Spring 2007 - Native American Student Programs

Legends, Landscapes, and
Wisdom: An Interview with
Darryl Babe Wilson
home the gold medal in golf at
last summer’s North American
Indigenous Games in Colorado.
November 2006 by Nancy Olsen
and Tom Izu
Throughout his high school career,
Webster also placed high in
countless competitions throughout
California, which helped to put
him on the college scouting radar.
He was offered a full scholarship
to California State University San
Bernardino where he now attends
and competes on the men’s golf
team.
Californian – Winter 2007
Volume 28 Number 2
Webster picked up the sport in
an unusual way, and it was love
at first swing. At the age of nine,
Photo Courtesy of Gene Webster Jr. he watched Tiger Woods win the
1997 Masters Tournament and felt
inspired by the career of a fellow
Gene Webster Jr. makes
minority.
a mark on the Native golf
circuit
“After I saw that I kind of got an
itch for golf,’’ Webster said.
Posted: April 25, 2007
by: Shannon Burns / Indian
Country Today
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.
- The sport of golf has become
vastly popular in Indian country
and one name that stands out as a
leader in Native youth golf is Gene
Webster Jr. The 18-year-old college
freshman of Navajo and Ojibwe
descent has already earned himself
a reputation as a talented golfer
following the path to professional
golf.
Webster has won 1st place in the
Native American Junior Golf
Tournament three times - in 2003,
2004 and 2005 - and he took
His brother’s girlfriend’s mother
happened to have a spare set of
ladies’ golf clubs hanging around
in the garage that she let Webster
use, and by his own determination
he began to play.
A golf club near his San
Bernardino home offered Saturday
morning golf clinics for kids.
At his request and persistence,
Webster’s parents dropped him off
at the club every Saturday at 10
a.m. and picked him back up at 1
p.m. The cost of the clinic was $10;
the club’s professional golfer gave
lessons, and each child or teen was
given a bucket of golf balls.
Continued on Page 6
www.nasp.ucr.edu
Native American Student Programs 114
University of California at Riverside
224 Costo Hall
900 University Avenue
Riverside, California 92521
NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Riverside, CA.
Permit No. 131
Author, educator and storyteller,
Darryl Babe Wilson shared
his thoughts about wisdom,
landscapes, and dreams in an
interview with De Anza College
instructor Nancy Olsen and
CHC director Tom Izu. Wilson
is Achumawi and Atsugewi and
was born and grew up in the
Photo taken at the 2005 Medicine
Northeastern part of California
Ways Conference
with the name, Sul’ma’ejote. His
now Fall River.
people are often referred to as
I was born at home on the north
the Pit River Nation. His lyrical
memoir, The Morning the Sun Went side of Fall River at Fall River
Mills on November 21, 1939.
Down (Heyday Books, Berkeley,
Sul’ma’ejote, therefore, is my
1998) was critically received. Dr.
native name. Most natives do
Wilson has taught at a number of
universities and colleges including not know the language, the old
laws, or the landscape, or have
Foothill and De Anza colleges.
respect for these things. The
He has graciously allowed us to
native languages are rarely used
publish an original essay of his in
except as mispronunciations of
our next issue of The Californian
the bar room set. Natives garble
Question: 1. Where were you
what little language they know,
born? Will you give the native
agreeing among themselves that
name for that location?
their language and pronunciation
are “right on!” Then they have
The Fall River Valley, where I
another drink celebrating their
was born. In the old days it was
indigenous talents. The old people
Qatsade, if you are in the valley
shun them saying their conduct is
or if you are from the valley.
“disrespects.”
Tijtawa if you are from south of
It Ajuma (Pit River), Qa’jutewi if
Questions: 2. Describe people
you are from north of It Ajuma.
and landscape where you were
Anthropology, later, called the
born and grew up?
language and the people north of
The tribe’s population is less than
the river, Ajumawi. They were
five hundred. The people are not
trying to identify this people as
tall, but many men are created
“River People,” but it should have
thick, and we are a variety of
been Ajuma Itam Is. They also
complexions from deep coffee to
misidentified the people south of
cream, depending, usually, upon
It Ajuma, Hatwiwi (water flowing
people) as Atsugewi. Sul’ma’ejote the mixture of the Anglo race in
our genes. We have thick, straight,
(Where the Fall River emerges
after flowing under Ako Yet) is one black hair, deep brown eyes, and
Continued on Page 3
of the original names of what is
From the desk of the Director
All My Relations:
Welcome to Spring Quarter 2007.
Congratulations, to all of the
students who have successfully
completed the Winter Quarter
2007.
The Native American Student
Programs office is sadden by the
tragedy in University of Virginia.
We pray for the victims and their
families who are grieving. We also
pray for the safety of all students
throughout the entire world.
Anyone interested in applying to
UCR should contact us at (951)
827-4143, e-mail us at sisto@ucr.
edu or [email protected]. Check
our web at www.nasp.ucr.edu.
Thank you and have a happy
summer.
Sincerely,
Earl Dean Sisto, Director
Native American Student Programs
I would also like to commend
the Native American Student
Association for making the 2007
Medicine Ways Conference and
Pow Wow possible. Each year new
students participate and learn the
art of putting together a conference
and Pow Wow. They learn how
to plan, organize, and implement
activities such as the Conference
and Pow Wow. This is a good
experience working with American
Indian community as well as work
with university policies.
Page 2
Berkeley
Campus Representatives
Bridget Wilson
Native American Community
Relations Office of the
Undergraduate Admission
110 Sproul Hall, #5800
Berkeley, CA 94720
Phone:(510) 643-7902
Fax: (510) 642-7333
[email protected]
Ruth Hopper
Undergraduate Advisor
Native American Studies
506 Barrows Hall, #2570
Berkeley, CA 94720
Phone:(510) 642-6613
Fax: (510) 642-6456
[email protected]
Regarding the admission status
at UCR, I am happy that over
22 applicants have submitted
statements of intent to register
(SIR) indicating that more Native
students will be coming to UCR
in the Fall Quarter 2007. We
anticipate more will SIR with in
the next few months. In the mean
time, we will continue our efforts
to urge American Indian students
to consider UCR.
The Summer Residential Program:
Gathering of the Tribes is
scheduled for July 20 through July
29, 2007 with the 20th as a training
day for the staff. We’ll have serious
and fun activities for the students.
Individuals as far as Nevada,
Arizona, New Mexico, and other
states are interested in participating
in the program. I would like to
thank the Morongo, Soboba,
San Manuel, Agua Caliente, and
Pechanga tribes for their kind
contributions to make the UCR
Summer Residential Program
possible. A detailed article will be
placed in the Fall Quarter 2007.
University of California
American Indian Counselors/Recruiters Association
Davis
Are you an
American Indian
UCR Alumni?
Membership is available to any
American Indian and Alaskan
Native person who has graduated
from the University of Riverside,
California, or is a former student
that has completed at least 12
quarter units before leaving
the University of Riverside,
California.
Associate Membership is
available to any person who
supports the purposes and goals
of the organization.
Contact us
American Indian Alumni
Association
Email: [email protected]
(AIAA General mailing)
Email: [email protected] (AIAA
Board members)
Website: www.ai-aa.org
Michelle Villegas-Frazier,
Outreach Officer, School of
Medicine
MedSci 1C, 129
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
Phone: (530) 752-8387
FAX: (530) 754-6252
[email protected]
Los Angeles
Dwight Youpee, SAO
American Indian Studies Center,
UCLA
3220 Campbell Hall, Box 951548
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1548
Phone: (310) 206-7511
Fax: (310) 206-7060
[email protected]
224 Costo Hall
Riverside, CA 92521
Phone: (951) 827-4143
Fax: (951) 827-4342
[email protected]
San Diego
Geneva Lofton-Fitzsimmons
American Indian Coordinator
Early Academic Outreach
Student Center Complex B
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0305
Phone: (760) 749-1410 Ext.5278
Fax: (760) 749-1564
Cell: (858) 775-7072
gfi[email protected]
Alternate Adress for:
Geneva Lofton-Fitzsimmons
Student Program Coordinator
California Native American
Research for Health (CA-NARCH)
P.O. Box 406
Pauma Valley, CA 92061
Santa Barbara
Cuca Acosta, Admissions Counselor
Office of Admissions, UCSB
1234 Cheadle Hall
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-2016
Phone: (805) 893-2307
FAX: (805) 893-8779
[email protected]
Santa Cruz
Merced
Vickie Unruh, Senior Evaluator
Hahn Student Services
UC Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Phone: (831) 459-4191
[email protected]
Ruth Rodriguez
Student Affairs Officer/Transfer
University of California, Merced
Admissions & Relations with
Schools & Colleges
550 E. Shaw Suite 105
Fresno, California 93710
[email protected]
Dennis Tibbetts, Director
Native American Resource Center
Ethnic Studies Center, UCSC
1156 High Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
Phone:(831) 459-2881
Fax: (831) 459-4409
[email protected]
Riverside
Earl Dean Sisto, Director
Native American Student
Programs, UCR
Spring Quarter 2007
WEBSITE: www. ucaicra.org
Volume 16, #3
Carter Camp: The
American Holocaust
FW’d from [email protected]
http://freepeltiernow.blogspot.
com/2007/04/carter-camp-americanholocaust.html
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
There is an enormous cultural rip-off
being foisted upon our Nations by
Washington D.C. I’ve warned of it
before, but a small voice is easily
drowned out when millions of dollars
are being spent and the voice of the
Great White Father anoints Indian
leaders.
For a decade or more the Smithsonian
fundraising machine has gone merrily
along, draining much needed funds
away from the Indian community
and diverting America’s attention
away from the economic, cultural and
legal devastation going on across our
homelands.
Many interest groups coveted the final
two vacant spaces on the National
Mall. Congress in its wisdom awarded
one site to a very politically powerful
(and deserving) Jewish applicant
and another to the very politically
powerful Smithsonian Institution, their
‘keeper of the loot’.
Contrast the two new museums and
you can see how they are used to
support a conqueror’s cleansed view
of history: For the Jewish museum
no thought at all was given to using
it to show the world ancient Jewish
culture andartifacts. They could
have displayed scenes of ancient
Jewish life: hunting, tanning hides
and pastoral living. Like an Indian
museum, it would have been beautiful
and easy for people to enjoy.
It wasn’t done that way for
one reason...The Jewish people
were in charge and they decided for
themselves what aspect of their history
to show the world. They decided with
one voice to use the rare space as a
shield to protect their people against
a repeat of the Nazi holocaust. Jewish
politicians funded and protected
Jewish intellectuals, artists, historians,
Rabbis, and survivors as they crafted
a way to commemorate their dead and
to use their past to protect their future.
They refused to allow the dreams
of others to distort the truth of their
horror, and now their museum
Continued on Page 6
Volume 16, #3
Continued From Front Page
Dr. Darryl Babe Wilson
are of every size and temperament.
We are related through ancestry as
explained in our lessons and legends.
We should be hunters and fishermen,
gatherers and “just people” (living
in the labor-class). A generation
ago a few had special power. The
generation before that was laced
with power people. Today, within
the people, because of the hegemony
of “civilization,” arrogance, and
“progress,” appreciating the spiritual
connection to earth and the greater
powers has diminished in its necessity.
In the homeland today, the Bureau
of Indian Affairs is, often, the only
winter employment. There are few
who practice the “old way,” the
“old law”, the “old rule” and none
of the practitioners work with the
BIA, considering it another form
of intrusion, and a plot for taking
something.
The landscape varies – high
mountains, broad valleys, fresh water,
“sick” water, flowing water, forested
mountains, and buck and rabbit
brush carpet high deserts, with four
distinct seasons. There is no need
for a calendar. Spring arrives with
great relief, summer is a time to relax,
autumn is a time to prepare for the
long winter. Winter is a time to dream
of spring. Our legends explain the
human-landscape-connection, land
use, and the importance of respect for
it all. Legends are now a hesitating,
inaudible whisper across the evenings.
Again, the hegemony of civilization
has crushed the life-breath from the
native psyche – leaving confusion
in its gruesome wake. Not long
ago the landscape was personified,
balanced, healthy, and “fit.” The
earth was of the utmost importance,
providing food and shelter and places
for meditation. In the mornings the
earth and universal landscapes are
sweet, fresh, overpowering, humble,
and friendly, an eternal promise made
visible and a spiritual emotion made
tangible. Evenings are often like
the most delicate, sovereign-purple
negligee, and bird songs are mellow
as the ancient powers rest and recover
from an often long day. The evening’s
journey with brother sun, melting
into a glowing forever like a baby
dreaming and settling deep into a soft
pillow. The sun plans for tomorrow,
and eternity is wrapped in a starblanket of destiny as moon splashes
delicate silver across the earth.
Blossoms rest, birds sleep, earth
breathes slow and soft, and a fresh
dawn is only a dream away. Then we
think long and deep, realizing that we
are products of this continual wonder.
Question 3. How significant is
one’s name in relationship to the
landscape?
The old ones say, “Your destiny was
scattered in the vast at the time the
stars were sprinkled there, long ago.”
Therefore, those of us raised in the
“old way” by “old ones,” clearly
see the human-earth-universe as one
living being. Your wa’tu and ah’lo
are, then, precious above all else.
The ah’lo is your umbilical cordconnection to your mother and to the
earth. Your wa’tu is your spiritual
umbilical cord connecting you with
the universe – a type of “tap root,”
reaching far into forever.
My connection to my mother and
to earth is in the Fall River Valley,
there beside the Fall River. Therefore
my native name must show that
connection. I am Sul’ma’ejote. There
is only one Sul’ma’ejote (the river)
recognized by the great universal
powers. In the recent past all males
were named for the landscape of their
birth. In this manner anyone would
know you, your birth place, your
genealogy, and your history just by
your name. Ramsey Bone Blake, at
birth, was named Chuta’puki ahew,
jui ajijujuji. So, instantly one should
know who he is and who his people
are, and where that mountain is that
has seven springs and one of them
called Jui ajijujuji (where the water
comes up and the moss and grass are
always dancing). In this manner the
male person “becomes” an identifiable
part of the landscape. So, like my
Aunt Gladys said, sweeping her arm
around the mountainous landscape,
“Our spirits shall endure long after
these mountains turn to dust.” That
gives us tenure unlimited. She also
said, “You must have a “real” name
or the Great Powers won’t know
who to council.” Therefore, the
landscape name is most necessary. It
is also a practice terribly damaged by
civilization.
Spring Quarter 2007
The News Scam: Silencing
Genocide
By Brenda Norrell
TUCSON, Ariz. -- A decade ago,
journalists in Indian country wrote
about the failure of the mainstream
media to cover Indian issues fairly.
In those days, reporters for Indian
publications were seldom censored.
However, today, there is censorship
and a new agenda by corporate media,
even in Indian country.
The new agenda in Indian news
involves censoring the voices of
grassroots people and promoting the
agenda of the newspaper owners.
This includes using the newspaper
as a lobbying tool and protecting
politicians who might “grease the
wheels” of legislation in Washington.
Don’t take my word for it. Look
through the current online editions
of Indian newspapers and see who is
covering the FBI probe of Arizona
Congressman Rick Renzi, who
cochairs the Congressional Native
American Caucus. Then, look and
see who has covered Renzi’s copper
mine deal, opposed by Yavapais and
Apaches. Next, check out the earlier
censored article of the Apache protest
of Renzi in 2004 (see Censored blog
link) which involved Renzi’s attempts
to dilute environmental laws.
You can also read how Renzi
pushed for the Raytheon Missile
factory on the Navajo farm, Navajo
Agricultural Products Industries near
Farmington, N.M., where Navajos
grow commercial crops of potatoes
and corn, alongside the production of
missile parts. The Raytheon/Navajo
farm article was censored in 2006.
Further, read on the web about Renzi
and his father’s backgrounds in U.S.
intelligence and protests of Fort
Huachuca, where two priests were
arrested in 2006 for their peaceful
protest of U.S. torture. (Search for
news articles under http://www.
google.com/)
Few Indian publications carried
news coverage of Chiquita Brands
International when it recently
admitted that it paid paramilitaries
who murdered human rights activists,
union workers and farmers in
Colombia.
As of today, few Indian newspapers
have covered the Pueblos protest of
the installation of the statue of Onate
in El Paso. The Conquistador,
Page 3
Activities
NASA
members
hike in the
snow at the
Palomar
Mountains
during their
NASA
retreat. The
students
had a great
time getting
to know
eachother
more and
having fun.
Randy Redroad during the Q & A session of the American Indian Film
Festival. Randy showed his full feature film “The Doeboy” and short film
“133 Skyway”. Both films were great and the audience loved them and
Randy Redroad.
NASA & NASP members take a group photo with the famous Saginaw
Grant of the Sac and Fox Nation. Saginaw won Best Supporting Actor
in the movie “SkinWalkers.” Saginaw is very active in the Pow Wow
Circuit, so you might see him at any Pow Wow in So. Cal. He gave us
a great motivational speech.
UCR students came out in great support of the American Indian Film
Festival. Everyone had a great time and was wondering when the next
American Indian Film Festival at UCR was going to take place. Nearly 200
people showed up for the Film Festival.
Page 4
Left: Miguel
Hinojosa, UCR
Alumni, and
Earl, Director
of NASP.
Miguel aspires
to become a
great business
accountant.
He has already
landed a job
with one of the
top accounting
firms in the
The Gathering of the Tribes Summer Residential Program is just around
Nation, Ernst the corner. Here the participants were having fun at the beach burying
& Young.
people in the sand. This year the Summer Program will be from July 2129. If you are interested please contact us ASAP; spots are filling up fast.
Spring Quarter 2007
Volume 16, #3
26th Annual Medicine Ways Conference & Pow Wow
FANCY DANCE!!!
This young man demonstrates his
elaborate and intricate steps. His
professional moves attracted the whole
crowd.
“Honoring Our Warriors”
This young lady gracefully moves
Dr. Darryl Babe Wilson, Cindi Alvitre, Michelle Raheja, & Joe Morris around the Pow Wow arena in her
pose for the camera after the conference. All four were the Special Guests
that really made this conference very interesting and motivating. They all beautiful Shawl Regalia. She stunned
represented and defined what a warrior is from the past, present, and future. the crowd with every move.
Below: Darryl, Vidal, Theo, and Setero relaxing and enjoying the
Below: Head Gourd Dancer, David Patterson of the Sac and Fox Nation, boldly
conference.
dances. David is a very good dancer.
Below: NASA,
Below: The
NASP, and community members gather to take a picture
with our Special Guest speakers. The Medicine Ways Conference was a
success!
Volume 16, #3
gourd dancers and Head Woman, Angela Campos, and Head
Man, Julian Phoenix lead the Grand Entry. There were a lot of great
dancers.
Spring Quarter 2007
Page 5
Continued from Page 2
American Holocaust
is a powerful testament to a Jewish
dream, not a gentile revision of reality.
Our space, and the world’s window
to our Nations, was turned over to the
Smithsonian Institution to enshrine
the lie of ‘manifest destiny’ and the
historical inevitability of the American
Holocaust.
America’s museums have always
been a prime purveyor of the big lies
of American history, now the largest
and worst is given an army of nonIndian historians, anthros, romance
writers and a couple of Indian scouts,
to define us to the world.
They decided with one voice not to
use our rare and precious space as a
shield of truth against the American
Holocaust or to prevent the conclusion
of its evil purpose against my people.
We still die, our sacred sites are paved
over, our dead dug up, our children
stolen and mis-educated.Missionaries
search the jungle for the last of us.
American’s sensibilities are being
spared at the cost of continuing
depredations against Indian people.
Americans will go to the Holocaust
Museum and be told the horrible
truths of what Hitler and the Nazi’s
did to the Jews. They will cry for the
victims and mourn with the survivors,
in the end they too will be determined
to protect the Jewish people from a
repeat of the Holocaust. All thinking
people support this. They will also
becomforted (and exempted) to know
that America defeated the Nazi,
stopped the killing, and helped Jews
return to their homeland.
Next, Americans can walk over to the
museum of ‘Indian’ history. They will
be amazed and pleased at the beauty
of our past. Scenes of tipis, tanning
hides and pastoral living will hide the
blood covering every-square-inch of
America. Our blood. They will go
home marveling at our ancient art and
beauty and a little sad we had to pass
into history.
They may even feel a twinge of guilt
at the part their ancestors played in
our demise. But they will go away
without seeing or knowing the “time
of horror” each and every Tribe
went through upon contact with the
European.
They will go home without realizing
how much of the slaughter was
Page 6
an officially inspired, government
planned, and racist policy of genocide.
They will not realize the depth of
the crime committed so they will
not understand the crimes being
committed today or the need for
reparations to heal the devastation.
They will not understand that there
were entire Societies for whom the
“final solution” worked.
Entire Tribes, as whole and complete
as the Jewish Tribes, were completely
erased from Mother Earth. Their
language will never be heard, their
poetry, music, science and art is lost to
the world because they met a people
who believed in their own, god given,
superiority and the inferiority of all
else. (The base cause of all genocide.)
They will go home without feeling
the need to help Indian Nations secure
their own homelands or becoming
determined there never is another
American Holocaust.
Worst of all, they will go home and
not know that our people still suffer
ongoing policies of genocide and
attacks on our existence.
Missionaries and Governments still
work and plan to erase us from the
face of our Mother Earth. Indian
Country, from the Artic to Antarctica,
is still awash in the blood of our
People.
Should American Indians be
suspicious about the placement and
content of these two Museums? Jew
and “Indian?” Did it take some C.I.A.
psy-war expert to figure out how best
to cover-up the murder of over 200
million people? Will this museum,
with a mere nod to the 500-year
holocaust, stand as the permanent
enshrinement of the American lie
and the final resting place of Indian
history?
I believe there should be a holocaust
museum on Americas National Mall,
in America’s Capitol city. But not one
of the European disasters. It must be a
Bright Red Museum of the American
Holocaust! It must call the roll of
entire Nations of beautiful people who
succumbed to the genocidal onslaught.
Continued from Front Page
Gene Webster Jr.
Webster didn’t know anyone else at
the club, and none of his friends nor
anyone in his family played golf, but
something about Tiger Woods’ win got
him interested in the sport.
INDIAN TIME
“My parents were probably wondering
where I got it from, since no one else
in my family golfs,’’ Webster said.
Radio Program on
KUCR, 88.3 FM
Back home, Webster joined two youth
golf tours - the Junior Amateur Golf
Scholars and the International Junior
Golf Tour. Both tours showed him
what competition was out there and
what he needed to continue on with
the sport.
Every Thursday
5:30pm-6:30pm
american
indian
*MUSIC*
*NEWS*
*INTERVIEWS*
*DISCUSSIONS*
hosts:
John Smith
Paul Miranda
Robert Perez
Though there aren’t many Native
golfers around him,
Webster has his mind set on being one
of the first to go pro. He hopes to join
the PGA Tour sometime in the future.
“That’s my ultimate dream,’’ he said.
Webster said his two role models
have been Notah Begay III and Tiger
Woods. Both, said Webster, stand out
to him as being minorities who’ve
succeeded in golf.
While he continues working towards
becoming a professional golfer,
Webster has the love of the sport to
keep him grounded.
“I just love the value that it holds,’’
he said. “I love the challenge. It’s
just a game that you can never really
master.’’
“That’s all I really did,’’ Webster said.
“If I wasn’t in school I was on the golf
club or baseball field.’’
Just a couple of years after he picked
up his first golf club - right before
entering high school - Webster
competed in his first tournament.
Continued from Page 2
Silencing Genocide
It may have been his first loss, but
nothing was going to derail Webster’s
plans to pursue golf. Just one year
later he was unbeatable.
known as “The Butcher” to Pueblos,
cut off the feet of their ancestors,
while carrying out genocidial terror.
Now, in the state of New Mexico,
Onate is being honored with a statue.
(Although the El Paso Times covered
the protest, the article was not
available online in the days after the
protest.)
After placing 10th among high school
golfers in the San Bernardino region
during his freshman year of high
school, Webster stepped up his game
and came back to win 1st place in the
school league the following year and
for the next two years as well. He was
the first to win three years in a row in
his high school.
One of the most profound revelations
in the news recently was the exposure
of Canada’s draft counterinsurgency
military manual. The manual named
Mohawks with international terrorists
and recommended ambushses
and assassinations. Few Indian
publications covered the story in the
U.S.
While competing with his high school
team, Webster was also busy traveling
the country with his parents and little
brother to various golf tournaments,
gaining experience and proving that
he was serious about the sport.
So far, only one online Indian
publication (Pechanga Net) has carried
the news of the Zapatistas return
to the U.S.-Mexico border and the
announcement of the Intercontinental
Indigenous Conference. There were
no news reporters from American
“I was nervous,’’ he said. ‘’I had no
idea what to do. I think I shot an 83. I
didn’t win though.’’
Spring Quarter 2007
Volume 16, #3
Indian publications present at the
news conference on April 22, in
Sonora south of the Arizona border, to
interview Subcomandante Marcos and
the Comandantes from Chiapas.
One of the most censored topics in
the news media in America is any
issue involving Leonard Peltier. This
became obvious with the lack of
national news coverage of the recent
theater production “My Life is My
Sundance.”
Here is another example of
censorship. Louise Benally, Navajo, is
resisting forced relocation on Navajo
lands at Big Mountain, Ariz., where
Peabody Coal attorneys orchestrated
the so-called Navajo-Hopi Land
Dispute. Louise compared the Long
Walk and imprisonment at Bosque
Redondo, N.M., in the 1860s to the
war in Iraq and the U.S. treatment
of women and children in Iraq.
The article was censored. Louise’s
ancestors were among those who
witnessed the rapes, murders and
starvation of Navajos on the Long
Walk and during imprisonment at Fort
Sumner.
Silencing the word, “Genocide,”
is now U.S. policy, according to
Ambassador John Evans who used
the word “Genocide,” in reference to
Armenians and his career collapsed.
Unfortunately, the word “Genocide”
has also been censored in American
Indian media.
For the U.S., it is easier to pretend to
be the world’s champion of human
rights than to acknowledge the facts:
The colonized United States was
created by immigrants who kidnapped
and tortured blacks from Africa
and forced them into slavery, while
carrying out systematic genocide of
Indigenous Peoples. In some cases,
entire tribes were murdered.
There is also manipulation of the facts.
Few news reporters have exposed the
real agenda behind the current borderimmigration hysteria. As with Iraq, the
agenda involves funds for friends of
the Bush administration: Halliburton’s
contract for migrant prisons; war
contractors multi-million dollar
contracts for security and surveillance
systems and Homeland Security’s
control of sovereign Indian tribal
lands along the border.
There were even funds for migrant
detention centers on Tohono O’odham
tribal land, with one detention center
already operating and another planned.
In this area, migrants, including many
Volume 16, #3
Indigenous Peoples from Mexico
and Central America, die in need of
a drink of water. In this area, it is a
crime according to U.S. and Tohono
O’odham tribal law, to give a dieing
migrant, with their blood flowing from
their body, a ride to the hospital. It is
a crime, even if the dieing person is a
fellow Indigenous person.
With the Internet, and blogs like this
one, publishing news has become
very easy. But the truth is increasingly
hard to come by. Unless reporters
show up in person and interview
regular people, other than politicians,
corporations and advertising sponsors,
the news becomes a sham and a game.
No one knows all of the truth,
journalists must depend on the people
to tell us the truth.
Here’s one of the big secrets in
America: Corporations lie. They pay
press officers large sums of money to
make sure they get away with those
lies most of the time.
To counter this, American Indian
activists are now going directly to
the stockholders to expose the human
rights abuses. They have targeted
some of the worst offenders globally:
Peabody Coal and Newmont and
Barrick gold mining corporations.
Further, newspaper editors operate on
the assumption that readers are not on
to their scams. They distract readers
by printing the news that is “safe to
print,” covering issues that sound
good, but lack revelations about real
threats to survival, which leave in
their aftermath real consequences and
controversy.
Further, editors assume if the largest
media outlets censor the truth, they
can control knowledge and ultimately
control the future.
So, many of us write our blogs and
send out the news to listserves, hoping
that maybe a little of the truth will still
sneak out.
--Brenda Norrell
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2007/04/
news-scam-silencing-genocide.html
ACTION ALERT
California Bill Forbids Eagle
Feather Acquisition and
Facilitates Arrests
by DaShanne Stokes
On April 18, 2007 an amended bill
(AB 1729) was introduced into
the California State Senate by the
Committee on Water, Parks and
Wildlife forbidding the acquisition
of eagle feathers and parts “initially
obtained on nontribal lands.” The bill
also mandates that those possessing
feathers maintain “valid tribal
identification in [their] immediate
possession.” With California’s
433,000 Native American people (US
Census 2005 est.) comprising 14% of
the nation’s indigenous population, the
impact of this bill will be immediate
and felt nationwide.
to involve Native American tribes,
organizations, and individuals in the
distribution process.”
Section 3801.6 of the bill creates
problems for anyone participating in
ceremony (e.g. sun dance or sweat
lodge) in which the possession
of non-traditional objects (i.e.
tribal identification cards) may be
inappropriate. Because many, if
not most, tribal members do not
carry identification with them while
participating in ceremony, the bill
stands to facilitate the harassment and
arrest of many tribal members.
http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/
asm/ab_1701-1750/ab_1729_bill_
20070313_introduced.pdf
Requiring tribal identification to be
immediately available is unfeasible
for individuals participating in
Copyrighting Tribal
Tradition
ceremonies such as sweat lodge
or sun dance, during which
participants are not to be bothered
(e.g. by being carded) and during
which it would be inappropriate
to require them to leave their
ceremonial site (e.g. to retrieve
tribal identification).
By Charles Goldfinger
The wording “Nothing in this section
allows those feathers or parts to be
initially obtained on nontribal lands”
is in direct contradiction to Title
50 Part 22 of the Code of Federal
Regulations (50 CFR 22), which
provides for the acquisition of eagle
feathers and parts for Native American
religious and spiritual use through
the National Eagle Repository. The
Repository, located on non-tribal lands
in Denver, CO, is the nation’s primary
source and distribution center of eagle
feathers and parts for religious use.
This limitation to tribal lands will
severely hinder eagle feathers and
parts acquisition as directed by 59 F.R.
22953, the executive order issued by
President Clinton in 1994 directing the
heads of Executive Departments and
Agencies, specifically the Department
of the Interior to “ensure the priority
of distribution of eagles,” “minimize
the delay and ensure respect and
dignity in the process of distributing
eagles for Native American religious
purposes,” and to “expand efforts
Spring Quarter 2007
DaShanne Stokes, M.A., is director
of the public interest advocacy group,
Religious Freedom with Raptors
www.geocities.com/eaglefeatherlaw
AB 1729 is posted on the California
State Senate website at:
http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/
asm/ab_1701-1750/ab_1729_bill_
20070418_amended_asm_v98.pdf
Please contact California state
legislators to request their support in
overturning this bill.
IPDigest
18 April 2007
Extension of the coverage of the
copyright has been one of the
dominant traits of the inexorable rise
of intellectual property. It is usually
discussed in the context of hightechnologies and, more specifically,
of computer software. Now it appears
that copyright may be useful not only
for the present and the future but also
for the past.
According to a well-researched
article published in the Herald, a local
newspaper in Washington State, the
indigenous Indian tribe of Tulalips
want to use the copyright to preserve
their tribal tradition, which goes back
for several centuries and comprises
songs, paintings and carvings as well
as oral stories, built around gods and
monsters invented by storytellers.
In the absence of such protection,
tribe leaders believe that their culture
will be either become extinct as
elder members of the tribe die, or be
misappropriated and disfigured by
outside commercial interests. In order
to physically preserve the tradition,
a computerized database of various
artifacts is being designed.
Tribal leaders are drafting a
specific legislation, with the help of
community volunteers and the Center
for World Indigenous Studies in
Continued on Last Page
Page 7
Continued from Page 7
Copyrighting Tribal
Tradition
Olympia, Washington. Such a law
is needed as the current copyright
usage in the United States does
not cover collective works, whose
authorship cannot be precisely
attributed.
In this era of growing interest in
cultural heritage and tradition, the
potential impact of the approach
of Tulalips goes well beyond the
northwestern corner of the US and
has global implications. According
to the article, WIPO follows the
Tulalips’ case closely and wants to
use the proposed Tulalip law as a
model for other indigenous groups
worldwide.
http://bulletin.sciencebusiness.
net/ebulletins/showissue.
php3?page=/548/art/7692/
INDIAN TIMES
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June 16, 2007
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4th Annual Pow Wow by the Sea
Honoring Our Mothers & Daughters
Imperial Beach Pier Plaza
(619) 429-6621
[email protected]
June 22, 2007
Billy Mills Summer Academy
Pow Wow
Haskell Pow Wow Grounds
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June 25-29, 2007
Educational Conference for Native
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Loews Vantana Canyon Hotel
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June 29, 30, July 1
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45000 Pechanga Parkway
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July 27-29, 2007
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October 26, 2007
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