It’s been 68 years since the Navajo Code Talkers landed on the beach of Iwo Jima, Japan, and successfully delivered more than 800 encrypted messages without error.
In 1982, 40 years after that famed campaign, in honor of their bravery, skill and service, then-President Ronald Reagan declared August 14 as National Navajo Code Talkers Day.
The Navajo Code Talkers are lauded for hastening a swift end to World War II by providing the U.S. with a dictionary of Navajo words that were transmitted by radio and telephones. The code carried sensitive information about troop movements and other imperative field operations.
Following Iwo Jima, Howard Connor, 5th Marine Division signal officer, stated “were it not for the Navajos, the Marines would never have taken Iwo Jima.”
A monument to the Navajo Code Talkers in Ocala, Florida Memorial Park. (Photo courtesy Wikipedia.org.)
On Sept. 17, 1992, 35 Navajo Code Talker U.S. Marine Corps veterans were honored at the Pentagon in Washington D.C. for their service to their country. That same day an exhibit was dedicated to their prowess.
The exhibit includes radios, photographs and an explanation of how the code worked.
In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton awarded the original 29 World War II code talkers with the Congressional Gold Medal. Five were still alive at the time, but only four could make it to Washington in 2001 where then-President George W. Bush personally presented them with their medals.
The Navajo Code Talkers’ operation was finally declassified by the U.S. in 1968, opening up the opportunity to honor the Marines who drew up and employed the uncrackable code.
The equipment that’s powering America’s wind energy boom is increasingly being made right at home.
In 2007, just 25 percent of turbine components used in new wind farms in the U.S. were produced domestically. By last year, that figure had risen to 72 percent, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy. And exports of such equipment rose to $388 million last year, up from $16 million in 2007.
This happened even as the U.S. was installing a whole lot of turbines. More than 13.1 gigawatts of new wind power capacity was added to the U.S. grid in 2012, representing $25 billion of investment. That made wind the nation’s fastest-growing electricity source last year, faster even than natural gas–fueled power.
Unfortunately, there were job losses in the sector last year, with the number of wind industry manufacturing jobs falling to 25,500 from 30,000 the year before. That’s because there was a lull and some factory closures after a mad scramble to fulfill orders placed before a federal tax credit expired. (It was renewed for this year, but its future is still up in the air.)
The better news is that the number of workers both indirectly and directly employed by the sector grew to 80,700 in 2012, up from 75,000 the year before.
And as the wind energy sector has grown, so too has the diversity of companies that comprise it, as shown in this chart from the DOE report:
Energy DepartmentJohn Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.
From July 10th to 14th, roughly 200 Indigenous and non-Indigenous people gathered in unceded Wet’suwet’en territory in central British Columbia for the 4th Annual Unis’tot’en Action Camp. The Unis’tot’en clan of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation have maintained a blockade on the only bridge leading into their territory since July 2010 in an attempt to keep seven proposed oil and gas pipelines off their traditional lands. The pipelines would carry shale gas obtained through fracking, or bitumen oil from the Alberta tar sands, to the Pacific coast, where it would be exported on mega-tankers towards Asian markets
The action camp brings supporters of the Unis’tot’en to the blockade site in order to learn about the struggle, to network, and to bring action ideas back to their own communities.
Toghestiy, Hereditary Chief of the Likhts’amisyu Clan of the Wet’suwet’en nation, said he was very happy with the high proportion of Indigenous participants at this year’s camp compared to previous years.
“I would say about 40% of the population of the action camp was Indigenous, and they were Indigenous from different parts of Turtle Island,” Toghestiy told the Vancouver Media Co-op (VMC). “So it was amazing to have all these grassroots Indigenous people come together in solidarity with one another. We created an alliance, and it was a pretty beautiful experience. It will help us fulfill our responsibility [to the land] into the future.”
While most participants at the camp hailed from Vancouver and Victoria, people also travelled from as far away as California, New Mexico, and Toronto to lend their support. Amber Nitchman travelled up to the Unis’tot’en Action Camp from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
“I want to support Indigenous rights and sovereignty everywhere, especially those who are opposing extractive industries,” Nitchman told the VMC while on a night-time security shift at the blockade site. At home, she is involved with anti-coal mining campaigns. “Some of the pipelines [here] are for the same industry, and it’s the land and water being destroyed in both places for profit, and destroying what little is left that people are able to live on in a sustainable way.”
Wet’suwet’en territory is located about 1000 km north of Vancouver. It lies on what has been described as Canada’s “carbon corridor,” a geographically strategic region where major oil companies such as Chevron and Exxon are seeking to connect the Alberta tar sands to the Pacific coast for export. The Unis’tot’en claim that these pipelines, requiring clear cutting and prone to leaks and spills, would threaten watersheds, forests, rivers, and salmon spawning channels—source of their primary staple food.
Some of proposed pipelines on Wet’suwet’en territory are intended to carry natural gas from hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”) sites near Fort Nelson, BC, close to the border of the Northwest Territories. Wet’suwet’en activists are concerned not only for their own community, but also for communities at tar sands and fracking extraction sites.
“In those territories, those people are suffering from decimated water,” said Mel Bazil, a Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan activist who has been helping out with the Unis’tot’en blockade. “They have no clean drinking water left in their territories. All of their right to clean drinking water is delivered to them by truck. They allowed their responsibility to clean drinking water that already exists in their territories to be diminished, and in place of that, now they have the right of clean water being delivered to them.”
Water is central to this struggle. The pristine Morice River flows through Wet’suwet’en territory, and is still clean enough to drink and fish from. For contrast, local people often reference Michigan’s Kalamazoo River, devastated by the largest inland oil spill in U.S. history when an Enbridge tar sands pipeline burst in 2010.
At the action camp, Unis’tot’en clan members declared Wet’suwet’en territory to be the epicentre for struggles against the tar sands. The Alberta tar sands are the largest industrial project on Earth and the tar sands mining procedure is hugely energy-intensive. Extraction at the tar sands releases at least three times the amount of carbon dioxide as regular crude oil extraction, and uses five barrels of fresh water to produce a single barrel of oil, according to the activist research group Oil Sands Truth.
“My people have been on these territories for thousands of years, until about 100 years ago when the government forced our people off these lands and put them in reservations,” said Freda Huson, the spokesperson for the Unis’tot’en camp, in an interview under the food supplies tent. “And probably just about four years ago, my generation has stood up and said, ‘No more.’
“There’s too much destruction happening out here, because we grew up on these lands, coming out here all the time. And every time we came out here we saw more and more destruction. So we sat down with our chiefs and said, ‘We can’t just sit by any more and let them keep destroying the lands.’ There will be nothing left for our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We found out about the pipelines and which route they were planning to go.”
In May, the BC provincial government officially opposed one of the proposed pipeline projects on Wet’suwet’en territory, the Enbridge Northern Gateway. Premier Christy Clark cited environmental safety concerns. But Huson was skeptical.
“To me they’re just all talk. I don’t believe anything the government says,” retorted Huson. “They make all these empty promises, and they do exactly the opposite of what they say. Based on how Christy Clark has been talking pro-pipelines, that this is going to get them out of deficit, because we know for a fact that the BC government is in a huge deficit.”
Indigenous people from different nations across ‘Canada’ came to the Unis’tot’en camp to make links between struggles against oil and gas pipelines. One of them was Vanessa Grey, a 21-year old activist from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation reserve in southern Ontario.
Aamjiwnaang sits on the pathway of Enbridge’s Line 9 project, which will carry tar sands bitumen eastward towards Maine. Demonstrators have attempted to stop the project through a variety of direct actions, including a five-day occupation of an Enbridge pumping station near Hamilton, Ontario, this past June.
“I feel that there’s a lot here that someone like myself or the youth who have come here can really learn from,” said Grey, sitting in a forest clearing near the Morice River. “Where we come from, the land has already been destroyed and we already see the effects. Here, they are trying to save what’s left of it, and we’re able to see what could have been without the industry.”
During the five days of the camp, participants attended action planning sessions and workshops on a variety of subjects, including decolonization, movement building, and the Quebec student strike. Participants also had the chance to help construct a permaculture garden and pit-house directly on the route of the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.
On July 20, just days after the action camp had ended and all of the participants had returned home, a helicopter carrying pipeline surveyors was discovered on Unis’tot’en territory, behind the blockade. The workers were quickly confronted by Chief Toghestiy and were forced to leave.
“We were busy that day working on salmon that day, and locating berry patches to start harvesting for winter. Then all of the sudden we heard a helicopter fly over,” Toghestiy told the VMC over the phone.
Helicopters flying overhead is a common occurrence around the Unis’tot’en territory, but something seemed wrong about this one to Toghestiy. “This one sounded like it was slowing down, and you could hear the rotors ‘whoop-whooping’ really loud. I thought to myself, ‘This helicopter might be landing.’” Toghestiy and a supporter of the camp who was on the scene immediately drove down the road in the direction of the helicopter, and discovered it had landed not far away.
According to Toghestiy, the workers were wearing hard-hats, reflector vests, and had clipboards with them. When confronted, they confirmed that they were pipeline workers, but didn’t know that they had infringed on an Indigenous blockade site. “I told them ‘bullshit! Your company knows [about the blockade]!” said Toghestiy as he recounted the situation.
After he yelled at them to leave, they quickly got back in the helicopter and the pilot restarted the motor and took off. “As they were flying away, the helicopter pilot assured me that they wouldn’t come back, and so did the workers.”
Toghestiy said the workers did not reveal which company they were with, but he observed that “they were standing in the … proposed new alternative route of the Pacific Trails pipeline project.”
The helicopter visit was not the first infringement by pipeline companies onto sovereign Wet’suwet’en territory. In November 2012, surveyors were also found behind the blockade lines, and were issued an eagle feather, which is a Wet’suwet’en symbol for trespassing.
Toghestiy said that expelling these unwelcome workers from unceded Indigenous lands also has a deeper meaning. “We’re stopping the continued delusion that the government is putting out there that they still have right to give out licenses or permits on lands that were never ceded by the Indigenous people. There is no bill of sale that has ever been produced that says they have the right to do that,” he said.
Huson added that if a helicopter is discovered again on her territory, the company’s actions will have more severe consequences. “I’m planning to draft a letter to the helicopter company and other companies working for Apache right now, saying, ‘You’ve received your final warning, and if any more choppers or equipment comes across the blockade again, we’ll confiscate whatever comes in, and workers will be walking out,’” she said in a stern but calm voice.
Indigenous delegates at the camp decided to hold a Day of Action against extractive industries on August 14, 2013, and fundraising is already underway to support the blockade throughout the winter. Meanwhile, Toghestiy and Huson expect even more people to come up for the action camp in the summer of 2014.
For more information about the August 14th Day of Action and next year’s action camp, visit: www.unistotencamp.com or their Facebook page.
Click here for full audio interviews and a photo essay from the camp.
Aaron Lakoff is a radio journalist, DJ, and community organizer living in Montreal, trying to map the constellations between reggae, soul, and a liberated world. This article was made possible with support from the Vancouver Media Co-op.
The highly anticipated “Paul Frank Presents” Limited Edition collection will be revealed this week during a special event at the IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
Source: Paul Frank
LOS ANGELES, Aug. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Paul Frank, in partnership with the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), is pleased to announce the debut of its first ever collaboration with four Native American designers during Santa Fe Indian Market this week. The fashion collection will be showcased during a panel and event held at the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Friday, August 16 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The “Paul Frank Presents” collection will also be available for purchase at the IAIA MoCNA store.
To kick off the event, MoCNA Director Patsy Phillips will introduce a panel entitled, Beyond the “Tribal Trend”: Developing Proactive Native American Collaboration in Fashion. The panel will feature Jessica Metcalfe of the Beyond Buckskin blog and Beyond Buckskin Boutique, Adrienne Keene of Native Appropriations and Tracy Bunkoczy, Paul Frank’s VP of Design as they discuss the brand collaboration, the background story and creation of the collection and the development of proactive Native partnerships in the fashion world.
After the panel, each of the designers will present their products and talk about their personal inspiration for the collaboration. These Native American designers include Louie Gong of Eighth Generation, Autumn Dawn Gomez of The Soft Museum, Candace Halcro of Brownbeaded, and Dustin Martin of S.O.L.O. The “Paul Frank Presents” fashion collection includes a printed tote, pillow and throw blanket by Louie Gong, five collections of Hama bead jewelry by Autumn Dawn Gomez, authentic Paul Frank hand-beaded sunglasses by Candace Halcro and a variety of tees, tanks and bandanas by Dustin Martin.
“This collaboration has been an opportunity for us to help raise awareness about cultural misappropriations, which unfortunately happen too often in product, promotion and fashion,” said Elie Dekel, President of Saban Brands. “Our partnership with these four talented Native American designers was the direct result of our own awakening to this issue from our Paul Frank Fashion’s Night Out event back in September of 2012. We hope this ‘Paul Frank Presents’ collaboration will demonstrate more appropriate ways to engage and celebrate the Native American communities.”
These products are now available for purchase at the IAIA MoCNA store, the websites of the contributing designers and also on shop.beyondbuckskin.com. For additional information about this collection, please visit www.paulfrank.com.
About Paul Frank
Acquired in 2010 by Saban Brands, Paul Frank began in 1997 as an independent accessories company in a Southern California beach town. The brand has steadily grown to become a globally recognized, iconic brand that features artistic and entertaining designs inspired by a love of avant-garde, modern influences and everyday objects. By creating relationships through exciting collaborations and strategic licensing partnerships, Paul Frank merchandise includes apparel and accessories for all ages, books, stationery, eyewear, home decor, bicycles and more. To see what’s new and exciting at Paul Frank, visit www.paulfrank.com.
About Saban Brands
Formed in 2010 as an affiliate of Saban Capital Group, Saban Brands (SB) was established to acquire and develop a world-class portfolio of properties and capitalize on the company’s experience, track record and capabilities in growing and monetizing consumer brands through content, media and marketing. SB applies a global omni-channel management approach to enhancing and extending its brands in markets worldwide and to consumers of all ages. The company provides full-service management, marketing, promotion and strategic business development for its intellectual properties including comprehensive strategies unique to each brand, trademark and copyright management and enforcement, creative design, retail development, direct-to-consumer initiatives and specialized property extensions. SB is led by a superior management team with decades of experience in media, content creation, branding, licensing, marketing and finance. SB’s portfolio of properties currently includes Power Rangers, Paul Frank, Vortexx, Zui.com, The Playforge, Julius Jr., Digimon Fusion and Popples. For more information, visit www.sabanbrands.com.
About the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts
The mission of the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts (MoCNA), a center of the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA), is to advance contemporary native art through exhibitions, collections, public programs and scholarship. MoCNA’s outreach through local and national collaborations allows us to continue to present the most progressive Native art and public programming. MoCNA’s exhibitions and programs continue the narrative of contemporary Native arts and cultures. MoCNA is located at 108 Cathedral Place, Santa Fe, NM 87501. For more information please contact: (505) 983-1666 or visit www.iaia.edu/museum. For the MoCNA store, please call (888) 922-4242 or email shop@iaia.edu.
About IAIA
For 50 years, the Institute of American Indian Arts has played a leading role in the direction and shape of Native expression. As it has grown and evolved into an internationally acclaimed college, museum and community and tribal support resource through the Center for Lifelong Education, IAIA’s dedication to the study and advancement of Native arts and cultures is matched only by its commitment to student achievement and the preservation and progress of the communities they represent. Learn more about our achievements and mission at www.iaia.edu.
Many Democratic Indian-focused strategists are betting that Hillary Clinton will choose to run for president in 2016, and some are working feverishly in these summer doldrums – 17 months out from any serious presidential campaigning – to convince her and her associates that they would be best to handle her Native American portfolio.
The former First Lady, New York senator, and Secretary of State has not even said that she plans to run again, but she has signaled anew that she cares about some key American constituencies. Her speech at the American Bar Association’s (ABA) annual meeting in San Francisco on August 12 crystalized her focus.
“We do — let’s admit it — have a long history of shutting people out: African Americans, women, gays and lesbians, people with disabilities,” Clinton said. “And throughout our history, we have found too many ways to divide and exclude people from their ownership of the law and protection from the law.
“Skepticism of authority has been part of our national character since the Pilgrims, and complaining about government is a treasured American pastime,” Clinton added, as part of her overall point of wanting to build confidence in government.
Native Americans and the injustices long served to them were conspicuous in their absence from Clinton’s speech, and now, several American Indian affairs gurus are lining up to ensure she will remember to specifically address Indian country’s economic and social needs in the future, especially if she happens to want to do so from the perch of the White House.
Old and new Native-focused friends of the Clintons are eager to help get out the vote, raise money, and develop sweeping, reservation-changing platforms. As shown in past presidential elections, resoundingly in 2008 and again in 2012, this is an area ripe with votes, and especially with cash, thanks to some wealthy tribes.
Mary Smith, a Cherokee Nation citizen and partner at Schoeman Updike & Kaufman, is one of the early frontrunners. While attending the ABA meeting this year – where she had the connections to score tickets to Clinton’s big speech – she didn’t hesitate to remind lawyers gathered there how much she has done for the Clinton family in the past, having been a member of the D.C. Finance Committee for Hillary Clinton for President until the candidate dropped out in June 2008. Plus, she worked in President Bill Clinton’s administration both as a Justice Department lawyer and in the White House counsel’s office.
President Barack Obama later nominated Smith to lead the Justice Department’s tax division in 2009, but her nomination was blocked by senators who expressed concern about her lack of experience in the tax industry.
Smith, perhaps realizing that her boasts were making the rounds, told Indian Country Today Media Network that she was just there to attend the meeting, as she usually does, but legal officials who met with her said there’s no doubt she’s wired into the Clinton camp again, and she’s more than ready to go to bat for Indian country.
While Smith is off to a solid start, she will face steep competition from other Indian legal eagles who aim to secure a win for Indian country with Clinton.
Kimberly Teehee, also Cherokee and Obama’s former White House Native affairs policy advisor, is widely expected to make a play to lead Native political outreach for Clinton. Now a lobbyist for the Mapetsi tribal policy group, Teehee has been making behind the scenes overtures to those connected to the Clinton camp. Her widespread name visibility in Indian country will be helpful, but some run-ins with tribal leaders on Indian policy issues as a result of working in the Obama White House and as a congressional staffer could haunt her effort. She’s also told friends that she’s enjoying her rest from working for politicians, so only she knows if she’s ready for the Clinton rollercoaster.
Holly Cook Macarro, Red Lake Ojibwe, is another legal ace who is working hard to make sure the Clinton camp knows her name. A former Democratic National Committee staffer and member of the Clinton administration’s White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, she’s now a tribal lobbyist with Ietan Consulting. Married to tribal chairman Mark Macarro, of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, she has many, many friends in Indian country, and her jobs haven’t called for her to get into many squabbles with tribal leaders.
In recent years, Cook Macarro’s firm has developed an alliance with the Holland & Knight law firm, where lawyer Lynn Cutler serves as a senior advisor. Cutler joined the firm in 2001, after serving as senior staff to President Bill Clinton on Intergovernmental Affairs where she was in charge of overseeing advocacy for tribal governments.
Cook Macarro has a strong relationship with Cutler, both from their firms’ current strategic relationship and from having worked under her during the Clinton administration. She knows how important her in with Cutler will be if Clinton does run, and she even includes a note in her official biography to affirm the relationship.
Debora Juarez, meanwhile, a Blackfeet lawyer with Williams Kaster who is based in Washington state is also staking a claim. “I don’t plan on being in [Washington, D.C.] anytime soon…not until My Girl Hillary runs for President!” Juarez recently told ICTMN. “I plan on being there and suffering in the ‘other Washington’ for HRC Campaign.” Juarez was a delegate for Hillary Clinton in 2008, and said she’d love to do it all over again.
All of these strong-minded Indian women will also have sharp-elbowed Indian men to contend with in their efforts to court Hillary.
The tribal affairs crew at Arent Fox law firm have an early in, for instance, having recently facilitated a partnership between the Clinton Global Initiative and six South Dakota tribes in developing a joint wind energy project. And it was Richard Trudell, the Sioux director of the American Indian Lawyer Training Program, and Kevin Gover, the Pawnee director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian and former Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs under President Clinton, who previously had the closest Indian ties to the Clintons.
While Gover has long said he’s quite comfortable at the museum, who knows what could entice him back to the political frontlines? He isn’t saying. “I’m totally out of the loop on this sort of thing now,” he said. “I only know what I read in ICT[MN].”
Trudell, too, hasn’t said if he’s trying to get back in the Clinton’s good graces.
Philip Baker-Shenk, a Republican Indian affairs lawyer who battled to help Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in his presidential ambitions, is one who is willing to talk, probably because the stakes for him are low this season. Based on his experiences, he said the circle of friends and former aides are jockeying at their hardest right now, trying to gain attention, favor—anything they can do to be on the winning team.
“It is an often brutal contest over who is more loyal than whom,” Baker-Shenk shared. “The loyalists chat up her chances, organize visible and financial support for her campaign, and arrange her meetings with key people. The competition for a candidate’s time and attention quickly moves to a feverish campaign pace, when every minute on the schedule is the result of negotiated trade-offs and winners and losers.
“With most national candidates, the Indian portfolio has been like the flip side of a hit record – an afterthought, a filler,” he said. “But that doesn’t stop Indian loyalists from trying. Nor should it.”
Community members work together, hauling in fishing nets. Photo/Niki Cleary
By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News
“Let ‘er go!” a traditional fisherman’s call was heard from the beach as Glen Gobin sets his seine net at Spee-Bi-Dah, Saturday, August 10th.
For the eighth year, The Tulalip Tribes hosted the Spee-Bi-Dah community beach seine day. The annual event honors a time when families lived on the beach through the summer months to fish salmon, as well as teaches about traditional fishing methods and maintains Tulalip’s presence in the area. Today, Spee-Bi-Dah remains prime fishing grounds.
Tulalip tribal member Cecilia Gobin using a splash pole, a technique that drives fish into the net. Photo/Andrew Gobin
Gobin made six beach seine sets at Spee-Bi-Dah, along with his crew and those that eagerly jumped on the boat to help set the net. At the end of the day, five kings (Chinook salmon) were caught, ranging from 15lbs up to 24.5lbs. About 20 or so humpies (Pink salmon) were caught as well.
Beach seining is vital in keeping Tulalip’s history alive. Seining was one of many traditional fishing methods used by the tribes that comprise the present day Tulalip Tribes. The Spee-Bi-Dah beach seine event brings the community together, and those that know, teach others who want to learn about seining and our people’s history.
“I haven’t been here in years,” said tribal elder and former tribal fisherman, Phil Contraro, who spent the day watching each set, enjoying the company of old friends. “I really enjoyed the day.”
Tulalip Tribal member Tony Hatch cooks clams on the beach. Salmon and oysters were also on the menu. Photo/Mike Sarich
Many children were interested in the happenings, anxiously waiting to see what each set would bring in. The big-ticket item was getting to ride on the boat while making the set. There were a lot of new kids this year at Spee-Bi-Dah, though there were the regulars that couldn’t wait to get on the boat and try their hand using the splash pole, a technique that drives fish into the net.
The now annual gatherings originally were a three-day youth camp, first organized in 1998 by Don Hatch Jr. through the Tulalip Boys and Girls Club. Kids that attended camped on the beach, learning the history and having fun, but not actually fishing. Beach seining was included in 2003, which drew a greater interest in the camp in 2004.
“I remember camping on the beach, staying all weekend.” said Kyle Cullum, former employee at the Tulalip Boy and Girls Club. “But we didn’t fish until the last few years of camp.”
“I went to check out the camp and Penoke [Don Hatch] says to me, ‘we should have this be a community event,’” recalls former councilman Les Parks, who pushed to make it a community event in 2005. The vision for Tulalip to resume fishing at Spee-Bi-Dah had strong support from the tribal council. Today, he is proud to have championed the first community Spee-Bi-Dah event. “It’s vitally important for our community to come together like that, and just be together. To enjoy each other’s company and work together.
“As a child, I remember community clam bakes down below the long house. I’d like to see us come together at more community events.” said Parks, commenting on the lack of community events in recent years. “We have bingo, and Spee-Bi-Dah. Aside from those, there seems to be few other positive annual community events.”
Photo/Mike Sarich
Saturday’s event, along with the fishing, featured a seafood feast. Cy Fryberg Sr. cooked fish over a fire that morning at the beach. Oysters were grilled over the fire, and crab was boiled. Tony Hatch and his sons, Skyler and Drew, fired beach rocks to bake clams.
Every year, the Lushootseed Language Department and Youth Services offer activities to the kids, including face painting, water floaties, and beach toys. Great fun was had by all as people visited with friends and family, reminiscing of ‘the old days.’
Community members enjoyed a fun-filled day of fishing, face painting, playing, eating and visiting with family and friends. Photo/Niki Cleary
Courtesy William Campbell/Four Directions Steven Sandven, Sioux Falls lawyer and former Oglala Sioux Tribe attorney general, represented the plaintiffs in Brooks v. Gant; Sandven is shown at far right in this photograph, filing a similar voting-rights lawsuit in Montana.
Stephanie Woodard, Indian Country Today Media Network
Plaintiffs and defendants both claimed victory on August 6, when U.S. District Court Judge Karen Schreier dismissed the Native voting-rights lawsuit Brooks v. Gant. Oglala Sioux Tribe members had sued South Dakota state and county officials, seeking a satellite early-voting and registration office that would give them elections in their own county and equal to those other South Dakotans enjoy.
Once the lawsuit got underway, the state and county defendants promised to use federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) money to give the 25 plaintiffs what they wanted through 2018. According to Judge Schreier, this meant the plaintiffs could no longer show the required “immediate injury,” so she dismissed their claim. However, she noted, her decision was “without prejudice,” meaning that, if necessary, the plaintiffs can sue again.
“They caved,” said OJ Semans, Rosebud Sioux civil rights leader and co-director of voting-advocacy group Four Directions. “The court established what the plaintiffs stood up for and what Four Directions has been fighting for since 2004. Right now, there’s full equality for most of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the largest group of Indian voters in the state.”
The other side was happy, too. “We’re feeling extremely pleased, even though the case wasn’t decided on its merits,” said the counties’ attorney, Sara Frankenstein, of the Rapid City firm Gunderson Palmer. “Shannon County [which overlaps much of the Oglalas’ Pine Ridge Indian Reservation] gets a satellite office, and the Help America Vote Act foots the bill.
At press time, the lead plaintiff, South Dakota’s secretary of state and head elections official Jason Gant, had not replied to a request for a comment.
Payback time
Frankenstein also said that because the case was dismissed, the defendants get to recover costs and perhaps fees from the losing parties. “It is a huge financial burden lifted,” she said.
“That’s breathtaking,” said Bret Healy, Four Directions consultant. “They have the insurance public officials typically hold to cover lawsuits. We all met the plaintiffs via their depositions—single parents, one with an epileptic child, others caring for infirm elders, from one of the poorest counties in the nation. The state of South Dakota and the counties are really going to do this? God have pity on their souls.”
“Won’t happen,” said Semans. “It’s just a way to scare off Natives who might want to ask for equal rights in the future.”
“Granting costs would discourage plaintiffs from bringing suits to enforce the Voting Rights Act and would be contrary to the fundamental purpose of the Act,” agreed Laughlin McDonald, director emeritus of the ACLU Voting Rights Project. He also doubted it would happen.
McDonald, who has litigated Native enfranchisement cases since 1983, explained that a prevailing party in a federal case is ordinarily entitled to recover costs, but not when it comes to voting rights. “Federal courts have denied or severely limited recovery in those cases,” said McDonald.
What about recovering attorney’s fees? “I think such a motion would be filed in bad faith and even subject to sanctions,” said McDonald.
Shaking loose HAVA
Frankenstein said that in negotiations on her side, she persuaded the secretary of state to change what she termed “internal policies” and release South Dakota’s HAVA money for the satellite office in Shannon County, which overlaps much of Pine Ridge. He could do this, she said, because in May 2008, South Dakota had completed HAVA’s initial requirement to modernize elections with up-to-date voting machines and the like.
From then on, Frankenstein said, the state was free to spend its federal HAVA appropriation on additional ways to improve elections, including satellite offices. Brooks v. Gant testimony and court documents confirm this. In Judge Schreier’s opinion, she noted that Shannon County residents had “minimal” early-voting access until Brooks v. Gant was filed.
This all stands in startling contradiction to statements by state and county officials over the past several years. They maintained in many public meetings and national and local press reports that Shannon County simply couldn’t afford the scope of elections found in other parts of South Dakota.
“So, as of 2008, money was no longer an issue—but they kept that quiet,” said Healy.
“This is far from over,” said Semans. “Until Native Americans are able to participate equally in the political process, our social and economic challenges will not change.”
At this moment, though, Native voters should be pleased, said McLaughlin. “They got what they wanted through the next several elections. It’s a victory.”
This article was written with support from the George Polk Center for Investigative Reporting.
1.Traffic revision on Marine Drive, west of I-5 Sidewalk rampson the north side of Marine Drive at 31st Ave NE and 33rd Ave NE will be upgraded to current ADA* standards. The work continues and will be done by months end.
2. Paving of Marine Drive from I-5 west to the Quilceda Creek Bridge.The schedule is not yet finalized, but work is likely to begin after August 19 and last for approximately three days, weather permitting. All work will take place between the hours of 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. Single lane closures will be in effect. A variable message sign will notify citizens one week before the project begins.
Access to businesses will remain open at all times, and construction crews will make every effort to minimize the impacts. At this time we do not anticipate any changes to Community Transit Route 222 or the bus stop. You can sign up for rider alerts.
We regret the inconvenience, and ask for your patience during construction. Thank you!
*The Americans with Disabilities Act. Snohomish County is upgrading sidewalk ramps around the county to meet ADA design standards.
In 2010, Ron Finley planted a garden on the 150-foot-long curbside strip outside his house in South Central Los Angeles. The produce — tomatoes, kale, corn, you name it — was free for the taking, and the colorful riot of herbs and flowers and vegetables got a lot of attention. The only unwelcome scrutiny was from the city of Los Angeles, which owns the land. Finley received a citation for growing plants that exceeded height limits, and for failing to purchase a $400 permit. By circulating a petition and bending the ear of a receptive city council member, Finley convinced the city to leave his garden alone. Around the same time, he helped start an organization called L.A. Green Grounds, dedicated to installing free vegetable gardens in curbside medians, vacant lots, and other properties in blighted areas.
Then, in February of this year, the self-described “gangster gardener” — an outgoing straight-talker with a penchant for catchy one-liners — gave a TED Talk. “The drive-throughs are killing more than the drive-bys,” he said, exhorting urban dwellers to get outside and “plant some shit.” The talk instantly rocketed him to green thumb stardom. As of this writing, the talk has attracted more than 1.3 million views, and Finley has appeared on Russell Brand’s late night talk show and been profiled by the New York Times, among many others.
This fashion designer — he’s dressed the likes of Shaquille O’Neal — and collector of black entertainment memorabilia, highlighted in a recent movie poster exhibit — now spends much of his time delivering talks and planning new urban gardening ventures. All the media attention has brought new funding, including support from the Goldhirsh Foundation. (But in Los Angeles, the bureaucratic wheels grind slowly. Planting on curbside medians remains a tricky proposition.)
Finley had just returned from a permaculture workshop in Sonoma County when we spoke. We chatted about fame, sex, and his diabolical plan to take over the world.
Q. It sounds like you’ve suddenly got a lot of people wanting to talk to you.
A. Wanting to talk to me, wanting to see me, driving from Oklahoma to meet me … It’s been a little crazy. It’s pretty miraculous how the words, the ideas, have spread. It’s just amazing to me that growing your own food is so foreign to so many people.
Q. Why do you think your message has been so powerful? Is there something intangible about gardening, beyond growing your own food?
A. It’s connection, period. To me, the garden is no more than a metaphor for life. Everything you experience in life happens in the garden. You learn patience, you learn systems, you learn biology, you learn sex. And you learn the thing we call death may not actually be death. It may just be an energy transfer. That’s what composting is. If I take this dry leaf that’s supposed to be dead and crumbly and I put it with this green leaf, why does it heat up to 200 degrees sometimes? If it was dead, how did it happen? I’m not a scholar or something, I’m as common a man as they come. But to see something like that happen, it makes you look at life differently.
Q. Gardening takes sustained work. How do you keep people motivated to do all the work that comes with creating your own food?
A. Well, you show ‘em the wheelchair or the pill that they’re gonna take for the rest of their life. To me, that’s motivation enough. You keep doing it [eating badly] and this is where you’re gonna wind up. You can’t save everybody, you know. But there’s people who want to be saved, people who want to get off these drugs these doctors are prescribing.
Q. You grew up in South Central. What did you grow up eating?
A. I mean I grew up eating the garbage that was here. You know, convenience foods. Macaroni. I never liked macaroni. Frozen spinach. We had some fresh food but at the time it was when they were changing the whole food system to be “convenient” for us. I ate McDonald’s, Burger King, coming up. All that stuff. You had no idea what this food was made of and that it would make you sick and in some cases kill you.
Q. What made you start eating differently?
A. I saw the light when there was a health food store in L.A. called Aunt Tilly’s, years and years ago. It was at the Pacific Design Center and we used to go there because there were these beautiful women there. [Laughs] So I was exposed to some people around me at an early age. I didn’t know it would have the effect that it did.
Q. How did you begin to garden?
A. I mean a lot of the stuff I do goes all the way back to when I was in elementary school. I still start seeds the way I started them then. You know, in a petri dish with a wet brown paper towel. And you get to watch the sprouts from the seeds pop up. [I started the guerrilla garden because] work was slow or non-existent and I took to the garden to beautify this piece of land. It became my solace. You get addicted.
Q. Tell me about your new project.
A. I’m doing what we’re calling right now the Ron Finley Project, which is the whole containment cafe concept that’s attached to a garden with a training facility. It’s a facility where we train kids how to think, not what to think. I want people trained in everything from aquaponics to woodworking to fashion to art. We want to basically put [these facilities] in what I consider food prisons, which is what a lot of us live in … We’re just trying to show people how to grow their own food, how to take your health back into your own hands. A lot of industries don’t want us to be independent. They don’t really benefit from you growing your own food.
Q. What is your typical day like now that you’re a famous man?
A. My typical day starts with me waking up. From there, I don’t have a typical day. People ask ‘Hey, how are you?’ And I say ‘Hey, I woke up this morning.’ And that’s real to me. I get another shot at this. Sometimes I have appointments, or I’m on the phone all day. Sometimes I’m putting in gardens. I don’t want to do the same thing every day … We all should definitely have different endeavors and different interests. All that does is increase our web, make that oneness tighter. And you realize, damn, there really ain’t no difference. We all need sex and food and sex and some water and sex. You realize that that’s your basic needs. [Laughs]
Q. Any other projects in the works?
A. I’m gonna be working with Alice Waters. Me and Alice are putting together a diabolical plan to take over the world.
LONGMONT, Colorado (August 12, 2013) – First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) today announced it has received a grant of $100,000 from The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation of Seattle, Washington, to bolster the financial literacy of Native American high school students.
The two-year project will empower up to 75 Native American high school students and their families in Portland, Oregon, by providing culturally appropriate financial education that combines classroom and experiential learning to result in behavioral changes positively affecting management of financial assets. Youth Savings Accounts (YSAs) will be used to help youth to build assets and learn the savings habit, while introducing them to the use of mainstream financial services. First Nations will undertake the project in partnership with the Native American Youth Family Center (NAYA) in Portland.
Activities will include teaching the “Life on Your Terms” course to the students and taking a field trip to a participating bank or credit union to sign up for a YSA account. Those who complete the course with a passing grade will be entered into a drawing to earn an additional $100 to deposit into their account. The students also will participate in a financial simulation fair called “Crazy Cash City” that will help them put the lessons learned in class into practice through experiential learning. By the end of the grant period, an online teacher’s guide for the process will be completed and then made available nationally to teachers of Native American students.
Financial and investor education is one of the five focus areas of First Nations. First Nations and its independent subsidiary – First Nations Oweesta Corporation (a community development financial institution) – work in partnership with Native American tribes and communities throughout the U.S. to assist them in designing and administering financial and investor education programs. These projects range from helping individuals and families understand the basics of financial management – opening and maintaining a bank account and using credit wisely – to helping individuals understand financial markets and a variety of financial instruments for borrowing and saving. The programs result in increased investment levels and economic growth in Native communities.
About First Nations Development Institute
For more than 30 years, using a three-pronged strategy of educating grassroots practitioners, advocating for systemic change, and capitalizing Indian communities, First Nations has been working to restore Native American control and culturally-compatible stewardship of the assets they own – be they land, human potential, cultural heritage or natural resources – and to establish new assets for ensuring the long-term vitality of Native American communities. First Nations serves Native American communities throughout the United States. For more information, visit www.firstnations.org.
About the Native American Youth Family Center
The Native American Youth and Family Center in Portland, Oregon, works to enrich the lives of Native youth and families through education, community involvement, and culturally specific programming. It has provided educational services, cultural arts programming, and direct support to reduce poverty in the Portland metropolitan area’s American Indian and Alaska Native community for over 30 years. Learn more at www.nayapdx.org.
About The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation
Launched by Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul G. Allen and Jody Allen in 1988, the Allen family’s philanthropy is dedicated to transforming lives and strengthening communities by fostering innovation, creating knowledge and promoting social progress. Since inception, the foundation has awarded over $469 million to more than 1,400 nonprofit groups to support and advance their critical charitable endeavors in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The foundation’s funding programs nurture the arts, engage children in learning, address the needs of vulnerable populations, advance scientific and technological discoveries, and provide economic relief amid the downturn. For more information, go to www.pgafamilyfoundation.org.
