Who was the first Native Miss America?

Nina Davuluri was crowned the first Indian American Miss America this week.

But who was the first Native American Miss America?

Norma Smallwood, the first Native Miss America, wearing the title sash.(Photo courtesy of ICTMN, via the-american-history.blogspot.com)
Norma Smallwood, the first Native Miss America, wearing the title sash.
(Photo courtesy of ICTMN, via the-american-history.blogspot.com)

ICTMN has the story of Norma Smallwood’s reign.

By Jenna Cederberg, Buffalo Post

      Norma Smallwood was born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1906. She graduated from high school and earned the title of Miss Tulsa when she was 16 years old.

Smallwood was an art major at Oklahoma State College and was in her sophomore year of college when she captured the Miss America title in 1926.

During her year-long reign, Smallwood became a popular poster girl, and reportedly earned more than copy00,000, which, according to pbs.org, was more than Babe Ruth made that year.

Smallwood died in Tulsa in May of 1966. She was 57.

Both Smallwood and Davuluri came from relatively small towns, and were both firsts: Davuluri is the first Indian American to hold the title; and in 1926, Smallwood was the first Native woman (she was of Cherokee descent) to wear the crown.

And while Smallwood lived in a time when women marched in the streets for equality (American women had only been given the right to vote in 1920) Davuluri is being forced to fight to be accepted as an American woman. ICTMN wrote about the racial slurs that marred her win. Those racist comments referenced convenience stores and linked her to terrorism.

She shrugged off the racist backlash. “I have always viewed myself first and foremost American,” she said after being told about the comments in her first post-pageant press conference. “I have to rise above that.”

Marla Spivak: Why bees are disappearing

 

 

 

FILMED JUN 2013 • POSTED SEP 2013 • TEDGlobal 2013

Bees pollinate a third of our food supply — they don’t just make honey! — but colonies have been disappearing at alarming rates in many parts of the world due to the accumulated effects of parasitic mites, viral and bacterial diseases, and exposure to pesticides and herbicides. Marla Spivak, University of Minnesota professor of entomology and 2010 MacArthur Fellow, tries as much as possible to think like bees in her work to protect them. They’re “highly social and complex” creatures, she says, which fuels her interest and her research.

Spivak has developed a strain of bees, the Minnesota Hygienic line, that can detect when pupae are infected and kick them out of the nest, saving the rest of the hive. Now, Spivak is studying how bees collect propolis, or tree resins, in their hives to keep out dirt and microbes. She is also analyzing how flowers’ decline due to herbicides, pesticides and crop monoculture affect bees’ numbers and diversity. Spivak has been stung by thousands of bees in the course of her work.

 

View PDF’s that have lists of local native plants that are friendly for honey bees

Feedthebees.org

Pugetsoundbees.org

 

 

From Xerces.org PDFClick image to view PDF
From Xerces.org
Click image to view PDF

What is an Indian?

 

11sterling

By STERLING HOLYWHITEMOUNTAIN

MTPR.ORG

 

September 18,2013

In the background of all issues involving American Indians is always the question of what is an Indian? While there are any number of groups in this country today who have complicated issues surrounding identity, there is no identity issue more complicated than that of American Indian identity. As an aside, you will notice I did not say no identity issue is more important. It’s difficult to call any American Indian issue in this country important in a standard social sense the way, say, African-American issues are important – there simply aren’t enough Indians in the country to warrant national media attention. When it comes to politics, numbers are, in a way, everything.

A case in point is that of the most recent controversy surrounding the Washington Football Team’s name – notice that in all this talk, and there’s a lot of talk, all you have to do is Google the team’s name – notice the only Indian that has made any kind of national public appearance anyone has paid attention to is the man team owner Dan Snyder trotted out to defend the name. And notice what is going on when so-called Chief Dodson is telling the nation that not only is the name ok with him, but that people in his community use the term regularly when greeting each other. Here we have an example of the inside being mistaken for the outside, and that age-old fallacy of one Indian’s opinion being mistaken for every that of every Indian.

The US has a long history of mistaking one Indian for every Indian – all it takes is one look at the history of Federal-Indian policy to see this. For example, during the allotment era in the late 1800s the idea was to civilize tribal members on reservations by turning them into farmers – even if the reservation where they were located was entirely unsuitable for farming. This policy of course was enacted by Congressional members who had little to no experience with Indian Country, but who nonetheless had near absolute power over tribes – a power that was finally solidified with the 1903 Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock US Supreme Court ruling. What did the ruling say? That Congress had plenary power over tribes. What does plenary power mean? The Oxford English Dictionary defines plenary as such: full, complete, or perfect; not deficient in any element or respect; absolute. The Lonewolf case, even though it was a case regarding the allotment of a single tribe’s lands on the southern plains, gave Congress total and final power over all tribal affairs, placing tribes under a kind of political Sword of Damocles, and along with it the unending threat of Congressional action without tribal consent.

Consider the ideas of blood, and blood quantum, the ideas we use today in large part to define who is and is not an American Indian, don’t have tribal origins – they originate in Europe, hundreds of years before contact in North America. As early as the 1200s the British were using ideas of blood to limit the political and social rights of people who were deemed less than so-called “full-blood” – and they carried that idea to the new continent, where they began implementing ideas of blood to penalize people who married either an Indian or an African-American, and to limit a person’s ability to testify in court or vote according to whether or not they were considered to be of so-called mixed-blood. Tribes on this continent traditionally identified membership most simply by who was or was not living with and participating in the community. That is, if you lived with the people, you were part of the people. These ideas of blood eventually extended to limiting the land ownership rights of Indians on reservations during the allotment era, to such a degree that in some cases over 2/3 of a tribe was not allotted land on their respective reservations because they didn’t meet so-called blood quantum criteria – a US established criteria, of course, that made it much easier to justify selling land that was “left-over” to non-Indians, thus splitting up land ownership on reservations between tribal members and non-Indians.

So how is it I got to talking about blood? Because one of Snyder’s contentions for the validity of so-called Chief Dodson’s opinion was that he is a “full-blooded” Inuit chief. The suggestion of course is that blood alone makes you an Indian – never mind particular cultural knowledge, and definitely never mind speaking an indigenous language – the only thing that matters here is blood. This idea of Indian blood is so prevalent that any number of intelligent contemporary Americans have taken this idea of Indian blood at face value, as if there is some intrinsic value in the blood itself. But when we turn this idea around, things fall apart pretty fast, don’t they? Because while there are plenty of people in Montana with so-called Irish blood, how much knowledge of Irish culture has this blood brought with it? If this blood thing isn’t making much sense to you at this point, don’t worry, you’re not alone, it’s never made any sense to me either.

Finally, to return to a point I made earlier about so-called Chief Dodson’s statement regarding Indians use of the team’s name as a kind of friendly greeting – I have never once seen it happen in my life. While the term “skin” is not uncommon among Indian who are friends, the point is that it’s a term used by insiders among each other. In other words, I would love for Dan Snyder to walk into any social gathering place on any reservation or reserve in North America and say, What’s up, Redskins? I’m absolutely positive things would turn out just fine.

I’m Sterling HolyWhiteMountain, thanks for listening

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Sterling HolyWhiteMountain

Feds Award $90 Million to Enhance Native Law Enforcement Programs

Source: Native News Network

CELILO VILLAGE, OREGON – The Department of Justice Wednesday announced the awarding of 192 grants to 110 American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, tribal consortia and tribal designated non-profits.

The grants will provide more than $90 million to enhance law enforcement practices and sustain crime prevention and intervention efforts in nine purpose areas including public safety and community policing; justice systems planning; alcohol and substance abuse; corrections and correctional alternatives; violence against women; juvenile justice; and tribal youth programs. The awards are made through the department’s Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation, a single application for tribal-specific grant programs.

Associate Attorney General Tony West and Office of Justice Programs Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason made the announcement during a meeting of northwest tribal leaders with the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee’s Native American Issues Subcommittee (NAIS) in Celilo Village, Oregon.

“These programs take a community based and comprehensive approach to the root causes and consequences of crime, as well as target areas of possible intervention and treatment,”

said Associate Attorney General West.

“The CTAS programs are critical tools to help reverse unacceptably high rates of crime in Indian country, and they are a product of the shared commitment by the Department of Justice and tribal nations to strengthen and sustain healthy communities today and for future generations.”

“The Department of Justice has a responsibility to make sure its resources are not only available but accessible to tribes in a manner that they have defined and envisioned to meet the needs of their communities,”

said Assistant Attorney General Mason.

“As we have shown over the last four years, the Department of Justice takes this responsibility very seriously.”

The department developed CTAS through its Office of Community Oriented Policing, Office of Justice Programs and Office on Violence against Women, and administered the first round of consolidated grants in September 2010.

Over the past four years, it has awarded 989 grants totaling more than $437 million. Information about the consolidated solicitation is available at www.Justice.gov.

A fact sheet on CTAS is available here.

Thirty US Attorneys from districts that include Indian country or one or more federally recognized tribes serve on the NAIS. The NAIS focuses exclusively on Indian country issues, both criminal and civil, and is responsible for making policy recommendations to the Attorney General regarding public safety and legal issues.

Next month, the Justice Department will hold its annual consultation on violence against native women on October 31, in Bismarck, North Dakota. In addition, an Interdepartmental Tribal Justice, Safety and Wellness Session will be held in Bismarck on October 29-30. It will include an important listening session with tribal leaders to obtain their views on the Department grants, as well as valuable training and technical assistance.

Today’s announcement is part of the Justice Department’s ongoing initiative to increase engagement, coordination and action on public safety in tribal communities.

Award List by State

Alaska

Akiachak Native Community
$299,447

Aleut Community of St. Paul Island
$600,000

Bristol Bay Native Association, Inc
$582,054

Iliamna Village Council
$149,561

Kenaitze Indian Tribe
$534,304

Maniilaq Association
$958,252

Native Village of Barrow
$2,940,730

Native Village of Kwinhagak
$149,163

Native Village of Old Harbor
$578,154

Nome Eskimo Community
$697,595

Qagan Tayagungin Tribe
$61,762

Southcentral Foundation
$850,000

Sun’ ‘aq Tribe of Kodiak
$384,657

Traditional Council of Togiak
$442,320

Arizona

Hualapai Detention and Rehabilitation Center
$764,298

Navajo Division of Public Safety
$673,348

Pascua Yaqui Tribe
$605,494

Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community
$1,027,981

SanCarlos Apache Tribe
$223,314

Tohono O’odham Nation
$645,725

California

Bishop Indian Tribal Council
$300,000

Cahto Tribe of the Laytonville Rancheria
$299,966

Hoopa Valley Tribe
$1,379,961

Hopland Band of Pomo Indians
$300,000

Round Valley Indian Tribes
$300,000

Shingle Springs Rancheria
$465,906

Two Feathers Native American Family Services
$399,525

Yurok Tribe
$924,999

Colorado

Southern Ute Indian Tribe
$417,554

Florida

Seminole Tribe of Florida
$320,298

Idaho

Coeur D’Alene Tribe
$1,356,626

Nez Perce Tribe
$1,262,805

Kansas

Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
$777,096

Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri
$222,799

Louisiana

Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana
$725,224

Maine

Aroostook Band of Micmacs
$499,696

Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians
$899,954

Penobscot Nation
$281,099

Michigan

Bay Mills Indian Community
$282,657

Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians
$862,037

Hannahville Indian Community
$305,475

Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians
$295,742

Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians
$138,353

Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan
$1,112,111

Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians
$478,356

Minnesota

Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
$727,056

Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
$4,994,283

Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
$751,379

Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians
$1,293,218

The Prairie Island Indian Community
$66,411

White Earth Reservation Tribal Council
$278,000

Mississippi

Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
$691,000

Montana

Chippewa Cree Tribe
$1,094,574

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes
$721,266

North Carolina

Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
$891,216

North Dakota

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians
$854,084

Nebraska

Omaha Tribe of Nebraska
$803,339

Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska
$1,279,108

New Mexico

Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Council, Inc. PeaceKeepers
$1,300,000

Mescalero Apache Tribe
$450,000

Pueblo of Acoma
$1,324,996

Pueblo of Isleta
$753,858

Pueblo of Jemez
$671,194

Pueblo of Laguna
$401,348

Santa Clara Pueblo
$748,203

Zuni Tribe
$1,416,266

Nevada

Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe
$1,129,000

Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California
$684,200

New York

Oneida Indian Nation
$223,769

St. Regis Mohawk Tribe
$515,000

Oklahoma

Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma
$1,357,873

Apache Tribe of Oklahoma
$765,000

Cherokee Nation
$845,664

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
$628,227

Citizen Potawatomi Nation
$1,265,758

Kaw Nation
$1,100,571

Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma
$848,234

Miami Tribe of Oklahoma
$296,104

Muscogee (Creek) Nation
$3,734,853

Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma
$1,049,844

Seminole Nation of Oklahoma
$1,489,068

The Chickasaw Nation
$1,734,022

Tonkawa Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
$295,342

Wyandotte Nation
$867,061

Oregon

Burns Paiute Tribe
$350,494

Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians
$298,017

Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon
$695,466

Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation
$1,150,000

Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation
$1,671,142

South Carolina

Catawba Indian Nation
$499,639

South Dakota

Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
$262,977

Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation
$156,003

Wiconi Wawokiya Inc
$1,354,000

Washington

Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation
$496,488

ConfederatedTribes of the Chehalis Reservation
$1,125,991

Cowlitz Indian Tribe Total $711,000

Kalispel Tribe of Indians Total $981,540

Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe
$1,032,932

Puyallup Tribal Council
$2,586,479

Quileute Tribe
$784,446

Spokane Tribe of Indians
$1,060,999

Squaxin Island Tribe
$824,445

Swinomish Indian Tribal Community
$1,049,379

Tulalip Tribes of Washington
$2,068,058

Wisconsin

Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission
$348,095

Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
$1,076,105

Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
$591,049

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin
$269,000

Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
$251,006

St. Croix Chippewa Housing Authority
$571,030

Grand Total
$90,382,567

NCAI Applauds President’s Nominations of Diane Humetewa and John Tuchi for Federal District Court Judge in Arizona;

Confirmation will make Humetewa First American Indian Woman Federal Judge
 
Source: The National Congress of American Indians
Washington, DC – The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) has endorsed President Obama’s nomination of Diane J. Humetewa from the Hopi Tribe to serve as a United States District Court Judge for the District of Arizona. Senator John McCain of Arizona is credited with recommending the nomination. Upon confirmation, Humetewa will be the first American Indian woman in history to serve as a federal judge. Humetewa served as the United States Attorney for the District of Arizona from 2007 to 2009 under President George W. Bush.
 
NCAI also endorsed the President’s nomination of John Joseph Tuchi to serve as a United States District Court Judge for the District of Arizona. Tuchi’s service as Tribal Liaison from 2009-2012 demonstrated his knowledge of federal Indian law and his commitment to the critical role of tribes in the American family of governments. His nomination has the strong support of tribes in Arizona.
 
“These nominations are a significant step forward for Indian Country. Diane Humetewa is highly qualified and has been recognized and nominated for important federal positions by both Present Obama and President Bush. John Tuchi is highly qualified and has a strong record of upholding the trust responsibility to tribal nations. NCAI endorses the President’s nominations and we urge the Senate to move quickly to confirm them both,” said NCAI President Jefferson Keel.
 
“This also represents a great step forward for the federal courts. For many years we have stressed the importance of including Native Americans in the federal judiciary. Senator McCain should be applauded for recommending the nomination of Ms. Humetewa,” added Keel. “We have also underscored the need for all federal judges to understand federal Indian law. Mr. Tuchi has a firsthand understanding of the importance of federal Indian law, an asset that is far too rare among federal judges.”
 
NCAI First Vice Present Juana Majel also praised the nomination of Humetewa. “In 2013 we have witnessed the passage of the Violence Against Women Act Reauthorization that included extraordinarily important protections for Native women. With the nomination of Diane Humetewa to be the first Native woman to be a federal judge, 2013 is truly a landmark year for Native women.”
 
Biographies provided by the White House:
Diane J. Humetewa: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Arizona
Diane J. Humetewa currently serves as Special Advisor to the President and Special Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at Arizona State University.  She is also a Professor of Practice at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.  From 2009 to 2011, Humetewa was Of Counsel with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP.  She worked in the United States Attorney’s Office in the District of Arizona from 1996 to 2009, serving as Senior Litigation Counsel from 2001 to 2007 and as the United States Attorney from 2007 to 2009.  During her tenure in the United States Attorney’s Office, Humetewa also served as Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General from 1996 to 1998.  From 1993 to 1996, she was Deputy Counsel for the United States Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.  Humetewa received her J.D. in 1993 from Arizona State University College of Law and her B.S. in 1987 from Arizona State University.  She is a member of the Hopi Indian Tribe and, from 2002 to 2007, was an Appellate Court Judge for the Hopi Tribe Appellate Court. 
 
John Joseph Tuchi: Nominee for the United States District Court for the District of Arizona
John Joseph Tuchi has been an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Arizona since 1998.  He currently serves as Chief Assistant United States Attorney in the office and has previously served as Interim United States Attorney in 2009, Senior Litigation Counsel and Tribal Liaison from 2009 to 2012, and as Chief of the Criminal Division from 2006 to 2009.  Tuchi also worked as an associate at the law firm of Brown & Bain, P.A. from 1995 to 1998.  He began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge William C. Canby of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.  Tuchi received his J.D. magna cum laude in 1994 from Arizona State University College of Law, his M.S. in 1989 from the University of Arizona, and his B.S. in 1987 from West Virginia University. 
 
 

10th Anniversary Block Party

block party

The Comcast Arena is turning ten!  To celebrate this milestone, Global Spectrum, management for the Comcast Arena at Everett, is throwing a 10th Anniversary Block Party and everyone is invited!

For just the third time in the building’s history, Hewitt Avenue will be closed off to accommodate the day’s festivities. The celebration begins with the Bubble Run 5K at 9 am with an anticipated attendance of 4,000 participants. After the race, the party begins!

From 11 am to 5 pm, guests can expect great music from local bands, delicious food and beverages from food truck vendors, and interactive games the whole family can enjoy. The night continues when the Everett Silvertips take to the ice at 7 pm for their season opener vs. Prince George.

The Block Party is one of the first events slated for the upcoming year that will celebrate the building’s 10th Anniversary.

Interested vendors should call 425.322.2626 for further information.

 

SPONSORED BY:

        

           

Pink salmon return to Nisqually River in record numbers

By John Dodge, The Olympian

Pink salmon, Puget Sound’s smallest, most short-lived and most abundant of five native salmon species, are returning in record numbers to the Nisqually River.

There are so many of these 3- to 7-pound fish stacking up in the river, it conjures up the old saying: “They’re so thick, you could walk across the river on their backs.”

They aren’t quite that thick, but they are pulsing upstream to spawn in numbers that boggle the mind. More than 700,000 pinks are expected to enter the river this year out of an estimated Puget Sound run size of 6.2 million fish.

Flash back 10 years and tribal biologists were hard-pressed to find pink salmon in the river at all.

What gives? The first phrase out of the mouths of fish biologists is: “good ocean survival.” But that’s a catch-all phrase that might not tell the whole story.

A little more about a pink salmon’s life history: A pink salmon migrates to saltwater shortly after it emerges from the gravel as a fry salmon. They quickly make their way through Puget Sound to ocean waters.

They live only two years, returning to spawn in odd-numbered years. By comparison, the four other species of Pacific Northwest native salmon – chinook, coho, sockeye and chum – live three years or more in fresh and salt water.

So pink salmon live the simplest of lives – less time exposed to pollution, predators and harvesters.

And they eat pretty low on the food chain. Their diets consist of things like zooplankton and small, abundant marine crustaceans, said tribal salmon-enhancement manager Bill St. Jean.

So while marine scientists puzzle about why the more prized salmon such as coho and chinook experience disturbingly low survival rates in Puget Sound, the pink salmon seem to be growing in abundance and geographic reach.

“Their ocean survival has been phenomenal, but their simple life history may be playing a role in the increase,” Nisqually tribal natural resources manager David Troutt said. “Meanwhile the more complex species in Puget Sound are struggling. It’s a potential indicator that Puget Sound is becoming a simpler ecosystem, which should be a source of concern.”

While Nisqually sport and tribal fishers are taking a small share of the large pink run, the vast majority of the fish are being passed upstream to spawn. A tribal fish weir was installed in the river primarily to sort through chinook salmon to keep hatchery chinook from swimming upstream to interfere with naturally spawning chinook. But it has been dominated by pink salmon the past two weeks.

“We’re passing 200-plus pinks upstream every 10-20 minutes,” said Tom Friedrich, an intern with the Nisqually River Foundation, and part of the crew working at the fish weir near the tank crossing on Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

An occasional chinook salmon is found mingling with the pinks. However, it appears the chinook are waiting for the pinks to move upstream first, Troutt said.

The chinook might have to wait. As of Wednesday morning, more than 90,000 pinks had passed upstream, and they show no sign of letting up.

The 2013 pink run on the Nisqually is the source of extra work at the in-river fish trap, but no one seems to complain.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s really fun to see all these fish,” St. Jean said, pointing at the mature male pinks distinguished by their humped backs, thus the nickname humpy.

The pink salmon, which die in the river shortly after spawning, are also returning valuable marine nutrients to the river watershed.

“I think we’re all glad to see the increased numbers of pink salmon,” said Lance Winecka, executive director of the South Sound Salmon Enhancement Group, a nonprofit working on habitat restoration projects. “They are a source of marine nutrients that South Sound river systems have been short on for several decades.”

In addition, the pink fry moving out of the river into saltwater in the spring provide food for young coho salmon, Troutt said.

Roy Wells, a tribal fish commissioner with a long history around the river, said he can’t remember seeing healthy pink salmon runs on the Nisqually since the 1970s. Tribal elders talk about prolific runs 60-70 years ago, St. Jean said.

“My mom used to fry them up – they’re good to eat,” Wells said. But first, she would trim the hump off the backs of males because they are full of fat, Wells said.

Wells on Tuesday hauled about 400 pounds of pink salmon to a cannery on Yelm Highway operated by Faith Harvest Helpers, a faith-based nonprofit that cans pink salmon for shipment overseas with other food and medical supplies to disaster-stricken countries,

“We hope to do a whole lot of pinks this year,” said Richard Norton, the faith group’s vice president.

Troutt said tribal officials are starting to talk about new ways to utilize pinks if they keep coming back in big numbers every other year.

Caviar anyone?

Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/2013/09/19/2730648/pink-salmon-return-to-nisqually.html#storylink=cpy

4 Candidates Campaigning to Be Next NCAI President

By Richard Walker, ICTMN

Want to know what the next president of the National Congress of American Indians will be like? Take a look at the pace of the candidates in the weeks leading to NCAI’s convention and election.

One of the four will be elected to a two-year term as president when NCAI meets October 13-18 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. NCAI’s president is not salaried but leads an organization that has a staff of 33 and a lot of clout.

This is an influential crop of candidates.

Brian Cladoosby, Swinomish Chairman

Brian Cladoosby (Courtesy EcoTrust)
Brian Cladoosby (Courtesy EcoTrust)

 

Cladoosby recently pulled in seine nets, getting a first-hand look at the results of ongoing work to restore salmon habitat, then oversaw the Tribe’s acquisition of more than 250 acres of land that had been removed from his reservation by executive order in 1873. The acreage includes a golf course and shellfish tidelands.

In Cladoosby’s 17 years as chairman, the Swinomish Tribe has emerged as one of the five largest employers in Skagit County and a major partner in efforts to restore the health of the Salish Sea. He served as president of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, and said the NCAI presidency would give him a national platform from which to work on economic development, education, health services, and protection of natural resources.

Cladoosby served on NCAI’s board of directors and on EPA’s National Tribal Operations Committee.

“I have no doubt that Brian has the skills to advance Northwest tribal issues at a national level,” said Micah McCarty, former Makah chairman and member of the U.S. Commerce Department’s Marine Fisheries Advisory Committee.

“Tribes fared well in the Obama administration but could have done better in natural resource areas of the administration. The [Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission] Treaty Rights at Risk initiative is a case in point, regarding the need for greater national attention and better regional responses [to salmon habitat needs].”

Joe A. Garcia, former two-term NCAI president

Joe A. Garcia (Courtesy indianpridepbs.org)
Joe A. Garcia (Courtesy indianpridepbs.org)

 

Garcia, Ohkay Owingeh, spoke before the U.S. Senate Energy Committee regarding nuclear waste management and storage, and advised the U.S. Health and Human Services Department on substance abuse and mental health services.

Garcia’s leadership at NCAI is a fresh memory for many. When he left office in 2009, the National Indian Gaming Association honored him as a defender of sovereignty and a strong voice for America’s First Peoples, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson proclaimed October 15, 2009 as “President Joe Garcia Day” in the state.

During his tenure, Garcia and NCAI “faced the scourge of meth, battled budget cuts aimed at cutting Indian funding, and welcomed the start of new opportunities with the Obama administration,” NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens Jr. said at the time.

“During the 109th Congress in 2006, President Garcia’s leadership proved invaluable as Indian country came together to defend Tribal sovereignty from attacks on Indian gaming. [He] brought NCAI together with NIGA and we held over eight national meetings to develop a consensus in Indian country and take our message to Congress.”

Garcia is former governor of Ohkay Owingeh and led the 20-pueblo All Indian Pueblo Council from 2009-11. He has an electrical engineering degree from the University of New Mexico and has taught at Northern New Mexico College since 1979.

Juana Majel-Dixon, Pauma Band of Luiseno Indians council member

Juana Majel-Dixon (Courtesy NCAI)
Juana Majel-Dixon (Courtesy NCAI)

 

Majel-Dixon met President Obama at Camp Pendleton, spoke on behalf of NCAI at the United Tribes International Pow Wow in Bismarck, North Dakota, and lobbied to include Alaska Native women in the Violence Against Women Act.

Majel-Dixon, NCAI’s first vice president, has been a member of the Pauma Band council since 1974, professor of U.S. policy and Indian Law at Palomar College since 1981, and the Pauma Band’s policy director since 1997. She has a doctorate in education from San Diego State University.

She has long been at the forefront of efforts to restore and expand VAWA, and is a member of the U.S. Justice Department Task Force on Violence Against Women.

Gena Tyner-Dawson, senior adviser to the Assistant U.S. Attorney General for Tribal Affairs, wrote that Majel-Dixon provides excellent leadership on national issues impacting Tribal policy matters and “provides objective viewpoints important to developing action plans, strategies and arriving at joint solutions to issues and concerns.”

George Tiger, Muscogee Creek principal chief

George Tiger (Courtesy Muscogee Nation News)
George Tiger (Courtesy Muscogee Nation News)

 

Tiger oversaw his nation’s acquisitions of Okmulgee Memorial Hospital and the George Nigh Rehabilitation Center, brokered an agreement to prevent a museum from auctioning Creek artwork and artifacts, and spoke at the annual Indian Country Business Summit on the importance of Native peoples spending money within Indian country.

Tiger has been a member of the Muscogee Creek National Council for 14 years and served as speaker in 2006-07. He is a regent of Haskell Indian Nations University, his alma mater.

Tiger leads an economic powerhouse that contributes to the copy0.8 billion economic impact on Oklahoma by the state’s 38 indigenous nations. Muscogee Creek-owned enterprises include a document imaging company; construction, technology and staffing services; travel plazas; and 11 casino/event centers. The College of the Muscogee Nation, founded in 2004, offers associate degrees and Mvskoke language classes.

Muscogee Creek’s government has an annual budget of more than copy06 million and more than 2,400 employees, and provides public services in eight administrative districts.

 

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/09/19/4-candidates-campaigning-be-next-ncai-president-151344

Associate Attorney General Tony West Delivers Remarks at the Native American Issues Subcommittee Meeting

Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Thank you, Karol, for that kind introduction.  Karol is one of the leading advocates for tribes at the Department of Justice, and I’m delighted that she has taken the helm at OJP.

Let me thank Tim [Purdon, NAIS Chair] and Sandy [Coats, NAIS Vice Chair] for their very capable leadership of the Native American Issues Subcommittee, and for all they do to coordinate the Department’s efforts with its tribal partners.  I also want to thank Amanda [Marshall, USA for the District of Oregon] and the many tribal leaders for hosting us.  I’m honored to be here among you.  Thanks, too, to Marshall Jarrett for his leadership at the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys and Tracy Toulou for the exceptional work he does as Director of our Office of Tribal Justice.  Finally, I extend my appreciation to all the members of the committee for your hard work and commitment to these very important issues.

I’m very pleased to have this chance to meet with the federal and tribal officials responsible for the safety and welfare of native communities and to talk about ways we can continue working together to strengthen the Justice Department’s work in Indian country.  We have made unprecedented strides – and achieved remarkable success – in improving law enforcement and ensuring justice in American Indian and Alaska Native communities, and I want to ensure that we build on our progress.

The progress has been tremendous.

Every U.S. Attorney with jurisdiction in Indian country has now appointed at least one tribal liaison, and we’ve designated a Native American Issues Coordinator to provide advice and assistance to U.S. Attorneys’ Offices on legal and policy issues.  We created the Tribal Nations Leadership Council to advise the Attorney General on issues critical to tribal governments.  We launched the National Indian Country Training Initiative, which last year trained some 2,500 federal, state, and tribal criminal justice professionals on issues ranging from domestic violence to wildlife and pollution enforcement.  We created a Violence Against Women Federal and Tribal Prosecution Task Force and assigned additional federal personnel to investigate and prosecute cases on Indian lands.  And we established the Office of Tribal Justice as a permanent component within the Justice Department.

We have also met – and exceeded – our responsibilities under the Tribal Law and Order Act.  We published a final rule that authorizes the Department to assume concurrent jurisdiction over certain crimes committed in Public Law 280 states, and we have already exercised that authority.  We’re enhancing our efforts to combat sexual assault by expanding support for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners and Sexual Assault Response Teams in Indian country and by establishing a SANE/SART Advisory Committee.  We’ve settled long-standing trust litigation and boundary disputes to the benefit of tribes.  We’ve worked to protect water rights and natural resources on tribal lands and helped preserve native cultural and religious practices.  We’ve joined with our federal partners to develop, in consultation with tribes, a long-term plan to build and sustain tribal justice systems.  And we’re fighting alcohol and substance abuse by coordinating services with the Departments of the Interior and Health and Human Services and by providing assistance to tribes that want to develop action plans to address these issues.

Finally, we’ve vastly expanded and strengthened our outreach to tribes.  I have had the honor of joining the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, and many other leaders in the Department at a number of listening sessions and consultations in Indian country.  Attorney General Holder approved a policy statement committing the Department to regular and meaningful consultation and collaboration with tribal officials.  This policy statement requires the Department to seek tribal input whenever we develop or amend policies, regulations, or legislation that will affect tribes.  In addition, staff from across the Justice Department have partnered with their colleagues in the Departments of the Interior, Health and Human Services, HUD, and other agencies to hold tribal justice, safety, and wellness training and technical assistance sessions, where we’ve reached more than 5,500 participants.  As a result of this greater coordination and cooperation, we’ve been able to more effectively target our resources to meet the most pressing public safety needs of tribes.

Through our Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation, or CTAS as we call it, we’ve revamped and streamlined the process for tribes to tap much-needed federal funding.  We’ve heard from tribes that this mechanism has been an important positive step in our relationship with tribes, and we continue to make it a centerpiece of our efforts to support tribal communities.

In fact, today I’m pleased to announce that the Department of Justice is awarding almost 200 new awards totaling more than $90 million under CTAS.  These awards bring the total number of grants to tribes over the last four years to almost 1,000, totaling almost $440 million.  These grants address an array of tribal justice system issues, from at-risk youth and violence against women to community policing and corrections alternatives, and they give tribes the support they need to keep their communities safe and ensure a just, fair, and effective system for fighting crime.

But there is more we must do.  Violence against native women continues at alarming rates, and children in Indian country encounter violence far too often.

I was proud to witness President Obama sign the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in March.  This landmark legislation provides vital protections for all women, but it is especially important for what it does to help ensure the safety of Indian women.  Now, thanks to the new law, tribes may exercise jurisdiction over certain crimes committed by non-Indians on their lands.  This represents a giant step forward in our ability to hold perpetrators of domestic and dating violence accountable.

And we must do all we can to protect Indian children.  More than 60 percent of kids in America encounter some form of violence, crime, or abuse, ranging from brief encounters as witnesses to serious violent episodes as victims.  Almost 40 percent are direct victims of two or more violent acts.  Tribal communities are no exception to this troubling phenomenon.  As one tribal leader said, “For us. . . the question is not who has been exposed to violence, it’s who hasn’t been exposed to violence.”

As part of his Defending Childhood Initiative, Attorney General Holder established a national task force to study this problem and recommend ways to address it.  One of the recommendations was the creation of a separate task force devoted specifically to children exposed to violence in Indian country.  I’m pleased that work is well under way to stand up this task force, which includes both an advisory committee and a federal working group composed of U.S. Attorneys and other government officials, including our partners at the Department of Inteiror, working in Indian country.

We anticipate that the Advisory Committee will convene hearings and listening sessions throughout the country and prioritize consultation with American Indian and Alaska Native youth.  Our goal is to develop a national strategy to reduce and mitigate the impact of violence on children in tribal communities.

The Federal Working Group of the Task Force is already hard at work and making real progress.  In an effort to ensure that juveniles held in tribal or Bureau of Indian Affairs detention facilities are provided adequate and culturally-sensitive educational and counseling services, the working group initiated a close look at existing programs and services.  As a result, BIA has ensured that contracts for teachers are secured for detention facilities in Towoac, Colorado, and Northern Cheyenne, Montana.  To ensure that Bureau of Prison contract facilities provide culturally appropriate services to tribal youth in detention, the working group completed a survey of programs currently available and is currently analyzing the results to develop best practices to ensure consistency across facilities.  These are just a few of many efforts currently underway.

This is my sixth trip to Indian country since joining the Department of Justice as a member of President Obama’s administration in 2009, and my fourth as the Associate Attorney General. Since my first trip to the Navajo Nation, where I met with brave Cold War Warriors, I have traveled from the Crow Nation and Northern Cheyenne in Montana to the Southern Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, Acoma and Laguna Pueblos of the Four Corners.  Earlier this month, I visited the Tulalip Tribes in Washington, and I am so pleased to join you today here in Celilo Village.

For me, these visits to Indian country are a great privilege.  They are a great privilege for me because they remind me of the rich legacy that First Americans have bestowed upon this country, and that we are a stronger America because of that legacy.

They remind me of the important trust relationship between the United States and tribal nations, and that the struggle for tribal sovereignty and self-determination has too often been waged in the face of disruption and devastation caused by assimilation and termination policies pursued in the not-so-distant past.

The work we’ve done to strengthen public safety in Indian country – and the work we are doing to protect tribal sovereignty – is a collective responsibility, one that we all must share, federal and tribal officials alike.  I’m pleased with what we’ve been able to accomplish thus far.  I believe we have written a great chapter in the story of our government-to-government relationship with tribes.  I look forward to working with all of you to continue that story into the next – and even greater – chapter.

Thank you.

St. Helens’ tribal significance marked

Mt S
Mount St Helens
source: Mountsthelens.com

Mountain given status of Traditional Cultural Property

By The Chronicle (Centralia)

September 19, 2013

 

For its significance to the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, Mount St. Helens on Sept. 11 was designated a Traditional Cultural Property and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

According to the Forest Service, Mount St. Helens’ qualified for listing in the register because of its position as a cultural landscape central to local tribes’ oral traditions and identities.

The listed area encompasses 12,501 acres of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

“The Forest Service has profound respect for the cultural significance of the area,” Gifford Pinchot National Forest Supervisor Janine Clayton said. “This formal recognition further validates our deep and long-standing relationships with our tribal partners.”

The mountain is of particular importance to the Cowlitz Tribe; it falls within the area of their land claims made during treaty negotiations with the federal government in the 1850s.

An image of the volcano appears on the official seal and emblem of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe.

“For millennia, the mountain has been a place where Tribal members went to seek spiritual guidance,” Tribal Council Chairman William Iyall said. “She has erupted many times in our memory, but each time has rebuilt herself anew. She demonstrates that a slow and patient path of restoration is the successful one.”

The National Register is part of a program intended to coordinate and support efforts to protect America’s historic, archaeological and traditional cultural resources.

Mount St. Helens’ nomination process took several years and was a collaborative effort between the Gifford Pinchot and the Cowlitz, the Forest Service said in the news release.

Formal listing was recommended earlier this year.

This is the second Traditional Cultural Property listing in Washington State and one of the very few Traditional Cultural Property listings nationwide, according to by Allyson Brooks, Director of the Washington Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation.