Native Americans Archives - Page 14 of 22

Native Americans React to Christina Fallin’s Fake War Dance Performance

Source: Indian Country Today Media Network

NORMAN, Oklahoma – Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry, a group of Native parents and their allies from across the country were alerted to Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin’s daughter, Christina Fallin’s latest gaff when her band Pink Pony announced via Facebook “I heard Pink Pony was wearing full regalia tonight.” Protestors led by Choctaw musician Samantha Crain staged a protest at the Norman Music Festival in Oklahoma, as Native Americans were outraged on social media when Fallin wore a Native American-style fringed shawl with the word “Sheep” on the back and performed a fake war dance while her boyfriend Steven Battles ridiculed the protesters and flipped them off from the stage.

Earlier that day, Crain said on her Facebook page, “Publicity stunt or not, even if they are lying, their attitudes, their insincerity, their irresponsibility, their general lack of caring about anything other than the advancement of themselves deserve a protest. So I will be at the Pink Pony show at NMF tonight. Midnight. black watch stage. Peacefully and quietly picketing with signs to tell them how I feel.”

Some of the signs said: “culture is not a costume”; “with all your power, what will you do?”; “you still owe us an apology”; “don’t trend on me”; “I am not a costume” and “please forgive us if we innocently oppose you.” The last sign was a take on Fallin’s non-apology after she posted a photo of herself misappropriating Native America regalia reserved for highly honored leaders for a glamour shot to promote her career. Faced with more Native American protests Fallin attempted to have Crain and supporters removed by security, but they were allowed to remain on private land adjacent to the stage.

According to a tweet by Chahta Summer, a Choctaw mother, and recent law school graduate Fallin’s shawl with “sheep” written on the back was

a direct swipe at Native Americans. “Their supporters were calling us sheep the last time, saying we called her out to be PC, not thinking for ourselves,” Summer said.

Cherokee EONM member and blogger Jennie Stockley posted to Pink Pony’s Facebook page, “Apathy towards the clear feelings of other people is cruelty. Her apathy based to Native culture is racist. No opaqueness in this issue. It is clear. We will not stand silent while she degrades honored and sacred symbols.”

The Fallin family has faced controversy with the Native American community both in Oklahoma and nationally last year when Governor Mary Fallin helped facilitate the forced adoption of a Cherokee girl, Veronica Brown, from her Cherokee family who were found to be fit parents by the courts 1,000 miles away to a white South Carolina couple who had used questionable adoption practices to dodge the Indian Child Welfare Act. That act seeks to protect Native American tribes from mass removal of their children; a potential violation of the Geneva Conventions on Genocide. Oklahoma has one of the largest Native American populations in the country and has 38 federally recognized tribes.

EONM asked the Riverwind Casino, Blackwatch Studios and Christina Fallin and Governor Mary Fallin to apologize for this direct attack affront to Native American concerns regarding the misuse of Native culture and purposeful insult to Native Americans in general.

Keystone XL and Protecting Mother Earth: A Fight All Native People Should Fight

pepionledgerart.com'Winona LaDuke &Faith Spotted Eagle Make a Stand (detail)' by John Isaiah Pepion, 2014 — pepionledgerart.com
‘Winona LaDuke &Faith Spotted Eagle Make a Stand (detail)’ by John Isaiah Pepion, 2014

Gyasi Ross, Indian Country Today Media Network

You ask me to plow the ground. Shall I take a knife and tear my mother’s bosom? Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest.
You ask me to dig for stones! Shall I dig under her skin for bones? Then when I die I cannot enter her body to be born again…

–Wovoka

Power is in the earth; it is in your relationship to the earth.

–Winona LaDuke

The Earth will be fine.

Humans are such an arrogant bunch—“We’re killing the Earth. We’re destroying the Earth.” No you’re not. Shut up. We can’t do that.

Some folks have a God complex.

The Earth is our Mother—she ain’t going no place. In fact, Earth is an Indian mom; powerful, resilient, beautiful and will survive the very worst that the universe can give. Sure, she had it rough early on, but she’s got that elasticity in her skin. “Ancient Native Secret”—those damn brown skinned Natives, they age so well. But like many Indian moms, Mother Earth hasn’t always been appreciated right; she’s been knocked around a little bit. Quite a bit. Domestic violence is prevalent within our communities. And like a lot of Native moms, folks won’t understand her TRUE beauty, until it’s too late, until that moment when they realize that they won’t get a chance to see her anymore.

But it won’t be because she’s gone. She’ll be fine—she ain’t going no place. It’s us human beings that are in trouble. Our children. Our grandchildren. We’re effing up THEIR prospects.

I’m thankful for all of the people—Native AND non-Native—who have been diligently working to stifle and defeat the Keystone XL pipeline. I’m proud to see Natives who understand that our biggest battles aren’t in blogs and classrooms, but in our homelands—those homelands are the very ESSENCE of being Indigenous (as opposed to simply being legally “Indian”). We must protect those homelands at all costs—thank you, warriors, brothers, sisters, aunties, uncles—for fighting for all of us. Thank you for being there and taking a stand.

Thank you Dallas Goldtooth for looking all handsome and shit and speaking eloquently and moving your eyebrows powerfully.

‘Winona LaDuke &Faith Spotted Eagle Make a Stand’ by John Isaiah Pepion, 2014, pepionledgerart.com

Thank you beautiful and brilliant Aunties Faith Spotted Eagle and Winona LaDuke for CONTINUING to be the voices of reason within Indian Country. It’s sad and ironic—these brilliant sisters who are calling for the most reasonable solution to the current crisis in our homelands—are called “radicals.”

Orwellian. Doublespeak.

You are powerful women. Our lifegivers. Our life sustainers.

There are many more. Thank you to the artists who are taking a stand and giving support to the folks on the ground. For example, John Isaiah Pepion, Blackfeet Ledger Artist, was compelled to action on these fracking and drilling issues when the Blackfeet Tribal Business Council passed a resolution approving the drilling of one of the Blackfeet Holy Sites—Chief Mountain. Pepion said, “It broke my heart—we as a Blackfeet nation—have had oil development for over 100 years and it’s never benefited us. We just get ripped off and it causes a lot of damage to our waters. Illegal dumping from these fracking sites…”

Thank you. Let’s keep up the pressure. Keep supporting our warriors.

Our artists have also joined us. This resistance isn’t new—many Native people have been fighting it for many, many years. In fact, these many brothers and sisters who have taken on this fight on behalf of Mother Earth are fighting the EXACT SAME fight for our precious homelands that we’ve been fighting since Europeans first landed on these shores. We are simply small cogs in this multi-century fight; now, it has ZERO to do with skin color or race. We now have some white allies—the descendants of those who fought against our Native ancestors. We also have some Native adversaries—many of our people are just as prone to scorch the Earth for filthy lucre. There are many Natives who are bought and paid for and whose homelands are suffering from this damage to Mother Earth.

‘Holding On (Oil On Chief Mountain)’ by John Isaiah Pepion, 2014, pepionledgerart.com

It’s complex.

This is a call to action. Right now, the State Department has THANKFULLY delayed approval or rejection of the Keystone XL Pipeline again. That’s positive—that means that all of the actions of Dallas and Faith and Winona and the Niimiipu Tribe and Cheyenne River, Oglala Lakota, Honor the Earth, Owe Aku, and Protect the Sacred and John Pepion and MANY MANY others are paying off. There are literally tipis on the National Mall right now full of Native people taking a stand against the Keystone XL. Thank you. You’re making a mark. We have to make a mark—this is about the very essence of Indigenous life—our mother. Our land.

It’s not enough. We have to continue to work, sign petitions, put pressure on, make coalitions. Small steps—John Isaiah Pepion is committing a percentage of all earnings from his ledger art prints above to help this fight by directing it to Honor the Earth and Stronghold Society. Buy a print. They’re beautiful and powerful.

Small steps. Put one foot in front of the other. This is Native power. This is a fight worth fighting and worth winning. For our kids’ sakes.

Get involved. Call your legislator. Encourage NIGA, NCAI and every other Native organization to take a strong stand on this IMMEDIATELY—economic development is cool and important, and it’s good that we’ve worked on those fights. We also, however, have to make sure that we’re protecting our traditional ways of life and being. Our nations absolutely gotta have money, true, but these kinda fights are the very things that make us Indigenous and what we gotta have money FOR! Show these grassroots warriors your support. This fight ain’t over and we really REALLY could win this. The Earth will be fine, but our kids need this. Happy Earth Day.

pepionledgerart.com

honorearth.org

facebook.com/BraveHeartSociety

Gyasi Ross
Blackfeet Nation/Suquamish Territories
Dad/Author/Attorney
New Book, How to Say I Love You in Indian—order today!!
www.cutbankcreekpress.com
Twitter: @BigIndianGyasi

Ute Tribe, U. of U. reach new agreement over name

By Lya Wodraska and Matthew Piper, The Salt Lake Tribune

The University of Utah has reached a new agreement over its continued use of the Ute name and drum and feather logo for athletics teams, a university source tells The Tribune.

A memorandum of understanding that outlines collaborative efforts to encourage more Ute students to attend the school is expected to be signed by U. President David Pershing and Ute Indian Tribe Business Committee chairman Gordon Howell 11 a.m. Tuesday in Fort Duchesne. The university will not pay to use the name.

The Ute Tribal Business Committee sent a letter to the University of Utah late last year, requesting a meeting with the school. Attached to the letter was a resolution stating support for the school’s use of the Ute name and drum and feather logo, but also hopes to negotiate tuition waivers instead of scholarships for Ute Indian Tribe students.

The resolution further called for the creation of a special adviser to Pershing on American Indian Affairs, and to appoint a member of the Ute Indian Tribe in this role.

The current memorandum of understanding was established in 2005. U. Vice President Fred Esplin told The Tribune in November that the school and the tribe had been involved in ongoing discussions about the 2005 agreement, which was not immediately available to The Tribune late Monday.

Tuesday’s scheduled signing comes amid objections from within the U.’s own ranks over the school’s handling of diversity. Last week, assistant vice president for student equity and diversity Enrique Alemán resigned in part, he said, because he was accused of leaking the letter the U. received from the Ute Tribe.

Days earlier, chief diversity officer Octavio Villalpando resigned. Alemán said he was told Villalpando was being investigated for human resources issues.

A U. student group in December petitioned the school to drop ties with the tribe altogether, rather than continue to react to evolving notions of political correctness.

Even if handled delicately by the U., the teams’ association with American Indians leads to a problem of “education,” said Samantha Eldridge, a leader of the initiative and now a liaison for Native American Outreach in the National Education Association in Washington, D.C. Fans of the team must be told it is inappropriate to wear mock headdresses or paint their faces red at games.

“We are always going to get a negative, stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans,” Eldridge said Monday night. “We’re always going to get a new cohort of students attending the university who we are going to continually have to educate on what is appropriate and inappropriate behavior.”

S’Klallam Tribe Unveils Skatepark Made Possible by Sheckler Foundation’s Be the Change Initiative

Source: Master Plan Communications, Inc.

SEATTLE, WA–(Marketwired – Apr 14, 2014) – Yesterday the S’Klallam Tribe in Washington State, joined by pro skateboarders Ryan Sheckler and David Reyes, unveiled their new skatepark with a ceremony and tribal feast for hundreds of Native Americans. This is the first skatepark on the reservation, and it was made possible by the Sheckler Foundation’s first-ever “Be the Change” project. The youth of the S’Klallam Tribe submitted their cause for a new skatepark and received the most votes for their plans to build a much-needed skatepark and basketball court in their community. See the festivities of this historic event for yourself on video here: http://youtu.be/o_UnBYiOaj0

The demo by Ryan Sheckler (pictured above) and David Reyes was a highlight of the event.

Pro Skateboarder and Founder of the Sheckler Foundation, Ryan Sheckler says, “I am so blessed and stoked to skate alongside these kids and to be here for the grand opening of the skatepark. It’s unreal and rewarding to see how the community came together to ‘Be the Change’ and create a skatepark for the kids of the tribe.”

Left to right: The Sheckler Foundation’s Angelique Zaki, Kaitlyn from the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, Ryan Sheckler and Sheckler Foundation CEO Gretchen Sheckler-Hachee.

The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe was the Sheckler Foundation’s first “Be the Change” recipient in 2012 and the first phase of building the skatepark took off on August 27, 2012. After a year and a half of hard work the project is complete. This skatepark was built as a plaza with features for everyone from beginners to lifelong skateboarders. True to the S’Klallam roots the skatepark includes a mural by Native American artist, Louie Gong.

Quite a few kids from the S’Klallam community wanted a chance to meet Ryan and get an autograph during the festivities.

For additional info on The Sheckler Foundation check out shecklerfoundation.org; follow facebook.com/shecklerfoundation, LinkedIn, @SheckFoundation on Twitter and @ShecklerFoundation on Instagram.

About The Sheckler Foundation:
Founded in 2008, The Sheckler Foundation was created as an avenue for Ryan Sheckler, his family, friends and business associates to give back to the community and industry that they are so grateful for. Fueled by the desire to contribute to the many causes that directly benefit and enrich the lives of children and injured action sports athletes, The Sheckler Foundation will produce fundraising events, passion projects and web-based initiatives to raise capital and awareness. Our ultimate goal is to empower our community to “Be the Change!”

The hidden tourneys: Independent basketball in Indian Country

By Brandon Ecoffey , Native Sun News Managing Editor

Tourneys like this one hosted as a fundraiser in Batesland, have become part of Native American basketball culture. PHOTO BY/Brandon Ecoffey

PINE RIDGE— The notoriety of the unique passion and style with which Native people play the sport of basketball has grown with the successes of college athletes like Jude and Shoni Schimmel. However the oversimplification of the term “Rez Ball” that has been tied to the two star guards for the University of Louisville has left out many aspects of Indian Country’s connections to the game, including those that are fostered at independently run basketball tournaments all across the country.

Stereotypical portrayals of Native America are often infused with images of black and white photographs from the pre-reservation era showing tribal members in traditional regalia. In representations of contemporary Native America the mainstream news cycle is often flooded with photographs of dire poverty and gang life. These elements do exist in Indian Country but what is often left out is the everyday life lived by many in predominately Native communities that is infused with the sport of basketball.

Although basketball was first brought to most reservation communities by Christian missionaries as an incentive or outlet to the harsh assimilationist policies within boarding schools the sport has been embraced throughout Native America.

For some like Beau Cuevas, a Mni Coujou Lakota, who has played the game his whole life basketball, holds a special place within him.

“For me it’s a way to relax because on that court nothing else matters it’s you and 9 others guys going to battle. It’s the only other place besides Inipi (sweat lodge) and Sundance that I feel at home, it’s a brotherhood,” said Cuevas.

One phenomenon that has been present in Indian Country since as early as the 1900’s has been the formation of travelling teams made up of Native American ball players. Possibly the earliest recorded Native American independent basketball team in history hailed from Fort Shaw, Montana. The team that was comprised of women competed in the 1904 World’s fair in St. Louis and helped to create interest in the game of basketball.

Throughout the year athletes from around Indian Country participate in both local and national basketball tournaments held in all parts of the U.S. The participants in these reservation or urban Indian community based tournaments vary from former high school stars, to successful Divisions 1 athletes, street ball legends and even potential NBA prospects like Luke Martinez who played at the University of Wyoming.

Occasionally in tournaments where tribal enrollment verification is not required high caliber non-Native participants are also brought in by Native teams to compete as demonstrated by sightings of former University of Wisconsin star Jordan Taylor at a tournament held at Indian Center in Minneapolis, MN and former South Dakota State University forward Tony Fiegan who played in one in Rapid City, SD last spring.

Cooper Kirkie a member of the Crow Creek Sioux Tribe who is one of the many talents who travel across the country to play in these tournaments says that the talent level playing is comparable to that of the NBA’s Developmental league or some of the pro leagues in Europe.

“With more and more Natives playing division 1 ball it is really getting to be good talent in these tournaments. The ones who are playing college ball and don’t go on to play after are the first round draft picks for these teams. Usually someone sees them play and someone else will know their auntie or cousin and call them up and bring them out,” said Kirkie.

Kirkie has travelled to over a dozen states including Florida, Washington, and Wisconsin to play in Native tournaments and feels that his desire to travel, that he inherited from his Grandmother, would have went unfulfilled without basketball.

“I am really blessed to be able to travel and see different parts of the country that without basketball I may not have ever been able to experience,” he said. “There are just so many good players out there is feels good to be able to go to other nations and compete against what they have. It is like counting coup. It isn’t about being violent or disrespectful it’s just going out and doing our best.”

With the arrival of gaming and energy dollars in to Indian Country the dynamics of these teams have begun to change as well as the sponsorships. The team Kirkie is on receives its funding from tribal members who are enrolled in a Florida based casino tribe who pays for the team to fly to and from tournaments throughout the year with per cap dollars generated by the tribal members’ casinos. The sponsorship money is a welcome relief from days past when Cooper was forced to gather money on his own.

“I remember when I first got started and I had to either save up money all the time or approach the tribe and ask them for $200. Sometimes they would give us that and we would get together some food stamps and we would travel on that,” he said. “The thing about our sponsors is that they are really good hearted people who do this because they like to see us play and they like to spend family time together with us. It isn’t like if we play a bad game that this is going to stop. It isn’t about that and it feels good playing with no pressure and being with family.”

Some tournaments are of the small scale where local teams converge to compete against fellow tribal members for jackets, sweaters, and occasionally t-shirts. However independent basketball has begun to take on a new feel with the onset of the same casino and energy dollars that sponsor Kirkie’s team being funneled in to the circuit with some tournaments awarding as much as $10,000 and custom designed Pendleton jackets to the winners. Recently the team Iron Boy which featured former Cheyenne Eagle Butte standout and Pine Ridge Native Daelan High Wolf took home the $10,000 prize at the March Madness tournament in Dells, Wisconsin.

The reasoning behind the creation of these tournaments varies from event to event. Some are local fundraisers while others are for competition but one authentically Native aspect of the Native Independent basketball circuit is using the game and the events as a way of memorializing lost loved ones. Travis Albers hosts a tournament each year in Bismarck, North Dakota honor of his brother Tanner who past away from cancer several years ago. Tanner was a star player in South Dakota alongside Travis, both would play together at United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck. Just this last year Tanner was inducted in to the school’s hall of fame. For Travis who himself is veteran of the independent hoops trails the memorial tournament he runs is bigger than just basketball.

“Me and my brother had been playing basketball together since we could walk. It was something we did together, we did everything together,” said Albers. “When I have this tournament it isn’t just basketball. I want people to come and talk about memories they had of him and to talk about how he treated them good and remember things other than basketball.”

Travis and Tanner would play together with each other at all levels of the game including college and then with one of the more storied independent teams, Iron Five, for more than ten years together. For Travis the independent game has changed but it is still something that serves a purpose within Native communities.

“We have have a lot of athletes who could go on to play at higher levels but for whatever reason they sometimes get pulled back. But for those on the reservation they are still stars. Some of them are like NBA players to us but the tournaments are good ways to gather to remember the ones the passed away,” he said.

Demonstrators to target Chief Wahoo at Cleveland Indians home opener

By Mark Naymilk, Northeast Ohio Media Group

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Native Americans and others who believe the Cleveland Indians’ mascot, Chief Wahoo, is a demeaning caricature plan to demonstrate outside Progressive Field on Friday during the baseball team’s home opener.

Organizers behind the demonstration have tried to rally people against Wahoo on opening day for more than 20 years, though team owners and baseball fans have generally ignored them. In some years, only a handful of demonstrators have stood with signs against Wahoo.

Organizers hope to find greater support this year because of the renewed attention Wahoo has received in the growing national debate over sports mascots and names sparked by the NFL’s Washington Redskins’ controversy.

The Plain Dealer editorial board recently called on the Cleveland Indians’ owners to drop the smiling, big-toothed, big-nosed cartoon Indian, which has been used for more than 60 years.

Ferne Clements, who has helped organize the demonstration for 21 years, says she can’t predict whether or not support for the protest will grow this year.

“But the message hasn’t changed,” said Clements, who works with the Native American advocacy group, The Committee of 500 Years of Dignity and Resistance. “We can’t settle for anything less than a name and logo change. The logo is racist and the name does not honor Native Americans.”

Team owners, who have largely remained silent in the debate, have said the team has no plans to dump Wahoo, which remains popular with fans.

As they do each year, the demonstrators plan to march at 12:30 p.m. from West 25^th Street and Detroit Avenue to Progressive Filed, where they will stay until about 3 p.m.

Other Native American organizations are also participating in opening-day demonstrations against Wahoo, according to Facebook postings and email messages.

Ferne, who is not Native American, said she and others are already looking ahead to 2015, which marks the 100^th Anniversary of the team name.

DOI Announces $3.2 Million in Grant Awards For 21 Tribal Energy and Mineral Development Projects

By Transmission & Distribution World Magazine

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell has announced that $3.2 million has been awarded to 21 tribal projects to assist in developing energy and mineral resources, including $655,000 to the Crow Tribe to advance a hydroelectric project that will provide low-cost clean power to tribal members and encourage business on Crow lands.

Secretary Jewell, who serves as Chair of the White House Council on Native American Affairs, announced the grants during a visit to the Crow Reservation in southeastern Montana. Jewell was joined by Senator Jon Tester, the new chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Larry Roberts.

Jewell is making a three-day visit to Montana, meeting with tribal and business leaders, ranchers, hunters and anglers and other stakeholder groups to discuss the economic value of public lands to local communities, the importance of the Land and Water Conservation Fund in expanding access to hunting and fishing areas, and public-private partnerships that protect public lands, such as the Blackfoot Challenge for the southern part of the Crown of the Continent ecosystem.

The $655,000 grant to the Crow Tribe will allow completion of all technical, environmental, engineering and economic analyses required for an 8 to 12 megawatt hydroelectric project at the Yellowtail Afterbay Dam on the Crow Reservation. This will allow the Tribe to seek power purchase agreements and financing to build the facility, which will provide electricity to its members and invite industry to the reservation with the certainty of reliable, sustainable and clean low-cost power. The project is also expected to improve the Big Horn River’s downstream fishery by reducing excessive nitrogen and oxygen levels.

In 2009, Senator Tester introduced and then successfully helped pass the Crow Tribe Water Settlement Act that authorized the Crow to develop hydropower at the dam.

As Chair of the White House Council on Native American Affairs, Secretary Jewell leads a comprehensive Federal initiative to work more collaboratively and effectively with Tribes to advance their economic and social priorities. Informed by consultation with the Tribes and reflective of tribal priorities, the Interior Department’s FY2015 budget requests $2.6 billion for Indian Affairs, $33.6 million above the 2014 enacted level, to sustain the President’s commitment and honor Interior’s trust responsibilities to the 566 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native Tribes.

Recognizing this commitment to tribal self-governance and self-determination, the budget fully funds contract support costs that Tribes incur as managers of the programs serving Native Americans.

A full list of the 21 projects receiving grant awards for energy and mineral development is available here and includes six for mineral extraction, two for oil and gas production and 13 for renewable energy, including wind, hydropower, geothermal and biomass proposals.

Funding for construction of the Crow hydropower project was authorized in the Crow Water Rights Settlement that President Obama signed on Dec. 8, 2010. In March 2011 Crow tribal members voted to ratify the Settlement legislation and the Crow Tribe-Montana Water Rights Compact. The Settlement legislation provided the Tribe with the authority to develop hydropower at Yellowtail Afterbay Dam along with some funding to assist in the development along with other energy development on the Reservation. The Grant announced today is an additional and needed boost to the Tribe as it works to develop hydropower.

Together, the Settlement Act and the Compact quantified the Tribe’s water rights and authorized funding of $131.8 million for the rehabilitation and improvement of the Crow Irrigation Project and $246.4 million for the design and construction of a Municipal, Rural and Industrial (MR&I) water system to serve numerous reservation communities.

The Crow Reservation is the largest of seven Indian reservations in Montana, encompassing 2.3 million acres and home to 13,000 enrolled Crow tribal members.

Oneida Indian Nation Responds to Attempts by Washington’s NFL Team to Discredit its Leadership over Opposition to the R-Word

Press Release: PRWEB.com Newswire

The Oneida Indian Nation responded today to a report suggesting that Washington’s NFL team and its supporters have attempted to discredit opponents of their offensive mascot only to be told by other Native American leaders that the name should change. Ray Halbritter, Oneida Indian Nation Representative and the leader of the Change the Mascot movement, has come under personal attack for publicly urging the team to drop a name which is a dictionary-defined racial slur.

“In his desire to defend a name given to his team by an avowed segregationist, Dan Snyder can continue to try to attack me personally, but his strategy will not work because this is far bigger and more important than any one person or group,” Halbritter said. “This is an issue that underscores what it means to treat people with respect and to stop causing them pain rather than continuing to insult them with a racist epithet. This is a serious moral, human rights and civil rights issue – and the team’s behavior continues to have serious negative consequences for Native Americans,” Halbritter added.

Sid Hill, the spiritual leader of the Six Nations, recently received a call from a representative of the Washington team which “felt like they were looking for something, that they wanted me to discredit Ray, and I wasn’t going to go there.” Hill said: “The backlash Ray’s received is kind of scary…it’s like they’re trying to discredit the witness.”*

In an interview with a journalist from The Syracuse Post-Standard, Hill underscored his view that the R–word does not honor Native Americans, as the team has claimed. The term, he said, is a taunt and an insult that if directed toward a Native American on their territory would be seen by the target of the slur as an attempt to inflict hurt.*

“It is hardly surprising that the team marketing a racial slur against Native Americans is evidently working to further denigrate Native Americans with personal attacks,” said Oneida Indian Nation Vice President for Communications Joel Barkin. “For all their rhetoric about respect, the team officials’ ugly tactics prove that they lack real respect for Native Americans.”

*At Onondaga, spiritual leader of the Six Nations agrees: Time for Washington to retire ‘Redskins’, 3/16/14, syracuse.com/kirst/index.ssf/2014/03/onondagas_oneidas_agree_football_team_should_retire_redskins.html#incart_river

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/washington-redskins/change-the-mascot/prweb11676973.htm

Promised land: Chicago’s Native Americans wait on federal money pledged for social services

By Caroline Cataldo, Medill Reports Chicago

Dorene Wiese operates under the assumption that when she sees a community need, she fills it.

As director of the American Indian Association of Illinois, Wiese runs a youth tutoring program, a GED prep course, a museum and a college from the basement of a Rogers Park church. The children and adults who enter the doors are enrolled members of one of 566 Native American tribes — including Navajo, Lakota, Crow and Blackfoot — recognized by the U.S. government. Wiese, like the majority of Chicago’s Native Americans, belongs to the Ojibwe tribe (Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, and Canada).

Wiese says problems of poverty, identity and cultural preservation for natives living in Chicago are no different than the difficulties seen on reservations. But, she explains, there is one major difference:

“When you don’t have a job on the reservation, you live with your extended family members,” Wiese says. “When you don’t have a job on Chicago, you are homeless, you live on the streets.”

In February, the federal government admitted neglecting to honor treaties to pay for native social service agencies for decades, leaving a $3 billion debt. As of this year, the government has pledged to honor its commitment going forward. Distributed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to cover education, health care and other social service programs, “contract support costs” historically were funneled to organizations on reservations. This year, the bureau asked for $231 million to pay for running these social service agencies..

But, even as an exclusively native, non-profit in an urban, off-reservation setting, the American Indian Association of Illinois, like others, does not see a penny. Calls to the bureau to explain funding discrepancies were not returned.

This lack of explanation is the problem, advocates say.

As a prominent member of the Chicago Native American community, Wiese wonders why, as enrolled tribal members, organizations like hers doesn’t benefit from this money. In fact, 99 percent of these social service dollars only serve 22 percent of Native Americans — who live on reservations. However, 78 percent of Native Americans in the U.S. live off reservation land, according to the 2010 Census.

“I’ve asked some of the best Indian legal minds in the country about what a tribe is if not the membership, and how is it the tribes do not have to serve their off-reservation citizens?” Wiese says.

No one seems to have an answer.

John Laukaitis, an education professor at North Park University, has spent the past few decades studying urban Native American education. He says, like most of the issues surrounding native populations on and off reservations today, this disparity must be understood through a progression of history.

In the early 1950s, the U.S. government began offering Native Americans living on reservations incentives to move to urban centers like Chicago, Laukaitis said. They were told jobs would be waiting for them, allowing them ways to escape the crushing poverty of reservation life. In Chicago, at least, the reality was much different than advertised. Jobs were few and far between. Many would return to the Bureau of Indian Affairs looking for the help they were promised.

They were on their own.

Living off-reservation, Laukaitis said, Native Americans in cities no longer fell under federal trust treaties that required the U.S. government to pay for tribal education and health care. Around this time there was also a “resurgence of individualism and individual self-determination,” he said.

“There was a collective belief in America at that time everyone could make it on his or her own,” Laukaitis says. “There was an animosity toward anyone who wanted to continue this federal trust status.”

But, unlike many immigrant groups trying to find their way out of poverty in Chicago in the 1950s and ’60s, Laukaitis said it is unfair to think of service contracts as a government handout.

“A guarantee of education, a guarantee of health care, a guarantee of all of these services are from a treaty, and historically they were the exchange of land and peace,” Laukaitis said. “So it is really not the same to look at the trust status and the money going toward reservations as welfare.”

The problems facing Native Americans in Chicago today come from this rocky foundation. As less than 1 percent of the population in the area, Laukaitis said Native Americans have little to no political voice in the city, as well as on the reservation.

The American Indian Association of Illinois is one of the few exclusively native cultural centers in the city, catering to the needs of Chicago’s first people, and it is run primarily from donations. When money is low, which Wiese says is pretty typical, the burden falls on her to buy food, pens, paper and crayons to keep the center running.

The harsh reality is Wiese’s programs are struggling to survive. The Native Scholars after-school tutoring program can only operate one day a week. Medicine Shield College, which helps adults earn college degrees, is struggling to meet the criteria that will allow it to go on.

Urban-dwelling Native Americans, in fact, are the poorest people in America, Wiese said. And no one is being held accountable for their welfare in the city.

“We don’t want to take anything away from the reservations,” Wiese said. “But something has got to change for us, too.”

TCC convention speaker blasts governments’ treatment of Natives

By Jeff Richardson, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

FAIRBANKS — A colonial attitude and lack of tribal sovereignty are contributing to an “unconscionable” record for Alaska Native justice, the head of the Indian Law and Order Commission told a Fairbanks audience on Tuesday.

Attendees watch on a television in the hallway as Keynote speaker Troy A. Eid, Chairman of the Indian Law and Order Commission, speaks at the Tanana Chiefs Conference Annual Delegate and Full Board of Directors Meeting Tuesday, March 11, 2014 at the Westmark Hotel.

In a fiery speech at the Tanana Chiefs Conference convention, Troy Eid blasted the state and federal governments for treating Alaska Natives like second-class citizens. The result, he said, has been an ineffective and unequal system for the state’s indigenous people.

“You are not stakeholders,” Eid told TCC delegates at the Westmark Hotel. “You are members of sovereign governments.”

Eid received a standing ovation following his remarks, which were the keynote speech for a conference with the theme “The time is now.” Eid’s independent commission was created in 2010 to review the justice system for American Indians and Alaska Natives and report its findings to President Obama and Congress.

The report, which was released last November, gave a dismal review of Alaska’s system.

Eid, a former U.S Attorney for Colorado, called the status of Alaska Natives a “civil rights crisis.” A fourth of Alaska Native youth suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, he said, the same rate as military veterans returning from Afghanistan. Suicide rates in Alaska rival those in Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world.

Alaska has domestic violence rates 10 times higher than the national average, and 12 times higher against women, Eid said.

He said lawmakers in Juneau and Washington could help change that.

The first step, he said, is to stop excluding Alaska Natives from federal legislation that protects Native Americans in other parts of the country. Eid dismissed the argument that the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act requires that Alaska Natives be treated differently than their counterparts in the Lower 48.

“They’re laws Congress made and Congress can revisit it. … It’s not as if these are immutable, unchangeable laws,” he said.

Eid also criticized the state for battling against tribes who want local courts and police, saying that local efforts to combat crime often prove more effective. Tribal courts are now limited to family issues, such as child custody and adoption.

“It is time for the state of Alaska to stop fighting against Alaska Natives,” he said.

Following the remarks, Fort Yukon Chief Steve Ginnis asked delegates to consider a resolution that would ask the federal government to treat Alaska Natives under the same civil rights legislation as other Native Americans.

President Jerry Isaac echoed the comments.

“It’s undoubtedly a long struggle with the tribes in Alaska to be recognized in a place that they deserve,” he said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who spoke by videoconference with TCC delegates, was asked if she would pledge to support such a resolution. She said ANCSA has set up a system which creates a special distinction for Alaska Natives, and that identical legislation for Alaskans and those in the Lower 48 isn’t always possible.

However, Congress needs to make sure the end result shouldn’t be unequal treatment for Alaskans, she said.

“We need to be sure that Alaska Natives are treated justly and fairly, as are all Natives,” Murkowski said.