tagged w/ Indigenous Peoples
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2010 Olympics promotional train tour becomes target for protests across Canada.
With more than a full year before the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics begin, the games have already encountered stiff opposition. A range of groups have expressed their disagreement with the way that the Olympics are being run on Canada's west coast. Their concerns include: environmental destruction, the rights of low or no income residents, lack of transparency and consultation in decision making, and development on indigenous land that has never been surrendered to Canada. Olympic sponsor Canadian Pacific Railway ran a promotional tour, known as the Spirit Train, across Canada which became a target for activists countrywide. One group went as far as to occupy the train tracks, thereby temporarily postponing the train while en route to its Toronto stop. The Real News spoke to Angela Sterritt who provided background information on the various reasons why the Olympics have created such a backlash. One of the major issues being raised by activists is the construction of Olympic venues on indigenous territory that has never been signed over to the Government of Canada via treaty or otherwise. The Real News also spoke to Leah George-Wilson, Chief of the Tsleil-Waututh nation, who is supporting the Olympics, to get her response to the points being raised by the protesters.
Angela Sterritt is a grassroots organizer, artist and writer from the Gitxsan Nation of Northwest British Columbia. She currently works as a support worker in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Women's Centre and is a member of the Olympic opposition group, the Native 2010 Resistance. Angela recently completed a nationwide speaking tour of Canada regarding the 2010 Olympics.
Leah George-Wilson is the Chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, located in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Chief George-Wilson is a Co-Chair of British Columbia's First Nations Summit, a forum for issues related to treaty negotiations in the province. As Chief, Leah represents her nation as a member of the Four Host First Nations Society, a group made up of leaders from the four indigenous nations that will be hosting the Olympic Games on their lands.2010 Olympics promotional train tour becomes target for protests across Canada.... more
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Thousands gather for 62-mile march to demand justice and land.
10,000 indigenous Colombians are marching against President Alvaro Uribe's policies. The protest comes one week after violence erupted during demonstrations to press for land reform and dialogue with the government.
Thousands gather for 62-mile march to demand justice and land.
10,000 indigenous... more
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President George W. Bush's apparent lack of understanding on tribal sovereignty is examined by Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, executive director and co-founder of the non-profit Turtle Island Project in Munising, Michigan.
This video was made as Hubbard made two presentations on September 24, 2008 during the third annual UNITED Conference at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan.
This video is about infamous comments about Native American Tribal Sovereignty made by President George W. Bush on August 6, 2004 at the UNITY conference in Washington D.C.
President Bush was asked the tribal sovereignty question by Mark Trahant, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Page Editor, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe in Idaho and former president of the Native American Journalists Association.
Bush answered the question but that answer was so bizarre it caused journalists to laugh:
"Tribal sovereignty means that. It's sovereign," President Bush said. "You've been given sovereignty and you're viewed as a sovereign entity."
The conference involved about 7,500 journalists of color from the Native American Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Asian-American Journalists Association
Hubbard said it's funny, scary and sad that President George W. Bush doesn't understand the important issue of Native American tribal sovereignty.
The Turtle Island Project thanks Democracy Now for the use of their video of President Bush's remarks on tribal sovereignty.
http://www.democracynow.org
Related Links:
White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc. (WBCWS)
PO Box 227
Mission, S.D.
57555
http://www.wbcws.org
Javier H. Alegree
Public Relations Specialist
Media and Education
(605) 856-2317
(605) 856-2494 (fax)
Official website of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe - Sicangu Lakota
http://www.rosebudsiouxtribe-nsn.gov/
Northern Michigan University (NMU)
http://www.nmu.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Michigan_University
NMU Center for Native American Studies
Northern Michigan University
1401 Presque Isle Avenue
Marquette, MI 49855
http://webb.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies
906-227-1397
nasa@nmu.edu
April Lindala, Director
Grace Chaillier, NMU Adjunct Assistant Professor
Sicangu Lakota band of the Rosebud Sioux
906-227-1390
Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED):
http://www.nmu.edu/UNITED
http://webb.nmu.edu/UNITED/SiteSections/2008Schedule.shtml
Organizers:
Dr. Judith Puncochar, NMU Professor
906-227-1366
Turtle Island Project
Non-Profit Munising, Michigan
http://www.turtleislandproject.org
Founders:
Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard
Rev. Dr. George Cairns
Turtle Island TV bliptv
http://turtleislandtv.blip.tv
Turtle Island TV youtube
http://www.youtube.com/MunisingWhiteHorse
Turtle Island myspace
http://www.myspace.com/TurtleIslandProject
email:
TurtleIslandProject@charter.net
Anishinaabe News NMU Native American student newspaper
http://webb.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies/SiteSections/Resources/NAS/NishNews.shtml
Democracy Now:
http://www.democracynow.org
27 minutes into the 1 hour video Jesse Jackson jokes about comment & interview with reporter who asked Bush the question
Video & Audio - several formats:
http://www.archive.org/details/dn2004-0810_vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5xVRXLgLxw
White House Press Release: What Bush meant to say:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/08/20040806-1.html
"Pagans in the Promised Land" by Steven T. Newcomb (2008):
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/28405454.html
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/28407494.html
http://www.indypendent.org/2008/04/25/discoverer-delusions
Lakota Sioux & Rosebud Reservation:
http://www.rosebudsiouxtribe-nsn.gov/history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosebud_Indian_Reservation
Native American Religious Freedom Act (1978)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Religious_Freedom_Act
President George W. Bush's apparent lack of understanding on tribal sovereignty... more
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(Marquette, Michigan) - Many of the rich around the world view Indigenous Peoples, women and children as “expendable commodities,” said Turtle Island Project Director Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard during Northern Michigan University 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit.
Hubbard added he fears for the future of mankind and the planet because “we have lost any sense of the sacred.”
The summit was held on Earth Day 2008 on the NMU campus in Marquette, Michigan near the shores of Lake Superior.
The two-day summit - the first of its kind at NMU - was April 22-23.
Read more by clicking on link.(Marquette, Michigan) - Many of the rich around the world view Indigenous Peoples,... more
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TIP Dir. Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard:
I think we have here two different forms of religion. Ands its this religion of my ancestors that I participate in that I think really has been the problem. I think we have to come to understand that religious consciousness evolves just like anything else does. It's not just the material world that evolves but also our cultural world evolves and the realm of the concept evolves. We are going now, as a people - there was a time from prehistorical religions to historic religions. the religions of the book Judaism, Christianity, Islam to this historic period. Now I think that is transending to this transrational understanding of spirituality. And as part of this transrational understanding of spirituality is an appropriation of this knowledge and spirituality of Earth-based cultures. I think we have to be open now to what John Trudell called ‘spirit making and escape.’ I love this idea. My spirit needs to make an escape from my religious consciousness. The racial and cultural genocide that still goes on today inside this country . Judaism is an inherently ethical religion except you have to be a Canaanite. You may get your ass kicked or your head cut off but basically it's OK. But sky Gods and cultures that worship sky Gods are traditionally barbaric - Read the Old Testament - Wow! Talk about patriarchy. But we are in a war. It is not a war of my choosing.But we are in a war I truly believe that - a war fore our hearts and our minds. We have to continually fight.It's multi-generational. We fight against great principalities and powers. It's amazing. If you stick your head up out of the foxhole just a little bit and you start speaking on behalf of the poor. Those bullets are flying. I said something about a corporation. I said we created these corporations and political structures that aren't moral entities because you have to say things like: ‘I'm sorry. I made a mistake.' You have to admit your humanness. When's the last time your heard a politician ever admit a mistake unless they were forced to? ‘I did not have sex with that woman - I did not inhale - yes I smoked but I did not inhale' And I said corporations are liked this too - they are not moral entities because they cannot do these things like apologize. Well, good Lord that's attacking a sacred cow - there's a guy in my congregation who just went ballistic - who quit the church because he had spent his entire life benefiting from, working for, a non-moral entity. I did not say all corporations were liked this - I just said some corporations are like this. Well that's all you have to say. Rev. Hubbard said Americans and all people who call Earth home need to protect the environment. He said we have lost the sense of the sacred - a lesson that can be learned from Native Americans and other Indigenous peoples. I understand this because I feel desperate. What John Trudell was talking about is the same way. We've lost our way. We do not have any spiritual sense because we have lost any sense of the sacred. A great historian of the religions Mircea Eliade who was at the University of Chicago where I for many years - I did his funeral. Mircea Eliade had this notion that in order to have a hierophany, an experience of the sacred, you have to have sacred space. If this Earth is not sacred to you, which it isn't to Mickey Mouse, then you can't have an experience of the sacred. I deal with people every day in my congregation who have lost or are losing any sense of the sacred. And it's not only - like you were saying this relationship between Earth and women - and the earth and man. If you do not have power in a capitalistic society, you become part of and you are thought of in terms of the Earth. Women who have less economic power, children who don't have any power at all unless somebody gives it to them, Indigenous communities, you are all thought of as expendable commodities.TIP Dir. Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard:
I think we have here two different forms of religion.... more
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(Keshena, Wisconsin) - The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin contributed over 4 tons of electronic and pharmaceutical waste to the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge.
This is the second of several videos explaining the numerous MITW projects including teaching youth about the legend of the sturgeon and its place in tribal culture, cleaning up the reservation, and replacing gang symbols with Native American art.
In part two, the non-profit interfaith Earth Healing Initiative looks at the sturgeon education classes.
The tribe was creative as it added other facets to the challenge like teaching the children about their culture and the close relationship to the earth and its many lakes and streams.
All classes at the tribal school taught the students about the sturgeon, that is a vital part of Menominee legend and heritage, said Joe Awanahopay, language arts instructor at the Menominee tribal school.
Earth Week tribal school classes applied subjects like math, history and others to different aspects of the life cycle, biology, habitat, legends, spawning grounds and the cultural and practical value of the sturgeon, an important fish to the Menominee people since the dawn of their tribe.
“The sturgeon are a historic importance to our people,” he said. “Since the beginning of time, our people have relied upon the sturgeons for various reasons including for food and scraping hides.”
“In our legends, the sturgeon are the protectors of our wild rice,” said Awanahopay of the slow-growing giant fish known for its thick hide and rubbery snout whose uses and related regulations have sometimes pitted white fishermen against American Indians. “We have been engaging the students in the culture, language, science and the social studies of what the sturgeon mean to our people.”
“They've been studying the anatomy and the physiology of the sturgeon and the students are looking at the sturgeon habitats and what the effects of pollution are.”
“They are looking at the different migrations, the geography, the path the sturgeon used to take to come to their home here - their traditional spawning grounds on the Menoninee Indian reservation,” he said. “Because of two dams that are here now south of our reservation, sturgeon are no longer able to come home here to their ancestral spawning grounds.”
“We are so fortunate to have so many elders that we still work with that are able to give us this knowledge and pass it from one generation to the next, despite all of the forced assimilation and the changes in our youth, who are trying to make their way in modern society yet integrate the traditions with the technology in today’s world," Awanahopay said.
Sponsors include the tribe's Community Resource Center, Menominee County Police, Menominee Tribal Police, Tribal Clinic Wellness Program (Maehnowesekiyah), Probation and Parole, Community Recycling Project, Recreation Department, EarthHealing.org and the U.S. Post Office in Keshena.
This video is possible by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the EPA's Region 5 office and the EPA Great Lakes national Program Office (both in Chicago); in cooperation with the non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative in Marquette, MI.
The EHI involves American Indian tribes and "a coalition of churches, synagogues and other faith traditions joining together to heal, protect and defend the environment," said EHI founder Rev. Jon Magnuson of Marquette, Michigan.
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Menominee Indian Tribe of WI:
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov
MITW Tribal School:
http://mts.bia.edu/
College of Menominee Nation
http://www.menominee.edu
Earth Healing Initiative:
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org
Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Bah'i Community) of Interfaith Resources Special Ideas website:
http://www.interfaithresources.com
1-800-326-1197(Keshena, Wisconsin) - The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin contributed over 4 tons... more
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Youth and adults at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin plan three events as part of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge
(Keshena, Wisconsin) - As the students of all ages plan a major hands-on clean up of a tribal community and the recycling of electronics and proper disposal of unwanted medications to honor Earth Day 2008, adult members of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in Keshena, WI have already turned in several thousand pounds of electronic waste as part of a national Earth Day Project.
The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin is collecting e-Waste all month including during the tribe's regular curbside bulk items Spring Cleaning collection on April 21-24 (Monday thru Thursday).
"We are getting lots of electronics right now," said Diana Wolf, the MITW Solid Waste/Recycling Coordinator.
The projects are part of the eight-state Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge sponsored by the USEPA. The events are being promoted by the interfaith Earth Healing Initiative that teams numerous faith communities and American Indian tribes with local challenge organizers to be volunteers and participants in the projects spread across the Great Lakes basin.
During the first week of April, the tribe’s drop-off sites collected several thousand pounds of electronics including 919 pounds of "low-grade circuit boards" removed from TV sets, stereos, high quality computers, cassette players and other electronics.
Wolf estimated that about two tons (4,000 pounds) of electronics will be turned in by the end of the month.
“We will do whatever it takes to do cradle to grave recycling,” Wolf said. "We are not making a profit off of it but it is the right thing to do."
On April 25 students at the Menominee Tribal School (k-8) will be cleaning the area around the school of litter and recyclables and other downtown areas of Neopit. The tribe's 234,000-acre reservation includes the communities of Keshena, Zoar and South Branch.
"The students will be picking up litter and recyclables - and anything that's on the roads or sidewalks or the yards," Wolf said, adding the students will be planting 50 saplings.
"We are inviting the parents to bring a potluck and there will likely be wild rice and other Native American dishes," Wolf said.
The lunch will include a drama performance and include Native Music involving the "Wind Eagle Drum" or the "high school drum" consisting of students who are learning the music of the Menominee tribe's history.
"Our school is very much a cultural-motivated school," Wolf said. "The school teaches about the Menominee culture and language. The students learn about our Menominee history and our language amongst the non-native teaching."
"My children speak fluent Menominee because they have been in the school for three years," Wolf said.
Menominee tribal college students are doing their part to protect the planet with e-Waste and pharmaceutical collections.
The College of Menominee Nation (State Hwy. 47/55) in Keshena, is accepting e-waste and unwanted medicines on April 22 from 9 a.m. to noon and accepting e-Waste from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the commons building.
The college’s Implementing Sustainable Development class is hosting the collection with help from the tribe's solid waste coordinator.
The e-Waste collection will accept electronics including old/broken computers, cell phones and batteries.
The pharmaceutical collection is accepting old and unwanted medications that must be in their original bottle or container.
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org/keshena.html
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov
http://www.menominee.edu
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/earthWeekFlyer.pdfYouth and adults at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin plan three events as part... more
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The 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit will be held in Marquette, MI on April 22-23 at Northern Michigan University.
The summit is a "call to action" on Indigenous environmental issues in the Great Lakes area, on Turtle Island and around the world.
It is sponsored by the Center for Native American Studies, the Environmental Science Program and the Office of International Programs.
An Aboriginal Australian delegation from the Traditional Knowledge Revival Pathways project are the keynote presenters and will provide musical entertainment.
http://www.tkrp.com.au
Presentations include ideas on how to address Indigenous environmental concerns.
Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, founder of the Turtle Island Project, has two presentations at the NMU 2008 Indigenous Earth Day.The 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit will be held in Marquette, MI on April 22-23 at... more
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An Introduction: The interfaith Earth Healing Initiative and Earth Day 2008
Numerous faith communities, American Indian tribes and many others being encouraged to volunteer or participate in a large eight-state Earth Day 2008 project with events across the Great Lakes Basin through mid-May.
The new Earth Healing Initiative (EHI) is organizing faith communities. The EHI is one of numerous environment and Native American projects founded by the non-profit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette, Michigan.
Collection sites will accept old/broken computers, cell phones, TVs and other electronics to be recycled, and old/unwanted medicines to be properly disposed during the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge.
The EPA is awarding grants to some of the collection sites where residents can drop off e-waste and old/unwanted pharmaceuticals.
The Michigan Earth Keeper Initiative, co-founded by the Cedar Tree Institute, have alliances with ten faith traditions across the Upper Peninsula, and the EHI is coordinating the same relationships with religious communities across the Great Lakes and beyond.
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Earth Healing official website::
http://www.EarthHealingInitiative.org
EPA GLNPO Official challenge link:
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/earthday2008/index.html
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/earthday2008/events.html
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EPA Press Release on challenge:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/D48F2AD96EC624E38525740B003AEE57
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The co-founder of the Michigan Earth Keepers, ELCA Lutheran Rev. Jon Magnuson created the Earth Healing Initiative in March 2008 to spread the word about interfaith and Native American environment projects.
The EHI is offering free media assistance to environment projects including press releases, press contacts, internet and high definition digital videos, podcasts and vast internet postings.
For more details call Greg at 906-401-0109.
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An Introduction: The interfaith Earth Healing Initiative and Earth Day 2008... more
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Numerous faith communities, American Indians tribes and many others being recruited to volunteer or participate in large eight-state Earth Day 2008 events across the Great Lakes Basin.
Collections sites will accept old/broken computers, cell phones, TVs and other electronics to be recycled, and old/unwanted medicines to be properly disposed during the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge
The EPA is awarding grants to some of the collection sites where residents can drop off e-waste and old/unwanted pharmaceuticals. The new Earth Healing Initiative will be organizing faith communities
For more details read the article or check out these links: Or call Greg at 906-401-0109.
Earth Healing official website::
http://www.EarthHealingInitiative.org
EPA Press Release on challenge:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/D48F2AD96EC624E38525740B003AEE57
EPA GLNPO Official challenge link:
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/earthday2008/index.html
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/earthday2008/events.htmlNumerous faith communities, American Indians tribes and many others being recruited to... more
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Call for Proposals: NMU 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit
EXTENDED DEADLINE!
Northern Michigan University is seeking presentation proposals for the 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit to be held at NMU April 22-23.
This summit is made possible by the Center for Native American Studies, the Environmental Science Program and the Office of International Programs.
This summit will function as a call to action on Indigenous environmental issues in the Great Lakes area, on Turtle Island and around the world.
An Aboriginal Australian delegation from the Traditional Knowledge Revival Pathways project will be featured as keynote presenters and will provide musical entertainment.
http://www.tkrp.com.au
Presentations should ultimately include ideas on how to address Indigenous environmental concerns. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following.
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge (T.E.K.)
- Education and Indigenous environmental concerns
- History of industrialism, industrial threats, Indigenous peoples and the Earth
- Economic globalization and Indigenous peoples
- Indigenous languages and the Earth
- Solutions in Indigenous cultures to environmental problems
- Indigenous subsistence rights and protection of sacred land
- Global poisoning and the impact on Indigenous peoples
- Climate change and its impact on Indigenous peoples
A variety of presentations are encouraged (music, art, films as well as papers and panels).
Activists, Native elders and Native community members are strongly encouraged to submit proposals.
Proposals should be 150-300 words in length. Deadline for submissions has been extended to Monday, March 17, 2008.
Send to:
cnas@nmu.edu
(attachments should only be in Microsoft Word or as a PDF)
Subject line: Indigenous Earth Day Summit Proposal
-or-
Center for Native American Studies
Northern Michigan University
1401 Presque Isle Ave
Marquette, MI 49855
For more information call 906-227-1397
http://www.nmu.edu/nativeamericans
Call for Proposals: NMU 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit
EXTENDED DEADLINE!... more
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Racism, spiritual terrorism and the loss of Indigenous culture are among numerous social issues targeted by the Turtle Island Project, founded in northern Michigan in August 2007.
Two Midwest pastors started the Turtle Island Project because the world is sitting on the brink of important cultural, economic and religious issues that will either allow humans to prosper in harmony with the Earth or become the only species to cause its own extinction.
Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard and Rev. Dr. George Cairns say some if not many Christians belittle the knowledge and heritage of Indigenous cultures like Native Americans, Celts and other centuries-old religions/beliefs aligned with nature and the environment.
They believe we can all learn a lot about nature and the environment by listening to Earth-based cultures.
Rev. Hubbard is a Lutheran pastor. Rev. Cairns is an ordained United Church of Christ minister.
Both have extensive backgrounds in interfaith and multi-cultural work.
The Turtle Island Project in Michigan's Upper Peninsula promotes respect for the environment and Native Americans.
Turtle Island Project volunteer media advisor Greg Peterson reports
On Sept. 25, 2007 Rev. Hubbard spoke to college students, tribal educators and others at the annual United Conference at Northern Michigan University.
Topics included diversity and issues like the abuse and sexual mutilation of girls and women in Africa and racism against Native Americans
Rev. Hubbard said some Christians are too quick to dismiss Native American teachings.
Hubbard said whites can learn a lot from NA storytellers, myths and other Earth-based teachings.
Rev. Hubbard says Native Americans know that not everything can be described in words alone.
On August 11, 2007 - Dr. Hubbard spoke to religious scholars and authors in Ann Arbor - during the kick off of the Read the Spirit project.
Hubbard warned that some Christians think their beliefs are perfect to the exclusion of all others.
On August 28, 2007, Rev. Hubbard was invited to join a national Native American radio talk show conversation on racism by whites who live in towns bordering reservations - the same issue that Nimrod Nation highlighted as Watermeet, Michigan is on the edge of a reservation.
During Native America Calling, Rev. Hubbard told host Harlan McKosato that racism in northern Michigan is insidious.
Turtle Island Project main website:
http://www.turtleislandproject.org
Turtle Island (myspace)
http://www.myspace.com/TurtleIslandProject
Turtle Island Project websites/Blogs:
http://groups.msn.com/WhisperingTurtle
http://turtleislandproject.wordpress.com
TurtleIslandProject@charter.net
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Lakota words for God, Creator, Grandfather: Tunkasila Wakantanka Gitchi Manitou
Lakota: Mitakyasi: "all my relatives"
http://www.dlncoalition.org/home.htm
Heraclitus "The essence of things"
http://www.thebigview.com/greeks/heraclitus.html
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/books/philosophy-book-heraclitus.htm
Bishop Rt Rev. Steven Charleston
President and Dean of Episcopal Divinity School, Professor of Theology
Cambridge, Mass.
http://www.eds.edu/indexDyn.asp
http://www.wfn.org/1999/05/msg00107.html
http://www.nah.uiuc.edu/faculty/treaty/NCcharleston.html
http://www.anglican.ca/news/news.php?newsItem=2001-07-05_st.news
http://www.bluecloud.org/shiningthrough.html
http://www.thewitness.org/agw/charleston042204.html
http://edoc.vox.com/library/posts/tags/steven+charleston/
http://www.interfaithcreationfest.org/program.html#keynote
Jamestown summit remembers Native saints, prepares for future generations:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78695_91767_ENG_HTM.htm
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/hires-image/elo_jamestown1_lg.tif
Photo by Carlyle Gravely
© 2007 Episcopal Life Online
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February 2008 United Nations Report on Racism and Human Rights violations and racial discrimination reported by Indigenous Peoples.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/I_P_I/message/18971
http://www.treatycouncil.orgRacism, spiritual terrorism and the loss of Indigenous culture are among numerous... more
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Washingtonians - and others with big egos - have a portrait fetish that is obscene especially when it involves taxpayers money.
Even half that nealry 50 grand could have been significant funding for the non-profit Native American and environment projects I volunteer for in northern Michigan.
More comment after a few sentences of the article and a look at this portrait:
Portrait Cost Indian Museum $48,500: Senators, Trustees Question Spending By Former Director
By James V. Grimaldi
Washington Post Staff Writer
W. Richard West Jr., the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, spent $48,500 in museum funds to commission a portrait of himself.
The portrait of West by New York artist Burton Silverman hangs in the patrons' lounge on the fourth floor of the flagship museum, which is dedicated to the arts and culture of American Indians.
Silverman said West picked him after he saw a portrait Silverman had done of former Smithsonian secretary Robert McCormick Adams.
The Adams portrait, completed about a decade earlier, was smaller and cost about half as much.
Rest of the Washington Post story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/03/AR2008010304163.html
Portrait:
http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2008/01/04/PH2008010400031.jpg
[IMG]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee225/YOOPERNEWSMAN/RichardWestcrookedSmithsonian.jpg[/IMG]
Native American on Native American crime - much like black on black crime - is especially insidious because so much good could have been done for First Nations peoples heritage with this wasted and misappropriated money.
It's also a crime against taxpayers and common decency.
Spending $48,500 on a self portrait is among the disgraceful financial crimes of W. Richard West Jr., the founding director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.
For this crime to occur in the hallowed halls of the Smithsonian shows again thievery knows no class boundaries - and should be treated just as severely as the poor man who sticks a gun into the face of a 7-11 clerk.
The Smithsonian needs to be thoroughly audited from top to bottom as this is at least the second huge scandal to tarnish its once respected reputation.
No doubt it's only the tip of the fiduciary iceberg that's tearing through the Smithsonian's highbrow richly-protected hull.
I do volunteer work for several Native American related non-profits whose budgets are much smaller than even the cost of that disgraceful portrait.
And the suggestion that it could not have been painted by an American Indian artist is as laughable as it is sickening with a hint of racism against one's own culture.
Even the portrait stance is borrowed and unoriginal, as a buttoned-down Mr. West gazes thoughtfully off to the east, his coat hanging on a crooked forefinger and tossed over suspenders with his soft thumb and the remaining fingers forming the "OK" sign.
The Washington ego commands that a portrait much be painted to prove one's importance.
No doubt many law offices, banking institutions and the halls of officialdom are plastered with the self-aggrandizing crafty art.
Prior to the Polaroid, a self-portrait may have been necessary to preserve one's historic legacy but in today's world it's merely a measure of one's self-importance that is more often scoffed at than admired by those it's meant to impress. Perhaps, a modern definition of irony.
Maybe the next exhibit at the Smithsonian will be portraits of former executives doing the proverbial "perp walk" - cuffed and stuffed for perp-etuity. Washingtonians - and others with big egos - have a portrait fetish that is obscene... more
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(Marquette, Michigan) - The Manoomin Project is restoring wild rice to northern Michigan after the grain disappeared a century ago due to logging, pesticides and other manmade impact.
Over 100 at-risk teens are learning to respect themselves, nature and American Indian culture by planting more than one ton of wild rice during the past four summers. The teens also learn about social issues like racism against Native Americans.
The 2007 planting was delayed six weeks until November due to low water levels.
The teens first participate as part of juvenile court probation for minor crimes but many enjoy the project so much they return the next year.
Guides from several tribes volunteer to teach the teens how to take water samples, and about the historical and cultural importance of the grain that is used in many American Indian ceremonies.
The project was founded by the non-profit Cedar Tree Institute and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC).
Guides belong to KBIC, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa (Ottawa) Indians based in downstate Harbor Springs, Michigan, and the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa located close to International Falls, Minnesota near the Canadian border.
Rev. Jon Magnuson, project founder, praised the tribes for working with the teens, most of whom are white. The project includes classroom time, stress reduction exercises, and learning about social issues like prejudice against Native Americans.
In July 2007, the teens heard from Ojibwa elder and Vietnam War veteran Glen Bressette who explained he was the target of racism while their age and overcame problems familiar to the youth like substance abuse and scrapes with the law that included being shot at by police while stealing gas.
The teens witnessed Bressette have a dramatic flashback when a helicopter flew low and close to their meeting site along Lake Superior. He had been a gunner aboard a chopper in Vietnam.
American Indian guide Don Chosa said the teens carry hundreds of pounds of wild rice seeds for miles through thick forests and over mountains to get to seven secret remote planting sites along rivers and lakes. During the hikes, the teens have come upon bears, eagles and other wildlife.
An annual "Blessing of the Wild Rice" ceremony is held that includes American Indian food, songs, language, and prayers. If they want, the teens have the opportunity to learn about God and the environment but they are not forced to be be involved in any religious activities.
Manoomin Project volunteer media advisor Greg Peterson looks at the 2007 planting and four years of success.(Marquette, Michigan) - The Manoomin Project is restoring wild rice to northern... more
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Oil drilling would devastate the land and species in Alaska, greatly affecting the indigenous people living thereOil drilling would devastate the land and species in Alaska, greatly affecting the... more
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We need to stand up against these violations of human rights, no matter where its occurring.We need to stand up against these violations of human rights, no matter where its... more
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National Day of Mourning Statement from Leonard Peltier:
November 22, 2007
Greetings my Relations, As I sit here in my cell, thinking about you, and gathering my thoughts, I can't help but appreciate you remembering me.
I was told just the other day that people in Oklahoma protested Oklahoma's 100 year celebration of its statehood.
They protested or demonstrated and also celebrated their 100 years of survival of an adversed government that has violated all treaties and has gained control of most of their land.
I support those Indian people.
It also brings to mind those who - like Columbus came and did the same, take our lands, and also what has happened to all people all over the world- the Jews, the Palestians, as well as other indigenous countries and peoples.
Yet I have to say that America shares most of the responsibility to do the right thing.
What happened to the teachings or commandments of: Thou shall not lie Thou shall not kill Thou shall not steal
I can't remember all the commandments but what I do know is They have lied They have killed They have stolen.
They have mistreated our Mother- our Mother Earth, our rivers, our land, the air we breathe and the water we drink.
I consider global warming the wrong that has been done to our people.
Even the Mexican people state in their own way, "We did not cross the border, the border crossed us". The Mexican people are Indian people.
I have no doubt the Indian people of South America, North America, Central American will join in unison to make all the America's better.
A circle of Life is what dictates that the earth shall renew itself every spring.
We have said this for generations.
Go back and read our Elders sayings as we have been trying to tell Europeans that came here- to honor our traditional ways and to honor our Mother Earth and keep the Circle of Life.
Chief Seattle said: "Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect." Chief Seattle, 1855
This is just one of the many quotations from our ancestors.
Now today we have global warming.
We take no pride of solace in saying " We told you so."
But we do hope that the people of Europe and all around the world will start looking at the Native way of life.
Our Elders teach us that when we take from this earth, we must give back.
There is no greater resource on the face of this earth than our children.
America is leading in the wrongful influence of our youth.
Wrong medicine is being offered to our youth, commonly called alcohol and drugs.
It is up to each one of us, to get involved and make a difference in a positive way.
It is time to give back to our children.
I encourage each of you to take it upon yourself to stand up and find someway to help our youth.
The youth of the world are in jeopardy; let us not rob future generations of their future.
The greatest symbol of the Creator is the circle.
I encourage each of you to make the circle complete- the sacred cycle of the family, the cycle of the seasons, your personal cycle of life make them as strong as possible spiritually, mentally and physically.
Stay strong and never, never give up.
I can not say it enough or express my appreciation to each of you how much I appreciate those of you who came here today to remember me and to listen to what this prisoner has to say.
Again I simply say,
Thank you In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, Leonard Peltier
#89637-132
USP Lewisburg PA
PO BOX 1000
Lewisburg ,PA 17837
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Leonard Peltier Defense Committee
Toni Zeidan-Co-director LPDC
Website:
http://www.leonardpeltier.net
email:
info@leonardpeltier.net
National Day of Mourning Statement from Leonard Peltier:
November 22, 2007... more
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"The 13th of September 2007 will be remembered as an international human rights day for the indigenous peoples of the world," said Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chairperson of the Permanent Forum, in an emotional tone filled with joy.
International civil society groups working for the rights of indigenous peoples also expressed extreme pleasure with Thursday's vote.
The United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand stood alone in voting against the resolution.
"The entire wealth of the United States, Canada, and other so-called modern states is built on the poverty and human rights violations of their indigenous peoples," said Manuel. "The international community needs to understand how hypocritical Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States are.""The 13th of September 2007 will be remembered as an international human rights... more
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