SUPPORT JUSTICE FOR CALIFORNIA VALLEY MEWUK TRIBE

CANADA REMAINS DEFIANT, WILL NOT VOTE AGAIN FOR UN DECLARATION ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE. NATIVES STILL STRUGGLE AGAINST OPPRESSION

Canadian government isolated as Declaration moves ahead

By Gale Courey Toensing

Story Published: Sep 22, 2009

Indian Country Today


TORONTO – A new report released on the eve of the second anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples shows that it is increasingly honored, celebrated and implemented around the world, while Canada continues to balk at embracing its human rights principles.

After more than two decades of negotiation and debate, the Declaration was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly Sept.13, 2007, in a historic vote by a 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 claim large areas of land – were the only four countries that voted no.

Australia has since reversed its decision, and New Zealand and the U.S. have indicated that they are reviewing their positions.

The new report was written by Paul Joffe, a Montreal lawyer and expert on international human rights. Joffe worked in Canada and internationally with indigenous peoples and human rights organizations on indigenous issues during the 20 years of drafting the Declaration. He is also involved in the ongoing standard setting process at the Organization of American States in preparing the Draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

While the U.N. Declaration makes a universal and broad statement of rights, the American Declaration will address the particular needs of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

The U.N. Declaration affirms minimum human rights standards necessary for the “survival, dignity and well-being of the indigenous peoples of the world,” who number some 370 million in more than 70 countries. 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 explicitly requires that all provisions are to be balanced with other rights protections and interpreted in accordance with principles of justice, democracy, non-discrimination, good governance and respect for the human rights of all.

Although Canada played an active role in building international support for the human rights instrument, Conservative Party Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s minority government continues to denounce the Declaration as “unworkable.” Harper, who was a close ally of former U.S. President George Bush, maintains this position, despite a resolution by the Canadian parliament in April 2008 calling on the executive branch to endorse it and “fully implement the standards contained therein.”

Joffe’s report was supported and endorsed in a joint press release by the Assembly of First Nations, Amnesty International Canada, Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers), Chiefs of Ontario, Ermineskin Cree Nation, First Nations Summit, Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee), Louis Bull Cree Nation, International Organization of Indigenous Resource Development, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Inuit Circumpolar Council (Canada), Montana Cree Nation, Native Women’s Association of Canada, Quebec Native Women, Samson Cree Nation, and World Federalist Movement – Canada. The full report is posted at the Friends Web site.

The report shows that in the two years since the adoption of the Declaration, governments, U.N, agencies, regional and national courts, and human rights bodies have increasingly turned to it for guidance in implementing measures to protect the rights of indigenous peoples.

“These major advances highlight the unreasonableness of Canada’s position on the Declaration,” said Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada. “The Harper government has said that the U.N. Declaration is unworkable. Clearly, the international community and most countries strongly disagree.”

The report’s findings include:

• While Canada opposes the Declaration, implementation is taking place domestically with the leadership of indigenous peoples and in partnership with civil society.

The Declaration is becoming an integral part of human rights education and is used in presentations and materials shared across the country. Indigenous peoples are emphasizing the Declaration’s standards in discourse with government and corporations. Academic institutions are including it in curricula, and trade unions are educating members.

• The Declaration doesn’t create new rights; it elaborates on indigenous peoples’ inherent rights, which throughout history have not been respected.

• Greenland recently negotiated with Denmark significantly enhanced self-government, which its prime minister described “as a de facto implementation of the Declaration and. ... hopefully an inspiration to others.”

• The Supreme Court of Belize relied in part on the Declaration in an October 2007 case that affirmed the land and resource rights of the Maya people.

• The Inter-American Court of Human Rights used the Declaration and other legal standards in its November 2007 ruling on the land rights of the Saramaka people in Suriname.

Joffe’s report also addresses the Canadian government’s “erroneous” claim that its vote against the Declaration means it does not apply in Canada.

“This appears to be the first time that Canada has vigorously opposed a human rights instrument adopted by the General Assembly. In its December 2007 report, Amnesty International cautions that Canada’s position ‘attempts to set a very dangerous precedent for U.N. human rights protection,’” Joffee said.

“The proposition that governments can opt out. … by simply voting against a declaration, resolution or other similar document, even when an overwhelming majority of states have supported the new standards, dramatically undercuts the integrity of the international human rights system,” reads the Amnesty report. “It is impossible to recall a similar example of Canada taking such a harmful position on the basic principles of global human rights protection.”

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo said the Declaration is “the best available tool to address the longstanding human rights violations facing indigenous peoples worldwide.”

He called on the Canadian government “to follow the example of other governments and institutions around the world and support its implementation.”

GREAT NATIVE WOMEN OF INDIAN COUNTRY: THE HON. WILMA MANKILLER

Words of Wisdom by the Hon. Wilma Mankiller-

"I hope many of you will be people that question why things are and why we have to do them the way we have always done them. I hope you will take some risks, exert some real leadership on issues, and if you will, dance along the edge of the roof as you continue for life."

Mankiller named fellow at university

By Associated Press

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (AP) – Former Cherokee chief Wilma Mankiller has been named Northeastern State University’s first Sequoyah Institute Fellow.

University President Don Betz introduced Mankiller during a ceremony Sept. 4. Her office will be on the university’s main campus
in Tahlequah.

A former principal chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Mankiller plans to use her post to look at intellectual, economic and cultural achievements of American Indians. She says she also wants to explore leadership for women and indigenous people.

Mankiller served as the Cherokee chief from December 1985 until retiring in 1995. At the time she assumed office, she was the first female chief of a major American Indian tribe. The Cherokees are based in Tahlequah.

(Sept.15,2009) Copyright 2009 Associated Press.





Wilma Mankiller was the sixth child of eleven children. Her parents were Charley Mankiller (born November 15, 1914) and Clara Irene Sitton (born September 18, 1921). Sitton is of Dutch and Irish descent and had no Cherokee blood but acculturated to Cherokee life.

The family surname, Mankiller, is a traditional Cherokee military rank and is Asgaya-dihi in Cherokee, which is alternatively spelled Outacity or Outacite.

The Mankiller family lived on Charley’s allotment lands of Mankiller Flats near Rocky Mountain, Oklahoma. In 1942 the US Army declared 45 Cherokee families’ allotment lands, near those of Mankiller’s family, in order to expand Camp Gruber.

The Mankillers willingly left under the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Indian Relocation Program. They moved to San Francisco, California in 1956 and later Daly City.

In 1963, at the age of 17, Mankiller married Hector Hugo Olaya de Bardi, an Ecuadorian college student. They moved to Oakland and had two daughters, Felicia Olaya, born in 1964, and Gina Olaya, born in 1966.

Mankiller returned to school, first at Skyline College, and then San Francisco State University. She had been very involved in San Francisco’s Indian Center throughout her time in California.

In the late 1960s, Mankiller joined the activist movement and participated in the Occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969. For five years, she volunteered for the Pit River Tribe.

After divorcing Hugo Olaya, Mankiller moved back to Oklahoma with her two young daughters in 1977, in hopes of helping her own people and began an entry-level job for the Cherokee Nation

By 1983, she was elected deputy chief of the Cherokee Nation, alongside Ross Swimmer, who was serving his third consecutive term as principal chief. In 1985, Chief Swimmer resigned to take the position as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

This allowed Mankiller to become the first female principal chief. She was freely elected in 1987, and re-elected again in 1991 in a landslide victory, collecting 83% of the vote. In 1995, Wilma chose not to run again for Chief largely due to health problems.

Mankiller faced many obstacles during her tenure in office. At the time she became chief, the Cherokee Nation was male-dominated.

Such a structure contrasted with the traditional Cherokee culture and value system, which instead emphasized a balance between the two genders.

Over the course of her three terms, Mankiller would make great strides to bring back that balance and reinvigorate the Cherokee Nation through community-development projects where men and women work collectively for the common good,based on the Bureau of Indian Affairs "Self Help" programs first initiated by the United Keetoowah Band, and with the help of the Federal Governments Self-Determination monies.

These project include establishing tribally owned businesses, such as horticultural operations and plants with government defense contracts, and improving infrastructure, such as providing running water to the community of Bell, Oklahoma and building a hydroelectric facility.

Under the US Federal policy of Native American self-determination, Mankiller was able to improve federal-tribal negotiations, paving the way for today's Government-to-Government relationship the Cherokee Nation has with the US Federal Government.

Examples of progress included the founding of the Cherokee Nation Community Development Department, the revival of Sequoyah High School in Tahlequah, and a population increase of Cherokee Nation citizens from 55,000 to 156,000.

"Prior to my election," says Mankiller, "young Cherokee girls would never have thought that they might grow up and become chief.

After many years working together on Cherokee community development projects, Mankiller married her longtime friend, Charlie Lee Soap, a full-blood Cherokee traditionalist and fluent Cherokee speaker, in 1986. They live on Mankiller's ancestral land at Mankiller Flats.


She won several awards including Ms. Magazine's Woman of the Year in 1987, Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame, Woman of the Year, the Elizabeth Blackwell Award, John W. Gardner Leadership Award, Independent Sector, and was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993.

Her first book, Mankiller: A Chief and Her People, an autobiography, became a national bestseller.

Gloria Steinem said in a review that, "As one woman's journey, Mankiller opens the heart. As the history of a people, it informs the mind. Together, it teaches us that, as long as people like Wilma Mankiller carry the flame within them, centuries of ignorance and genocide can't extinguish the human spirit." In 2004, Mankiller co-authored Every Day Is a Good Day: Reflections by Contemporary Indigenous Women.

Source-Wikipedia

BOYCOTT PEABODY COAL COMPANY, STOP THE ECO-RAPE OF BIG MOUNTAIN AND INDIAN COUNTRY

NATIVE PEOPLE BOYCOTT PEABODY ENERGY! STOP THE ECO-RAPE OF BIG MOUNTAIN AND INDIAN COUNTRY (www.blackmesais.org/)

BOYCOTT RACIST SAM'S CLUB, SAVE OUR ANCESTORS AND SACRED SITES

NATIVE PEOPLE BOYCOTT THE RACIST SAM'S CLUB, SAVE OUR ANCESTOR'S AND SACRED SITES

STRUGGLING FOR MORE HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS FOR INDIAN COUNTRY

NATIVE PEOPLE SHALL NO LONGER SIT IN SILENCE!

WE ARE ORGANISING, UNITING, STRUGGLING AND RESISTING FOR MORE HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS FOR INDIAN COUNTRY!!

WE STAND BEFORE THE BANNER OF OUR PEOPLE, SO THAT OUR PEOPLE MAY LIVE!

NOTE FROM EDITOR-MIKE (ALI) RACCOON EYES KINNEY

I wanted to thank each and everyone of you for coming to share and be a part of Indian Country's-TEACHING THE VALUES OF PEACE.

This site is dedicated to more Human and Civil Rights for Indian Country, to prevent more youth and gang violence, traditional Native spirituality and finding real answers to the issues of Indian Country.

Having been a Native Advocate and Activist for more years than I would care to admit to, it is an Honor and Privilege to serve our People, not a right.

Creator made us all Holy People, and we must start to conduct ourselves more so in that fashion.

We Cherokee have an expression: " We Stand Before the Banner of Our People, So Our People May Live."

As I wrote here in a recent blog, " We must be the Spiritual change we wish to see in Creator's World."

We as the original Holy People, must sing our songs, do our prayers, dance our dances because our time is not to far away before we will be in control of the Americas again.

Creator's World Renewal Medicine is not to far in coming.

Wado and A-ho!

Mike (Ali) Raccoon Eyes Kinney
Editor: Teaching The Values of Peace

THE MANY FACES OF INDIAN COUNTRY CELEBRATE INTERTRIBAL FRIENDSHIP HOUSE BIRTHDAY PARTY

The many faces of Indian Country came to celebrate the 54th birthday of the Intertribal Friendship House on Sept. 10, 2009 in Oakland, California.

Internationally known Indian Country artist Michael Horse, Sweet Medicine Women's Drum, All Nations Drum, Gibert Blacksmith and KKUP air-personality David Romero were many of the attendees at the gala bash at the the Intertribal Friendship House.

CALIFORNIA NATIVE YOUTH HELPING TO MAKE NATIVE LANGUAGES COME BACK

Young California Indians rekindling Native languages


By Stephen Magagnini

Long-dormant California Indian languages and cultures are enjoying a renaissance among American Indians, and no one embodies that more than the Ramirez family.

"Our daughter's first words were 'Utha, Utha,' which means mom in Miwok," said her father, Petee Ramirez, as he cradled his 4-month old son, Ahumate – bear in Miwok.

Ramirez and his wife, Jennifer – whose bloodline comes from several California Indian nations – joined more than 200 other native people and linguists this weekend at the Language Is Life Conference 2009 at the University of California, Davis. The gathering showcased indigenous languages, which are fading as elders pass on.

Ramirez, 28, said he met his wife at a meeting on native languages, where experts said, "If you want to learn your language have a kid."

It's working, Ramirez said. His daughter Loyema is named after the Miwok word for flowers.

"When I was 14 and trying to learn our language my aunt taught me Loyema, and I thought it was beautiful," Ramirez said. "Loyema's mom and I were both without our language, and now every day we talk to her as much as we know."

Loyema, now a toddler, knows the Miwok words for different parts of her body. She even says kanapo – Miwok for poop – when it's necessary.

To learn new words, they rely on a handful of elders who still speak southern and northern Miwok dialects.

"I talk to my aunt Shirley at least every other week – she's always teaching me different words," Ramirez said. "It's respecting the old ways and the elders who were taken away to Indian boarding schools where some were beaten and abused if they spoke their language."

Petee said his two aunts ran away from Stuart Indian School in Nevada. Jennifer Ramirez said her grandparents met at Sherman Indian School in Riverside.

"I knew I was Indian, but I wasn't sure what it meant to be Miwok or California Indian," said Jennifer Ramirez, who is also part Serrano, a Southern California nation. "I didn't have the spiritual grounding that other friends had."

Ramirez, whose great-grandmother was a basket weaver in Yosemite, said she met a Chumash basket weaver "who was learning her language and put the spark in me to go find answers."

Learning native songs has made it fun. "We were able to research the music and listen to it over and over," she said.

The couple are now part of the Sheepranch Miwok Dancers. They perform an old Miwok gambling song "Minimini Wuksum," which means "Where are You Going?"

The song mocks a gambler who heads for the mountains after losing at bones, a popular American Indian bluffing game.

The song says, "Where are you going – get me my money first," Petee Ramirez explained.

The couple, who now live in Stockton, can afford to spend time researching their language because Jennifer Ramirez's grandfather belongs to the Morongo, a casino tribe in Riverside County.

California tribes such as the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, which operates Cache Creek Casino in Yolo County's Capay Valley, use gambling revenue to help revive their language and culture.

The Capay Valley tribe used to be known as the Rumsey Band. It officially changed its name to Yocha Dehe, which in the Patwin language means "home in the valley of springs," said Martha Macri, the Yocha Dehe endowed chair in California Indian Studies at UC Davis.

The Yocha Dehe "have actually succeeded in getting the children to get so excited to speak it," Macri said. "The people are frequently bantering conversationally, which is a big hurdle that people rarely get to."

California's Indian-language renaissance hasn't been easy, Macri said.

The Tubatulabal tribe's last fluent speaker died last summer, Macri explained, "and they're continuing to do quite a bit of work with 'language rememberers' who don't consider themselves fluent, but spoke it as a child."

Macri teaches Native American Studies 107, a popular class where students learn indigenous languages of their choice, including Yurok, Konkow and Pomo.

"I tell my students learning a heritage language is like sex; it's intrinsically pleasurable," Macri said. "I had one student whose mother was Cora from northern Mexico, and she wanted to be able to sit around the kitchen table and talk Cora with her mother and aunties.

"She had a very slim dictionary and had to learn everything from her mother," she said. "Now she can join in the conversation."

Margie Martinez, 83, of Northern California's Pit River Band, recalled the joy of hearing her great-grandson Tyler Stein speak the native language.

"This little German-Norwegian-Pit River kid says 'Suphala Gigi!' – hurry up Grandma! – in Ajumawi," said Martinez, who sells language rocks – rocks with native words on them – at her jewelry stand.

"Young people are more interested in their culture than ever," said L. Frank of the Tongva and Ajachmen tribes, near San Juan Capistrano. She's working with academics and elders to reconstruct her tribal language.

"It's very freeing to find your language and see that you are actually from somewhere," Frank said.

Sacramento Bee-(Sept.6,2009)

CAN WE RECONCILE ROLLS, RELATIONS AND IDENTITY?

Can We Reconcile Rolls, Relations and Identity?

Indian Country Today

Story Published: Aug 30, 2009

(Story Updated: Aug 28, 2009 )

Before the 1970s, tribal rolls were controlled and determined by BIA policy, but since then tribes have won the power and freedom to determine tribal enrollment requirements. Nevertheless, many tribes continue with legacy membership requirements from the days when the BIA made and administered the tribal rolls.

The ability to construct and administer tribal rolls is a significant product of the present-day self-determination policy. Determining membership is a fundamental political right and cultural responsibility of any nation. Increasingly, tribal governments are turning their attention to membership issues for a variety of reasons. Gaming tribes have scrutinized their tribal rolls and procedures. Other tribes are managing long-standing debates about who qualifies as a tribal member and who does not. Many Indian nations are rethinking constitutional governments and in the process, developing and recording rules of membership.

Determining membership is a
fundamental political right and
cultural responsibility of any nation.

Creating membership requirements is a great responsibility and for some nations, the exercise has become highly politicized. The possibility of determining tribal membership offers a fundamental opportunity to exercise sovereignty, but at the same time presents councils with the often difficult task of deciding how to define its citizenry. Some governments have very clear, ancient rules. For example, many Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) nations still use a matrilineal clan system, whereby a person reckons descent and citizenship through the clan of their mother.

Many tribal nations, however, have members who do not know their kinship or clan groups, or their groups are no longer operable or recognized. Further, many tribal governments have adopted bylaws or Indian Reorganization Act constitutions which define citizenship or membership rules according to non-Native constructs, usually without reference to any traditional criteria. This is at least one complicating factor in modern membership disputes.

Embedded within traditional determinations of membership is a moral community, often characterized by shared ceremonial relations. Membership in the traditional way was a kinship, a moral and sacred set of relations to kin, other clans, the nation, other nations, as well as the natural world.

Most contemporary tribal governments do not use traditional ways to determine tribal membership, although in many communities the continuity of sacred kin groups defines the social and political processes of the community, and are often at direct odds with secular constitutional governments. The words citizen and member do not encompass the moral and kinship structures that continue to inform many Indian communities. Neither citizen nor membership – English words – consider kin group identities, or embrace the worldview of tribal nations. Constructing tribal governments, constitutions and membership rules no longer need be restricted by the legacy of BIA administered membership rules, or even restricted to the secular and individualistic terms of citizen or membership.

Tribal nations should be more conscious of tribal traditions, traditional membership rules, and the social and political power that is represented within community kinship groups and their connections to sacred teachings. We now have a great opportunity to reconsider issues of citizenship, membership and tribal community, and we are free to renew reservations and governments in ways that take into account our own unique cultural histories and kinship relations.

Securing traditional identity and community in contemporary membership and political institutions is a creative and challenging path. By constructing governments, constitutions and tribal rolls that reflect the social and political power of ongoing community relations, we will be more soundly prepared to face the future as tribal nations.

"INDIAN COUNTRY HEALTH CARE, THE UGLY REALITY "

By TERRY ANDERSON
Bozeman, Mont.

Montana Sen. Max Baucus , a leading architect of national health-care reform, visited the Flathead Indian Reservation near Pablo, Mont., in May, and he was confronted with a surprising critique. "I hope any [new health-care] plan does not forget the nation's first people," Dr. LeAnne Muzquiz told the senator. Another person in the audience, according to the newspaper the Missoulian , followed up by telling the senator that the legislation pending in Congress would in fact do just that.

Native Americans have received federally funded health care for decades. A series of treaties, court cases and acts passed by Congress requires that the government provide low-cost and, in many cases, free care to American Indians. The Indian Health Service (IHS) is charged with delivering that care.

The IHS attempts to provide health care to American Indians and Alaska Natives in one of two ways. It runs 48 hospitals and 230 clinics for which it hires doctors, nurses, and staff and decides what services will be provided. Or it contracts with tribes under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act passed in 1975. In this case, the IHS provides funding for the tribe, which delivers health care to tribal members and makes its own decisions about what services to provide.

The IHS spends about $2,100 per Native American each year, which is considerably below the $6,000 spent per capita on health care across the U.S. But IHS spending per capita is about on par with Finland, Japan, Spain and other top 20 industrialized countries—countries that the Obama administration has said demonstrate that we can spend far less on health care and get better outcomes. In addition, IHS spending will go up by about $1 billion over the next year to reach a total of $4.5 billion by 2010. That includes a $454 million increase in its budget and another $500 million earmarked for the agency in the stimulus package.

Unfortunately, Indians are not getting healthier under the federal system. In 2007, rates of infant mortality among Native Americans across the country were 1.4 times higher than non-Hispanic whites and rates of heart disease were 1.2 times higher. HIV/AIDS rates were 30% higher, and rates of liver cancer and inflammatory bowel disease were two times higher. Diabetes-related death rates were four times higher. On average, life expectancy is four years shorter for Native Americans than the population as a whole.

Rural Indians fare even worse, as data from Sen. Baucus's home state show. According to IHS statistics, in Montana and Wyoming, Indians suffer diabetes at rates 20% higher, heart disease 12% higher, and lung cancer rates 67% higher than the average across all IHS regions in the country. A recent Harvard University study found that life expectancy on a reservation in neighboring South Dakota was 58 years. The national average is 77.

Personal stories from people within the system reveal the human side of these statistics. In 2005, Ta'Shon Rain Little Light, a 5-year-old member of the Crow tribe who loved to dress in traditional clothes, stopped eating and complained that her stomach hurt. When her mother took her to the IHS clinic in south central Montana, doctors dismissed her pain as depression. They didn't perform the tests that might have revealed the terminal cancer that was discovered several months later when Ta'Shon was flown to a children's hospital in Denver. "Maybe it would have been treatable" had the cancer been discovered sooner, her great-aunt Ada White told the Associated Press.

Such horror stories are common on reservations, where the common wisdom is "don't get sick after June"—the month when the federal dollars usually run out. Late last year, the Montana Quarterly interviewed Tommy Connell, a member of the Blackfeet tribe and a worker in the IHS hospital in Browning, Mont. He didn't pull any punches in his assessment of the IHS. "They're lying to us," he said of promises over the years of more funds and better care. "You can pass just about any bill you want, but to appropriate money to that bill, that's another thing."

Dismal statistics prompted Mr. Baucus to declare a "health state of emergency" on the Fort Peck Reservation in northeastern Montana and to order an investigation of the IHS's use of funds. In July 2008, the Government Accountability Office reported that the IHS simply lost $15.8 million worth of equipment such as trucks and Jaws of Life machines between 2004 and 2007. It also found that $700,000 worth of computers were ruined by bat dung.

Tribal contracting—the alternative to IHS-run hospitals and clinics—offers some hope for improvement by giving tribes more flexibility in administering their own hospitals and clinics. Kelly Eagleman, vice-chairman of the Chippewa Cree Band on Montana's Rocky Boy's Reservation, understands the effect of a top-down bureaucracy. Of his tribe, he says, "We tend to want to blame a system, but we don't look at ourselves. We all smoke. We lay on the couch. But when something happens to us, we're the first to point and say that the clinic should have fixed us."

The Chippewa Cree Band has opted to provide its own health care with funding from the IHS. Dr. Dee Althouse, a physician at the Rocky Boy's Reservation, is still frustrated by funding constraints. She told the Montana Quarterly that she often finds herself working to save lives and limbs, deferring routine health care until there is money available. Yet even with limited funds, ongoing research by the Native Nations Institute reported earlier this year that tribal management leads to better access and better quality care than relying on the IHS-run system.

The Chippewa Cree Band runs its own hospital and has hired a registered dietician who has gotten the local grocery store to implement a shelf-labeling system to improve consumer nutritional information. They've also built a Wellness Center with a gym, track, basketball court, and pool. These are small steps that won't immediately eliminate heart disease or diabetes. But they move in the direction of local control and better health.

At a time when Americans are debating whether to give the government in Washington more control over their health care, some of the nation's first inhabitants are moving in the opposite direction.

Mr. Anderson is executive director of the Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Mont., and a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A11

RACCOON EYES SOCIALISING IN A NATIVE HOME

RETHINKING THE ROLE OF GANGS

Rethinking the Role of Gangs
July 8, 2009 by CLTL



John Hagedorn is Professor of Criminal Justice at the University of Illinois-Chicago. His most recent book is A World of Gangs: Armed Young Men and Gangsta Culture.

We read every day about the arrest of gang members or statements by police that some bust “crippled” the local gang. Zero tolerance policies in schools and communities have as a goal the complete elimination of gangs. In several Central American countries, a policy of “mano dura” or the iron fist, aims to smash gangs.

But despite these policies, filled jails, and one police campaign after another, gangs haven’t gone away. In fact, a quick glance at press reports from around the world finds gangs everywhere. What’s up with this? Do the failure of “hard line” policies mean that we should ignore gangs or treat them nicely and they will go away? What should we do?

Here’s what I think: Gangs aren’t going away no matter what we do. In other words, no matter if we crack down or lighten up, gangs are with us to stay. Let’s examine first why I’d say something outrageous like this and then think about what it means for what we should do.

There are six billion people in the world today and half are under the age of 24. More than a billion are between 18-24, prime gang age. In a world that has 1.2 billion people living on less than a dollar a day, the UN’s standard for extreme poverty, there are a lot of poor, and understandably angry, young people. The sad truth is the 21st century is not so much a century of hope but one of shattered dreams. It’s not that individually, you or your friend can’t make it — hard work, determination, and getting a few breaks can give even the most “down and outs” a way up and out. But looking at the big picture, for the one billion plus people living in extreme poverty, the good life will remain out of reach for this lifetime, at least.

That’s really where gangs come in. Gangs are destructive and violent, alienated and armed young men and sometimes women. But they are also rebels in the face of a world that is even more violent, unforgiving, and cold. Unfortunately the response gangs most often choose is one that only makes things worse.


But not always, and this is the key to understanding how we should deal with gangs. When you look at US history as well as take a global look at the different kinds of gangs growing up in ghettoes, barrios, townships, and favelas, we find examples of gangs that have “changed their colors” and have become pro-community. That’s what the Latin Kings in Madrid, Spain have done, following a path set by their namesakes in New York City in the 1990s. The gang I have been researching, the Conservative Vice Lords in the 1960s started legitimate businesses, cleaned up their community, and created jobs in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood.


John Hagedorn
The common denominator in most of these stories of transformation are social movements. When they take hold, like the US civil rights movement in the 1960s, gangs can gravitate away from crime and violence. In other words, gangs and gang members can change if we pull them with us into movements of resistance and rebellion against racism, poverty, and police abuse.

No, that’s not easy. Drugs, violence, and the street life can be seductive as well as lethal. The police can be counted on for brutality and abuse. But gang members, like all of us, are not just one thing: they are not frozen forever into criminality or a violent life-style. Like us, they are sons or daughters of mothers and fathers; maybe they are religious, perhaps Muslims or Catholics; sports fans or athletes; musicians or avid listeners to hip hop or other beats. The secret to working with gangs is to encourage identities of resistance not identities that glory in violence, bigotry, or greed.

So while gangs, like poverty and racism, aren’t going away soon, they can change. I doubt any movement for real change will succeed unless those on the bottom of society — the more than one billion living in desperate poverty — join the struggle. And that includes their gangs.

NATIVE YOUTH GANGS AND VIOLENCE ON THE RISE ON INDIAN RESERVATIONS- WHY?

Gang Violence On The Rise On Indian Reservations
August 25, 2009


August 25, 2009 The Justice Department is trying to combat violence and lawlessness in Native American communities caused by gang activity.

Navajo country recently reported 225 gangs in its territory alone and more reservations noting the increased presence of gangs.

Guest host Jennifer Ludden talks about why gangs are becoming a major issue in Native American territories with Christopher Grant, former Chief of Detectives in Rapid City, South Dakota, and is now a national Native American Gang Specialist. Natay Carroll, a Navajo Indian who is a former gang member, and radio host Harlan McKasato, who is from the Sac and Fox tribe.

Copyright © 2009 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

JENNIFER LUDDEN, host:

I'm Jennifer Ludden, and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Michel Martin is away.


But first, starting today and over the next two months, the Justice Department is mounting a high-profile effort to combat violence and crime in Native American communities. Top justice officials are in Seattle today for a listening tour.

In coming weeks, they will travel to New Mexico and Minnesota. One issue, they are likely to hear a lot about an increase in Native American gangs. It's an old problem in some areas, but it's spreading and getting worse as drug traffickers take advantage of loopholes in law enforcement on tribal lands. Navajo country recently reported 225 gangs in its territory.

Joining us now to talk about this is Christopher Grant. He is the former chief of detectives in Rapid City, South Dakota, and is now a national Native American gang specialist. Natay Carroll is Navajo, he's now a sports promoter but is a former gang member who's traveled the country to share his experiences with young people, and also joining us is Harlan McKasato from the Sac & Fox tribe. He hosts a radio program, "Native America Calling". Welcome to all of you.

Mr. CHRISTOPHER GRANT (Former Chief Detective, Rapid City): Thank you.

Mr. HARLAN McKASATO (Host, "Native America Calling"; Sac & Fox Tribe Member): (unintelligible)

Mr. NATAY CARROLL (Member of Navajo Community): Thanks for having us on.

LUDDEN: Christopher, can I start with you and can you give us a sense of the growth and reach of gangs on tribal lands.

Mr. GRANT: Well, the growth and spread of this problem really depends on what you're talking about in Indian country. Certainly, we're seeing an increase in the Midwest , Northwest and Southwest, where the majority of Indian country is located. But not every reservation is affected or impacted by the problem. Certainly, however, over the last five to eight years, there's been a notable and significant increase in gang activity in many tribal communities in that region of the country.

LUDDEN: And you've written that urban, non-native gangs, it's not like that they're moving on to these reservations, they're locally grown, if you will, but there is something of an influence factor.

Mr. GRANT: Yeah, that's correct. This really tends to be, excuse me, what we call a hybrid form of gang activity involving individuals from the tribal communities who will often claim affiliation with a national gang and use their names and signs and symbols but have no connection to the gang other than the name.

Now that's not complete in that regard, and that from time to time we do know that an urban gang influence is transplanted to the reservation. But for the most part, it is a hybrid form of gang behavior. The important point is that it's the same gangster mentality. That's what we need to be concerned about.

LUDDEN: And Harlan, this gangster mentality, I mean is this something that you hear about through your radio show. Do your listeners call in about this?

Mr. McKASATO: Yes, Jennifer, I hear about this problem that Chris just described. We talked about it from time to time on our program, and one of the things that I hear is that there's a disconnect from our traditional Native American culture and our values. So what I'm hearing from our listeners is that, you know, somehow we need to reverse that and…

LUDDEN: What do you mean this disconnect, what do people say?

Mr. MCKOSATO: Well, there is, you know, in our traditional values, I think you're looking for acceptance, you know, from within. You sort of build a relationship within yourself. And what we're seeing now is this, you know, looking for acceptance from outside. And, you know, people on the ground level like Natay, we're looking at people like that to help our young people reconnect back to the culture because, you know, we need more law enforcement. There's no doubt about that, but I think to really tackle this problem from what I'm hearing from people is that we got to get the mindset of the young people to change and it's got to come from the ground level.

LUDDEN: I want to get to law enforcement in a minute. But, Natay, can you tell us a bit of your story. How did you become involved in a gang?

Mr. CARROLL: It was pretty much exactly what Chris was talking about was, you know, the outside influence, the urban influence that actually was a big influence on, I guess you could say the enticement of the whole thing. You know, there's a lot of media stuff that's out there. There's a lot of negative influence within the community, the social community, you know, just everything that has to do within the Native American reservations that have lack of resources, you know, to help our young people to keep them in a positive frame of mind.

LUDDEN: Well, we know that crime is much higher in native lands, there's lots of alcoholism, domestic violence. I mean, are these the things you're talking about?

Mr. CARROLL: Yes, those are the exact things that actually fuel the choice, to make that choice, to make the quick buck, you know, because a lot of time a lot of our young people in the reservations don't have their resource to be able to express themselves in any type of manner other than what resources - limited resources they have on the reservations.

And when you see someone that comes out of the urban area onto the reservation that carried (unintelligible) that's exactly what, you know, the young people in the reservation are looking for and tend to emulate. And, you know, I mean it just becomes something that's informative. Once you have an individual like that on the reservation, you start having a gravitational pull towards that individual because he's had that experience and he's got that reputation.

LUDDEN: If you're just joining us, I'm Jennifer Ludden, and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. A rise in gangs on Indian reservations is causing concern. We're talking to Native American radio host Harlan McKasato, former gang member Natay Carroll and national Native American gang expert Christopher Grant.

Christopher, we said that drug traffickers take advantage of a gap in law enforcement on Indian reservations. Can you just explain to me who does have jurisdiction?

Mr. GRANT: Well, first of all, I would just want to comment Harlan and Natay's comments are just spot on in terms of the cultural disconnect and the other elements being referred to.

But to answer your question, okay, one of the issues out there has to do with lack of law enforcement resources or sufficient law enforcement resources. And yes, there are drug traffickers who are aware of that, who have sought to take advantage of that. This is not to suggest that inroads have been made into every reservation, every tribal community, but there are plenty of stories about drug traffickers taking advantage of that situation.

More importantly, they're taking advantage of the market that exists in certain tribal communities. Obviously, we wouldn't have a drug problem if there was not a market for drugs. So, they are exploiting that element as well. When you combine the drug world and the gang world, nothing good comes from that combination. So, this is of great concern as well.

LUDDEN: But is it really a fact that it's more likely to get away with something on a tribal reservation than they would in another jurisdiction? Harlan, is the lack of effective law enforcement an issue there?

Mr. MCKOSATO: Well, I think, you know, I agree with Chris that it's not that way on every reservation. I know - I talk with the attorney general there in Arizona. The former Attorney General Diane Humetewa from the Hopi reservation and, you know, she was explaining that one of the big problems in Arizona is that, you know, we have these interstates that runs, you know, from Mexico right through a lot of the reservations there. So, that's a big problem. It's leads right up into Denver and then it spreads from there. And so, I think law enforcement would help. But, you know, it's going to take more than that, Jennifer. It's - the problem is bigger than just adding more police officers.

LUDDEN: Is there a jurisdictional issue, though? I mean can things fall through the cracks?

Mr. GRANT: Yeah, it can.

LUDDEN: Christopher?

Mr. GRANT: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to jump in. Yeah, the jurisdiction issue in Indian country is complicated as well. I mean, there are various levels. There's tribal law enforcement, BIA Law Enforcement, federal law enforcement, there's PL 280. There's a - it's a complicated maze of jurisdictional issues. And, yes, that to some degree, can be to the advantage of drug-involved individuals to exploit that opportunity to fall through the cracks, as you say.

However, my experience is that most law enforcement in Indian country is your professional, dedicated, aware of the problem, do the best they can with the resources they have.

LUDDEN: Natay, can I ask you as a former gang member, I mean, from - looking back now, what do you think is needed? What could have maybe prevented you from getting involved in a gang or got you out of it earlier?

Mr. CARROLL: Well, there's a number of things, you know, that when I was running the streets and doing my thing, you know, that - you know, I heard and saw that was kind of challenging for me, you know, as an active member. You know, one of the things is, you know, I've - we've always heard the term, let's fight back. Let's take back. And these are real combative words when you put it out there into a community, you know, let's fight for this. Let's fight back. Let's take back. You know, it's almost in a sense you're egging on the gang to resist you.

Now, if you - we were to address this in a different manner to where, you know, we actually have, you know, we're not talking combative. You know, we're fighting back, we're taking back everything, you know, you're not going to really spark any type of negative reaction from the gangs. That was one of the main things that I saw that I always resisted against when I heard, oh, we're going take back the streets or whatever, you know, and we're like yeah, come and try it. I dare you.

LUDDEN: But was there a sense that you could - you said you were able to make a quick buck - that was, you know, an attraction of the gang and that we know the drug traffickers are moving in. Was there a sense you could get away with something that you couldn't elsewhere?

Mr. CARROLL: Oh, yeah. It was a lot easier on the reservation, you know? I mean, the resources of law enforcement to be spread out on a wide rural area was one of the biggest advantages that we had, you know, when it was - when we were running drugs or when we're dealing is that, you know, the place that we could hide was the reservation. That was the place to which to run and stash things, you know, because, I mean, the resource and lack of law enforcement to be in place would just stop those, you know, I mean very rarely did it happen unless someone knew prior that actually called in and pre-notified law enforcement, which is a rare thing.

LUDDEN: All right, just very quickly, we have a few more seconds. Are you all hopeful for the new focus by the Justice Department? Harlan?

Mr. McKASATO: Yeah, you know, I'm real hopeful, because in past administrations you know, there hasn't even been a focus. And so, any type of focus is going to be helpful. But again, I think it's going to take a combined effort. I think, you know, people are going to have to make a connection to the - at the ground level and help to restore their dignity. And like Natay said, you know, offer them some respect.

LUDDEN: Uh-huh.

Mr. MCKASATO: And with that along with…

LUDDEN: We're going to have to leave it there. So sorry. Harlan McKasato is a member of the Sac and Fox tribe and host of radio program "Native America Calling" and joined us from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Also there was Natay Carroll, a former gang member, and we heard from Christopher Grant a national Native American gang specialist and a former chief of detectives in Rapid City, South Dakota. He joined us from his home there. Thank you all so much.

Copyright ©2009 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved.

UNTIL HE IS FREE!

INTER-TRIBAL COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA, ON THE FRONTLINES OF HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS FOR CALIFORNIA NATIVE PEOPLE

INTER-TRIBAL COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA, INC.

Contact: Connie Rietmann-Executive Director.
Inter-Tribal Council of California Central Office
2755 Cottage Way # 14
Sacramento, CA. 95825
916/ 973-9581
www.itccinc.org



ITCC's Deep History
Inter Tribal Council of California



After 35 years of developing and administering a wide range of programs which promote the economic, educational, cultural, legal, and social status of Indians in California, the Inter-Tribal Council of California pushes on to find new ways to improve the life of Indians in California.

Though the years, ITCC has developed and operated various programs including: rural alcoholism program, alcoholic rehabilitation centers, a community food and nutrition program, senior nutrition program, job training programs, a water quality planning program, an Indian child welfare advocacy project, child care & services program, juvenile mentoring program, juvenile delinquency prevention program, teen pregnancy & STD prevention program, Nils E. Hasselberg Indian Scholarship Fund, Little Eagle Youth Shelter, Emergency Management Training/Preparedness, and the Family & Domestic Violence Prevention Project which is currently the largest consortium of Tribes in the Nation working together to put an end to family and domestic violence in our communities.

Those are just a few programs that ITCC has offered and in some cases, still operates. The goal for the programs to be strong enough to “spin-off” to the tribes and trained members would assume their control.

Many American Indians of California faced hardship in the early 1950’s when the federal government terminated 41 tribes from their previous status as federally recognized Indians, and took away Indian Health services and returned civil and criminal jurisdiction of tribal people in the State of California.

The State neglected health, education, and welfare services to the Indian community.

This resulted in Indian health, education and welfare status to fall well below that of all other people in the nation.

For the next 14 years, Indian tribal and community leaders throughout California got together enough support to initiate important changes in services for Indians in California.

The 60’s represented a time when people started to work together outside of traditional tribal councils to address the many needs of Indians in California and the availability of resources to help get them going.

In 1965 at the Susanville Reservation, Vernon Johnson was having sewer problems and Steve Archer, a regional representative for the Office of Economic Opportunity stopped by to see what he could do.

Here the initial idea for a ”Northern” California Inter-Tribal Council was discussed. In the mid-eastern states, Henry Rodriguez was working on ways to get funding for Indian services with Erin Forrest who was on the state Commission Board representing Indian Issues in California. “It was time for change and ideas were stirring up all over the country.

A hand full of us were making things happen in our own regions not knowing others were working on the same thing somewhere else,” said Rodriguez. The University of Utah and South Dakota along with Arizona State University got together enough funds to gather tribal leaders and members to come together in Chico, CA to make plans for bettering the lives of Indians in California.

Archer and Rodriguez helped coordinate the meeting by gathering Indian members. The meeting in Chico also provided technical assistance in proposal writing, meeting procedures and basic administrative skills needed to run an organization. Rodriguez and Johnson met during this time to find they had been working on the same ideas in different areas.

The Office of Economic Opportunity required 2,000 Indian members to come together to form the consortium of ITCC. For the next seven years, Johnson, Archer, Rodriguez and Forrest would visit Indian Communities to identify them as members of ITCC.

This was not easy. Convincing Indian people the importance of organizing was just as difficult as convincing the State of California and the federal government to secure such programs that would improve employment, medical and dental services, and nutrition for children and elderly Indian people.

Dodging bullets, fists and avoiding property damage to their vehicles, the early pioneers of ITCC had their share of colorful stories from the identifying process. After the 2,000-person quota was reached, time was spent on preparing grants proposals, training and acquiring employees with the rules and regulations behind the new programs. After a couple of years of negotiation, in 1968 a grant of $350,000 was awarded and ITCC was officially chartered, and the board of directors for the original five areas were established.

From its inception in July of 1968, ITCC has increased from the nine original charter members to now over 100 Indian tribal groups throughout the state, providing services from Siskiyou to San Diego counties.

NATIVE AMERICAN CONFERENCE 'IS ABOUT THE TOGETHERNESS OF NATIVE WOMEN

Native American conference 'is about the togetherness of women'




10:00 PM PDT on Sunday, August 16, 2009

By DIANE A. RHODES
Special to The Press-Enterprise

Learning how to heal physically, emotionally and spiritually was the goal of the third annual women's wellness conference at The Oaks on the Soboba Indian reservation.

About 125 women registered for the retreat, which started Friday and focused mostly on the issues of domestic violence and sexual assault. It was a collaborative effort between The Luiseño Native Women of Soboba, Riverside and San Bernardino County Indian Health Inc., and the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians Tribal TANF (Temporary Aid for Needy Families).

Speakers touched on topics that emphasized the importance of healthy relationships.

Rose Parker-Sterling talked about how she received clemency in 2000 from then-Gov. Gray Davis. She was incarcerated for 15 years for killing an abusive boyfriend in what she said was a case of self-defense.

Other speakers, Manuel and Vivian Hamilton, from the Anza reservation, have been married 32 years and shared their healing journey of sobriety.

Jacqueline Agtuca, a North Carolina Eastern Band Cherokee, is an attorney who spoke about laws that have been passed to protect Native American women and children against violence. She also gave out copies of "Sharing Our Stories of Survival: Native Women Surviving Violence," to which she contributed.

According to the National Congress of American Indians' Web site, www.ncai.org, the rate of violence is much higher -- almost double -- for Native women than it is within the general population.

"And we are the least protected by laws," said Wendy Schlater, who works with the Tribal TANF. She is a La Jolla tribal member, one of Soboba's six sister tribes.

"The presenters addressed the mind, body and spirit, and now the women can practice their rights," said Schlater.

"We started a domino effect," said Carmelita Vallejo, who founded The Luiseño Native Women of Soboba about four years ago with Virginia Duenaz and Lorina Duro. The group, whose motto is "All Women Are Sacred," now has about a dozen members.

"It's a grass-roots movement within the tribal infrastructure for women to address issues with the support of the tribal council," said Schlater.

Cheryl Bear, an evangelist and singer from Canada, offered an emotional after-dinner program of prayer and inspirational songs. It was a culmination of Saturday's full day of speakers and activities.

"It was a wonderful experience -- I felt as if the Holy Spirit was here," said Eva Alford, of San Jacinto. "This is about the togetherness of women. We all have the same hurts and pains as sisters, wives and mothers."

"This is my third time here. I wouldn't miss it for anything," said Oneida Barrera, of San Jacinto. "You come here thinking you have such a burden and it's nothing compared to what some of these (other) people are facing."

Representatives of the Indian health organization offered screenings and information about diabetes, high blood pressure and healthy eating. Printouts urged at-risk women to follow up with their physicians based on the findings.

"These are very common sicknesses with Native Americans," said Angela Ramos, of the Yokut-Tejon Indian Tribe, who also works with the Tribal TANF.

Sylvia Morton, of Riverside, said she finds the conferences to be inspirational, uplifting, beneficial and renewing. Attending for the third time, she said she has not found any other outreach resources for the Native community.

Schlater said the most popular comment she heard as the women packed up to leave Sunday morning was: "Thank you -- we needed this."

For information, call Vallejo at 951-306-6466, or Tribal TANF at 951-300-1687 or 800-914-1282.

TIME FOR NATIVE PEOPLE TO STAND UP, AND BE PROUD THAT THEY ARE NATIVE; AND QUIT BEING ASHAMED OF WHO THEY ARE

"There are many people who could claim and learn from their Indian ancestry, but because of the fear their parents and grandparents knew, because of past and present prejudice against Indian people, that part of their heritage is clouded or denied."
--Joseph Bruchac, ABENAKI


There were many injustices done to Native people.

Sometimes I wonder; why am I connected to the past injustices done to Indian people?

Why am I so angry about the past? The Elders say our ancestors are alive within each of us.

Therefore, I may experience anger and resentment inside of me because of the injustice done to them.

The way I get rid of these past feelings is to forgive. It may be necessary to even learn to forgive the unforgivable.

THE BEGINNING OF THE RISE OF NATIVE PEOPLE TO POWER

By: Mike (Ali) Raccoon Eyes Kinney




I think it is time that Native People became more active in advocating more Human and Civil Rights for Indian Country.


They need to become pro-active of setting more realistic goals to resolve the issues of unemployment and poverty within Indian Country.

Native People must be empowered to become poltical strong within mainstream culture.

Our Native Spirituality and Culture, is of the Creator's plan and design.

We Indian Country are preparing for Creator's World Renewal Medicine.

As Robbie Robertson says in his song: 'THE GHOST DANCE' " You can kill my body." " You can dam my soul." " But you don't stand a chance against my love." " And you don't stand a chance against my prayers."

We believe Native Culture is Native Prevention, and Native Culture is the solution to all challenges of Indian Country today!




Wado and A-ho!



Cherrokee Native Pride-(CNP)



'Teaching the Value of Peace'