Paging Gazhekwe

[gazhekwe]

Below I've posted one, the rest are linked in the article.

We've talked about the Civil War service of Michigan Indians a lot, here is the story of the rest, Indian Warriors: The Untold Story of the Civil War [[2006)



http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...ght-now-159964

[gazhekwe]

I will add to this later when I find the date of last year's appearance. Aha, they peeked through on April 23, 2014.

I guess I can start getting ready to migrate north now.

[Pam]

I will add to this later when I find the date of last year's appearance. Aha, they peeked through on April 23, 2014.

I guess I can start getting ready to migrate north now.

Yes, you should be here. Sunny and 66 today.

[Zacha341]

^^^ Nice. Does that ground flower have a yellow variant? I recall a yellow ground flower like this growing in Detroit.

[gazhekwe]

Not that I know of, Zacha. These are Spring Beauties.

Pam, my husband is there, he took the picture in our yard. I am so happy the weather is finally improving. I''l be back the first week in May. Have to take my Dad up to the Res, and still snow on the ground there. In the 50s today, so melting is happening.

I need to harvest a couple more of my tomatoes before I go, so sweet!

I found a similar looking yellow flower called Goldenstar, could it be this one, Zacha? They are not related to Spring Beauties but have a similar shaped blossom. Spring Beauties are fleeting, they last a few days, while the Goldenstar is said to bloom all season.

[gazhekwe]

[gazhekwe]

[gazhekwe]

The difference between being "in on" a joke and being stereotyped and laughed at. It is high time to leave those old ragged nasty things in the same tub as Amos and Andy jokes.

These are the jokes that made the Native actors walk off the set. They were told, 'If you're so sensitive, you should leave."

EXT. CREEK OUTSIDE APACHE VILLAGE – LATER

The Creek area is busy. Braves spear-fish while children play in the water.Smoking Fox is on the banks of the creek, doing laundry with her best friends: a 30-ish chubby woman, BEAVER BREATH, and a younger woman, NEVER WEARS BRA [[both Apache).

BEAVER BREATH I have a big idea for your wedding: we decorate trees with toilet paper!

SMOKING FOX What is this “toilet paper”?

A page from the script of 'The Ridiculous Six.' Click to open a full-size version in a new tab.

BEAVER BREATH Paper used to clean your chi-wat after taking a chungo.

NEVER-WEARS-BRA That what dead squirrel for!

BEAVER BREATH Why we all so afraid to try something new in this village? Must I speak with the spirits to see if it "okay" to have clean chi-wat without murdering innocent rodent?

NEVER-WEARS-BRA Whoa somebody "on the raccoon" today…

As they all laugh, smoking Fox looks over at Tommy. He is surrounded by kids. He shoots an arrow in the air, and catches it with his teeth. The kids are impressed.

NEVER-WEARS-BRA You lucky, Smoking Fox. White Knife all man. Bravest of all braves.

SMOKING FOX Not brave, foolish. I want to be wife, not widow.* * *

The Gawker website Defamer obtained an earlier version of the script, which includes a female character named "Sits-on-Face," who inspires another character to declare "Well then, I'm Stiff-In-Pants!" It also includes the one-liner "How bout after this we go someplace and I put my peepee in your teepee?

"LINK: These Are the Jokes That Caused Actors To Walk Off Adam Sandler's Set

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...rs-quit-160135

[gazhekwe]

We are again fighting foreign mining interests which impinge on treaty rights. The last big fight was over Eagle Rock west of Marquette. We lost that one, with such momentous rulings as:

• A sacred place must be a building. There is not a building there, so it is not a sacred place.
• We agree that digging sulfide and disposing of the waste right on top of the headwaters of the Salmon Trout Rive will not cause any damage that cannot be remediated.
• We will not impinge on the native rights to use this spot if we can assure their and the mine's safety [[Site is securely fenced with security).

We are again in battle there over the construction of a paved highway through this wilderness area which will further damage the sensitive environment and further restrict native use of the lands.

We are also fighting a deal for the state to sell more than 10,000 acres of public land in the Eastern UP to a Canadian mining company which wishes to strip mine it for limestone. This deal is being pressed forward by DNR They are even ignoring recommendations to deny this sale from their own department heads.

Under a federal consent decree, the tribes signatory to the 1836 Treaty retained the right of use of this land. The DNR decided to sell it to Graymont without any consultation or notification to the tribes concerned and are not being receptive to anyone trying to explain these treaty rights to them. Shrug, what treaty?

This cartoon popped up today and really tells it.


I posted extensively back in this thread about Eagle Mine. Here is an article from the opposition side discussing the mine and the proposed road:

http://inthesetimes.com/article/1783...have-road-rage
http://rextonproject.com/the-project/
Here is some background on the proposed Graymont sale:

The Rexton Project:

http://rextonproject.com/the-project/

Consent Decree, signed 11/05/2007:
http://www.glifwc.org/Recognition_Af...sentDecree.pdf

Division heads recommend rejection: http://www.freep.com/story/news/loca...sale/21783285/

Petition to reject the deal:
https://secure.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=13173

[gazhekwe]

Last of the ‘Navajo Code Talkers’ has died aged 93

• NEWS

Apr 21, 2015




Chester Nez, the last surviving member of the ‘Original Navajo Code Talkers’ has died at the age of 93. He was one of the 29-member Navajo team that created a unique code language out of their own mother tongue. This new unbreakable code helped in defeating Japan on some very crucial fronts.

One of the deadliest combats of the Pacific theatre took place on the small and lonely island of Iwo Jima, also known as Sulphur Island. The Japanese defence of the Island consisted of a fortress that was carved into the volcanic mountains and defended by 22,000 soldiers. The island was seen by the US as a stepping stone to Tokyo, due to its air strips and strategic location. In this battle , the US was about to test its most innovative and secretive weapon, the ‘Navajo Code Talkers’.

Navajo men never thought that they would have to fight for the ‘white man’. This is primarily because of the treatment of the Navajo people by the US authorities. The Navajo believed that the white man was trying to destroy their culture, by killing their language. America had established schools in and around Navajo reservations, where every pupil had to learn and speak English. Navajo tribesmen saw this as an attempt by the white man to destroy their language. They kept their language and culture alive, even after they had been confined to only a few small areas famously known as ‘reservations’.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States realized that the Japanese had to be stopped by any means possible before they set foot on US soil. One of the many challenges that US generals had to face while combating the Japanese was to develop an indecipherable code for communications. Japanese code-breakers were extremely clever and were able to crack any code that US experts would come up with. The US generals then turned to Navajo tribesmen to construct a code out of their language, which could not be deciphered by the Japanese.

The US Army set out to recruit young, bright men from their reservations to help defend the US. People, young and old, were queuing up to take part in the war, not to defend the US, but to defend their ancestors’ land from foreign occupation.

A team of 29 men from the Navajo tribe was chosen and given the task of designing a secret code language which was impossible to crack. The team came up with a brilliant idea, to replace the letters of the alphabet with words from their own language that described strange and different metaphors. Not just that, but they also had to construct a variety of new and complex expressions for warfare and equipment terminologies. For instance, their name for a bomb was ‘ground boiler’, for a grenade, ‘potato’, and for a plane, a ‘hummingbird’, although these names were given in the Navajo tongue. This plan worked and Japanese could not break the code, the AZ Central reports.

Although the US Marine Corps lost 6000 men while trying to capture the island, had it not been for the efforts and code of the Navajo men, things could have been much worse for the US side.

After the death of Chester Nez, now there are no more survivors from the original code talkers, but their code and the stories of their heroic contribution will remain a part of our history forever.

http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-...d-aged-93.html

[gazhekwe]

TEN-YEAR-OLD WUKCHUMNI BOY’S REFUSAL TO SING DEROGATORY SONG LEADS TO ITS REMOVAL FROM SCHOOL
BY LEVI RICKERT / CURRENTS / 03 MAY 2015

Alex and mother, Debra Fierro after school board meeting.
Photo by Christine Williams

VISALIA, CALIFORNIA – Fourth-grader Alex Fierro, a member of the Wukchumni [[Yokut) tribe, proves one person’s action–or lack of action–can make a difference. He is already at his young age a catalyst for change in his school district. Alex, 10, refused to sing “21 Missions” in his music class. “21 Missions” is a song that glorifies all 21 Catholic missions in California.

Once his class at Shannon Ranch Elementary in Visalia, California were given the words of “21 Missions” to sing, Alex did not feel right about singing the song. Alex told his mother, Debra Fierro, about the song and asked her to write a letter to his teacher so he would not have to sing the song. His mother asked him to tell her about the song, and he refused to speak any of it. She asked him to bring the song home and he did the next day.

On Friday, April 24, 2015, his mother read the song and she notified the Wukchumni Tribal Council and elders to share the song. Debra Fierro and the tribal leaders were outraged by the lyrics that they found to be derogatory towards American Indians.

“21 Missions” lyrcis include:

“MEN OF FAITH, THE GOOD NEWS PREACHING/ PRAYING, TEACHING, SEARCHING, REACHING/ OUT TO THE RED MAN’S SOUL/ OH, WHAT A NOBLE GOAL.”

AND “COME LITTLE INDIAN DANCE WITH ME.”

By Monday, April 27, 2015, letters to Alex’s teacher, principal, and superintendent of Visalia Unified Schools District [[VUSD) were sent asking to have the song removed from the curriculum.

Alex’s mother received messages from the principal and assistant superintendent that night, stating that they would address the issue the following day. Many of our tribal members took to Facebook to share this story and gain support for the school board meeting the following day.

The Wukchumni Tribal Chair Darlene Franco wrote emails and made phone calls to VUSD officials calling for the song’s removal from the entire district’s curriculum.

By the afternoon, she had spoken to the VUSD Board President who assured her that the song was being removed and would never be put back into the district. She let him know that representatives from the Wukchumni Tribe would be attending the School Board meeting that evening to address this issue, and he encouraged us to do so. About 30 supporters attended the meeting, four of whom read letters to the board: Darlene Franco [[Wukchumni), Debra Fierro [[Wukchumni), Yaynicut Franco [[Wukchumni), and Cristina Gonzales [[Chumash).

After the remarks by the tribal representatives, the VUSD Board President apologized on his behalf and stated that the song has been removed.

Last Friday, May 1, 2015, the assistant superintendent and Alex’s music teacher had a meeting with Alex, Debra, and Darlene to formally apologize to Alex.

http://nativenewsonline.net/currents...l-from-school/

[gazhekwe]

10 Outrageous [[and Mostly True) Quotes on Native Americans by Famous People
"The white people should go back to Europe, and the country should be returned to the American Indians. This is the future I would like to see for the so-called United States."

—Bobby Fischer

"It’s like, how did Columbus discover America when the Indians were already here? What kind of shit is that, but white people’s shit?"

—Miles Davis

"The American Indians were Communists. They were. Every anthropologist will tell you they were Communists. No rich, no poor. If somebody needed something the community chipped in."

—Pete Seeger

"I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from [Indians]. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."

—John Wayne

"The way to kill a man or a nation is to cut off his dreams, the way the whites are taking care of the Indians: killing their dreams, their magic, their familiar spirits."

—William S. Burroughs

"We used to root for the Indians against the cavalry, because we didn't think it was fair in the history books that when the cavalry won it was a great victory, and when the Indians won it was a massacre."

—Dick Gregory

"So the American government lied to the Native Americans for many, many years, and then President Clinton lied about a relationship, and everyone was surprised! A little naïve, I feel!"

—Eddie Izzard

"I always see America as really belonging to the Native Americans. Even though I'm American, I still feel like a visitor in my own country."

—Nicolas Cage

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans."

—Stephen Hawking

"We owe an historic debt to American Indians. They have a unique set of concerns that haven't been addressed, and I'd like to stand with them. Also, I'd like to get their views on immigration."

—Al Franken

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...-people-157101

[Zacha341]

Awesome! I particularly like the quote by Dick Gregory.

[Jimaz]

"All the problems we face in the United States today can be traced to an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of the American Indian."

—Pat Paulsen

[Zacha341]

I also like this quote:

"So the American government lied to the Native Americans for many, many years, and then President Clinton lied about a relationship, and everyone was surprised! A little naïve, I feel!"

—Eddie Izzard

[gazhekwe]

All I know is, I smile all the time. It is very rare to find me not smiling. Some attribute the image of the stoic, expressionless Native to prolific photographer Edward S. Curtis, who undertook in 1906 to photographically document the "vanishing race." For more than 20 years, he took his pictures and produced an epic work of 1500 photographs, ethnographic lore, stories, history, customs and biographies published in 222 sets. Apparently, it did not support his view of the vanishing race for his subjects to smile, so....

The 1491s have produced a 4 1/2 minute video of Indians mugging for the camera, cute, and the message at the end says something like, If you remember one thing about me, remember that I smiled. You'll see in the video how hard it is for some to keep a straight face.

Smiling Indians'—Take that, Edward S. Curtis!

ICTMN Staff 2/23/11

Edward S. Curtis is famous for his photographs of American Indians, who he was convinced were a "vanishing race." His pictures ended up defining the look and even personality of the people he documented, at least in the eyes of non-Indians. Curtis didn't like for his Indians to smile, and he even messed with the pictures a bit to make them fit his narrative—visit this blog post at Native Appropriations for a better explanation.

But guess what? Indians do smile. All the time! Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo and Demockratees founder Ryan Red Corn have created a short film about smiling Indians, and it's dedicated to Edward S. Curtis: [Yes, the man in the thumbie does remind me of Cleveland]

<font color="#000000"><span style="font-family: sans-serif"><span style="font-family: inherit"><span style="font-family: inherit"><span style="font-family: inherit">




Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/02/23/smiling-indians-take-edward-s-curtis-19302

[gazhekwe]

10 Fashion Faux Pas to Avoid at a Pow Wow

Alysa Landry 3/21/15

At a pow wow, wardrobe choices often depend on your role at the event, but whether you’re dancing, singing or just watching, there are fashion faux pas to avoid.

Some universal standards apply at all pow wows, regardless of location, weather or purpose. Here are some tips to keep you from committing embarrassing – or offensive – fashion blunders:

Ripped, ragged or sagging pants
Pow wows represent a mixture of the social and the spiritual, said Reno Charette, a women’s traditional dancer and director of American Indian outreach at Montana State University Billings. If you’re not dancing, casual attire is appropriate, but it should fit properly and be in good repair.

“Our young men go around with their pants hanging low,” said Charette, who is Crow and Turtle Mountain Chippewa. “That’s especially bad when they’re in the drum group and they lean forward.”

Shorts or miniskirts
Showing too much leg is inappropriate for anyone in the arena, including spectators, Charette said. She recommends a style that is “casual without being revealing.” Even in 100-degree weather, Daisy Duke-style shorts or miniskirts should be avoided.

For some male dancers, bare legs are part of the regalia, but singers and spectators should cover up, Charette said.

“Some of our male dancers may not have their legs fully covered, but there is a standard of modesty that they abide by.”

Swimsuits, halter tops or bikini tops
Regardless of where they are in the arena, women should avoid tight clothing or anything that shows cleavage, Charette said. That includes halter tops, bikini tops and spaghetti straps. It also includes any style worn without appropriate underwear. “We know it’s hot, but please cover up,” she said.

“Going braless at a pow wow is inappropriate. Bosoms need to be contained.”

Bare feet
Wearing shoes isn’t just a fashion statement, but also a safety precaution, Charette said. She recommends spectators wear closed-toed shoes to keep feet clean and safe. The same standard applies to dancers and singers, said Erny Zah, a singer and emcee who has traveled the pow wow circuit all over the country.

“For singers, regardless of how hot it is, wear long pants and nice shoes,” he said. “The general rule is that you don’t want to show skin, so a long-sleeved shirt is also appropriate.”

Clothing with profane or inappropriate slogans
An element of sacredness exists in the pow wow arena, said Zah, who is Navajo, Jicarilla Apache and Choctaw. Dress and appearance should show respect for that.

“This is more than just a show,” he said. “For some of these tribes, this is their ritual that has been with them for generations. We’ve got to remember where it came from and respect that.”

Anything that can be considered revealing
When in doubt, go with your “Sunday best,” Zah said. If you’re dressed appropriately, you will be more likely to feel the spiritual power. “The overall goal of the pow wow is to help people,” he said. “So the singing, dancing, drums and feathers, all of that comes together. Everyone who takes part in that, whether singing or dancing or watching, will feel that and it will give them strength.”

Extremes
Just as styles that are too casual or revealing should be avoided, so should clothing that is too dressy or formal. “There’s a line between too casual and too dressy,” said Sammy Tonkei White, a Kiowa emcee, who has been working with pow wows since 1959.

“Just as young people who are not dressed appropriately should leave, it would look funny if an Indian got up and danced in a tuxedo.”

Cheap or fake regalia
Dancers in full dress can carry around as much as 40 extra pounds from their moccasins, leggings, belts, bustles, capes and other accessories, Charette said. But in the pow wow arena, quality matters.

“It can get very heavy, but you wear it,” she said. “This is our formal wear, and as a dancer, the materials you select and the quality of your regalia should always bring pride to your tribe. It’s important to set for yourself a very high standard of quality, and do your best to meet that.”

Costumes
Perhaps the most offensive thing you can wear to a pow wow is a costume. This includes the Boy Scouts who show up with war paint and synthetic feathers, or the wannabe Indians who dress in homemade buckskins or breechcloths.

“A lot of this is non-Natives coming with warbonnets on and thinking that they’re honoring Native America,” Zah said. “For some reason, non-Natives think that mimicry is a way to honor, but these are our real clothes, not costumes.”

Anything that sends the wrong message
Pow wows often are open to the public and outsiders are welcome, Zah said. But the burden to educate the masses falls on participants – the organizers, emcees, dancers and singers – who are tasked with providing an authentic Native experience in an inauthentic world. Zah encourages all participants to think about their clothing before they attend a pow wow.

“Native America is being presented in the wrong way because people are learning from teachers like Disney, Peter Pan and Pocahontas,” he said. “It’s important to do this right because we’re educating a new generation.”

Read more at
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...684?page=0%2C2

[gazhekwe]

My Dad, oldest community member, head Vet in the black shirt. George Martin, head dancer, right of Dad




Dad and George Martin, who I've been watching dance most of my life. Traditional dancer.


Some of the yummy food available.



Dad and my brother, repping his coffee shop.

[gazhekwe]

The Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in 1978 to slow down the taking of Native children from their families and adopting them out to white families. This practice was rampant in the 50s through the 70s, and is still going on today. North Dakota, for instance, has trampled the ICWA to continue to decimate Native families. Here in Michigan, many family law judges have little respect for this law that makes them have to slow down and consider something they think is not helpful. What makes these depredations possible is the systemic societal view of how a family "should" be. Child welfare workers and court workers alike are schooled to regard Native attitudes about family, and back in the 50s-60s, prevalent boarding school fears about school.

Well, now the BIG MONEY is trying to take down ICWA. I suspect collusion due to rising Native power fighting for the health of our Mother Earth. If they can focus our attention and our very limited resources on fighting this lawsuit, they reason, we won't have the time or energy to harass them about things like putting a copper mine in a sacred place like Oak Flat in Arizona, now being highly contested by the Salt River Apache and tribes across the nation.

Goldwater Institute Challenges Indian Child Welfare Act

PHOENIX—The right-winged and highly-funded Goldwater Institute, based in Phoenix, Arizona, has filed a class action lawsuit in a federal district court that seeks to dismantle the Indian Child Welfare Act.

The Indian Child Welfare Act [[ICWA) is a federal law that was passed by Congress in 1978 that seeks to keep American Indian and Alaska Native children with American Indian and Alaska Native families. Congress passed ICWA in response to the alarmingly high number of Native children being removed from their homes by both public and private non-Native agencies.

The Goldwater Institute’s lawsuit, entitled “A.D. v. Washburn,” was announced at a press conference in Phoenix that was streamed on the internet. The lawsuit alleges the core part of the ICWA is unconstitutional. It lists unnamed American Indian children living in Arizona, but off tribal lands, as plaintiffs.

Click to read lawsuit

Various speakers spoke at the press conference, including Clint Bolick, vice president of litigation at the Goldwater Institute, who stated ICWA has outlived its purpose and is unconstitutional.

"Our goal here is to end the separate and unequal treatment of children with Indian blood," Bolick said.

“Indian children have to play by a different set of rules,” sated Darcy Olsen, director of the Goldwater Institute.

Defendants named in the lawsuit are Kevin Washburn, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior – Indian Affairs, whose agency upholds ICWA; Sally Jewel, secretary of the Interior and Gregory McKay, director of the Arizona Department of Child Safety.

"This law has been an important feature of the legal landscape for many years now, and we firmly believe that the protection of the best interests of Indian children continues to be important today," Washburn said in statement released on Tuesday afternoon.

Levi Rickert | July 8, 2015 at 7:46 am |

http://wp.me/p442Tb-4Cj

[gazhekwe]

This is the time for our Water Walking. Women carry the water in copper buckets from one source to another. The great Water Walk is in progress following our pathway from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the destination we headed for in our migration, Madeleine Island.

SacredWaterWalk2015_4-25X5-5ad_PRINT02.pdf



This song, in Anishinaabemowin, accompanies the water; A lullaby for healing the water.



Niibi is water. You will also hear clearly the other words, miigwech is thank you.

[gazhekwe]

HELP PROTECT OUR INDIAN KIDS
By: Bryan Newland [ a younger cousin of mine, attorney and tribal chief judge]

[Note: This post is an opinion column, and I'm sorry for the long post. Even if you aren't Indian or don't have much interest in Indian law, please read and share. Miigwetch]

“Adopted out.”
For most Americans, this is a puzzling phrase. For most Americans, this phrase doesn’t carry any particular meaning at all.

But, if you use this phrase in any Indian community, people will know exactly what you are talking about:
“His auntie was ‘adopted out’.” “My cousin was ‘adopted out.’” “She just moved here, she was ‘adopted out’.”
In the 1940’s, 1950’s, 1960’s, and 1970’s, thousands of Indian children were “adopted out” of their communities. This is to say, these kids were forcibly taken from their families and their communities, and placed for adoption with white [[usually religious) families far away under the pretense that it was in their “best interest”.

Detailed statistics are hard to come by, but the Association on American Indian Affairs has reported that 85% of Indian children removed from their families between 1941 and 1967 were placed in non-Indian homes and institutions. Religious organizations, state governments, and even well-meaning social workers and child advocates worked together to take Indian child after Indian child from their families and communities.

The loss of Indian kids through the foster care and adoption system created a crisis in Indian communities. We were literally losing our kids. We were also losing our future as Indian people.

People across Indian country recognized that, if something wasn’t done about it, we would cease to exist as tribal people within a few short generations.

Congress responded to the crisis in 1978 by passing the Indian Child Welfare Act, which requires state courts to look to place Indian children with their families or communities before allowing them to be adopted out. It also allows tribal courts to assert jurisdiction over adoption cases involving their members.

The law worked to stem the tide, although many people and states have resisted its implementation for the past four decades.

This week, a conservative organization in Arizona – the Goldwater Institute – has mounted a direct attack on the Indian Child Welfare Act. The Institute has sued the BIA to challenge the Constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act, claiming that it unlawfully discriminates against Indian children by forcing them into a “different and substandard set of legal provisions.”

According to the Goldwater Institute, the Indian Child Welfare Act discriminates against Indian children solely because of their race.

To the untrained eye, this is an easy and attractive argument. Many Indian people [[myself included) struggle with their identity on a daily basis.

Am I Indian? Am I Ojibwe? Am I a Bay Mills Indian Community citizen? Am I white [[my mother is Ojibwe and my father is not Indian)?

To be Indian is to be a member of a racial group. To be Anishnaabe, or Dine, or Lakota, or Pomo is to be a member of an ethnic group. But, to be a member of an Indian tribe is more than that. Many Indians are not tribal members, and many tribal members are barely “Indian” in the racial/ethnic sense.

Throughout history, Indian tribes accepted members who were ethnically diverse. Many Ojibwe tribes in the Great Lakes “adopted in” French traders and explorers. They married our women, lived in our communities, and made little Indian-French babies.

Being a tribal member Indian is to have a racial identity, a cultural identity, a religious identity, a community identity, and a political affiliation.

Being Indian isn’t as neat or clean as the Goldwater Institute would have the public or the courts believe [[it has coordinated its legal challenge with a sophisticated public relations campaign). The Supreme Court has recognized this in the past, in a clumsy decision in which it held that the federal government can grant preferences in favor of tribal members because the discrimination was based on a unique political affiliation and not solely on race [[Morton v. Mancari).

The Goldwater Institute’s lawsuit literally threatens to take us Indian people back a hundred years. To a time when people could literally steal our children. To a time when our status as distinct, self-governing Indigenous people was in jeopardy.

It is not hyperbole to say that the Goldwater Institute’s lawsuit is advocating for a return to the genocide of American Indians [[though, of course, they would not say so and may not believe that to be their objective).
Overturning the Indian Child Welfare Act will allow for the unchecked “adopting out” of Indian kids. It will also tear down the delicate legal status [[clumsy as it is) that allows Indian tribes to differentiate our relationship with the federal government from other ethnic groups. That differentiation is rooted in treaties, laws, and history.

For my tribal member friends, please urge your tribal leaders to get engaged in this. Fight the legal battle. Fight the political battle. Fight the public relations battle.

For my friends who are not Indian, or who are new to this issue, please join this fight. Call your members of Congress to offer support for the Indian Child Welfare Act and oppose this lawsuit. Share this Facebook post. Write letters. Tweet. Tell a friend.

Our tribes, our communities, and our kids depend on us to win.

[gazhekwe]

RE: Barry Goldwater's opinion, this quote from Sen Abourezk who sponsored the Indian Child Welfare bill:

...the original author of the Indian Child Welfare Act, retired South Dakota Senator James Abourezk, took the Goldwater Institute to task for their attempt to overturn one of his signature legislative achievements during his time in the United States Senate. Ironically, Abourezk’s late friend and colleague Senator Barry Goldwater actually voted in favor of ICWA when it was approved by the Senate in 1977. [emphasis added]

“I knew Barry Goldwater—he was my friend and often came to me for advice on most tribal matters,” said Abourezk from his home in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. “I wish he were alive to see this travesty because he would never approve of it and you can quote me on that and make sure you emphasize the word ‘never.’”

War of Words: ICWA Faces Multiple Assaults From Adoption Industry
A class-action lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the...
INDIANCOUNTRYTODAYMEDIANETWORK.COM

[gazhekwe]

World's Hottest Old White Man?
A FewReasons Why Native People Should BeCrushing on Sexy Pope Francis

Move over Sean Connery—I have to be honest: there’s a new old, wrinklywhite, Catholic dude in my life. That’s right, I have a “thing” for this newPope.Sorry Sean.

[[In fairness, calling him the “new pope” is kinda strong, right? It impliesthat he’s kinda young or inexperienced; the truth is that every single oneof these Pope cats is old. Calling him “new” is like calling Chris Weinke a“rookie” his first year in the NFL—I think he was like 42 by the time hemade it, right??)

But I digress. Completely not the point.My “thing” for Pope Francis completely is the point.See, this Pope is so cool that he’s borderline Indian, ‘cause we’re somecool people. “Almost Native”—that is his official Indian name. I just gave itto him. Officially. Deal with it.

But why is he that cool? Why would somebuffoon overlook 1000 years of the Catholic Church’s violent and terribledealings with Indigenous people worldwide and bestow such a coolIndian name to him?

We’re not overlooking anything. Ever. We can’t. Imean, the Catholic Church has been absolutely TERRIBLE in regards toIndigenous people—from 1095 when the Pope issued the Papal BullTerra Nullius [[“empty land”) that gave the right to claim any land in nonChristianareas.

And then in 1452 when the Pope issued the a law calledRomanus Pontifex, declaring war against all non.Christians throughoutthe world and authorizing the conquest of their nations and territories.

Bad, bad juju.

Then in 1493, the Pope issued a law called Inter Cetera, granting Spainthe right to conquer the lands that Columbus sailed to and all lands that itmight come upon in the future. Inter Cetera also expressed the Pope'swish to convert the Natives of to Catholicism in order to strengthen the"Christian Empire."

So when we’re talking about violence against Nativepeople, taking Native lands, violence against women, slavery, violenceagainst black folks for the past 500 years…these laws were all thejustifications that were needed.We don’t overlook anything; but we acknowledge progress. And he’smaking progress and that’s why I say that THIS particular Pope—PopeFrancis—is the sexiest old, wrinkly white dude in all of the land.

Let’s explore.

1. This Fly Pontiff is REALLY Trying to Create ReconciliationBetween the Roman Catholic Church and Indigenous People. "Ihumbly ask forgiveness...for crimes committed against the nativepeoples during the so.called conquest of America."

That is a HUGEfreakin’ deal—the Pope, God’s Representative on Earth [[accordingto the Catholic Church) just freakin’ asked forgiveness from freakin’Native people for the Church’s crimes!!! Holy sh...I was literallyfloored when I saw that. Look, folks, ADMITTING something badhappened is the first step in reconciliation. ASKING for forgiveness isthe next step…obviously ACCEPTANCE is the third and final step.Whether or not individual Native people accept the Pope’s attemptsat reconciliation are one thing, but this man just ADMITTED that theCatholic Church did CRIMES against Native people and ASKED forforgiveness in good faith.

That’s a huge deal. It’s hard enough to admit that I was wrong when Ileave the gas tank on empty; imagine asking for forgiveness for genocide,racism, slavery and religious bigotry. The United States issued a cornylittle obscure apology to Native people in 2009 that didn’t ask forforgiveness and didn’t dig into genocide or war crimes against Nativepeople. It also specifically laid out that the apology wasn’t a legal basis forlawsuits; out of the two, the Catholic Church EASILY wins the sincereapology battle.

2. This Sexy A** Pope Respects Mother Earth and Realizes theDamage That Humans Are Doing to Her. "Our common home isbeing pillaged, laid waste and harmed with impunity. Cowardice indefending it is a grave sin. We see with growing disappointment howone international summit after another takes place without anysignificant result."

Wow. This dude is borderline hippie [[Francis, wereyou at the Rainbow Family Gathering in the Black Hills??) and we allknow that hippies are simply bad renditions of Native people. EVERYsingle other Pope saw the Earth as something to be used, exploitedand developed for monetary gain; this Pope realizes that we have totreat this living creature, our “common home” with great respect togive future generations a meaningful chance at a high quality of life.Love this guy. Sean who?

3. This Gorgeous Priest Knows That We’re Stuck Together and soWe Have to Figure a Way to Live Peaceably Together. “We wantchange in our lives, in our neighborhoods, in our everyday reality.We want a change which can affect the entire world, since globalinterdependence calls for global answers to local problems. Theglobalization of hope, a hope which springs up from peoples andtakes root among the poor, must replace the globalization ofexclusion and indifference!”

Wow.A heart for the poor. Global answers to local problems. The watershortages in California [[and really everyplace else)? Those are going toaffect Natives just like they affect everyone else. No one is exempt. Andat this point, especially in regards to environmental issues, it reallydoesn’t matter who started it. Blame games do not help find solutions.We’re stuck together.

The truth is that we’re not overlooking anything. The Catholic Church stillhas a LONG ways to go to be truly “progressive.” He’s been the bestPope, but that’s like being the best Washington Redskin—you still kindasuck. Still, I appreciate him trying –effort goes a long ways. With all of us.I think of his effort as similar to my trying to rectify my adolescenthomophobia; we’re all learning. And in that regard, I really could go onabout this guy. He has a heart for the poor. He doesn’t seem to be stuckon “salvation” as much as “survival as a species,” the same way Nativepeople have always been. Practical. I’m at a pow.wow otherwise I wouldwrite more, but what this guy is doing is revolutionary and necessary.

I have always LOVED to criticize the Catholic Church because they’rebeen terrible historically. But it seems like this guy is trying to fix some oftheir horrible sins now. It’s far from perfect, but it’s MUCH better.

Love y’all.Gyasi Ross, Editor at LargeBlackfeet Nation/Suquamish Territories

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...hing-sexy-pope

[gazhekwe]

CONGRESSIONAL HOUSE CHAIRMAN BISHOP CALLS NATIVE AMERICAN ARTIFACTS “BULL CRAP – NOT AN ANTIQUITY”

BY NATIVE NEWS ONLINE STAFF / CURRENTS / 13 JUL 2015

Landscape of Basin and Range province in Central Nevada

WASHINGTON– House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop last Friday [[July 10) dismissed the historical value of Native American artifacts as a basis for establishing national monuments, as first reportedby Greenwire in a story about President Obama’s designation of three new national monuments:

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Rob Bishop

“There is nothing that Obama did today that had anything to do with an antiquity,” Bishop said. “There are criteria for using the act. There is nothing Obama announced that had anything to do with the criteria.”

WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE NATIVE AMERICAN ARTIFACTS AT THE BASIN AND RANGE NATIONAL MONUMENT SITE IN NEVADA, INCLUDING CAVE PAINTINGS, HE SAID, “AH, BULL CRAP. THAT’S NOT AN ANTIQUITY.”

Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva released the following statement in response.

“The natural and cultural resources protected by these designations are, in fact, antiques; species and trees and rocks and cave paintings and beautiful landscapes are all quite old. We want them to remain antique, House Republicans want them to become extinct.”

Grijalva thanked and congratulated Obama earlier today for his designations of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in California, Waco Mammoth National Monument in Texas and Basin and Range National Monument in Nevada.

http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/congressional-house-chairman-bishop-calls-native-american-artifacts-bull-crap-not-an-atiquity/

[gazhekwe]

Pope Francis Takes a First Step Toward Revoking the Papal Bulls

Steven Newcomb 7/13/15

On July 9 the Associated Press reported that while visiting La Paz, Bolivia, “Pope Francis apologized…for the sins, offenses and crimes committed by the Catholic Church against indigenous peoples during the colonial-era conquest of the Americas,” [[story by Nicole Winfield and Frank Bajak). The pope’s statement in Bolivia was made in advance of his trip to North America where, he plans to give sainthood to Junipero Serra as the founder of nine of the 21 California missions which proved so deadly and destructive for the Native peoples of California.

As the representative of the Holy See, Pope Francis is the successor to previous popes, such as Nicholas V and Alexander VI, who created, on behalf of the Holy See, the institutional framework within which “the sins, offenses and crimes” to which Pope Francis referred were committed, including in the Spanish Catholic mission system.

We must not overlook a key fact: the edicts of various popes created the predatory framework of Christian empire [[“christiani emperii”) and domination in the name of Christian “evangelism.” That framework became the basis for centuries of death and devastation experienced by our original free nations and peoples [[now typically called “indigenous”) throughout the western hemisphere and elsewhere.

What terminology did the Holy See use to create the framework found in the papal bulls or edicts? It was that terminology which provided the very basis for the sins, offenses, and crimes to which Pope Francis alluded. In the papal edict Dum Diversas of 1452, as one example, Pope Nicholas V authorized King Alfonso of Portugal, or his representatives, to sail to non-Christian lands, and “to invade, capture, vanquish, and subdue, all Saracens, pagans, and other enemies of Christ, to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery, and to take away all their possessions and property.”

The king was further instructed to “convert” the lands of the non-Christians. In legal terms, the word “convert” can mean “to unlawfully or wrongfully take away that which rightfully belongs to another.” Accordingly, Pope Nicholas V then declared the king’s actions against the non-Christians to be “just and lawful.”

The above quoted terminology [[invade, capture, vanquish, subdue, reduce to slavery, and convert the lands and property of the non-Christians) not only declared war on the non-Christian world. It also created a framework or paradigm of DOMINATION that continues to operate in plain sight while generally going unnoticed and unnamed.

In La Paz, Pope Francis was said to be addressing “the indigenous” peoples of Bolivia and elsewhere. What is the definition of “indigenous” at the United Nations? As stated in one definition, our nations and peoples are considered “indigenous” because we regard ourselves as “distinct from other sectors of society now prevailing.” To prevail is “to gain ascendancy,” and ascendancy is defined as “governing or controlling influence: DOMINATION.” [[Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Unabridged, 1993).

To be taken seriously, an “apology” or “begging of forgiveness” by Pope Francis, or any other pope, must be the basis for the papacy explicitly addressing the system of domination that the Holy See created and set into motion in the name of, “Him from whom empires, and dominations, and all good things proceed” [[papal bull of May 3, 1493). That same system of domination is what ended up being spread by the Holy See and Christian monarchies, and missionaries such as Serra. To this day that system’s domination framework is still being used against our original nations and peoples.

This being the case, Pope Francis can show true courage and moral authority for the Catholic Church by taking a next logical step: Revoke those papal bulls that have resulted in the domination and dehumanization of our original nations and peoples. In 1993, the Indigenous Law Institute wrote a letter to Pope John Paul II calling on him to revoke the Inter Caetera papal bull of May 4, 1493 in representation of the entire series of papal documents.

We wrote another to Pope Benedict XVI. We have maintained that campaign ever since the 1990s with the spiritual guidance and leadership of Birgil Kills Straight, an Elder and Traditional Head Man of the Oglala Lakota Nation, and with the solidarity of many Christian supporters throughout the world.

Given his statement of papal contrition in La Paz, Pope Francis has taken an important first step toward revoking the papal bulls of empire and domination. Yet, as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. The pope has some choices to make regarding possible papal edicts. For the Church, a lot is riding on his decision.

Possible papal edict one: Pope Francis can make a clean break with the dominating tradition of the papal bulls by issuing an edict officially revoking those documents issued by his predecessors, and by refusing to canonize Junipero Serra.

Possible papal edict two: Pope Francis can go through with his decision to bestow sainthood on Junipero Serra, and thereby choose to validate, legitimize, and sanctify the deadly trajectory of Christian empire and domination formed by the papal bulls.

If he does, he will thereby demonstrate the emptiness of his expression of contrition. As a less likely papal “wild card,” he may even try a complete contradiction: Grant sainthood to Serra and revoke the papal bulls, which would be an attempt to simultaneously reject and embrace the domination tradition.

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwor...ng-papal-bulls