Professional skateboarder Jordan Sanchez clears out a stack old skateboards in his downtown Everett indoor skatepark on Thursday. The Garage will open this Saturday after a successful Kickstarter campaign. Photo: Annie Mulligan / For The Herald
By Julie Muhlstein, Herald Columnist
Sunny spring days are just about here, but Jordan Sanchez doesn’t mind rainstorms. He’s about to open an indoor skateboarding venue, The Garage.
He and his wife, Anah, will hold an open house at their downtown Everett business Saturday, giving skaters a chance to check out the new facility. The 3,500-square-foot space is at 2927 Rucker Ave.
Skateboarders will find a long, narrow venue, with a high ceiling and concrete floors. Sanchez, 27, said they are leasing the site from Rick Lapinski, who owns multiple properties in downtown Everett.
The Garage is filled with features, including movable ramps, designed to lure skaters in out of the rain. At one end are quarter-pipe ramps. Wall rides, ledges, hand rails and a surface covered with faux brick called a “sketchy bank,” offer skateboarders the sorts of places they would find at outdoor skate parks or on property that’s officially off-limits.
Jordan and Anah Sanchez also run a coffee stand, the Mocha Station, at Frontier Village in Lake Stevens. To open The Garage, they had a lot of help — more than 100 donors.
In late December, they launched a fundraising drive on the Kickstarter website. Kickstarter, started in 2009, is a platform for people to make a pitch for funding for creative projects. Creators set funding goals and deadlines, then spread the word through friends and social media.
It’s an all-or-nothing deal in which donors make online pledges to projects, which are described on a Kickstarter page. If those pledges reach the creator’s financial goal, donors’ credit cards are charged. If the deadline arrives and pledges fall short, no one is charged and the project isn’t funded.
Kickstarter makes its money by taking a cut. Through his “Open The Garage” page on Kickstarter, Sanchez said, $17,031 was raised by Jan. 27, far surpassing the $15,000 goal. “We ended up with $15,300,” he said, adding that donations ranged from $1 into the thousands.
In his online pitch, Sanchez wrote: “My wife and I are seeking $15,000 to pay for wood, screws, paint, steel, sheet metal and labor to construct a one-of-a-kind indoor skateboarding facility.”
Dan Eyler worked with Sanchez on ramp construction. “They’re all hand-built, with plywood, two-by-four construction, and masonite,” Sanchez said. His brother, Brian Sanchez, and Kyle Schuman painted murals. The place has a couch, music and a soda machine.
Posted on the Kickstarter page is a link to a YouTube video called “Vic’s Market,” which shows Sanchez’s friends skateboarding on Everett streets, in parking lots, at a school and other public places, and on private property around the city. In one shot on the video, an adult is shown telling a skater, “You need to take it someplace else.”
That need — for places skateboarders are welcome to do what they love without breaking the law — motivated Sanchez to open the indoor facility. A skateboarder for 16 years, Sanchez said he is sponsored by Manik Skateboards and BLVD, another skateboard brand.
“This is an alternative to skating in parking lots and other places, which are completely illegal. And it’s rain or shine,” he said.
Skaters will be charged $8 per day at The Garage, or $5 a day with an annual $150 membership. Sanchez said pads and helmets will be provided. Skaters under 18 will be required to have parents sign waivers. The state issued The Garage a business license Jan. 6, and Sanchez said they also have a specialty business license from the city.
The Garage will be available for private parties, and Sanchez said summer camps are planned. A taco truck and free ice cream will be part of Saturday’s opening.
“This was a big group effort,” said Anah Sanchez, 26.
Does she skate?
“No,” she said with a laugh. “I can’t afford to get hurt.” – See more at: http://heraldnet.com/article/20130301/NEWS01/703019919/-1/News#The-Garage
MARYSVILLE — Prosecutors don’t believe the killing of a Marysville man was motivated by his criminal past.
Instead, evidence indicates that Arthur Schroeder, 82, was stabbed to death in his trailer during a robbery.
Prosecutors on Friday charged two people with second-degree murder in connection with the Jan. 24 killing.
They say the suspects, Delaney Henry and Robert Kennedy, admitted to several people that they killed Schroeder inside his small trailer. They also reportedly told people that they robbed Schroeder of about $200 and the key to a safety deposit box they believed held $20,000.
Henry, 28, allegedly told some people that she killed Schroeder because he raped her. She later told detectives that Schroeder propositioned her for sex in the past, but she denied that he ever sexually assaulted her, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Andrew Alsdorf wrote.
Schroeder was a convicted sex offender, but “there is no evidence that his prior convictions had any connection to his murder,” court papers said.
Prosecutors also noted, however, that Schroeder enjoyed the company of “much younger adult women, to whom he would provide cash or prescription pills in exchange for sexual favors.”
Henry was Schroeder’s neighbor at the Brookside Mobile Home Park on State Avenue. She allegedly told detectives that she visited his trailer every other weekend.
Phone records indicate that Henry called Schroeder twice the day he was killed. The records also show that she called Kennedy. Video surveillance shows the suspects together on a bus the afternoon before the slaying. Henry was wearing a scarf similar to the one detectives found at the crime scene.
Schroeder’s grandson told police he discovered his grandfather’s body around 11 p.m. He said he’d gone there to borrow some money or alcohol. Once inside, he found the elderly man lying bloodied and unconscious on the floor. He didn’t call 911 right away. Instead, he and a friend walked to a convenience store and later smoked some marijuana, Alsdorf wrote. He called police about four hours later after he brought his mother to the trailer, court papers said.
Schroeder had been stabbed four times. His heart had been pierced and his throat had been slashed.
His tidy trailer had been ransacked. His cell phone, wallet and a jewelry box were missing. Schroeder’s truck was gone.
The pickup truck was discovered the next day abandoned in Arlington. Someone had torched it.
Detectives eventually heard from witnesses who reported that Henry had confessed to killing Schroeder, court papers said. Another witness told investigators that Henry and Kennedy showed up together the night of the slaying. They allegedly had blood on their clothes and were in possession of three bloodied knives. They also reportedly were sorting through some paperwork.
Police have since recovered the safety deposit box key and confirmed that it opens a box at a local bank. There wasn’t $20,000 inside.
The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Snohomish County Superior Court. If convicted, Kennedy, 26, is facing a mandatory life sentence under the state’s persistent offender act. He has prior convictions for robbery and attempted robbery. Henry faces up to 20 years if she is convicted.
Detectives continue to investigate Schroeder’s death. Earlier this week, police arrested a Tulalip man who allegedly gave Henry a ride on the evening of a fatal stabbing. He allegedly threatened someone, warning the person not to talk to police about the homicide.
See more at: http://heraldnet.com/article/20130302/NEWS01/703029936#Charges-filed-in-stabbing-death-of-Marysville-man-82%0A
Photos by Robert Mastrianni Louis Mofsie, second from right, with dancers from the group Thunderbird American Indian Dancers
Tish Leizens, Indian Country Today Media Network
At the age of 76, Louis Mofsie, Hopi/Winnebago, an accomplished dancer, choreographer, educator and artistic director of the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers, which he founded 50 years ago, is as busy as ever.
Forget about retirement. From January 25 to February 3 he led his Native dance group to perform its Annual Dance Concert and Pow Wow at the Theater for the New City in New York City.
The concert was a theater presentation where the troupe performs dances from the Inuit of Alaska, the Iroquois of New York, the Hopi and Yaqui of the Southwest and the Plains Indians of the Great Plains. Plans are also underway for their annual Queens County Farm Museum Pow Wow at the end of July and their 50th anniversary pow wow at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York on April 20. There are also a number of school workshops and appearances lined up around the metropolitan area throughout the year.
Brooklyn-born Mofise is well loved in his home state. In 1984, he was awarded the New York City Indian of the Year. His leadership was recognized with a New York City Leadership Award by the Law Department and Mayors Office in 1991.
His choreography credits in New York include One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Mercer Arts Center; Operation Sidewinders, Lincoln Center Repertory Company; Three Masked Dances, La Mama ETC.; and The Only Good Indian, Theater for the New City.
At a time when pow wows are evolving to be mega events with huge prize money, Mofsie looks back to the time when it was all about bringing people together and enjoying each other’s company through song and dance. He still believes in the pow wow tradition and has made it part of his mission to preserve Native dances that are no longer performed.
ICTMN caught up with Mofsie before his big concert at the Theater for the New City as he reflected on his 50th year of entertaining and educating the audience about Native culture.
What are your thoughts on the 50th year of the founding of your dance troupe, Thunderbird American Indian Dancers?
Celebrating the 50th anniversary of our dance company is overwhelming. I guess 50 years ago when we first organized our group no one would have thought we would last that many years, least of all me. It’s a credit to all those who have worked so hard over the years to help make it a reality.
Why did you start it? What is your recollection of when you started to form the group?
Before we became the Thunderbird American Indian Dancers we were called the Little Eagles. The Little Eagles were made up of a group of teenagers who grew up in Brooklyn. We had learned a great deal from our parents about their tribal backgrounds including dance and music. I think most of us grew up dancing and singing. So it only seemed natural that we would form a small group to continue our interests. We also branched out to learn the music and dance from other tribes.
Photo by Robert Mastianni
Photo by Robert Mastianni
You are an MC, choreographer, dancer . . . what is it you enjoy doing most?
The most enjoyment I get out of what I do is to make contact with the people in the audience and the people I’m working with. I try to make the experience an enjoyable one, as well as an educational one. I find that most people want to learn more about something they thought they knew something about and I think people learn far better when the experience is enjoyable rather than a chore.
Why is educating non-Natives about Native culture important to you?
Educating non-Natives about our culture has been a primary part of the mission statement of our group. Addressing stereotypes and explaining the disrespect they reflect on native people, as well as, other misunderstood cultures is vitally important. We do many school residencies here in the metropolitan area and reaching children at a young age is the best time to influence their perceptions.
What else is in your mission statement?
Part of our mission statement is also to preserve and perpetuate the songs and dances of various tribes. In some instances some of the dances we do are no longer performed. If we can preserve these dances and songs we feel we are helping to keep the culture alive. All of our material is social music and dance. We do not do any dances or songs that have any ceremonial or religious significance.
What do you think is your major accomplishment in life?
I think my major accomplishment in life has been to feel proud of my Native heritage and to able to share what I have learned with both Native and non-Native people. Since I have been a classroom teacher for 35 years my emphasis has been on education. Helping people get a greater understanding of the richness and beauty of the Native people through music and dance.
What was the biggest obstacle in your life?
Like most people the general run of obstacles have affected me—lack of sufficient time and money to do what you would like to do at the time you feel it is most important. Living here in New York also presents it’s own set of problems. I think keeping calm and being patient have been a blessing for me since it seems, given enough time, most problems will solve themselves.
What else do you want to accomplish at this stage in your life?
I would like to stay as healthy as I can and continue to do the work we are doing. Between fulfilling the obligations we have here and traveling—we are on the go most of the year. I’m hopeful there will be someone who will carry on the work we have begun. There are so many people yet to meet and teach about our culture and it is our responsibility to get the work done.
Prior to President Obama signing the Tribal Law and Order Act into law in 2010, Lisa Marie Iyotte delivered an emotional introduction, describing how she had been raped and assaulted on the Rosebud Reservation while her two small children hid. When she broke down, Obama stepped over to comfort her. Now, Obama can move to Stop the Violence Against Women by signing the VAWA reauthorization into law.
Indian Country Today Media Network Staff
In one of her columns for Indian Country Today, Suzan Shown Harjo wrote: “Only the reinstatement of tribal jurisdiction and remedies has a chance of reversing the epidemic levels of violence against Native women.” That commentary was published April 29, 2005.
Today, after years of struggle, tribal advocates are celebrating Congress passing the VAWA reauthorization, with tribal provisions. The act is now heading to President Obama for his signature.
Harjo, Cheyenne and & Hodulgee Muscogee, is an award-winning columnist and a poet, writer, curator and policy advocate, who has helped Native Peoples to protect sacred places and recover more than one million acres of land, is president of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C. She’s also still regularly contributing to this publication.
The spotlight on the VAWA reauthorization, with tribal provisions, was magnified by Harjo’s 2005 ICT column, and it roused both regional and national mainstream media from their collective slumber concerning this crucial matter. There is something to the old saying “the pen is mightier than the sword.”
In light of the recent action on VAWA, and the impending action by Obama, it seems like an ideal time to revisit Harjo’s column, titled “Congress Make the Streets Safe for Indian Women, too.” Here is that work, in full.
Congress, Make the Streets Safe for Indian Women, Too, April 29, 2005
The streets of Indian country aren’t safe for American Indian and Alaska Native women.
Nearly 90 percent of the perpetrators of violent crimes against Native women are non-Indians—60 percent are white men—and Native nations can’t touch them.
Congress created this haven for non-Indian criminals on reservations and it’s up to Congress to fix it. The 109th Congress has a chance to do that very thing this year, when it considers reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act.
VAWA 2005 is being drafted now to address the deplorable situation of women in American, where physical abuse is a feature of one-quarter of all marriages and where one-third of women who are treated in emergency rooms are victims of domestic violence.
While Native women also sustain injuries in abusive relationships, most of the men who assault Native women are strangers or acquaintances (80 percent), rather than intimate partners or family members (20 percent), according to a U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics report, American Indians and Crime (1992-2002), issued in December 2004.
This statistical profile and a raft of other studies, including the 2000 National Violence Against Women Survey, report that:
● American Indian and Alaska Native women are more than twice as likely to be victims of violent crime than other women in America.
● American Indian and Alaska Native women suffer sexual assaults at a rate of more than three times that of women of other races.
● more than one in three American Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped during her lifetime.
● the rate of violent crime experienced by American Indian women is nearly 50 percent higher than that reported by black males, the second highest gender/race category victimized by violent crime.
Most violent crimes are committed intra-racially, as with white-on-white crime. This is not the pattern in Indian country, where 88 percent of the perpetrators of violent crime against Indians are non-Indians.
Why can’t Indian governments punish these violent non-Indians and why should Congress step in? It’s a long, complex history, but the short answer is that the federal government made this jurisdictional mess and should take every opportunity to clean it up.
Over a century ago in the name of “Indian civilization,” the federal government criminalized tribal traditions and took control of the reservations. When the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government did not have jurisdiction over Indian murders of Indians, Congress enacted the Major Crimes Act, authorizing federal jurisdiction over murder and other serious offenses involving Indian people.
Congress expanded federal jurisdiction, effectively restricting tribal authorities, under the Assimilative Crimes Act and myriad gaming, environmental, repatriation, arts and other laws.
Tribal jurisdiction and remedies were limited under the federal tribal termination policy. Starting in the 1940s, Congress gave selected states certain criminal and civil authorities over Indian offenses. In the 1968 Indian Civil Rights Act, Congress restricted the sentencing authority of tribal courts to one-year imprisonment and a $5,000 fine. The Supreme Court ruled in 1978 that Indian tribes cannot prosecute non-Indians in criminal matters.
That brings us to the present situation where Native nations cannot punish non-Indians who harm Indian women in Indian territory, or can only give them a slap on the wrist.
There are many reasons that the federal and state governments aren’t doing a better job at bringing these bad men to justice. Basically, it comes down to geography and connectedness. The federal and state agents don’t live where the crimes are being committed and the victims aren’t their neighbors.
Only the reinstatement of tribal jurisdiction and remedies has a chance of reversing the epidemic levels of violence against Native women.
In VAWA 2005, Congress can address the jurisdictional void that prevents Indian tribes from prosecuting non-Indians perpetrating these crimes.
VAWA was signed into law in 1994 and reauthorized in 2000. VAWA 2000 mandates that protection orders from one tribe or state be afforded full faith and credit in outside jurisdictions. It also clarifies that Indian tribes have full civil jurisdiction to enforce protection orders, including authority to enforce any orders through civil contempt proceedings, exclusion of violators from Indian lands and other “appropriate mechanisms.”
Some states do not comply with the federal mandate and exhibit hostility toward affording full faith and credit to protection orders issued by tribal courts. Alaska’s executive branch has challenged a state judge’s decision allowing enforcement of a banishment order issued by the Native Village of Perryville. The Minnesota Supreme Court in 2003 rejected a proposed statewide court rule for the consistent enforcement of all tribal court orders.
Advocates are working with legislators and staffers on the reauthorization of VAWA, which is set to expire this September. Advocates in Indian country would do well to work (and work fast) with the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the Judiciary Committees to develop a bill that could stand alone or be folded into VAWA 2005.
A meaningful VAWA provision for Indian country would restore tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians in the area of violent crime against women. Proponents should be prepared for the inevitable discussion about review of tribal court decisions and opt-in/opt-out mechanisms.
At the very least, Congress should provide necessary funding to study full faith and credit implementation problems, in particular with regard to tribal domestic violence protection orders, and should withhold certain federal monies (unrelated to domestic violence prevention and response) from states that refuse to comply with VAWA’s full faith and credit mandate.
VAWA’s effect in Indian country would be strengthened by provisions ensuring tribal law enforcement officers’ access to national databases that track criminal history; a national database of tribal protection orders and tribal adult sex offenders to track serial offenders who travel between different Indian nations; an increase in funding for tribal governments and programs providing infrastructure and services to survivors of rape, stalking and domestic and dating violence; and a Tribal Division within the Office on Violence Against Women to act as the liaison to tribal governments on issues unique to Indian nations and Indian women.
Congress can continue with the same jurisdictional system that devalues Native women and handicaps Native nations, or it can fill the jurisdictional void with something that might just work.
If Congress fails to act, the reservation streets will remain safe for violent non-Indians and the Indian women and their children and grandchildren will suffer. How is that good for anyone but the bad people?
There’s the potential for some traffic snarls this weekend around the Sodo stadiums, the Alaskan Way Viaduct and on I-5, so be prepared and plan ahead.
Here’s a list of what’s happening:
The Viaduct is closed from 6 a.m to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 6 a.m. to noon Sunday, for its routine semi-annual inspection.
The on-ramp from the West Seattle Bridge route (elevated Spokane Street) to southbound I-5 will close from 10 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday, to repair expansion joints between the elevated bridge spans.
Sounders FC play a match Saturday night at CenturyLink Field, against the Montreal Impact, drawing an expected 40,000 fans.
Emerald City Comicon runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday, bringing 19,000 people to the state convention center.
A running event, the Hot Chocolate 15k/5k, will close the Aurora Bridge on Sunday from 6:15 a.m. to 11 a.m., and draw up to 12,000 people to Seattle Center and surrounding streets.
Three of four southbound lanes of I-5, from Green Lake to the Ship Canal Bridge, will close Friday night and Saturday night, from 10 p.m. to 10 a.m., for pavement regrinding.
The state Department of Transportation’s homepage about weekend closures, and the DOT’s traffic app, can be found here.
Microsoft today unveiled its reimagined Envisioning Center, which offers a hands-on experience with the future of business and leisure — and also serves as a laboratory for the company’s engineering teams.
REDMOND, Wash. – March 1, 2013 – The future of work and play is on display at Microsoft’s reimagined Envisioning Center, the result of collaboration between the company’s Strategic Prototyping team and Office Labs. Visitors can work on interactive desks, talk with colleagues through digital walls, and cook in a Kinect-enabled kitchen. Microsoft expects thousands of customers to explore the new space each year.
“We want to excite customers about the direction we’re heading in and show that we are constantly thinking about new scenarios based on trends and real work in Microsoft Research and the business groups,” says Jonathan Cluts, director of Microsoft’s Strategic Prototyping team. “These scenarios are based on reality, not science fiction.”
“We don’t imagine that we’re predicting the future,” says Anton Andrews, director of Envisioning in Office Labs. “But it’s case of staying on the cutting edge of the conversation, and promoting that conversation.”
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Envisioning Center
March 01, 2013
The new Envisioning Center explores how technology will transform the way we live, work and play in the future.
Microsoft believes that working from anywhere will reach new levels of ease and sophistication. Create and move work freely across devices and displays using natural language, ink, touch and gesture.
Interactive workspaces will let you bring your ideas to life naturally, easily connecting to the insights, information and expertise you need as you work.
Workspaces that emphasize social activity help teams collaborate. Here, interactive whiteboards add smart assistance and remote participation to a brainstorming session.
In the workplace of the future, team meetings move from presentation and action items to real-time problem solving and execution. Technology in this action room amplifies the team’s ability to visualize projects, simulate real-time outcomes and make rapid decisions.
In the future, you will be able to explore new cuisines with recipes that adapt to dietary needs, and even get help cooking and learn a few new tricks from your personal, digital chef.
With a 4k display and smart lighting, your living room can naturally transform from a movie theater to an art gallery to a personal chat with loved ones who live many miles away.
Retail in the future blends the best of online and brick-and-mortar to personalize your shopping experience on the fly. Experience augmented shopping and safely share information across public and private displays.
MARYSVILLE — An employee at a Marysville bar offered to call Terrence Olesen a taxi, but the Everett man allegedly refused and got behind the wheel of his car.
Prosecutors allege that a few minutes later, Olesen, 27, plowed into two pedestrians and a bicyclist on Shoultes Road, then sped away. They allege that Olesen’s blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit.
Shane Santos
Shane Santos, 18, died on the road before help arrived. He had multiple broken bones and a fatal head injury. His friends, 20 and 21, also had multiple broken bones. One of the men remains in a wheelchair some eight months later. He must wear a helmet to protect his injured head.
Prosecutors on Thursday filed multiple charges against Olesen for the June 9 incident.
His friend told investigators that he and Olesen had been drinking vodka and orange juice earlier in the day. He estimated that Olesen had consumed about 10 shots of vodka. Later that evening, the friends went to the Home Plate Tavern in Marysville. The witness told investigators that Olesen drank about two 24-ounce beers while at the bar. He reportedly got involved in an argument and patrons escorted him outside to his car. That’s when one of the employees offered to call a cab for Olesen, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Tobin Darrow wrote.
Olesen reportedly refused the offer and drove his friend to a nearby fast food restaurant. An employee there later told detectives that Olesen was “obviously drunk” and had trouble maneuvering his car through the drive-thru. More witnesses reported seeing Olesen nearly hit at least two other cars. One woman had to pull her vehicle onto the shoulder to avoid a head-on crash with Olesen’s Volkswagen Golf.
Investigators believe Olesen plowed into Santos and his friends as they were on the shoulder of the road. He reportedly pulled over and the passenger exited the vehicle and surveyed the damage. A witness heard the passenger curse before he jumped back into Olesen’s car. They sped off.
Santos was dead when paramedics reached him. His friends were unconscious with obvious broken bones. They were rushed to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
Police followed a trail from the scene. It crossed a roundabout toward 51st Street. An officer found a license plate and a bumper on top of the median. Eventually officers found Olesen’s car, which had crashed into a tree. Olesen reportedly emerged from behind some nearby shrubs.
He allegedly told police he had been driving the car. The officers noted that he smelled of alcohol. Olesen asked the officer if the situation would be “like a vehicle homicide, allegedly?”
Olesen was arrested and taken to the hospital for a mandatory blood draw. Lab results later concluded that his blood alcohol level was .24, Darrow wrote.
Olesen is scheduled to be arraigned later this month.
He has a drunken-driving conviction from 2007. He also has three convictions for driving with a suspended license.
If he is convicted in this case, state law allows for enhanced penalties because of the prior drunken-driving prosecutions.
The state Liquor Control Board has opened an investigation into the Home Plate Tavern in connection with the June 9 incident, a spokesman said Thursday. It isn’t clear when that investigation will be completed.
Pine Ridge Liberation Day Event Turns Into Alcohol-Related Showdown in Whiteclay Nebraska, Says Alcohol Justice
PINE RIDGE, S.D., March 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Alcohol Justice is reporting that a serious confrontation over illegal alcohol activity occurred last night on the border between Whiteclay Nebraska and the Pine Ridge Native American Reservation in South Dakota.
“We have so many strong sober relatives that the only option is to continue to heal,” stated activist Olowan Martinez. “We no longer hide our spirituality, we no longer walk in shame of who we are. An escape from the slavery of alcohol is now occurring and soon the mind of the Oglala Lakota will also be liberated.”
Eyewitness reports state a Round Dance celebration for Liberation Day 2013 (in recognition of the 1973 Wounded Knee Occupation) turned into a showdown between Nebraska state troopers and Native Oglala Lakota activists working to end destructive alcohol use when Nebraska State troopers walked onto Pine Ridge sovereign land. They warned Bryan Brewer Sr. , Oglala Sioux Tribal President, that if he stepped into Nebraska he would be charged with trespassing.
A state trooper performed an alcohol Breathalyzer test on Whiteclay Nebraska Sheriff Terry Robbins due to his behavior and results were not made public. Over a hundred Oglala Lakota marched into the town of Whiteclay forcing the state troopers to withdraw from the area. Tribal President Bryan Brewer Sr. stated that “…on Friday March 1st, activists will return with five times as many people to shut down Whiteclay.”
25% of Pine Ridge Reservation youth suffer from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
2/3 of Pine Ridge Reservation adults suffer from alcoholism.
What: Liberation Day 2013 Rally to end illegal alcohol activity in Whiteclay Nebraska
When: Friday, March 1, 2013
Where: Border of Pine Ridge South Dakota and Whiteclay Nebraska
Who: Representatives from:
Oglala Lakota Nation
Deep Green Resistance
Community Supporters
Why: To stop the illegal alcohol activity at Whiteclay, Nebraska such as:
Retailer participation in alcohol smuggling into the Pine Ridge Reservation
Trade of alcohol for sex
Loitering at the premises of alcohol retailers with open containers
The inability of Nebraska Liquor Commission to stop illegal retailer activity
International indigenous rights experts looks at the significance of the Idle No More movement, as indigenous peoples engage with nation-states, the UN, and international institutions specializing in transitional justice. (ICTJ)
The goal of the three-day gathering is to collect and share the experiences of indigenous peoples in designing, using, and advocating for truth and justice processes in countries as far apart as Australia, Canada, Colombia, Guatemala, Greenland, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, and the United States.
These calls for justice coincide with growing movements by indigenous rights groups, like Idle No More in Canada and the United States, which are drawing global attention.
“Indigenous peoples are among the most affected populations in times of violence,” explains Eduardo González, director of ICTJ’s Truth and Memory program. “Even in places that have not experienced dictatorship or internal conflict, indigenous peoples are affected by systemic, structural violations.”
Against this backdrop of both abuse and silence, some first nations and governments are charting new ground on ways to uncover the truth about the past, redress abuses suffered by indigenous peoples, and begin to heal as part of official truth-seeking policies.
“Around the world, great hopes are pinned on transitional justice measures,” said Pablo de Greiff, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence. “In practice, we are still trying to see how transitional justice measures actually work holistically.”
Chief Wilton Littlechild, who helped open the expert seminar on Wednesday morning, is one of three commissioners of the Canada TRC and chair of the UN’s Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
He is also a survivor of Canada’s Indian residential schools, where, for more than 150 years, Aboriginal children were often forbidden to speak their own languages or practice their own faiths, in an attempt to assimilate them into mainstream Canadian society. Many children were separated from their families and communities and sometimes forcibly removed from their homes.
“Justice necessarily involves considering the role of truth and reconciliation,” said Chief Littlechild, “the right to truth for victims and the right to truth for states.”
Each country’s unique historical and social circumstances will shape how groups and government can work together to address and redress historic injustices against native populations.
In Guatemala, the Historical Clarification Commission completed its work in 1999, finding that over 200,000 people had been killed in Guatemala’s civil war from 1960 to 1996. Approximately 83% of victims were Mayan.
Through its investigations, the commission laid the groundwork for today’s landmark case against former Guatemalan General Efraín Ríos Montt, who will now stand trial on charges of genocide.
Alvaro Pop, one of the international attendees and a Mayan activist who assisted with preparations of the Guatemalan Peace Accords, knows how hard it can be for indigenous peoples to raise their concerns. Although Mayans represent nearly 50 percent of Guatemalans and are a stronghold of the economy, they still live “like strangers in their own land,” remarked Pop.
As the UN reports, “The free expression of Mayan religion, language and other factors continues to be hampered by a shortage of resources and a lack of political will to enforce laws.”
Looking ahead, fundamental questions will need to be answered, including how truth commissions can address violations against indigenous peoples when they are still ongoing. While the expert seminar ends on March 1, discussions will continue, resulting in an unprecedented report to the UN Human Rights Council exploring these issues.
“Because indigenous peoples have experienced violence in several areas of the world, under conflict, dictatorship, or as a result of structural injustice,” said ICTJ Vice President Paul Seils, “we anticipate that there will be a need to adapt the instruments of transitional justice to these situations.”
About ICTJ
The International Center for Transitional Justice works to redress and prevent the most severe violations of human rights by confronting legacies of mass abuse. ICTJ seeks holistic solutions to promote accountability and create just and peaceful societies. For more information, visit www.ictj.org
500+ days after VAWA authorization expired, Senator Murray helps push House Leadership to finally pass the Senate’s bipartisan, inclusive bill
Office of U.S. Senator Patty Murray
(Washington, D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray released the following statement after House Republican leadership finally allowed the Senate’s bipartisan, inclusive Violence Against Women Act to be voted on in the House. The bill, which Murray cosponsored, passed by a vote of 286-138. Passage comes over 500 days after the bill’s authorization expired in late 2011. Since that time Murray has helped lead efforts in Congress to reauthorize an inclusive bill that expands VAWA’s protections to cover more women in at-risk communities.
“This is a long delayed, hard won, and badly needed victory for millions of women, especially those who were told that they weren’t worthy of VAWA’s protections. It means that finally, after over 16 months of struggle, tribal women, the LGBT community, immigrants, and women on college campuses will have the tools and resources this life-saving bill provides.
“There is absolutely no reason that it should have taken this long for the House leadership to come around on a bill that had overwhelming bipartisan support. But passage today is a validation of what we’ve been saying since this bill expired in 2011 – VAWA has never been, and should never be, a partisan bill. That is why I applaud moderate Republican voices in the House who stood up to their leadership to demand a vote on the Senate bill.
“Throughout this process – often through tears – countless women had the courage to come forward and tell painful stories about why this bill was so vital to them. By stepping out of the shadows, they reinforced that they were more than statistics, and they forced those who stood in opposition to this bill to face up to the reality that who a person loves, where they live, or their immigration status should never determine whether they are protected from violence.
“I want to especially thank Deborah Parker of the Tulalip Tribe in my home state. Deborah has been by my side time and again in this effort and repeatedly told her deeply personal story of the violence and abuse women face on tribal lands to illustrate a tremendous unmet need. Along with Deborah, I know that advocates across the country are breathing a sigh of relief today knowing that we finally got this done.
“I’m proud to join the President, the Vice President, Senator Leahy, and the coalition of women’s groups, law enforcement, clergy members, educators, and concerned citizens who’ve repeatedly stood strong to make this moment possible. For nearly two decades VAWA has allowed women to escape lives afflicted by violence and abuse. It’s been one of the privileges of my career to stand strong over the past year and a half to ensure that VAWA’s protections are expanded to include more women.”
