SHELLMOUND PEACE WALK HONORS NATIVES AMERICANS ANCESTORS

Shellmound Peace Walk Honors Native American Ancestors

The Bay Area was once ringed by shellmounds, monuments and burial grounds for the Native Americans who lived here.


On Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m., a small circle of people, bundled in scarves, hats and rain gear, stood in the wide median of Encinal Avenue near High Street on Alameda's East End.

"There was a village here until 1847," said Zoe Holder of Alameda's Multicultural Center, one of 30-plus walkers participating in Day Four of the 10-Day Shellmound Peace Walk. The walk passed through Alameda Friday and Saturday.

The Ohlone village was "the last in Alameda and one of the last in the East Bay," said Holder.

Amidst the cars whizzing by, a break in the heavy rain and the playful shouts of children at the bus stop across High Street, the group stood silent, allowing their imaginations to venture back in time to a wholly different landscape, one in which the site was home to members of the Ohlone people.

In 1847, what is now the island of Alameda was a peninsula. Just north of the village site was a huge shellmound, a massive mound of shells, artifacts, as well as human remains — one of hundreds created by native people and marked on early European maps of the region. To the east, the salty waters of the San Francisco Bay would have been at the village's eastern edge. Landfill has since moved the shore many blocks away.

"Just to think they managed to stay here that late," said Holder, observing that most Native Americans were forced out of their Oakland homes by 1809.

The Peace Walk, which this year takes a route from San Jose to Benicia before looping back at the Huchiun Shellmound (now the site of the Bay Street Mall in Emeryville), was first held in 2005. This year the walk is sponsored by Indian People Organizing for Change, Shellmound Peace Walkers, SSP&RIT, a Native American advocacy group, and Foot Prints for Peace.

This fifth Peacewalk is being held in celebration of modifications to the federal Native American Graves Protection and Reparations Act, originally passed in 1990. The act is designed to make it easier for Native Americans like the Ohlone, whose tribes have neither federal recognition nor land, to gain possession of their ancestors' remains when they are unearthed or located in museums or collections.

Made up of shells, including clam, mussel and oyster shells, shellmounds were so huge they appear as landmarks on the original Coast Guard maps of the area. Some of them have been carbon-dated at more than 5,000 years old

"We stop at the different shellmounds that have been desecrated and built over and we pray," said Corrina Gould, a Chochenyo Ohlone and one of walk's organizers. "Our prayers for those four years [of the walk] were to have the ancestors returned. Now the prayer is to find places for them."

Some walkers slept Saturday night at Alameda's First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ. Others joined the group for the day, meeting at the corner of Washington and Mound streets for a prayer circle. Then they continued down Washington Street a few blocks, pausing to honor the site where the remains of a 3-year-old Native American girl were unearthed by a construction crew a couple years ago.

Then on they walked down High Street, orange-vested guides marking the front and rear of the group. They reached the site where the Ohlone village once stood, then walked on to Lincoln Park, where they stopped at the plaque that memorializes the site of the huge shellmound, know as the Sather Mound.

It was disassembled in 1908 and the bulk of the material there, including human remains, were carted away and used for roads.

"Shell mounds are cemeteries," said Gould. "And every time there's a building there you know that someone's cemetery was taken out for a shopping center or a Starbucks."

Gould said that shellmounds were common in the Bay Area but not unique to it. "In other places in the world," said Gould, "people have found ways to build around them. But not here."

Then the group walked on, up Lincoln Avenue, some drumming, others chatting. They left Alameda by way of the Park Street Bridge to walk along the Embarcadero, an area once known as "Shellmound Tract."

Saturday's walk finished for the night at a shellmound in Berkeley at Fourth and University, after a day-long 12-mile urban trek.

"When you're walking you don't pay attention to the cold and rain," said Wounded Knee De O'Campo, a member of the Me-Wok tribe, who said he was walking as a call for people of the world to stop the "desecration of scared places."

Rain is necessary, he said, to cleanse the earth, for plants, for animals, for people. "It is always a good day for a walk," he said.






Eva Pearlman-Nov. 22, 2010 Copyright © 2010 Patch. All Rights Reserved.

NCAI ENDORSES UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

NCAI endorses UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Coulter urges action at Organization of American States



WASHINGTON – The National Congress of American Indians has passed a resolution supporting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and urging its endorsement by state governments and Congress.

The resolution was adopted unanimously by NCAI’s Subcommittee of Human, Religious and Cultural Concerns, presented to the Litigation and Governance Committee, and finally adopted unanimously by the general assembly without discussion during NCAI’s 65th annual conference in Phoenix Oct. 19 – 24.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted by the UN General Assembly on Sept. 13, 2007, in a historic vote by an overwhelming majority – 143 member states voted in favor, 11 abstained and four – Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States – voted against the declaration. Each of the four countries that opposed the declaration have large indigenous populations who own or have claims to huge land masses.

While it is not binding in law, the declaration represents the highest moral standard for the treatment of the world’s estimated 370 million indigenous peoples, written as it is in a human rights framework that will guide government policies for indigenous communities and promote the participation of indigenous peoples in the political processes and decisions that affect them.

The NCAI resolution recognizes that the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples “reinforces the respect and protection of full self-determination rights by and on behalf of U.S. Tribal Nations as well as the protection of tribal lands and treaties as a matter of international law and policy and is therefore in the vital interests of all U.S. Tribal Nations.”

The resolution acknowledges that the declaration expresses both the individual and collective rights of indigenous peoples, as well as their rights regarding culture, identity, language, employment, health, educational and other issues.

The UN Declaration lays out the minimum human rights necessary for the “survival, dignity and well-being of the Indigenous peoples of the world.” These include the right of self-determination, protections from discrimination and genocide, and recognition of rights to lands, territories and resources that are essential to the identity, health and livelihood of indigenous peoples. The declaration also explicitly requires that these rights and protections are balanced with other rights and interpreted in accordance with the principles of democracy, justice, non-discrimination, good governance and respect for the human rights of everyone.

The NCAI resolution reiterates the declaration’s provisions that “discrimination against indigenous people should be abolished and that promotion of their full and effective participation in all matters that concern them should be encouraged.”

The resolution asserts that indigenous peoples’ “right to remain distinct and to pursue their own visions of economic and social development is vital according to this declaration.”

The NCAI document promises to send its resolution “to all state Governors and legislators for support through their legislature for memorial resolutions to the Congress of the United States; and. ... the NCAI calls upon the United States to sign the declaration.”

Robert Tim Coulter, one of the original authors of the declaration and executive director of the Indian Law Resource Center in Helena, Mont., and Washington, D.C., says the declaration is “the most significant development in international human rights in decades. Tribes must work harder than ever to pressure the U.S. to respect these rights.”

Coulter said the best way to gain support is to demand that the United States join in adopting a strong Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in the Organization of American States. The OAS is currently negotiating a powerful American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples much like the U.N. declaration.

The OAS is the principal forum for strengthening democracy and human rights in the Western Hemisphere and is made up of 35 member nations in North, Central and South America.

“We must publicly protest the continuing violation of our rights in the United States, and we must demand serious action in the OAS to finalize an effective declaration supported by all countries in the Americas,” he said.

Coulter urged tribes to get involved at upcoming OAS meetings in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 26 – 30 and March 23 – 27, and tribal leaders to make plans now to attend “to ensure our voices are heard.”

More information is available at the OAS Web site http://www.oas.org/.

“We have to continue fighting to change discriminatory and grossly unjust laws that are applied to Native peoples.” Coulter said.

While the U.S. government has made no move toward endorsing the declaration in the 14 months since its passage, both Canada and Australia have inched forward.

Canada’s House of Commons endorsed the declaration on April 8, and called on the Senate and Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s administration to “fully implement the standards contained therein.”

Harper declined to do so, claiming that the declaration is not applicable in Canada.

Ironically, two months later Harper tacitly admitted just how applicable the Declaration’s human rights protections are in Canada. On June 11, Harper issued the first formal apology from a Canadian prime minister for the brutal Indian residential schools that were federally financed from the 1870s until the last residential school was closed in 1998.

“The treatment of children in Indian residential schools is a sad chapter in our history,” Harper said. “Today, we recognize that this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country. The government now recognizes that the consequences of the Indian residential schools policy were profoundly negative and that this policy has had a lasting and damaging impact on aboriginal culture, heritage and language.”

Australia’s new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who defeated former Prime Minister John Howard last December, has demonstrated his intention to improve relations with the country’s indigenous peoples. The government issued a “National Apology to the Stolen Generations” in February and a commitment to “Close the Gap” in indigenous health inequality in March.

According to Peter Seidel, a partner in Public Interest Law, in an article published in The Guardian (Australia) Oct. 15, the government is close to endorsing the Declaration.

“Australia’s long held opposition to the Declaration now looks set to change, with the Commonwealth expected shortly to formalize its support. When it’s taken, the step of formally, albeit belatedly, supporting the Declaration will be very powerful symbolism for Australia. And it will of course strengthen, not diminish, our reputation within the international community as a country at the vanguard of promoting and protecting the basic human rights of all, particularly the most disenfranchised,” Seidel wrote.

Indian Country Today- Nov. 17, 2010

CALLING ALL NATIVE SPIRIT WARRIORS, ADVOCATES AND ACTIVISTS! STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF GLEN COVE SACRED SITE IN VALLJEO CA. ON NOV. 11, 2010

VALLEJO, CA.- THIS IS A ADVISORY ALERT TO ALL NATIVE SPIRIT WARRIORS, ADVOCATES AND ACTIVISTS TO REPORT TO DUTY ON NOVEMBER, 11TH, 2010 AT GLEN COVE SACRED SITE SHELL MOUND IN VALLEJO CA.!!!


There is a high potential that the City of Vallejo CA. government may have have trucks and other heavy equipment to destroy the 4000 year old Shell Mound, where thousands upon thousands of the Ancestors sleep.

The park and recreation division of the City of Vallejo, the Greater Vallejo Recreation District (GVRD) has plans to go ahead to destroy one of the last remaining prehistoric partial intact bay shore Shell mounds of California Native America!!

A call is being placed to all Spirit Warriors, Advocates and Activists to assemble at Glen Cove at 8 am on November 11th, 2010 to prevent trucks, bulldozers and other heavy equipment from eco-raping the sacred Shell Mound site!!

Brothers and Sisters, the time for talk is over! No compromise in the DEFENSE OF THE ANCESTORS!!


FOR INFO:

707/ 557-2140

GLEN COVE SACRED SITE UNDER ATTACK, VALLEJO COPS ARE CALLED TO HARASS NATIVE ADVOCATES

Vallejo, Ca.- On Tuesday, November 2, 2010 the Greater Vallejo Recreational Park District (G.V.R.D): the Park and Recreation division of the City of Vallejo CA. attempted to bring a fleet of large drilling trucks to attempt to take core samples from the 4,000 year old Shell Mound where thousands of Native ancestors are buried.

A handful of Native Advocates were able to stop the drilling for the time at the Sacred site, then the G.V.R.D called the Vallejo Police Department to have them arrested.

However the V.P.D. backed off and backed down! There were no arrests! The drilling did not happen!

There is a call to Native community to come out to Glen Cove, on November 11, 2010 to stop the eco-rape of the Shell Mound Sacred site.

For more information:

707/ 557-2140
505/ 603-2908
510/ 478-4569

ALERT!!! THE ANCESTORS ARE CALLING!! PLEASE RESPOND TO SPIRITUAL CEREMONY AT GLEN COVE SACRED SITE IN VALLEJO,CA

'THE ANCESTORS ARE CRYING' SPIRITUAL CEREMONY AT GLEN COVE SHELLMOUND SACRED SITE IN VALLEJO, CA


VALLEJO,CA- There will be a large spiritual gathering of several thousand people at the Glen Cove Shellmound sacred site on Saturday, October 16,2010 at 12 noon.

The City of Vallejo CA, park and recreation division- the Greater Vallejo Recreation District and their developers- Alta Planning/Design are planning to start the physical eco-rape and destruction of ancient 5000 year shell mound in less than 10 days of this writing!!

We all asking all advocates, activists, elders,spiritual leaders, families and the greater Native community to join us in this Spiritual ceremony. We are are organizing for well over 2000
people to attend!

Please come join us on the REAL FRONT LINES FOR MORE HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS FOR INDIAN COUNTRY!!

'THE ANCESTORS ARE CRYING ', BRING YOUR PRAYERS, YOUR MEDICINE, YOUR SONGS to stop the eco-rape and destruction of the shell mound where the Ancient Ones Sleep!


GLEN COVE IN VALLEJO, CA AT 12 NOON, OCTOBER, 16, 2010

For more information:

707/ 557-2140
505/ 603-2908

JUDGE STRIKES DOWNS CHALLENGE TO VOTER PAMPHLET ARGUEMENT AGAINST GUIDIVILLE BAND OF POMO HOTEL CASINO RESORT

Judge strikes down challenge to voter-pamphlet argument against Richmond casino




MARTINEZ -- A Contra Costa Superior Court judge on Monday upheld language in a ballot argument against a proposed Las Vegas-style hotel-casino resort on Richmond's waterfront, the day before the voters pamphlet reaches the printers.

The legal wrangling over wording underscored how carefully supporters and opponents are crafting their message to voters on Measure U, the advisory measure on whether a casino should be built.

Richmond resident Don Gosney argued that opponents incorrectly state in their ballot argument that there is no guarantee locals would be hired and that casino jobs would be low-wage. Gosney filed a petition in court last week seeking to delete the two statements.

Opponents have "no right in the public forum to make false statements," said Michael Sweet, Gosney's attorney.

But opponents maintain that the statements are true and that the public should hear them.

"They're trying to argue this is a done deal, and it is not," said Peter Sturges, who represents an opponent.

The promise of jobs has become a major issue in the debate over the casino-hotel resort that Upstream and the Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians want to build at the old Point Molate Naval Fuel Depot.

The project's draft environmental report estimates 17,000 operational jobs. Under a current agreement, Guidiville would hire Richmond residents for 40 percent of nonmanagement casino and hotel jobs. Developer Jim Levine of Upstream has pegged that pool at 3,000 workers, meaning at least 1,200 spots would be set aside for Richmond residents. Levine has said the casino intends to go beyond that and include 1,500 on-site workers in retail, entertainment and other services.

Supporters have embraced these figures, but critics say the numbers are inflated and jobs for locals are not certain.

Named as parties of interest in Gosney's petition were the people who penned the opponents' ballot argument: Joan Garrett, Andres Soto, Kenneth Davis, Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and Vice Mayor Jeff Ritterman.

On Monday, Judge Barry Baskin twice sent the parties out of the courtroom to talk among themselves and come up with language everyone could agree on. The attorneys spent more than an hour attempting a compromise, each drafting wording and walking back and forth down the hallway to deliver sheets of paper carrying different proposals. They also met in a conference room but could not reach an agreement.

So they returned to the courtroom to argue their case. Sweet pointed to provisions in the land disposition and municipal services agreements between the city and developer that call for local hiring and a living wage, which would be $16.69 an hour without benefits and $15.19 an hour with benefits.

But Sturges, who represents Soto, said the agreements carry "loopholes galore." He read aloud provisions that give the developer some leeway with its work force. In addition, the contracts are not final, state and federal approvals are still needed, and legal challenges threaten to railroad the promise of jobs altogether.

Baskin ruled to deny Gosney's petition, meaning there will be no changes to the arguments for or against Measure U in the voters pamphlet.

"Both sides have overstated what the facts in the case are," Baskin said. While the opponents' argument oversimplifies, he said, "I don't think it rises to the level of being false or misleading."

Contra Costa Times- August 30,2010

CALIFORINIA SACRED SITE GETS RESPITE

Sacred Site Gets Respite


PALA, Calif. – A site in rural San Diego County deemed culturally and environmentally sensitive by Indians was given a respite Aug. 5 from being turned into a landfill.

The Pala Band of Mission Indians, whose community sits two miles away from the site, and an environmental group, objected to the application to operate the proposed 1,770-acre landfill filed from Gregory Canyon Landfill Ltd of San Diego, the tribe said in a press release.

A San Diego County public agency rescinded its previous green light on the application after the tribe and the Natural Resources Defense Council pointed out the lack of financial responsibility and other inaccuracies in the application, the tribe said in the press release.

“We want to make sure that this time the county is really looking at a comprehensive application package that accurately reflects the environmental, financial and cultural impacts that this landfill will have,” said Robert Smith, chairman of the Pala Band of Mission Indians. “The county has a duty to make sure new landfills do not destroy important cultural or environmental resources or threaten public health, and it can’t do that unless it has accurate information.”

Gregory Landfill spokesperson Nancy Chase said the application was not rejected by San Diego County officials but voluntarily withdrawn from county consideration because it needed to be updated.

“It had nothing to do with financial responsibility.”

County records indicate that its positive determination on the application was rescinded and Gregory Landfill withdrew the application on the same day.

The landfill has been a subject of dispute since at least the 1990s and the subject of court actions, including an order by a superior court to make corrections on a mandated environmental impact report and conform to the law in 2006, according to county records.

Gregory Canyon has until Feb. 1, 2011 to resubmit the application, according to the county. The applicant expects to resubmit their application later this month Chase said.

The proposed landfill is located in an area that Pala people consider sacred and home of a restless spirit named Taakwic, who appears in a ball of fire to collect the souls of the dead. The landfill threatens surface and groundwater supplies, which includes a habitat for several sensitive and endangered species and would create traffic congestion and other problems in the serene area if constructed, according to the tribe.

Gregory Landfill maintains that the project’s technology includes redundant liners and monitoring points and pose no threat to water sources.

Indian Country Today-August 30, 2010

UN DELARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE EXPANDS INTO THE FINANCIAL WORLD

BETHESDA, Md. – The movement to persuade the federal government to endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples without qualification has grown beyond American Indian and religious communities to the financial world.

Calvert Investments, a financial services company that holds $14.5 billion in assets, and a coalition of investors have submitted comments to the State Department and White House urging the unconditional endorsement of the Declaration.

“Calvert believes indigenous peoples in the U.S. and elsewhere around the globe deserve the affirmation and recognition of the broad array of rights set forth in the Declaration, including those related to self-determination, culture, land and natural resources, means of subsistence, treaty rights, non-discrimination, health and social services, protection of sacred sites, education and language,” Calvert CEO and president Barbara J. Krumsiek wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton July 14.

“All these are rights which indigenous peoples themselves have identified as necessary to their survival, well-being and dignity – rights which the international community should fully embrace,” Krumsiek wrote.

The U.N. General Assembly voted to adopt UNDRIP in September 2007 with near unanimous approval. Four states – the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand – voted against the Declaration. Australia and New Zealand have since endorsed the human rights document and Canada has indicated its intention to do so.

The National Congress of American Indians and the United South and Eastern Tribes, the country’s two largest non-governmental organizations representing Indian nations, have passed resolutions urging the government to endorse the Declaration.

Last summer, the Episcopal Church passed a resolution supporting the endorsement of UNDRIP that was quickly followed by similar resolutions by the Indian Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tarpon Springs.

Growing support for the U.S. to reverse its rejection of the Declaration led up to the announcement in April by U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice that the U.S. would review its position on the Declaration. The review is now underway with scheduled consultation meetings and a State Department Web site where people may e-mail comments.

Calvert, a socially responsible investment firm, not only asked the federal government to publicly endorse the Declaration but also to disclose its plan for fully implementing the human rights statement.

In 1999, Calvert was the first SRI to develop explicit criteria to address the rights and cultural integrity of American Indians and indigenous peoples around the world.

“We believe that it’s important to share an investor perspective and add another dimension about why it’s important to endorse the Declaration,” said Reed Montague, the indigenous peoples’ rights and product marketing analyst at Calvert.

Montague and Calvert’s team of sustainability analysts review corporations that the firm invests in to see if they have policies and procedures in place that consider and support indigenous people’s rights and to encourage firms to develop appropriate policies and demonstrate best practices regarding how their products, services and operations affect the lives, culture and traditions of indigenous peoples.

This is particularly important for companies operating on indigenous lands, Montague said.

“One of the angles we thought was important to share, as an investing company, is that if the U.S. adopts the UNDRIP we think that is going to help our engagement with these companies in order for them to understand how and why it’s so important,” Montague said.

The U.S. rejection of the Declaration has had the opposite effect, according to Steven Heim, managing director of Boston Commons Assets Management, a socially responsible investment company, and chairman of the advocacy committee of the Indigenous Peoples Working Group of the Social Investment Forum, a national nonprofit membership association for professionals, firms, institutions and organizations engaged in socially responsible and sustainable investing.

“Boston Commons has heard some companies say that not having the U.S. endorse the Declaration has made it difficult for them on a policy basis to include the (principles of the) Declaration in their own corporate human rights policies,” Heim said.

Boston Commons is among the coalition of SRI investors and organizations – including Calvert – that has submitted comments to the State Department, the White House, the National Security Council, and other federal agencies to urge the endorsement of the Declaration “in a positive manner without qualifications, consistent with international human rights.”

The groups include: the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin’s Oneida Trust; the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation’s Mashantucket Pequot (Western) Endowment Trust; The Morning Star Institute; Mercy Investment Services Corp.; The Christopher Reynolds Foundation; Walden Asset Management; and First Affirmative Financial Network.

Heim said he wrote the coalition’s letter with input from Gary Brouse, the program director at the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, and Armstrong Wiggins, director of the Washington office of the Indian Law Resource Center.

The Declaration “represents a historic milestone in the evolution of the rights of indigenous peoples. We fully expect these rights to be increasingly articulated and adopted both in national and international law. Many of the rights in the Declaration are already being implemented in a number of U.S. federal laws, policies and executive orders,” the coalition wrote.

The Social Funds Web site recently cited a report from EIRIS, a United Kingdom-based investment research firm, which documents the material risks to companies that disregard the rights of indigenous peoples. It quotes John Ruggie, the special representative of the U.N. secretary general on business and human rights, saying that “community challenges on environmental and human rights grounds. … can cause delays in permits, reduced output, reputational hits and project cancellations.”

The investors’ coalition said U.S. endorsement of the Declaration is important to provide “federal policy certainty” for corporations operating on indigenous lands globally.

“As investors, we believe that environmental, social and governance issues have a significant impact on long-term financial returns. We expect that companies that respect indigenous peoples rights and build good relations with indigenous nations will prosper in the long run,” they said.


Indian Country Today-August 10, 2010

IHS program lauded for anti-domestic abuse efforts


WASHINGTON – New research suggests that a program funded by two federal agencies, and implemented by leading domestic violence organizations, has shown dramatic success in improving the health system’s response to domestic violence in Indian country.

Over the course of the program, known as the Domestic Violence Project, a much larger number of women began receiving interventions focused on improving domestic violence.

Health officials said that when implementation began in 2002, just four percent of women at IHS facilities were screened by doctors and nurses for domestic violence. By 2009, when the program ended, 48 percent of women who sought services at these facilities were being screened.

The program was funded by the Administration for Children and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and IHS. It involved more than 100 Indian, tribal and urban health care facilities as well as domestic violence advocacy programs across the nation.

It was conceptualized and managed by the Family Violence Prevention Fund in partnership with faculty from Sacred Circle and Mending the Sacred Hoop Technical Assistance Project. Indian health centers in 18 of the 35 states with federally recognized tribes participated, and the project included work with the Cherokee, Choctaw and Navajo tribes, among others.

A new report, called “Building Domestic Violence Health Care Responses” and authored by FVPF, highlights the program’s progress and offers a series of recommendations to continue the results.

It’s an area where positive results are desperately needed, as many studies have found that rates of domestic violence are overwhelmingly higher for Native American women than for women of any other race or ethnicity.

“In Indian country, health care providers are often the first responders to domestic violence, and the health care setting offers a critical opportunity for early identification and primary prevention of abuse,” said Anna Marjavi, FVPF program manager and co-author of the “Promising Practices” report.

“This report is designed to share all of our lessons learned from this innovative project. We call on all Indian health and community advocacy programs to use this tool to strengthen their communities’ responses to violence.”

One major finding of the report was that, over the course of the program, annual routine assessment for intimate partner and domestic violence of Native women increased 12-fold. Researchers said that’s because the program offered an effective response to violence, identified best practices to raise awareness, improved clinical responses, and strengthened community partnerships to help victims of domestic and sexual violence.

“The Indian Health Service is proud to have been a part of this groundbreaking project,” said Yvette Roubideaux, director of the Indian Health Service, in a statement.

“As a practicing physician in Arizona, I saw first-hand the effects of domestic violence on my patients, their families and communities. I have real hope that more health care providers and tribal communities will learn from the promising practices identified in this report.”

“The Administration for Children and Families funded this work in conjunction with IHS because it is so important that we find solutions to domestic violence in Native communities,” added Bryan Samuels, commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families.

“This project offers real hope for Native women facing violence, that their health providers will recognize the abuse and know how to help them and their children.”

In addition to increasing rates of assessment, the IHS/ACF Domestic Violence Project did the following, according to the report:


•Trained staff members from more than 100 Indian, tribal and urban health care facilities, and domestic violence advocacy programs on domestic violence health system change.
•Developed community-wide domestic violence response teams that include staff from health care, judicial, law enforcement, community programs and tribal councils.

•Developed patient education materials including two posters targeting men and boys with prevention messages specific to domestic violence.

•Tailored the Electronic Health Record to integrate domestic violence routine assessment and implementation of screening reminders.

•Raised public awareness and promoted social norm change through community walks, billboard campaigns, candlelight vigils, radio/TV shows, public service announcements, and staff participation in health fairs, rodeos and powwows.

•Helped victims of domestic violence and sexual assault get the help they need to support their healing from the abuse and promote their health and wellness.

“We need to build on the successes of the IHS/ACF Domestic Violence Project and fund more programs to continue this remarkable progress,” said FVPF President Esta Soler.

“Tribal communities will benefit if we replicate the promising practices and materials we’ve developed, continue to integrate domestic violence and sexual assault into trainings that improve the health care responses to violence, and strengthen the tribal response to sexual assault. We also must expand our work to engage men as role models, address the impact of violence on children, and do more to teach the next generation that violence is never the answer.

Indian Country Today- July 22, 2010

THE CITY GOVERNMENT OF RICHMOND, CA. DISPLAYS SEEDS OF RACISM TO GUIDIVILLE BAND OF POMO

SUPPORT SELF DETERMINATION AND SOVEREIGNTY OF THE GUIDIVILLE BAND OF POMO

RICHMOND CALIFORNIA- Members of the Richmond City Council are displaying seeds of both racism and prejudice to the Guidiville Band of Pomo with regards to their self-determination to open a Hotel Casino resort on the Guideville Band of Pomo reservation at Pt. Molate in Richmond, CA.

Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and fellow Council members Jeff Ritterman and Thomas Butt wish to place a so-called advisory measure on whether a casino should be part of development plans for the Guidiville Band of Pomo Hotel Casino Resort at Pt. Molate. If approved it by the Richmond City Council, it would become a ballot measure for the voters of Richmond on November 2,2011.

The City Government is in clear volation of sticking it's nose into the internal affairs of the Guidiville Band of Pomo with regards to its policies of self- determination, self-autonomy and soverneignity under Federal treaty laws.

In November, 2010, the Mayors Office supported the United Nations Declaration on the Indigenous People.

Under articles 3 it states: " Indigenous people have the right to self-determination. By virtue
of the right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development."

Under artlicle 26 it states: " Indigenous people have the right to own, use, develop and control the lands, territories and resources they posses by reason of traditional ownership or other traditional occupation or use, as well of those which they HAVE ACQUIRED."

TEACHING THE VALUES OF PEACE deems this as racist action and conduct against the advancement of Native Peoples ,and a clear violation of their national and international Human and Civil Rights.



Richmond may give voters say on Point Molate casino



An advisory measure on whether a casino should be part of development plans on Richmond's waterfront could go before voters Nov. 2.

The City Council is scheduled to consider Tuesday night whether to place a measure on the ballot. It would be advisory only, meaning the city would not be legally bound by it.
Supporters and opponents have floated polls that seem to suggest public opinion is almost evenly divided, Councilman Tom Butt said.

"When something is that close, it's good for the City Council to know where the Richmond electorate is on this before they make a decision," said Butt, who is proposing Tuesday's agenda item.
Upstream Investments and the Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians want to build a $1.2 billion casino-hotel resort with as many as 4,000 slot machines, 1,100 hotel rooms, a conference center, restaurants, shops, tribal headquarters, open space and a shoreline trail.

The city extended its land development agreement with Upstream to April 2011 to allow continued negotiations. Meanwhile Guidiville is seeking approval from the Secretary of the Interior to place the land in trust and needs a state gaming compact, both required to open the casino.
Jim Levine of Upstream and Guidiville spokesman Michael Derry could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

A public vote appears to have support from a council majority. Butt's agenda item is co-sponsored by Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and Vice Mayor Jeff
Ritterman.

Councilwoman Maria Viramontes has also proposed a public vote. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but wrote in a letter earlier this month: "The consideration of expanding urban gaming into the Richmond community has created controversy and legitimate concern within and around the Richmond community. ... It would seem appropriate for an alternative as significant as 'urban gaming' that the Richmond City Council should place an advisory measure before the people of Richmond to obtain their serious reflection on the matter."

City leaders said they have the right to consider alternatives to a project with a casino. A 2006 settlement agreement among the city, developers and Citizens for the East Shore Parks over the Point Molate land development agreement gave the city discretion to choose an alternative project.

Last year, Butt sought clarity from the Attorney General's Office, which helped negotiate the settlement, and received a letter that reads in part: "any interpretations of the 2004 LDA that would restrict the city's ability to consider alternative uses of the site, or alternatives that would not involve lease or transfer to Upstream, ... must be rejected."

The Richmond City Council is scheduled to consider placing an advisory measure on the Nov. 2 ballot on whether a casino should be part of Point Molate's future. The council meets at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Community Services Building, 440 Civic Center Plaza, Richmond.


Contra Costa Times-July 15, 2010

IST ANNUAL RICHMOND, CA. POW-WOW

RICHMOND,CA.- Hundreds of people attended the 1st Annual Richmond Pow-Wow at the Richmond Marina this past June 26th, 2010. The theme of this years Richmond Pow-Wow was entitled "Honoring Our Native Community".

Mike Raccoon Eyes Kinney, Native Advocate and Dave Romero, Air Personality from KKUP, were carrying the some of the Flags for Opening Ceremony.

TEACHING THE VALUES OF PEACE WILL BE ON VACATION

TEACHING THE VALUES OF PEACE WILL BE ON VACATION


Indian Country Blog- 'TEACHING THE VALUES OF PEACE' will be on vacation from June 21 to July 18, 2010.

We have been working hard to cover all local and regional stories in Indian Country.

So now it's time to have a little fun!

Wado and A-ho!

Mike Raccoon Eyes Kinney- Editor

Site for Public Comment on UN Delaration on the Rights of Indigenous People

Site for public comment on UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People



WASHINGTON – Following up on the administration’s promise to review its position on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the State Department has created a new Web site to receive public input on the issue.

State Department’s Office of the Spokesman issued a press release June 4 announcing the new Web site outreach. The press release referred to an announcement by U.S. Permanent Representative Susan E. Rice of the federal government’s intention to review its position on the Declaration during the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York in April.

UNDRIP was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 13, 2007, in a historic vote by an overwhelming majority of 143 states in favor to four against, with 11 abstentions. Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand – all countries whose sizeable indigenous populations can claim large areas of land – were the only four states that voted no.

Since then, the Canadian Parliament – not the federal government – passed a resolution in April 2008, endorsing the Declaration, the Australian government adopted the Declaration in April 2009, and New Zealand announced its support for the indigenous human rights document on April 19 – the opening day of the Ninth Session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Rice, accompanied by a 20-member U.S. delegation, attended the forum the day after New Zealand’s announcement and promised the review in a speech.

“I am pleased to announce that the United States has decided to review our position regarding the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” Rice said.

“We recognize that, for many around the world, this Declaration provides a framework for addressing indigenous issues. During President Obama’s first year in office, tribal leaders encouraged the United States to re-examine its position on the Declaration – an important recommendation that directly complements our commitment to work together with the international community on the many challenges that indigenous peoples face.”

The State Department press release says that as part of the U.S. government’s review, the department, along with other federal agencies, “will be hosting consultations with federally recognized tribes and dialogues with interested NGOs and other stakeholders” as part of the government’s re-examination of the Declaration.

It is not clear if the State Department has completed a formal tribal consultation plan, as required by President Obama’s memorandum to department and agency heads during the first White House Tribal Leaders Summit last November. According to the memorandum, departments and agencies were to complete the formal consultation plans within 90 days.

The State Department will post consultation and meeting schedules online at www.state.gov/s/tribalconsultation/declaration/index.htm.

Tribal leaders, non-governmental organizations and others who may not be able to attend consultation meetings are encouraged to participate in the review by e-mailing comments to Declaration@state.gov, or by submitting comments via mail to the Department of State at: S/SR Global Intergovernmental Affairs, U.S. Department of State, 2201 C Street N.W., Suite 1317, Washington, D.C. 20520.

“Written comments are requested by July 15, 2010 to ensure that they can be given due consideration in the review,” the department said.

QUEBEC TO ADOPT UN DECLARATION ONTHE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

Quebec to adopt Declaration




QUEBEC CITY – The Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador has endorsed an initiative by the Parti Quebecois urging the Quebec government to endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The PQ is the opposition to the Quebec Liberal Party, which is currently in power in the province. The PQ recommended adoption of the Declaration by Quebec’s National Assembly, the province’s legislative body.

“We are satisfied with the progress of the PQ proposal to have the National Assembly recognize the Declaration,” said Ghislain Picard, AFNQL chief. “We strongly wish that, once supported, the government of Quebec will respect all the articles as well as the values attached to it in its areas of competence. We are calling out for respect of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in its entirety and at all levels.”

The AFNQL represents 43 indigenous communities of Abenaki, Algonquin, Atikamekw, Cree, Huron-Wendat, Maliseet, Micmac, Mohawk, Montagnais-Innu and Naskapi peoples in Quebec and Labrador. It is linked to the Assembly of First Nations, the national organization that represents all First Nations citizens in Canada.

The Quebec government responded quickly to the push from its opposition party, indicating on May 6 that it intends to endorse the international indigenous human rights document.

Quebec’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister Pierre Corbeil said his government is going to work with opposition parties to bring a motion supporting the Declaration to the National Assembly before the current session ends in June, according to the Montreal Gazette.

If the motion is successful, Quebec will be the first province in Canada to adopt the Declaration. In the United States, the Maine State Legislature adopted the Declaration in 2008.

The province is continuing bilateral discussions with the federal government in Ottawa on the issue, Corbeil said.

“It will be up to Canada to take (a) position at the United Nations, but that doesn’t prevent us from getting a consensus on the issue at the national assembly.”

In September 2007, 143 countries voted at the U.N. General Assembly to adopt the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a document 20-plus years in the making that defines and protects the human rights of the world’s 370 million indigenous peoples.

Canada and the U.S. are the only nation states remaining that have not adopted the document. Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand voted against it. Australia has since adopted the Declaration, and New Zealand announced its support of the Declaration April 19 during the opening day of the Ninth Session of the UN’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York.

During the Forum, Picard presented a joint statement on behalf of the AGNQL, the AFN, and other human rights organizations that said, “We request the government (of Canada) to instantly adopt this vital human rights instrument without qualifications. The Declaration sets out minimum standards with respect to rights that the states must respect. The government must ensure that the laws of Canada, including the Indian Act, comply with the Declaration and not vice versa.”

Canada announced it would adopt the Declaration during this year’s March 3 Speech from the Throne by Canada’s Governor General Michaelle Jean, who referred to the Declaration as “an aspirational document.” In his response to the Throne Speech, Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the Canadian government “will take steps to endorse [the Declaration] in a manner fully consistent with Canada’s Constitution and laws.”

The language has raised concerns among indigenous leaders that Canada does not intend to accept the Declaration as a whole and fully implement it, as was urged in a motion adopted by the House of Commons in April 2008. But anything less than full endorsement would perpetuate the status quo, they say.

The PQ fell into the same conditional stance in urging the National Assembly to adopt the Declaration.

PQ leader Pauline Marois said her party fully supports the declaration – as long as it doesn’t threaten the territorial integrity of a possible independent Quebec. Quebec sovereignty, or separatism, has been an aspirational goal of PQ for decades.

Marois said Article 46 of the declaration eased her concerns about the state’s potential loss of land or political power to indigenous peoples.

The article states that the declaration doesn’t authorize or encourage “any action which would dismember or impair, totally or in part, the territorial integrity or political unity of sovereign and independent states.”

The Gazette published a scathing editorial called “Double standards on both sides of the aisle” that criticized the provincial government for its intention to adopt what it called “this fatuous mess of a Declaration.”

The editorial accuses the province of playing politics with the Declaration.

“Of course, Quebec was careful to make sure, in advance, that this gesture, which seems intended to embarrass Ottawa, will not actually cost this province any money or power. … It’s particularly striking that Marois was so determined to make sure Native peoples could never secede from a sovereign Quebec. How’s that for a double standard?”

Eric Cardinal, a spokesman for the AFNQL, said debate over possible conditions is “really just political.” The Declaration exists as a whole and already creates obligations on states whether they voted for or against it, Cardinal said.

“The indigenous nations already use the Declaration to support their positions in cases. If the Canadian government officially recognizes the Declaration, maybe it would help us to put more pressure in court on judges. That’s what we hope for. We know it could not be perfect,” Cardinal said. “Canada could put some conditions on its endorsement. We won’t be happy with that, but an official recognition could still help us. They can say (they have conditions) but it’s not really for them to choose or decide. It’s the courts and the international system that will decide.”



Indian Country Today- May 20, 2010

CELEBRATING OUR ANCESTORS AT GLEN COVE!!!

Dear Shellmound Friends,

It is with great excitement that we are passing on this wonderful news!!! As of Today May 14, 2010 , Museums and agencies that receive federal monies will be required to return "culturally unidentifiable remains".

This includes my ancestors. I want to thank all of you for your prayers, support and footsteps as we undertook together a great feat in paying respect to those who came before us.

We would like to celebrate this blessing by coming together on Saturday May 29th, 2010 , 3pm, at the Glen Cove site in Vallejo and have a potluck lunch. It would be a great reunion to see those of you that helped with making our prayers for our ancestors return closer to a reality.

Please come as you would for a walk. Bring your own plate, bowl, cup and silverware. Bring Tarps or blankets to sit on or a chair if you are unable to get on the ground. Bring your favorite dish or drink to share. Bring your stories and your smiles.

This circle is open to everyone that has assisted us through shelter, transport, food, walking, praying, protesting, educating, printing, donations or just offering words of encouragement. We would love to see all of you or as many as can come. Please share this invite with others that you know would love to come or you know has helped us in some way on our journey.. LETS CELEBRATE!!!!!!!

Peace and Blessings

Corrina

HELP ALEX WHITE PLUME'S FAMILY WITH YOUR DONATION

Dear Brothers & Sisters:

I am very sorry to report an emergency situation, which struck one of our dearest members.

Our brother, Alex White Plume, has lost 2 of his young nephews in a fatal car accident. We send our most sincere condolences to his family.

His sister, Alta White Butterfly, lost her young son, Tawapaha Luta (Red War Bonnet), and his sister, Romona White Plume, lost her son, Jered (Mata Ska - White Bear).

The devastation on this family is truly unbearable. The boys belongings were burned last night.

As we all know, funerals are very expensive, and these boys were young, there was no life insurance to help with their burial ceremonies.

I ask that you give from your heart and help with whatever donation you can make to ease the financial burden on the White Plume family. Donations can be sent to:

Mr. Alex White Plume
P.O. Box 71
Manderson, SD 57756

He will be sure to get the donations to his sisters.

We pray for the White Plume family's condolences, that our Great Creator have mercy on them in their time of grief.

Many blessings to you all for always being there when you are all needed.

Noquisi Tsisqua, Star

Red Shoulder Council
Indiani D' America Liberi
Feather Alert
Artists Against Bullying
Native American Poetry & Wisdom Writers
Red Hand Society

INDIAN COUNTRY'S HISTORICAL TRAUMA AND THE MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES OF THE 21 ST CENTURY

INDIAN COUNTRY'S HISTORICAL TRAUMA AND THE MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES OF THE 21ST CENTURY


By Mike (Ali) Raccoon Eyes Kinney





About 85% of Native People nationally have mental health issues such as anxiety-panic attacks, depression, and anger- violence issues. We as Native People must ask ourselves - "Why?"


It stems from two places; the first part is we suffer from Historical Trauma from the past. It is inter-generational. The second part of Historic Trauma is how Native People inter-generationally manifest the mental, emotional, and psychology along with the physical symptoms of diabetes, obesity and alcoholism. This combined equates both mental and physical health issues of Indian Country.

According Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, Ph.D. " Five hundred years of conquest death cultural deprivation, and mistreatment have left North American native populations with unresolved grief about their history, which must be openly discussed if it is going to be resolved."

Medical anthropologist Spero Manson, Ph.D.,: "What Native people living today experience counts more than what happened to their ancestors. Trauma is also associated with risk for and high rates of onset and poor control of diabetes, asthma,and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease."

Whether it is government commodities on the reservation or the food you buy in the super market or fast food restaurants, all of it has high quantities of sugar. Sugar contributes directly to diabetes, obesity and alcoholism, which in turn contributes to the mental health issues; anxiety-panic attacks, depression and anger-violence issues. They in turn manifest into cardio-vascular problems, strokes and heart attacks. All of these are directly linked and inter-connected as being the biggest killers of Native People in Indian Country.



Considering the issues of mental and physical health that transpires from Historical Trauma, it is imperative we have Spiritual answers to resolve these problems. I cannot emphasis enough that we as Native People are Creator's Holy People.


We must make a real spiritual commitment as Native individuals to quit beating ourselves up, pounding ourselves and attacking ourselves for crimes we have never committed with regards to Historical Trauma. In this Spiritual commitment, we as Indian people must empower ourselves by working daily at having better self-esteem, self-worth and self-value.



We have to learn how to reprogram ourselves as Indian individuals from a spiritual place. When you understand how Historical Trauma has handicapped and destroyed us mentally, psychologically and emotionally, then we can be better prepared to embrace the empowerment of our Native Spirituality and in turn the power of Spiritual transformation.



The second part of the reprogramming is addressing the sugar based food and drink you consume, and the issues of food consumption that lead to sugar addictions that lead to obesity, diabetes and alcoholism.


I am former 22-year alcohol career drinker, like many people in Indian Country. I have been sober for 12 years now. When I was abusing alcohol, I saw no vision, no hope and no tomorrow. While I was active in the Movement for more Human and Civil Rights for Indian Country, I still had no real plan with my alcoholism.



I had attempted to gain my sobriety, but always failed. I had issues of hatred for mainstream society and self-hatred issues of myself as being a mixed-blood Native person. All of the men of my family were inter-generational alcoholics who died in their late 30's or early 40's due to alcohol related diseases or accidents. Being sober and reaching the age of 57, I have outlived all of the men on my father's side of the family.



By my mid-40's I was still drinking and abusing alcohol. One day I was in a local bookstore looking in their Native section and saw a book that changed my life spiritually. It was entitled 'Lame Deer- Seeker of Visions'. In his autobiography, Elder Lame Deer had reclaimed his life from alcoholism and became a famous Spiritual Lakota holy man and doctor.


The chapter 'Getting Drunk and Going to Jail' had a profound message for me. I devoured every word describing what he experienced while being a career drinker. He clearly explained the cycle of alcohol addiction of why we as Native People drink-the sugar in the alcohol. He explained that all Native People were on a treadmill cycle of great quantities of sugar-based food and drink consumption. The sugar in the alcohol was a part of that cycle.



Elder Lame Deer radicalized me when I saw sugar and its relationship to alcohol.



At that time in my life, sugar was the only thing I lived for. Each day began with ten cups of coffee with great amounts of sugar before I went to work. My mornings at work included countless donuts and pastries, more coffee, and of course, more sugar. At lunchtime, I was off to the local bar for several glasses of wine ... more sugar. I finished the workday with more donuts and pastries, coffee and more sugar. Drinking malt liquor and eating overly processed foods like macaroni and cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches, fast food and more malt liquor kept me on the treadmill of destruction.



I had become a compulsive eater and craved foods that were high in sugar. I eventually beat the compulsive eating disorder during the first year of my sobriety from alcohol and lost 58 pounds. I am still working on my goal to reduce my intake of processed foods like white flour and sugar.



I went to the Creator and did prayer to ask for spiritual guidance and help to ensure my spiritual commitment to break the cycle of compulsive drinking and sugar addiction. By the third day of my sobriety, I knew that I had the strength to beat the addictions.


I have been sober for 12 years and can proudly tell you I have never once relapsed with alcohol and I lost 58 pounds in the first year of my sobriety.


'IN ORDER TO HAVE BASIC SPIRITUAL TRANSFORMATION, ONE MUST BE EMPOWERED BY TRADITIONAL NATIVE SPIRITUALITY '



The Creator shows us by example that we must sacrifice something lesser in order to have something greater. In order to return to Native spirituality and to make Spiritual transformation, one must learn our songs, our dances, learn the medicines and above all else; learn the Prayers.



Every thought and word is a prayer. There are different ways of Praying. The Spiritual power of prayer can permit Native people to do anything in a good way. If you do not do the medicine or prayer in the right way, then you can't expect to benefit from it. Every thought and word, 24 hours a day is a prayer.

That is what has to guide our lives.


The Creator is interested in what is good and spiritually right for us. We have to approach the Creator in a good and humble way. When a Native individual has become gifted with spiritual blessing from the Creator, it represents a different kind of power, a different kind energy and a different kind of strength for we Native people.



The Creator wants you stand up and be proud when you pray. Be proud to be alive and thank the Creator for the life he has given you on Earth Mother. Be thankful at the same time you are standing before the Creator, rather than bowing down like a slave.



I would like to see our Native youth and young adults learn to pray like the old time Natives with proper respect and regard for all the life forces that Creator has placed here including ones self.



Always pray over all of your medicine, even modern medicine to give it strength and direction as to what you want it to do, you should pray over all of your food and drink to make healing medicine out of it.



If you are returning back to Native Spirituality and becoming empowered, the time for your spiritual transformation will occur when the Creator has blessed it to be! You should start thinking about what you are going to do with your new life. You will not be repeating mistakes as before. A better life will occur once your mind and body is cleaned up from the mental and physical issues of Historic Trauma.



With Spiritual transformation, it will mean Native People can redefine and rethink how we perceive ourselves as Native people. You can redefine what your spiritual commitment to Native families and communities shall be as well.



A spiritual objective for Indian individuals and families is to try to do everything a little better tomorrow than it was today. Continuous improvement is the path to a higher standard of spiritual leadership for today's issues in Indian Country. We need to acknowledge that attachments such as power, privilege and material possessions can make it difficult to maintain high moral and spiritual standards for Native people.



By the same token, personal observations and a spiritual commitment to the truth, will lead us to see things as they really are and to understand the true needs of Indian Country people. We must be able to spiritually feel our Indian communities, not just intellectualize the needs of our People.



When you as a Spiritual Native person stand up for what you believe is right, you must have the spiritual courage to acknowledge your actions and face the consequences. With spiritual courage, Native people can win battles for their communities, but it takes a spiritual will to win the war. It is the spiritual moral and values of the Native community that gives us the confidence to overcome the barriers for more Human and Civil Rights for Indian Country.



We must spiritually strive to serve Indian Country. It will increase our bonds with our People and move us forth as individuals, and challenge us to reach higher standards that will help place us in step with the times.



"WE MUST ASK OURSELVES FROM A SPIRITUAL PLACE, WHAT IS INDIAN COUNTRY WILLING TO DO TO BE SUCCESSFUL?"




Each of us in Indian Country must have a spiritual commitment to live by, a standard code of spiritual conduct. For if we do, our Native and non-Native leaders will have to follow. Each one of us in Indian Country is setting a spiritual example for someone else, and each one of us has a spiritual responsibility to shape the future of our families and communities.



I hear people in Indian Country say that poverty/unemployment, lack of education, alcohol, drugs and violence are killing off our Native People. These issues are all valid, but I believe the underlying issue is the loss of our Spirituality, our Traditional way of life and our self-esteem. Our Spirituality, self-esteem and commitment to ourselves, to our Tribes and Indian Country can empower us to overcome the obstacles that so many of us face.



At one time, our Nations were strong with our ceremonies, dances, prayers, songs and medicines. We must now recapture and use the forms of spiritual power that the Creator has given us since Sacred Time, Creation Time, First Man and First Woman Time, if we are to survive as Native People.



We will regain our spiritual strength and power, our pride and dignity and use it to start healing families, our communities, along with Earth Mother and ourselves.



We must learn to be proud of our rich Native heritage and culture, our Spirituality and knowledge. We should no longer be ashamed of it. As Native People, our one common bond is our direct connection to the Great Creator of All Things.



Our Native medicines, our Sacred and Holy power centers and sites, our spiritual forms of knowledge are now ready to be used. We should use these things with sincerity and respect.



We must try harder as Native People to make a real Spiritual commitment to re-connect with Creator, our Ancestors, the earth Mother and each other as Native People.



And from this point, we become the spiritual change we wish to see in Creator's World!

DOODA DESERT ROCK IN BOLIVIA

Dooda Desert Rock in Bolivia
Contact: Elouise Brown, Dooda (NO) Desert Rock Committee President, (505) 947-6159
On protecting the Rights of Mother Earth

DOODA DESERT ROCK IN BOLIVIA
By Elouise Brown
Photo: Elouise Brown, second from left, with Bolivian delegation at World Climate Conference. Photo courtesy Elouise Brown.

Elouise Brown, president of Dooda Desert Rock, today announced her return from Cochabamba, Bolivia, where the World People’s Conference on Climate Change met at a suburb to discuss global warming and more appropriate responses to deal with it.Brown said, “People have been asking me what a Navajo grassroots group is doing at a world climate conference in Bolivia?"

"The simple answer is that we need to carry our campaign to wherever we can focus attention on the facts. The major fact that no one is addressing is the findings of studies of air quality in the Shiprock area that show that Navajos who live downwind of the two existing power plants must seek medical attention at high rates. We raised the issue that the proposed Desert Rock power plant violates the provisions of Dine Natural Law in the Fundamental Laws of the Dine. The Navajo Nation Council recently sought to make the Natural Law unenforceable, and although my lawyer showed the Navajo Nation Supreme Court that was not true. I went to promote the rights of our Mother Earth, who is the key to Navajo Natural Law. Area energy companies spent a lot of money to negate Mother Earth’s rights, and I went to Bolivia to make them stronger.”

The issue related to Navajo Natural Law that attracted Brown’s attention was a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth. It is a strong document and Dooda Desert Rock and indigenous groups from around the world framed a final document in Cochabamba that is powerful. It clearly states the fundamental rights of animals to freedom from torture and cruelty, their freedom from confinement and removal from their natural habitat, and the fundamental duties of humans to the rights of the earth.

One of the big gaps in United States environmental law are the old questions of “whether trees have standing to sue” and “who speaks for the trees.” The Declaration makes it clear, along with Navajo Natural Law, that Mother Earth is a sentient being and that She has standing on her own to protect her rights. She can and will appear in court, including the Navajo Nation court system.

President Shirley applauds the publicity stunt by Omar Bradley of the Bureau of Indian Affairs about the revival of the Bureau’s wildlife studies. We are going to enforce the rights of the animals and of Mother Earth in that process.

Brown said, “I came back from Cochabamba stronger and more committed to the rights of Mother Earth. I forged new alliances to make it possible for Dooda Desert Rock to have a presence in the development of international law and policy. I will be sitting next to the Navajo Nation delegates in Geneva to tell the United Nations how the Navajo Nation is violating the rights of Mother Earth. I will tell the world that President Joe Shirley, Jr. is the captive of New York energy interests and a captive of Dine Power Authority. In other words, I’m back.”

RICHMOND CA. FIRST POW-WOW

Richmond's First Pow Wow!!

"Honoring The Native American Community"

Contest Pow-Wow
Saturday, June 26

10am - 8pm
Lucreatia Edwards Shoreline Park
1500 Marina Way South, Richmond CA
(
End of Marina Way, South)
For more info e-mail: RichmondPww1@yahoo.com

ARIZONIA LAW DRAWS INDIGENOUS OPPOSITION

Arizona law draws widespread indigenous opposition



PHOENIX – A controversial new state anti-immigration law has many American Indians alarmed that tribal sovereignty has been violated, with the looming possibility that individual liberties will be threatened.

The law, S.B. 1070, makes it a crime to be in Arizona illegally, and it requires police to check suspects for residency paperwork. It also bans people from soliciting work or hiring day laborers off the street.

The state’s legislature passed the bill in late-April, with Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signing it into law shortly thereafter.

Republican supporters have argued that the measure is necessary to protect the nation’s borders by reducing illegal immigrants and the burden they place on taxpayers. Some believe that drug cartels and crime will also be combated.

Those ideas have been widely controversial, with many progressive groups, Hispanics, and the Obama administration protesting the law. The main questions center on what factors police will use to decide if a person should be required to show paperwork.

Racial profiling is a top concern, and lawsuits to challenge the law’s legality are certain.

As the debate has progressed, Native American perspectives have also quickly become part of the mix. Many observers have noted that it was the indigenous people of North America who welcomed European immigrants to the continent hundreds of years ago.

The Inter Tribal Council of Arizona has been one of those leading the charge, sending a letter that urged the legislature and governor not to pass the law.

“We have a range of concerns, including tribal sovereign nations not being recognized as able to define and protect their own borders as they see fit, and the possibility that tribal citizens will be profiled by police,” said John Lewis, director of the organization.

Lewis and other ITCA staffers traveled to Washington after the law passed to educate national policy makers about their concerns. Various Native American groups are calling on tribes and Indians to oppose the measure, hopefully to get it repealed.

“This impacts all indigenous people, and the lawmakers need to know it,” Lewis said. “America’s boundaries are not tribal boundaries.”

Lewis noted that some tribes, including the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, are on and near the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Our tribes have much interaction with Mexico, through culture and life, and I’m not sure people realize that there’s an economic impact involved as well.”

Lewis and others believe that American Indians are likely to be unfairly targeted, based on their appearance and travel patterns. The American Civil Liberties Union has expressed similar concerns, and has vowed to monitor that aspect of the law.

“Even if they are just stopped for five minutes, that is five minutes too many if the rights of people have been infringed,” Lewis said.

Ian Record, an education manager with the Native Nations Institute, said he is concerned that he could be targeted, since his truck has a “Latinos for Obama” sticker on it.

“It’s scary that something like that could be a factor in you getting pulled over. My wife is Latina. We shouldn’t be afraid of that.”‘

Record noted that citizens of the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Pascua Yaqui Tribe have been strongly rallying against the law.

“It complicates things for tribal citizens, especially of those nations. It has to be greatly concerning to everyone that law-abiding citizens of those nations are likely to be pulled over,” Record said.

“The tribe’s sovereignty and the tribal citizens’ rights are obviously being harmed.”

Robert Warrior, the Osage president of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, echoed those issues in a letter to the governor April 24.

“Your action as chief executive of the state of Arizona will, when the law takes effect, give license to abuse by police and citizens, making ever more murky the possibility of working towards a just future for all people in the Americas,” wrote Warrior, director of American Indian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“S.B. 1070 will have tremendous negative impact on indigenous people on both sides of the border between the United States and Mexico, and it ought to go without saying that some of the people most impacted by this invidious law are descended from peoples who lived in the Sonoran Desert centuries before anyone even thought of the United States. Regardless of proximity or descent, though, the new law is morally wrong and panders to the worst currents in U.S. politics.”

Warrior said in an interview that the regulation seems to be “myopic by design,” since it seeks to take complex realities and make them seem simple.

“Given that many thousands of indigenous people are from communities that have straddled the U.S.-Mexico border since long before that border came to be, I see this law as a tragic reminder of how polluted political culture in the U.S. has become.”

Warrior said tribal citizens throughout North America should see the situation “as a call to think about where we are headed as indigenous peoples whose right to exist predates the borders that now so often keep us apart.”

“We need a growing consciousness of what our persistence and presence means in the hemisphere. For those of us who are U.S. citizens, a law like this provides an opportunity to oppose the worst currents of U.S. political life and to stand in solidarity with those whose human rights are violated in the name of security.”

Indian Country Today-May 3, 2010

WITH EFFORT, NATIVE BUSINESSES CAN SUCCEED

With effort, Native businesses can succeed

DENVER – The promises and pitfalls of small business and the complex paths to success were described by two Colorado Natives concerned about commerce in a time of shrinking profits and budget shortfalls.

The Coloradoans are R. Carol Harvey, Navajo, executive secretary of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs, a longtime energy sector attorney with federal contracting expertise, and Ernest House Jr., Ute Mountain Ute, former CCIA executive secretary and now director of government affairs for the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, where he works as a legislative liaison representing business concerns.

Both addressed the 6th Annual American Indian Business Expo conducted by the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Indian Chamber of Commerce April 12 – 13.

Harvey, the sixth of seven children, said she learned valuable lessons from her father, who did maintenance work, and her mother, a skilled cook who also ran a small business until she was 82, both of whom said to “get an education,” and to “learn to deal with difficulties.”

As a result, she earned graduate and law degrees and began teaching small business formation and government procurement. She also described learning from more traditional methods, when family members would go without food or water for periods of time “to learn we would be fine, anyhow,” a practice that built “personal strength and personal character.”

Harvey recalled the courage displayed by Navajo leader Manuelito in battle with American forces from 1860 – 1868, enabling Navajo people to remain in their homeland instead of being sent to Oklahoma with other tribes, as had been planned. These and other histories, if told to young people, would foster strength of character, she said.

Tribal nations could make it mandatory for their 18-year-olds to have small business training before they receive their per capita checks so they would have something to build on, she said, noting that businesses contracting with the federal government usually are expected to have working capital before contracts are awarded.

It is important for Native business leaders to have a “wide panoply of information,” in part because Indian businesses that operate in Indian country have different licensing, taxation, and employment and labor laws, she said.

Potential Native businesses dealing with the federal government should “be contract-ready but also shovel-ready,” she said. “Government contracting is not an easy area at all – it takes a lot of diligence and a lot of work.”

Harvey said five percent of federal prime contracts are to be set aside for 8(a) small businesses, which include those owned by Native and tribal entities; three percent are for businesses in HUBZone (Historically Underutilized Business Zone) areas, including Indian reservations; three percent are for service-disabled, veteran-owned small businesses, and five percent are to go to woman-owned small businesses, although certain parts of that program are not in place at present. The programs are not mutually exclusive.

From the legislative side, House denounced current bills that could be harmful to business interests in the state and pointed out that Colorado has been in a “dire situation” financially, with a $1.3 billion shortfall remaining in the next fiscal year.

One piece of pending legislation could eliminate all the enterprise zones created for distressed areas including job-scarce Montezuma County, where the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation is located.

House, whose great-grandfather was the last Ute Mountain Ute traditional chief, said the tribe is focusing on renewable energy and water projects and on expanding opportunities for its Weeminuche Construction Authority company.

The Southern Ute Indian Tribe, also located in southwestern Colorado, is “known throughout Indian country as one of the top tribes” in business ventures, he said, noting that the tribe’s Red Cedar Gathering Co. is the third-highest natural gas-producing firm in its immediate area.

House also cited two other Southern Ute ventures in Colorado, including the multimillion-dollar, 500-unit Spire in downtown Denver, the largest residential high-rise condo development in the city’s history, according to developers, which is located across from the Colorado Convention Center.

The tribe also has a large investment in multimillion-dollar Belmar, a mixed-use community which provides an urban core for Lakewood, a Denver suburb and the state’s fourth-largest city.

Those investments, as well as others, are part of the tribe’s long-term investment strategy along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, according to an asset manager for the tribe’s Southern Ute Growth Fund’s GF Properties Group.

Among other speakers at the business expo were Margo Gray-Proctor, Osage, president of Horizon Engineering Services Co., Tulsa, Okla., and chairwoman of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development.

Indian Country Today-April 23, 2010

TREATMENT OF WABANAKI NATIVES QUESTIONED, EPISCOPAL COMMITTEE FILES HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD CRITIQUE WITH UN

Treatment of Wabanaki questioned
Episcopal Committee files human rights record critique with UN

PORTLAND, Maine – The Episcopal Diocese of Maine Committee on Indian Relations has filed a hard-hitting critique with the United Nations Human Rights Council on Maine’s human rights record against the Wabanaki nations and the federal government’s failure to rein in state violations of domestic and international laws and standards meant to protect indigenous peoples.

The U.S. government’s human rights record is currently under assessment in a process called the Universal Periodic Review, which was created by the U.N. General Assembly in 2006 as a mechanism by which the human rights records of all 192 U.N. member states are reviewed every four years.

The committee’s report to the UPR is the latest action in its robust program of social justice activism.

After three years of groundwork initiated by committee member John Dieffenbacker-Krall, the national Episcopal Church last summer passed a landmark resolution repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery and urging the U.S. government to endorse the Declaration. Other churches have since passed similar resolutions.

The U.N. General Assembly adopted the UNDRIP in 2007. Of the four nations that voted against the Declaration, only the U.S. and Canada still have not endorsed the human rights-based Declaration. Australia endorsed it last year and New Zealand announced its limited endorsement at the Ninth Session of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues April 19.

This is the committee’s first interaction with the U.N., said Dieffenbacker-Krall, who is the executive director of the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission.

“We have a strong feeling of the need to be in solidarity with the Wabanaki people.” The Wabanaki include the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, the Houlton Band of Maliseets, the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Penobscot Indian Nation.

The opportunity to file the UPR report coincided with the committee’s completion of its new mission statement: “We are called by our Creator to deepen our relationship with the Wabanaki of Maine in order to stand with them in the pursuit of justice, the affirmation of their inherent sovereignty, and the preservation of Native languages and culture.”

Among the committee’s recommendations is the adoption of the Declaration “without any qualifying statements or conditions limiting its original intent.” Other recommends are that:


•The U.S. government “expunge” the Doctrine of Discovery from all regulations, policies, statutes and case law that rely on it, citing in particular the 1823 supreme court ruling in Johnson v. M’Intosh, which forms the foundation of U.S. Indian law.
•The U.S. Congress backed by the executive branch hold oversight hearings on the implementation and effectiveness of the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act and companion state legislation, the Maine Implementing Act, to examine how the agreements have complied with congressional intent, the negotiators’ understanding of the agreements, federal Indian law, treatment of other federally recognized tribes, and international human rights instruments as they pertain to indigenous peoples.

•The U.S. should actively participate in the MITSC, an inter-governmental body charged to “continually review the effectiveness of the MIA and the social, economic and legal relationship between the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Penobscot Indian Nation, and the state to ensure that the legal and human rights of the Wabanaki are upheld.”

The committee’s report provides a concise history of Maine’s 160-plus years of racist paternalism toward the Wabanaki people, including violations of the Constitution’s Article I, section 8, clause 3, the Indian Trade and Intercourse Act of 1790 and other illegal land grabs.

“In addition to the constant encroachment on Wabanaki land, the State of Maine did not recognize nor respect inherent Wabanaki sovereignty. Maine treated the Wabanaki as if they were children requiring the state to manage their affairs,” the report says.

It quotes from an 1842 state Supreme Court decision involving the Wabanaki: “Imbecility on their part, and the dictates of humanity on ours, have necessarily prescribed to them their subjection to our paternal control; in disregard of some, at least, of abstract principles of the rights of man.”

But the committee’s harshest criticism is reserved for the state’s recent actions and neglect, resulting in vast discrepancies between the Wabanaki and the surrounding Maine population in income, life expectancy, health, education, and other “factors associated with societal well-being.”

The report details several “egregious violations” of the settlement acts by the state, such as exerting sole authority over Wabanaki waters and lands; collaborating with giant paper companies that polluted the nations’ aboriginal waterways and jeopardized their sustenance fishing rights; using state courts to strip the nations of sovereignty over “internal affairs;” efforts to coerce the Maliseets into waiving their settlement act rights, and more. In presenting their arguments, committee members cite numerous violations of particular articles of the Declaration.

“The committee did this in part in that we wanted to elevate before the eyes of our fellow Mainers, Americans, and the world that the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples should be governing our relations with indigenous peoples,” Dieffenbacker-Krall said.

The federal government has not fulfilled its responsibility as a signatory to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, the report says.

“The U.S. has failed to exercise proper oversight over its political subdivision the State of Maine, allowing it to violate U.S. law and international human rights standards applicable to indigenous peoples,” the report says. It calls on the federal government to fully participate in the MITSC, including attending its meetings and sharing responsibility for its funding.

“The federal government has an obligation to participate. The settlement act is akin to a treaty and the commission is akin to a treaty body, so the federal government should not just be ignoring it,” Dieffenbacker-Krall said. “It should be participating and maybe it would at times curb some of these outrageous violations the State of Maine does on Wabanaki sovereignty.”

Indian Country Today- Aprril 26, 2010

US RE-EXAMINES OPPOSITION TO UN DECLARATION

United States re-examines opposition to UN Declaration

By Valerie Taliman, Today correspondent


NEW YORK – Political tides are turning as international support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples continues to grow, putting greater pressure on Canada and the United States to fully endorse it.

One day after New Zealand reversed its position and supported the Declaration, U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice announced that the United States is undertaking a review of its opposition.
“I am pleased to announce that the United States has decided to review our position regarding the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” she said, addressing the Ninth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

“During President Obama’s first year in office, tribal leaders encouraged the United States to re-examine its position on the Declaration – an important recommendation that directly complements our commitment to work together with the international community on the many challenges that indigenous peoples face. We will be conducting a formal review of the Declaration and the U.S. position on it.

“There is no American history without Native American history. There can be no just and decent future for our nation that does not directly tackle the legacy of bitter discrimination and sorrow that the first Americans still live with. And America cannot be fully whole until its first inhabitants enjoy all the blessings of liberty, prosperity, and dignity. Let there be no doubt of our commitment. We stand ready to be judged by the results.”

Many Native leaders view this as a positive sign that the United States is moving toward endorsing the Declaration. Critics say there is no need to delay it with additional reviews since the United States was part of negotiations for more than 25 years.

Tonya Gonnella Frichner, an Onondaga attorney and member of the Permanent Forum representing North America, said during his campaign President Barack Obama clearly stated to tribal leaders that he was committed to the adoption of the Declaration.

“We still feel very positive about it and hope that he will commit to that promise,” she told the forum, attended by nearly 2,000 registered delegates.

Others were disappointed that the United States – a country that postures itself as a champion of democracy and human rights worldwide – did not support it outright.

“We’ve already been there. It seems extraordinary to review it again since it has already been debated and adopted by the international community,” said Debra Harry, Indigenous People’s Council on Biocolonialism executive director. “We’d like to see the United States adopt it now, and then let’s talk about how to implement it domestically.”

A less formal meeting was scheduled on the third day of the forum to discuss elements of the review, and to allow time for Native delegates to dialog with members of the U.S. delegation led by Kimberly Teehee, the White House senior policy advisor for Native American Affairs; and Ambassador Rick Barton, U.S. representative to the Economic and Social Council.

Teehee said anytime new laws or policies are introduced, it triggers a process for review across federal agencies to evaluate how it will impact United States laws, policies and regulations. This must be done to properly plan for implementation, she said.

“We are a new administration and we care about what you think. Our approach has been to continue the president’s engagement and commitment to Indian country.

“In the spirit of consultation and partnership, we will engage tribal leaders, stakeholders and NGOs (non-governmental organizations.) We need to be thoughtful about that process. I assure you that your voices will be heard.”

When asked about the timeframe for the review, Teehee said the process was just beginning and she could not yet define how long it would take.

Cayuga Chief Karl Hill of the Haudenosaunee reminded the U.S. delegation that the Iroquois Confederacy negotiated the first treaties with the United States dating back to 1704.

“We have worked on this since its beginning more than 30 years ago, and we urge you to be expeditious in your review,” said Hill, who delivered a statement from the Global Indigenous Peoples Caucus containing eight major recommendations for implementing the Declaration.

The Declaration has strong provisions for supporting treaty rights and affirms indigenous peoples’ collective rights to self-determination and control over their lands and natural resources. These rights will likely conflict with development plans by extractive industries and multinational corporations, but will provide greater protections for indigenous peoples.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon encouraged nation states to move forward with adopting the Declaration, and cited alarming statistics from the first-ever United Nations report on the State of the World’s Indigenous Peoples released in January.

“Indigenous peoples suffer high levels of poverty, health problems, crime and human rights abuses all over the world. You make up five percent of the world’s population – but one third of the world’s poorest,” he said. “Every day, indigenous communities face issues of violence, brutality and dispossession. In some countries, an indigenous child can expect to die 20 years earlier than his non-Native
compatriots.

“Indigenous cultures, languages and ways of life are under constant threat from climate change, armed conflict, lack of educational opportunities and discrimination.

“Elsewhere, your cultures are being distorted, commodified and used to generate profits which do not benefit indigenous people, and can even lead to harm. This is not only a tragedy for indigenous people. It is a tragedy for the whole world.”

Ban said that according to current forecasts, 90 percent of all languages could disappear within 100 years. The loss of these languages erodes an essential component of a group’s identity.

“Diversity is strength – in cultures and in languages, just as it is in ecosystems.

“The loss of irreplaceable cultural practices makes us all poorer, wherever our roots may lie. That’s why the theme this year is ‘Development with Culture and Identity.’ It highlights the need to craft policy measures that promote development while respecting indigenous peoples’ values and traditions.

“We need development that is underpinned by the values of reciprocity, solidarity and collectivity. And we need development that allows indigenous peoples to exercise their right to self-determination through participation in decision-making on an
equal basis.

“The United Nations will continue to support you.”

Indian Country Today- April 23,2010