Paging Gazhekwe

[gazhekwe]

In 2011, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Volk was appointed to work specifically with Fort Berthold. Between 2009 and 2011, federal case filings on North Dakota reservations rose 70 percent. When I asked Tim Purdon, North Dakota's U.S. attorney, if the numbers had anything to do with a rise in crime, he first insisted they did not. He believed there was a growing sense among Native American victims that the crimes they reported would be prosecuted, and this encouraged more women to come forward. But beginning last summer, Purdon noticed a peculiar pattern emerging from Fort Berthold. Many of his filings—a surprising number of them—involved non-Indian perpetrators. "We had five or six in a month," he told me. "Why was this? We realized it's non-enrolled folks moving to the oil patch."

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/...ything/273391/

[gazhekwe]

In the olden times, maple syrup just fell from the trees, which made it too easy for the people to gather it. Nanabozho saw that it was not good for the people to have the syrup that way, as it was making them lazy and teaching them bad habits. The trickster went to the river and threw a mighty handful of water into the air. It rained down on the trees and diluted the sap forever, so the people would always have to work very hard to gather up enough to make syrup.

This shows how hard it became to make sugar:

It takes 30 - 40 gallons of average maple sap -- [[zinzibakwudabo, liquid sugar) to boil down to one gallon of syrup. No wonder the birch-bark sap-collection pails were called nadoban, making the word for "she goes and gets" [[nadobe) into an object [[) for going and getting with! On the sunny side of a free-flowing tree, the small sap buckets might fill in an hour. Since there would be several taps in each of at least 900 trees [[more like 2,000 trees for the 6 families Nodinens describes) everyone was kept busy running pails of sap to the boilers all day whenever it was sunny and the sap ran.

40 gallons of sap reduces to about 3 quarts of sugar when further heated in a smaller kettle or pail [[ombigamizigan). Sugar was made in 2 forms. Thick syrup for hard sugar [[zhiiwaagamizigan) was scooped before it granulated from the final boiling kettle, and poured onto ice or snow to solidify. Then it was packed tightly into shells or birchbark cones [[zhiishiigwaansag) whose tops were sewn shut with basswood fiber for storage, These were licked and eaten like candy. Sugar cakes were also made in shapes of men and animals, moons, stars, flowers, poured into greased wooden molds.

Small pieces of deer tallow were put into the syrup as it boiled down. When the boiled sugar was about to granluate in its final boil-down, it was poured into a wooden sugaring trough, made from a smoothed-out log. It was stirred there to granulate it, and rubbed with sugar ladels and hands into sugar grains,ziinzibaakwad.. Warm sugar was poured from the trough into makuks of birchbark. This was the basic seasoning and an important year-round food, eaten with grains, fish, fruits and vegetables, and with dried berries all year round. In summer, it was dissolved in water as a cooling drink. In winter it was stirred into with various root, leaf and bark teas. The fancy cakes were used as gifts, showing off the maker's originality of design.

http://www.kstrom.net/isk/food/maple.html

[Zacha341]

Loved reading this! Such detail. Thanks for the info.............

[gazhekwe]

Circumstances seem quite different in this case, as a 911 call reported the mentally ill person was killing someone and was armed. In the John T. Williams case, the man was carving wood with a legal size knife and was ordered from behind by the officer to drop the knife and shot when he started to turn around without dropping the knife. Officer's account in that case was not borne out by witnesses and the victim was known to walk along carving wood. We shall see if officers' account in this case is verified.

Native With Mental Illness Fatally Shot as Seattle Police Respond to 911 Calls

ICTMN Staff

March 01, 2013

On February 26, Seattle Police made news again as they answered 911 calls for a domestic disturbance which ended in the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old mentally ill Cree man according toThe Seattle Times.

Jack Keewatinawin, who lived in a quiet cul-de-sac with his father according to neighbors and reported byThe Seattle Times was a paranoid schizophrenic who was “always scared” of the demons and ghosts that haunted him but was never someone the community feared.

Keewatinawin, who recently plead guilty to third-degree assault with sexual motivation in May, was wanted on an arrest warrant issued in January after failing to report to his community corrections officer and service provider.

According to the Seattle Police Department, officers on the scene tried to use a Taser to subdue Keewatinawin but it was not effective. Keewatinawin then ran away and the officers chased him down and tried again to no avail. In a dimly lit area, an officer slipped on the ground falling on his back near Keewatinawin.

“The suspect withdrew a long piece of metal from his beltline and raised it over his head, and came toward the officer,” police said February 27 according toThe Seattle Times. “The three officers were forced to fire their weapons to defend themselves, striking the suspect.”

Neighbors have questioned the shooting saying it was “totally unacceptable” and that officers should have known Keewatinawin’s condition as they’ve been called to the house on multiple occasions when he was off his medication to talk to him, before he was taken to the hospital.

The 911 calls came from Keewatinawin’s brothers who were worried Keewatinawin was going to kill their dad.

“My dad is being killed right now, please!” one brother said in his 911 call according to seattlepi.com. “My brother’s schizophrenic and he’s flipping out and he’s got a knife to him.”

According to the Seattle Police Deputy Chief Nick Metz the time span from when officers first approached Keewatinawin to when he was shot was less than 30 seconds and that it was not clear if the first officers on the scene were aware of the victim’s mental illness and history reported seatlepi.com.

Keewatinawin is the second American Indian fatally shot by the Seattle Police Department, as John T. Williams was shot and killed in 2010. In July a settlement agreement between the Department of Justice and the city of Seattle was passed that requires officers try and de-escalate confrontations within safe bounds, and decrease their use of force.

Indian Country Today Media Network will have more on this developing story in the following days.

Read more athttps://indiancountrytodaymedianetwo...1-calls-147948

[gazhekwe]

It is kind of an obnoxious review, though. Here's an NPR interview with the author: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2012/05/04/treur_indians

Anton Treuer: An Ambassador With Answers to Silly Questions

Konnie LeMay

March 03, 2013

“Whites never get asked to speak for all white people. Everyone knows there is a diversity of opinion on any subject, and nobody could speak for all members of their race, but Indians are often asked to speak for or represent their entire race.” So writes Anton Treuer in his new book from Borealis Press,Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask.

Treuer didn’t seek the role of “ambassador” between races. But he has found himself thrust into the position, be it in his home area surrounded by three of Minnesota’s largest reservations, inside the hallowed halls of Princeton, his alma mater, or elsewhere in his travels.

Treuer’s book arose from questions asked at his public talks. It makes an effective primer for non-Natives who are curious about American Indians, past and present, and could be a resource for all the unintended ambassadors of Indian country. And it covers a broad range of history, politics, economics, education, religion, culture and terminology.

Treuer, who has written several books about history and language, deftly weaves in examples and his own views, usually of Ojibwe heritage and history. He excels when relating personal details, such as the difficulties brought on by enrollment blood-quantum requirements and errors in past enrollment records. [[His mother is enrolled, though he and some of his children are not, at White Earth; other relatives are enrolled at Leech Lake, Mille Lacs and Red Lake.) He also recalls incidents of racist bullying at public school.

Some of his observations are blunt: If you refer to your “Cherokee princess great-grandmother” rather than say that you are Cherokee, he urges, you might want to rethink your phrasing. But other issues, like poverty, drinking or politics on and off the reservation, are more complex. The book ends on an upbeat note, with a chapter that discusses improvements in interracial relations in Treuer’s home region, even the integration of Ojibwe language on signage and into the vocabularies of some non-Native residents.

Creating safe ground with thoughtful answers to even the dumbest of questions builds bridges—whether in a book like this or in Sonny Skyhawk’s “Ask N NDN” column on this magazine’s own website. To those who are building such bridges,miigwech.

Read more athttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...estions-147970

[gazhekwe]

CBS Sitcom Mike & Molly "Furnace Full of Drunk Indians" Comment Draws Fire

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

HOLLYWOOD – It is a sitcom based in Chicago, but somehow writers of the CBS show "Mike & Molly" felt the need to refer to the state of Arizona as "a furnace full of drunk Indians."The actual storyline went like this: Mike's mother Peggy, played by Rondi Reed, posed the question,

"Arizona? Why would I go to Arizona? It's nothing but a furnace full of drunk Indians."

The remark is being condemned by American Indians in Indian country, including the Native American Journalists Association.

“Why a highly entertaining show like "Mike & Molly" would need to resort to humor at the expense of the first peoples of Arizona, is inexplicable. This comment shows blatant disregard for the original inhabitants of this land and perpetuates antiquated stereotypes of Native Americans,” says in a news release issued today by the Native American Journalists Association, based in Norman, Oklahoma.

The Navajo Nation, based in Window Rock, Arizona, is equally displeased about the racial slur on the sitcom.

“We have spent decades trying to erase stereotypes about Indians and alcohol,”said Erny Zah, Director of Communications for the Office of President and Vice President of the Navajo Nation.

“Here's an attempt to be funny, but it really is disheartening. It does not have factual support and it creates problems for us. Here on the Navajo Reservation, we have worked hard to work with our border towns on the issue of alcohol. We don't need reinforcement from Hollywood to help us get back to where we were.”

The Native American Journalists Association requests an apology from CBS for making this derogatory remark.

“We further urge screenwriters unfamiliar with Native people to contact NAJA with any questions regarding coverage of Native American and indigenous people,” the organization's news release continues.

The Native American Journalists Association serves and empowers Native journalists through programs and actions designed to enrich journalism and promote Native cultures.

posted March 4, 2013 3:50 pm est

http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/cbs-sitcom-mike-molly-furnace-full-of-drunk-indians-comment-draws-fire.html

[gazhekwe]

New York Times Calls Mitsitam Cafe Best Food on the National Mall
ICTMN Staff
March 06, 2013

The best dining option on the National Mall is Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe at the National Museum of the American Indian, according to a review of all dining options on Capital Hill by Jennifer Steinhauer of The New York Times.

Steinhauer tells visitors to avoid food at the newly constructed Capitol Visitor Center, "and head to the National Museum of the American Indian, which has the best food on the Mall."

Mitsitam Native Foods Café is no stranger to praise. Last summer, itwas honored by the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington with a Rammy Award on June 24. It wasthe first museum restaurant to receive a Rammy nomination.The eatery also recently put out an award-winning cookbook.

The Zagat-rated restaurant showcases a refined, seasonal menu of foods that have been grown, raised and harvested in North and South America for thousands of years, from Peruvian ceviche to pork tacos.Mitsitammeans “let’s eat” in the Piscataway and Delaware languages, and the café stays true to its Native focus, drawing on tribal culinary traditions.

Read more about the meals Executive Chef Richard Hetzler prepares with Native-sourced ingredients, likebison through the InterTribal Bison Cooperative and salmon from the Quinault Indian Nation in Taholah, Washington here.

Read more athttp://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...al-mall-148028

The Museum of the American Indian is a must see as well. Luckily, it is attached to this great cafe'.

My two favorite exhibits were the Anishinaabe [[or course) and the O'Odham [[I think it was theirs) cultural exhibits. The Anishinaabe show the foundational teachings or our people, and the O'odham show the reclamation of ancient water preservation and how they are reclaiming some of the dead rivers. Each Nation was asked to present the ideas for their display, choose one and work on putting it together from the artifacts and photographs in the colllection. There are at least twenty different nations shown. There are also many other exhibits including new ones that change periodically. There is artwork as well as artifacts, and they sometimes have a trader marketplace where you can see and buy items made today.

http://nmai.si.edu/visit/washington/

[gazhekwe]

Wild rice salad
This recipe is from Mitsitam Cafe, National Museum of the American Indian.
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
6 cups chicken stock
11/2 cup wild rice
1 carrot, cut into half-inch-long matchsticks
3 tablespoons dried cranberries
1 Roma tomato, finely diced
4 or 5 scallions, finely chopped
3 bunches watercress
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the pine nuts and pumpkin seeds in a small baking pan and toast them in the oven for about 10 minutes, until they are golden brown. Let cool.
Combine the chicken stock and wild rice in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, for about 45–55 minutes, until the grains are just opened up and tender. Spread the hot rice on a baking sheet and let cool.
When the rice is cool, scrape it into a large bowl and add carrots, dried cranberries, diced tomato, toasted pine nut and pumpkin seed mixture, and scallions.
Toss all of the ingredients together with the vinaigrette, refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and serve over watercress. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

VINAIGRETTE
3 tablespoons apple-cider vinegar
1/4cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons honey
Place cider vinegar in a bowl, and slowly mix in oil. Sweeten with just a touch of honey.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...#ixzz2MrSe3Dq1
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

And here are pix of some of the foods:

Three Sister Salad


MItsitam Indian Buffalo Taco


Fiddlehead Ferns

http://coyotecooks.wordpress.com/2011/02/07/meet-richard-hetzler-executive-chef-of-the-musem-of-the-american-indians-mitsitam-cafe/

[gazhekwe]

How about a school that apparently suspended its curriculum on race and gender at the request of one white family, without any input by anyone else. It's a head scratcher. Story here:

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013
Center School Students, Alumni, Parents Testify at Packed School Board Meeting, Board Members Signal Support of Controversial Curriculum
posted by ANNA MINARD

I knew this would be a rollicking good time! At tonight's school board meeting, which was a pretty full house, a roster of people connected to the Center School signed up to speak during the public testimony portion, all in favor of the immediate reinstatement of the race and gender curriculum there. [[If you have no idea what I'm talking about, click here for background.) You have to sign up days in advance, so they'd all planned ahead and many had brought statements to read.

I want to transcribe much of what was said, since it was passionate and multifaceted, but there's only so much space on the internet [[ha-ha! Not true), so I've put a pile of it, from students, alumni, parents, and other teachers after the jump below. All throughout, there was wild cheering when people made statements the audience agreed with and after each person's testimony.

The teacher whose curriculum has been suspended, Jon Greenberg, also spoke. When he started by mentioning the curriculum suspension, the room erupted in hisses and boos.

He said the process leading up to the suspension of the curriculum was full of "missteps and mistakes," reiterating that the investigation seemed to go no further than interviewing the complaining family and himself, and that his principal, Oksana Britsova, "never met with me to request curricular changes" before he received a letter directly from the superintendent. [[She previously hasn't returned my call for comment; generally, members of the press are being referred to the district spokesperson.) He also mentioned that it seemed problematic to shut down a curriculum about race due to the complaints of one white family, who in their interactions with him have asked him "not to use racial terms" in class—in a unit on race, he said, that's "mind-boggling." He also mentioned that "the reality of the Center School is that students of color feel uncomfortable in our school on a daily basis. Who is filing a complaint for them?"

Mikayla Crawford-Harris, a former Center School student who went on to be a student teacher there with Greenberg and is now a teacher at Rainier Beach high school, said she couldn't help but think, through this controversy, of her students, and the "learning environment they're in every day: ants, rodents, holes in our walls, holes in our desks... It is the most hostile learning environment." And her students have "continually complained about it" to the district, to no avail. "I wonder what it would take for those students to be heard. What is it about the student that did complain [at Center School] that got them heard?" she wondered.

After public testimony concluded, board member Michael DeBell addressed the crowd by saying, "Good to see Center School again!" [[Their activist student body has testified before.) Then the school board got refreshingly honest for a few minutes.

Board member Sharon Peaslee told the crowd her daughter attends Center School, and she knows her daughter "will benefit enormously from this class. I hope that it’s reinstated very soon." She continued: "I find it very interesting that we're being investigated as a district for racism as far as our discipline practices are concerned, and that this issue would come up at Center School at this time." [[She's talking about news of a US Department of Education investigation into whether black students in Seattle Public Schools are disciplined "more frequently and more harshly" than white students.) She said the district runs the risk of "denying institutional racism"—wild applause, and I heard an amen—"and we cannot do that. We need to own our racism wherever it exists. We need to confront it. And we need to change it."

Board member Betty Patu echoed that: "There is a lot of racism that goes on in our school district," she said, after quoting Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech. "There is a process that we have to go through, but I can tell you, I believe that this class should be reinstated."
During a break, I spoke with Superintendent Banda, who said nothing's changed about the process this complaint is going through, that it's still up to Shauna Heath, the executive director of curriculum and instruction at SPS. "It was a very formal complaint," he said, resulting in a review of the class to make sure "it's in line with how the curriculum should be taught," and the "suspension [of curriculum] was pending that review." He said his understanding is that the race curriculum was mostly finished and that the class wouldn't be starting the next portion, a unit on gender, for a couple weeks, and the review will be done before then.

"That's not true," Mr. Greenberg told me outside the board meeting. "It's not happening because he told me not to do it." They would have been transitioning into the gender unit now; instead they're doing "a lot of rhetoric and state government." He has not heard anything more from the district since this story got media attention.

Again, Heath's decision on the curriculum, which the district has said "cannot be appealed," is due by Thursday, March 14.
...

More of the story here:

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/arc...ial-curriculum

[gazhekwe]

Buffalo, wolves, Florida panthers, polar bears, right whales, sea turtles, more more more





Sign Petition Here ===>http://bit.ly/We-Refuse-to-Allow-You...ter-Wild-Bison

[gazhekwe]

The Journey of Nishiyuu. 100 walkers marching single file alongside the highway today. Soon, they will be in Maniwaki First Nation, 83 miles north of Ottawa, and then snake their way through the winding Gatineau Hills down to the Ottawa Valley. Idle No More.

100 Walkers, walking a thousand miles in winter, from Hudson Bay to Ottawa, all for the health of our planet and the continued life of all our relatives, generating not a blip on the national news of any country. Shame on our attention to sensational news.

[gazhekwe]

Tribal couple planning to make gay marriage history in Michigan


Brandon Hubbard [[231) 439-9374 -bhubbard@petoskeynews.comStaff Writer9:08 a.m. EDT, March 13, 2013


HARBOR SPRINGS -- Planning a wedding in less than a week doesn't bother either Tim LaCroix or Gene Barfield.

Arrangements still undecided -- what to wear and who to call since there is no time to mail invitations -- seem not to bother the couple.

"We ordered some wedding cupcakes and that is about it," LaCroix jokes.

For 53-year-old LaCroix and 60-year-old Barfield both of Boyne City, their wedding Friday will be about finally having their 30-year relationship recognized. It will also be a historic statement.

The couple will be the first legal same-sex marriage in Michigan under the amended Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians marriage statute, which is expected to be signed at 10 a.m. Friday.

Tribal sovereignty will protect their marriage from both a 2004 Michigan constitutional amendment and the federal Defense of Marriage Act -- being debated in the U.S. Supreme Court -- defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

Long wait

Sitting in a downtown coffee shop both men still have traces of the U.S. Navy where they met three decades ago -- Tim with a flattop and Gene with his well-trimmed mustache.

Collectively the men spent more than 18 years in the military, earning achievement and good conduct medals for their service.

LaCroix joined the Navy as a yeoman, performing administrative work, after graduating from Boyne Falls High School in 1978.

Barfield, a Long Island, N.Y., native, enlisted after attending college to become a machinist's mate in the Naval Nuclear Power Program.

They met on active duty in 1993 while stationed in Orlando and moved to Vermont after leaving the Navy.

Marriage has always been something the couple would have wanted, but often lost hope over.

"Even in my coming out years, the thought of marriage was so far fetched that it really didn't show up on my mental landscape," Barfield said.

Both men have been civil rights activists at times, but Barfield, who was at one time the president of the Gay, Lesbian & Bisexual Veterans of America, believes his pessimism was brought on from a need for priorities in the gay community.

"I always just thought we needed to get [[people) to stop beating them to death," Barfield said.

So, in 2012, with the Odawa tribe adopting a resolution to accept gay marriage, becoming potentially only the third in the nation, Barfield says he immediately proposed to LaCroix, who is a tribal member and whose ancestry is the namesake for the town of Cross Village. LaCroix immediately said yes.

Those plans were put on hold, though, when the amendment for Odawa marriage statute failed last summer 4-5 in the tribal council.

But in a surprise vote March 2, the marriage statute was reintroduced for a vote and picked up the necessary 5-4 tally after a provision was included requiring at least one union member to be a tribal citizen.
MORE: Tribal Council votes to recognize same sex marriage

The Odawa tribe will become only the third tribe, behind the Coquille Tribe of Oregon in 2009 and Suquamish Tribe of Washington in 2011, to accept gay marriage under its sovereign governmental laws.

Chairman to wed couple

Last week there were questions about whether Odawa Tribal Chairman Dexter McNamara would sign or veto the new marriage statute. A veto would have sent the amendment back to the tribal council, where it would have likely died without the seven-majority it would have needed to override the veto.

In a conversation with the media, McNamara said it would be a difficult decision he would make with his heart.

The decision did not take long.

"There should not be a dividing line and we should all be able to seek a good life," McNamara said in a statement announcing he would sign the statute.
MORE: McNamara announces intention to sign statute

The chairman will not only endorse the statute, but perform the first wedding ceremony.

McNamara, a long-time friend of the couple, agreed to marry the two men immediately following his signing the legislation in his office Friday.

That decision opens the door for other couples, who have wanted to be married, who have been unable to do so or have done so in ceremony only.

Tribal member Nathan Bauer-Spector, who declared nonlegal vows with his partner at the tribal government building in 2011, said via email from his home in San Diego, Calif., he has "of course started making plans to return to Michigan this summer to formally document our union."

Bauer-Spector says he is thankful for the decision, but wants the same rights for members in all aspects of the tribe.

"While we are excited for this historic move, we are eager for the council to focus on equality within all aspects of the tribe, not just marriage," he said.

The tribal decision is being rejected, however, by some.

The Christian conservative group, American Family Association, decried the Odawa tribe's decision Tuesday.

"We think it would be a serious mistake for any sovereign nation to legalize same sex marriage," said Bryan Fischer, director of issues analysis for the American Family Association.

"Homosexual behavior itself is immoral, it is unnatural and it is unhealthy, and it is a mistake for any culture to normalize that kind of behavior."

Those juxtaposed positions mirror a broader national debate playing out in the U.S. Supreme Court on whether marriage will continue to be defined as between a man and a woman under the national Defense of Marriage Act or be overturned.

Bittersweet

Major legal questions will remain for Barfield and LaCroix, even after they have a legal marriage under the tribal provision.

Questions remain about whether they will be able to file joint taxes with the state of Michigan or Internal Revenue Service, or whether either will be able to claim survivor social security benefits.

The short answer is probably not.

Calls to the IRS, Michigan Department of Treasury and Michigan Attorney General yielded no answers at press time for this story and will likely go unanswered until the U.S. Supreme Court makes its ruling.

Both LaCroix and Barfield say they understand that, but are tremendously grateful to the tribal council and chairman for the decision -- even one this late in their relationship.

"There are other things we would have liked to do. We would have liked to adopt, but we are too old now," LaCroix said. He says he's happy there will be hope now for younger unions, though.

And, while the men have been wearing rings symbolizing their relationship for more than 20 years, Friday will still be special they say even if it is a shotgun wedding of sorts.
"The thought of being able to marry you," Barfield says to LaCroix, "is a really big deal for me."

[gazhekwe]

Celebrating Michigan's first legal gay marriage at Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians HQ. The cake on top signifies time for equality

[gazhekwe]

Odawa Indian tribe hosts Michigan's first legal same-sex marriage



Tim LaCroix, 53, of Boyne City, and his longtime partner Gene Barfield, 60, of Boyne City are married at the government headquarters complex of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians on Friday March 15, 2013 in Harbor Springs. / Ryan Garza/Detroit Free Press

HARBOR SPRINGS — The groom wore a black sweater. The other groom wore a red one.

Tim LaCroix, 53, and Gene Barfield, 60, were in the enrollment office this morning at the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians government facility.

The couple took turns filling out an application to get married, paid the $15 fee and received a marriage license. Both smiled nervously.

It was a historic day. Not just for them and not just for the tribe that LaCroix belongs to, but for Michigan too.

The two men were about to be the first same-sex couple to be legally married in this state.

Last year, the Odawa tribal council debated a resolution to recognize gay marriage, but the measure failed by one vote. When it was reintroduced, the language was changed to require at least one spouse to be a tribal citizen, and that swayed support. On March 2, it passed by a 5-4 vote.

All that was needed was the signature of tribal chairman Dexter McNamara, whose veto would have required a difficult 7-2 council majority to override.

McNamara not only signed it, but also asked to perform the wedding ceremony.

“I’ve always felt that either you believe in equal rights or you are prejudiced,” McNamara said. “We don’t have a dividing line in this tribe. Everyone deserves to live the lives of their choice.”

Out of 500 federally recognized tribes in the country, and a dozen in Michigan, the Odawa tribe became the first ever to legalize gay marriage in the state and only the third in the nation.

And because of tribal sovereignty, neither the state’s constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage nor the federal Defense of Marriage Act can stop them.

“This is their turf,” Barfield said, standing in the tribal offices. “They have their own government, they have their own police force, they have their own rules and regulations. They’re very big on respect, and for them to say to us ‘We respect your relationship and your prerogative to define it as you choose’ is really special.”

“I’m so proud of my tribe for doing this,” LaCroix added. “I just can’t say enough.”

The couple met in 1983 while both were on active duty in the Navy. They live in northern Michigan, where they garden, assemble model railroads and share two dogs and a cat.

“We’ve been partners for 30 years in the way people use the word ‘partner’ for a same sex couple,” Barfield said. “Now we’re not going to be partners anymore. We’re going to be spouses.”

They wanted to get married at the signing ceremony for the statute, which gave them barely two weeks to prepare.

They hastily ordered cupcakes for the impromptu reception to follow. They found a tribal member to perform a traditional ceremony, alongside the secular one. They made little pouches of tobacco to hand out in a nod to tribal custom. And they invited friends and family from this small-town region.

About three dozen guests filled the seats arranged in the lobby this morning. There were relatives from both sides, beefy tribal members, employees who work in the building and wanted to wish the couple well, and a contingent from the hardware store where LaCroix works.

“We’re just all giddy over it,” said Kathy Hughes, his longtime coworker. “They’re like family to us.”

Once McNamara signed the bill, tribe communications coordinator Annette VanDeCar acknowledged it was a controversial decision.

“I’ll be honest,” she told the crowd. “There are people in our community that aren’t supportive of what is happening today, but that’s OK. We as Indians are taught to respect people as individuals, and as individual people have the right to decide what is best for them.”

For this couple, a few tweaks were necessary in both the paperwork and the ceremony, like changing the word “wife” in the vows and on the license application to “spouse.” But it otherwise was a standard civil ceremony.

The chairman read the vows, and LaCroix went first in repeating them.

For better or for worse, to love and to cherish, from this day forward.

“I do,” he said.

Then came Barfield’s turn, and his composure melted a little. As he read the vows, his voice began to crack and his eyes grew moist. All the while, he looked at LaCroix with a beam of a smile.

“I do.”

They exchanged rings, and the chairman pronounced them married. They punctuated the ceremony with a brief kiss and a long, long hug.

Then they repeated it with a tribal ceremony using the sage, the feathers, the maple branch and the drum that were carefully laid out on a table.

There were no activist speeches, no protesters — only a crowd witnessing a wedding that was unlike any they’d ever seen, but was really no different than any other.

“We’re just so excited for them,” Hughes said. “They’ve been together 30 years. It’s longer than a lot of marriages have lasted.”

http://www.freep.com/article/20130315/NEWS06/130315090

[gazhekwe]

[gazhekwe]

Getting closer to Ottawa, 3-16-2013

#IdleNoMore .. THe Journey of the Nishiyuu .. Mar 16th 2013

The 200 Warriors walking; getting ever closer to Ottawa.

[gazhekwe]

#IdleNoMore .. Mississippi Water Walk .. Mar 17th 2013

This walk is important to draw attention to the risks of pipelines and oil; since the BP Spill in 2010, parts of the Gulf of Mexico have become DEAD.

We must protect our Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic coasts from meeting the same fate; from Harper's Tar Sands agenda : as well as our lakes, rivers and streams!

'Woman warriors' : Honor and pride for these wonderful Canadian and American ladies !

[gazhekwe]

National media seems to see that as a bad thing. Read on:

Canada aboriginal movement poses new threat to miners

By Julie Gordon and Allison Martell
TORONTO | Sun Mar 17, 2013 3:14pm EDT

[[Reuters) - An aboriginal protest movement that's often compared with Occupy Wall Street has the potential to disrupt mining projects across Canada, threatening to undermine the country's coveted reputation for low-risk resource development.
Idle No More, a grass-roots movement with little centralized leadership, swept across Canada late last year with the help of social media. Protesters blocked roads and rail lines, and staged big rallies in the country's largest cities to press a sweeping human rights and economic development agenda.

Mining companies are also in the movement's sights as aboriginal bands seek to renegotiate old agreements and seize more control over mining developments, whether they are on lands designated as native reserves or not.

"We've existed in this territory for millennia. We don't have a land claim - it's beyond that, actually. Our rights exist throughout all of our territories," Arlen Dumas, chief of the Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, said about the northern Manitoba land where HudBay Minerals Inc, a Toronto-based mid-tier miner, is building its Lalor project.

Protesters cut off access to the gold-copper-zinc mine for several hours in early March, demanding talks with the company on an ownership stake in the C$794 million [[$773.84 million) project, which has started limited production.
HudBay, which has mined in northern Manitoba for nearly 85 years, made it clear it prefers not to negotiate directly with the community, which is about 125 km [[78 miles) away from Lalor and is one of many First Nations bands in the region.
Instead, the company is participating in an inter-governmental mining committee, which deals with such things as how benefits are split among parties.

"We're kind of in the crossfire of that," said HudBay Chief Executive David Garofalo. "At the end of the day it's important that those governments talk to each other and establish a revenue-sharing model that sustains both governments - both the Canadian governments and the First Nation governments."

MINING COUNTRY
Canada is the world's top potash producer and the No. 2 uranium producer, and boasts large reserves of base and precious metals. A large percentage of the mineral deposits are in remote areas in the north of the country, where living conditions for aboriginal bands are often poor.

The Canadian protests - groups also blockaded a diamond mine in northern Ontario in a push for jobs and cash - are a far cry from actions taken by countries such as Venezuela and Kyrgyzstan to claw back stakes in projects being developed by foreign miners.
Even so, Canada is feeling the heat. For the first time in six years, Canadian provinces failed to top the list of the best mining jurisdictions in the world in a 2012/13 survey. Companies that participated in the survey said they were concerned about land claims.

"I would say one of the big things that is weighing on mining investment in Canada right now is First Nations issues," said Ewan Downie, chief executive of Premier Gold Mines, which owns numerous projects in northern Ontario.

Current rules oblige mining companies to consult with aboriginal communities as part of the permitting process and, in many cases, agree on compensation if a development infringes on native rights. Carrots can include profit-sharing, promises of training and compensation funds designed to improve living standards and create much-needed jobs.

But Idle No More, energized by a corps of young, educated and media-savvy activists, appears much less willing to accommodate the mining industry than native leaders have been in the past.

"This movement was about educating First Nations to say no, that's not what happens when you're an owner of the resources. An owner of the resources gets resource sharing," said Pamela Palmater, a professor of politics and public administration at Ryerson University in Toronto.

First Nation opposition has already slowed or derailed at least a half dozen energy and mining projects in British Columbia, and environmentalists are increasingly partnering with aboriginal people in an effort to halt projects.
"It's the project killer, the investment killer," said Clayton Thomas-Muller, an aboriginal activist with the Indigenous Tar Sands campaign, which wants to stop further expansion of the Alberta oil sands.

...[Story on DeBeers issue deleted to shorten to fit. Link is at the end - G]....

Compensation is a sticky issue for many communities, and aboriginal law specialist Pierre-Christian Labeau expects demands for better benefits to lead to the renegotiation of some of the older deals, perhaps to add profit-sharing clauses like those seen in more recent agreements.

"For the mining industry, maybe they should be prepared to renegotiate some elements of these agreements, because the reality shows that what we negotiated 10 years ago or five years ago doesn't work," said Labeau, chair of aboriginal law at Norton Rose in Montreal.

WORKING TOGETHER
But it's not all gloom and doom when miners and First Nations meet. For every project where there is conflict, there are also aboriginal bands that have used mining investment to create economic opportunity for their communities.

At Goldcorp Inc's Musselwhite gold mine in northern Ontario, five First Nation communities have banded together to create a catering company serving the mine, along with a distribution company that delivers goods across the region.

While development of the mine has forever changed the way of life for the remote community, it has also provided jobs and business opportunities for the reserve's young people, said Frank McKay, president of Windigo Ventures General Partner.
[Name is interesting. You will remember that windigo is a monster that eats and destroys everything in sight--G]

"The community is aware that eventually the mine will close," said McKay, a member of the Sachigo Lake First Nation. "If the mine is gone, we still get the revenue from our businesses ... and we have workforce that can be easily moved to other mining operations."

[[Editing by Frank McGurty, Janet Guttsman and Peter Galloway)

More: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...92G0EK20130317

[gazhekwe]

IRISH FAMINE - 1847:

"One hundred and sixty years ago this week in 1847, the Indians of the Choctaw nation took up a collection. Moved by news of starvation in Ireland, a group of Choctaws gathered in Scullyville, Oklahoma to raise a relief fund. Despite their meager resources, they collected $170 [today's equivalent, $4,222--G] and forwarded it to a U.S. famine relief organization. It was both the most unlikely and the most generous contribution to the effort to relieve Ireland’s suffering.

Begun two years before in the fall of 1845, the potato blight and subsequent famine had reached its height in 1847. It was, of course, much more than a mere natural disaster. British colonial policies before and during the crisis exacerbated the effects of the potato blight, leading to mass death by starvation and disease. For example, in March of 1847, at the time of the Choctaw donation, 734,000 starving Irish people were forced to labor in public works projects in order to receive food. Little wonder that survivors referred to the year as “Black ’47.”

First through letters and newspaper accounts, and later from the refugees themselves, the Irish in America learned of the unfolding horror. Countless individuals sent money and ship tickets to assist friends and family. Others formed relief committees to solicit donations from the general public. Contributions came from every manner of organization, from charitable societies and businesses to churches and synagogues. By the time the famine had ended in the early 1850s, millions in cash and goods had been sent to Ireland.

What made the Choctaw donation so extraordinary was the tribe’s recent history. Only 16 years before, President Andrew Jackson [[whose parents emigrated from Antrim) seized the fertile lands of the so-called five civilized tribes [[Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, and Choctaw) and forced them to undertake a harrowing 500-mile trek to Oklahoma known as the Trail of Tears. Of the 21,000 Choctaws who started the journey, more than half perished from exposure, malnutrition, and disease. This despite the fact that during the War of 1812 the Choctaws had been allies of then General Jackson in his campaign against the British in New Orleans.

Perhaps their sympathy stemmed from their recognition of the similarities between the experiences of the Irish and Choctaw. Certainly contemporary Choctaw see it that way. They note that both groups were victims of conquest that led to loss of property, forced migration and exile, mass starvation, and cultural suppression [[most notably language).

Increased attention to the Great Famine in recent years has led to renewed recognition of the Choctaw donation. In 1990 a delegation of Choctaw officials was invited to participate in an annual walk in County Mayo commemorating a tragic starvation march that occurred during the Famine. In honor of the special guests, the organizers [[Action From Ireland, or AFRI) named the march The Trail of Tears. Two years later, two dozen people from Ireland came to the U.S. and retraced the 500-mile Trail of Tears from Oklahoma to Mississippi. That same year the Choctaw tribe made Ireland’s President Mary Robinson an honorary chief.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of these events is that while they commemorate dark chapters of the past, they are focused on the present and future. In other words, they seek to dramatize the need to stop starvation and suffering worldwide. As the plaque on Dublin’s Mansion House which honors the Choctaw contribution reads: “Their humanity calls us to remember the millions of human beings throughout our world today who die of hunger and hunger-related illness in a world of plenty.

[gazhekwe]

#IdleNoMore .. Native Spring is just starting :Warriors form the West : "A Sacred Journey for Future Generations" : a trek of 3450 km:March 16th -June 21st .. Mar 16th 2013

In support of Idle No More opposing CPC Omnibus bill C-45

[gazhekwe]

Feds say Native Mob gang dented but work remains

By STEVE KARNOWSKI | Associated Press



MINNEAPOLIS [[AP) — Federal prosecutors say they've weakened a violent American Indian gang known for terrorizing people in the Upper Midwest now that an alleged leader and two members have been convicted in one of the largest gang cases to come out of Indian Country.
But investigators acknowledge their work isn't done in Minnesota or other states where the Native Mob is active, noting that the gang has been around for a long time.

"We have some conservative confidence that we did put a dent [[in the gang) but we're also very realistic and know that law enforcement will continue to pursue gang activity including the Native Mob," Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Winter said after jurors handed down convictions Tuesday on an array of racketeering and other charges.

"The verdicts reflect the seriousness of the crimes that were being committed by the Native Mob, which includes not only drug trafficking, but discharging of firearms at innocent people, and trafficking firearms, and basically wreaking havoc through communities throughout the state of Minnesota," he said.

A federal jury in Minneapolis convicted the alleged Native Mob leader, 34-year-old Wakinyon Wakan McArthur, on drug and weapons charges — but also on a charge of racketeering conspiracy, which is often used to target organized crime.

Two of the gang's alleged "soldiers" — Anthony Francis Cree, 26, and William Earl Morris, 25 — also were convicted of multiple charges including attempted murder in aid of racketeering. The latter charge stemmed from the shooting of another man that prosecutors alleged McArthur ordered, though his attorneys disputed the claim and McArthur was acquitted on that charge. But only Morris was acquitted on the top racketeering charge.

Defense attorneys said the government's case was overblown, arguing that while gang members may have committed individual crimes, there was no evidence to support racketeering charges alleging the trio was part of a large, organized criminal group.

The three men were the only defendants who rejected plea deals after 25 people were indicted in the case last year. Several of those individuals testified during the trial, which Winter said should give other gang members pause knowing they can't trust their co-conspirators.

..... [See link at bottom to read middle of article ---G]

The 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment called the Native Mob one of the largest and most violent American Indian gangs in the U.S., most active in Minnesota and Wisconsin but also in Michigan, North Dakota and South Dakota. It is made up of mostly American Indian men and boys, and started in Minneapolis in the 1990s as members fought for turf to deal drugs. The Native Mob is also active in prison.

The Native Mob had about 200 members, with a structure that included monthly meetings where members were encouraged to assault or kill enemies, or anyone who showed disrespect, according to the indictment. Authorities said McArthur would direct other members to carry out beatings, shootings and other violent acts to intimidate rivals.

The trial, which began in January, included nearly 1,000 exhibits and 180 witnesses.

http://news.yahoo.com/feds-native-mo...070600876.html

[gazhekwe]

INDEPENDENT FILM-MAKER CREATES A GROUND-BREAKING DOCUMENTARY FILM
ON CIVIL WAR HISTORY!

The Story Of Michigan’s Native American Soldiers will be told
on film for the very first time!

PREMIER SHOWING IN MT. PLEASANT ON APRIL 10, 2013
7PM in Park Library Auditorium, 250 East Preston Street
On the campus of Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI.
This film premier is free of charge and open to the public.

It is a lost chapter in Civil War history – How a group of Michigan Native Americans volunteered to be sharpshooters in the army of General Grant.

THE ROAD TO ANDERSONVILLE is the first serious attempt to put on film the recently discovered story of Company K, First Michigan Sharpshooters regiment. This was the ONLY unit in the Union army where every man was a Native American. They came from the tribes of Michigan. Most of them were professional deer hunters, well suited to be sharpshooters on the battlefields of Virginia. Their record in the war was outstanding. And their losses were high – one out of every three men who enlisted would not live to see the end of the war.

Award-winning film producer David B. Schock, Ph.D., made a journey to Georgia in 2010 with a group of modern-day Native Americans. The men were members of the Anishinabe Ogitchedaw Warriors Society, an organization of veterans that meet on the reservation in Mt. Pleasant. They were on their way to honor the graves of seven members of Company K who died while prisoners of war at the infamous Andersonville Prison. Intrigued by this forgotten chapter of Michigan history, Schock began a two-year journey of his own, traveling around the state with his camera, interviewing historians such as Raymond Herek and Chris Czopek. He also visited Pow Wow events and the homes of descendants of the Company K soldiers. One of the highlights of the film is an interview with Don Otto, grandson of Pvt. Marcus Otto, telling stories handed down in the family about his Civil War ancestor. One of the big questions has always been “Why?” Why were these 140 men [[who were not US citizens) willing to join the Army and fight for the United States? This question, and others, are discussed in the film.

There will be a reception after the showing. Dr. Schock and historians Chris Czopek and, possibly, Ray Herek will be there to answer questions about the film and Company K.

[PlymouthRes]

Gaz-

There is a current effort underway to recognize one of those braves, a man by the name of Antoine Stone, another Anishinabee warrior who belonged to this famous group.

All is not lost as many, many people, particularly Civil War re-enactors and military historians know of the sacrifices these very brave individuals made.

I am very thankful that you have brought these mens sacrifices to the forefront with this information.

Chi Megwiich [[sp?)

[gazhekwe]

Would that be Antoine Scott, the man who danced on the earthworks above the Crater to draw enemy fire away from those trying to escape the devastating hail of bullets falling into the open pit? He is one who was recommended for a Medal of Honor in the latter part of the century, but he unfortunately died young and was thus not eligible.

I am definitely going to attend this showing. Might have room in the vehicle for more people but I do not plan to spend the night or go to Soaring Eagle.

[PlymouthRes]

Yes Gaz, that would be him. Thank you for the correction.

There has been a recent effort to have his nomination re-instated.