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Heartfelt donation finds its way home

Rochele Hammond presents the signed Michael Bennett football to Nate Hatch. Hatch donated the football to the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club Auction to help raise funds for the club's program. Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
Rochele Hammond presents the signed Michael Bennett football to Nate Hatch. Hatch donated the football to the Tulalip Boys & Girls Club Auction to help raise funds for the club’s program.
Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News

By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News

TULALIP – Rochele Hammond, husband Ken and sons Josh, Jake and Bradon purchased a priceless item donated to this year’s annual Tulalip Boys & Girls Club auction held Saturday, May 9.

The item is a football signed by Seattle Seahawks #72 defensive end Michael Bennett. It wasn’t just the autograph that made this item priceless to bidders, it was the story behind it that resonated with the Hammonds.

The football was donated by Nate Hatch, the only survivor among the five students attacked in the school shooting on October 24 at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. Hatch was presented the football by Bennett following the tragedy.

Hatch, a former Tulalip Boys & Girls Club member, decided to donate the football to help raise funds for the club’s programs.

The Hammonds won the final bid but knew the football was worth much more than what they had paid for it. They decided to return the football to Hatch.

“He deserves to have it and I knew he was meant to have it,” said Rochele . “We want him to know we are thinking of him. It just needs to be with him.”

Haskell Indian Nations University: A field of dreams

By Jay Daniels, Round House Talk

Haskell Indian Nations University (“Haskell”) is the premiere tribal university in the United States offering quality education to Native American students. Haskell’s student population averages about 1000 per semester, and all students are members of federally recognized tribes. Haskell’s faculty and staff is predominantly native. Haskell offers Associate and Bachelors degrees. Haskell’s historic campus is centrally located in Lawrence, KS in what is known as Kaw Valley.

Today, after more than 130 years of existence, Haskell is experiencing extreme funding shortfalls and reducing the necessary funding to provide educational as well as student extracurricular activities, such as athletics, educational field trips and generally preparing students for life after degrees are obtained.

Summary of Haskell’s Sports History:

In 1884 Haskell initially opened its doors to American Indian students as Haskell Industrial Training Institute.  Today Haskell has emerged from those early years as a vocational/commercial training institute that initially offered a 5th grade curriculum, followed by an 8th grade curriculum, and by 1921 a full-scale 12th grade high school curriculum and maintained until 1965. In 1970 Haskell became an accredited junior college and by 1994 Haskell attained university status when it began offering both associate and baccalaureate degrees. During the existence of Haskell, there have been consistent academic/training alterations and changes to the methods and emphasis of training and teaching at Haskell (manual training courses, agricultural training, commercial courses, normal educational development, grade school/primary school education, high school development, domestic arts, domestic sciences, junior college, and finally university status). But the one constant has been athletics and its role as a viable part of Haskell’s development.

Haskell’s first organized sport against competitive opponents was football which began in 1896 and from 1919 to 1930 Haskell developed one of the most successful athletic programs in the school’s history recording a won/loss record of 94-31-6[JD1] . Haskell competed collegiately during this time and played some of the most formidable teams during that period of time including Kansas University, Oklahoma University, Notre Dame, Oklahoma A & M University, Tulsa, Nebraska, Boston College, Minnesota, and Bucknell.

Most nationally notable football game

The Hominy Indians were an all American Indian professional football team, meaning The Real Americans, located in Hominy, Oklahoma. The financiers were from Hominy, the Osage Tribe, and other tribes – the players were from all over. On December 26, 1927, they defeated the National Football League New York Giants who were titled world champions three weeks prior to the game with the Hominy Indians. Hominy was short handed of players and asked Haskell if they had any players willing to play with Hominy. Several eagerly accepted and were an integral part in helping Hominy in beating the NFL Giants 13-6.

Notable Haskell Native American Athletes

John Levi, an Arapaho tribal member is noted as the greatest runner back during the era, from 1921 to 1924 (He was named first team All-American in 1923),

Tommy Anderson, a Muscogee Creek stood as the premier running back in 1919, but the greatest team is believed to be the 1926 undefeated team that went 12-0-1 and was the first team to play in the newly built 10,500 seat stadium built with the exclusive donations of American Indian people. The largest contributors, were Osage and Quapaw tribal members who at that time were beneficiaries of oil and other mining resources.

The 1926 team had the benefit of what may have been the greatest all-around backfield in Haskell’s history including Elijah Smith who was the fastest of the running backs; George Levi performed as both an inside and outside runner; Mayes McClain served as the fullback and the team’s leading scorer (scoring a record 253 points, a scoring record that stood for 80 years); and Egbert Ward, ran the quarterback position.

In addition to the potent running and passing utilized by the 1926 team the team also had two of the best linemen in the nation. Tiny Roebuck and Tom Stidham (Mayes McClain would lead the nation in scoring in 1926 and his record of 253 points scored in a season was a record that stood for nearly 80 years. Tom Stidham would eventually coach collegiately at various universities including football at the University of Oklahoma.  The 1926 team ended the season considered among the top collegiate programs in America.

In the 1929 and 1930 seasons, Haskell maintained a record of 8-2-0 and 10-1-0.  The only loss in 1930 was to the University of Kansas, the following year, 1931, Haskell defeated Kansas in their re-match.

Rabbit Weller, a Caddo from Oklahoma who would go on from Haskell to play football professionally.

Buster Charles, an Oneida from Wisconsin led Haskell during this period of time and would eventually compete in the 1932 Olympics in the decathlon, a series of 10 events that commonly is said to determine the best all-around athlete in the world.  Buster Charles finished 4th, just short of a medal.

Inadequate funding has always been an unresolved issue

In 1933 Haskell moved away from its collegiate schedule and returned exclusively to high school competition by 1938. Through the Great Depression of the 1930s Haskell’s budget was cut by one-third (1/3), and it struggled financially for a period of nearly fifteen (15) years, but was able to maintain both its educational standards and athletic programs for the hundreds of students who continued to enroll during the same period of time.

Tony Coffin (“Coffin”) began his coaching career at Haskell in 1938 when as an enrolled student at Kansas University he played baseball collegiately and was allowed room and board at Haskell.  In order to pay for his Haskell room and board, Coffin was given the responsibility to coach Haskell baseball, boxing, and was utilized as an assistant in football.  When the United States entered World War II on December 07, 1941, Coffin volunteered for military service in early 1942. At the conclusion of the War in 1945 he returned to Haskell to re-start his coaching career. In 1948 he took the reins as head coach in football, basketball, and track and field and by 1951 had Haskell athletics (at the high school level) back on the map, the football program between the years 1951 to 1961 compiled a record of 58-38-5.  The basketball teams went to state championships twice (1953 and 1956), a remarkable feat considering the male high school enrollment never exceeded 200.

The track and cross-country teams never lost a conference championship for twelve consecutive years.  Some of the outstanding athletes at the time included:

Ed Postoak (1951 to 1954) was All- State in football and a 4 year starter on the basketball team;

John Edwards (1952 to 1955) was an All-State halfback and the school’s 440 record holder;

Other team members were:

James and Elliott Ryal (1952 to 1956);

Willie Sevier 1954-56, state finalist in basketball;

Ken Bailey 1956-1959;

Dave Hearne 1957-60;

Ken Taylor 1958-1961;

Billy Mills 1954-1957, (future 1964 Olympics 10,000 meters gold medal winner;

Gary Sarty (100 yard record-holder) 1957-1960;

Danny Little-Axe 1958-1961;

Gerald Tuckwin (1957-1960);

Darrell Farris, High School All-American (1959-1962); and

Phil Homeratha (1958-1961).

Other team members included the following:

James and Elliott Ryal (1952 to 1956);

Willie Sevier 1954-56, state finalist in basketball;

Ken Bailey 1956-1959;

Dave Hearne 1957-60;

Ken Taylor 1958-1961;

Billy Mills 1954-1957, (future 1964 Olympics 10,000 meters gold medal winner;

Gary Sarty (100 yard record-holder) 1957-1960;

Danny Little-Axe 1958-1961;

Gerald Tuckwin (1957-1960);

Darrell Farris, High School All-American (1959-1962); and

Phil Homeratha (1958-1961).

In 1970 Haskell became an accredited junior college and through 1977 the school was able to maintain winning records with Cecil Harry being named the schools only juco All-American in 1971.

Since 1920 Haskell has had three individuals who have attended Haskell and where each received their initial training, and competed in the Olympics:

Emil Patasani (Zuni) a 1920 5,000 meter runner;

Buster Charles (Oneida), a 1932 decathlete; and

Billy Mills (Sioux), 1964, an Olympic Champion in the 10,000 meter run.

Over the years Haskell has had five coaches who were named to the American Indian Hall of Fame for either, coaching and/or athletic achievement:

Lone Star Dietz, served as the head coach 1929 to 1932;

Gus Welch, 1933 to 1934;

John Levi, 1935;

Tony Coffin, 1947 to 1966; and

Jerry Tuckwin, 1970 to 1994.

It is believed Phil Homeratha, long-time coach at Haskell, 1970 to 2012, the only Haskell coach to ever take three different Haskell teams to national basketball tournaments in three different decades, 1987, 1999, and 2008 will one day be in the National Indian Hall of Fame for his coaching achievements at Haskell.

This represents a summary highlighting some of the most significant moments in Haskell athletic history and provides only a brief lesson as to the tradition of Haskell athletics that has emerged over the years.

Unless those of us who appreciate the opportunity and life lessons Haskell has given us, their athletic program could possibly be either scaled down or termination of their athletic programs. So many Native American lives have been jumpstarted to successful careers and contributions to Indian Country because of the education received at Haskell. So many memories, experiences, and life lessons were provided ay Haskell. It’s hard to imagine a world without Haskell, a place where Native Americans who normally wouldn’t obtain an education beyond the limits of their reservations or urban difficulties. These students, past and present, felt more comfortable being around other Native Americans from all over the country.  Different tribes, cultures and languages. But we all came from a world that didn’t and somewhat still hasn’t accepted us entirely or respected our culture and spirituality. Would you like to ensure that this traditional learning experience is there for your children, grandchildren and others in the future generations? Do what you can to keep the school open. So many struggling and goal oriented Native Americans who may not have somewhere else to go are depending on Haskell be there for their pursuit of excellence.

If any individual or tribe is concerned and would like to assist the Haskell Athletic Program, you can contact the Haskell Indian Nations University Athletic Department at 155 Indian Ave., Lawrence, KS 66046, Tel. (785) 749-8459.

Local tribes continue fight for federal recognition

By Jacob Batte, The Courier

HOUMA, La. (AP) – For local Indian tribes seeking federal recognition, congressional pushback is disappointing, but nothing new.

U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, is demanding the Obama administration hold off on new rules that could make it easier for Indian groups to win federal recognition as tribes.

American Indians have been pushing for years to revise the process, but proposed regulations nearing the finish line have deeply divided existing tribes and Congress.

Bishop says he’s prepared to use every tool at his disposal to block enactment of the regulations. He criticized the Interior Department for forwarding the regulations to the Office of Management and Budget for final approval last week. He said the administration has ignored lawmakers’ requests to hold off on the rules until Congress has a chance to review them.

Albert Naquin, chief of the Isle de Jean Charles band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, which includes about 600 members, said he’s saddened by the lengths some politicians have gone to hold tribes back.

Asked to comment on the efforts of people like Bishop, whom Naquin likened to anti-Indian President Andrew Jackson, he said he didn’t know how to answer the question, “but to get mad and express my real opinion.”

Federal recognition has been granted to 566 American tribes, and it is sought by others because of the health and education benefits it brings to tribal members, along with opportunities for commercial development.

Under the current recognition process, which dates back to 1978, the Interior Department has recognized 17 tribes and denied 34 requests, including the United Houma Nation in 1996 because, according to the government’s judgment, the tribe failed to prove it had an unbroken connection to the historic Houma tribe.

The Houma Nation, which boasts some 17,000 members, is recognized by the state but has tried since the 1970s to win federal recognition, which tribal leaders say could open the door to grants to address poverty and improve education.

The Lafourche and Terrebonne parish councils have expressed support for both tribes as well as the Pointe-au-Chien tribe.

The tribe isn’t looking for “a check in everyone’s hands” but rather the chance for proper education, health care and a sense of solace knowing where they live won’t vanish into the sea, said Houma Nation Principal Chief Thomas Dardar.

Dardar said the tribe is looking for around 300 acres of land, but 10 acres at the start of the process. Federal recognition would aid in that goal, he said.

The fight for recognition is expensive to the tribes, Naquin said. His tribe has spent money it doesn’t have to research put together the proposal.

A proposed rule issued 11 months ago changes some of the thresholds groups would need to meet to be federally recognized as a tribe. For example, the proposed regulation reduced how far back in time a tribe must demonstrate it has been a distinct political entity with authority over its members.

The National Congress of American Indians, whose members include leaders from dozens of tribes, is supporting the administration’s efforts.

Republicans and Democrats in Congress have expressed concern about the cost to the federal government and how approval of new tribes could alter the casino landscape in their home states.

“They think it’s about casinos, which have benefited a lot of tribes in a lot of ways. Not every tribe has casinos,” Dardar said. “That’s not even on our radar. … We’re worried about land loss and becoming more resilient.”

Existing tribes have also raised the casino issue and say that adding tribes would stretch already scarce federal resources allocated for health care, education and housing for Native Americans.

Dardar does share Bishop’s concern over easing the process of obtaining federal recognition. While there’s too much red tape now, he said, it shouldn’t be so easy that “anyone can come along and say we’re a tribe.”

Local tribes are optimistic their fight for federal recognition will soon prove fruitful.

Naquin said his tribe has employed someone to write up its proposal for federal recognition, and he believes it meets all the criteria. Now, he said, it’s a matter of putting it all together in the formal application.

“We did our research and we’ve got it done,” Naquin said. “We’re doing everything we can so they can’t come back and deny us.”

Yakima, Klickitat counties concerned about Yakama Nation retrocession petition

By Kate Prengaman, Yakima Herald-Republic

As the federal government moves toward approving the Yakama Nation’s retrocession petition — which returns civil and criminal jurisdiction over tribal members on the reservation from the state back to the tribe — officials in Yakima and Klickitat counties are concerned that some questions remain unanswered.

In Klickitat County, commissioners want to know how retrocession would affect a long-standing boundary dispute, and officials in Yakima County want to ensure there’s a formal plan detailing how tribal and local law enforcement agencies will work together once the retrocession is approved.

The concerns arose, in part, because retrocession is rare. The Yakama Nation was the first tribe to propose it since state lawmakers approved the process in 2011 and Gov. Jay Inslee signed the retrocession proclamation in January 2014.

The Yakama Nation’s leaders and Inslee praised it as a strong step toward greater sovereignty for the tribe to regain authority over its people.

It’s known as retrocession because it returns certain criminal and civil authorities to the tribal government that the state took over in 1963 under a federal law known as Public Law 280.

Once approved by the Secretary of the Interior, tribal police and tribal courts would have jurisdiction over issues involving tribal members on the reservation while the state would retain its authority over all criminal cases involving nontribal members.

It sounds straightforward, but the details get complicated quickly.

Since the 1.2 million-acre reservation is actually a patchwork of tribal trust land, incorporated towns and lands within the reservation that are owned by nontribal members, it’s likely to create logistical challenges for law enforcement.

Yakima County Commissioner Kevin Bouchey said the county, along with the cities of Toppenish and Wapato, are worried that the petition might be approved before law enforcement protocols are agreed upon.

“We’re not opposed to the petition, we just want to figure out the details before the Secretary of the Interior signs off on it, rather than after the fact,” Bouchey said. “It comes down to public safety for tribal members and nontribal members on the reservation and we need an established working relationship to do that.”

Klickitat County Commissioner David Sauter echoed Bouchey’s concerns. Development of this type of formal agreement between law enforcement agencies is encouraged in the state’s retrocession law, but is not required.

Bouchey said the county has drafted a letter expressing its concerns to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), which it plans to send this week.

A spokeswoman for the federal agency confirmed in an email that the petition is under review by the BIA with input from the Department of Justice, but did not offer any details. Request for comment from the Yakama Nation’s Tribal Council was not returned.

Klickitat County leaders sent their letter to BIA Secretary Ken Washburn in April to request clarification on how the governor’s proclamation defines the exterior boundaries of the Yakama Reservation. Sauter recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to discuss the issue with the agency and Washington’s elected officials as well.

The county’s concern centers on a disputed 95,000 acres of land to the southeast of Mount Adams that is known as “Tract D.” It includes Glenwood, an unincorporated community of about 700.

The Yakama Nation has long claimed the land as within its boundaries, including in its published maps. But Klickitat County officials say the land has clearly been in the county’s jurisdiction under state and federal law for more than 100 years.

The concern for Glenwood residents is that the retrocession proclamation says it applies to everything within the reservation’s boundaries, and the county wants reassurance that the state and federal interpretation of those reservation boundaries doesn’t change, said Klickitat County Prosecuting Attorney David Quesnel.

“There’s been issues going on for years, like the disputes over liquor licenses a few years ago, because the tribe has taken the position that Tract D is within its exterior boundaries,” Quesnel said. “We want to make it abundantly clear that Tract D would not be included.”

Glenwood-area residents told the Goldendale Sentinel that they didn’t want to have to go to the Yakama Nation’s Tribal Court to get divorced or to deal with traffic tickets or criminal charges.

But those concerns appear unfounded because the retrocession proclamation only returns jurisdiction over tribal members to the tribe, it doesn’t give the tribe authority over nontribal members, said Yakima County civil prosecutor Terry Austin.

The exceptions would be for civil matters such as domestic relations or juvenile delinquency for families in which one parent is a tribal member. Then, either the tribal court or state courts could decide the case.

As far as the boundary dispute, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office said the retrocession proclamation deals only with jurisdiction and does not in any way change existing reservation boundaries. In fact, the governor does not have the authority to change reservation boundaries, which is a federal issue.

In a 2000 federal court case over the Yakama Nation’s attempts to ban alcohol sales on the reservation, the state argued that “Tract D was not historically considered to be within the surveyed boundaries of the Yakama Reservation” and the state does not recognize it as being within the exterior boundaries.

The court later threw out the tribe’s attempts to ban alcohol sales in the reservation’s incorporated towns where a majority of the nontribal residents live, limiting the tribe’s authority to regulate nontribal members.

The retrocession petition also keeps existing limits on the tribe’s authority over reservation residents who are not tribal members, but expands its ability to self-govern. Once the details get worked out, county officials say they support that.

“They have a right to self-regulation and we’re not trying to interfere with that; we just want clarification,” Quesnel said.

Law Firm Gifts $3.5M to Tribal Health

By Joaqlin Estus, KNBA- Anchorage

A national law firm that specializes in Indian law is donating $3.5 million to improve medical care for tribal members. The decision comes after the firm, which has offices in Anchorage, helped win a case before the U.S. Supreme Court involving hundreds of millions of dollars for tribal health organizations.

The law firm Sonosky, Chambers, Sachse, Miller and Munson last year was one of the law firms that successfully fought for back payments to tribes from the Indian Health Service and Bureau of Indian Affairs. Attorney Lloyd Miller, a partner in the firm, says the firm wanted to give back to Indian Country, and recognizes the firm’s 40-year anniversary:

“We wanted to give back to Indian Country,” said Miller. “And since so much of our work involves health care issues, we wanted to focus our charitable contribution program on improving health care facilities, either entire clinics or acquisition of critical equipment such as cat scans, MRI machines and the like.”

Four-hundred-fifty thousand dollars each is going to the statewide Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium for patient housing, and to the Anchorage-based Southcentral Foundation for construction of a behavioral health clinic. Last year, ANTHC was paid $153 million for contract support costs, or overhead, that had been in litigation since 1990. Southcentral was awarded $96 million. Miller says $200,000 each is going to the Choctaw, Cherokee, and Chickasaw nations:

“For the most part we’re working with tribes we know very well,” said Miller. “Tribes we’ve had a relationship with since the firm’s founding, in the case of some of the tribes we’ve worked with for 40 years.”

Miller says he hopes their donation will inspire other companies that work with tribes on self governance in health:

“We encourage them to come up with matching funds so that the tribes can do more for their people.”

Miller says in the coming year, the firm will be working on grants to other tribes in Oklahoma, and in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana.

Tribes say law requiring return of remains, relics, hasn’t met promise

By Kristen Hwang, Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Manley Begay Jr. stood surrounded by boxes “stacked to the ceiling” that were filled with the remains of more than 1,000 Native Americans, when one label caught his eye.

Canyon Del Muerte.

It was where Begay’s family took their livestock to winter on the Navajo Nation. But here, at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University more than two decades ago, it was the label on a box of human remains.

“It’s as though you’re experiencing the death of a loved one right before your eyes again and again and again,” said Begay, now a professor at Northern Arizona University.

Back then, he was a graduate student at Harvard and part of the museum’s repatriation committee, formed in response to a new law – the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

He and others were optimistic that the law would help tribes regain the sacred items and estimated 180,000 human remains that had been taken from them years before by museums and collectors across the country in what has been called the “Native American Holocaust.”

But 25 years later, more than 70 percent of Native American remains are still in control of museums and federal agencies, according to the 2014 report by the agency overseeing the repatriation program.

“When NAGPRA was enacted, it was really an attempt to right some wrongs,” Begay said. “However only some museums and only a few individuals have really adhered to the intent – the legal intent – of the law and also the spirit of the law.”

The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, for example, has refused since 2004 to return six “sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony” to the Western Apache tribes in Arizona.

And the American Museum of Natural History in New York has agreed to give tribes 77 items, but without the legal classification of “sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony” that would confer ownership to the tribes – the items would essentially be on loan from the museum.

Critics say both museums have ignored recommendations by NAGPRA and by Smithsonian review committees to return the items.

The American Museum of Natural History did not respond to requests for comment. But the Smithsonian defended its compliance with the act, with a spokesman saying officials at the Washington museum are “extremely proud of our repatriation program and feel it has done much good through the Native community.”

In a statement to Cronkite News, the Smithsonian noted that its National Museum of Natural History had returned 200,000 different objects and the skeletal remains of about 6,000 individuals to more than 100 tribes. That does not include repatriation by the Smithsonian?s National Museum of the American Indian, which operates its own program.

The Smithsonian statement said the six items referenced by the Apache were among nine, three of which – cradles from infant grave sites – have been offered for repatriation. But the other items – a shirt, a medicine stick, two medicine hats, a war cap and a wooden charm – have not been shown to have come from the Western Apaches or that they rise to the level of sacred object, the statement said.

“The Smithsonian is willing to reconsider its determination with respect to the six disputed items if the Working Group can provide new or additional evidence to support its claims,” the statement said. “As of this date, the Working Group has not done so.”

Tribal members chafe at the fact that they have the burden of proof and that museums and federal institutions are given final

authority to decide whether to return items. They say institutions have dragged their feet for years, but the National NAGPRA office has little power to force compliance.

The road ends there for the tribes. They have no power under the law to force the museums to comply.

“It’s a standoff at this point,” said Vincent Randall, cultural preservation director with the Yavapai-Apache Nation in Arizona. “We have found that the review board has no power. They have no teeth.”

It wasn’t supposed to be that way.

When the law passed in 1990, Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said it “is not about the validity of museums or the value of scientific inquiry. Rather, it is about human rights.”

The law was intended to foster good faith between the scientific community and tribes by recognizing that the tens of thousands of Native American human remains should be treated with dignity and returned to their descendants.

While consultation and collaboration between museums and tribes was supposed to be at the heart of NAGPRA, tribes have found in many instances that it is hard to overcome the prejudices of old institutions.

“It’s the world of academia meeting the world of Native thought and understanding about life, and often that can clash,” Begay said.

Randall has seen that clash with academics firsthand.

“They say, ‘Where did you get that information?’” he said. “I tell them: All of you sitting up there went to school and you have a Ph.D. behind your name. Well, these guys right here sitting in front of you are well beyond your Ph.D. because they lived it and they lived it all their life and they are experts. You are dishonoring our elders.”

Begay said he has seen a shift in viewpoints in the archaeology and anthropology communities, but it has been a “slow, snail-paced” movement.

But still, the museums hold all the cards, said James Riding In, an associate professor of American Indian Studies at Arizona State University.

“What NAGPRA did was it gave the museums and federal agencies a great deal of power over the determination of cultural affiliation,” Riding In said. “So they could have said, even if Indians did the consultation process and said, ‘These remains are ours or these cultural items are ours,’ the museums could use their own determination of what was returnable under the law.”

Critics say problems with enforcement of the program are compounded by the fact that NAGPRA is part of the National Park Service. It has underfunded NAGPRA, they say, and it has its own conflicts – the Park Service has a collection of human remains and cultural items that qualify for repatriation.

Grant money available to tribes and museums from NAGPRA to help with consultation and repatriation has fallen from a high of nearly $2.5 million in 1998 to just over $1.6 million in 2015. In fiscal 2011 and 2012, the National Park Service took $581,000 from NAGPRA grant money and moved it to support administrative costs, according to agency budget documents.

But the National NAGPRA office said all federal agencies have had to tighten their belts.

“Any federal budget changes affect all agencies. Sequestration affected everyone,” said National NAGPRA program officer Melanie O’Brien. “I don’t see NAGPRA holding the burden of the budget any more than any other federal agency.”

Sequestration is not the only problem the National NAGPRA office faces. It lost its civil penalty investigator in 2010, and while O’Brien said a new one was hired six months ago, there are 63 backlogged cases against museums for failure to comply with the law.

The office can prescribe civil penalties for museums, but advocates say those penalties – $42,679.34 paid by nine such facilities since 1996 – are “pennies” to large institutions.

“The only avenue they say we have is to bring a lawsuit,” Randall said of the Apaches’ struggle to get items returned. “But to be honest, we don’t have the money to fight a big institution that has money.”

There is no avenue under the law to encourage federal agencies to comply. The agencies have returned less than half of the human remains they held when the law was passed.

For museums, the exact number is uncertain because reporting the information to the national office is voluntary, but the latest report from National NAGPRA estimates museums have more than 140,000 human remains left to be repatriated.

“While much is being made of foreign auctions and the like, and the efforts of Jews to get back artwork stolen during the Holocaust, museums in this country are still falling short in returning items taken in the Native American Holocaust – by those very same museums – even when faced with completely legitimate claims,” said Seth Pilsk, a tribal official for the Western Apaches.

For tribal nations the “human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony” that NAGPRA dictates be returned are integral to their religious and cultural identities.

“I didn’t know those individuals but they’re still my people, they’re who we came from,” Riding In said. “And I don’t put a timeline on that feeling.

“It can go back deep in time that these are our ancestors and they deserve full human rights and no one asked them if they consented to be dug up and put on display and studied,” he said.

Many nations believe that social ills like alcoholism and domestic violence are caused by the unrest of their unburied ancestors, and because objects the tribe considers holy have been separated from the people.

“Those who don’t fulfill the spirit of the law, if that doesn’t happen, then these traumas continue to happen,” Begay said.

Historical crops in Arizona may be future of agriculture

A young boy harvests cholla buds.(Photo: Tohono O'odham Community Action)
A young boy harvests cholla buds.(Photo: Tohono O’odham Community Action)

By Gareth Farrell, Arizona Sonora News Service

Two Southern Arizonan non-profit organizations, Native Seeds/SEARCH and Tohono O’odham Community Action, are promoting wild food sources and desert-tolerant crops.

Before Arizona became known for its cotton and citrus, before farmers moved West, before Spanish explorers first set their eyes on the Grand Canyon, the Tohono O’odham were cultivating the land and using the Southwest’s natural food sources to survive.

For hundreds of years, their diet consisted of wild foods straight from the Sonoran Desert such as mesquite bean pods, cholla buds and prickly pear fruit. The Tohono O’odham were also adept farmers, growing enough desert-hardy crops, like tepary beans and 60-day corn, that they were completely food self-sufficient up until the mid-20th century.

International turmoil and government programs in the mid-1900s pulled many Native Americans away from their homes and introduced processed foods to the reservations, which in turn led to the near disappearance of their traditional food sources.

The loss of their native foods also resulted in a startling rise of obesity, and consequently diabetes, among Native American tribes, including the Tohono O’odham.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, American Indian adults are twice as likely to be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes when compared to non-Hispanic Whites.

However, the real victims are young Native Americans, specifically those between the ages of 10 and 19, who are nine times more likely to be diagnosed with the disease. From 1990 to 2009, diabetes diagnoses rose 110 percent for that age group.

Recognizing the need for a community program in the Tohono O’odham Reservation to promote a healthy and culturally rich lifestyle, Terrol Dew Johnson founded Tohono O’odham Community Action, in 1992.

“Our whole intent was to have some kind of structured, positive program for youth and the community,” Johnson said. “I just wanted to have some sort organization that everybody could be a part of, regardless of age.”

Employing the community’s elders as teachers, TOCA began teaching about the traditional Tohono O’odham food system, which includes wild-plant harvesting and dry-land farming.

Initially, TOCA was more of an after-school or summer program for students on the reservation. The community elders would take children out to the desert where they would teach them how to harvest wild plants, such as saguaro cactus fruit and cholla buds.

Over the years, Johnson’s non-profit has rapidly grown in both popularity and size. TOCA is now a multifaceted operation that includes the Desert Rain Cafe, a restaurant that specializes in native foods, Native Foodways Magazine, which highlights aspects of Native American cuisine and various comprehensive community initiatives that seek to make the Tohono O’odham more food self-sufficient.

“Food sovereignty is our buzz word right now,” Johnson said. “Our goal now is to make this tribe more self-sufficient with their food.”

These initiatives include theNew Generation of O’odham Farmers program, introduced in 2009, that provides young adults with the training and skills necessary to pursue a career in sustainable agriculture.

TOCA also works with teachers and students to develop and maintain school gardens. The gardens are meant to help the children develop a work ethic and an appreciation for healthy food said Johnson, who is trying to make the food they grow part of the school lunch program.

TOCA isn’t alone in its quest to revitalize crops that thrive in an arid climate.

Native Seeds/SEARCH, a Tucson-based seed conservation non-profit, has almost 2,000 varieties adapted to dry weather, many of which came from Southwest tribes such as the Tohono O’odham.

“We’re trying to take seeds that have been gathered over the years, many of which were used for centuries but are in danger of being lost, and grow them to increase their supply,” said Larrie Warren, Native Seeds’ executive director.

On the non-profit’s 60-acre farm near Patagonia, a rotating variety of plants are grown and their seeds harvested. Some of these harvested seeds make it back to the refrigerators and freezers at the non-profit’s headquarters. They are used to preserve much of the organization’s stock and are handedout through a free seed grant program.

Most of the distributed seeds go to schools or communities struggling with food-security issues, Warrensaid.

While some may question why food-insecure communities would seek out rarer, less-established crops as a potential food source, there are notable benefits to what Native Seeds/SEARCH provides.

“We try to promote diversity,” Warren said. “If you’re growing one crop in an area, you’re going to begin having pest problems, pollination issues and other complications.”

Native Seeds/SEARCH has roughly 500 varieties of corn, nearly 200 types of beans, and 1,300 other types of seeds, many of which are available to the public, stored in its facilities

All of these seeds, and those used by TOCA, come from desert-adapted plants that thrive with minimal water.

“Our core mission is to preserve these seeds for a sustainable future,” Warren said. “Now we’re trying to broaden that out and educate the community so more people understand the health and environmental benefits of these seeds.”

Native Seeds/SEARCH offers classes and training to students, teachers, Spanish-speakers and backyard gardeners through its website. It also has a store on Campbell Avenue south of East Fort Lowell Road where it sells a selection of hard-to-find seeds.

Oklahoma House speaker unveils $25M plan to complete Native American museum

By Sean Murphy, The Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY –  Republican legislative leaders on Monday unveiled plans for two separate $25 million bond issues — one to complete a Native American museum near downtown Oklahoma City and another for a new popular culture museum in Tulsa.

House Speaker Jeff Hickman said the bond proposal to complete the long unfinished American Indian Cultural Center and Museum along the banks of the Oklahoma River would require no new state appropriations. He said the $1.9 million the state currently is spending on the state agency overseeing the project and to maintain the site would be dedicated instead toward bond payments.

The Native American Cultural and Educational Authority would become a non-appropriated state agency after June 30, 2016, and would have to be funded through other sources, like private donations, said Hickman, R-Fairview.

“We obviously, given the budget situation, don’t have cash as an option to complete this, but I think we’ve got a plan that accomplishes it even in light of our current situation,” Hickman said.

Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman introduced a bill Monday for a separate bond issue to build the Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture, or OKPOP, in Tulsa.

It is unclear if either measure will have enough support in the Republican-controlled Legislature, where the idea of a bond issue could be a tough sell in a year where the state is facing a $611 million shortfall.

Under Hickman’s proposal, the 143 acres surrounding the museum would be transferred to Oklahoma City, and revenue from leasing the property to private development would be used to fund museum operations.

The 15-year bond also would be paid off using money from an estimated $40 million in funds from mostly private donors, including contributions from each of the state’s 39 federally recognized Indian tribes.

Under Bingman’s proposal, funds that are being used to retire bond debt for the Oklahoma History Center in the Capitol complex in Oklahoma City will be redirected to pay for the Tulsa museum. Those bonds will be retired in 2018.

“The Oklahoma Historical Society has a record of achievement in building self-sustaining facilities like the Oklahoma History Center and the Route 66 Museum in Clinton,” Bingman, R-Sapulpa, said in a statement. “They have spent years developing a credible business plan for OKPOP, which will be a celebration of Oklahoma culture and a source of pride for our state.”

Area Southern Cherokees seek federal recognition

After 12 years of research and documentation on their rich cultural heritage, a group of local Southern Cherokee Indians recently mailed three boxes full of paperwork to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.

SubmittedMembers of the Southern Cherokee tribe recently mailed the first of two shipments of documentation to the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs in an effort to be re-recognized as a federal Indian tribe. Front row, from left, are Herman Paul, Darla Matthews and Chuck Wilcox. Back row, from left, are Karen Paul, Bill Tyler, Johnnie Gray and Steve Matthews.
Submitted
Members of the Southern Cherokee tribe recently mailed the first of two shipments of documentation to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs in an effort to be re-recognized as a federal Indian tribe. Front row, from left, are Herman Paul, Darla Matthews and Chuck Wilcox. Back row, from left, are Karen Paul, Bill Tyler, Johnnie Gray and Steve Matthews.

By Eddie O’Neill, The Rolla Daily News

After 12 years of research and documentation on their rich cultural heritage, a group of local Southern Cherokee Indians recently mailed three boxes full of paperwork to the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C.

The boxes were sent off on May 1 in hopes that the tribe will be re-recognized by the United States government.

“We began our research at the Library of Congress,” said Southern Cherokee Chief Steve Matthews. “We visited numerous historical societies, state archives and read books to make sure we got our story right. We also went through three computers in the process.”

The tribe boasts 500 members, the majority of which live in the south central Missouri region. While the group’s headquarters is in Webber Falls, Oklahoma, a branch office is located in Newburg.

“We are kind of a forgotten people,” said Matthews. “We were first recognized by the government with the (Cherokee) Treaty of 1866.”

However, Matthews added, recognition by treaty did not put the tribe on the Federal Register – a directory of government-recognized U.S. Indian tribes.

The review process by the Bureau of Indian Affairs could take two years or as much of 40 years. Federal recognition will allow the local tribe to receive federal benefits which include health insurance and housing. However, Matthews told The Rolla Daily News that even more important would be the ability to pass down the tribe’s heritage to the next generation.

“We got to talking and thought how could we look at our grandchildren and say, ‘We didn’t try?'”

As Matthews and a core group of Southern Cherokees combed through genealogies and other historical records over the last decade, they discovered a lot of history they didn’t know about.

Their name comes from the fact that they fought with the South during the Civil War. After the war, the Cherokee Nation split with some staying on their land in the South, while others moved west of the Mississippi River. The Southern Cherokee eventually ended up settling in Missouri. However, they were not welcomed here.

At the time, Missouri had laws to prevent Indians from moving into or hunting in the state of Missouri without a pass from a government Indian agent. Indians could not purchase or own land in the state. The State Militia was also called out to remove Indians when they were found on white landowners’ property.

It wasn’t until 1924 when tribal Indians could vote.”Our ancestors didn’t talk about our heritage,” recalled Southern Cherokee council speaker Bill Tyler. “We were here illegally—not allowed in the state of Missouri. When we were kids, we were taught not to be seen or heard from strangers because we would be found out.”

Even as the tribe began talking about beginning the process for this federal recognition, there were some in the older generation who were leery or hesitant to “stir up the pot.”

Throughout this process, Matthews explained that local Southern Cherokees have received much support from local officials all the way up to members of Congress.

Southern Cherokee member Chuck Wilcox said that the younger generation has been interested in learning their family history and have been supportive of the application process.The tribe here in Phelps County tries to gather at least once a year.

“It’s like a family reunion,” Wilcox noted.

Over the last few years the tribe has had a float in the Celebration of Nations parade.  Wilcox said that has been a good public relations move as locals have learned that there are American Indians right here in their backyard.

“While we want to receive government  benefits,” he said, “we also want to have our kids know their family history and to educate the public on who we are.”

Telehealth Project Aims To Improve Health Care Access for Inland Empire Tribes

By Lauren McSherry, California Healthline

A health care system serving nine American Indian tribes in the Inland Empire is using telehealth to reach patients in remote areas and address rising rates of diabetes, a particular problem among American Indians.

Riverside-San Bernardino County Indian Health serves nine tribes in the expansive Inland Empire region of Southern California. The region encompasses nearly 30,000 square miles, an area the size of Vermont and New Hampshire combined. Patients who live in rural parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties must travel long distances for health care. Those who live near the Colorado River and in cities such as Needles and Blythe, which lie along the Arizona border, sometimes must travel several hours for specialty care.

“If you think about that vast expanse with an urban corner, it makes all the sense in the world to have all forms of telehealth,” said Mario Gutierrez, executive director of the Center for Connected Health Policy. “Telehealth has always been thought of as a rural tool.”

Indian Health is the largest tribally owned health care system in the state and one of the largest in the West, aside from the Navajo Nation and some tribally owned systems in the Northwest, said Bill Thomsen, chief operations officer. There are more than 50 health systems serving Indians in California, he said.

The health system exclusively serves Indians belonging to nine tribes in the Inland Empire and their eligible dependents. The health care system has seven health centers and 14,000 patients, Thomsen said.

In recent months, Indian Health has rolled out a telehealth project, which is initially focusing on endocrinology to combat high rates of diabetes among tribe members. In San Bernardino County, for example, 13% of American Indian adults suffer from diabetes, and nearly 80% are overweight or obese, according to Healthy San Bernardino County.

“Native Americans are the largest diabetic population in the world,” said Karen Davis, Riverside-San Bernardino County Indian Health’s clinical services director.

Overall, Indians face a scarcity of health care resources and unusually high rates of asthma, diabetes and heart disease. American Indians are 177% more likely to die from diabetes, according to Native American Aid.

Pulmonology, cardiology, gerontology and dermatology will be addressed in the project’s subsequent phases.

The project focuses on specialty care because 45% of the Indian health system’s patients don’t have health insurance, restricting their access to certain medical services, Davis said.

“The value that we have seen is increased access to care, which ultimately affects outcomes,” she said.

Gutierrez said that because of the region’s shortage of specialists, the endocrinology project can have a big impact because it is crucial to diagnose diabetes early and control it, he said.

“The earlier you intervene, the more likely you are to avoid debilitating effects — loss of limbs, eyesight, all those complications that can be prevented,” he said.

‘A Model for the Rest of the State’

Steven Viramontes, clinical applications and telemedicine coordinator for California through the federal Indian Health Service, said implementing telemedicine in rural areas is a “no brainer.” It addresses cultural considerations in providing medical care to American Indians and improves access for patients who would otherwise not be able to receive certain specialized medical and psychiatric services.

“They are taking this on in a stepwise fashion,” he said of the health system’s telehealth project. “And I think that can serve as a model for the rest of the state.”

Davis said cultural awareness is a particularly important component of the project. Patients prefer receiving care through the Indian Health system, rather than seeking specialized care outside of the system, she said. She added that building trust with patients is important.

“We want people who can interact with the patient in an appropriate and sensitive way,” she said.

Diabetes treatment must address cultural influences, such as diet and lifestyle, and providing treatment through a tribal health system ensures much better compliance and understanding among patients, Gutierrez said.

“It’s not just diagnostics,” he said. “It’s education.”

Coordination of Care

Davis said one of the reasons she has become such a proponent of telehealth has to do with improved efficiencies and savings through better coordinated care.

The health system is expanding its pilot project to include more clinics and specialists. The initial project linked three clinics with an endocrinologist who works for a separate Indian health system in Santa Barbara. Through the project, a primary care doctor or nurse and a patient can video conference with a specialist.

Primary care doctors can learn from the specialists by observing how they interact with certain health issues, and when they encounter a similar case, they can handle it more effectively, she said. The health system has found that costs drop because continuity of care is improved and duplication of services and tests is avoided, she said.

In addition to remote locations in the region, another challenge for the health system has been the Inland Empire’s shortage of primary care doctors and specialists, Davis said. Telehealth helps the health system circumvent that problem.

Gutierrez said this type of coordination of care is in step with the medical home model of care. Medical records can be kept in one place, and the primary care provider retains a full record of coordination with the specialist, he said.

Support Growing

While the implementation of telehealth has lagged for financial, regulatory and technological reasons, support for telehealth has been gaining momentum in recent months. Congressional backing for financial provisions for telehealth appears to be growing. In April, a number of senators expressed support for expanding telehealth. Also, an unprecedented number of telemedicine bills are awaiting action.

While California has not led the nation in telehealth implementation, it has remained in the middle of the pack. The American Telemedicine Association gave the state an overall “B” grade for its telehealth delivery and an “F” for its Medicaid coverage of telehealth rehabilitation and home health services, according to a report released May 4.

In California, one obstacle has been access to high-speed broadband in rural areas, Gutierrez said. Another has been cost. A lot of health centers don’t have the money to invest in technology and training, he said. However, he expects that health care reform will drive the adoption of telehealth as health systems move away from the fee-for-service model.

Viramontes sees telehealth as the future. He believes it can benefit Indian health systems across the state. Not only is telehealth a useful tool in rural areas, but it also brings people together to share skills and knowledge, he said.

“We see an opportunity here,” Viramontes said. “This is where we are headed.”