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White Earth Nation Address by Tribal Chair Erma Vizenor
White Earth Nation Tribal Chair Erma Vizenor gives the State of the White Earth Nation address.
Watch the video at this link for scenes from White Earth Nation in Northern Minnesota including Tribal Drummers and Singers, community gathering, Tribal leaders procession and Tribal Chair Erma Vizenor's address on the State of the White Earth Nation.
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from White Earth Nation website - www.whiteearth.com
History of the White Earth Nation -
"All Indian tribes have names for themselves. The largest Indian group in Minnesota calls itself Anishinaabe, which means "the original people." Europeans named them Ojibwe. No one is exactly sure how this name developed. Perhaps it came from the Anishinaabe word "ojib," which describes the puckered moccasins worn by the people. Some Europeans had trouble saying Ojibwe, pronouncing it instead as Chippewa. But both these names refer to the same people. In Canada, the Anishinaabe call themselves Ojibwe. In the United States, many tribal members prefer the name Chippewa. So that is the name we will use in this history of White Earth Reservation...."
Go to www.whiteearth.com for more on the history of the White Earth Nation.
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From TouchArt.net and OneEarthBlog.blogspot.com White Earth Nation Tribal Chair Erma Vizenor gives the State of the White Earth Nation address. ... more -
Earth Healing Initiative: Menominee Indian Tribe of WI in Great Lakes 2008 Earth D...
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.pdf Youth and adults at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin plan three events as part of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge ... more -
The 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit is April 22-23 at Northern Michigan Universit...
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 Northern Michigan University. ... more -
Brink of Spiritual Destruction: Losing Indigenous Heritage, Culture, Storytellers
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-her...
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.htm...
http://www.anglican.ca/news/news.php?newsItem=2001-07-0...
http://www.bluecloud.org/shiningthrough.html
http://www.thewitness.org/agw/charleston042204.html
http://edoc.vox.com/library/posts/tags/steven+charlesto...
http://www.interfaithcreationfest.org/program.html#keyn...
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_jamestow...
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.org Racism, spiritual terrorism and the loss of Indigenous culture are among numerous social issues targeted by the Turtle Island Project,... more -
The Manoomin Project: Michigan teens, American Indians restore wild rice
(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 Michigan after the grain disappeared a century ago due... more
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