TEACHING THE VALUES OF PEACE HONORS THE VETERANS- REMEMBERING WOUNDED KNEE '73

Remembering Wounded Knee '73

by Carter CampPonca Nation AIM

Ah-ho My Relations,Each year with the changing of the season I post this remembrance of Wounded Knee 73. I wrote it a few years ago when some of our brave people had walked to Yellowstone to stop the slaughter of our Buffalo relations. When I did I was surprised at the response from people who were too young to remember WK'73 and I was pleased that some old WK vets wrote to me afterwards.

Each year on this date I post the short story again and invite you-all to send it around or use as you will. As you do I ask you to remember that our reasons for going to Wounded Knee still exist and that means the need for struggle and resistance also still exist. Our land and sacred sites are threatened as never before even our sacred Mother herself is faced with unnatural warming caused by extreme greed.In some areas of conflict between our people and those we signed treaties with, it is best to negotiate or "work within the system" but, because our struggle is one of survival, there are also times when a warrior must stand fast even at the risk of one's life.

I believed that in 1973 when I was thirty and I believe it today in my sixties. But to me Wounded Knee 73 was really not about the fight, it was about the strong statement that our traditional way of living in this world is not about to disappear and our people are not a "vanishing race" as wasicu education would have you believe. As time has passed and I see so many of our young people taking part in a traditional way of living and believing I know our fight was worth it and those we lost for our movement died worthy deaths.

Carter Camp 2010"Remembering Wounded Knee 1973"by Carter Camp

Ah-ho My Relations,Today is heavy with prayer and reminisces for me. Not only are those who walk for the Yellowstone Buffalo reaching their destination, today is the anniversary of the night when, at the direction of the Oglala Chiefs, I went with a special squad of warriors to liberate Wounded Knee in advance of the main AIM caravan.For security reasons the people had been told everyone was going to a meeting/wacipi in Porcupine, the road goes through Wounded Knee.

When the People arrived at the Trading Post we had already set up a perimeter, taken eleven hostages, run the B.I.A. cops out of town, cut most phone lines, and began 73 days of the best, most free time of my life. The honor of being chosen to go first still lives strong in my heart.That night we had no idea what fate awaited us. It was a cold night with not much moonlight and I clearly remember the nervous anticipation I felt as we drove the back-way from Oglala into Wounded Knee. The Chiefs had tasked me with a mission and we were sworn to succeed, of that I was sure, but I couldn't help wondering if we were prepared.

The FBI, BIA and Marshalls had fortified Pine Ridge with machine gun bunkers and A.P.C.s with M-60's. They had unleashed the goon squad on the people and a reign of terror had begun, we knew we had to fight but we could not fight on wasicu terms. We were lightly armed and dependent on the weapons and ammo inside the Wounded Knee trading post, I worried that we would not get to them before the shooting started.

As we stared silently into the darkness driving into the hamlet I tried to foresee what opposition we would encounter and how to neutralize it... We were approaching a sacred place and each of us knew it. We could feel it deep inside. As a warrior leading warriors I humbly prayed to Wakonda for the lives of all and the wisdom to do things right. Never before or since have I offered my tobacco with such a plea nor put on my feathers with such purpose. It was the birth of the Independent Oglala Nation.Things went well for us that night, we accomplished our task without loss of life. Then, in the cold darkness as we waited for Dennis and Russ to bring in the caravan (or for the fight to start), I stood on the bank of the shallow ravine where our people had been murdered by Custers' 7th Cavalry. There I prayed for the defenseless ones, torn apart by Hotchkiss cannon and trampled under hooves of steel by drunken wasicu. I could feel the touch of their spirits as I eased quietly into the gully and stood silently... waiting for my future, touching my past.Finally, I bent over and picked a sprig of sage - whose ancestors in 1890 had been nourished by the blood of Red babies, ripped from their mothers dying grasp and bayoneted by the evil ones.

As I washed myself with that sacred herb I became cold in my determination and cleansed of fear. I looked for Big Foot and YellowBird in the darkness and I said aloud ---"We are back my relations, we are home." Hoka-HeyCarter Camp- Ponca Nation AIM

FREE LEONARD PELTIER!!! NOW!!!

Posted by brendanorrell@gmail.com at 8:41 PM 0 comments Links to this post

THE AGING MYTH OF LEONARD PELTIER

'The Aging Myth of Leonard Peltier'

(' Teaching the Values of Peace' is placing a disclaimer on this book review, as we view it as negative information, lies and disinformation)

Printed with permission of Native Sun News

Joseph H. Trimbach said that the idea for the book about the landmark American Indian Movement led 1973 Wounded Knee standoff initially surfaced when he was told by his granddaughter that a book assigned to her in school “said some pretty nasty things about her grandfather.” He happened to be the FBI Special Agent in Charge of the area during that turbulent time.

So when Trimbach, with the help of his son John, set out to write a book to factually portray the event, the inclination to include deemed political prisoner Leonard Peltier was not on the forefront of their mind. He wasn’t involved in the standoff, after all, and they knew Peltier’s Amnesty International supported name was already a hot button subject that would cloud the book’s Wounded Knee standoff focus.

Their priorities changed after having a lunch with a Native American U.S. Marshall that also advised to avoid AIM’s intrinsically attached Peltier subject that came with any discussion of, and concluded that they should “Let the Indians have their hero.”

John and Joseph were startled by the revelation that a man tried and sentenced to 2 life sentences for the murders of 2 FBI agents was still deemed a role model to Native American people. “The suggestion that the Indians deserved no better than to have a killer as their hero kind of woke us up,” John Trimbach said.

It was early afternoon and hot and dusty out on June 26, 1975, when Special Agents Ronald A. Williams, 27, and Jack R. Coler, 28, pursued a vehicle near the Jumping Bull compound on a remote part of the Pine Ridge Reservation in which they believed a fugitive was hiding, according to court documents. One passenger happened to be Leonard Peltier, wanted on charges for attempted murder of a Milwaukee off-duty police officer.

Fearing being captured, Peltier and his AIM associates unleashed a hail of gunfire on the agents, outgunning and wounding both of them. There were over 125 bullet holes in the agents’ cars alone compared to 5 shots fired by the agents in defense. Williams died after being shot through his upheld hand and face at close range. An unconscious Coler, who was suffering from a severe shoulder wound that nearly took his arm off, was shot twice in the head at point blank range.
During the trial, Ka-Mook Nichols, the common-law wife of AIM founder Dennis Banks, said that Peltier had mocked William’s hand gestures to protect himself and bragged, “The motherf-er was begging for his life, but I shot him anyway.”

6 months after the agents were killed, AIM activist Anna Mae Aquash was killed execution style on false suspicion of being an FBI informant. Arlo Looking Cloud was finally found guilty of her murder during a 2004 trial. Joseph Trimbach described how just a few months prior to her death, Peltier interrogated Anna Mae while putting a loaded gun in her mouth. Peltier called it his version of “truth serum.”

Joseph said, “So it seemed that it was all tied together through Anna Mae, perhaps the one person in the Movement who truly held up the ideals of what AIM should have been.”

The book detailing all of this was titled American Indian Mafia, An FBI Agent’s True Story About Wounded Knee, Leonard Peltier, and the American Indian Movement (AIM). “’Mafia’ is a term coined by the Congressional report on the American Indian Movement describing how the AIM leadership disposed of people ‘in the manner of the Mafia,’” John explained.

John said that the romanticized AIM legacy only serves to help perpetuate the poor state of affairs and negativity on the Pine Ridge reservation. Those negative attitudes will not change, John said, “Unless there is a fundamental shift in people’s awareness - both inside and outside the rez. And that can never happen if we start with a series of fables that are just as deceitful as the government officials who signed treaties.”

In preparing to write their book, the Trimbach’s knew they had to study where the countering claims surrounding Peltier were purveying from. On popular source, two-time National Book Award winner Peter Matthiessen’s 1983 controversial book In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, was described in a New York Times book review by Alan M. Dershowitz, professor of law at Harvard Law School, as “…one of those rare books that permanently change the consciousness about important, yet neglected, facets of our history.”

John said he read Mattheissen’s book at least 5 or 6 times, so “I could identify all the clever ways he wove elements of truth into a series of falsehood. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse is well written,” he admitted, “with just the right touch of suggestive language and emotion that blinds and diverts.”

In regards to Peltier’s case, however, Dershowitz also wrote, “Invoking the cliches of the radical left, Mr. Matthiessen takes at face value nearly every conspiratorial claim of the movement, no matter how unfounded or preposterous.”

Although no singular contrived ‘fact’ reportedly proves Peltier’s innocence, one that has gained a foothold among his supporters seems to be Native singer/songwriter and activist Buffy Saint-Marie’s insistence that Peltier’s assault rifle was not the murder weapon. John said that this fallacy is “Pretty amazing for someone who claims to be familiar with the case.”
A Matthiesen claim in his book is a fanciful self-defense scenario, in which Joseph summed up, “Relies on Paranoia and fear: a small army of government agents ready to storm the Jumping Bull compound following the ‘advance team’ of Coler and Williams.”

Other rumors include the purported 140,000 documents that the FBI and CIA have been withheld in regards to the Peltier case for the last 30 years. Peltier’s lawyers are allegedly tying to retrieve these phantom documents with the Freedom of Information Act.
So how did Peltier manage to persuade many so many people from poor rural Indians to Hollywood celebrities that he’s a merely political prisoner and oppressed AIM scapegoat if the bottom line seems to be that he essentially executed 2 wounded FBI agents?
“Good question, and one that still confounds me,” John said.

He theorized since a lot of Peltier’s supporters do include Hollywood types like Oliver Stone and Robert Redford - who produced and narrated a 1992 documentary called Incident at Ogalala, The Leonard Peltier Story - that in itself politicizes Peltier in that it gives liberal minded people a cause. Amnesty International supports Peltier and he is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize every year. Multi-platinum selling rock band Rage Against the Machine’s song Freedom has a Leonard Peltier tribute on it’s 1994 music video. As a result, the Trimbach’s have been often been dismissed as neo-con right wingers in ad hominem attacks by opponents.
“We didn’t start out trying to be political, but we have noticed that nearly all of Peltier’s supporters are on the left side of the political spectrum,“ John said. “The whole idea of a modern-day political prisoner in an American prison fits their political template. … I really don’t have a quarrel with anyone’s politics, but if you support Leonard Peltier well, now we’ve got a quarrel.”

Using primary sources, the Trimbach’s delved deep into the Wounded Knee trial transcripts in federal archives that had never even been touched or looked at since the trial - not even by the supposed historians of the matter. They interviewed people that were there, and they were eager to help set the record straight.

Former AIM member and Wounded Knee standoff veteran Richard Two Elk traveled with John to the village ruins of Wounded Knee. The town was condemned and bulldozed after AIM left. They spoke to a lady that claimed she knew where Ray Robinson, a black Civil Rights activist seen at the Wounded Knee compound, was buried. Two Elk allegedly witnessed Robinson’s murder in the compound after an argument. The woman was too frightened to go into details about the exact location of Robinson’s remains. Indian activist, actor, and AIM member Russell Means has a ranch in nearby Porcupine.

From what the Trimbach’s garnered about the public’s perception, the AIM legacy and Peltier support has been losing steam in the last few years, so their cause to raise awareness about AIM and Peltier has not been a lost one. “After 30 years of taking advantage of people’s generosity and humanity, it’s time to hold Peltier accountable. It’s time for the charade to end,” John said.
At Peltier’s parole hearing in July 2009 - and perhaps last until 2024 - John and Joseph Trimbach actually argued on behalf of Peltier’s parole. Joseph said that Peltier’s only chance for parole is and always has been that he confess and ask for forgiveness for his crimes.
“I noticed that this was the only time Leonard stared at the floor instead of looking at us. He knew,” John said.

Native Sun News- Feb. 26, 2010

NATIVE ANTI-TAX REVOLT AND MOBILIZING AT THE RICHMOND CITY FOR SEWER RATE TAX HIKES

NATIVE ANTI-TAX REVOLT AND MOBILIZING BEGINS AT THE RICHMOND CITY FOR SEWER RATE HIKES

Richmond, CA-The Committee of Native Families for the Safety of Our Chidren has started a petition drive against the City of Richmond with regards to the Sewer Rate Tax increases to be placed on all home owners in the city of Richmond.

The City of Richmond did a city wide mailing to all property owners to announce unfair and sizable proposed tax increase in waste water user rates, along with proposed new water and sewer users rates and other tax fees that under consideration by the Richmond City Council at the public hearing that is set for April 6, 2010 at 7pm at the Richmond City Council Chambers, 440 Civic City Plaza, Richmond, CA.

A single residental unit will pay $506.10 for sewer taxes now, in 2011 it will be $546.59.
In the next 5 years the sewer taxes will be $729. 86.

The Council wants written input from the community on this matter before March 15, 2010. Written comments must go to:

City Clerk, City of Richmond
450 Civic Center Plaza
Richmond, CA. 94804

Unless the Council receives a majority of written protest related to proposed tax fees before the public hearing on April 6, 2010, the exorbitant tax rate increase will be adopted by the City Council.

SCOTTS VALLEY BAND OF POMO CASINO HOTEL RESORT IS LEGAL COURT RULES

Richmond deal with Indian tribe seeking casino in North Richmond is legal, court rules

By Katherine Tam


RICHMOND, CA-A 20-year agreement worth $335 million between Richmond and a tribe proposing a Las Vegas-style casino near the city limits is valid, a state court has ruled.

The state Court of Appeal upheld a municipal services agreement between the city and the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, saying the city was not wrong in deferring an environmental review and adding that the city isn't required to perform such an analysis because it's not the regulatory body. Wednesday's 19-page ruling reverses a Contra Costa Superior Court decision that had invalidated the deal.

Scotts Valley is seeking federal approval to turn 30 acres on Parr Boulevard at Richmond Parkway into Indian land, where it wants to build a casino.

The city and tribe signed an agreement in 2006, outlining roadwork, public safety services and political support the city would provide in exchange for annual payments.

The city would not receive money unless the casino is built. Parchester Village Neighborhood Council and the Citizens of East Shore Parks argued the city failed to conduct an environmental review first and sued in 2007.

Contra Costa Times-Feb. 25, 2010

TRIBES TARGET GRANDCHILDREN IN PLANNING

Tribes target grandchildren in planning
Part 3 of 5

By Carol Berry, Today correspondent
Story Published: Feb 24, 2010

CONCHO, Okla. – Although Indian country is divided along many lines – history, culture and language, among others – the collective energy of a number of tribes seems directed at a common target – the grandchildren.

The grandchildren seem, at least anecdotally, to be driving some current tribes to revisit their enrollment policies, as grandparents seek to ensure full tribal status for their youngest family members.There are plenty of high-profile, contentious, enrollment-related issues, including the role of government in disenrollment disputes, but in the ongoing evolution of Indian status and survival, possible shortcomings in the regular enrollment process itself seem to be preoccupying a number of tribal nations.Not everyone agrees it is in a tribe’s best interest to lower or eliminate blood quantum requirements even though it means more youngsters can become enrolled.

Some members question stretching already thin tribal services or per capita payments while others see blood quantum as a metaphor for cultural knowledge and fear its dilution.Still others predict tribal rolls will fill up with people who have little or no contact with the tribe itself.Yet when the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota voted in 2008 to change from a one-fourth quantum to lineal descent, it meant a possibility that otherwise-disqualified grandchildren could be considered for enrollment. A number of Oklahoma tribes, including the Otoe-Missouria and Pawnee, have recently reduced blood quantum requirements from one-fourth to one-eighth, as have other tribes across the U.S., including the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe in California.And one tribe with what may be North America’s highest quantum requirement – five-eighths descent from that tribe – is going to be grappling with enrollment issues in 2010, if a forthright tribal chairman has his way.

“We’re intending to work on that (possible enrollment changes) this next year – one of my goals is to get that done,” said Curtis Cesspooch, chairman of the Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah, who added that several unspecified enrollment-related options will be considered by the tribe.“Some of the kids need to belong to a tribe – otherwise, they’re left out of everything,” he said, explaining the future of the younger generation is one of the considerations for 2010. “We’ve got to make it so a majority of their blood is from a federally recognized tribe.”Tribal survival underlies the concerns expressed by members of several tribal nations. An oft-cited calculation by DCIAmerica, a consulting firm, showed that a tribe with a one-fourth tribe-specific quantum for enrollment could, under certain circumstances, dwindle to zero eligible members in about a century.As if to underscore the complexity of enrollment options, one Oklahoma tribe has gone back and forth on lowering the quantum.

“My grandchildren are Indian in every way, raised in our traditions, they have Indian names that have been given to them, however they do not have enough blood to be recognized by their own tribe as Indian,” said a Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma member, quoted by Rosemary Stephens in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribal Tribune.Gladys Nowlin, who presented a resolution, later defeated, to lower the Cheyenne/Arapaho quantum from one-fourth to one-eighth, said she was concerned about education and health care benefits that might be denied her grandchildren “because they don’t have enough blood to be on our roll or any other roll – these were the reasons I authored this resolution, not for money.”The lowered blood quantum requirement could have increased the approximately 12,000-member tribal nation by about half, according to the tribal newspaper

.“I am half Cheyenne and I’m one of those who have done well within our tribe,” Alice Whitecloud, a tribal member, is quoted as saying. Her 18-year-old granddaughter “has been brought into the circle” and “she is Indian, but her own tribe does not recognize her. We need to consider our little children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren when deciding this issue; they are the ones who will be affected.”The proposed enrollment change, defeated last September, also lost out when it was re-introduced in mid-December by Charlene Wassana, author of the second resolution seeking to lower the blood quantum, who noted, “We are putting all this time, money and effort into language programs, but if there are not future generations of children on the roll, who are we going to teach the language to?”Information from the Office of the Tribal Council in connection with the proposed change noted a number of advantages to lowering the quantum, including increased eligibility for children under the Indian Child Welfare and foster care systems, health services expansion, and a broader eligibility for the tribe to obtain federal grants based on enrollment numbers.But disadvantages cited, which seem to have carried the day, included a decrease in services provided by gaming programs and a decrease in oil, gas and gaming per capita payments.

Obviously, concern for grandchildren’s enrollment is not the only quantum-related issue plaguing Indian country in terms of tribal enrollment at a time when individuals and families are being removed from tribal rolls for sometimes-controversial reasons, the Indian Civil Rights Act appears to offer little or no recourse, federal courts generally refuse to intervene, and tribal appeals systems may have limitations.As the Center for Constitutional Rights notes online, several appeals courts “have ruled that a public policy in favor of tribal autonomy trumps the rights of individual plaintiffs to vindicate discrimination claims” even when the claims cannot be pursued elsewhere, and sovereign immunity basically shields tribal governments and the BIA from liability for the kinds of discrimination against individuals that may be prohibited elsewhere.

Indian Country Today- Feb. 24, 2010

NATIVE PEOPLE START ANTI-TAX REVOLT AND MOBILIZING BEGINS AT RICHMOND CA. CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS

NATIVE PEOPLE START ANTI-TAX REVOLT AND MOBILIZING BEGINS AT THE RICHMOND CITY HALL COUNCIL CHAMBERS

by Mike (Ali) Raccoon Eyes Kinney

RICHMOND, CA- Last night at the bi-monthly meeting of the Richmond City Council meeting, representatives of the Committee of Native Families for the Safety of Our Chidren came to announce to the beginning of a grassroots ANTI-TAX REVOLT against the City Government of Richmond with regards to the SEWER RATE TAX INCREASES to be placed on all property owners and home owners within the city limits of Richmond.

The City of Richmond did a city wide mailing to all property owners to announce unfair and sizable proposed TAX INCREASES in waste water user rates, along with with proposed new water and sewer users rates and other TAX fees that under consideration by the Richmond City Council at the public hearing that is set for April 6, 2010 at 7pm at the Richmond City Council Chambers, 440 Civic City Plaza, Richmond, CA.

As an example a single residental unit will pay $506.10 for sewer taxes now, next year in 2011 it will be $546.59, In the next 5 years the sewer taxes will be $729. 86.

The Committee of Native Families for the Safety of our Children is a grassroots anti tax and bond movement based out of Richmond and West County. The Committee has defeated the West Contra Costa Unified School District in several bond and parcel tax measures in recent years.

The Committee announced they would fight the up and coming sewer tax rates by tooth and claw. Committee representatives filed formal letters of protest with the City Clerk that night and announced they would mobilize the community of Richmond to protest the Council's proposed unfair and sizable SEWER RATES TAX INCREASE.

The Council wants written input from the community on this matter before March 15, 2010. Written comments must go to: City Clerk, City of Richmond
450 Civic Center Plaza
Richmond, CA. 94804

Unless the Council receives a majority of written protest related to proposed TAX FEES before the public hearing on April 6, 2010, the exorbitant tax rate increase will be adopted by the City Council.

US GOVERNMENT'S HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS NOW UNDER REVIEW BY THE UNITED NATIONS

US government’s human rights record under UN review
Tribal governments, members encouraged to provide input

By Gale Courey Toensing

Story Published: Feb 19, 2010

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Indian tribal governments, Native organizations and community members have the opportunity to provide input into the first ever review of the United States’ human rights record under the auspices of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The process is called the Universal Periodic Review and it 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 U.S. became a member of the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2009 and the first review of its human rights record will take place this December.

The U.S. State Department will hear input from American Indians on the federal government’s efforts to meet its human rights obligations March 16 at the University of New Mexico School of Law in Albuquerque and on March 17 at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Ariz. Tribal officials and members are encouraged to participate, according to a Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission press release.

Tribal governments, community members and organizations can also submit five-page written statements or a 10-page collaborative statement directly to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights presenting their concerns, questions, or recommendations about the U.S. government’s activities that impact human rights. Submissions can be e-mailed to UPRsubmissions@ohchr.org or mailed to Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Palais Wilson, 52 rue des Pâquis, CH-1201 Geneva, Switzerland. Submissions must be received by April 19 at midnight, Geneva time.

The UPR review involves a year-long process of information gathering that includes information prepared by the State Department and presented in a national report of up to 20 pages; information compiled from records within the U.N. systems, including any cases of decisions by human rights bodies; and a summary of information submitted by other stakeholders, including indigenous nations, peoples, non-governmental organizations and other entities.The UPR reviews are conducted by the UPR Working Group, which consists of 47 members of the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The U.N. Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, human rights treaties ratified by a state, a state’s voluntary commitments, and international human rights law are the yardsticks by which the UPR assesses each state’s adherence to its human rights obligations.The International Indian Treaty Council has distributed a memo urging tribal nations and organizations to participate in the review process and to advocate for the inclusion of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a benchmark for fulfilling human rights obligations.The Declaration was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly Sept. 13, 2007 with 143 states voting in favor, 11 abstaining, and four – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.S. – voting against it. Australia has since adopted the Declaration.“Indigenous peoples have consistently called for the UPR process to also include implementation by states of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

This has not yet been agreed to by the Human Rights Council. However, in 2008, the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recommended the U.S. use the Declaration “as a guide to interpret the state party’s obligation under the Convention (on human rights) relating to indigenous peoples.” “Therefore, violations of or failure to implement the rights recognized in the Declaration can and should be included in submissions by indigenous peoples,” said Andrea Carmen, IITC executive director.The IITC was founded in 1974 and in 1977 it became the first organization of indigenous peoples to be reorganized as a Non-Governmental Organization with Consultative Status to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, the body just below the General Assembly in the U.N. hierarchy.Carmen is serving on a UPR planning committee established by the U.S. Human Rights Network, a coalition of leading human rights activists and organizations dedicated to strengthening human rights awareness and activism in the U.S. and adherence by the U.S. government.

The Network’s Planning Committee aims to help guide and coordinate the UPR initiative and its Web site has information about upcoming UPR education, training and action opportunities, as well as key dates and events.The State Department also has a new Web site in connection with the UPR process and information on how to submit statements or reports.The Universal Periodic Review “has great potential to promote and protect human rights in the darkest corners of the world,”

U.N. General Secretary Ban Ki-moon said on the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Web page where more information about the UPR process, background and documentation is available.

Indian Country Today-Feb. 19, 2010

CHEROKEE WORLD RENEWAL MEDICINE- THE TIME IS CLOSE, WE MUST BE PREPARED

Cherokee Star Constellation - Prophecy of the Rattlesnake

The Stars above and its configurations hold TIME UNTIME within its grasp upon all life. As all cultures sustain a Zodiac system written upon TIME UNTIME so also the Chickamaugan Cherokee of the Americas hold also an Ancient Zodiac of the heavens.

Within the Zodiac of the Heavens of the Chickamauga Cherokee are etched Ancient designs written upon and within the lines of seeing. The Cherokee Zodiac is alive and moves and spins upon the rings of TIME UNTIME. As the main outline remains its hold and is stationed in the sky of stars its movement within that frozen outline does indeed change with the movements of the other elements.

Elements within the rotations planets, stars, and bodies of the heavens. As other cultures station their Zodiac as a permanent fixture the Cherokee Zodiac morphs or changes and becomes as if ALIVE. Always Alive, breaths, lives, and takes upon each constellation its own deeming of things, TIME UNTIME, and among those things, PROPHECY.

The Constellations of the Chickamaugan Cherokee are 13 fold which contain the characterizations of mainly animals. Among the many design configurations seen written upon the stars are the designs of animals, objects, and many other elements of TIME UNTIME. The figures of the sky are totally different from other cultures of the Zodiac except for a rare few which seem to be similar. The only one which seems to relative to similarity is found within the Cherokee Constellation Scorpion and Snake and this in relation to others as Scorpio and Serpent. This is the story of only one of those constellations.

This is of the Cherokee Constellation Rattlesnake. And within this one Constellation is found a PROPHECY. Within the Rattlesnake of the Heavens is found TIME UNTIME foretold since the dawn of TIME. In the sky is found the figure of a Snake. And upon this snake it is the outline of a Rattlesnake. Sometimes the Serpent and the Rattlesnake take on its bearing of one or the other but the Snake of the Rattlesnake is ITS design. The Cherokee Rattlesnake Constellation is not like other cultures of the world.

The Cherokee Rattlesnake in the Heavens has a head and winds itself back and forth with its body as in sidewinding itself to its tail. The boundary of the Rattlesnake is unlike the boundaries of other Zodiac cultures. In the Heavens the Pleiades Star System is found as the tip of the Rattlesnake tail. The Rattlesnake of the Cherokee is very sacred and its sacredness is written even in the Heavens. Upon the mouth of the Rattlesnake is found 52 scales. These scales in number of 52 is written upon the Calendar of the Cherokee and upon the wheels and rings of TIME UNTIME. The Calendar of the Cherokee spins upon wheels and rings as a sophisticated dating system. A dating system that not only tells TIME of events, people, places, and things but also a very holy and sacred element within the Cherokee culture itself of ALL THINGS. The Rattlesnake can sometimes be imaged as a serpent. To be a Serpent or to be the Rattlesnake depends on the knowing of the TIMES and TIMES of TIME UNTIME. To know the culture of the Cherokee and its Ancient design upon LIFE. One MUST know the things of TIME UNTIME in order to place the constellation as a Rattlesnake or a Serpent. But this is another story. The stationary outline is always of the Rattlesnake.

However upon the wheels of the Cherokee calendar is also found when where how what who in its changing and transformation. The transformation is not the changing of the shape of the Rattlesnake but the addition or subtraction of elements upon the snake itself. These things also tell the tales of the universe and all its bearing of what was, what is, and to be. On the Cherokee Calendar a great thing is foretold of things about to take shape within all things upon the earth, the heavens, and the universe. And the Rattlesnake Constellation is one of those which speaks as a voice of TIME UNTIME of things to be. Upon the Cherokee Calendar Rings and written in the Star Constellation Rattlesnake is a prophecy of TIME UNTIME. And so it is thus foretold .... When the Earth sees the fingers of Spearfinger strike Jupiter, when the ages of the Rings and wheels tell it is the ending of the ages of cycles of 5, this will be the sign for the whole earth, for all the earth will see this thing, to wake up from sleep. These fingers that stuck Jupiter was the comet fragments that hit Jupiter in the 1990s and the whole earth took of is majesty.

This was the sign foretold on the Calendar for the Cherokee people to WAKE UP to come out of sleep. The Cherokee Calendar also speaks its voice telling that at this time of the fingers striking Jupiter that Orion Star System will awaken. And the Pleiades and Orion will war once again as in old. Jupiter and Venus will awaken to its destiny of TIME UNTIME of cycles. Orion will WAR with Pleadies, Jupiter will WAR with Venus. The time of the Cherokee UKU's [Holy Men] will be at hand.

In the year 2004 and 2012 an alignment will take place both on the Cherokee Calendar and in the heavens of the Rattlesnake Constellation both. It is the time of the doublehead serpent stick. It is the time of the Red of Orion and Jupiter against White Blue of Pleadies and Venus. It is the time of the Uku's choosing. It is the time of the Beloved Woman and MYSTERIES OF TIME UNTIME. It is the Time Untime of the THUNDERBOLT and the spirits of Lightning Mountains. In the year 2004 and 2012 the Cherokee Rattlesnake Constellation will take on a different configuration. The Snake itself will remain, however, upon the Rattlesnake shall be added upon its head feathers, its eyes will open and glow, wings spring forth as a winged Rattlesnake, it shall have hands and arms and in its hands shall be found a bowl.

The bowl will hold blood. Upon its tail of 7 rattles shall be the glowing and movement of Pleiades. The Rattlesnake shall become a FEATHERED RATTLESNAKE or FEATHERED SERPENT of TIME UNTIME. And upon the Rattlesnake is also the Milky Way. A crossing of the Milky Way shall be seen at these times. For the center of the Universe is what many know as the Constellation Sagittarius by modern man. But upon this constellation of is also found the Pleiades Star system which is what is different in the boundary of others and the Cherokee Zodiac. The Milky Way is ALSO a Tree ... STONE TREE. And upon Stone Tree is as a Tree with a tree trunk, branches, a top, and even roots. The Flower and the Tree is also a tassel as corn. And upon the flower and the tree is the TREE OF LIFE. REBIRTH, RENEWAL, NEW. And the Cherokee Calendar shall end in the year 2012. But upon the times just prior shall be the Feathered Serpent and its prophecy.

Upon the Heavens design, within the Cherokee Rattlesnake Constellation, it is written. And upon the Rings of TIME UNTIME of the Cherokee Calendar it also says BEHOLD RATTLESNAKE CONSTELATION. And Remember. The Rings of the Cherokee Calendar are read by the winding motion of the Rattlesnake. To Add or to subtract TIME UNTIME. To MOVE the Wheels backward or forward, to add a wheel to move the rings, to tell the tale what was, what is, and to be. The Rattlesnake and it design tells the movement of the RINGS OF TIME. And in the sky heavens the motions of the movement of stars, planets, and life tell the tale of its bearing. For all is as the winding of the Rattlesnake. And in the year 2004 the Morning Star shall be first and in the year 2012 the Evening Star shall be first. And upon those years the crown of the Feathered Serpent shall bear its colors and honor. The hands shall hold the bowl and the tail shall be as the roots of a Tree, The Pleaides Tree of the beginning. And in the Year 2004 and 2012 shall be the TIME UNTIME of the Feathered Serpent of the Sky Heavens. And the Rings shall turn upon those years of prophecy foretold on the Rings of TIME UNTIME.

And Ywahoo Falls Kentucky shall sing of Venus and the Feathered Rattlesnake. For this is not all the prophecy not all the things thereof. For if it was meant for one to know and I give only part, then you have received a great gift. For if I tell all and it was not meant for one to know then I have waisted my breath. For this is a sacred thing, the Venus Alignment and the Feathered Serpent of the Heavens. And in the Year 2012 the Cherokee Calendar Ends. And all is reborn. For the Feathered Rattlsnake comes and shall be seen in the heavens in the year 2004 to 2012. In the south of the americas ... it is related as the coming of Quetzalcoatl. The Ancient Cherokee relate it as the coming of the Pale One once again. The Rattlesnake Constelation shall appear with the Venus Alignment. The Stars of the Heavens of the Cherokee Zodiac, the Rings of the Calendar, and The Venus Alignment tell the story of a Chickamaugan Prophecy.

For they all are aligned in the year 2004 to 2012.

We honor all Native Blood and our Earth,

www.crystallinks.com/cherokee.

GLOBAL WARMING AND THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP IN INDIAN COUNTRY

top foto: Courtney Cummings of Richmond Native Wellness Center

bottom foto: KKUP air-personality Dave Romero

GLOBAL WARMING MEETING ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLE AND THOUGHTS ON LEADERSHIP IN INDIAN COUNTRY

by -Mike Raccoon Eyes Kinney

fotos- Mike Raccoon Eyes Kinney

This past Saturday, Feburary 20th, 2009 the Richmond Native Wellness Center located in Richmond, California hosted a presentation on climate change and what it means to Indigenous people.

Tony Gonzalez, director of AIM-West, and youth journalist Gemma Givens shared their experiences at the Copenhagen climate talks that took place in December 2009 and discussed how climate change affects Indigenous peoples.

SPIRITUAL THOUGHTS ABOUT NATIVE LEADEARSHIP IN INDIAN COUNTRY

The objective for Indian Country is to try to do everything a little better tomorrow than it was done today. Continuous improvement is the path to a higher standard of Native leadership for today's issues in Indian Country.

We need to acknowledge in Indian Country that attachments, such as Power, Privilege and Material Possessions can make it difficult to maintain high moral and spiritual standards for we as Native People.

WHITE BISON HOSTING MEDICINE WHEEL AND 12 STEPS FOR RECOVERY

Greetings! White Bison is hosting our Medicine Wheel & 12 Steps for Recovery Coaches Training in Colorado Springs, CO February 25-27, 2010. This training will take place at our new Wellbriety Training Institute. We have attached further information and a registration form for your convenience.

Please feel free to check out our website at www.wellbrietytraining.com for information. You may also feel free to contact our office on our toll free number 1-877-1871-1495. Thank you very much for your continued support as the Wellbriety Movement expands.

NATIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT: NO 2010 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES ON NATIVE LANDS

Green Guerrillas met up with Kanahus and Dustin on their TAKE BACK THE LAND tour in 2008... we talked about Indigenous sovereignty, stolen land, and why the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver is a threat to all people and the planet...excerpt from www.no2010.com.

Why We Resist the 2010 Winter Olympics!

No Olympics on Stolen Land BC remains largely unceded and non-surrendered Indigenous territories. According to Canadian law, British Columbia has neither the legal nor moral right to exist, let alone claim land and govern over Native peoples.

Despite this, and a fraudulent treaty process now underway, the government continues to sell, lease and develop Native land for the benefit of corporations, including mining, logging, oil & gas, and ski resorts. Meanwhile, Indigenous peoples suffer the highest rates of poverty, unemployment, imprisonment, police violence, disease, suicides, etc.

Native Ecological Destruction Despite claims to be the greenest Olympics ever, and PR statements about sustainability, the 2010 Olympics will be among the most environmentally destructive in history, with tens of thousands of trees cut down & mountainsides blasted for Olympic venues in the Callaghan Valley (near Whistler) & the Sea-to-Sky Highway expansion.

In the summer of 2007, a record number of black bears were hit on the Sea-to-Sky Highway, with at least 11 dying (attributed to loss of habitat). Massive amounts of concrete used in construction have also caused millions of Salmon to die in the Fraser River, where tons of gravel are being mined to make concrete.

http://www.myspace.com/nativeyouthmovement

TRIBE HONORS THE ANCESTORS AT MASSACRE SITE IN IDAHO

Tribe marks massacre with burial ground gathering
By Jessie L. Bonner, Associated Press Writer

Story Published: Feb 12, 2010

PRESTON, Idaho – Tribal members descend in late January each year to the burial ground near the Bear River where soldiers felled hundreds of their ancestors in one of American history’s bloodiest – but little remembered – massacres.Descendants of the Northwestern Shoshone who were decimated in their winter encampment in a surprise attack 147 years ago, they stamp their feet in the cold and offer songs and prayers to the dead.Bodies from that distant morning in 1863 were never officially counted, and the bones were long ago scattered to the surrounding hills.

The commanding Army officer involved counted 220 – 270 dead. Settlers who went in later found many more bodies in ravines or under deep snow and put the number as high as 500, a figure cited in a National Park Service history. The tribe estimates 400 of their number were killed. No more than 60 survived.Any of those numbers are larger than the much more well-known massacres at Wounded Knee in South Dakota, where some 146 Lakota Sioux were gunned down in 1890, and at Sand Creek, Colorado, where 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho were killed in 1864.And yet, history books make little mention of Bear River, perhaps because the nation was elsewhere engaged in the Civil War.

The Battle of Gettysburg with its estimated 51,000 casualties was later that same year, one of the bloodiest ever on American soil.Those who chose to remember the Bear River Massacre this year gathered around the small monument that marks the ground. The colorful dreamcatchers and handkerchiefs fastened to tree branches hung stiffly in the freezing cold.Carolyn Neaman, a 62-year-old retired nursing assistant whose uncle filled her with both respect and horror for the site near Preston, Idaho, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of Salt Lake City, recounted her elder’s words.“‘If you’re really quiet,’ he said, ‘you can hear the cavalry coming down the hills,’” Neaman said. “He told us to listen really, really quiet and you can hear a lot of things that go on. You can hear men and women crying, and little kids.

“I’ve heard it,” Neaman said.The federal government designated the Bear River Massacre site as a National Historic Landmark in 1990, acknowledging that many of the victims were women and children.The Northern Shoshonee were encamped along the “Bia Ogoi” or Bear River for the Warm Dance, a yearly winter ritual to drive away the cold.Col. Patrick E. Connor and about 200 soldiers from the 3rd California Infantry attacked at daybreak on Jan. 29, 1863.Several sources, including Army reports, historical tracts and carefully preserved oral histories from the tribe, describe what happened.Connor and his men had been sent in response to growing tensions between the Indians and white settlers in the region.

A miner and two other settlers had been killed, and the Shoshone were blamed, although they insisted other Indians were at fault. There were reports that three Shoshones had stolen some horses and cattle earlier that month.Survivors recounted the “battle” as a day of savagery, ending with soldiers smashing infants’ skulls, raping dying women and dispatching the wounded with bullets, clubs and axes.Connor recorded 14 troopers killed in the attack, with one National Park Service account offering a higher number of dead soldiers.

Since the 1970s, both Indians and non-Indians have gathered without formalities at the Bear River site, sometimes during the worst of winter, to mark the anniversary. Interest has gone back and forth, said Patty Timbimboo-Madsen, cultural and natural resource director for the Northwestern Shoshone.“For us to publicly display that emotion is hard,” said Timbimboo-Madsen, a 58-year-old descendant of the survivors. “But when people want to know, you have to be able to put that behind you and tell the story.”Her great-great-grandfather, Chief Sagwitch Timbimboo was among the tribal members who escaped. He was shot in one hand before tumbling into the frozen river and floating under some brush.

After nightfall, he and a few warriors fled on ponies.Her great-grandfather, Yeager Timbimboo, was 12 when the soldiers attacked, she said. He lay still in the blood-soaked snow until a soldier realized he was alive. The boy was allowed to live. Today, the tribal members are both thankful for the survivors, Timbimboo-Masden said, and wish to honor those who perished.This year, the group sang songs and sprinkled sage over a fire pit to represent unity. They prayed that they would understand what happened and ultimately, forgive.If not for the massacre, the Northwestern Shoshone would have continued to thrive, the descendants believe, following the seasons over a range that included eastern Nevada, northern Utah, southern Idaho and Wyoming. The tribe would number in the thousands rather than 500.

They might have acquired a reservation to call home.In the years that followed the massacre, some of the survivors were taken under the wing of the Mormon church. Some tribal members later dispersed to Shoshone reservations at Fort Hall in Idaho, Wind River in Wyoming, Skull Valley in Utah and Duck Valley in Nevada.The Bear River gathering this year included several dozen students from Utah high schools, including a film club that traveled to the ceremony to make a documentary about how the tribe is now addressing the horror of an almost forgotten massacre.Timbimboo-Masden said past generations were not open to sharing the story because they were too close to the carnage.“So you have the next generation, my generation, who says it’s time to change,” she said. “It’s time to heal.”

FOX HUNTING IN COLORADO INDIAN COUNTRY??

While I always agree that hunting is an ethical God-given right, I think that I have to agree with the author on this one: fox hunting in Colorado should be banned!

Please help ban fox hunting in Colorado .

The madness must STOP!!!



Signed,Peter Cottontail

FEDERAL NAGPRA FUNDING SUFFERING

NAGPRA suffers surprising proposed budget cut
By Rob Capriccioso

Story Published: Feb 7, 2010

WASHINGTON – One area of the Obama administration’s proposed fiscal year 2011 budget sticks out like a sore thumb. While most Indian-focused programs are remaining steady or are set to make increases, the National Park Service has proposed to dramatically reduce the amount available for NAGPRA grants.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is the 1990 law that created a legal process for federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return American Indian human remains and cultural items to respective tribes or lineal descendants.NAGPRA grants, supported by appropriations from Congress, are meant to build cultural resources capacity for Indian tribes, Native Hawaiian organizations and museums, so they may work to fulfill the law.

For the past three years, Congress has appropriated $2,331,000 each year for the NAGPRA grants program, which is widely heralded by many tribes for its ability to help them get up to speed on carrying out the intentions of the law.Despite the tribal appreciation of the program, the Park Service only requested $1,750,000 for it in 2011. That’s a decrease of $581,000 or 25 percent of the level Congress appropriated for the program in 2010.The dramatically curtailed request comes at a time soon after the Park Service reported the actual number of grant applications has more than doubled since fiscal year 2008.The national review committee that oversees NAGPRA-related issues has long been concerned the grants program should not be shortchanged – and it has seen a need to increase, not reduce, its funding. The committee recommended in its 2008 report to Congress that the grant amount be increased to $4.1 million.So, it is all the more puzzling to tribal officials why the Park Service is trying to cut the program via its reduced budget proposal.

“It would be one thing if Congress didn’t want to support this successful program,” said Colin Kippen, a former chairman of the review committee.“But why is the agency that knows all too well the importance of these grants trying to reduce the amount available to tribes, Native Hawaiians and museums?“I am really troubled by this, especially because it reduces capacity-building surrounding NAGPRA at the very time when more tribes have learned about items that should be repatriated.”In the past, NAGPRA officials have said the grants program just wasn’t popular enough to dole out all the funds appropriated by Congress, so the officials who run the program ended up reshuffling funding to use the grants money for other purposes.The reshuffling of funds away from the grants program was so alarming to Ronnie Lupe, chairman of the White Mountain Apache Tribe, that he wrote a letter to NAGPRA headquarters in 2008, saying his tribe has “deep concern and disappointment” over the way officials there have handled the program.

One of his concerns is that the NAGPRA office may show bias against tribal cultural resource directors who might not be the best grant writers, but who know the traditional ways of their people.Also, since there is only one Native person on the NAGPRA staff, Lupe and others have said the office sometimes suffers a disconnect from the communities it aims to serve.After the fiscal year 2011 budget reduction announcement, some tribal officials are questioning whether the Park Service and federal NAGPRA officials are boldly trying to codify less money to the grant program, so they may more easily do as they see fit with congressional funds.“That’s one question that needs to be asked,” said Kippen, who suggested tribal officials contact the Government Accountability Office to report their concerns. The GAO is currently in the process of investigating NAGPRA officials as a result of concerns raised in a 2008 report co-authored by the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers and the Makah Nation.NATHPO continues to track the developments of the grants program and is disheartened by the Park Service’s 2011 budget request

.“NATHPO is concerned about this severe reduction [in the program] as the NAGPRA grant program was designed to be, and is the major source of federal support made available to Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to seek the return of their ancestors and sacred items,” said D. Bambi Kraus, director of the organization.Ramon Riley, director of cultural resources with the White Mountain Apache Tribe, said the elimination of a substantial portion of the program will likely cause on-the-ground problems for many tribes. His tribe was able to use one of the grants in recent years to become better at fulfilling its NAGPRA mission.“It’s not right for this program to be reduced. It helps tribes build capacity to carry out the law and protect their sacred items and people.”In response to questions about the proposed cutback, Sherry Hutt, program manager for the national NAGPRA program, said times are lean.“As to why the amount for grants has gone down, I do not have more to tell you than the general sense that budgets are tight across the board in federal agencies.

“You will note that Congress cut certain grants programs to zero as they did not think they had a clear sense of mission and criteria for awards. Obviously, Congress and the Department of the Interior do support the NAGPRA grants program, as funding continues even in difficult financial times.”To date, Hutt’s explanations of the NAGPRA grant situation have raised general concern in Indian country, but her office’s new budget request changes may raise more red flags, some tribal affairs experts believe.

“It’s time to bring our concerns to the GAO and Congress,” Riley said. “Something is wrong here.”

Indian Country Today-Feb. 7, 2010

SHARING IS THE INDIAN WAY

"We hold on to our otuhan, our give-aways, because they help us to remain Indians."

Lame Deer, LAKOTA

Our traditional communities and villages function on interdependence.

Share the deer and give freely of what you have to another.

Another way to express this principle is, it's better to give than to receive.

To share what you have eliminates complexity.

The Elders say, live a simple life. One of the principles in the Unseen World is, the more you give, the more you get. You can become a channel for abundance for your family, tribe, or community.

A giving person sets up a flow or replacement. Whatever you share will be returned to you in an amount equal or greater.

The Indian way is for everyone to give to another, thus the community wins.

CULTURAL GENOCIDE CONFERENCE WITH WARD CHURCHILL IN UKIAH,CA. MARCH 13, 2010

Cultural Genocide Conference With Ward Churchill in Ukiah, CA. March 13




Ward Churchill, the world’s leading social science expert on genocide against American Indians, has agreed to attend the Cultural Genocide Conference to be held at Mendocino College in Ukiah, CA. on March 13.

The Cultural Genocide Conference will convene in the Little Theater at nine A.M. with three hours of “First Nations Speak,” presentations by leaders of sovereign tribal nations and other Native Americans. Ward Churchill will speak beginning at one in the afternoon.
Recent charges have been made that the Marine Life Protection Act Initiative is causing cultural genocide by ignoring tribal sovereignty, and closing traditional tribal food-gathering areas essential to the survival of several North Coast tribal cultures.

The Cultural Genocide Conference will receive the testimony of affected First Nations peoples. Ward Churchill offers his expert judgment and wide knowledge of struggles for food sovereignty and indigenous cultural survival worldwide.

Ward Churchill, author of “A Little Matter of Genocide,” is a scholar with a huge list of peer-reviewed social science writings in American Indian Studies. A tenured professor at the University of Colorado, he was fired for speaking the truth as he saw it. Ward Churchill’s speaking fees help pay for lawyers in his reinstatement case to defend academic freedom .


The Cultural Genocide Conference is co-sponsored by the Mendocino College American Indian Alliance Club, and Veterans for Peace Chapter 116. Admission is free.

Felice Pace
707-482-0354

CREATOR MAKES ALL THINGS RIGHT

"It's very hard to do things in the right manner, but as long as we do things right, we are in turn with the Great Spirit."

Rolling Thunder, CHEROKEE


When we are right with the Great Spirit, we are right with all things.

It is impossible to be out of harmony with anything or anybody when we are in harmony with the Great One.

So, if during the day a problem crops up and someone makes us mad, the best thing we can do is talk to the Creator first, ask for His help, then continue our conversation with the other person.

In this way, our emotional nature will keep aligned with our thoughts, and we will always stay right with the Great Spirit.

NATIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT CONFORT OLYMPIC IN SECWEPEMCNATION

Native Youth Movement Confront Olympic Torch in Secwepemc Nation
by NATIVE YOUTH MOVEMENT


January 27, 2010

The Olympic torch was confronted by Secwepemc and their supporters in theSecwepemc Nation, in the invader (settler) town of Chase, so-calledbritish kkkolumbia, KKKanada. With the message "Secwepemc Say No Olympics" and "Olympic Torch Not Welcome in Secwepemc Nation"

Secwepemc have a long standing fight with the government of KKKanada and British kkkolumbia because of the fight for Secwepemc Land and Freedom. Secwepemc have never signed treaties or they have never ceded orsurrendered their Secwepemc Nation. Secwepemc say NO to the BC treatyprocess, the modern day treaty wants get rid of the Native Peoples andtake control of the last remaining lands and water (so-called resources)from their Territory.

Historic Dispute with Olympics Secwepemc Land and Freedom Fighters travelled to Europe in 2002 to hand deliver a formal submission to the International Olympic Committee and letthe IOC and the World know that the Olympics is not welcome here in so-called KKKanada, because of the long standing Indigenous land dispute and continued violations of Indigenous and Human Rights. KKKanada does notpermission to be here and is currently illegally occupying IndigenousNations.

Where ever the Olympics sets foot they wage war on the Earth and theIndigenous Peoples. No Olympics On Native Land.

Native Youth Movement Says: The Olympics and KKKanada is using it's global spotlight to market ourIndigenous Territories for sale, but we want the World to know "OUR LANDSARE NOT FOR SALE." KKKanada is here illegally and "This is all NativeLand". This is simply not just another "issue", We are fighting for our Freedom to continue to exist and live as true Secwepemc on our Landswithout any foreign invader occupation on our Lands. Major corporatesponsors like Coca-cola and RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) are destroying Indigenous Territories all over the World, including the Tar Sands (themostdestructive project in the history of humanity). We are now in the IVWorld War, the war against the Earth itself.

We stand in solidarity with all Indigenous Peoples fighting for their Lands and Freedom Worldwide.

Defend the Earth. No Olympics on Native Land. No Trans Canada Hwyexpansion through Secwepemc Nation. No CP Rail expansion through Secwepemc Nation. Shut Down the Tar Sands. Solidarity with the Zapatista. Solidarity withthe Mapuche. Get the Shell Out of Sacred Headwaters -Tahltan Nation.

Native Youth Movementnymcommunications@gmail.comhttp://nativeyouthmovement.org/

CREATOR'S TRUTH

"You can't just sit down and talk about the truth. It doesn't work that way. You have to live it and be part of it and you might get to know it."

Rolling Thunder, Cherokee

We all read books that have much information in them.

Often we pick up on little sayings that we remember.

Inside of us is the little owl, the owl of knowing. It talks to us- guiding us and nurturing us. Often when we get information, it's hard to live by, but it's easy to talk about.

It's living the Red Road that counts-Walk the Talk. If we really want freedom in our lives, if we really want to be happy, if we really want to have peace of mind, it's the truth we must seek.