On Thursday, the House will vote on a bill that would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to convey more than 2,400 acres of U.S. Forest Service land in southeast Arizona to the Resolution Cooper Mining Co. Enactment of the bill would allow Resolution Cooper, dually owed by Rio Tinto Mining and BHP Billiton, to operate a large-scale cooper mine on Oak Flat disrupting sacred tribal grounds.
If passed, this bill referred to as the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange Act, could potentially destroy sacred tribal places of worship by allowing the foreign mining giants to extract one cubic mile of ore from beneath the surface of the earth. The mining companies would extract the ore through an ecologically destructive process called block cave mining.
In 2011, ICTMN reported that Resolution Copper would use controversial block-cave method, in which explosives are set off below the ore body, creating a space underneath and allowing the ore to collapse from its own weight, after which it’s extracted. Opponents fear the method could damage Native American sacred lands, among them the historical Apache Leap, where tribal warriors leaped to their deaths rather than surrender to Arizona soldiers, according to historical accounts like this one.
In a press release, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) urged colleagues to vote “no” on the bill and said that Oak Flat has been a place where Native Americans have prayed, gathered medical herbs and plants, healed in holy perennial springs, and performed religious ceremonies for decades.
“The protection of places of worship is a fight for which we should all be united,” Moore wrote in a press release to her colleagues. “We must stand together to protect places of worship, including tribal sacred sites because these sites are part of the rich heritage and culture of our country and the essence of our moral identies.” She said the bills passage would jeopardize the cultural history of other sacred sites by setting a precedent with regard to federal protection of tribal sites.
The bill was introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) in February. Last month, Gosar invited the public to a town hall meeting to gage support of his efforts to bring thousands of jobs to Arizona’s Copper Corridor. He said this goal could be achieved if 678 is passed. “Getting this critical jobs bill across the finish line requires Arizonans to rise up and let their voices be heard. Nearly 4,000 jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity are at stake.”
The withdrawal of Resolution Cooper’s controversial block cave mining process is supported by the San Carlos Apache Tribes, local tribes, and some environmentalists.
Arizona Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ)
The project has also been opposed by Arizona Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) whowrote about his oppositionto the bill saying that he was not opposed to mining, in principle, but said that they should not come at the expense of Native American rights.
ICTMN also reported that the bill would give around 2,400 acres of public land in southeastern Arizona to Resolution Cooper Co. in exchange for around 5,000 acres in several parcels around the state. As it stands, the bill has largely remained the same.
The federal government has acknowledged its obligation to protect sacred tribal grounds, but if the land swap bill passes, Moore said, Oak Bluff would be transferred to Resolution Copper for private ownership, and out of the domain of regulation by federal law.
“People who think money is first over water and land, such as some people in Washington, are destroying the earth and that’s where our argument is,” San Carlos Apache Tribe Chairman Wendsler Nosie, told ICTMN in 2010. “That’s wrong. You cannot do that, and that’s why I’m standing up for this.”
Those interested in helping Seattle’s homeless Native population can now do so by picking up a limited-edition, signed poster by Nooksack artist Louie Gong.
Proceeds from the posters, which are on sale at KessInHouse.com for $25 each, benefit Chief Seattle Club, an organization that provides food, services “a sacred space to nurture, affirm and renew the spirit of urban Native peoples.” The poster design is Gong’s “good morning” pattern, which features a pair of hummingbirds and a coffee cup that repeat seamlessly. (The pattern is currently the main motif of Gong’s new housewares line, and is featured on blankets, pillows, and shower curtains — check them out at eighthgeneration.com/collections/housewares.)
‘Good morning’ poster by Louie Gong
The 24″x36″ posters have been produced in a limited edition of 200, and each will be signed by Gong.
This Date in Native History: History.com says the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, England, on September 16, 1620, but is that accurate? According to Wampanoag history, the Mayflower sailed with 102 passengers 10 days earlier—on September 6, 1620—after two failed attempts to leave England.
Accounts vary of the voyage that forever changed America for its first inhabitants.
History.com says the Mayflower completed its 66-day journey across the Atlantic Ocean on November 21, 1620. Other sources, including experts at Plimoth Plantation, a nonprofit living history museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts, say the journey ended November 11, 1620, when colonists disembarked at Provincetown, Massachusetts, on the tip of Cape Cod.
The Mayflower, which weighed 180 tons and was about 100 feet long and 20 feet wide, departed with another ship, the Speedwell, twice in August 1620. Both ships returned to dock when the Speedwell was found to be unseaworthy, according to the written history of William Bradford, a separatist, leader of the voyage to the New World and first governor of the settlement. The Mayflower then made the journey on its own.
Bradford’s history states that the successful voyage began September 6 when the colonists “put to sea.” They landed in Provincetown on November 11, Bradford wrote. It was a Monday.
The ship was headed for Virginia, where colonists were authorized by the British crown to settle. Some of the colonists sought religious freedom while many others were dissatisfied with economic opportunities. Stormy weather and navigation errors forced the Mayflower 500 miles off course and colonists landed on Cape Cod.
Upon landing, Bradford wrote this: “Being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean.”
By December, the colonists had moved across the bay to Plymouth, establishing the first permanent white settlement in America.
For thousands of years before that, however, the Wampanoag village of Patuxet had flourished on the same land, said Darius Coombs, associate director of the Wampanoag Indigenous Program at Plimoth Plantation.
“At the time, that was a Wampanoag community,” said Coombs, who is one of about 25 Wampanoag people who work at Plimoth Plantation’s Wampanoag Homesite. “We had trade ships coming for 100 years before that, but the ships, the people, didn’t stay. So this wasn’t our first encounter with outsiders.”
When settlers arrived in Plymouth, they found cleared fields and fresh water. Despite this, colonial leaders like Bradford claimed the land was “unpeopled.” According to English tradition, lands without clear title were available to the first people to permanently inhabit it.
But the Wampanoag had simply moved to their winter homes away from the coast, having buried their food supply in Patuxet to store it, Coombs said.
“When the early settlers came, it was winter, so they came after we left the summer homes for the season,” he said. “They found Native burial grounds, which were disturbed, and they dug up our buried food.”
According to Coombs, the settlers actually were lucky that they arrived in 1620 instead of five years before that. A plague, most likely carried by Europeans, spread across New England from 1616 to 1618, wiping out as many as 70 to 90 percent of the tribe’s population.
“There were more than 70 Wampanoag communities at one time,” he said. “The Mayflower changed history for our people.”
Coombs for the last 25 years has worked at the Wampanoag Homesite, where tribal members live present-day culture and tell the truth about history. That history includes loss of land, slavery, rape and genocide, he said.
“This is present-day Wampanoag, but I’ll tell you, not everyone can do this,” he said. “Not everyone can talk about what happened because it still hurts down to the core.”
Regardless of the exact dates the Mayflower sailed, the voyage was a game-changer for American Indians. Activist and author Vine Deloria Jr., in his famous book Custer Died for your Sins, commentated on the Mayflower and the Pilgrims.
“Many Indians, of course, believe it would have been better if Plymouth Rock had landed on the Pilgrims than the Pilgrims on Plymouth Rock,” he wrote. “Nothing was more destructive of man than the early settlements on this continent.”
Courtesy Xiuhezcatl Martinez Xiuhezcatl Martinez a 13-year-old indigenous youth with Mother Earth’s wellbeing on his mind
By Vincent Schilling, Indian Country Today Media Network
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, (his first name pronounced ‘Shoe-Tez-Caht’) is a 13-year-old indigenous environmental activist, rapper and public speaker from Boulder, Colorado. He is also the youth director of Earth Guardians, a youth based environmental non-profit organization that is committed to protecting the water, air, earth, and atmosphere.
At the early age of six, Xiuhtezcatl began speaking to crowds at rallies and demonstrations and has spoken at such events as the United States iMatter March in Denver in 2010, which was attended by more than 2,000 youths and other events. He has also worked with Boulder City council members to change city policy and has traveled to several countries and cities to include Rio De Janeiro and Washington D.C. about environmental concerns for Mother Earth.
This year, he has been invited to speak at the United Nations. He is also the youngest member of the 2013 Presidential Youth Council.
A piano composer whose music was used in a documentary that featured him and was filmed by Peter Gabriel’s organization – Witness, recently did an interview on Native Trailblazers radio. During the interview the young Earth Guardian shared his message of strength and hope and how he hopes to remain an inspiration for others.
How did you get started doing what you are doing?
That is a great question. I have been doing activism since I have been six years old. Also we’ve been organizing rallies and educating kids at schools. Kids can be inspired to become activists, leaders and change makers in their community.
Tell me about you as a hip-hop singer with impressive videos.
We have a performance group and we write positive rap songs with lyrics to educate and inspire kids. Kids these days, teenagers these days, everyone is listening to music. That is a huge part of our culture in general. There is a huge hip-hop culture, including slam poetry and break dancing. There are all of these different branches off of hip-hop culture.
Can you talk about your song “Be the Change?”
We got this idea to write a song that was a little bit different and outside the box. We want to make the song uplifting and empowering so that when people hear it, they will say, ‘Dang, I want to do something about fracking, about climate change or about the next generation’s future.’
The song is based on Mahatma Gandhi’s theory and most famous quotes, ‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” He is a huge role model of mine.
It is a really cool inspiring song and I hope everyone likes it.
Can you explain your Earth Guardian movement?
The Earth Guardian movement is a gateway and a portal to act for people of any age. No matter whom they are or where they are in the world. It doesn’t matter what your status is in society – none of this matters, we can all be Earth Guardians.
This movement is growing globally. People can see young people standing up in their communities and they are changing things that are not working, so that their world is a better place.
When people see this, they say, “I want to do something similar to that.’ people tell me they have a 12-year-old son who wants to get involved, we get such e-mails all the time. It is very hard to keep track of everything. Right now we have 30 requests to set up Earth Guardian groups. Right now there are places in Canada, Germany, France in other places around the world are requesting these Earth Guardian groups. There are groups going now in Australia, Brazil, India and Africa.
You are also a public speaker in a lot of places aren’t you?
There is a large rally in Washington D.C. called Powershift. Out of the thousands of requests they receive each year, this year they accepted my application to deliver a presentation. I will be giving a presentation on the global effects of fracking. We are currently working on fundraising for that.
In New York there will be a huge U.N. conference at the end of September. It is about the global water crisis and what people are doing about it around the world. If you think about it, water is the most basic necessity of life. If we do not have access to clean sustainable water supply, we do not have life. This is a human rights issue.
Just today in my fifth period science class we were talking about the characteristics of living things. One of the characteristics of living things is that they all require H2O. It is not a living thing if it does not require water. That stuck out to me. There is a huge global issue with our water supply – This is what the United Nations conference will be about.
The Pope is going to stream in, the Dalai Lama is going to stream in about the water, so it is a huge deal. Young people and activists from all over the world have been asked to come in and talk. They invited myself and representatives from the other Earth Guardian groups in Australia and Africa and others.
All of these leaders will be tuning into this conference. Never before in history, have we had the opportunity to stay connected with social media. All of these things are keeping our world connected. This is how movements are starting to spread all over the world.
Ultimately we are all working together toward the same thing, to create a better future for the next generation. Whether it is working on the water crisis, hunger – we are working on creating a better world for people.
Can you tell us about your song – “Live as if our Future Matters?”
We cannot wait for our government to change the world, before power, before money, before greed – their purpose is to protect people. In my eyes they have failed us at that, so now it is time for the people to stand up for themselves and to be part of this global movement that is going to change the fundamental beliefs of our entire society.
Who is the other young guy in your video?
That is my younger brother. He is an amazing rapper who has a great stage presence. He is so adorable and everyone loves him. He comes out with his black pants and black leather jacket like Michael Jackson everyone goes crazy, he doesn’t like to speak.
He is so great to have around. We’ve gone to Australia, Oregon, and Rio de Janeiro. In Brazil we had a four-hour bus drive; we spent the whole time laughing. That was great, if I didn’t have him with me on my side, I don’t know that I could do it.
What can kids do?
I go to school and I have advanced classes so I have a lot of extra work but I still play soccer – someone cannot force you to do this you have to ask yourself is this something that is important enough to take time out of my everyday life to do something like this. Kids don’t understand this really is not a joke. You know it’s not about polar bears and icecaps you have to turn this into something that affects us in our own backyard. Nature is not a separate being from us.
When we can realize the problems of the Arctic and Alaska and Africa and the Amazon rain forest they are our problems too – we come from the same planet and as soon as we recognize that, then they will be willing to make a change.
Do your teachers get nervous when you raise your hand in class?
(Laughs) In general I’m a very talkative person. My teachers don’t want to call on me because I talk forever.
Do you have any last words?
My school is giving the award for all the work that I’ve been doing, and that is very exciting to be recognized. To all the young people and adults, to anyone of any color no matter where you are from. Please think that we as humans, the greatest, have the most amazing opportunity in the entire world. Our generation with the elders, adults and youth on this planet – this generation now has the greatest opportunity of any generation.
We have opportunity to change our fundamental beliefs, and we can take the next step in our evolution from this consumption of greed, we have the opportunity to evolve and grow and prosper from that. This generation, this is what we are meant to do – to bring forth a new revolution in a new mindset to this world.
If we work together we can do it. Please everyone get involved, because we need you all out there.
Oh and yes, I truly could not do anything without my mom. I could not have done any of this in the past six or seven years of my life without her so I give a huge shout out to her. I could not have grown into who I am without her she is a huge part of what I’ve done. I love her so much.
Opponents of a food labeling initiative are gearing up to air their first television commercials in an ad campaign expected to cost millions of dollars and run up to Election Day in November.
A copy of a contract filed with the Federal Communication Commission shows the No on Initiative 522 campaign has booked $72,000 worth of advertising this week on KOMO-TV in Seattle. A 30-second spot would air beginning with the early-morning newscast Monday, according to the contract.
Additional contracts reserve time every day on the station through the last day of voting, Nov. 5.
A representative of the campaign declined to confirm the schedule, which could be amended after the filing of the contracts.
“I am not going to give out our playbook,” said campaign spokeswoman Dana Bieber.
Supporters of the measure are anticipating the launch of television ads now that the opposition has received millions of dollars from Monsanto and DuPont, two corporations that worked to defeat a similar labeling measure in California in 2012.
“This goes to show these corporations are really more focused on protecting their bottom line than giving grocery shoppers in Washington state more information about their food,” said Elizabeth Larter, spokeswoman for the Yes on 522 campaign.
If passed, Initiative 522 would require many food products made with genetically modified ingredients to be labeled as such. This would apply primarily to processed and packaged foods sold in supermarkets and other retail outlets.
What this means, for example, is a product made with corn, canola or soybeans grown from scientifically created seed stock would need a label to inform the buyer of the modified ingredients. Snack foods such as chips and soft drinks that contain artificial ingredients would need labels starting in July 2015.
Supporters argue the measure is about giving shoppers more information about what’s in the food they consume. Labels would not be required on food sold in restaurants nor on dairy and meat products, even if the cattle are fed genetically engineered foods.
Opponents counter that I-522 would create new and costly burdens on farmers and businesses and would increase food costs. They also say the state will need to spend money to enforce the labeling law.
As of Friday, the No on 522 Committee had raised nearly $12 million in donations and pledges, according to reports filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission. After expenditures, the committee had a little over $10 million available.
“We plan to use our resources to share with voters how misleading 522 is and how it is going to increase grocery costs by hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year,” Bieber said.
The majority of the opposition money arrived this month from the two companies, which are among the nation’s biggest producers of genetically modified seed products.
Monsanto wrote a $4.6 million check on Sept. 5, pushing its total donations to the campaign to roughly $4.85 million. On Sept. 10, DuPont gave $3.2 million and is now up to nearly $3.4 million in contributions.
The level of spending should come as no surprise. Last year, the two firms topped all contributors to the effort to defeat Proposition 37 in California.
In that campaign, Monsanto gave $8.1 million and DuPont $5.4 million, according to state campaign finance reports compiled by Ballotpedia.org.
In Washington, as of Friday, the Yes on 522 committee had collected $3.5 million in donations and, after expenditures, had about $2.6 million available in cash. The single largest donor is Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, which has given roughly $1 million.
Reports filed with the FCC show the committee reserved time starting in mid-October on KOMO.
A statewide poll released last week shows the measure enjoys strong backing among potential voters. Of the 406 registered voters surveyed in the Elway Poll, 66 percent expressed support, with only 21 percent opposed. The survey has a margin of error of 5 percent.
Larter predicted the numbers will change once ads begin airing.
TULSA, OKLAHOMA – The American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association presents the session “Tourism Trends: Indigenous Fashion” at the 15th Annual American Indian Tourism Conference at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tulsa, September 22-26.
Fashion is an important part of every community and can be a valuable product for tourism programs. The panel consists of three Native designers work with traditional, historic and contemporary fashion. These ladies will describe their journeys in clothing design and how their works are used in living history re-enactments, cultural demonstrations and mainstream fashion events.
“My culture has influenced my work so much and has given me more of a voice in the fashion industry,”
said Margaret Roach Wheeler of Mahota Handwovens and costume designer for Chickasaw Nation.
“There is an excitement among people over fashion and designs that relate to cultural history. I’m able to design pieces that reflect tribal traditions, yet make them edgy and modern for today.”
Fashion Speakers
Margaret Roach Wheeler, a Chickasaw textile artist discusses her early work, the textile pieces she is creating for the Chickasaw Nation. At the Chickasaw Arts Academy, she teaches fashion design to high school students. Each year, the Academy provides two students with scholarships to the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She is a descendant of the Chickasaw and Choctaw tribes.
Tonia Hogner-Weavel has been called a living cultural treasure by Cherokee Nation for her historic research. She designed the period clothing for Diligwa, a living 1710 Cherokee Village, and the Cherokee tear dresses for the Cherokee Nation Youth Choir. She is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
Lisa Rutherford is an award winning artist recreates southeast appliqué Cherokee beadwork and clothing, using materials as authentic as possible from the late 1700s to early 1800s. She collaborated with Navajo designer Orlando Dugi who took her traditional southeast feather cape and made it haute couture on the runway. She is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.
The annual American Indian Tourism Conference strives to provide all who attend with a quality educational forum to help you with your travel and tourism initiatives. Other sessions this year include tour packaging, attracting tour operators, creating itineraries, positioning your tribe for the international tour market, protecting intellectual and cultural property, working with state and federal agencies, and more.
Indian Health Service (IHS) officials are pushing back against tribal concerns over an Obama administration plan that would cut contract support cost (CSC) reimbursements to tribes as part of the federal budget’s continuing resolution currently being considered by Congress.
At least 45 tribes and tribal organizations have written to Congress, asking for protection against the proposal, which they say cheats tribes out of millions of dollars they are due. They believe the proposed tribe-by-tribe federal cap on CSC funding would wipe out tribal legal claims and put tribes in the difficult position of being required to spend large amounts of money to administer contract support programs without providing them the funding to do so.
IHS leaders say the tribal concerns have been heard, but the administration believes the plan still needs to be implemented by Congress due to federal budget concerns and sequestration.
“The Administration’s decision was made after careful consideration of all views,” Dianne Dawson, a spokeswoman for IHS, told Indian Country Today Media Network by e-mail. “This option is a short-term approach in this difficult budget climate and is consistent with the Supreme Court’s decision in Salazar V. Ramah Navajo Chapter. We are currently consulting with tribes to find a long-term solution for CSC funding.”
Tribal leaders, concerned that they will be shortchanged millions of dollars, are not moved by the administration’s response, and they say it opposes the June 2012 Salazar v. Ramah Navajo Chapter ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that said the federal government must pay for the full CSC incurred by tribes while providing healthcare and other governmental services for their tribal citizens through Indian Self-Determination Act contract agreements.
“Our views were never asked for, and so the only views that were considered were views within the administration,” Edward Thomas, president of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes, told ICTMN after reviewing the administration’s response.
“This proposal should never be a short-term solution without clarifying what the impact would be,” Thomas added. “[This] interpretation of the Supreme Court decision as a budget or financial issue is wrong and not consistent with promises made by the President to not try to balance this nation’s budget on the backs of the less fortunate.”
Thomas noted that tribes have interpreted the Supreme Court decision to mean that finally the federal government must pay for the cost of tribes administering programs on their behalf. “The Supreme Court ruled in Ramah that the U.S. must pay 100 percent of our tribal CSC costs,” he said. “Maybe President Obama should tell his officials to read Ramah again and again until they get it. It appears to me that White House OMB [Office of Management and Budget] is opposing the President indirectly and this should never happen.”
Thomas said the right “long-term solution is to put 100 percent funding of indirect costs into each and every budget. It isn’t complicated. This can easily be absorbed by the administration.”
Lloyd Miller, an Indian affairs lawyer with Sonosky Chambers who represents several tribes with pending CSC claims, says that the administration framing of this situation as a budget issue is flat-out wrong. “A special account exists in the Treasury to pay any claims over contract shortfalls,” he said. “No other government contractors are being treated this way. The administration’s proposal to cut off tribal contract rights is nothing less than racial discrimination.”
Added Miller, “They seem to think that tribes are comfortable with treating contracts to operate government facilities as mere grants, with the tribes happy to cut services if the promised payments fall short. That is a bad miscalculation. Tribes have far too much knowledge of broken treaties, and they will not sit still while IHS seeks cover to break its contract obligations.”
In light of the administration’s response, Congress members are vowing to continue to fight the proposal. Republican leaders chose not to include the language in their continuing resolution proposal released September 10, but that legislation is on hold, since some conservative members of the Republican caucus want the continuing resolution to include language that would vote down Obamacare. The Senate has yet to decide if it will take up the CSC plan.
There will be a partial government shutdown if Congress can’t pass a continuing resolution by October 1.
Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), chair of the Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs, has taken the lead against decrying the administration’s CSC proposal, and he says their new rationale rings untrue.
“The administration is claiming that their proposed hard cap on contract support cost funding is both short-term and consistent with Ramah, and their claim is false on both fronts,” Young told ICTMN. “Their proposal would deny tribes compensation that they are rightfully due and has harmful long-term implications for health care delivery throughout Indian country.”
Young said that the tight federal budget “may continue to exist long into the future,” yet it “does not diminish the federal government’s trust responsibility.
“The real problem is not the budget climate, but the administration’s unwillingness to prioritize Native healthcare,” Young said.
The opposition claims that costs will rise. The proposition cites updated packaging as routine business costs. Money seems to be at the heart of Washington State Initiative 522, a measure that would require food labels to specify whether or not foods are genetically engineered.
Opponents of the “Washington-only” measure claim that this is a simple case of bureaucracy. I522 would create unnecessary governmental regulation that exists nowhere else in the nation. What the opposition fails to mention is special interest groups and corporations spent millions of dollars, in recent years, to defeat similar measures in other states, such as prop 37 in California. Furthermore, similar regulations are in place in several countries outside of the United States.
Proponents of I522 purport that the costs are minimal, and that regulation would not be more bureaucratic as similar regulations are already in place to determine fresh caught or farm raised salmon, sugar or high fructose corn syrup, etc.
Let’s look at the facts.
Genetically engineered foods are those created or altered in a laboratory to achieve desired qualities. Their genetic makeup is not seen in their naturally occurring, and healthier, counterparts. According to studies from the United Farm Workers, genetically modified plants are more vulnerable to weather and pests, leading to greater use of fertilizer and pesticides. It is then important to know that many companies that oppose the measure are chemical companies that manufacture these products.
Both sides agree that studies show there are no immediate health concerns caused by GE (genetically engineered) foods, and that in fact these foods do allow growers and consumers to maximize quantity, meaning it is cheaper because it is easier to grow and harvest.
Why is this important to Pacific Northwest Tribes?
In recent years, genetically engineered salmon have been successfully made in labs and farm raised. These fish mature at twice the rate of wild salmon. The FDA has not yet decided if this product will be available to consumers, though if it passes, it would be the first engineered meat to be sold in stores. Currently, only GE crops are on the market. Fishing continues to be a crucial industry for northwest tribes, and the new GE fish stand to threaten the market. Without a market, the native fishing industry would se a drastic decline.
I522 does not stop any of this from happening, it only requires labeling. The “Yes on 522” campaign says repeatedly that this shouldn’t be a hindrance to business as usual. The largest appeal to the public is consumers have the right to make informed decisions about their food choices, and I522 is all about information. It does not prevent future operations, nor does it stop current ones.
Washington State Initiative 522 will be on the November ballot.
On a sunny afternoon, Oakland chef Crystal Wahpepah is measuring her success in many portions: a scoop of walnut pudding, a hunk of salmon with roasted zucchini, a ladleful of summer squash stew in a plastic cup. The occasion is the opening of a new Native American Health Center office in Richmond, and the food is the fruit of Wahpepah’s five-year effort to build a business.
Her catering service, Wahpepah’s Kitchen, specializes in traditional Native American cuisine, particularly recipes from her Pomo and Kickapoo heritage.
“Right now it’s a good time for my menu because it’s harvest time,” she says, handing a piece of pumpkin fry bread to a guest. “I like to know where 90 percent, maybe 100 percent of my food comes from.”
In fact, she’d picked the pumpkins over the weekend at a garden she keeps with friends in Sebastopol.
Wahpepah has been passionate about cooking since she was a child, when she would visit the Kickapoo Nation in Oklahoma and help her grandmother make meals of sweet corn, bison, summer squash and pumpkin. She also recalls the recipes she learned in the home of her uncle, who was active in the American Indian Movement in Oakland and hosted visitors from tribes across the nation.
“Those are the best memories of my life,” she said. “I learned what food the Sioux made, what the Apaches made.”
Native American-owned businesses are a rarity in the Bay Area, making up just 0.9 percent of the firms in the region. In Oakland, where Native Americans are less than one percent of the population, the number of businesses they own is low enough not to register in Census Bureau tallies.
The lack of Native American eateries is particularly striking given the diversity of the Bay Area food scene, which places a premium on local and ethnic foods. So far, Wahpepa says, she knows of no one else who’s making dishes like her savory potatoes wrapped in seaweed from the Pacific Coast, or her lemongrass tea from the Great Plains.
According to Tracy Stanhoff, president of the California American Indian Chamber of Commerce, the dearth of Native-owned business is due in part to a catch-22: when few Native Americans run businesses, would-be Native entrepreneurs struggle to find people who can offer them advice or financial help.
“There is a lack of mentors and a lot of first-generation business owners who are scraping to get by,” she said.
But Stanhoff doesn’t think urban Indian entrepreneurs face significantly different obstacles than other ethnic minorities. On tribal lands, tangled property laws and an absence of financial institutions mean that credit and collateral are often in chronically short supply. But in cities, Stanhoff says, the situation is not the same.
“There are barriers, but in urban areas it’s not too much different than for a regular small business,” she said. “We’re generally an underserved population and lack access to capital, but it can be done.”
Wahpepah grew up in East Oakland and studied marketing at American Indian College in Phoenix, Ariz., and, briefly, cooking at the California Culinary Academy. But with little in the way of capital, she struggled to get her business off the ground until she was accepted into La Cocina,an incubator program in San Francisco designed for low-income entrepreneurs.
At La Cocina, she learned about loans available through Kiva Zip, an offshoot of the successful micro-loan website Kiva.org. With an endorsement from Oakland’s Native American Health Center, she secured a $5,000 interest-free loan to help her pay for business permits, cooking space, equipment and other start-up costs.
“It helped tremendously,” she said of the Kiva Zip loan, which she received in December 2012. “I love Kiva because you can express yourself. Instead of looking at your credit, they look at your passion.”
She currently supplements her catering by teaching classes on Native American foods.
“The dream is to make Native Americans and non-Native Americans aware of how beautiful our food is, and how healthy too,” she says. “We should be proud.”
Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett speaks to Tulalip Court leaders about the implementation of VAWA 2013 in Indian country. September 5, 2013. (by Charlie Galbraith, Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs)
[The morning of September 5], we made our way north from Seattle, past gorgeous waterways, and lush greenery to visit with the Tulalip tribes of western Washington, where we were greeted by Tribal Chairman Mel Sheldon, Vice Chairwoman Deb Parker, and Chief Judge Theresa Pouley. We saw first-hand, a tribal court system which serves to both honor the traditions of its people and to foster a renewed era of tribal self-determination.
The Tulalip Tribes of Washington, like many American Indian tribes, have built a tribal court system that serves the civil needs of their community, holds criminals accountable, and protects the rights of victims and the accused in criminal cases. By engaging the entire spectrum of stakeholders, including judges, the police, public defenders, tribal attorneys, as well as tribal elders, and even offenders in many cases – the system they have put in place is producing impressive results with a unique focus on innovative, restorative, and communal solutions.
Because of the successful 2013 Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which President Obama signed into law on March 7, 2013, tribal courts and law enforcement will soon be able to exercise the sovereign power to investigate, prosecute, convict, and sentence those who commit acts of domestic violence or dating violence or violate certain protection orders in Indian country, regardless of the defendant’s Indian or non-Indian status. The tribal provisions of this landmark legislation were originally proposed by the Department of Justice in 2011 to address alarming rates of violence against Native women. We believe today, as we did then, that this is not only constitutionally sound law, but it is also a moral prerogative and an essential tool to ensure that non-Indian men who assault Indian women are held accountable for their crimes.
The 2013 VAWA reauthorization might never have happened without the relentless efforts of Native women advocates like Tulalip Tribal Vice Chairwoman Deborah Parker, whose personal courage and dedication to this cause helped carry the day. The Tulalip Tribe was but one example that helped demonstrate to Congress and many others that there are tribal courts prepared to exercise this important authority that was swept away by the Supreme Court’s 1978 Oliphant ruling.
This new law generally takes effect on March 7, 2015, but also authorizes a voluntary pilot project to allow certain tribes to begin exercising this authority sooner.
After a visit to the Tribal Courthouse, we then visited the Tulalip Legacy of Healing Safe House, a domestic violence shelter housed in facilities renovated with federal Recovery Act funds, to provide victims a safe place, and the chance they need to start fresh and rebuild.
And finally, it wouldn’t have been an authentic trip to Tulalip lands and the Pacific Northwest without a traditional salmon luncheon. We joined around 50 tribal members at the Hibulb Cultural Center to learn more about the ancient tribal traditions of the Tulalip people, and of course, to enjoy the region’s most time-honored and delicious delicacy.
We were reminded this week of how much progress is being made by tribal justice systems across the country. These efforts are being led by courageous Native people like the Tulalip who are dedicated to making the promise of the VAWA 2013 Reauthorization into a reality for generations of Native American women.
A White House Blog Post. Valerie Jarrett is the Senior Advisor to the President and Tony West is the U.S. Associate Attorney General
