Two Four Corners start-up businesses are getting international attention, and they haven’t even opened their doors.
Chief on a board the Ignacio Colorado startup company is hoping to break into the longboard business.
The company combines their Southern Ute culture with the growing demand for becoming active.
They hope their line longboards motivate people to get moving.
“We want to get a generation of kids off the couch playing video games to go outside and go enjoy some fresh air,” said Co-owner Diamond Morgan.
Their designs are inspired by their Native American background.
They hope to create a positive image of their culture.
“Some native Americans designs are misleading and therefore we want to capitalize on that we are still here we want to move forward,” said Anthony Porambo.
Chief on a board and another Farmington based company, Rincón brewery— just one a local competition at the Four Corners Startup Weekend.
“I think we have a good quality product I’m an award winning home brewer and everybody like my beer,” said Steve Haney of Rincon Brewery.
Now both teams will compete in worldwide competition online called the Global Startup Battle.
Even if the teams don’t win the global startup, they’ll both still get a boost.
They’ll get their own space like this one rent free at San Juan College for six months.
In order for the two teams to get to the second round, they have to get enough votes. To vote for the teams, head over to the Four Corners Economic Development page and a link is under the team’s pictures.
Chair Troy Eid, right, addresses the audience as fellow commissioners Ted Quasula, left, and Carole Goldberg of the Indian Law and Order Commission review a section of their report at the 23rd Annual BIA Tribal Providers Conference on Wednesday, December 4, 2013, at the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center. ERIK HILL — Anchorage Daily New
In the three weeks since the U.S. Indian Law & Order Commission chastised Alaska for opposing Natives who want their own village cops and courts, chairman Troy Eid says he’s been called a radical and an outsider who shouldn’t be sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong.
Eid swept aside such criticism Wednesday when the commission officially presented its report in Anchorage. He declared that Alaska “was on the wrong track” and that public safety and security were so bad in rural Alaska, especially for women and children, that it had become a national disgrace.
“I don’t claim to be an Alaskan,” said Eid, the former U.S. Attorney for Colorado, “but I know injustice when I see it.”
Speaking to a crowded room of mainly Alaska tribal officials and Native rights advocates at the 23rd annual Bureau of Indian Affairs Tribal Providers Conference, Eid was interrupted by applause almost every time he called on the state to acknowledge sovereignty here.
“There ought to be a recognition of tribal sovereignty as THE force that will keep people safer — and why not?” Eid said. “It’s what we do everywhere else in the United States. We recognize local people should be able to govern themselves, make their own decisions, that they should not be fighting with their states.”
A life-long Republican, Eid said it wasn’t a matter of politics, though opponents of the report have tried to portray it that way. “I would hold my conservative credentials to (Attorney General Mike Geraghty’s) or the governor’s anytime,” he said.
The nine-member Indian Law & Order Commission was established by Congress in 2010 and directed to report back to Congress and the President on its findings after holding hearings and meetings around the country, including Alaska.
The report, released Nov. 12, was mainly about the successes and failures of reservation justice programs and recommendations on new policies and laws.
But the panel singled out Alaska in a special 30-page chapter. It accused the state of falling behind the rest of the country in providing a secure environment in Bush villages.
“What’s so shocking about Alaska is that you have the most rural state in the country and you have the most centralized law enforcement in terms of how the state provides — and fails to provide — services,” Eid said. “We cling to this model because we know it and because there’s a lot of perverse pleasure taken in controlling the lives of other people … The colonial model, which is alive and well in Alaska, does not work.”
Eid and panel members Carole Goldberg of the UCLA School of Law and Ted Quasula, a former BIA police officer from Arizona, said Alaska should recognize tribal authority, not fight it.
Tribal courts exist in Alaska, but they mainly handle adoption and other family matters. The state recognizes their jurisdiction over village members, but recently challenged a decision by the Minto tribal court that stripped a convicted wife beater of his parental rights, arguing that the court exceeded its authority because the man was enrolled in another village.
Eid and Goldberg had sharp criticism for the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971, the law that paved the way for the trans-Alaska pipeline by settling Native land claims and establishing regional and village corporations in place of reservations. While supporters of the act, like the late Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, have described it as forward-looking legislation designed to integrate Alaska Natives into the dominant economy and culture, Goldberg said it was the “last gasp of termination policy” designed to separate Natives from their traditional lands.
Laws passed since then have recognized Native American tribal authority, though often, as in the Violence Against Women Act, Alaska was written out of the legislation, they said.
“Alaska has been left behind because of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act,” Goldberg said.
Eid said he has heard the law described in almost reverential terms, as if it had been “set in stone” and handed down like tablets.
In fact, he said, the law has been amended 35 times since passage, and it should be changed again to bring “Indian country” — and Native sovereignty — to the thousands of acres of land owned by Alaska Natives, villages and other Native entities.
“Attitudes change, people can change, people can learn,” he said.
Eid said that when he arrived at his room in the Hotel Captain Cook Tuesday night, there was a six-page letter in an envelope on his pillow. It wasn’t a love note, but a hand-delivered defense of Alaska’s position by Geraghty, the state Attorney General.
Eid noted that Geraghty acknowledged that public safety was deficient in Alaska’s villages, but opinions diverged after that. Geraghty said that increasing the power of tribal courts and police, using the reservation model, would subject non-Natives to a justice system they had no power to affect democratically.
“The report does not explain how non-Native residents in these communities will participate in … tribal self-governance given that they have no right to vote on tribal laws or participate in electing tribal leaders,” Geraghty wrote. Since ANCSA’s passage, he said, “Alaskans have been free to reside in any Alaska community and expect to be governed by a uniform system of criminal laws.”
But Eid said that was no more relevant than he, as a voting resident of Colorado, being subject to Alaska criminal law while visiting here. If he broke the law, he said, he would expect Alaska courts to be fair to him even though he can’t vote here, just as he would expect tribal courts to fair with non-Natives in their villages.
Geraghty also referenced the Parnell administration’s secret plan to bring a measure of self-determination to some villages. As outlined by Gov. Sean Parnell to the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in October, the proposal would allow tribal courts to hear misdemeanors as civil, not criminal cases, with culturally attuned punishment or rehabilitation — but only if the defendant agreed.
Geraghty said in an November interview that he couldn’t provide a copy of the proposal he had given the Tanana Chiefs Conference because it was subject to negotiations.
“Has anyone seen this thing?” Eid asked the room Wednesday. No one had. He and Goldberg said the negotiations were doomed if the state didn’t treat the Interior villages as sovereign governments.
When the Yankees signed Johnny Damon away from the Boston Red Sox in 2006 — two years after he helped them beat the Yankees and win the World Series — it was a coup. Damon provided the Yankees with speed on the bases and home run power from the left side of the plate, and he helped them win a championship in 2009.
Seven years later, the Yankees are hoping to follow the same script by bringing in another gifted former Red Sox center fielder. On Tuesday night, they were close to signing Jacoby Ellsbury, who helped Boston win its third World Series title in 10 years this October and second since he joined the team, to a seven-year, $153 million deal.
Ellsbury was flying to New York from Phoenix on Tuesday night to take a physical, according to two people involved in the discussions who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the matter.
He would play center field, and Brett Gardner would move to a corner spot or possibly be used in a trade.
With the addition of Ellsbury, who turned 30 on Sept. 11, the Yankees would still have money to bring back Robinson Cano and stay under their stated goal of $189 million for their payroll. However, Cano would have to accept the club’s current price of seven years and about $170 million to $175 million. The Yankees offered Cano seven years for about $160 million and seemed unfazed Tuesday by reports that he was talking to the Seattle Mariners, who have been trying for years to add offense.
Ellsbury was only one component of a dizzying few days in baseball. Several trades, free-agent deals and general hot-stove buzz made it seem as if next week’s winter meetings had already begun.
The Red Sox also came to terms on a one-year deal for catcher A. J. Pierzynski, who is just the type of antagonizing player who could stoke the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.
The Yankees are also talking to the free-agent outfielder Shin-Soo Choo, who, like Ellsbury and Damon, is represented by Scott Boras, but their preference was Ellsbury.
Last month, the Yankees signed the free-agent catcher Brian McCann, who agreed to a five-year, $85 million deal Nov. 23.
The Mariners are also interested in Carlos Beltran, according to a National League executive who has spoken to the team about its plans. Seattle may be willing to offer Beltran four years, but he was in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday, visiting with the Royals, his first team, and could also end up in Boston or Texas on a three-year deal.
The Yankees have interest in Beltran, too, but do not want to give him three years, and two years will probably not be enough to get him.
Limiting the number of years on free-agent contracts has been a priority for the Yankees and many other teams, too. The burden of Alex Rodriguez’s 10-year contract and the evidence of long-term mistakes with Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder have made teams wary of committing similar costly blunders.
If the Yankees bring back Cano, it could mean they will not have enough money to add a free-agent pitcher other than Hiroki Kuroda, who is deciding whether to come back to the Yankees.
Kuroda was concerned last year, amid the talk about the Yankees trying to keep their payroll less than $189 million for luxury tax purposes, that the team might not be competitive in 2014, but their aggressive pursuit of McCann and Ellsbury demonstrates their resolve.
Ellsbury was a key figure during his seven years in Boston, playing center field and batting leadoff since he came up as a rookie in 2007, hitting .353 in 33 regular-season games and .438 in his first World Series.
A career .297 hitter with a .353 on-base percentage, Ellsbury is one of the more dynamic players in baseball, combining speed and power. His wins above replacement, a statistic designed to show a players value over a typical replacement player, was 5.8 last year and 8.1 in 2011, perhaps his finest season.
He finished second to Justin Verlander in the American League Most Valuable Player award voting in 2011 after he hit .321 with 364 total bases, 32 homers, 105 runs batted in, 119 runs, 46 doubles and 39 stolen bases — a breathtaking display of all-around productivity. Injuries have been a problem at times, with rib cage and shoulder problems limiting him to 18 games in 2010 and 74 in 2012. But even at the ages of 29 and 30 in 2013, he still managed to lead the A.L. in stolen bases with 52, the third time he topped that category. He also led the league with 10 triples in 2009.
In 38 postseason games, he has batted .301, including .325 in 10 World Series games with a .386 O.B.P.
Other than in 2011, he never hit more than nine home runs, but the Yankees envision his power numbers rising with the short porch in right field, always inviting to left-handed hitters like Ellsbury and McCann.
With Curtis Granderson all but gone, the Yankees needed to shore up their outfield. What better way to do it than to take a good player away from the Red Sox? It’s worked before, and more than once.
General managers, agents and players are not waiting idly for the big industry convention in Florida next week. In the last few days, the off-season action heated up significantly, with teams making trades and offering contracts to free agents at a dizzying pace.
Word filtered out Monday that the Detroit Tigers had traded starting pitcher Doug Fister to the Washington Nationals for three players in a deal that had many general managers scratching their heads.
On Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Rays added a relief pitcher and a catcher by acquiring closer Heath Bell from the Arizona Diamondbacks and catcher Ryan Hanigan from the Cincinnati Reds in a three-team deal. The Houston Astros picked up center fielder Dexter Fowler from the Colorado Rockies for the right-handed pitcher Jordan Lyles and outfielder Brandon Barnes.
The Oakland Athletics announced that they had traded outfielder Seth Smith to the San Diego Padres for the right-handed pitcher Luke Gregerson.
The free-agent market, stirred up first by the Yankees, was percolating, too. Closer Joe Nathan was said to be nearing a deal with the Tigers, which may explain why they needed to trade Fister, to shed the money to sign Nathan. Detroit has been desperate to add a closer.
Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia was closing in on a three-year deal with the Miami Marlins after his successful tenure with the Red Sox.
Credit KUOW Photo/Ashley Ahearn Tribal treaty fishing rights give Washington tribes the opportunity to weigh in on, and even block, projects that could impact their fishing grounds.
Dozens of crab pot buoys dot the waters around Lummi tribal member Jay Julius’ fishing boat as he points the bow towards Cherry Point – a spit of land that juts into northern Puget Sound near Bellingham, Wash.
It’s a spot that would be an ideal location to build a coal terminal, according to SSA Marine, one of two companies that hopes to build a terminal here. If the company has its way, up to 48 million tons of coal could move through these waters each year aboard more than 450 large ships bound for the Asian market.
SSA Marine has its eye on Cherry Point because it’s surrounded by deep water with quick access to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Pacific Ocean.
But if the Lummi and other tribes exercise their fishing rights, there may not be any coal ships servicing American terminals in these frigid Northwest waters.
“I think they’re quite disgusting,” Julius said when asked how he feels about the terminal backers’ efforts to make inroads with the Lummi. “It’s nothing new, the way they’re trying to infiltrate our nation, contaminate it, use people.”
Credit KUOW Photo/Ashley Ahearn
Aboard a Lummi fishing boat just south of the Canadian border near Cherry Point.
‘People Of The Sea’
One out of every ten members of the Lummi Nation has a fishing license. Ancestors of the Lummi, or “People of the Sea” as they are known, and other Salish Sea peoples have fished the waters surrounding Cherry Point for more than 3,000 years. Today Lummi tribal officials are sounding the alarm about the impacts the Gateway Pacific Terminal could have on the tribe’s halibut, shrimp, shellfish and salmon fishery, which is worth a combined $15 million annually.
Tribal treaty fishing rights could play a major role in the review process for the Gateway Pacific Terminal. According to the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, nine tribes’ treaty fishing grounds would be impacted by the Gateway Pacific Terminal and the vessel traffic it would draw.
In the mid-1800s, tribes in this region signed treaties with the federal government, ceding millions of acres of their land. Native American populations plummeted and the survivors were relegated to reservations.
They insisted on reserving the right to continue to fish in their usual and accustomed fishing areas. It is an extremely important part of the treaty.
The tribal leaders of the time did a smart thing, said Tim Brewer, a lawyer with the Tulalip tribe in northwestern Washington: “They insisted on reserving the right to continue to fish in their usual and accustomed fishing areas. It is an extremely important part of the treaty.”
But those fishing rights weren’t enforced in Washington until the Boldt Decision, a landmark court decision in 1974 that reaffirmed tribal fishing rights established more than a century before.
“If a project is going to impair access to a fishing ground and that impairment is significant that project cannot move forward without violating the treaty right,” Brewer said.
Since the Boldt Decision, tribes have been fighting for their treaty rights.
In 1992, the Lummi stopped a net pen fish farm that was proposed for the waters off of Lummi Island by a company called Northwest Sea Farms.
But agreements have been made in other situations. The Elliott Bay Marina, the largest, privately-owned marina on the West Coast, was built in 1991 within the fishing area of the Muckleshoot tribe. It took 10 years of environmental review. The Muckleshoot fought the project but ultimately came to an agreement with marina supporters.
When Dwight Jones, general manager of the Elliott Bay Marina, was asked if he had any advice for companies that want to build coal terminals in the Northwest, he laughed.
“I’d say good luck,” Jones said. “There will be a lot of costs and chances are the tribes will probably negotiate a settlement that works well for them and it will not be cheap.”
Jones said the owners of Elliott Bay Marina paid the Muckleshoot more than $1 million up front and for the next 100 years will give the tribe 8 percent of their gross annual revenue.
“Anyone who’s in business can tell you that 8 percent of your gross revenues is a huge number,” he said. “It really affects your viability as a business.”
Credit KUOW Photo/Ashley Ahearn
A gathering of coal export opponents last summer at Cherry Point. The event was part of an anti-coal totem pole journey led by the Lummi Nation. Its tribal members fish at Cherry Point.
Starting Negotiations
SSA Marine and Pacific International Terminals – the companies that want to build the terminal at Cherry Point – have lawyers and staff members working to negotiate with the Lummi to build the terminal. The companies declined repeated requests for interviews.
Last summer, Julius and the rest of the Lummi tribal council sent a letter opposing the coal terminal to the US Army Corps of Engineers. The federal agency will have final say over the key permits for the coal terminal.
In the letter the Lummi lay out their argument, which centers around threats to treaty fishing rights and the tribe’s cultural and spiritual heritage at Cherry Point.
But there’s a line at the end of the letter, which legal experts and the Army Corps of Engineers say leaves the door open for continuing negotiation on the Gateway Pacific Terminal: “These comments in no way waive any future opportunity to participate in government-to-government consultation regarding the proposed projects.”
Tribes and ranchers say they have reached a major breakthrough in negotiations over sharing water in Oregon’s arid Klamath Basin.
They have the outline of a deal that could end 38 years of lawsuits and pave the way for removing four dams.
The conflict came to a head this summer when the Klamath Tribes used their senior rights to protect fish by shutting off the water to nearby ranches.
Those shutoffs sparked new negotiations. Don Gentry, Chairman of the Klamath Tribes, says the two sides have reached an agreement in principle.
“This is really definitely a landmark step,”Gentry said. “This is really positive but we have a lot of work to do as we move forward to negotiating a final agreement.”
Under the draft agreement, ranchers would cut their water use by 30,000 acre feet. And help restore streambanks to reduce nutrient pollution.
In exchange the tribes would limit their power to call on junior water users to turn off their irrigation. And all sides agree they won’t oppose a plan to remove four dams on the Klamath River. They hope to finalize the deal by January.
By Tahir Hasnain, December 4, 2013. Source:EnviroCivil
Women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime and they suffer severe physical and emotional pain due to the violence and abuse. Unfortunately, climate change is making it worse and supplements violence against women. The society must do more to empower women and ensure their safety.
The world is celebrating these days the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence and calling for greater gender equality. The 16 Days of Activism is an international campaign that starts on 25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and ends on 10 December, Human Rights Day. Actions are taken by the civil society across the world to raise awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at the local, national, regional and international level.
Violence against women is a common phenomenon in Pakistan which affects women from all kinds of backgrounds every day. According to the 2012 report of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan is the world’s third-most dangerous country for women as 90pc women face domestic violence. Many women face violence on a daily basis and this reflects the miserable condition.
Climate change (changing weather patterns) is also intensifying violence against women. The climate change has in fact exposed communities to extreme weathers i.e. rise in temperature in summer, unpredictable and unprecedented rain fall, high wind speed, etc. The community in rural areas has revealed that the climate change is putting more pressure on women as compared to men. Hence, in our efforts to end violence against women, climate change has to be addressed properly to achieve this critical goal.
Women are the front line victim of the climate crisis. Women in rural Pakistan spend most of their time in doing agricultural activities and collecting water and fuel for their families. Changing weather patterns are constantly affecting agriculture and the natural resources including forests and water. As a consequence of these changes, workload and hardships of women has increased manifold. Women now travel farther and face more risk of attack.
Women currently have less socialization due to increased work hours and economic pressures. Emotional wellbeing of women has also reduced with increased level of stress, anxiety and frustration. As a result, family disputes and domestic violence have also increased and women always argue financial problems with men and in return, the frustrated men tend to show anger and use violence against women. These disputes have also given rise to escalating divorces and court cases.
Higher temperatures are linked to increased tensions. Escalating temperatures and economic pressures have encouraged domination of men over women besides frequent incidents of violence against women (physical assault) and undue social restrictions. The climate change impact on women is well demonstrated in below mentioned figure.
Source: Shirkat Gah Study on Gender Dimensions of Climate Change: A Case Study of Coastal Community in Sindh
Climate change is impacting negatively on agriculture and fishing activity and is intensifying poverty. In the backdrop of mounting economic pressures and growing poverty, women currently face marriage problems as well. Most of the marriages in poor rural communities now happened to be forced marriages. Families and the bride herself cannot choose and they have no other option but to accept and compromise completely. Escalating cases of early age marriages have also profound link with poverty.
Pakistan is confronting with climate induced natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, windstorms, droughts and cyclones since last many years. Recently, the incidents of flood disaster have increased and flood-prone communities have suffered mass internal displacement. In this regards, women suffer more problems due to their isolation from other family members. These disasters make women vulnerable to violence. A number of cases of sexual violence and abduction were reported during earthquake in 2005 and flood disaster in 2010. According to a recent report from the UN Environment Programme, rape victims and human trafficking in women and children rise steeply during disasters like floods, storms and cyclones.
Climate change is thus a serious threat and women’s concerns have to be recognized and integrated in climate change and disaster risk management policies to make them comprehensive. It is now established that Climate challenge is huge and multidimensional that demands unity, collective actions and solidarity with each other to deal with this great challenge.
In view of the useful knowledge and experiences that women possess, they should be effectively used to mitigate climate change as well as developing strategies to cope and adapt. Capacity building and empowerment of women are thus key areas to address while addressing climate change and its impacts on women.
Have you or your friends ever experienced racism? How do systems of inequality affect your life and what changes would you like to see?
Come to Structural Racism 101 for Youth at SCHOOL’S OUT WASHINGTON on Saturday, December 7, to learn what structural racism is and what you can do about it!
This training will be led by youth and is an opportunity to talk about race and your experiences, learn what youth can do about racism, and provide input about how adults can support you in this process.
This is a FREE workshop, and there’s FREE breakfast and lunch!
Email Pang Chang at pchang@schoolsoutwashington.org to RSVP
A Tulalip Tribal member and Washington State Legislator, John McCoy has had a significant impact on the reservation simply by being successful. He was elected to serve in the House of Representatives in 2003, and was one of two Native American Representatives in Washington State. On November 27th, 2013, McCoy was unanimously selected by the Snohomish County Council to fill a Senate position left vacant by Senator Nick Harper’s resignation.
“John has always been a mover and shaker,” said Tulalip Chairman Mel Sheldon. “He’s helped change the way the legislature views Native Americans and has paved the way for our young men and women to follow in his footsteps. He’s brought hope that in the near future we’ll see the face of state politics change to reflect importance of tribes, both as economic drivers in the state and as an important part of the history and culture of this land.”
His resonance with tribes is part of what got McCoy elected, but what’s kept him in office, and made him the frontrunner for the senate seat is his dedication to the everyman.
“My priorities haven’t changed,” said John. “My priorities have always been elders, children and the working adult. During this last interim I worked a lot on migrant, low income and mental health housing. I’ll continue that work. There are dental access issues that I’ll be working on.
“I’ll continue working hard for the 38th Legislative District, Snohomish County and Washington State as a whole,” continued McCoy. “WSU (Washington State University) is coming to Everett, so that’s another thing I’ll be working on. There are some environmental things I’ll be working on. Again, whatever is best for the district, the county and the state, it’s the same stuff, different chamber.”
Tulalip Board of Director and Business Committee Chairman Glen Gobin described McCoy’s appointment by saying McCoy is simply the best man for the job.
“Congratulations to John,” said Gobin. “John has stayed very active and involved, not just the legislative district he is elected to, but all across the state as well as this nation. John also has served, unofficially, as an ambassador for Washington State Tribes, helping to educate those he serves with, and his constituency, about Native American issues as well as misperceptions about Native Americans. John’s commitment to serve the people is reflected in the vote from the Snohomish County Council. I am proud of John. He is well suited to do the work that is needed, and I know well he will do a great job.”
For those who haven’t thought about State governance since high school civics class, McCoy described the differences between the House of Representatives and the State Senate.
“There aren’t as many senators. Each district has two representatives and one senator, 98 representatives and 49 senators,” he explained. “The representatives serve two-year terms and senators serve four-year terms. The house side gets through processes faster, the senate is designed to be more constrained. The Washington State Legislative House cranks out between 3,000 and 5,000 bills a session. Consequently, some are good and some are not. The Senate is more pragmatic and selective, they work the issues more. That’s by design.”
That pragmatism is a good fit for McCoy who believes his popularity in politics are a result of being honest and caring, but blunt.
“I don’t beat around the bush,” said McCoy, “I had a couple meetings this morning with some folks who wanted money. I said, ‘I support your issues, but I don’t know that we can get you money this year.’ It’s about being up front with people and letting them know where you stand. I can’t make everybody happy, but at least they can understand why I can’t make them happy. They generally feel good as long as they know where they stand.”
When the term for his Senate seat ends, McCoy plans to run for election.
The Native American Hopi tribe took a Paris auction house to court Tuesday to try to block the upcoming sale of 32 sacred tribal masks, arguing they are “bitterly opposed” to the use as merchandise of sacred objects that represent their ancestral spirits.
The Katsinam masks are scheduled for sale at the Drouot auction house on Dec. 9 and 11, alongside an altar from the Zuni tribe that used to belong to late Hollywood star Vincent Price, and other Native American frescoes and dolls.
Advocates for the Hopis argue that selling the sacred Katsinam masks as commercial art is illegal because the masks are like tombs and represent their ancestors’ spirits. The tribe nurtures and feed the masks as if they are the living dead. The objects are surreal faces made from wood, leather, horse hair and feathers and painted in vivid pigments of red, blue, yellow and orange.
In April, a Paris court ruled that such sales are legal in France, and Drouot sold off around 70 Hopi masks despite vocal protests and criticism from actor Robert Redford and the U.S. government. The U.S., unlike France, possesses laws which robustly protect indigenous peoples.
Tribal lawyers filed a new lawsuit over the new sale, and a Paris court held a hearing in the case Tuesday. The judge will issue a verdict Friday, three days before the first sale.
The Hopis’ French lawyer, Pierre Servan-Schreiber, remains optimistic that this time the judge will rule in their favor. His argument highlights an existing French law which prevents the sale of tombs, and gives these objects a special, protected status.
“The Hopis are saying that not everything can be sold and bought. The day that there are no more Katsinam masks, the Hopi tribe will exist no more,” Servan-Schreiber argued in court.
“It’s a cause worth fighting for. And like all good causes, you need to keep fighting. The Hopis have been massacred, slaughtered, pillaged and for years deprived of what was theirs, and at some point this has to change,” Servan-Schreiber said.
The tribe has said it believes the masks, which date back to the late 19th and early 20th century, were taken from a northern Arizona reservation in the early 20th century. Curiosity about one of the oldest indigenous tribes whose territory is now surrounded by the U.S. state first led collectors and researchers there.
“The Katsinam (masks) represent cultural heritage, objects of tribal and ceremonial rites. It’s the Hopis’ collective property — they have never belonged to anyone, have no commercial value,” said Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, director of the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, in a statement.
Drouot auction house disagrees.
“These are extremely beautiful artifacts. They belong to a private collector and have not been stolen. The fact this collector wishes to sell them here in Paris shows that the city is seen as the world leader in the sale of primitive art,” Eric Geneste of the Drouot auction house said, recalling that in the April sale, the 70 masks sold for some $1.2 million.
The lawyer for Eve auction house that’s selling the masks, Corinne Matouk, compared the objects to sacred Qurans or Bibles that have been sold legally.
“Sacred objects from the big monotheistic religions have been sold at auction in the same way. In no way do I question the value they have for the Hopi tribe. This is about the law … Why are we giving them a special status?” asked Matouk.
In addition to the 32 Hopi masks, Drouot will sell a Zuni altar taken from a private temple from the New Mexico-based tribal community, as well as three two-meter (6 ½ -foot) Native American frescoes. The only other existing frescoes of this type are exhibited in New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
It is unclear if the Zunis altar is also considered too sacred to sell, and the tribe wasn’t available for comment.
Monroe Warshaw, an art collector from New York, who bought two Hopi masks for around 28,000 euros ($36,500) in April, first said in an interview with The Associated Press that he didn’t believe the masks had been stolen from the Hopis and had refused to return them.
“How did they steal them? Did some antique dealer go into their house at night and steal them?”
But subsequently Warshaw had a change of heart. He visited the Hopi community after his comments created a backlash and he reportedly received hate mail. He returned the masks to the tribe in September, saying that his visit made him see that the masks did indeed have a special meaning for the tribespeople.
The Associated Press is not transmitting images of the objects because the Hopi have long kept the items out of public view and consider it sacrilegious for any images of the objects to appear.
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Thomas Adamson can be followed at https://twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP
Learning about Native history and culture doesn’t need to be relegated to one month of the year. Though the Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) thought Native American Heritage Month would be a good time to release its Native American land curriculum website for pre-K and K-12 classrooms.
“The launch of this website in November coincides with National Native American Heritage Month and the approach of Thanksgiving—for many public school teachers, the only time during the school year they will discuss Native American history in their classroom,” said ILTF President Cris Stainbrook in a November 18 press release. “We would invite all of them to look through the curriculum and choose at least one grade-appropriate lesson to replace the old worn out story of the Pilgrims, and perhaps think about adding one other lesson the week after Thanksgiving.”
The Lessons of Our Land curriculum is designed to be incorporated into a number of subjects and is adaptable to include the history and culture of a region’s Indian nations. The curriculum has so far been successfully implemented in 105 tribal schools, public schools and colleges in eight states.
Lessons of Our Land’s components meet state standards in many core areas, such as history, art, civics, mathematics, science, geography and language arts. To see what lessons are available, visit LessonsofOurLand.org.
