When a big apparel or furnishings manufacturer looks to Native culture for inspiration, the result is “Native-inspired” product that has better distribution than most actual Native designers can hope for. These designers can get the feeling they’re having their pockets picked by the big boys — and in extreme cases they undoubtedly are. Louie Gong, Nooksack, one of today’s most successful Native design entrepreneurs, has seen it happen enough in his field, and he’s decided to do something about it with a project called Inspired Natives, an initiative to promote Native artists.
According to Gong’s website, the initiative’s goals include: build the business knowledge and capacity of popular Native-arts entrepreneurs so they can meet demand for their work worldwide; show companies how to create and sell products featuring Native art in a way that supports Native people; and raise awareness about the cultural and economic impact of cultural appropriation and misrepresentation.
The first designer Gong has tapped for the project is Michelle Lowden, Acoma Pueblo. Lowden now has her own section at eighthgeneration.com, featuring pillows, a blanket, and a notebook with her “Transformation” design, and mobile phone cases with her “Rainstorm” design.
The pillows and notebook designed by Michelle Lowden, Pueblo Acoma, are part of the Inspired Natives line of products.
Gong started Inspired Natives because he’s frustrated with “Native inspired” clothing and other products produced by large companies. He believes each “Native inspired” product represents not only a missed opportunity for talented Native artists to build knowledge through collaboration, “it also presents a tangible barrier to Native arts entrepreneurs who must compete for a spot on shelves already dominated by non-Native companies producing products featuring appropriated art. At the same time, socially conscious consumers who appreciate Native themes and aesthetics … are consuming these products without conscious awareness of how patronage either supports or undermines the work of indigenous artists and entrepreneurs.”
Gong encourages consumers to support artists who are inspired Natives, not Native-inspired artists; think before they buy a product featuring indigenous art; and use the hash tag #INSPIREDNATIVES.
Remains of mentally ill reunited with surviving family as part of project
Remains of mentally ill reunited with surviving family as part of project
By JONATHAN J. COOPER, Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. — They were dubbed the “forgotten souls,” the cremated remains of thousands who came through the doors of Oregon’s state mental hospital, died there, and whose ashes were abandoned inside 3,500 copper urns.
Discovered a decade ago at the decrepit Oregon State Hospital, where “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was filmed, the remains became a symbol of the state’s — and the nation’s — dark history of treating the mentally ill.
A research effort to unearth the stories of those who moved through the hospital’s halls, and to reunite the remains with surviving relatives, takes center stage today as officials dedicate a memorial to those once-forgotten patients.
“No one wants to be laid to rest without some kind of acknowledgement that they were here, that they contributed, that they lived,” said state Senate President Peter Courtney, who led the effort to replace the hospital and build the memorial.
Between 1913 and 1971, more than 5,300 people were cremated at the hospital. Most were patients at the mental institution, but some died at hospitals, the state tuberculosis hospital, a state penitentiary or the Fairview Training Center, where people with developmental disabilities were institutionalized.
Hospital officials have worked for years to reunite the remains of their former patients with surviving relatives. Since the urns were found by lawmakers on a tour of the hospital in 2005, 183 have been claimed.
The 3,409 that remain and have been identified are listed in a searchable online database. Thirty-eight urns will likely never be identified; they’re unmarked, have duplicate numbers or aren’t listed in ledgers of people cremated at the hospital.
They came from different backgrounds, for different reasons. Some stayed just days before they died, others for nearly their entire lives. Twenty-two were Native Americans. Their remains won’t be part of the memorial; they’ll be returned to their tribes for a proper ceremony. Members of the local Sikh community are working to claim the remains of two people.
Many of the 110 veterans still there will eventually receive proper military burials, though some are ineligible due to dishonorable discharges or insufficient information available.
Some patients spent a lifetime at the hospital for conditions like depression and bipolar disorder that, in modern times, are treated on an outpatient basis.
“At the time, they just put them in a safe place and treated them with what they knew to treat them,” said Sharon Tucker, who led the two-year research project.
Records are sparse, even for people who lived for decades inside the walls. Some had severe delusions; others had physical deformities. Some seemed to be institutionalized because their families just didn’t know what to do with them.
But what does survive is a window not only into who they were, but the time in which they lived.
The remains of thousands have been transferred from the copper canisters to ceramic urns that will better protect them. The old canisters will be preserved to give visitors to the memorial a sense for how they once were housed.
“I think it will be very difficult to forget them now,” said Jodie Jones, the state administrator leading the hospital replacement project.
TULALIP – The conservation and preservation of Native American poles, posts, and canoes will be the focus of the first symposium hosted by the Hibulb Cultural Center and Natural History Preserve on July 21- 22, held at the Tulalip Resort Casino.
Poles, Posts, and Canoes will bring together Native American and non-Native museum professionals, and contemporary carvers to discuss the challenges in preserving and exhibiting wood carvings, while also examining the Native and non-Native viewpoint on preserving these historic wood items.
“When I first came to work here four years ago, one of the things that struck me most was the fact that we have a number of poles and canoes in the collections,” said Hibulb Conservator, Claire Dean. “These large wooden objects are a real challenge for museums everywhere, regardless of their cultural background. It is because these tend to be very big and heavy to move around. Actually they are quite difficult to display safely. If they are old, and deteriorated they become fragile. Here we have a disproportionate number of them, and that has to do with the fact that the community here, the poles and canoes, are a central part of the material culture here, and when you have a culture with that in its background, then you are going to run into them as more of a challenge than other cultures where they don’t exist. I am also very aware that we have carvers here in the community, and I like the idea of trying to involve them somehow.”
Dean explains the idea for the Poles, Posts, and Canoes Symposium developed from a conservator conference Dean attended, which highlighted the preservation of the Maori Waka Taua Project, or war canoe project, at the National Museum of Scotland. During the conference the issue of preserving cultural items such as wood canoes, a responsibility of Dean’s as a conservator at Hibulb, was examined. Dean learned how the war canoe, in derelict condition, was discovered during an examination to be a product of three canoes merged together, instead of one carving, making the preservation of the canoe difficult. With the help of highly-regarded Maori artist George Nuku, the canoe was restored using acrylic material to fashion a new sternpost, blending traditional materials with contemporary elements to safely preserve the canoe for display.
“We were already thinking about our conference and immediately I thought, ‘this is it! This is exactly what I have been thinking about. This idea of incorporating traditional carvers into the care of the collections.’ Not that I am suggesting that we are going to make lots of plexiglas poles, but it is this idea of working with artists who are very much a part of the community,” said Dean.
The two-day conference will feature a non-traditional conference format featuring informal presentations regarding the care of past, present, and future cultural
Photo courtesy/ Hibulb Cultural Center and Natural History Preserve
items.
“I thought it was a great opportunity to have a conference where we could actually sit down and really talk about this, and while this isn’t the first time that a meeting has been held about this topic, it is the first time, that I am aware of, that it has been hosted by a tribal community and held on tribal lands,” said Dean.
“We will have little sessions where presenters will be giving 15 minute talks, so they are very short and to the point,” continued Dean. “I have asked the presenters to prepare their presentations to spark thought and discussion. We will have four or five of these 15-minute talks, then we take a coffee break and for at least an hour and half there is no program. It will be open discussion. It is a chance for the folks attending to ask questions of the presenters and the carvers. This is a bit of a risk, because it is not a conventional way of doing a conference, but I think it is more in keeping with how things are done in communities such as this one.”
Presenters will include George Nuku, Maori artist, Graeme Scott from the Glasgow Museums in Scotland, Richard Feldman from the Eiteligorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Costantino Nicolizas from the Ecole Des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in France, Kelly McHugh from the National Museum of the American Indian, Tessa Campbell from the Hibulb Cultural Center, and Sven Haakanson from the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, and many others.
Following the two-day conference Hibulb Cultural Center will host a three-day workshop featuring Michael Harrington, Felix Solomon, and Andrew Todd on caring for totem poles held on July 23 – 25, at the Hibulb Cultural Center and Natural History Preserve.
Registration is open until the day of conference, and limited space available for the workshop. Registration fee for the conference is $350 with a discount fee of $250 for students, and the workshop fee is $350. Both events include breakfast and lunch. A special event featuring keynote speakers, Charles Stable and George Nuku, will be held on the evening of July 21, at the Hibulb Cultural Center free of cost and open to the public.
“This isn’t just about the conservation and preservation of old poles, posts, and canoes, which we have here in collections, it is also about the preservation of the tradition of carving these things, and how those two areas of interest intersect. How the collections here can be of help to contemporary carvers, and how the methods and materials in the knowledge of contemporary carvers can actually be of use to conservators.”
For more information on registration for the symposium or the workshop, please visit the Hibulb Cultural Center’s website at www.hibulbculturalcenter.org.
Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com
An inspirational video featuring Native American youth from this year’s Leadership Development Camp shows viewers who the youth are and who they are not—mascots, savages, alcoholics, drug addicts.
A black and white silent portion of the video has students each holding up a sign saying what they are not, like “I am not a mascot,” and “I am not a savage.” The students are then seen in color and explaining what they are—beautiful, a basketball player, a dreamer, a leader, the next cultural generation.
“We’re proud of our culture and never will ever hide it,” one of the students in the video says.
The Leadership Development Camp is designed for youth ages 13 to 17 from the Coeur d’Alene Reservation. Its goal is to develop leadership skills, resiliency, and strengthen academic skills.
The camp brings the students to the Washington State University Pullman campus for a week-long stay.
“Through participation in team building and sports activities and culturally responsive specialized academic seminars, this one-week residential camp offers students a chance to develop new skills, experience college life, and reflect upon and prepare to meet their goals for the future,” says information with the video.
Selena and Mark Chino are featured in the “A Thousand Voices” documentary for their involvement with domestic violence victims and their encouragement of the empowerment of Native American women. (Courtesy)
A former Mescalero Apache president and a first lady of the tribe will be featured in a documentary.”A Thousand Voices,” filmed by Silver Bullet Productions.
Sandra Platero served as president after the resignation of Fred Chino and before the election of current Mescalero President Danny Breuninger. Previously, she served as vice president and on the tribal council. Attempts to reach Platero for an interview were unsuccessful.
Selena Chino is the wife of Mark Chino, who served as Mescalero president three times. She was a victims’ advocate and tribal liaison with the Nest, Lincoln County’s only domestic violence shelter, and she served as a state tourism commissioner.
Selena and Mark attended a rough cut screening of the documentary on June 5, and the film is slated for a final version screening July 21, free at Buffalo Thunder (Resort and Casino) in Santa Fe. Check the Silver Bullet website for the time. Silver Bullet films also usually screen at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. and air on the Public Broadcasting System, a company spokesman said.
“I’m extremely proud of Selena,” Mark said. “She and her efforts to help domestic violence victims came to Pamela Pierce’s attention in mid-2013, and Selena was asked to appear in the film. She was recognized purely through her own efforts, as I already had left office.”
Pierce is chief executive officer of Silver Bullet Productions, a nonprofit founded in 2004, and based in Santa Fe. The organization with staff and volunteers stages cultural workshops with the aim of empowering Native American youths by raising their educational aspirations and by cultivating young filmmakers. The organization has produced 31 projects with the help of sponsors and recently received the Yawa’ Award for special projects, given to nonprofits that put actions to their words. The company’s “Canes of Power” also won four regional Emmys.
Silver Bullet was formed because of concerns by members of Native American groups over the loss of language, cultural and community, according to Pierce.
“A Thousand Voices” is the story of the inherent power of tribal women in New Mexico, and was filmed partly through funding with the San Manuel Board of Mission Indians. Besides the screenings and possible PBS airing, the film will be presented to students, who will participate in writing the curriculum and discussion guide that will accompany the documentary, following a pattern for all of Silver Bullet’s films, Pierce wrote in a memorandum to participants before the rough cut was screened.
“The production of this film has been a wonderful journey,” Pierce wrote. “Each of our participants has been revealing in ways that educate and shatter stereotypes.”
“A Thousand Voices” looks at the traditional roles of tribal women and poses the questions of how stereotypes from the media and literature altered the reality of tribal women, what are the universal lessons to be learned from the traditional values and the current status of Native American woman; and what are the threats to native communities, if women do not continue to play their crucial roles?
Selection process
As a domestic violence survivor and victims’ advocate, former first lady of the Mescalero, a state tourism commissioner, a store manager, and since May, a front desk manager and concierge for the tribe’s Inn of the Mountain Gods, Selena Chino was a natural choice for inclusion in “A Thousand Voices.”
A panel of tribal advisors from a variety of tribes, and representatives from Silver Bullet looked at the candidates.
“You can be a wonderful person, but you may not always come off as being able to state what your beliefs are and have the courage to state them,” Pierce said. “It’s not enough to stand for something, you have to be able to say it in a way that other men and women can relate to you. That certainly was true for Selena, Mark and Sandra.”
“The theme of the film is about the inherent strength of tribal woman and how that strength diminished or changed because of the white invasion from Spain, Mexico and the United States, and then return again to the strength of women that goes back to the beginning of time, and still is there despite the challenges,” Pierce said during a telephone interview Wednesday. “That strength is there in our modern current New Mexico tribal women. The reason Selena and her husband were selected was because they represent that strength. Selena represents it in two ways. She is married to a previous president of an Apache tribe and that takes strength to be married to a leader, no matter what your gender, and to be involved in a political family. And also because of her commitment to empowering women who have been victims of domestic violence. It was important to include that voice, not just from women. Selena and Mark together represent a belief in the hope for tribal women to survive domestic violence. It was obvious from the first time I spoke with her that she was somebody I really felt would enhance the message of the film.”
For Sandra Platero, “It was the strength of being a woman leader among other tribes that do not have women leaders,” Pierce said. “She certainly was a spokesperson for her language and her leadership.
“I think both women and their families deserve praise. It takes a lot of courage and determination and they showed that.”
Selena Chino
“I received a phone call in September from Pamela Pierce with Silver Bullet,” Selena said. “She mentioned there was a big meeting and they were kicking around who they would want to interview. She didn’t say who suggested my name. I had to go up to Santa Fe anyway during the Indian Market, We arranged time to talk. She came to Buffalo Thunder and we sat down. Thee project focuses on Indian women of power and how they have juggled their involvement with government, plus tribal culture and being a mother, how they keep culture and traditions alive while still doing all these empowerment things.”
Initially Pierce was looking for ideas for the project, Selena said.
“I mentioned that from 2008 to 2010, I worked as outreach coordinator at The Nest,” Selena said. “I was an advocate on Wednesdays, and that’s where my domestic violence and sexual assault training came from, helping residents. Then I became liaison between the tribe and Nest. (Pierce) began focusing, because I mentioned that domestic violence is the number one killer of Native American women nationwide. We started talking about that. She said she would really like to interview me. About that time Mark walked by and I introduced them, and she dragged him in. He was involved with the Nest too, being the president and volunteering. He spoke about how his view had changed from (his years in) law enforcement and what he learned from me being involved with the Nest. She wanted to interview him too.”
After seeing the raw cut of the film earlier this month, “It blows our minds to be involved with something like this, to be on PBS, in schools with workbooks,” Selena said.
Although the couple no longer has a daily involvement with the Nest, Selena said it is part of their lives.
“I still help as much as I can,” she said. “I still have people calling my cell phone just because they need help. I have people who stop me and ask questions, because they know me. So I still help out people even though I am not directly involved with the Nest anymore. People know I’m here (at the Inn) and ask how did you do this facing this situation and who can I call and who can I talk to.”
Selena can empathize with those exposed to domestic violence, because she dealt with the behavior in her first marriage.
“My life is very complicated story,” she said. “My mother went to school at Pasadena City College. She was not raised on the reservation, because of a program of relocation of kids on the Hopi reservation. There was a grant in the 1950s that helped send a student to a family, who helped support them and put them through college while they took care of their kids and helped around the house. That’s how she ended up in Pasadena. She also was a runner up for queen in the Rose Bowl Parade. She would have been first Native American queen had she won. She always encouraged me to go further, not to stay on the reservation, to get involved in a lot of interests.”
Selena’s father died in 2002 and her mother in 2006. “She was very beautiful inside and out,” Selena said of her mother. “She met my father when her family lived in Winslow, Ariz. He was the boy next door and the parents were friends, They were college sweethearts, They got married, then they got divorced, they remarried and divorced again. And at very end were living together, because they got along better when they were not married. I was her maid of honor the second time. We lived in Grants at that time. I wasn’t raised on the reservation. I moved back here in 1978.”
Selena said she was married for five years to a “very abusive man,” and went through the experience of having her self esteem and confidence constantly assaulted, then pulling herself up and moving forward. “It’s been a long road,” she said. “I’ve been where they’ve been at the Nest.
“Then I met Mark, who is very patient, thank God, because I have all this baggage with me. But with confidence from him and his support, I know what a healthy relationship is with him. It’s loving, it’s supportive. Everything that he’s given me.”
The couple celebrated their 20th anniversary on April 30, which Selena said, “Is an accomplishment right there. We’re totally opposite. He’s so quiet and reserved. On the other side, I talk to everybody, have conversations with people I don’t even know.”
While Mark was in office, Selena often accompanied him on trips, including the nation’s capitol, developing personal relationships with dignitaries and elected officials such as (New Mexico former attorney general) Patricia Madrid, Gov. Susana Martinez and Secretary of State Dianna Duran.
“As a former tourism commissioner, former first lady, the facets of my life are so complicated,” Selena said. “I don’t think I’m really involved in a lot of stuff. I do it, because I enjoy it. I just do it to help people, not add things to my resume.”
Those interviewed for the film were Georgene Louis, Acoma attorney and state legislator; Richard Luarkie and family, Laguna governor; Lela Kaskalla, past governor of Nambe; Sandra Platero and husband Paul; Selena Chino and husband Mark; Christy Bird, 16-year-old singer from Santa Domingo, who performed on a commercial for the Super Bowl; Rose B. Simpson, Santa Clara artist; Patricia Michaels, award winning designer on Project Runway from Taos Pueblo; Veronica Tiller, Jicarilla Apache historian and author; Navajo woman weavers from Two Grey Hills and Toadlena Trading Post; Luci Tapahonso, Navajo poet lureate; Matthew Martinez, historian and grandson of Esther Martinez of Ohkay Owingeh; and Liana Sanchez and family, owner of Avanyu LLC Construction company, San Ildefonso.
A Protest sign hangs from a building in the town of Kitimat, British Columbia, April 12, 2014. Residents of the town voted against the Northern Gateway pipeline project in a blow to Enbridge Inc’s efforts to expedite the flow of crude from Canada’s landlocked oil sands to high-paying markets in Asia. Photo taken April 12, 2014.
The federal government’s decision to go ahead with the Northern Gateway pipeline brought chiefs and elders to tears when news reached them at a scientific conference on ocean health in the Great Bear Rainforest.
Shaking with anger, their voices trembling with emotion, native leaders brought the conference to a standstill Tuesday as they spoke of their dismay over the decision – and of their commitment to fight to stop the project from ever getting built.
“Pretty shocking … it’s a tough, tough piece of news,” said Wigvilhba Wakas, a hereditary chief of the Heiltsuk Nation.
“We see this all over the world, where corporate interests are overriding the interests of the people,” said Guujaaw, past president of the Council of Haida Nation and one of the top political leaders among native people in B.C.
“It’s way out of control and it’s probably going to take decisions like this for people to stand up [together]. I think this is a test of humanity now to stand up and fight back,” he said.
Wickaninish, former president of the Nuu-Chah-nulth Tribal Coucil, said the federal government had made “an ominous decision” that he hoped would unite native and non-native people in a common cause, as the battle over Clayoquot Sound did in his traditional territory on Vancouver Island, where mass arrests stopped logging near Tofino.
“This is not just an Indian fight … it’s all the people,” he said.
Wahmeesh, vice-President of the Nuu-Chah-nulth, said he felt an emotional blow when he heard the decision, which spread around the conference as participants read the news bulletins on their smartphones.
“My heart kind of sank, like I’d lost somebody. Like a death in the family,” he said.
Wahmeesh said he was going to return to the Nuu-Chah-nulth, a large collection of 14 tribes on the west coast of Vancouver Island, for an urgent meeting on the pipeline project. And he promised that the chiefs would be united in pledging support to those tribes along the pipeline route across Northern B.C.
“This is probably the biggest decision this government will ever make in my lifetime [affecting First Nations],” he said, struggling to find a way to describe the magnitude of the decision.
Wahmeesh echoed those who urged a coalition between native and non-native people to fight the pipeline.
“We’ll stand together as Canadians,” he said.
Margaret Edgars, an elder from the Haida Nation, was in tears as she spoke to the gathering of scientists and native leaders from Alaska, B.C., Washington, Oregon and California who had gathered for a conference to discuss the resurgence of sea otters on the West Coast.
“I was hurt a bit when I heard it,” she said of the news of Ottawa’s support for the project. “But with everyone speaking out about it here I’m feeling a little stronger. … I think we’ve had enough of what they’re doing. It’s time to stand together united. … We have to continue with the fight.”
After Alaskan delegates had reminded the gathering of the long, enduring impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, Ms. Edgars said tankers pose too great a risk to coastal B.C.
Infrastructure easements, land leasing efficiency, and market improvements part of package to strengthen Tribal self-determination and create jobs
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior
WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of President Obama’s commitment to support tribal self-governance and self-determination, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell today announced a package of regulatory initiatives intended to help tribal leaders spur investment opportunities and economic development in Indian Country.
Highlighted by the President during his historic visit to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe last week, the Department’s actions will help remove regulatory barriers to infrastructure and energy development in Indian Country; increase tribal community access to expanded, high-speed Internet resources via broadband; eliminate leasing impediments to land development; and support the growth of new markets for Native American and Alaska Native businesses.
“Over the 14 months on the job, I’ve had the great privilege of visiting just as many tribal reservations,” said Secretary Jewell, who chairs the White House Council on Native American Affairs. “Last week, on the heels of the President’s visit to Indian Country, I joined Standing Rock Sioux Tribal Chairman David Archambault on a tour of his tribal lands. As Secretary, I have seen first-hand both economic success stories and the dramatic challenges tribes still face to generate employment and develop infrastructure within Indian Country.”
Jewell further said, “While some tribes are experiencing economic progress in recent years, many others continue to face formidable economic hardship. Providing greater deference to tribes under the principles of self-determination and improving our federal regulations to meet the needs of the 21st century means we can help remove some of these barriers to economic development on tribal lands and lay a solid foundation for economic development as well as improve the quality of life for American Indians and Alaska Natives in their homelands.”
The package of Interior regulatory initiatives includes:
Facilitating Indian Country Infrastructure Development
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is proposing new regulations for issuing “right-of-way” approvals on Indian land for all purposes. The rule would modernize and streamline the process for obtaining BIA approval for infrastructure development, providing tribal leaders, private companies, utility firms and energy developers greater certainty when designing or implementing infrastructure, including expanded Internet capacity through broadband access, transmission lines, and water, road and energy projects.
The new regulations propose strict timelines for BIA approval of all requests; eliminate the need for BIA approval of pre-development surveys, and limit the situations in which BIA may disapprove a right-of-way, all in an effort to provide faster approvals of right-of-way applications, facilitating economic development and greater deference to tribal priorities.
Removing Barriers to Land Development through Increased Tribal Self-governance
The BIA will conduct a series of training sessions to help tribal leaders implement the Helping Expedite & Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership (HEARTH) Act. When a tribal business needs to build a factory or a family wants to purchase a new home on a reservation, the lease generally requires BIA approval. Since 2012, however, the HEARTH Act provides tribes the opportunity to establish and enforce their own land leasing regulations in order to expedite the process for long-term leasing of tribal trust lands for residential, business, renewable energy and other purposes. Twenty-one tribes have submitted proposals to assume leasing responsibilities, and 12 have already received approvals for their regulations. The new BIA training supports tribal self-governance by helping to increase the number of tribes able to control leases on their land without BIA approval. This builds on Interior’s progress in strengthening tribal control over tribal resources.
Supporting the Growth of New Markets for Native American and Alaska Native Small Businesses
Interior’s Indian Affairs bureaus and offices will increase federal procurement opportunities by issuing a new directive improving implementation of the Buy Indian Act and increasing Indian Affairs’ procurement purchases from Native American-owned small businesses by 10 percent. The Buy Indian Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to set aside certain qualifying acquisitions for American Indian-and Alaska Native-owned and controlled small businesses. These purchasing contracts issued by Indian Affairs offices and the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Indian Education will help increase economic activity and provide greater employment opportunities in Indian Country.
“Underlying these initiatives is the Administration’s firm belief that tribal leaders must have a seat at the table,” said Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs Kevin Washburn. “These initiatives we are announcing are part of a coordinated federal effort outlined by the President that builds on the significant progress this Administration has made in partnering with tribes on a nation-to-nation basis to promote prosperous and resilient communities.”
WASHINGTON — Chelsea Barnes, 20, is a Native American working on Capitol Hill this summer for a government that doesn’t recognize her heritage.
Barnes’ boss, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., was among those who voted against her tribe’s federal recognition. Ten years after the bill failed, Cole, a member of the federally recognized Chickasaw Nation, came face-to-face with his decision.
A member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Barnes began her summer job in Cole’s office on June 3 as part of the 2014 Native American Congressional Internship. Run by the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation, the 10-week program is designed to teach indigenous students about the federal government.
“I just see it as an opportunity to represent my tribe in the office,” said Barnes, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Sometimes you don’t have to say anything. Just being there helps.”
Cole is one of seven members of Congress with interns from Barnes’ program this summer.
Chelsea Barnes, 20, a member of the Lumbee Tribe and a senior at the University of North Carolina, studies Political Science and Communications and is interning with Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma. Cole is a member of the Chickasaw Tribe. ANDRE CHUNG — MCT
Two out of the 12 students in this program are from a tribe seeking federal recognition. Both are Lumbee. Joined by Anthony “AC” Locklear, a first-year student at UNC School of Law, Barnes’ arrival on Capitol Hill falls weeks after the Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs proposed a revision to the 35-year-old federal recognition process for tribes. It’s intended to make the process more transparent and efficient.
If the Lumbee Tribe were to receive federal recognition through the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Cole said, his opinion could be different. That’s “the best way to go,” he said. “If they went through that process and signed off on (federal recognition) I wouldn’t have a problem with it.”
Locklear, who is interning with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, said the revised system could be a step toward this status for his tribe, which has petitioned for federal recognition since 1987. The prospect instills in him a newfound sense of hope, he said.
“I feel like it’s good timing that Chelsea and I are here in D.C., ‘infiltrating the system,’” Locklear said with a chuckle.
Although both Locklear and Barnes said they do not plan to fight for federal recognition this summer, “just being a face helps a great deal,” he said.
Cole’s resistance to granting the Lumbee Tribe federal recognition through Congress is not unique. When legislation for the tribe’s federal recognition came before Congress in 1989, the measure failed to pass both chambers. Yet Cole’s opportunity to meet with a member of the tribe is distinct, Locklear said.
“A lot of (lawmakers) have never met Lumbees and if they have, it’s only in the political arena,” Locklear said. “Being able to put such an innocent face, in Chelsea, behind our tribe will hopefully help them not be so opposed when they see Lumbee students who are really doing work for the other tribes as well.”
Such interactions between indigenous students and politicians elucidate the purpose of the internship, said Jane Curlin, director of Education Programs for the Udall Foundation.
She said an intern from the program could be “the first American Indian” someone in Washington has ever met. “Raising the visibility of how wonderful these native students are _ how accomplished they are and how much they have to offer _ I think is really important in Washington, D.C.,” Curlin said.
Over the course the program, all 12 interns _ each of whom works in separate offices across the three branches of government _ will periodically come
Anthony Locklear, 22, a member of the Lumbee Tribe, is a 2nd year law student at the University of North Carolina and is interning this summer at the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Interior Indian Affairs. ANDRE CHUNG — MCT
together to meet with senators and tribal leaders. Cole, who took an intern from this program for the first time this year, said he hopes the experience will enrich the diversity on Capitol Hill.
“I think too many other tribes have not taken the opportunity to directly impact the federal government,” he said. “They need to be actively engaged. Hopefully a lot of them will think about running for office themselves. I’d like other tribes to have that kind of opportunity to understand they can, indeed, shape the process.”
The interns’ first so-called “enrichment program” was a June 4 meeting with Sens. Mark and Tom Udall, of Colorado and New Mexico, respectively. Both are sons of the namesakes of the Udall Foundation, a congressionally established group that promotes programs for the environment and about Native Americans.
Morris Udall, Mark Udall’s father, and Stewart Udall, Tom Udall’s father, were ardent environmentalists who both served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Stewart Udall also served as secretary of the interior under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Their sons have been proponents of various Native American communities while in Congress.
“It’s nice to see that we’re carrying on that legacy as well as they are,” Locklear said.
TULALIP- Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds is a research program focusing on Native American cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes patients residing on the Tulalip Reservation, or within 20 miles of the reservation. Their goal is to lower stress levels in patients resulting from CVD and diabetes management.
The program is taught through weekly sessions over a 3-month period, and is individually focused. Participants are required to have a medical diagnosis of CVD, diabetes, or pre-diabetes. Culturally sensitive curriculum features coping skills and self-care techniques based on diagnosis requirements.
“Research found that Natives have this problem with CVD and diabetes. They are at a really high risk for getting these disorders. The idea is to try to find out what it is that is making them more at risk and to find an intervention,” said June LaMarr, program’s community principle investigator.
While the program does not treat diabetes patients as the Tulalip Diabetes Program offered at the Tulalip Karen I. Fryberg Health Clinic does, the project coordinator Michelle Tiedeman explains collaboration between the two programs ensures all healthcare concerns are addressed in patients.
“Their program focuses on the diabetes portion, we are addressing those symptoms of stress resulting from diabetes self-care management. The idea is we are hoping to lower those levels in order to increase those diabetes self-care behaviors that are needed to maintain glucose levels,” said Tiedeman.
In each session participants can expect help identifying stress triggers and develop tools to reach goals relating to diabetes care. Participants are requested to complete a base-line assessment, which includes a fasting blood draw, brief physical assessment, and a survey questionnaire, before starting their first session.
There is no cost to participate in the program, but participants are provided a small incentive for participating and can earn up to $190 in gift cards and checks.
“We are looking for people who are experiencing some type of stress in managing those diabetes self-care behaviors. We are trying to help them learn ways to feel less overwhelmed by everything they are asked to do, and help them basically fall into a healthy routine with their diabetes,” said Tiedeman. “We don’t want people to think they can’t participate in both diabetes programs, we want ours to be viewed as an additional service. Because it is a research project, we are hoping that the program is found effective, so we can look to the future and maybe offer something more sustainable in the community.”
Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds is funded by the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. For more information in participating in the program or the program itself, please contact 360-716-4896 or email healthyhearts@iwri.org.
Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com
Source: Oneida Nation Homelands (NY) (PRWEB) June 10, 2014
During halftime of tonight’s NBA Championship game, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation is airing a segment from the powerful TV ad called “Proud to Be,” which was produced by the National Congress of American Indians. The ad celebrates Native American culture and underscores their opposition to the use of the dictionary-defined R-word slur.
At halftime of tonight’s Game 3 of the NBA Championship, the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation will air in seven major T.V. markets a 60-second version of the National Congress of American Indians’ Proud To Be ad, which celebrates Native American culture and opposes the racist name of Washington, D.C.’s NFL team. This is the first time the ad has aired on television, and it is being run in order to educate the general public about Native American opposition to the R-word. The ad is airing in Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Sacramento, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. after airing in Miami during halftime of Game 2 on Sunday night.*
The advertisement highlights the defining and distinguished characteristics, names and legacies of many Native American tribes throughout the United States. But as the video clearly states, there is one denigrating term which Native peoples never use to describe themselves: R*dskin.
As Chairman Marshall McKay of Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation underscored in a message posted to YouTube: “The R-word is as derogatory a slur as the N-word. When this name first came to be, it was a vehicle for people to bring the victims of violence into an office so they could collect a bounty. I think the Change the Mascot campaign will shed some well-deserved light on the trauma and the disadvantaged people on reservations and throughout the country that are Native American that really haven’t had this opportunity to talk about the pain and the anguish that this kind of racism puts us through.”
James Kinter, Tribal Secretary of Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation also stated in the video: “The Change the Mascot movement is larger than Yocha Dehe or any one tribe. It’s about all tribal people and non-tribal people raising their voices in protest.”
In a joint statement, NCAI Executive Director Jackie Pata and Oneida Indian Nation Representative Ray Halbritter said: “We applaud the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation for having the vision and commitment to ensure that the American public receives the message loud and clear that Native Americans strongly oppose the use of this disparaging slur. Contrary to the team’s absurd claims, this dictionary-defined racial epithet does not honor our heritage. The Change the Mascot campaign continues to gather strength every time that people are educated about the origin of the R-word and its damaging impact on Native peoples. By airing this ad during the NBA Championships, the message will be brought into the living rooms of millions of American all across the country.”
The moral and civil rights issue of the team’s unapologetic use of a dictionary-defined slur has come to the forefront of American consciousness more than ever in recent weeks. Half of the U.S. Senate recently signed a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell urging a change for the D.C. team’s mascot. Shortly thereafter, 77 leading Native American, civil rights and religious organizations representing millions of Americans wrote to every player in the league asking them to stand up against the team’s use of a racial epithet as a mascot.
*Anti-Redskins ad to air during NBA Finals, 6.10.14, washingtonpost.com/local/anti-redskins-ad-to-air-during-nba-finals/2014/06/10/9808a964-f058-11e3-bf76-447a5df6411f_story.html.
