Wilson Pipestem is reshaping the ‘R’ word name-change discussion by explaining why tradition should not trump racial sensitivities–especially when it comes to Native youth.
Pipestem, an enrolled member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe and an Osage headright holder, joined MSNBC’sUP W/Steve Kornackito discuss why Dan Snyder, the team’s owner, and Roger Goodell, should take the name-change debate suggestions seriously.
Wilson said that two of his children, in the 5th and 7th grades, came home from school one day and asked a profound question about the team’s name.
“Dad, are they making fun of us?”
As the father of four young kids, he knew it would be a discussion that they had to sit down and talk about.
“When you are an Indian parent and you are trying to teach your kids that it is a good thing to be an Indian and should respect other people who are different than us…and you try to teach them that the ceremonial use of paint, and the use of eagle feathers are sacred; and that these are good things, that it makes it more difficult when these sort of things are a part of a significant institution within our society,” Wilson told the panel on MSNBC.
Jacqueline Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians agrees with Wilson. “The welfare and future of our youth is at stake,” she said in earlier news release. “We are working every day to ensure they are able to grow up and thrive in healthy, supportive communities. Removing these harmful mascots is just one part of our effort to encourage our children to achieve their greatest potential.”
The NCAI recently released a 29-page report that explains, in part, the psychological effects that racial slurs and mascot imagery have on Native children. Wilson did not specifically reference the report, but spoke out as a Native parent.
“Ignorance is a very powerful enemy. And it’s particularly powerful for Indian people who are fewer in numbers and many of us live in isolated places,” Wilson said. “But I think what we’re seeing is a moral change, and the public is becoming-the society is just becoming more educated on the issues.”
Ultimately, Wilson, a Native American Civil Rights Lawyer, who lives in Washington, D.C., told the panel that the football team would change its name as they become more educated about the team’s history.
“They will realize that when society is confronted with this truth, there is going to be change… ”
Insurance enrollment helpers are encouraging Native Americans to sign up for coverage under the nation’s new healthcare law, saying it will help them better access X-rays, mammograms, prescription drugs and trips to specialists not covered under Indian Health Service.
American Indians are exempt from the Affordable Care Act’s requirement that people carry insurance, but the law opens up resources that for years have been limited through IHS, said Jerilyn Church, executive director of the South Dakota-based Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board.
“There’s a huge gap in access to services, so being enrolled in the marketplace is going to make a big difference in terms of accessibility to healthcare,” Church said.
The Indian Health Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, provides free healthcare to enrolled members of tribes, their descendants and some others as part of the government’s treaty obligations to Indian tribes dating back nearly a century.
Critics long have complained of insufficient financial support that has led to constant turnover among doctors and nurses, understaffed hospitals, sparse specialty care and long waits to see a doctor.
The Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board received $264,000 in South Dakota and $186,000 in North Dakota to assist with Native American signups on the states’ reservations and urban areas.
The new law healthcare law will especially benefit people who seek treatment at urban Indian health clinics, which collectively are funded by just 1 percent of the IHS budget, said Ashley Tuomi, executive director of the American Indian Health and Family Services clinic in Detroit.
“Our resources are extremely limited, even more so than the tribes,” Tuomi said. “What we have within our walls is what we can offer for free.”
The clinic has seen a lot of patient interest in the healthcare marketplace, but “navigators” helping with signups have had to cancel many appointments because of continued issues with the federal healthcare.gov website, Tuomi said.
The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has received about $38,000 in federal grant funds to encourage signups for tribal members scattered in 12 counties in Nebraska, two in Iowa and one in South Dakota.
The tribe’s IHS-contracted clinic in Omaha, Neb., has a medical doctor and two nurse practitioners, but the X-rays, specialists and prescriptions that are outsourced are not covered, said Jan Henderson, the tribe’s navigator project director. “And if they don’t have insurance, they have to pay for it themselves,” she said.
Tribes across the country get some federal money for referrals, but the small pools run out quickly, Henderson said.
She views the new healthcare law as a great step for Native Americans, but the greatest challenge is educating tribal members who are weary from decades of promises of improved healthcare.
“Education is very important in this right now to get people to be open to actually hearing about it,” Henderson said. “We hear a lot of people who say they don’t need this, they don’t want this.”
Chris Bickford for The New York Times Government Reopens After Shutdown: National parks, monuments, museums and federal agencies reopened on Thursday after a 16-day shutdown of the government.
WASHINGTON — The United States government sputtered back to life Thursday after President Obama and Congress ended a 16-day shutdown, reopening tourist spots and clearing the way for federal agencies to deliver services and welcome back hundreds of thousands of furloughed workers.
Across the country, the work and play of daily life, stalled for more than two weeks, resumed at federal offices, public parks, research projects and community programs. Museums opened their doors. Federal money for preschool programs started flowing again. Scientists at the South Pole began ramping up their work.
And the National Zoo’s panda cam flickered on again (though a flood of online visitors soon crashed it).
For Shafiqullah Noory, on his first trip to the United States from Afghanistan, the legislative deal came just when he needed it. Sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, admiring the view of the Washington Monument, he said he knew why Abraham Lincoln had been an important leader.
“If you have the unity, you have the prosperity,” he said. “And then everything comes after that.”
In Boston, tourists once again spilled into the Charlestown Navy Yard, the national historic park that contains the Constitution, the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat. Among them was Dorothy Bank, a retired kindergarten teacher from North Carolina, who was just about to leave Boston for a foliage tour in New England.
“I was hoping it would be open; we didn’t know whether it would be in time,” she said, noting the uncertainty of the legislative fight in Washington. Of the ship, she said, “I like it as a part of history.”
In New York City, office workers poured in and out of the mammoth building at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, eager to start working — and be paid — again. “Put yourself in that situation,” said Regina Napoli, 60, a legal administrator who had been furloughed from her job with the Social Security Administration. “The bills pile up.”
Washington’s Metro trains were once again packed with federal workers streaming in from suburban Maryland and Virginia, government IDs dangling from lanyards around their necks. Robert Lagana said Thursday morning that he was eager to get back to his job at the International Trade Commission.
“It beats climbing the walls, wondering where your next paycheck is going to be and how you’re going to make your bills,” Mr. Lagana said. “They really need to come up with a law where this never happens again.”
Meanwhile, those arriving at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Washington were met by none other than Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., being boisterous, as usual. “I brought some muffins!” Mr. Biden said as he arrived at the security desk, greeting employees with handshakes and hugs.
And at the White House, President Obama took a moment to speak directly to federal workers, saying: “Thanks for your service. Welcome back. What you do is important. It matters.”
The government’s top personnel officer announced just before 1 a.m. Thursday that officials should restart normal functions “in a prompt and orderly manner.” Those few words were enough to kick-start the government. A memorandum from officials at the Department of the Interior encouraged returning workers to check their e-mail and voice mail, fill out their timecards and “check on any refrigerators and throw out any perished food.”
But not everything was back to normal immediately. In Chicago, people who had been waiting to visit the Internal Revenue Service office since the shutdown began were still turned away by security. “If you aren’t making a payment, they won’t see you,” said an officer in the lobby, who suggested they try again on Friday.
Cynthia Ellis, a South Side resident, needed to get federal tax documents for a state program that helps pay her mortgage. “I heard the news say all government employees are back to work,” she said, clearly frustrated. “This is bad. This is really bad.”
The agreement extending federal borrowing power, hammered out at the last moment in Washington, paves the way for another series of budget negotiations. Conservative Republicans in the House and Senate vowed to renew their fight for cuts in spending and changes to the Affordable Care Act.
Across the globe, investors shrugged at the decision by United States politicians to end the shutdown. On Wall Street, stocks were mixed in part on reports of disappointing earnings from I.B.M.
At the Capitol, lawmakers immediately began post-shutdown posturing as they braced for another confrontation in the budget negotiations that are set to begin in the days and weeks ahead.
“We’ve got to assure the American people that we are not going to do this again,” Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
For some people across the country, the political debate remained raw. In Oak Ridge, Tenn., where the shutdown was set to furlough about 3,600 employees at the Y-12 National Security Complex, Dean Russell said he had no plans to do away with the sign he posted at the entrance of his restaurant: “Members of Congress not welcome here.”
Even in deeply conservative Tennessee, Mr. Russell said his edict applied to both parties, who are now barred from the restaurant’s selection of apple, chocolate and coconut fried pies.
“I’m sure the anger will pass, and I’ll take it down,” Mr. Russell said. “But we’ll keep the sign because I’m sure they’ll do something again.”
But others were just happy that the shutdown was over.
At the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, north of Los Angeles, Bonnie Clarfield, a supervisory park ranger, spent Thursday morning taking down the closed signs — 16 of them in all — and cleaning up after vandals who had ripped some of them down and in some cases posted signs of their own.
She found one handwritten sign that read, “Congress Can’t Shut Down the Park,” while some official park signs announcing the closing were strewn in the bushes.
“We had a lot of vandalism of infrastructure,” she said. “People were frustrated, and they were taking it out on the rangers. We were doing our jobs, and they were taking it out on the messengers. I feel great today. No one’s been mad at me.”
Federal officials said the lingering impact of the shutdown should begin to dissipate in the coming days as agencies reopen fully and begin taking stock.
Sean Hennessey, a spokesman for the National Park Service, said 85 furloughed employees were back to work in Boston. He estimated that the city’s national historical sites, which include the navy yard, the Bunker Hill Monument and the downtown Faneuil Hall visitor center, lost about 55,000 visitors because of the shutdown.
The U.S.S. Constitution Museum alone, he said, lost an estimated $7,000 per day.
Reporting was contributed by Jess Bidgood from Boston, Alan Blinder from Oak Ridge, Tenn., J. David Goodman from New York, Emmarie Huetteman from Washington, Ian Lovett from Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Steven Yaccino from Chicago.
Salish Kootenai College students are a part of a team that will soon launch the first “CubeSat” satellite into space.
Physics student Cory Drowatsky tests CubeSat in what he describes as “moment of inertia” with assistance from computer engineering student Zach DuMontier. (Photo by Lailani Upham/Char-Koosta News)
Char-Koosta News reporter Lailani Upham reports about the work the students are doing at SKC’s Division of Sciences.
CubeSats are small “low cost” satellites in the shape of a cube 10 centimeters in size used by universities, government agencies, and private businesses to orbit the earth to produce images utilizing solar power.
The SKC CubeSat selection is one to be proud of as the tribal college’s satellite design matches building and design along with big name colleges such as Cal-Berkeley, Notre Dam, Texas, MIT, and the U.S. Air Force Academy.
CubeSats are effective opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in space flight missions and NASA recognized the importance of the next generation of space scientist and engineers through build and design of the mini-satellites at their higher education institutions.
The CubeSat is set to go to space sometime in 2014.
The design is complete and the SKC team is working on the stages of testing equipment.
The aim of the project is to motivate and prepare Native students to go into careers at NASA centers, as NASA contactors, or attend universities performing NASA-sponsored research.
Columbus and his men hunted Natives with war-dogs.
By Vincent Schilling, Indian Country Today Media Network
On the second Monday of October each year, Native Americans cringe at the thought of honoring a man who committed atrocities against Indigenous Peoples.
Columbus Day was conceived by the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic Fraternal organization, in the 1930s because they wanted a Catholic hero. After President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the day into law as a federal holiday in 1937, the rest has been history.
In an attempt to further thwart the celebration of this “holiday,” we at ICTMN have outlined eight misnomers and bloody, greedy, sexually perverse and horrendous atrocities committed by Columbus and his men.
On the Way—Columbus Stole a Sailor’s Reward
After obtaining funding for his explorations to reach Asia from the seizure and sale of properties from Spanish Jews and Muslims by order of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Columbus headed out to explore a new world with money and ships.
Brimming with the excitement of discovering new land, Columbus offered a reward of 10,000 maravedis or about $540 (a sailor’s yearly salary) for the first person to discover such land. Though another sailor saw the land in October 1492, Columbus retracted the reward he had previously offered because he claimed he had seen a dim light in the west.
Replicas of the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria in the North River, New York. They crossed from Spain to be present at the World’s Fair at Chicago. (Andrews, E. Benjamin. History of the United States, volume V. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. 1912/Wikimedia)
Columbus Never Landed on American Soil—Not in 1492, Not Ever
We’re not talking about the Leif Ericson Viking explorer story. We mean Columbus didn’t land on the higher 48—ever. Columbus quite literally landed in what is now known as the Bahamas and later Hispaniola, present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Upon arrival, Columbus and his expedition of weapon laden Spaniards met the Arawaks, Tainos and Lucayans—all friendly, according to Columbus’ writings. Soon after arriving, Columbus wrecked the Santa Maria and the Arawaks worked for hours to save the crew and cargo.
Impressed with the friendliness of the native people, Columbus seized control of the land in the name of Spain. He also helped himself to some locals. In his journal he wrote:
“As soon as I arrived in the Indies, on the first Island which I found, I took some of the natives by force in order that they might learn and might give me information of whatever there is in these parts.”
The four voyages of Columbus are shown here. (Wikimedia Commons)
Columbus Painted a Horrible Picture of Peaceful Natives
When Columbus first saw the Native Arawaks that came to greet him and his crew he spoke with a peaceful and admiring tone.
“They … brought us parrots and balls of cotton and spears and many other things… They willingly traded everything they owned… They were well-built, with good bodies and handsome features…. They do not bear arms, and do not know them, for I showed them a sword, they took it by the edge and cut themselves out of ignorance. They have no iron. Their spears are made of cane… . They would make fine servants…. With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.”
After several months in the Caribbean, on January 13, 1493 two Natives were murdered during trading. Columbus, who had otherwise described the Natives as gentle people wrote “(they are) evil and I believe they are from the island of Caribe, and that they eat men.” He also described them as “savage cannibals, with dog-like noses that drink the blood of their victims.”
The cannibal story is taught as fact in some of today’s schools.
Columbus’ Men Were Rapists and Murderers
On Columbus’s first trip to the Caribbean, he later returned to Spain and left behind 39 men who went ahead and helped themselves to Native women. Upon his return the men were all dead.
This painting of Christopher Columbus was done in 1519 by Sebastiano del Piombo. (Wikimedia Commons)
With 1,200 more soldiers at his disposal, rape and pillaging became rampant as well as tolerated by Columbus.
This is supported by a reported close friend of Columbus, Michele de Cuneo who wrote the first disturbing account of a relation between himself and a Native female gift given to him by Columbus.
“While I was in the boat I captured a very beautiful Carib woman, whom the said Lord Admiral gave to me, and with whom, having taken her into my cabin, she being naked according to their custom, I conceived desire to take pleasure. I wanted to put my desire into execution but she did not want it and treated me with her finger nails in such a manner that I wished I had never begun. But seeing that (to tell you the end of it all), I took a rope and thrashed her well, for which she raised such unheard of screams that you would not have believed your ears. Finally we came to an agreement in such manner that I can tell you that she seemed to have been brought up in a school of harlots.”
Several accounts of cruelty and murder include Spaniards testing the sharpness of blades on Native people by cutting them in half, beheading them in contests and throwing Natives into vats of boiling soap. There are also accounts of suckling infants being lifted from their mother’s breasts by Spaniards, only to be dashed headfirst into large rocks.
Bartolome De Las Casas, a former slave owner who became Bishop of Chiapas, described these exploits. “Such inhumanities and barbarisms were committed in my sight as no age can parallel,” he wrote. “My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature that now I tremble as I write.”
Columbus Enslaved the Native People for Gold
Because Columbus reported a plethora of Natives for slaves, rivers of gold and fertile pastures to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand, Columbus was given 17 ships and more than 1,200 men on his next expedition. However, Columbus had to deliver. In the next few years, Columbus was desperate to fulfill those promises—hundreds of Native slaves died on their way back to Spain and gold was not as bountiful as expected.
Christopher Columbus presents Native Americans to Queen Isabella.
Columbus forced the Natives to work in gold mines until exhaustion. Those who opposed were beheaded or had their ears cut off.
In the provinces of Cicao all persons over 14 had to supply at least a thimble of gold dust every three months and were given copper necklaces as proof of their compliance. Those who did not fulfill their obligation had their hands cut off, which were tied around their necks while they bled to death—some 10,000 died handless.
In two years’ time, approximately 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead. Many deaths included mass suicides or intentional poisonings or mothers killing their babies to avoid persecution.
According to Columbus, in a few years before his death, “Gold is the most precious of all commodities; gold constitutes treasure, and he who possesses it has all he needs in the world, as also the means of rescuing souls from purgatory, and restoring them to the enjoyment of paradise.”
Columbus Provided Native Sex Slaves to His Men
In addition to putting the Natives to work as slaves in his gold mines, Columbus also sold sex slaves to his men—some as young as 9. Columbus and his men also raided villages for sex and sport.
In the year 1500, Columbus wrote: “A hundred castellanoes are as easily obtained for a woman as for a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for girls; those from nine to ten are now in demand.”
Columbus’ Men Used Native People as Dog Food
In the early years of Columbus’ conquests there were butcher shops throughout the Caribbean where Indian bodies were sold as dog food. There was also a practice known as the montería infernal, the infernal chase, or manhunt, in which Indians were hunted by war-dogs.
These dogs—who also wore armor and had been fed human flesh, were a fierce match for the Indians. Live babies were also fed to these war dogs as sport, sometimes in front of horrified parents.
Columbus Returned to Spain in Shackles—But Was Pardoned
After a multitude of complaints against Columbus about his mismanagement of the island of Hispaniola, a royal commissioner arrested Columbus in 1500 and brought him back to Spain in chains.
Though he was stripped of his governor title, he was pardoned by King Ferdinand, who then subsidized a fourth voyage.
Poverty is a root cause of crime, and without solving the poverty issue it may not be possible to solve the violent crime issues plaguing Indian reservations. Where there are high rates of poverty, so there are high rates of crime. The official poverty rate for individual Indians in the United States on reservations is 29.4 percent, compared to the U.S. national average of 15.3 percent. The reservation poverty rate for Indian families on reservations is 36 percent, compared to the national average of 9.2 percent. Urban Indians have a poverty rate of 22 percent, which is better than reservation poverty rates. Some of the worst poverty rates are on reservations in the states of Washington, California, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Arizona and New Mexico, where poverty rates often are higher than 60 percent.
Poverty is associated with low income, high unemployment, poor health, substandard housing, lack of market opportunities, and low educational achievement. Cycles of poverty are extremely difficult to break and tend to last over generations.
Poverty is closely related to social distress. Impoverished persons are more likely to be engaged in underground economy, use drugs and alcohol, which, in turn are highly associatied with violent crimes, domestic violence, and high crime rates.
In 2009, rapes in Indian country outpaced the total in Detroit, which is one of the most violent cities in the United States. Violent crime in Indian country increased during the 2000 to 2010 decade. Over the same decade, national violent crime rates fell, while Indian country violent crime rose by 29 percent.
Murder rates in Indian country increased 41 percent between 2000 and 2009. Nevertheless, federal funding for police and courts serving Indian country declined during the same period. While the decline in federal funding of public safety in Indian country may account for the rise in violent crimes, the funding decline does not account for the persistence of high rates of violent crime. More police, courts and jails will only partially address the fundamental issues of violence associated with poverty and social distress.
A recent study on high violent crime rates in U.S. cities points to the relations between poverty and violent crime. The 10 cities with the highest violent crime rates all had poverty rates over 20 percent, while the cities with the worst violent crime rates had poverty rates from 30 to 41 percent. On a per capita basis, cities provide more funds to police, courts, and jails than Indian reservations.
U.S. cities and counties also pride themselves on having better trained police, courts, and incarceration facilities. The two worse cities for violent crimes were Flint, Michigan, and Detroit, Michigan. Flint has a poverty rate of 40.3 percent and Detroit’s poverty rate is 40.9 percent. These statistics suggest that much of the violent crime on Indian reservations is highly associated with poverty, and increase funding of public safety, by itself, may not significantly curtail violent crime and improve public safety.
Indian reservations with poverty rates above 30 percent are particularly at risk. High rates of violent crime on reservations can be expected on reservations like Pine Ridge and San Carlos, which both have poverty rates over 50 percent. High rates of poverty combined with justice discrimination and cultural marginalization may account for higher rates of violent crime on Indian reservations than the rest of the nation. More investment in police, courts and public safety are necessary, but not sufficient for reducing crime and restoring healthy tribal communities.
More police and courts may help contain violent crimes, but do not address the root causes of crime. Solving the poverty issues in Indian country is only a partial solution. Federal Indian policies, and tribal governments need to meet the challenges of providing college education for tribal youth, achieve market sustainability, provide jobs to tribal members, restore individual health, improve housing, support cultural renewal, and reestablish the exercise the inherent powers of tribal governments. High crime rates are symptoms of deeper social and cultural distress, and there will be no solution to high rates of crime without solving the causes of distress.
The North Dakota Department of Health may flush a neo-Nazi out of a tiny village where he and a group of white supremacists have racist plans to establish an all-white enclave, the first of many across the country, they hope.
On Monday, September 23, one day after 300-plus Indians and non-Indians from all walks of life arrived in Leith, North Dakota, to rally against Craig Cobb and members of the National Socialist Movement (NSM) who invaded the village with the intention of taking over the local government, WDAY News reported that the state health department was planning shut down Cobb’s home because of unsanitary conditions: The home lacks running water, indoor plumbing and a sewer system.
Cobb is a nationally known white supremacist who has been living in Leith for more than a year and has purchased 13 lots, some for as little as $500, including one where he lives. He has been promoting Leith on white supremacist websites as a place where others like him could live, take over the city government and fly Nazi flags.
But the people of Leith want their town back, WDAY reported. Mayor Ryan Schock, the father of three frightened children who witnessed the rally, said events surrounding the neo-Nazi invaders of the town are “very disturbing. It ain’t right. For the last few weeks, they have been monitored very closely. It is very sad what has happened to our little town. To go from a one-horse town to this; it is incredible. We have been here our whole life, and a guy can move in and can take over a whole community. Everyone is on edge. Can’t blame them.”
Protesters carried signs denouncing Nazi ideology as full of hate, but one of the Nazis – Gerald McNeil – said his group was not in Leith to hate, WDAY reported. “We are here to be white, and be proud to be white.” McNeil said.
The health department apparently had notified Cobb earlier about the sanitary violations at his home, because late Monday afternoon, WDAY 6 News learned the state will issue a final letter ordering him out of his house this week because of health concerns.
Cobb says he will use the Civil Rights act to sue the city of Leith and the state of North Dakota, if he is forced from his home.
Chase Iron Eyes, founder of Last Real Indians, said his organization and UnityND, a group that formed in protest to the proposed extremist, neo-Nazi takeover, “are working together to make sure the neo-Nazis do not plant a foothold publicly in North Dakota.” The two organizations organized the caravans that brought protesters to the rally from Bismarck, North Dakota, and Standing Rock Reservation where Iron Eyes resides.
“On Sunday, we hung out there for some hours, remaining vigilant and getting into some conversations with Mr. Cobb and whoever else was there,” Iron Eyes said. Eventually, the Swat Team that was on hand to keep things under control got tired and began to disperse the crowd. “They initiated a command to clear the street so they fanned out across the street and were going to do a sweep and either beat people down or start arresting people who didn’t move out of the street. They were in formation ready to move us all out,” Iron Eyes said. But it wasn’t necessary since everyone dispersed and moved out on their own. The protesters weren’t about to let the Nazis confront the elders, children and women, Iron Eyes said, “That’s the last thing we needed. We were there as peacekeepers.”
A fully armed and outfitted Swat Team was on hand for crowd control, but the crowd was peaceful and had self control. (Courtesy Unedited Media)
But the women were quite actively involved in speeches and sign waving and at one point a group of Lakota grandmothers seized a Nazi flag and held it up for a photo, one woman making a V-for-victory or peace sign with her fingers. Last Real Indians posted the photo on its Facebook page, but Facebook removed it on Wednesday.
There were no instances of physical violence at the rally but it was very contentious and very heated, Iron Eyes said. “We kind of had to restrain our own tribal members. Fortunately, nothing happened. I appreciated the police being there,” Iron Eyes said. If the protesters – mostly Indians – had become entangled in a violent encounter with the neo-Nazis “that would be the tool they’d use to recruit people – ‘look at these scary dark people attacking us!’”
Right now, Last Real Indians and UnityND are monitoring the situation and plan to return at some point. Leith is only 30 miles from the Standing Rock reservation.
Standing up to the Nazis in Leith generated a wave of pride in the Lakota community. In a posting on the Last Real Indians website, John Martin repeated words that Iron Eyes had spoken at the rally, “’The warriors aren’t even here,’” Martin wrote. “Eloquent and profound words ferociously spoken by my Lakota brother Chase Iron Eyes. Wopila tanka Chase and to all the brave men and women of all races who tenaciously stood up in direct opposition to the minions of hate in Leith, North Dakota. You upheld and reaffirmed the Lakota warrior code,” Martin wrote. “The spirit of Crazy Horse lives on and will only continue to expand and grow. What I saw yesterday in Leith was a resurgence of what the Native American Community stands for. Unyielding resistance and steadfast dedication handed down by our ancestors back in the day.”
This was James “Smitty” Hillaire’s debut as a stage actor, and yet he emoted anger, frustration and pain like a pro.
“We don’t like to call it acting,” Hillaire said. “We’re trying to tell a story, a story that hasn’t been told … A lot of people didn’t realize why we’re still fighting for our rights today. It’s still going on.”
Hillaire portrays Chowitshoot, a leader of the Lummi people and a reluctant signer of the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott in “What About Those Promises?”, a stage production about treaty promises that have not been fulfilled by the United States.
To develop the script, Shelly Muzzy pored through transcripts of proceedings stored at the University of Washington. The audience is confronted with a true version of history not like those found in many textbooks.
“What About Those Promises?” brings to life the realities of—and the emotional trauma stemming from—the unfulfilled promises of the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855. (Lummi Nation)
Here, Chowitshoot and other Lummi representatives raise concerns about how the treaty will affect their rights to fish, hunt, harvest, and continue their way of life. Chief Si’ahl, or Seattle, leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish peoples, urges his peers to not sign the treaty.
The treaty was signed under duress, Hillaire said. “Sign or walk knee deep in blood—those were the words. We had no choice. We were forced to sign.”
The play brings to life the ongoing struggles of the Lummi people to see the promises of the treaty fulfilled, and gives voice to the people involved in those struggles.
The scenes take place when the United States was in the “fever of the termination era” and terminating its treaty responsibilities owed to tribes, Jewell James wrote in Whatcom Watch; he is director of the Lummi Nation’s Sovereignty and Treaty Protection Office. The region’s First People were jailed for trying to fish and harvest in their traditional grounds, as promised in Article 5 of the treaty; their rights to fish and harvest were upheld in 1974 in the U.S. District Court case, U.S. v. Washington, also known as the Boldt decision.
“What About Those Promises?” also reveals to the audience the emotional toll the post-treaty years have had—the residential schools, the termination era, and the continuing fight to protect rights, the environment and sacred places.
“We’ve been treated like animals, actually,” Hillaire said. “I believe we are one of the most regulated people in the whole country. We’re treated like prisoners of war; we’ve never gone to war [against the U.S.], we never surrendered either, but they treat us like a conquered people.”
“What About Those Promises?” brings to life the realities of—and the emotional trauma stemming from—the unfulfilled promises of the Treaty of Point Elliott of 1855. (Lummi Nation)
Hillaire and his wife, Lutie, who also has a role in the play, have been participating in workshops to help them deal with the emotional impacts of historical trauma.
“I have a difficult time right off trying to deal with the anger,” he said. “I have kind of mixed emotions—some of it anger, some of it sadness.”
What producer Darrell Hillaire hopes people take away from his play: “That their word is good. Anybody. All people. All cultures. To keep our word to one another. We have such diverse peoples living in this country, in our communities. How do we best learn to live together? Well, you keep your promises first. From there, you learn to live together.”
State Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, one of two Native Americans in the state House of Representatives, authored laws that require the history and culture of Washington’s First Peoples is taught in the state’s public schools, and allow tribes to open their own schools and create their own curriculum.
“This would be a great production to be out there [in schools],” he said. “You bring in your youngsters and your current leadership and your elders, and then do this production. If every tribe would do that, we’d really educate the state of Washington.”
He added, “Youngsters, you have to listen—listen to the stories of the elders, so we know where we’ve been, so you know where to go.”
The next staging of the production will be October 18 at Seattle University’s Pigott Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available at BrownPaperTickets.com.
September 22, 2013, Indian Country Today Media Network
By mid-afternoon on Sunday, September 22, Last Real Indians, reported on its Facebook page, “White supremacists have raised their flag over the town of Leith, ND.”
The news came as hundreds of Native Americans and others flocked to the tiny North Dakota town of Leith, population 24, to protest a group of American neo-Nazis who plan to take over the town and make it “an all-white enclave,” according to Political Blindspot.
UnityND, a group that formed in protest to the proposed extremist, neo-Nazi takeover, reported at around 2 p.m. that a caravan of protesters was on its way, including at least 25 cars, a bus and a van. “Plus more coming from the Tribes,” the site tweeted. Live streaming by Unedited Media showed what looked like several hundred people participating in the protest that began around 3 p.m.
The neo-Nazi invasion of Leith was announced in the Bismarck Tribune in a September 6 story about Craig Cobb, a white supremacist who has been living in Leith for more than a year and has purchased 13 lots, some for as little as $500, including one where he lived. He has been promoting Leith on white supremacist websites as a place where others like him could live, take over the city government and fly Nazi flags, the Tribune reported.
Neo-Nazi flags and signs were hung in Cobb’s front yard. (Courtesy Two Story)
Cobb told the Tribune he was grateful for support from Jeff Schoep, “commander” of the National Socialist Movement (NSM), according to the group’s website. In a video on the website Schoep announces “Our trip to Leith is a gesture of goodwill as we plant the seeds of National Socialism in North Dakota.” Unidentified orchestral music plays softly in the background with the sound of boots marching loudly in the foreground. The website displays the group’s motto – “Putting Family, Race and Nation First while Fighting to Secure American Jobs, Manufacturing & Innovation” – and describes itself as “America’s Premier White Civil Rights Organization – Fighting for White Civil Rights.” Schoep planned to be in Leith September 22-23 on a “fact-finding tour” to protect Cobb’s legal standing in the community and to hold a press conference, the Tribune said.
Around a dozen armed state troopers dressed in SWAT team gear were on hand. UnityND reported that none of the armed troopers had badge numbers displayed. The protesters gathered around Cobb’s residency where a Nazi flag flew and about a dozen neo-Nazis gathered. The neo-Nazis had strung a banner across his yard that said, “Anti-racist is code for anti-white.”
Various protest speakers took the mike and denounced the neo-Nazis peacefully, but emphatically. “We want the Nazis to know this is not a one day protest. We’ll be watching everything you do.” The protestors chanted, “No Nazis, no KKK!” A World War II Veteran said, “Let these creepy Nazi-Ku Klux people get out.” “Hey, hey! Ho ho! These Nazis have got to go!” the protesters chanted. “Our grandmothers will stand up to you! Our women will take you on!” one speaker said. “This is not your land. This is my land and you can go back home.” “On behalf of everybody here I’d like to say, go home.” “Go home, go home!” the crowd chanted. “Go back to Germany!” one protester said, but another replied that Germany would not have them. “They have laws against Nazis in Germany.” Some of the speakers eloquently rejected the hatred that Nazism represents. “I’m here to tell you we’ve evolved. We do not hate white people. You come here and think you can exploit the ignorance of our own people, you think that we’re going to react out of fear or a place in our hearts that wants to do you harm, but we won’t do that…We are evolved human beings and we think you know you people are a dying cause.”
At around 4 p.m. many of the protesters moved into Leith town hall for the neo-Nazi press conference while bagpipe music played incongruously in the background. When Cobb entered the hall the protesters booed loudly. Many of the protesters left the town hall when one of the neo-Nazis on stage began a speech. Those who remained listened politely. By posting time – three-quarters of an hour later – neo-Nazi was still speaking.
Apple Inc., the company that created iTunes, has banned the word Redskins from its Canadian app store. But, its competitors the Redskins App on Google Play and the Washington Redskins Official Mobile App still allow the word to be used on their platforms.
According to a post written on OgokiLearning.com, the company says the name violates two sections of its policy on apps. Section 19, which relates to religion, culture and ethnicity, says, “apps containing references or commentary about a religious, cultural or ethnic group that are defamatory, offensive, mean-spirited or likely to expose the targeted group to harm or violence will be rejected.”
And section 14, which states that defamatory apps likely to place targeted individuals or groups in harms way will be rejected.
It is unclear if Apple’s Canadian app stores have a different policy than it’s US stores, but the First Nation App developers praised Apple’s decision, according to NBCWashington.com. “We as Nation App developers applaud Apple Inc. in taking a stand and recognizing that Native Americans and First Nation people are not ‘Redskins,’” the company said. “We are distinct people with the same rights as we afford to every man woman and child who set foot on this earth.”
Darrick Glen Baxter, president of Ogoki Learning Systems, also weighed in on his company’s web site OgokiLearning.com.: “There is nothing more important than being recognized as a people and being treated as a human being.”
Apple Inc. joins the growing list of media companies that also oppose the Redskins name, including Sports Illustrated, USA Today, and The Washington Post.
