Paging Gazhekwe

[gazhekwe]

[gazhekwe]

Since we seem to be expending a lot of energy denying genocide initiated by white colonial expansion beginning with Columbus, I want to repost this wonderful article that explains it so well, using Northern California as an example.

In which we establish that there was a genocide against Native Americans, yes there was, it was genocide, yes or this is why I teach Native Studies part 3 million 9/8/2015 “We are still dealing with a holocaust of outrageous proportion in these lands. Not very long ago, native peoples were 100 percent of the population of this hemisphere. In the United States we are now one-half of one percent, and growing. All of the ills of colonization have visited us in its many forms of hatred, including self-doubt, poverty, alcoholism, depression, and violence against women, among others. We are coming out of one or two centuries of war, a war that hasn’t ended. …But to speak, at whatever the cost, is to become empowered rather than victimized by destruction.” Late last week this happened. A young woman by the name of Chiitaanibah Johnsen [[Navajo/Maidu) told Indian Country Today about her experience in a history class at Sacramento State University where she disagreed with the Professor’s claim that Native Americans did not face genocide. She said that because she was trying to engage with him during class, he ended the class early, called her disruptive, and said that she was “hijacking” the class. She also said that her professor told her she would be disenrolled and expelled from the classroom. You should read the entire article here if you haven’t. Now, some people may be surprised to learn that when I talk about genocide in my classes [[and I do, I often teach about California, and it becomes very clear, very quickly that what happened in California is a genocide) that students resist. There are many things that I tell them which they take at face value. If we are talking about basketry, they don’t question the methods or the outcomes of what I am saying about basketry. If we are talking about sacred sites, they nod along to videos I show them of Native people fighting for the right to protect their sacred places. But when we start talking about genocide, it usually results in few people who really, really, want there to have not been a genocide in the United States. That’s why this story hit so close to home for me. I mean, this dude is teaching in CALIFORNIA. CALIFORNIA. Genocide in California? Yeah, Native scholars have been writing about that for a while now… Part of the problem is that many are surprised to hear there was a genocide, or even mass killings, or any horrific example of something that happened. When you start talking about sport killing, the hunting of Indians, the large sums of money that were paid for California Indian heads and scalps, the open, flagrant, killing of Indian children, -- well nobody’s ever heard about it before. The erasure of the genocide feels almost surreal, like nobody [[especially our school system) could pull it off. If it was a thing that happened, we would learn about it, because you can’t hide something like that, right? Bringing people into a discussion about how thoroughly we have “hidden” the genocide that shaped this “great nation” of ours is, yes, usually met with some skepticism. And what I noticed about this Professor’s response to some of Ms. Johnsen’s research is that these responses are ingrained, because we learn them even if nobody takes us aside and says “this is how you refute or question or muddy genocide against Native peoples.” How we understand history is ingrained, it’s something that we have repeated… from kindergarten all the way through our required western history classes in college. We learn that history is benign, that history is the study of the past from an objective point of view that just wants to tell a story. We learn that history is in the past, and that our present and future depend on learning this story because we can learn a lot from it. But in reality, history is about power. The ability to tell the story is a very powerful thing. And the history we have learned in the west, is about justifying, maintaining and supporting the illusion that western civilization, western control of, western ownership of this land was inevitable, beneficial, and destined [[manifestly). From a different perspective, history is not so benign. In fact, it is a constant presence meant to deny Native people’s very existence. Because if Native people exist, then all that history comes in to question. Who we will be, it’s not so set. And we are a country, not so settled. I found this quote from Joy Harjo yesterday while I was preparing for class and it stuck with me because I know that to raise your hand, to say something, to speak as a Native person is a very powerful moment. Especially when someone will try to shut you down. In this case a Professor had an opportunity to maybe learn something, or at least bring this young woman into a discourse about the messiness of history. But most don’t want their history to be messy. They want their history to be in the past, and for them easily controlled. But for Native people our history is our present is our future. Actually, that’s for all people, but Native people are clear examples of how this is true. Genocide [[which happened) doesn’t just go away. Genocide… well Native people in California we didn’t just call it genocide… many of us called it “the end of the world.” An apocalypse, that doesn’t go away. That changes the world for everyone. Or as Joy Harjo said: “We are still dealing with a holocaust of outrageous proportion in these lands. Not very long ago, native peoples were 100 percent of the population of this hemisphere. In the United States we are now one-half of one percent, and growing. All of the ills of colonization have visited us in its many forms of hatred, including self-doubt, poverty, alcoholism, depression, and violence against women, among others. We are coming out of one or two centuries of war, a war that hasn’t ended. …But to speak, at whatever the cost, is to become empowered rather than victimized by destruction.” Anyway… here is my list of the top three things people tell me that try to explain why it's not genocide against Native Americans [[even though it is. It's genocide.) Most Native Americans died of disease. This is the one. This is the one that comes up the most when I start talking to people. In fact, scholars still write this in many of their articles. The statistic usually goes something like this: According to scholar Sherburne Cook [[FYI Cook is a guy who did this whole thing on population of Native California before “contact” [[invasion) and became very well known for that) there are three waves of destruction that reduced the population of Native people in California. The first was the Spanish Mission system, the second was the Mexican/Ranchero systems and the third was the Gold Rush. Cook says that close to 90% of the Native population died during this time. Of that 90%, Cook also said that “most” died from diseases. It could be true. But, it oversimplifies a very complicated thing about genocide. So we start here. What do you do when you get the flu? 1. You go to bed. 2. You drink fluids. 3. You sleep. 4. You think about starting a marathon of The Vampire Diaries on Netflix but you probably just fall asleep. 5. You call your Mom to complain. 6. You go to the doctor. 7. The doctor says “rest, drink fluids, and rest some more.” 8. You go home and go to bed. 9. Your very loving and supportive friend/ partner/ random delivery service on the internet brings you food. 10. You sleep some more. What do you do when you get the flu and you are a California Indian person in 1849? [[Heck, if you are a California Indian person in the missions in 1769?) If you're in the missions: You continue to work because if you don’t, they will punish you, or keep food from you, or punish your child or spouse. They have you on rations, they won’t give you anything different than what they feed anyone else. And at night they lock you in a dormitory. You are now sick with everyone else around you, in a crowded, cramped space and you have to go to the bathroom, vomit etc. in a bucket by the door. Explorers/ travelers/ other European people that come to visit will write about how bad it smells in these dorms. Like human feces. And since you have the flu, like puke. [[It’s graphic I know… it was a lived existence.) And then after a couple of days of this you die. The Priest writes “they died of the flu.” That’s technically true. But did you die of the flu? Now if you’re living in California during the gold rush and you get the flu, you continue to run for your life. Maybe you can’t sleep, because people are going through villages and gathering up women and children. Every time you hear a branch snap or a group yelling in the distance you jump awake because you can’t be caught off guard. Maybe you’re sick but you don’t want to send out your family to gather food, because women gathering acorns alone are getting taken, raped, left for dead. Maybe you finally get some sleep and a group comes in the middle of the night just to mess with your village by shooting randomly into homes, or setting things on fire. You run. You grab your child and the only safe place is to jump into the river, kneel down until it reaches just at your nose, and then you walk through the night, in the water, until you can no longer hear the violence. The next day you are exhausted, holding your child on the shore of the river, and you die… of the flu. But did you die of the flu? Now lets say you are a Native person in the late 1800s and you get sick and all you want to do is get better. So you go into town to get medicine. They arrest you and put you in jail for “loitering” and tell you to pay your bail or someone else will and then they get to keep you as a slave [[it’s called the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians - to protect Indians from loitering...). Of course you knew that, so you didn’t go in to town, you didn’t get medicine. Instead you decide you want to use traditional medicine, but you can’t do that. That’s been illegal since the Spanish Mission days. Any sort of Indian practitioner of medicine is targeted, because they tend to be women and also because they are a threat to settlers [[who don’t like Indians knowing stuff, doing stuff, continuing to do stuff). So now you can’t even get medicine. And then you die of the flu. DID YOU DIE OF THE FLU? This is the question I keep asking students. Yes, you technically died of the flu. But it wasn’t the flu. Jack Forbes, who was a Professor of Native American Studies at UC Davis, wrote in his book Native Americans of California and Nevada that what people discount when they start talking about “Indians died of diseases” is that Native people had been living in organized cultures and societies for thousands upon thousands of years. They had lived through epidemics before and their oral stories support this. They had developed medicine, surgery, psychology, and many other practices meant to keep them healthy. They had ways of addressing things like the flu, or small pox or other diseases that for some reason when we learn about them in history class become unstoppable epidemics. Because that’s the implication right? It’s just that Native peoples immune systems were so weak and the super strong Europeans who had the antibodies they needed, they could survive. But Native peoples who were so [[primitive? different? weak?) just couldn’t handle the super duper European disease. Jack Forbes’ point, is that they could have. They already had in a number of ways. But when you are talking about genocide you are talking about the disruption of everything, you are talking about the end of the world. And maybe some Indians would have died of the “the flu” but had the government or the State of California stepped up and said “no genociding!” and provided resources, or even just protection… does a majority of a population die of disease? Or does the population continue what it has already been doing for thousands upon thousands of years--- living.

[gazhekwe]

There was no central government that said “let’s go genocide today.” It was mostly bad, bad individuals who were acting of their own accord. . One of the major tenets of genocide is that there needs to be a central government running the whole thing. This is the government that passes laws, or starts wars, all so they can keep their ability to genocide. This primarily comes from Lemkin’s definition of genocide. Raphael Lemkin, in case you didn’t know, was the first dude to say “this is genocide.” In fact, he coined the term [[in 1944) by combining geno[[a Greek word meaning race or tribe) and cide[[from the Latin word meaning killing). He used the Jewish Holocaust as his example of what he meant when he said “genocide.” And what he said was:"a coordinated plan of different actions aiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves." The key to this was the “coordinated plan” which implied that it had to be organized, sanctioned and carried out by a central authority. Lemkin used the Jewish Holocaust as his example [[because, as Brendan Lindsay points out, it was the most recent example) but this [[as Lindsay says) doesn’t mean that Lemkin thought this was the only example. In California, what people mostly latch on to is the number of “average citizens” who participated in the mass killing of Native people and how seemingly “random” it could sometimes feel. Groups of people would come together, start talking to each other about how mad they were they Native people were still alive, or how scared they were that Native people would retaliate, and they would grab pitch forks and torches and take off to kill a bunch of Indians. This is not a central government organizing the mass killings of Native people. Only, these people were paid by the Government to carry out these killings. That’s right paid. On average people were paid $5 per head and .25 per scalp in California for the killing of Native people. There are stories about men riding through town on their horses with the heads of Native people dragging along behind them so they could go trade them in and get money. In 1849 and 1850 the State of California paid out of 1 million dollars for the killing of Native people. [[At an average of $5 per head and .25 per scalp.) And this was man, woman or child. The State Government supported and designed this genocide because they actively paid people for it, they passed laws that would support and make it legal, and also because they did not protect Native people from being killed. In fact, to prevent people from being held responsible for their crimes against humanity they passed laws [[like the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians) which said that no Native person could testify in court [[also that you could keep Indian people as slaves, you could keep Indian children who had no parents, and you could arrest an Indian for just hanging around). So the only people who could testify in court were non-Native people and they had no reason to report on their crimes. The federal government also participated in this by reimbursing the state of California for the killing of Native people. And when they finally decided to dispatch agents to California to negotiate treaties it was not because they felt bad for all the genocide. It was because it had gotten too expensive to subsidize the genocide. Did the government specifically come together in a meeting and say “let’s genocide today?” Not exactly. But the second act passed by the State Legislature of California was to pay people for killing Native people. And the governor of California made this statement very soon after he became governor to tell people what his agenda for the “Golden” state would be: ... that a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two races until the Indian race becomes extinct, must be expected. While we cannot anticipate the result with but painful regret, the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power and wisdom of man to avert. I don’t know, that sounds a little Hitler-y to me. It was a war… and war is hell. But intent. The intent to genocide, to erase, destroy, and kill all members of a specific group of people, that’s not war. At a point, they aren’t fighting a war they are mass murdering. We didn’t genocide everyone in the South in the Civil War, because they were people. The union stayed together, Confederates got “convinced” to follow the rules of our “great nation” and we started reconstructing. But we didn’t start rounding up Confederates to kill them all. Genocide is a choice, a deliberate choice to annihilate a group of people. We cannot erase that intent by calling it “war” because the intent is clear. Take the UN definition of Genocide for example: [G]enocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: [[a) Killing members of the group; [[b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; [[c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; [[d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [[e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. And what I find interesting about this is the continuation of genocide that has happened to Native people throughout history. There was not a clear start or end to the policies that were set forth with the deliberate intent to “destroy, in whole or in part” Native people. The continuation of policies to do this throughout history is astounding. And so silent. I can leave in my car right now and within 20 minutes I can visit the place where Juan Cabrillo landed to “discover” San Diego. There is a big statue of him there, overlooking this beautiful place, he “discovered.” And then I can head down the freeway and visit the “first Spanish Mission” in California. Mission San Diego, which would also usher in the first mass incarceration, mass enslavement, mass starvation of Native people in California. That won’t be on the plaque. Where do we go to remember? Where do we go to learn? [[Apparently, not even history class...) The collective silence on this genocide is so loud. It echoes when we sit in classrooms and someone says something like “I don’t really like to talk about genocide and Native Americans” or “I don’t think it applies.” We cannot be silent. We can speak louder than the monuments. Watch as we speak louder than monuments.

http://www.cutcharislingbaldy.com/bl...part-3-million

[gazhekwe]

This was not an isolated one of a kind event

[gazhekwe]

Joseph Medicine Crow, ‘The Last Plains Indian War Chief,’ Turns 100

Adrian Jawort 11/7/13

“He’s waited 100 years for this event, so it doesn’t hurt us to wait an hour,” emcee Robert Old Horn said, as Doctor Joseph Medicine Crow was on ‘Indian time,’ for his own birthday party.

Medicine Crow entered the Apsaalooke [[Crow) Multi-Purpose Building to thunderous applause as the Crow Nation and other guests stood up as he walked past on October 27.
Medicine Crow holds among his titles being a tribal historian, anthropologist, educator, as well as decorated World War II veteran. In 2009, President Obama bestowed upon Medicine Crow the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honor.

Prior to WWII, Medicine Crow – who was the first of his tribe to graduate from college – was studying for an advanced degree in anthropology before volunteering for the Army and being sent to Europe.

It was on the European battlefields Medicine Crow completed all of the four tasks needed to become a Crow War Chief. As a scout he led several successful war parties deep behind enemy lines; he stole German horses; he disarmed an enemy; and he touched an enemy [[counted coup) without killing him.

His grandfather was Medicine Crow, a renowned fierce warrior and scout during the Plains and Indian wars during the 19th Century. “My grandfather trained me to be a warrior,” notes Joe Medicine Crow. “The Crow people were so-called, ‘warlike.’ We were a very militaristic people.”

He told of how he counted coup on an enemy during Ken Burn’s 2007 documentary,The War. It wasn’t really planned after Medicine Crow saw a lone German soldier walking past in a narrow alley as he hid waiting to ambush someone. “I saw his rifle and I knocked it out of his hands,” he recounts. “All I had to do was pull the trigger, but for some reason I put my gun down and tore into him.”

After a violent struggle, Medicine Crow held the German soldier’s throat by his hands, and he was ready to finish him off. The soldier gasped, “Momma!” and Medicine Crow let him go out of sympathy. With that deed and without meaning to, he had committed two of 4 deeds to becoming a war chief.

Coming upon a farmhouse, they spotted a small group of soldiers and with around 50 horses in their possession. [[While the German Army was renowned for being mechanized, they and the Soviets did deploy more than 6 million horses during WWII.) Medicine Crow decided that before they bombarded the area with artillery, they should make off with the horses. They did so just before dawn as the explosions started.

“The one I was riding was a sow with a braid, so I felt pretty good riding it,” he says. “It was a beautiful horse.” As he rode, he sang a Crow praise song.

It wasn’t until after he came home and told elders of his deeds he was informed that he’d actually committed the acts necessary to become a Crow War Chief. “So I guess you’re looking at the last Plains Indian War Chief,” he says.

During Medicine Crow’s birthday feast, Crow tribal members recounted stories of how they were inspired by their ‘grandfather’ Medicine Crow from their decisions to join the military to pursuing higher education. Prince Albert II of Monaco gave him a birthday card thanking him for an earlier gift Medicine Crow had given him during a visit, as did the historian and emeritus of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Herman J. Viola.

But perhaps expressing the sentiments best via a tribute poem was Longmire writer Craig Johnson, who’d written about Medicine Crow the previous month. Old Horn read it out loud:
Stand, my friends, Joe Medicine Crow is walking past… To see the things that those walnut stained eyes have seen… To hear the things those leathery ears have heard… To feel the things that the still beating heart has felt… Stand my friend, Joe Medicine is walking past. Stand, my friend, history is walking past.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...rns-100-152106

[Pam]

Joseph Medicine Crow, ‘The Last Plains Indian War Chief,’ Turns 100

Did he make it to 102? That article is from 2013.

[gazhekwe]

Ooops. Yes he did. Let me check up on him.

This is from today, I meant to post this one. Thanks, Pam.

http://www.krtv.com/story/30372763/d...102nd-birthday

[gazhekwe]

[Pam]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141252491

Sens. Bernie Sanders [[I-Vt.) and Tammy Baldwin [[D-Wis.) introduced a bill on Thursday that would repeal a controversial measure giving sacred Native American lands in Arizona to a foreign-owned mining company.

[gazhekwe]

I saw that. Very timely, as Apache Stronghold walked into DC today to join with others rallying for Treaty Awareness, including the Michigan to DC Treaty Awareness Walk at the Lincoln Memorial

[gazhekwe]

Senators Sanders and Baldwin introduced a Bill to protect Oak Flat, in Arizona Apache Stronghold, which was approved to be sold to Rio Tinto, a foreign company, to be strip mined for copper.

President Obama rejected Keystone Pipeline after the Secretary of State John Kerry reported State Department findings that it does not serve United States national interest. Many Thanks to the Lakota people for standing strong to stop the trucks from crossing their lands.

Treaty Awareness Walkers from Michigan have reached Washington and are rallying at the Lincoln Memorial. This walk began with protests of the sale of treaty lands near Rexton, Michigan to a Canadian company to strip mine limestone. The state ignored treaty requirements to consult with the tribes over the sale. The tribes were sitting on their hands waiting for ... something. It took that action to wake us up, we are responsible for upholding our treaty rights. The walk to DC began as a wakeup call to the Michigan Native Bands, that we must band together for strength to force the state to recognize and properly deal with us as major stakeholders in the management of our treaty rights on the ceded territories.

[Pam]

Here's something fun I just stumbled across- Buffy Sainte-Marie on "To Tell the Truth":

https://youtu.be/pzhNYLUIGnI

[gazhekwe]

Love it, Pam! Thanks for posting it here.

[gazhekwe]

Native American Heritage Month: Recommended Reading

ICTMN Staff 11/13/12

How to celebrate Native American Heritage Month? One of the best ways is simply by reading. There are so many books out there about American Indians, but figuring out which ones can best inform us about Native American history and heritage is no small task. Many books about Indians are academic, written by college professors looking to get their doctorates, and appropriately dry as a result. Moreover they tend to focus on how Indians have fared under U.S. stewardship over the centuries rather than explore the rich heritage that existed on Turtle Island before the first settlers, and smallpox, arrived. Still more books have been published about various aspects of life since this country was created. But most Native history lies outside that narrow band of existence. The books listed here serve as a broad overview for Natives and non-Natives alike, giving a bit of ancient history, post-colonial history and a snapshot of modern-day life.

For a good overview of how all the nations, both in North America and South America, used to live, contrasted with how they fared after contact, one can start with Charles C. Mann’s twin volumes,1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus[[Knopf, 2005) and1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created[[Knopf, 2011).American Indians, of course, do not need to be reminded of the rich heritage that greeted Christopher Columbus and his ilk when they first touched these shores. Likewise, the cultural devastation that followed isn’t news. But the two books serve to give the many nations that inhabit Turtle Island an overview of all the cultures that coexisted here, and their history, while providing new perspective for a wider audience as well, enabling understanding beyond Indian country.

“You wouldn’t think there was another revelatory, perspective-shifting book to be gotten out of the arrival of Columbus in the New World, but 1493 is just that,” Time magazine said in naming it the best nonfiction book of 2011. “With immense energy and curiosity, Mann chronicles what amounts to the birth of a truly global ecosphere struggling to find a new equilibrium. It was a bloody birth. These forces were hugely powerful historical actors, and every trade turned out to be a trade-off too.”

For a more detailed look at events shaping pre-contact Turtle Island, This Day in North American Indian History: Important Dates in the History of North America’s Native Peoples for Every Calendar Day [[Da Capo Press, 2002) by Phil Konstantin also provides an overview, detailing more than 5,000 events important to North America’s Native peoples from 715 a.d. to the present.

Then there is the retooling, the books that remind us not of what was lost but of what survived, often in surprising ways. Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years [[Rethinking Schools Ltd., 1998) by Bill Bigelow turns notions of life at Columbus’s arrival on their head. Bonus: It is also among the books banned in Arizona schools earlier this year after the Tucson Unified School District School Board voted to eliminate so-called ethnic education.

As overlooked and forgotten as the sophisticated history of American Indians often is, so too are the contributions that Indigenous Peoples made to the formation of what is today the United States, and beyond. Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World [[Crown Publishers, 1988) by Jack Weatherford, is a key volume reminding us of all the things we take for granted that are actually Native inventions. Along political lines, Forgotten Founders: How the American Indian Helped Shape Democracy by Bruce Johansen [[Harvard Common Press, 1982) details the Great Law of Peace and the role it played in forming the U.S. Constitution.

Putting the finishing touches on Heritage 101 are books dispelling the stereotypes that surprisingly persist to this day. One such title is Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid to Ask, by Anton Treuer [[Borealis Books, 2012), a Q&A-style book that sets the record straight. Another myth buster is Do All Indians Live in Tipis? Questions and Answers from the National Museum of the American Indian [[Harper Perennials, 2007), another straightforward Q&A.

The perfect juxtaposition of old and new can be found in modern-day accounts of how Indians are living in two worlds. A prime example is the standout memoir by David Treuer, Rez Life: An Indian’s Journey Through Reservation Life [[Atlantic Monthly Press, 2012) which speaks to what many modern-day Indians, Ojibwe like him or not, go through. [[Read an excerpt here and a profile of the author here.) Taken together, these books form the perfect primer, putting readers on the road to understanding what Native American heritage is all about.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...reading-145495

[gazhekwe]

My niece from Bay Mills Indian Community addressing the Treaty Awareness Unity Rally at the Lincoln Memorial on November 6. The Rally was attended by many supporters, including Apache Stronghold and Lummi Nation, both fighting similar incursions on their ceded territories, which would seriously impact their way of life.

In the case of Apache Stronghold, Arizona Senator John McCain slipped an amendment into the Must Pass Defense Spending Bill last December, allowing the sale of Oak Flat, a sacred area, to Rio Tinto for strip mining copper, accepting Rio Tinto's assurance that they would not cause significant damage or would restore the land to the best of their ability once they tapped out. Have you ever seen a copper strip mine? It is incredible to think they could ever make it sightly again, much less restore a pristine desert riverine environment with all its flora and fauna specially adapted to live there while surrounded by desert. Well now, Senators Sanders of Vermont and Baldwin of Wisconsin have introduced a bill to rescind that sweetheart deal. This was done the same day of the Rally, November 6, 2015.

Rio Tinto is British Australian corporation, the same one that is restricting access and leveling the area around Eagle Rock west of Marquette, Michigan, right over the top of the Salmon Trout River that empties into Lake Superior. The state accepted some questionable environmental assurances to approve the deal, and declared that Eagle Rock could not be a shrine because it was not a building.

Lummi Nation is fighting a coal terminal at Cherry Point, Washintgton, a sacred area and traditional fishing area. They are opposed by the Crow Nation which sees the terminal as a key point for exporting coal from their mines. The terminal is proposed by SSA Marine, a privately owned company that began in the Pacific Northwest and now has global projects.

The Michigan tribes are waking up to the need for treaty enforcement. The Treaty Awareness Unity Walk to DC 2015 began as the State of Michigan DNR prepared to sell many thousands of acres in the Eastern Upper Peninsula which were ceded by the tribes in 1836 by Treaty and other treaties, all of which retained the right of use of the land for traditional hunting, fishing, gathering and other needs, until the land is required for settlement. The land was being sold to Graymont, a Canadian company, for limestone strip mines. Since the State took over care of the lands, they have been imposing restrictive rules and now see fit to just sell a batch of it without consulting with the Tribes as major stakeholders. Those treaty rights have property value, and the Tribes retain the sacred duty of protecting the water and resources for future generations as well. We need to re-unify to protect our significant interests in the ceded territories and other threatened Treaty Rights.

[Pam]

Congrats to the group from Michigan for making it to DC. Are these foreign mining companies bribing politicians? Who is making money off these deals?

[gazhekwe]

Thank you, Pam. We are happy with the way our walk generated support and spiritual strength.

You know it is not the Natives making money. Arizona gets the benefit of the land sale and whatever the company pays them for the copper, also there is the tax money if it gets paid. Local businesses will benefit from the influx of work and commerce, which further increases revenue.

For some reason, this Congress is wild to sell public lands to foreign companies for mining. It is happening all over, and with only lip service to environmental concerns.

What gets completely overlooked is the value being taken from the Native populations, they get nothing for the loss of the use of the land. That is a property right.

[gazhekwe]

Native Americans have controversially called for a complete ban on Christians of any denomination entering the US until representatives can ‘figure out what the hell is going on.’

“Seriously, you guys have screwed this place up,” said Chief Simon with Williams

“Two world wars, I don’t know how many ‘minor conflicts,’ mass-shootings, Adam Sandler, toy dogs, the Star Wars prequels. Ryan Adams covering Taylor Swift, MacDonalds; I mean, all this is bad enough but now you unleash Donald Trump on us?”

“I’m sorry, it’s extreme but we have to say enough is enough.”

The call for a ban has been seen as highly provocative to an already incredibly violent religious group who’s more extreme wings are responsible for some of the worst mass-killings in US history.

“Hey, some of my best friends are Christians,” said the Chief.

“And they are good people, seriously. But until we figure out a way to tell the nice ones from the hate-filled, bigoted, war-mongering mass-killers then we’ve got to look after ourselves.”

If the ban was put in place, it would affect such world figures such as the Pope, Bono, and Bill Turnbill, and open up the US to accusations of being profoundly silly.

The chief was conciliatory, “True words, I don’t want the US looking silly. Okay, if we can’t ban all Christians, then let’s just ban Donald Trump?”

http://newsthump.com/2015/12/09/nati...tering-the-us/

[gazhekwe]

FRANK ETTAWAGESHIK [[ODAWA) DELIVERS CLOSING PLENARY OF NFCCC COP21 IN PARIS ON BEHALF OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
BY LEVI RICKERT / CURRENTS / 13 DEC 2015

Frank Ettawageshik represented the National Congress of American Indians

Published December 13, 2015
PARIS – Frank Ettawageshik, the former tribal chairman of the Little Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, based in Harbor Springs, Michigan delivered the closing plenary remarks of UNFCCC COP21 in Paris, France.
Ettawageskik made his remarks representing the National Congress of American Indians on behalf of indigenous peoples around the world.
Here is the complete text of Chairman Ettawageshik’s remarks:

International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate ChangeStatement at Closing Plenary of UNFCCC COP21Paris, France December 12, 2015Presented by Frank Ettawageshik, supported by Chief Bill Erasmus, Hindou Ourmou Ibrahim, and Saoudata Aboubacrine

Aanii, Nakwegeshik N’diznikas. Pipigwa Ododem. Waganakising n’doonjibaa. [[Hello. Noonday is my name. The Sparrow Hawk is the mark of my family. I am from the Land of the Crooked Tree.)
Mr President, I greeted you in my Native language. My name is Frank Ettawageshik and I represent the National Congress of American Indians. Thank you for this opportunity to address you on behalf of the International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change. Indigenous Peoples are those who least contribute to climate change, having safeguarded our traditional lands, territories and resources for millenia. Because our lives are inextricably and intimately related to the natural world, every adverse effect on that world acutely affects our lives.
The members of our caucus come from all the regions of the world. Indigenous peoples came here with three key messages. We are pleased that during these negotiations all of our points were addressed to some degree.

1. It is essential that the rights of indigenous peoples be recognized, protected and respected within a broad human rights framework. We sought such assurance in the operative section of the Agreement. We are keenly disappointed that the Parties did not see fit to accommodate this request in which we joined with a broad constituency. The Parties do recognize the importance of such rights in the Preamble and we intend to insist on our rights at every turn. We are sovereign governments with international treaties and rights to land territories, and resources toward which we have a sacred duty which we intend to fulfill.

1. A temperature goal of no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. We are disappointed this was not adopted as the Structured Expert Dialog stated that our traditional livelihoods will be severely affected at two degrees. However, we are thankful that the vital importance of achieving the 1.5 degree Celsius goal is recognized in the agreement language.

1. Recognition, respect for, and use of our traditional knowledge, with our free, prior, and informed consent. We appreciate that a provision appears in the operative section under adaptation, but it should apply everywhere in the Agreement and Decision without the qualification “where appropriate.”

We must remember we are here as nations to uphold the future for our children! We recognize the hope in all children’s eyes and we work so that this hope will remain through the future generations.
Miigwetch [[Thank You), Merci Beaucoup

http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/frank-ettawageshik-odawa-delivers-closing-plenary-of-nfccc-cop21-in-paris-on-behalf-of-indigenous-peoples/

[Jimaz]

DetroitYES Home » Non Detroit Issues » Thom Hartmann » BLM Seizes Livestock of Native Americans, but not Bundy!

[gazhekwe]

Good recap. The Dann sisters, originally robbed of their livestock in 2003, have come up again in the wake of the latest Bundy capers. The baby Bundies are somehow claiming original ownership of all federal lands in the West, starting oddly with this bird refuge that is still under Treaty with the Paiute nation. The Burns Paiute nation claims ownership because the treaty of 1868, which the tribe signed, was never ratified by the Senate therefore the land was never ceded. In the case of the Dann sisters, they were grazing their cattle and horses on land taken without agreement by the federal government and put under control of BLM. The Shoshone NEVER AGREED TO GIVE UP THE LAND. The Danns were some $3 million down on fees owed to BLM for use of this land. Same as Cliven Bundy, who succeeded in standing off the US on the same issue of millions owed to BLM. Old Shoshone ladies 0, white guys with guns and bad attitudes 1. Feds 0.

I think the Treaty Awareness movement needs to change up to Treaty Enforcement, and it is going to be on the tribes to unify into their pre-treaty status and stand up to the encroachments that have eroded the rights retained by the tribes over the decades.

JAN 5, 2016 :

Yes. Well, I’d like to start off saying that today, in January, this is the 137th anniversary of when 500 Paiutes were loaded onto wagons and walked, under heavy armed guard, from their—from the lands where the Bundys are right now holding it and to the Yakama Reservation in Washington state, some 300 miles, knee-deep in snow. And they were forced to march, shackled two by two. And so, that’s some of the background there.

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/1/5/these_arent_the_first_armed_whites

[Pam]

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/03/gop-...n-mining-firm/

Two Arizona congressional representatives are angry that President Barack Obama has intervened to prevent sacred Apache land from being sold off to foreign business interests, according to Tucson Weekly.

[Pam]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017341318

Russell Begaye, the president of Navajo Nation, praises Bernie Sanders' stances on Native American issues.

[Pam]

Jane Sanders visits Oak Flat:

https://youtu.be/eIRP54WVssA

[Pam]

More Native Americans feeling the Bern. Sen. Sanders receives an honorary name from Coast Salish leaders:

https://youtu.be/Ffgd4Zab8F4