far this fiscal year [[April 1 to March 31) it looks like they will fall considerably short of their projection in new revenues. …”

The state has tried unsuccessfully during decades of tobacco wars to force sovereign Indian nations to collect taxes on the cigarettes they sell to non-Native customers in Indian country, but the nations have resolutely refused to be tax collectors for the state. The N.Y. Department of Taxation and Finance launched a new effort in early 2010 by amending the state’s cigarette tax law and companion regulations to require wholesalers and distributors to pay the $4.35-a-pack tax upfront on all cigarettes sold to reservations. Prior to the new law, Indian nations could order unstamped, untaxed cigarettes to sell on the Internet or to customers who travelled to reservations to buy their tax-free smokes. The idea of the new law was to force Indian tobacco businesses to collect the taxes on all the cigarettes they sold and then go through an onerous process to get a refund for the tax exempt cigarettes sold to Indians. The new law also included a quota system limiting the number of tax-exempt cigarettes a nation could buy based on the number of enrolled members.

The Seneca Nation of Indians challenged the legality of the law and managed to delay its implementation, but ultimately lost the case. Both the Seneca Nation and the Oneida Indian Nation responded to the new law by announcing they would no longer buy the famous brand cigarettes manufactured by the Big Tobacco companies of Philip Morris [[Altria), Reynolds-American and Lorillard. Instead they would manufacture and sell their own brands of cigarettes.

“While the state may be able to embargo through taxation premium brands from entering our territory, it cannot tax the brands made in our territory or any of the Six Nations,” Seneca President Robert Odawi Porter said.

The new law is having a negative impact on cigarette wholesalers and employment numbers, according to Crudele. “Wholesalers say sales are down between 20 percent and 30 percent among legitimate cigarette sellers,” Crudele wrote. “State enforcement of the tax laws, meanwhile, has been lax, to say the least. New York, I’m told, has reduced the force working on illegal cigarettes by 80 percent since the tax hike went into effect.” According to the memo Crudele received, the state budget office said cigarette tax revenues were the same in October and November as the year before. “That seems to mean that Albany is $130 million short on its $130 million projection,” Crudele wrote.


Read more:http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...-awkward-72350

[gazhekwe]

Two American Indian Academics Examine the Media Slant as the Diabetes Crisis Looms

By Terri Hansen January 15, 2012

There was no word for diabetes in traditional Native languages when the Europeans arrived on this continent. In 1933, a physician for the Indian Health Service [[IHS) reported just one case in the entire state of Arizona.

And yet today, type 2 diabetes is devastating American Indians. The disease can lead to blindness, amputation, nerve and kidney disease, heart disease and stroke. The U.S. Health and Human Services says American Indian/Alaska Native adults are more than twice as likely as their white counterparts to get diabetes, and twice as likely to die from it. Sixteen percent of adults served by the IHS have diabetes, with rates varying from 5.5 percent among Alaska Native adults to 33.5 percent among American Indian adults in southern Arizona.

Why hasn’t the mainstream media paid attention?

Two Native academics are trying to find the answer. Following a pilot study last summer, they are in the second phase of data collection, to examine just how journalists portray Native Americans with diabetes.

“From what I’m reading and hearing from the American Indian medical community, diabetes is being framed by those on the front lines as a type of genocide and perhaps the final one for American Indians,” said University of Kansas visiting associate professor in journalism and social scientist Dr. Teresa Trumbly Lamsam, Osage. “It’s already an epidemic. We’re not affecting the trajectory fast enough.”

Lamsam has watched over the years as tribal members have been devastated. So has her research partner, Haskell Indian Nations University journalism instructor Rhonda LeValdo, Acoma Pueblo. As she began working with Lamsam, she found herself personally caught up with her research. She kept her diabetic uncle abreast of their findings during their pilot study; the former cross-country and track runner in turn took to reading a book on diabetes and started logging his exercise routine. From the sidelines, he offered LeValdo his advice as she participated in running competitions.
And then diabetes cut his life short. For LeValdo, who had already lost three aunts to diabetes, and two other uncles to cardiovascular disease, a common complication of diabetes and poor nutrition, it was almost too much to bear. Another elder was prematurely dead, his ancestral knowledge forever lost.

“I couldn’t wait for my son to spend time with him so he could learn the Acoma songs they sing at our ceremonies,” LeValdo said. “There’s a problem when our tribes and people are dying and we’re just ignoring it.”

LeValdo and Lamsam searched stories from 1997, the first year of the federally funded Special Diabetes Program for Indians, to 2011. Over the 15-year period, they found journalists have depicted American Indians as being responsible for their diabetes because of their eating habits, obesity, and sedentary lifestyles. But the two have also seen how reservations lack grocery stores that sell nutritious, healthy foods at affordable prices. Instead, convenience stores sell foods high in fat, calories and sugar. Studies have shown a direct relationship to significantly higher obesity and diabetes in those living near convenience stores rather than grocery stores and fresh produce markets.

In short, their research intends to shift the blame from Native diabetes sufferers. To that end, the two researchers hope to guide journalists toward reporting that doesn’t overlook the role of social, economic, historical and environmental factors in the current crisis.

“How mainstream journalists tell the story influences public policy,” Lamsam says. “Negative portrayals affect public opinion, and that can determine how policy-makers act.” She points to the 1960s, when the media hammered home the message that tobacco is highly addictive. As a result, the federal government funded nicotine treatment programs and the public took a sympathetic view of cigarette smokers who found themselves unable to quit.

Lamsam and LeValdo are not alone in their findings. Science journalist Sally Lehrman, a Santa Clara University professor in the communication department and the Knight Ridder/San Jose Mercury News endowed chair in journalism and the public interest, has determined that reporters still tend to regard diabetes as an issue of personal responsibility, with individuals and communities often indirectly blamed for poor decision-making. So she is working with journalists, educators and students on how to focus more effectively on the social forces that shape health. “When journalists can show the social and institutional factors that help shape the choices that an individual or community are able to make, then we give the public more context and better tools for policy-making,” she said.

Progressive voices like Lamsam, LeValdo and Lehrman face an uphill struggle. Many Native Americans, deprived of their language, land, livelihood and traditions have developed a fatalistic view about diseases like diabetes. Lamsam calls this resignation “historical trauma.”

Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, the associate professor of social work at Columbia University who developed internationally recognized theories about historical trauma and historical unresolved grief and interventions among American Indians, “defines historical trauma as ‘cumulative emotional and psychological wounding over the life span and across generations, emanating from massive group trauma,’ ” said Lamsam. “This soul wound was inflicted through events that include forced relocations and boarding schools, land loss, smallpox, mass murders, force abortions and sterilizations, and the cumulative, continued loss of traditions, culture and language.”

Lehrman cautions journalists, however, that merely invoking such issues as historical trauma is just the tip of the diabetes iceberg. “It’s also important to point to policies, practices and procedures that might be keeping that trauma in place or to strategies communities are using to overcome its legacy,” she said.

“If we can get the tribal newspapers or journalists to encourage positive stories, maybe their journey to becoming healthier would encourage others,” LeValdo said. “Instead of blaming individuals, focus on community efforts to combat it; it could funnel more funds to help their efforts. We say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, it takes a village to combat this disease.”

To address historical trauma, Lamsam says tribal healers and health practitioners can use holistic, cultural, social and spiritual approaches as a supplement to current treatment protocols. Lamsam emphasizes, however, that these healing approaches do not take the place of current efforts, but rather supplement them with holistic, cultural practices.

LeValdo and Lamsam have found that journalists aren’t the only ones who have failed to accurately get the word out about the Native diabetes epidemic. For example, the sudden shift from subsistence to processed foods caused type 2 diabetes to soar in the Pima, in Arizona, to 70 percent of their adults today. The tribe has been a magnet for federal and university researchers for over 30 years looking for causes and future treatments. It led to findings in 2003 that diabetes was largely preventable. It infuriates LeValdo that they merely gathered data, without appealing to the medical community.
“They had the opportunity to educate that tribe about how to curb or stop the rise, but they didn’t help,” LeValdo said. “They let it balloon up. I understand they’re trying to follow certain regulations, but if people are dying because of those regulations, they need to find a way to step it up.”
....

Read more:http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...paign=fb-posts

[gazhekwe]

5 Reasons We’ll Miss Rick Perry in the Race

By ICTMN Staff January 19, 2012

Now that Texas Governor Rick Perry has announced his departure from the Republican presidential seat race, Indian Country Today Media Network wants to share five things we will miss with him bowing out:

1. No more whacky religious supporters talking about American Indians as cannibals.
2. No more confusing us on the appropriate voting age.
3. Goodbye Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s soapbox.
4. Calling him out for his family’s ill-advised, racially named hunting cabin.
5. Calls for Civil War, we only need one, have left the GOP race. Now if we can only get Newt Gingrich to stop agreeing with Andrew Jackson.

Read more:http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...the-race-73329 http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...#ixzz1jwMXrXdg

[gazhekwe]

LANSING CASINO EFFORT FOUGHT
Tribe tries to nix facility blocks from Capitol
By Matt Helms Free Press Staff Writer [Today's Free Press]

A Michigan Indian tribe on Friday launched a preemptive assault against plans for a major off-reservation casino in the works for downtown Lansing. [Hint: It isn't the Soo Tribe launching a pre-emptive assault against its own casino. See Paragraph 4 for the real culprit.] The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians wants to build a large casino on Michigan Avenue next to the capital city’s major convention facility. The proposal will be announced next week and is supported by Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, according to a person familiar with discussions about the plans.

The person, who spoke on condition he not be identified because he didn’t haveauthority to reveal details, said Lansing and its public school district would use the city’s share of revenue from the casino to pay for four-year college scholarships to any public university in Michigan for any student who graduates from the Lansing School District. Building a casino near the Lansing Center would put it mere blocks from the state Capitol and close to the stadium where the minor-league Lansing Lug-nuts baseball team plays. Bernero’s office declined to comment Friday night on the casino plans. A spokesman for the Sault tribe would not comment on the proposed casino ahead of the announcement next week.

Sara Wurfel, a spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Snyder, said he would reserve comment but that “generally, the governor is not a proponent of additional off-reservation tribal casinos.”

The Saginaw Chippewa IndianTribe of Michigan does not want the casino built in Lansing, according to a letter sent Friday to Snyder and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. The Saginaw Chippewas argue the Sault tribe is trying to circumvent laws that define what is considered tribal land so it can build an off-reservation casino on land that is not now Indian land. The Saginaw tribe has hired a consultant, South Dakota lawyer Philip Hogen, who was chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission in 2002-09, to help oppose the Lansing casino plans. Hogen argued in the letter to Snyder that the Lansing property is nowhere near the reservation of the Upper Peninsula-based Sault, and the tribe should not get special legal consideration for property in Lansing.

Schuette’s office said he is “totally opposed to expansion of casino gaming in Michigan.” Schuette has fought moves by other tribes to have off-reservation property declared Indian land to make way for casinos. Speculation about the casino has been rampant in Lansing for months. If a casino is built there, the city would become the largest in Michigan outside Detroit with a major gambling hall.

Because Indian tribes are considered sovereign nations, casinos built on tribal lands are subject to less regulation by U.S. and state governments and pay lower taxes. Tribal casinos in Michigan generally pay 2% of profits from slot machines to local governments and 8% to the state. [Actually, it's 2% and 8% of Gross proceeds, not profit --Gazhekwe]

Hogen, the consultant for the Saginaw Chippewas, told the Free Press on Friday that he’s concerned that allowing one tribe to buy land far from its reservation to build a casino is unfair to other outstate tribes that would like to have casinos near bigger cities. He also said that it would undermine existing legal restrictions on Indian gaming and impact “everyone involved in this fruitful but very fragile economic development that’s called Indian gaming.”

[gazhekwe]

Mayans Demand Inclusion in ‘Doomsday Tourism’
By ICTM Staff, Jan 21, 2012

The global interest in the interpretations that the Maya calendar predicted horrific catastrophes on December 21, 2012 might not sound like a tourism draw for Mexico, but that’s exactly what it appears to be. And the indigenous people of southeast Mexico are demanding inclusion in the official programs planned for this year aimed at taking advantage of this interst.

IPSNews.com reports that indigenous organizations are resentful that they were excluded from the design process of the Maya World promotion plan that was launched by the Mexican government on January 16. The promotion hopes to lure domestic and foreign tourists to the indigenous regions that hold dozens of ruins of ancient Mayan cities which are scattered in five southeast states.

“Our voices were not heard,” Aretmio Kaamal, general coordinator of the non-governmental Permanent Forum on Indigenous Policy Kuxa’ano’on [[Mayan for ‘we live’) told IPS. “Once again, the government has acted without consulting us. The only ones who will benefit are corporations.” Kuxa’ano’on was formed in 2005, it advocates for the rights of Mexico’s indigenous peoples in the states of Campeche, Chiapas, Quintana Roo, Tabasco and Yucatán.

The Mexican government’s slight against the Indigenous organizations isn’t the only issue—there is also the concern of potential damage and contamination to these sacred Mayan sites.

“The focus is purely commercial, with no consideration for our culture, our roots, or our traditions,” Kaamal said.

The Washington Post reported on January 12 that the Mexican Tourism Department said it would spend $8 million promoting tourism to the “Mayan World,” an area in southeast Mexico that extends to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Tourism Secretary Gloria Guevara told the Post that she expects 52 million tourists over the 1 1/2 years of the plan, which would be 12 million more than usual.

The global interest in the Mayan ‘doomsday’ prophecy is, according to the representatives of the indigenous people, misunderstood.

“The apocalyptic forecasts are based on the Mayan calendar, which marks Dec. 21 as the end of a grand cycle of thirteen 144,000-day ‘baktuns’, lasting 5,126 years, coinciding with the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere,”.IPS reports.

“According to Mayan historians, the 13 Baktun began on Aug. 11, 3114 BC, and when it ends this December it will simply mean that another 144,000-day ‘long count’ will start.”

That hasn’t stopped the government from pouring an investment of approximately $49 million into the Maya World Programme, a lot more than the initial tally of $12 million reported by the Post. The 52 million domestic and foreign tourists the plan hopes to attract would bring in around $14 billion in tourism-related income into the country. There are events planned that will include the archaeological, astronomical and gastronomic.

It appears the government’s plans have been has created in a vacuum, with a large percentage of the indigenous population simply unaware of what’s going on.

Cecilio Solis, president of the Mexican Indigenous Tourism Network [[RITA), which was founded in 2002 by 32 indigenous enterprises, told IPS that his members from central and southern Mexico report knowing nothing of the official events planned for their regions. ”We don’t want this to be treated like Hollywood entertainment or a local-color attraction,” he said. “It has to do with history and the passage of generations; it’s part of our spiritual heritage.”

For more on this story, click here.


Read more:http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...-tourism-73721 http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...#ixzz1k7y5ravl

[gazhekwe]

Hmm, I would have thought you all might have something to say about this subject! Anybody out there?

[gazhekwe]

Two Tribes Want Apology from Mayor for Calling Native Lobbyist "Chief Chicken Little"

Native News Network Staff in Native Currents.

LANSING, MICHIGAN - The Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi and Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan are calling for a public apology from Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, who used a racial slur against an American Indian lobbyist named James Nye. This last Thursday, at a fundraiser event.

Nye is a tribal citizen of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. Nye represents the two tribes, which are opposed to a proposed $245 million casino that would partner the City of Lansing and the Sault Ste. Marie. Lansing is the capital city of Michigan.

Mayor Bernero called Nye "Chief Chicken Little" to people in attendance at the fundraiser. His comments were laced with profanity about Nye. Bernero was apparently was upset about statements made by Nye earlier in the week in opposition to the proposed Indian casino.

“I have been involved for over 12 years in my profession as a lobbyist. I have never been attacked for being Indian during those 12 years until now. I am shocked and appalled,”

Nye told the Native News Network.

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians announced plans for an off-reservation casino at the Lansing Center early last week. Lansing is 287 miles that Tribe's government offices.

"Parents with children in attendance were visibly upset by Bernero's behavior. Bernero appeared on stage with a bull's-eye pasted on his back to suggest he is under fire from bows and arrows," according to a press release issued today by the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe.

"We call on Mayor Bernero to issue a public apology, take sensitivity training, and refrain from racially-charged language in the public discourse," stated Chief Dennis Kequom of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.

“Racial slurs by government officials against Native Americans conjure images of a bygone era of destructive policies that resulted in centuries of genocide and poverty.”"The mayor's remarks are particularly offensive in light of the fact that he has partnered with the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe on his casino aspirations. I call on my fellow tribal chairmen across Indian Country, especially the Sault Tribe chairman, to join me in condemning these vile remarks. A racial slur is not made against not one of us, but all of us," said Chief Kequom.
Mayor Bernero had not returned a call to the Native News Network at press time.
The Detroit Free Press is reporting a statement from the Mayor Bernero's office, however. In the statement the Mayor says, "I make no apologies for using strong language against our opponents… ", "but I do offer my heartfelt and sincere apology to any and all who were offended by my choice of words."

He said: "My passionate support for Lansing and our casino project may have gotten the better of me, but none of my remarks were directed toward Native Americans, and nothing I said can fairly be construed as a racial slur, despite our opponent's attempt to spin it that way. I make no apologies for using strong language against our opponents, who have made some very impertinent remarks about me, but I do offer my heartfelt and sincere apology to any and all who were offended by my choice of words."

posted January 30, 2012 3:55 pm est

http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/two...en-little.html

[Pam]

I am shocked and appalled

Me too. I voted for the guy.

[gazhekwe]

Come to think of it, so did I. We didn't have much choice at the time.

It is obvious Virg would rather wordpunch than think. His so called apology makes it clear he has no idea how offensive he was being. It seems the Soo Tribal Chair is backing him up as well. How far we will go to hurt each other when there is a bone for us to fight over is painful to see.

[gazhekwe]

Russell Means on His Brother Ted, Janklow, Peltier and Indian Killers

Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Currents.


San Jose, New Mexico - Recently the Native News Network interviewed Russell Means, Lakota, by telephone to get an update on his health and to discuss other topics. It was last July when he was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus by doctors at the UCLA Medical Center.

One option he had was to have part of his tongue removed. He quickly rejected that option, electing instead to rely on alternative medicine. For several months, Means went extensive tomotherapy, an intensity modulated radiation treatment, at the Sunridge Medical Wellness Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. He also relied on Native healing methodologies that included drinking herbal teas.

Means gained international fame as one of the most prominent American Indian Movement leaders during the 1970s. Since then, he has worked for American Indian rights and human rights throughout Indian Country and in other spots around the world.

In the early 1990s, Means became a Hollywood actor. Since 1992, he has appeared in "The Last of the Mohicans," "The Pathfinder," "Natural Born Killers," "Windrunner: A Spirited Journey," "Thomas and the Magic Railroad." His served as the voice of Chief Pawhatan in "Pocahontas" in the hit 1995 Disney movie.

Means was in great spirits during the telephone interview.

Russell, I am hearing good reports that you are doing better. Tell us how you are doing?

Russell Means: I am doing fine. My doctor told me, "Mr. Means, you will not die of cancer."

I am cancer-free. There is no trace of cancer in my body. And, I do appreciate all of the prayers from around the world.

I am back home now. In November I lost my brother, Ted to a heart attack. So I went to South Dakota to bury him. He was seven years younger. It makes it hard when you have to bury a younger brother, but I am doing okay.

Six years ago, we buried another brother, Dace, who was the first general manager of the KILI radio station on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Now I am back home working on writing a book. I am so pleased to be back home after eight months of being away from home. Actually, I have two books I am working on right now.

Tell me about the books.

Russell Means: The first one is named "If You've Forgotten the Name of the Clouds, You've Lost Your Way." It is basically done, but needs some editing. The book is an introduction into American Indian thought and philosophy. I favor selling it online. It will be about 80 pages and have some of my drawings of clouds over the northern plains.

The second book is named "Indian Killers." When I was growing up back in the 1940s - when I was a boy - it was politically correct to use the term "Indian killers." These Indian killers were American heroes.

I am talking about people such as: Davy Crockett, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Cortes and even Columbus. I am going flesh them out - twelve Indian killers. I am going to talk about not only what they did, but also about their policies - of why they killed Indians.

It is a different approach. It will not only be a history book, but I am going to write it so that it is entertaining. I have oil paintings of all twelve so people can find out what they really were about in history.

I think there is a large audience for books like these. Bayard Johnson, who is Ojibwa and Cherokee, is co-authoring both books with me.

What is your reaction to death of former South Dakota Governor Bill Janklow?

Russell Means: I was actually saddened when I heard the news. You know, Bill Janklow was one of the first people to call me last year when it was announced I had cancer. He told me he would pull strings to get me into the Mayo Clinic for treatment.
Of course, I was not interested in going there, but it means a lot to me that he called me. This was before he was diagnosed with cancer. Now he is gone from it.
It killed him.

The Leonard Peltier Walk for Human Rights was launched on Alcatraz Island on December 18. Do you support it? Will you walk with the long walkers?

Russell Means: I could not be there in December, but I am very much in support of the walk. With everything going on, I just heard about it. I guess you could say I have been out of the loop.

I will be happy to walk with them when they get close to where I am. I have always supported Leonard.

I support Leonard's release.

posted January 31, 2012 11:57 am est

[gazhekwe]

5 Ajmac | Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Corresponding with this day in the Gregorian calendar is 5 Ajmac. Ajmac is Bee, also Vulture. 5 is one hand.

On Ajmac ancestor spirits can detect and smooth the thread of time in our lives. Prudence, intelligence, ancient wisdom are in this day. Ajmac is a day to plead forgiveness for serious faults and to be judged. It is a day that demands moral rectitude, respect, and sincere analysis. Our faults [[stains) must be faced and paid for on this day; humble request for pity is encouraged.

Ajmac is a propitious day for the women of a household to make peace with one another after conflict, to apologize for sharp words; it is a good day to pray for smooth relationships and the renewal of agreements among women.

Hard luck can face those born on Ajmac.

Today's Maya calendar glyph represents Tz'ikin and appears throughout Maya country.

http://blog.nmai.si.edu/main/2012/02...1-21-2012.html

[gazhekwe]

Basketball player benched for Native American language

9:40 pm, February 1, 2012, by Katie DeLong

SHAWANO — A seventh-grade student from Shawano‘s Sacred Heart Catholic Academy is upset and looking for an apology after she was benched from a basketball game.

12-year-old Miranda Washinawatok got in trouble with her teacher for saying “I love you.” She says the teacher didn’t get upset about what she said, but the language she used.

Washinawatok is Native American and speaks more than one language. The teacher says Washinawatok was disrespectful and handed down an athletic suspension. “She sort of threw her hands down on her desk and said ‘don’t be talking like that.’ Washinawatok said.

Miranda’s mother, Tanaes Washinawatok said the language is part of her family’s culture. “I’m not going to let anybody tell me that they can’t speak that language,” Tanaes Washinawatok said.

The Diocese of Green Bay has issued a statement, saying the school is in the process of preparing a letter that will be sent to all parents and families explaining the situation of the athletic suspension. The letter will also include “a positive action plan for future progress in the area of education and awareness of cultural diversity at the school.”

http://fox6now.com/2012/02/01/basket...ican-language/

[gazhekwe]

Groundhog Day’s Native American Roots

By ICTMN Staff February 2, 2012

What does Groundhog Day have to do with Native American language and history? And how did Punxsutawney Phil, the now famous groundhog millions look to for weather predictions, end up in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania?

Let’s start at the beginning.Groundhog Day, at its most basic, is an astronomical holiday. February 2^nd falls midway between the December solstice and March
equinox.

“Solstices, equinoxes and seasonal midways called cross quarters were vital to ancient people for regulating their calendars and knowing when to plant, when to harvest, when to stay, when to move,” says an article about the seasons on Archaeoastronomy.com.




[As shown above, t]he equinoxes and solstices are separated by 90-degree angles. The cross quarters bisect those and served as Celtic boundaries for the four seasons—Beltaine, Lughnasad, Samain and Imbolc. Imbolc corresponds to Groundhog Day and the beginning of spring and gave way to Candlemas, its church-approved name, when clergy in Europe would bless and distribute candles marking the end of winter.

People also looked to a hedgehog for its shadowy prediction.An old English song goes like this:

If Candlemas be fair and bright, Come, Winter, have another flight; If Candlemas brings clouds and rain, Go Winter, and come not again.

So it goes today. If Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, it’s an omen for six more weeks of bad weather. But if the day is cloudy and he doesn’t see his shadow, it’s time for spring. But how did Punxsutawney become Groundhog Day central?

The first Europeans to settle in Pennsylvania were the Germans early in the 18^th century. They found an abundance of groundhogs in the area. The creatures weren’t the hedgehogs they were used to back home, but they figured the groundhog would do. The earliest observance of Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney was 1886 reported The Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper. The celebration moved to Gobbler’s Knob—where it’s still held—in 1887, the same year the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club was formed. The club named Phil its furry prognosticator back in 1887, and then declared his immortality. Every summer the group feeds Phil a “magic elixir of life,” which members say extends Phil’s life by seven years.Phil even got a movie out of his fame. In 1993, Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell starred in Groundhog Day, which wasn’t actually filmed in Punxsutawney, but in Woodstock, Illinios.

Punxsutawney is in the hills of the Appalachian Plateau and takes its name from past inhabitants. The name itself comes from the Native American word ponki for sand fly. Indians called the place Ponsutenink, “the town of the ponkis.” The area was a campsite used by Native Americans halfway between the Allegheny and Susquehanna rivers. Ponsutenink was on the Shamokin Path, the earliest known trail to the east. At various times the area was inhabited by Shawnee, Delaware, Seneca and Iroquois.

The groundhog even has Native roots. The burrowing rodent is also called a woodchuck, which according to the Cornell Chronicle, Natives once used as hides for the soles of moccasins. Even the word woodchuck has Native origins. Many sources say it came from the Algonquian word wuchak, which English colonists turned into woodchuck. The World English Dictionary says it came from the Narragansett word for woodchuck ockqutchaun and the Cree word for fisher, a member of the weasel family, otcheck.

According to Native-Langauges.org, “the Wabanaki tribes of New England and the Canadian Maritimes have a mythological woodchuck character, named Grandmother Woodchuck, who is the adoptive grandmother of their culture hero Glooskap. She is usually depicted as a wise elder whose patience and wisdom teaches lessons to the good-hearted but often impetuous Glooskap.”

Read more: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...#ixzz1lFvzgUXb

For the record, today Phil predicted six more weeks of winter, while Woody of Novi predicted an early spring. I'm going with Woody, who has been right 9 of the past 13 years.

PS, the Ojibwe word for fisher, a member of the weasel family, is Ojig.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_[[animal)


I am not sure of the word for woodchuck, but it is likely to be close to wuchak, since Ojibwe is descended from the Algonquin language base.

[gazhekwe]

Menominee Seventh Grader Suspended for Saying "I Love You" in her Native Language

Levi Rickert, editor-in-chief in Native Challenges.

SHAWANO, WISCONSIN - What's love got to do with it? Not much, especially if you say the words "I love you" in the Menominee language in front of a certain Wisconsin teacher. Seventh grader Miranda Washinawatok, Menominee, found this out.

Miranda Washinawatok
Menominee

Miranda speaks two languages: Menominee and English. She also plays on her basketball team.

However, two Thursdays ago she was suspended for one basketball game because she spoke Menominee to a fellow classmate during class.

Miranda attends Sacred Heart Catholic Academy in Shawano, Wisconsin. The school body is over 60 percent American Indian. The school is approximately six miles from the south border of the Menominee Indian Tribe Reservation.

"On January 19 I was told by Miranda she was being benched from playing that night. I found out at 4:20 and we were back at school at 6:30 pm so I could get to the bottom of why she could not play," said Tanaes Washinawatok, Miranda's mother.

"Miranda kept saying she was only told by her assistant coach she was being benched because two teachers said she had a bad attitude. I wanted to know what she did to make them say she had a bad attitude."

At the school, the teachers and coaching staff seemed to want cast blame on each other, according Miranda's mother.

"I wanted to talk to the principal, but he was not there before the game started," stated Tanaes Washinawatok.

Being a persistent concerned parent, Washinawatok was back at the school by 7:30 the next morning to speak to the principal.

The principal told Washinawatok that the assistant coach told him she was told by two teachers to bench Miranda for attitude problems.

The alleged attitude problem turned out to be Miranda said the Menominee word "posoh" that means "hello" and said "Ketapanen" in Menominee that means "I love you." Miranda and a fellow classmate were talking to each other when Miranda told her how to say "Hello" and "I love you" in Menominee.

"The teacher went back to where the two were sitting and literally slammed her hand down on the desk and said, "How do I know you are not saying something bad?"

The story did not end there. In the next session, another teacher told Miranda she did not appreciate her getting the other teacher upset because "she is like a daughter to me."

By the time, Miranda was picked up by her mother she was upset for being suspended.

"Miranda knows quite a bit of the Menominee language. We speak it. My mother, Karen Washinawatok, is the director of the Language and Culture Commission of the Menominee Tribe. She has a degree in linguistics from the University of Arizona's College of Education-AILDI American Indian Language Development Institute. She is a former tribal chair and is strong into our culture," states Tanaes Washinawatok.

Washinawatok has had a total of three meetings with school officials and was promised Miranda would receive a public apology, as would the Menominee Tribe, and the apologies would be publically placed.

"On Wednesday, a letter was sent to parents and guardians that a real generic letter of apology that really did not go into specifics as to why there was this apology," Washinawatok told the Native News Network Thursday evening. "I still don't think it was enough."

Sacred Heart Catholic Academy is operated by the Diocese of Green Bay, which ironically has an option on its answering machine for Spanish, but not Menominee. A call put in late Thursday afternoon by the Native News Network was not returned by press time.

posted February 3, 2012 6:59 am est