Media Archives - Page 2 of 19

Jackson Katz: Violence against women—it’s a men’s issue

Jackson Katz asks a very important question that gets at the root of why sexual abuse, rape and domestic abuse remain a problem: What’s going on with men?

Why you should listen to him:

Jackson Katz is an educator, author, filmmaker and cultural theorist who is a pioneer in the fields of gender violence prevention education and media literacy. He is co-founder of Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP), which enlists men in the struggle to prevent men’s violence against women. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, MVP has become a widely used sexual and domestic violence prevention initiative in college and professional athletics across North America. Katz and his MVP colleagues have also worked extensively with schools, youth sports associations and community organizations, as well as with all major branches of the U.S. military.

Katz is the creator of popular educational videos including Tough Guise: Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity. He is the author of The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help and Leading Men: Presidential Campaigns and the Politics of Manhood. He has also appeared in several documentaries, including Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes and MissRepresentation.

“After I watched this talk, my first thought was, ‘If only every man, woman and teenager could see this video and hear this message.'” – Daily

Tribal court, Wyandotte Nation

To view video click image — To view video, click image.

By Jennifer Penate

May 23, 2013 on fourstateshomepage.com

WYANDOTTE, OK.— Wyandotte Nation is now holding criminal court every month.

“Establishment of tribal courts is essential to obtaining and maintaining tribal sovereignty,” said Jon Douthitt, Judge.

Jon Douthitt is the presiding judge. This is the second court he’s helped establish in the four states, following Quapaw. He says there’s one main challenge.

“Anything you do without proper jurisdiction is subject of being voided or attacked,” said Douthitt.

“I think that’s one of the complicated and convoluted issues of Indian law, is what is jurisdiction,” said Geri Wisner, Prosecutor.

Geri Wisner is the court’s prosecutor. She will only handle tribal code violations committed by a Native Americans.

“I will not be forwarding anything to the state unless it was a non-Indian suspect on a crime,” said Wisner.

However, the federal government will have jurisdiction over major crimes like murders. Wyandotte Nation Chief Billy Friend says having this court in place is momentous, allowing the community to prosper.

“Just gives us the opportunity, as far as collecting fines and fees instead of them going to the state or county government, it actually comes back to the tribal government,” said Chief Billy Friend, Wyandotte.

Chief Friend’s ultimate goal is to establish an appellate and supreme court. Wisner says her mission is to talk to elders about how issues were handled traditionally. The goal is find a way to help offenders rather than issuing them fines or jail time.

“The Life of William Shelton, a Tulalip Indian” Documentary on Kickstarter

"The Life of William Shelton, a Tulalip Indian" on Kickstarter — “The Life of William Shelton, a Tulalip Indian” on Kickstarter

“The Life of William Shelton, a Tulalip Indian” documentary, which recently took first place for “Best Overall Film” at the Tulalip Hibulb Film Festival is now on Kickstarter. The film, produced by Lita Sheldon, Tulalip tribal member and Jeff Boice, is working to raise money to create a broadcast quality film that can be aired on TV stations and small independent theaters, along with raising funding for additional interviews, footage and to cover the cost of editing, post production and securing distribution rights.

Kickstarter is an online site home to everything creative, including films, games, music, art, design and more. All of the projects on Kickstarter are brought to life through the direct support of people willing to pledge money and show their support. “The Life of William Shelton, a Tulalip Indian” currently has 42 days to raise their goal of $30,000.

You can read about the project, the people behind it and the various items you can receive depending on your donations here.

The challenges of being lost inside your culture

Writer and Native American Sherman Alexie talks about the destructiveness of feeling “lost and insignificant inside the larger culture.”

The Challenges of Being Lost Inside Your Culture from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo.

As featured on Moyers & Company

April 9, 2013

In an extended clip from this weekend’s Moyers & Company, writer Sherman Alexie, who was born on a Native American reservation, talks to Bill about feeling “lost and insignificant inside the larger culture,” and how his culture’s “lack of power” is illustrated in stereotypical sports mascots.

“At least half the country thinks the mascot issue is insignificant. But I think it’s indicative of the ways in which Indians have no cultural power. We’re still placed in the past. So we’re either in the past or we’re only viewed through casinos,” Alexie tells Bill. “I know a lot more about being white than you know about being Indian.”

Veteran NASA Climate Scientist James Hansen Leaves Government to Fight Climate Change and Keystone XL

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

The Keystone XL pipeline is in James Hansen’s sights as the famed climate scientist retires from NASA, where he has worked for more than 40 years, in order to spread the message about climate change full-time.

The veteran scientist, who has been arrested at least four times at rallies against the Keystone XL oil pipeline project, will step down this week, NASA said in a statement on April 1. For the past 46 years Hansen has worked at the agency’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York City, from which perch he has spread the word about the changing climate and its effect on future generations. He has headed the institute since 1981.

“His departure … will deprive federally sponsored climate research of its best-known public figure,” The New York Times reported, but added, “At 72, he said, he feels a moral obligation to step up his activism in his remaining years.”

He has already done plenty during his years at NASA, including testifying before Congress and predicting many of the changes that are taking place today. In fact, as The Washington Post reports, he was among the first to warn Congress, back in 1988, that greenhouse gases threatened to cook the Earth, in testimony that “was one of the first and clearest public statements on global warming.”

“It is time to stop waffling so much and say that the evidence is pretty strong that the greenhouse effect is here,” he told Congress then, according to The Washington Post. He also predicted ice melt, cautioned that the risks of sea-level rise were being underestimated by science, and said that the international community is not adequately addressing climate change. Most recently he has been extremely outspoken against further development in the Alberta oil sands of Canada, particularly the Keystone XL pipeline that is under review by the U.S. government and opposed by many tribes.

To do this he “plans to take a more active role in lawsuits challenging the federal and state governments” for not issuing stricter emissions standards and for the governments’ support of extracting sludgy bituminous crude from the Alberta oil sands in Canada, The New York Times said.

“If we burn even a substantial fraction of the fossil fuels, we guarantee there’s going to be unstoppable changes,” Hansen told The New York Times, warning of a tipping point for Earth. “We’re going to leave a situation for young people and future generations that they may have no way to deal with.”

Pechanga.net To Host First iGaming Conference

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

Native news site Pechanga.net is hosting its first conference dedicated to iGaming for Indian tribes. “Indian Country Online: The 2013 Congress” will take place June 3-4 at Pechanga Resort and Casino in Temecula, California. Live registration is now available at www.indiancountryonline.net, and Pechanga.net is encouraging tribal leaders and gaming professionals to sign up now for “what is sure to be a transformative event in the history of tribal gaming.”

The conference will be co-presented by Pechanga.net and Spectrum Gaming Group, a gaming research and analysis firm. The one-day event, themed “No Tribe Left Behind,” will take a comprehensive look at the next wave of business opportunities that technology, e-commerce, and iGaming will create for the tribes and entrepreneurs of Indian country, states Pechanga.net. Industry experts will detail how to navigate the technological, financial and regulatory challenges facing tribes as they go online.

“I felt there was an urgent need for us to look beyond the current debate on online gaming and focus on the entire industry, including the myriad of business opportunities that will be created by iGaming and e-commerce,” said Victor Rocha, owner of Pechanga.net. “Creating this conference is my way of pulling back the curtains and demonstrating that every tribe in the country can have a role and an opportunity to benefit in some real and direct way. No tribe should be left behind!”

“With the prospect of online wagering, tribal councils face a combination of opportunities and challenges, along with a cacophony of opinions, interpretations, and legislative issues,” said Michael Pollock, managing director of Spectrum Gaming Group. “This conference has been structured to cut through the noise, identify the opportunities and chart some realistic pathways.”

A complete conference agenda and sponsorship opportunities will be available in coming weeks.

Judge: Urban Outfitters Case Can Continue

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

A couple of the products Urban Outfitters sold using the Navajo name.

A federal judge has ruled that the Navajo Nation’s lawsuit against Urban Outfitters can proceed.

Senior U.S. District Judge LeRoy Hansen filed an order on March 26 stating that the court is still considering allegations by the Navajo Nation against the retailer. However, as a report from the Farmington Daily-Times has noted, the court has dismissed some elements of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit stems from Urban Outfitters’ use of the terms Navajo and Navaho in referring to products not made by the Navajo Nation. Court documents said that “The Navajo Nation alleges in its Amended Complaint that it and its members have been known by the name ‘Navajo’ since at least 1849, have continuously used the NAVAJO trademark in commerce, and have made the NAVAJO name and trademarks famous with numerous products.”

The claims dismissed by the court were those that condemned the merchandise itself as “derogatory, scandalous, and contrary to the Navajo Nation’s principles” and labeled the alternate spelling “Navaho” as “scandalous.” The products that precipitated the lawsuit, which were re-labeled or pulled from stores altogether, included the “Navajo Hipster Panty” and the “Navajo Print Fabric Wrapped Flask.”

The Daily-Times adds that the Navajo Nation has until the end of the week to file a revised amended complaint.

World’s Largest Gathering of Nations Celebrates 30 Years of Celebrating Native and Indigenous Peoples and Cultures

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

All photos courtesy Gathering of NationsGrand Entry at the Gathering of the Nations — All photos courtesy Gathering of Nations
Grand Entry at the Gathering of the Nations

Born out of humble beginnings, the Gathering of Nations, the world’s largest gathering of Native American and indigenous people, will celebrate its 30th anniversary in Albuquerque, New Mexico April 25-27. Considered the most prominent pow wow in North America, it will host tens of thousands of people and more than 700 tribes from throughout the United States, Canada, and around the world honoring three decades of Native American culture and traditions through dance, music, food and indigenous dress.

The three-day event includes more than 3,000 traditional Native singers and dancers competing and entertaining a capacity crowd, and more than 800 Native artisans, craftsmen and traders displaying and selling their work. In addition, dozens of different indigenous bands will perform various musical genres on Stage 49, and vendors will offer a wide variety of food in the Native America Food Court and Powwow Alley

As part of the Gathering of Nations, a young Native woman is crowned Miss Indian World and represents all native and indigenous people as a cultural goodwill ambassador. As one of the largest and most prestigious cultural pageants, Native American and indigenous women representing their different tribes and traditions compete in the areas of tribal knowledge, dancing ability, and personality assessment.

“This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Gathering of Nations, and we are busy planning for what we expect to be the largest and most exciting pow wow in the event’s history,” said Derek Mathews, founder of the Gathering of Nations. “The Gathering of Nations strives to be a positive cultural experience that is exhilarating for everyone. The pow wow features thousands of dancers performing different styles from many regions and tribes, offers the finest in Native American arts and crafts in the Indian Traders Market, a delicious variety of Native American and Southwest cuisine, and the best in contemporary performances in the arena, on Stage 49, and in Powwow Alley.”

The first Gathering of Nations was held in 1983 at the former University of Albuquerque where Derek Mathews was the Dean of Students, and a club campus adviser for the Indian Club. Four hundred dancers competed and about 1,000 spectators attended the first year. In 1984, the pow wow was moved to the New Mexico State Fair Grounds where it was held for two years. Then the Gathering of Nations moved to its current location, the University of New Mexico Arena (affectionately known as “The Pit”), in 1986. The organizers realized the Gathering of Nations had the potential to become a larger event and decided to create the Gathering of Nations Limited, a 501 c3 non-profit organization, allowing organizers to seek financial assistance to produce the event. Throughout the years, it grew to become the largest Native American pow wow in North America, but still honors its original intent of offering a pow wow contest that is fair to all dancers.

The Gathering of Nations is celebrating its 30th anniversary with the release of a new book and the launch of Gathering of Nations Internet Radio. The book titled 30 Years of Gathering: Gathering of Nations Powwow is a look back at previous pow wows and is told through photographs and written memories. The new book will be available in time for the event’s 30th anniversary in April. Additionally, the Gathering of Nations Internet Radio was recently introduced on iHeartRadio offering Native music of all genres including pow wow, rock ‘n’ roll and spoken word.

The 30th Annual Gathering of Nations begins Thursday, April 25, at “The Pit” with registration for singers and dancers and the start of the Miss Indian World competition. The crowning of Miss Indian World will take place on Saturday, April 27. The much anticipated “Grand Entry,” where thousands of Native American dancers simultaneously enter the stadium dressed in
colorful outfits to the sounds of hundreds of beating drums, begins at noon on Friday, April 26.

Gathering tickets cost copy7 per day, $34 for a two day pass, or $50 for a two day pass with VIP seating. They can be purchased at the door, or in advance online through mid–April. For participants and guests traveling to the 30th Annual Gathering of Nations from outside the state, Southwest Airlines has special airfare deals and Enterprise Rent-A-Car has an exclusive rental rate. In addition, the Hard Rock Casino and Hotel – Albuquerque is the host hotel for the event, and is offering special rates for camping facilities at Isleta Lakes.

For more information about the 30th Annual Gathering of Nations, visit GatheringOfNations.com.

Native Warrior’s Efforts Lead Washington State to Observe Annual Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day

By Richard Walker, Indian Country Today Media Network

Many of them were 18 or 19 when they enlisted or were drafted. They were trained to fight in a far-off land, to stop communism from spreading into Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, all that is ugly about war – in this case, the Vietnam War – was broadcast into American living rooms for the first time. As the human and financial costs of the war grew, opinions collided – sometimes violently, in the U.S. capital, on college campuses and on city streets.

When U.S. military personnel came home, many with injuries and memories that would still haunt them decades later, there was no welcome.

“They were not treated like heroes as those who returned from Korea and World War II,” said Washington State Rep. Norm Johnson (R-Toppenish). “Instead, they were portrayed as baby killers, warmongers and other things.… That had a traumatic effect on these soldiers that is still painful to these days as many of them refuse to talk about their experiences.”

Now, thirty eight years after the fall of Saigon and the end of the war, Washington state’s Vietnam War veterans will finally be welcomed home.

State House Bill 1319 establishes March 30 of every year as “Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day” in Washington state. The bill, introduced by Johnson and co-sponsored by 38 state House members, was unanimously approved by the House on February 20. On March 25, the state Senate also unanimously passed the measure, sending it to Governor Jay Inslee for his signature.

March 30 would not be a public holiday, but rather a day of public remembrance. However, all public buildings and schools would be required to fly the POW/MIA flag; that flag is also flown on Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day and Veterans Day.

The observance was proposed to Johnson by Gil Calac of the Yakama Warriors Association, a Native veterans organization with about 190 members who make sure that veterans are not forgotten. Calac, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam from 1969-70, spoke for the bill February 6 and March 14. His compelling testimony moved the Washington legislators to act quickly and affirmatively on this bill.

At the March 14 hearing before the Senate Committee on Governmental Operations, Calac said Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day would help veterans “put away our guilt, the shame, the grief and despair,” and heal from the animosity veterans faced when they returned home.

Calac told of one veteran who returned home from Vietnam and was discharged in Oakland, California. He was spit upon while wearing his uniform. Upset, he went into a bar, where he was spit upon again. Linda McNeely, who joined Calac at the hearing, told the committee a similar story of how her husband was spit upon at the airport when he returned home from the war.

“The scars will always be there forever,” Calac said. “I know we can’t change the past, but we can help our Vietnam War veterans by opening the door and saying, ‘Welcome home.’”

Gil Calac, Yakama Nation, a member of the Yakama Warriors

Calac served in the U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry, 165th Signal Company from 1969-70. He served 15 months in Vietnam. He received the Bronze Star, the fifth-highest combat decoration, but won’t speak about the circumstances that led to his receiving the medal.

“Two years ago was the first time I ever talked about getting the Bronze Star,” he said. “I still haven’t taken it out of the case.”

After returning home from Vietnam, he coped with alcohol and drug dependence. His first marriage ended in divorce; he said he almost lost his second marriage and his children as well. He’s now been sober for 28 years, which he credits to his Native religion, Washat, and traditional foods.

Had Vietnam War veterans been welcomed home at the start, closure and healing could have taken place earlier, he said.
“A classmate told me he just started getting treated for PTSD two years ago,” Calac said. “[The trauma] is ingrained in you. You hide it, but it sneaks up on you. It comes out.”

State Rep. John McCoy (D-Tulalip) was a communications operator in the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines during the Tet Offensive. He remembers the stack of coffins at the morgue across the street from his work station. His wife, Jeannie, worked as a civilian in the records section of the base hospital, and remembers the injured soldiers on stretchers in the hospital hallways.

“It was pretty hard on her,” McCoy said. “From the time we left the Philippines until 1994, she wouldn’t step into a hospital.”

McCoy was the first co-sponsor of HB 1319. “It’s time,” McCoy said. “A lot of those Vietnam vets are still suffering. That piece of legislation is going to help them heal.”

According to the National Archives, 58,220 Americans–1,047 from Washington state – are known to have died in the Vietnam War. The Library of Congress POW/MIA Databases & Documents website reports that as of November 2001, 1,948 Americans remain unaccounted for in Vietnam.

“In the little town of Toppenish where I grew up and served on the city council and as mayor, 13 men from that community paid the ultimate sacrifice in the Vietnam War,” Rep. Johnson told the state Senate committee. “That’s a per capita death rate eight times that of the nation’s and 12 times that of the state. I also have a cousin who lies in the cemetery at Zillah who came home in a box from Vietnam.”

In a speech he gave at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on Memorial Day 1993, Lt. Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey said the average infantryman in the Vietnam War saw about 240 days of combat in one year – 200 more days than an infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II – thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. One out of every 10 Americans who served in the Vietnam War was a casualty; an estimated 304,000 were wounded and, at the time of McCaffrey’s speech, 75,000 Vietnam War veterans were living with war-related disabilities.

Heidi Audette, communications director for the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs, told the committee Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day would help future generations understand the service and sacrifice Vietnam War veterans made on behalf of their state and country.

“We’re also really hopeful that this will continue to encourage Vietnam and other veterans to come forward and seek out the benefits they so richly deserve from their service to our country,” Audette said. “There are so many Vietnam veterans that have yet to connect with the benefits that they earned because of their service, so we’re hopeful this will help in that way as well.”

Calac said several attempts in the U.S. Congress to pass a national Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day have failed; Calac and others are now lobbying to have the observance adopted state by state. (In 2011 and 2012, President Obama signed an executive order proclaiming March 29 of those years as Vietnam Veterans Day.)

The legislatures in several states, California and Texas among them, have established a Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans Day. Calac said he and others are going to lobby next in Idaho, Arizona and Nevada.

Rep. Johnson has invited the Yakama Warriors to present the colors March 29 at the State Capitol, the day before the new observance. Calac is inviting other Vietnam War veterans to participate. Following a short ceremony, veterans and family members will gather at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the Statehouse grounds. There will be a pow wow drum ceremony and a circle of life will be formed by the religious leaders who are on hand. Calac is hoping to have pins and ribbons for all Vietnam Veterans to wear.

For more information, contact Calac at 509-949-0914 or calacg@embarqmail.com. The Yakama Warriors Association website is YakamaWarriors.com and their Facebook page can be found by clicking here.

The website for the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs is Dva.wa.gov. If you are a vet or know a vet who needs assistance, contact the Washington State VA at 360-725-2200 or 800-562-0132.

Eagles on the mend after scavenging euthanized horses

Seven eagles poisoned nearly to death after feeding on carcasses of euthanized horses in Lewis County should be well enough for release from wildlife shelters this week.

By Lynda V. Mapes, The Seattle Times

A volunteer at the West Sound Wildlife Shelter on Bainbridge Island nurses one of the eagles sickened by eating carcasses of euthanized horses. Photo: Dottie Tison

Seven eagles poisoned nearly to death after feeding on euthanized horse carcasses are expected to be released this week.

The eagles are alert, getting feisty and are being moved to outdoor cages, said Mike Pratt, wildlife director at the West Sound Wildlife Shelter on Bainbridge Island, which cared for six of the eagles. The shelter, funded by donations, takes in wild animals of all sorts that have been injured or orphaned.

The shelter started getting calls over the weekend about first one eagle, then a second found nearly dead on private property in Winlock, Lewis County. By the time shelter staffers arrived to pick up the birds on Sunday, four more had become sick, Pratt said. The six birds — five juveniles and an adult — were so ill they were convulsing, vomiting, and could not stand. Two were comatose.

Back at the shelter, volunteers and two veterinarians were waiting. They administered a charcoal purgative around the clock and, by Tuesday morning, even the sickest birds had revived. They may be released by the end of the week, right back where they came from, Pratt said.

A seventh poisoned eagle had been taken to the wildlife shelter at the Audubon Society of Portland on Friday. That eagle, a first-year male, looks excellent and will be released Wednesday, said Lacy Campbell, operations manager at the wildlife center.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the incident, said spokeswoman Joan Jewett. It is a federal offense to poison an eagle, even accidentally.

It all started with horses, euthanized and left by their owner in a field, said Jewett, who added that the carcasses have since been buried.

Stephanie Estrella, director and wildlife rehabilitator of Raindancer Wild Bird Rescue in Olympia, which cared for the birds before the larger Bainbridge shelter could come collect them, said this was the first time she had encountered raptors poisoned by tainted carcasses.

Most of the raptors she has cared for were victims of car strikes, or torn up in fights with other raptors.

She got the first call from Sharon Thomas, a Winlock resident who saw an eagle acting strangely in a field in front of her house.

“It flopped and flew, and flopped and flew. It crashed several times,” Thomas said. “Then it came right to me, it sat right at my feet as if it had come for help.”

Thomas took the eagle to her house, put it in a kennel, took photos of it, and put them on Facebook asking for help. Ultimately, it was Estrella from Raindancer who came to collect the eagle.

Little did Thomas know she was in for a long weekend of more of the same, as she and her neighbors walked and drove the area, on the alert for more animals in distress. “It was heart-wrenching,” Thomas said. “Seeing a large, majestic bird falling over on its head is very sad. Picking them up, seeing them unresponsive and lethargic. Picking up the two others that seemed dead, their eyes were not open, they were barely breathing.”

Eventually, she and the neighbors walking the field and thickets found two horse carcasses, with eagles feeding on them. “I picked an adult off one of the horses. He was covered in rotten meat and blood and so was I,” Thomas said.

She and other neighbors collected six sick eagles, and drove off others trying to feed on the carcasses. “It was very hard to drive away from the work Monday morning,” Thomas said. “I don’t know what other wildlife may have been affected.”

The Longview Daily News reported Monday that the horses’ owner, Debra Dwelly, said she had no idea she had created a hazard until federal wildlife agents, alerted by the animal-shelter operators to the eagles’ plight, showed up at her home on Sunday, after cruising the area in a small plane and spotting the carcasses.

Dwelly told the Daily News the poisoning was an honest mistake that occurred because a friend’s backhoe had broken down, delaying burial of the horses she had put down earlier last week.

Washington state law requires the owners of animals or owners of land on which animal carcasses are found to bury or incinerate carcasses within 72 hours so they do not become a hazard.

Attempts by The Seattle Times to reach Dwelly were unsuccessful Tuesday.

Meanwhile, all seven eagles were getting stronger by the hour. Thomas said she is eager to seeing them released.

“I look forward to them returning and behaving as an eagle should,” Thomas said. “They should be aggressive. You shouldn’t be holding them in your arms.”