When the Green Bay Packers take the field at Lambeau on Sunday for their home opener, they won’t be the only ones taking aim at the Washington Redskins.
Packers fans walking in to Lambeau Field through the Oneida Nation Gate will see Oneida members and others protesting the use of the Redskins logo and mascot, which they say is offensive to Native Americans.
“The warrior image is not the image we want to be portrayed,” said Brandon Stevens, an Oneida Nation elected official. “We’ve moved past the time of Western encroachment and how the West was won, and that’s where all the images are taken from — when we were a valiant enemy.”
Members of the Wisconsin Indian Education Association’s Mascot and Logo Task Force are expected to gather outside Lambeau Field before the noon game holding signs protesting the Washington Redskins’ choice of mascot. The group also has scheduled a seminar on the topic on Friday at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
The Packers declined to comment on the mascot issue. The protesters contacted the team to ask permission to hold signs outside the stadium, and the Packers will set up an area where they’ll be allowed to protest.
“We respect that reasonable people may have differing views,” National Football League spokesman Brian McCarthy said Tuesday in an email. “The name from its origin was always intended to be positive and has always been used by the team in a highly respectful manner.”
A Washington Redskins spokesman did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
It’s not just the Oneida Nation in Green Bay pressing the Redskins to change their mascot. The Oneida tribe in upstate New York already has publicly called on the NFL team to get rid of the name.
In a radio ad that began airing Monday before the Redskins season opener, a member of the New York Oneida tribe called on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to “stand up to bigotry” by denouncing “the racial slur” in the team’s name.
Redskins owner Dan Snyder has said he’ll never change his team’s name.
For more than two decades the Oneida tribe in Wisconsin has opposed the use of Indian characters and names in insensitive ways including sports teams, Oneida Nation spokeswoman Bobbi Webster said. When the Redskins last visited Lambeau, in October 2007, Oneida members held signs at the stadium saying they were not mascots, Webster said.
The topic is timely given the standoff between the Mukwonago School District and the state Department of Public Instruction over the school’s use of the Indian logo and mascot. The state’s deadline for Mukwonago to drop its Indian mascot passed last month. The School Board in July voted to take no action to change the nickname and logo, despite the possibility of daily fines for not complying with the state order.
On Sunday the protest group plans to provide information to Packers fans lining up to get inside the stadium, raising awareness of sports mascots and logos that are derogatory to Native Americans. Webster said it’s not an official protest by the Oneida Nation, which is a major sponsor of the Packers and has the naming rights to the entrance on Lambeau Field’s east side.
Stevens, a member of the tribe’s business committee, said Native Americans are no longer simply fierce warriors.
“We’re educators, we’re community members, we have families and go to work like everyone else,” Stevens said. “Having those negative stereotypes takes us back 100 years.”
“Pride & Basketball” by Cinnamon Spear, (2013) was created as a Master’s thesis project. The film investigates the role that basketball plays in the lives of young men on the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana. The film explores the theory that, in the post-colonial era, the basketball court has transformed into a modern day battlefield where historic tribal rivalries are relived, non-Native race relations are played out, and our young men are recognized for their bouts of bravery and leadership.
Check out details and inquire about purchasing copies of the film on the filmmker’s Facebook page.
British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest is the one place in the world where grizzly bears, black bears and the iconic white spirit bear all live together.
The nine members of Coastal First Nations—Wuikinuxv, Heiltsuk, Kitasoo/Xai’xais, Nuxalk, Gitga’at, Metlakatla, Old Massett, Skidegate, and the Council of the Haida Nation—banned the trophy hunt for bears in their territories effective September 2012.
This year, British Columbians and allies from around the world are coming together to show their support for this tribal ban and an end to the practice of trophy hunting bears in the Great Bear Rainforest.
By Karen Pickett, Bay Area Coalition for Headwaters
On Monday morning, Sept. 9, organizers from Idle No More Bay Area and supporters converged on the Canadian Consulate in San Francisco, Calif. to say “Shame on Canada.” They called for a stop to the disastrous effects on First Nations people and others in the sacrifice zone in Alberta, Canada due to tar sands mining and steam drilling, citing loss of livelihood, toxic contamination, cancers, and damaged and sick children. People called for a rapid wind down of tar sands mining, a halt to Keystone XL pipeline, sequestration of the wastewater, restoration of the devastated region, and reparations. Pull in the tentacles of the oil companies from around humanity’s neck!
During the several hours that people demonstrated, sang, prayed and drummed at the Consulate, a proclamation and list of demands was signed by everyone present and delivered to Consulate officials by Penny Opal Plant, one of the organizers of the demonstration.
Other co-sponsors of the on-going protests against Tar Sands development and the Keystone pipeline include Rising Tide, Do the Math and 350.org.
ARLINGTON — Experts are recommending that three north Snohomish County fire departments join forces to save money.
Instead of going it alone, the Arlington Fire Department, Silvana Fire District 19 and Arlington Rural Fire District 21 should consider forming a regional fire authority, according to a to a $76,000 study released Thursday.
The move could benefit the jurisdictions financially in the long run, said officials with the Portland-based Emergency Services Consulting International, the organization commissioned to do the study.
Many other fire departments, fire districts and emergency services organizations around the country have combined efforts to reduce costs, eliminate duplication of services and increase firefighting capabilities, said Don Bivins of the consulting firm.
Most recently, Stanwood joined the North County Regional Fire Authority in 2012. Similar agreements and discussions also have taken place in south county, where cities and fire departments spent years discussing a potential regional fire authority plan before the talks fell through earlier this year.
The study in north county showed that local fire districts and the Arlington Fire Department also might want to consider consolidating training efforts, equipment and volunteer services.
Currently, the only combination that seems to benefit any of the districts financially is the Arlington, Silvana and rural Arlington recommendation, Bivins said.
Nevertheless, the study recommends that North County Regional Fire Authority and Camano Island Fire and Rescue should look for ways to consolidate in the future, as should Darrington Fire District 24 and Oso Fire District 25. Another idea proposed in the study is that North County Fire might want to annex Tulalip’s fire department and Silvana District 19.
The study found that all fire districts in north Snohomish County need each other, but that all are protective of their territory and authority.
“Fear of combining forces is a normal reaction,” Bivins said. “However, the depth of this feeling in north Snohomish County was surprising.”
Arlington City Councilwoman Marilyn Oertle said she likes the recommendations made by the study.
“There is a lot of potential there,” Oertle said. “We need to do the right thing for the taxpayer.”
However, “the devil is in the details,” said Arlington Mayor Barb Tolbert.
“With this study, we got a lot of good information and I appreciate that it was clear that a regional fire authority could be beneficial,” Tolbert said. “But we are dealing with big concepts and it’s really very complex. We have a lot of work to do.”
REUTERS President Barack Obama addresses the nation about the situation in Syria from the East Room at the White House in Washington on Tuesday night.
By David Nakamura and Zachary A. Goldfarb, The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he will seize one last diplomatic opening to avoid military strikes on Syria but made a forceful case for why the United States must retaliate for that nation’s alleged use of chemical weapons if the effort fails.
In a nationally televised address, Obama cautiously welcomed a Russian proposal that the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad give up its stockpile of chemical weapons, signaling that he would drop his call for a military assault on the regime if Assad complies.
But with little guarantee that diplomacy would prevail, Obama argued that the nation must be prepared to strike Syria. Facing a skeptical public and Congress, the war-weary president said the United States carries the burden of using its military power to punish regimes that would flout long-held conventions banning the use of biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.
“If we fail to act, the Assad regime will see no reason to stop using chemical weapons,” Obama said. “The purpose of a strike would be to deter Assad from using chemical weapons and make clear to the world we will not tolerate their use.” But he added that he has “a deeply held preference for peaceful solutions” as he pledged to work with international partners to negotiate with Russia over a United Nations resolution on a Syria solution.
The speech was a plea from a president who, defying public opinion, has pushed the United States toward using force in Syria — and staked his and the nation’s credibility on whether he can get Congress to support him. But it also followed two days of intense political and diplomatic negotiations on Capitol Hill and abroad that appear to have shifted his calculus for how quickly to move forward with direct intervention.
Obama pledged that before pursuing military options, his administration would explore a surprise offer from Russia on Monday to persuade Assad to surrender his chemical weapons to United Nations inspectors.
The president had visited Congress in the afternoon, asking senators in both parties to delay a vote on a resolution that would authorize him to order strikes on Syrian government targets in retaliation for the alleged chemical attack on Aug. 21 that reportedly killed more than 1,400 Syrians near Damascus.
A White House official said Obama spent an hour apiece with the Democratic and Republican caucuses, reviewing evidence of the attack and reiterating his decision to pursue a “limited, targeted” military strike that would not involve U.S. troops on the ground in Syria.
But the president also told lawmakers that he would “spend the days ahead pursuing this diplomatic option with the Russians and our allies at the United Nations,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
The proposal appeared to be gaining traction Tuesday, as Syria embraced it and China and Iran voiced support. But a telephone conversation between French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, revealed a deep divide over their visions of the U.N. Security Council’s role and particularly over the prospect of military action to ensure that an agreement would be honored.
There also were doubts about how Syria’s stockpiles could be transferred to international monitors amid a protracted civil war that has killed more than 100,000 people.
The call took place after France said it would draft a Security Council resolution to put the Russian proposal into effect.
The Russian offer could serve as a potential escape hatch for a president who has at times appeared reluctant to pursue military force, even after saying he believed it was the right course to reinforce a “red line” against chemical weapons. Obama has struggled to build an international coalition for such action.
And with congressional and public support for a U.S. strike dwindling rapidly over the past week, Obama’s request to delay the Senate vote bought him time to try to convince the public that the White House is pursuing a viable and coherent strategy despite a muddled message since the alleged chemical attack.
“Bottom line is we’re all going to try to work together,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., after the lunch with Obama. “There is hope, but not yet trust in what the Russians are doing. But I think there’s a general view, whether people are for it or against it, there’s an overwhelming view that it would be preferable if international law and the family of nations could strip Syria of the chemical weapons. And there’s a large view we should let that process play out for a little while.”
Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, a key GOP proponent of a military strike in Syria, emphasized that the option of U.S. force remained viable, but he added that “it’s probably good for us just to take a pause.”
At the same time, administration officials made clear that they will not accept the Russian offer at face value or engage in protracted negotiations that indefinitely delay its response to Assad. Russia has consistently blocked U.N. action against Syria, its geopolitical ally, frustrating the Obama administration and leading the president to announce that he would pursue military strikes independent of that international body.
Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that the United States would demand a Security Council resolution authorizing a strike if Syria refused to turn over its chemical stockpile, a provision the Russians promptly rejected.
Kerry told a House committee that the proposal “is the ideal way” to take chemical weapons away from Assad’s forces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin countered that the disarmament plan could succeed only if the United States and its allies renounced the use of force against Syria.
Kerry will travel to Europe this week to discuss the proposal with Lavrov, a senior administration official said later Tuesday. The meeting will be held Thursday in Geneva, where the United States and Russia hope to convene a separate peace conference on Syria, the official said.
“We need a full resolution from the Security Council,” Kerry said Tuesday during an online forum held by Google. “There have to be consequences if games are played.”
The stakes were high for Obama’s address to the nation. He has delivered just nine White House speeches in prime time, according to CBS Radio correspondent Mark Knoller, who keeps tallies on presidential appearances. Obama chose the grand East Room over the more intimate Oval Office, which is the traditional location for commanders in chief to talk to the country about war.
Experts said it made sense for Obama to delay the congressional vote because his hand would be strengthened even if the Russia proposal fails.
“It gets him out of his disastrous political mess,” said Rosa Brooks, a former Pentagon official. Obama will be able to say he made every effort to avoid a military conflict, making it “a lot easier for him to make the case for force.”
But other analysts were more circumspect, fearing that stalling on the part of Russia and Syria could give Assad time to hide his stockpile.
“The most dangerous downside,” said Jon Alterman, a former State Department official now at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, “is you get absorbed in endless processes which take you back to the status quo ante and you neither removed the weapons and you lost the momentum when there was support for action.”
– – –
Washington Post staff writers Paul Kane and Ed O’Keefe contributed to this report.
Tulalip − The CEDAR group meeting September 5th took an interesting turn as strong emotions flowed during a spontaneous open forum. The scheduled presenters had to cancel at the last minute, leaving Thursday’s meeting without an agenda. Reading off facts about youth drug use and how people can help themselves or their kids sparked a discussion on the various situations Tulalip families and addicts find themselves in and how these situations can be handled.
Gina Skinner, who works with the suboxin program, said, “You don’t have to be an addict to seek help. You as the parent, as the family, can come and seek counsel.”
Jim Hillaire spoke, saying, “I wish that more people would engage more with what we [Family Services] have to offer. It’s not that we don’t do enough, or can’t do enough; it’s that they [the families of addicts] don’t want to be there.
“Its not up to the board of directors to fix this,” he continued, “it’s up to all of us.”
That’s what CEDAR is about. Community Engaged and Dedicated to Addiction Recovery.
“The CEDAR program is intended to develop community volunteer involvement,” said Lisa Kibbie, one of the group’s coordinators.
The stigma attached to addiction is so condemning and poisonous that addicts don’t want to face their families, or can’t face their families. A 15 year old, who shall remain anonymous, stated that even after being clean and sober for 5 months now, all people first see in them is addiction and failure.
“Shame and guilt was never part of our culture,” responded Hillaire.
The mission of the CEDAR group is to promote a healthy and culturally vibrant community. Hillaire pointed to culture many times during the meeting, speaking to where we’ve drifted in recent years and where solutions can be found. By continuing to bring cultural teachings and values forward Tulalip can stand together as a community and uplift its people.
“We have to develop a culture within the community that won’t enable [tolerate or facilitate] those that choose to leave their home and family,” Skinner said.
The group consensus is that change is necessary in the community. That may mean creating boundaries to alleviate the enabling that takes place in our community. That also means that we all must be willing to put in the hard work, making hard decisions, holding to them, while still letting people know they are welcome, and that their wellbeing is important to others.
At the end of the meeting, volunteers could list themselves as a contact for community outreach and crisis assistance, a first step in getting the community involved.
The CEDAR group meets every other Thursday, 5pm-7pm at the Tulalip Administration building, room 162.
U.N. Expert Says ‘All Necessary Measures Should Be Taken’
Source: National Congress of American Indians
Portland, Ore. and Washington, D.C.—The National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA), the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), and Angel Smith, an independent attorney appointed by the District Court of the Cherokee Nation and “Next Friend in the filing,” are applauding today’s action by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples James Anaya calling for state, federal, and tribal authorities in the United States to take all necessary measures to ensure that the well-being and human rights of Veronica Brown, the four-year-old Cherokee child at the center of a highly contentious custody dispute, are protected.
Anaya’s office in a release today pointed out that the Indigenous rights are guaranteed by various international instruments subscribed to or endorsed by the United States, stating, “I urge the relevant authorities, as well as all parties involved in the custody dispute, to ensure the best interests of Veronica, fully taking into account her rights to maintain her cultural identity and to maintain relations with her indigenous family and people.”
NICWA, NCAI, and Smith, who had brought their concerns to the Special Rapporteur’s attention, hailed the announcement as corroboration of the concerns raised both in the federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of Veronica in July and in ongoing legal matters in Oklahoma.
Among the possible human rights violations is the forced removal of Veronica from her Indian family and tribal nation without adequate protection or recognition of her right to culture. Such removal violates her right to culture, education, family, and tribal nation as guaranteed by Articles 7 and 8 of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The executive directors of two leading national organizations, NICWA’s Terry Cross and NCAI’s Jacqueline Pata, called for the national conversation about the case to focus on Veronica’s human and civil rights.
“These rights are being violated by the failure of the courts to provide Veronica, her tribal nation, and her extended family with opportunities to be heard regarding her best interests,” said Cross. “What the U.N.’s involvement indicates is that we must all agree to turn our focus back to Veronica. When we do, it becomes disturbingly clear that the courts have utterly failed to protect what is guaranteed to her by international law and established treaties, best adoption practices, and in my opinion, basic tenets of decency. Her rights have been violated, pure and simple.”
“We commend the Special Rapporteur for engaging on this issue—it’s a vital step for protecting all Indigenous children throughout the world. It’s important to note that these are violations of international laws recognized and ratified by the United States long ago, not external forces weighing in on domestic laws,” said Pata. “Veronica, and all similarly situated Indian children, families, and tribal nations, have deeply felt interests in maintaining their individual and collective rights to family, culture, and community. These basic human rights, along with the fundamental principles of self-determination, non-discrimination, due process, and equality, must be protected.”
Smith agreed, stating, “Of course the facts of these matters are heart aching. Even so, it is important and required that when considering Veronica’s rights and protections to acknowledge that, as an Indigenous child, she holds the rights of continued connection to her family, her culture and community. It has been tragic that, in the media firestorm following this case the last two years, so little attention has been paid to Veronica’s basic human rights. These are rights and protections due her—due to Veronica—and are independent of any other individual involved in these matters. Veronica’s rights and interests must be considered.”
Smith continued, “If she were any other child, in any other case, her present situation, needs, and rights would be considered and would have been part of the determination. Today, Veronica is a four-year-old little girl with her own view of her daily world and her own identity. She has her own words, and her own voice. It is time Veronica is heard because it is, after all, Veronica’s life.”
About The National Congress of American Indians
Founded in 1944, the National Congress of American Indians is the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country. NCAI advocates on behalf of tribal governments and communities, promoting strong tribal-federal government-to-government policies, and promoting a better understanding among the general public regarding American Indian and Alaska Native governments, people and rights. For more information visit www.ncai.org
Cultural values teach kids about respect and responsibility
At Tulalip Quil Ceda Elementary, each day is begun with a song and a presentation of core Tulalip cultural values. Photo/Andrew Gobin
By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News
Tulalip – Entering the main hallway of Tulalip Quil Ceda Elementary you hear the drum beat. Nearing the gymnasium you begin to feel the beat resounding through the corridors. Kids stream in off busses, excitement building as they find a seat. Others come to school, drum in hand. This is the norm for students at Tulalip Quil Ceda Elementary, where each day is begun with a song and a presentation of core Tulalip cultural values.
Started at Tulalip Elementary in its final year, the morning assemblies are an excellent forum to create a community, where students and teachers can communicate about respect and the responsibilities they have. The school’s canon of learning, GROWS, is visible in almost every aspect of the school day.
“The students have really taken to GROWS. It stands for Grow your brain, Respect for all, Own your actions and attitudes, Welcome all who come to our community, and finally Safety is paramount. The morning assemblies are used as a way to teach a value that ties into one of the GROWS,” said Dr. Anthony Craig, school principal.
The songs are led by students, with the help of occasional community volunteers. The students are seated in a fashion similar to Coast Salish traditional gatherings, which is in the round.
In an effort to build a stronger educational community, some classes are trying a technique called looping, where the students of a class will not change as they progress to the next grade. Some classrooms have dividing walls that are opened up the majority of the time, so that two classes become one larger learning group.
“We are trying to develop groups of students that learn well as individuals and as a collective,” explained Dr. Craig.
This year, Tulalip Quil Ceda Elementary will develop a cultural aspect to their educational community. The Marysville School District created a cultural specialist position in the school in an effort to incorporate traditional aspects of life into the learning process. In doing so, the district supports and encourages what the faculty of the school is trying to achieve.
Former Tulalip teacher and new cultural specialist for the district Chelsea Craig said, “Here at school you see kids walking around with a drum and a school bag. They don’t have to be a native student; they can just be themselves, at school, as they are meant to.”
The Tulalip Tribes Youth Services department created two comparable positions, with the intention of collaborating with the school. Tenika Fryberg and Taylor Henry are the cultural specialists for Youth Services.
“This has never been done [in Tulalip or Marysville] before, so I plan to develop a program where the community decides what they would like to have brought into the curriculum,” noted Craig. “I’d like to see more community involvement too. Why can’t we have a grandma in the back of every class? We should make this school ours. It is ours; it belongs to the community as every school does. We shouldn’t wait for our own k-12 program, nor do we need to,” she added.
Both she and Dr. Craig acknowledge that some families are not comfortable with their children participating in these cultural activities and have other activities available for children to opt out of the cultural practices, though all of the students are still brought together as a whole for the group message in an effort to continue to develop the learning community that is Tulalip Quil Ceda Elementary.
Protestors continue to rally against alcohol sales in Whiteclay, with the situation escalating last week.
Incidents began on Labor Day when protestors marched into the small town just south of the South Dakota state line.
“That day, basically, they were pretty calm, except they went to some of the beer stores and squirted some substance in to the locks. It appeared to be some kind of glue,” said Sheridan County Sheriff Terry Robbins. Store owners had to replace the locks.
The next day, authorities and protestors confronted each other again during weekly beer deliveries by Budweiser.
The protestors hid behind a building on the South Dakota side of the border until the trucks arrived and then attempted to gain access to the beer stores, engaging in confrontations with authorities, Robbins said. A female individual also allegedly spray painted a Whiteclay building. As authorities tried to arrest her, other protestors began shoving, hitting and spitting on the officers, which included Robbins, one of his deputies and two Nebraska State Patrol troopers. Robbins and the NSP troopers each requested additional help from their respective agencies.
The protestors eventually moved back in to South Dakota. An NSP report indicated that there they set up four cars across the road and refused to allow traffic entry to South Dakota.
The Budweiser delivery was halted Sept. 3, and the trucks told to “back out of town” until the matter was under control, Robbins said. Delivery was never completed that day, but all three distributors that serve the town were able to make deliveries without issue on Thursday. Budweiser also visited Whiteclay again this week without problems.
“The sad part about this is that very few of these people (the protestors) actually live in Shannon County, and very few are tribal members,” Robbins said. Many of the protestors are from other areas of the country, and many do not appear to be Native American, he added.
The Pine Ridge Reservation recently voted to allow alcohol sales on what has traditionally been a dry reservation. The tribal council must still formulate the regulations and policies that will guide alcohol sales and consumption on the reservation. Robbins said he’s visited with tribal members who are for and against allowing alcohol on the reservation.
