Six Nations Redstock Concert Features 'Native Unity'

MEDIA RELEASE
May 25th, 2006

We invite our Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Allies to a BENEFIT CONCERT FOR
”KANENHSTATON “- THE PROTECTED PLACE
FRIDAY, JUNE 16TH,
IN SIX NATIONS (Chiefswood Park) OHSWEKEN, ON
STARTING AT NOON - NO DRUGS, ALCOHOL OR VIOLENCE - ZERO TOLERANCE

As I am sure you are now all aware of the tense situation in Six Nations with regards to reclamation efforts, and that we are in the process of stopping the illegal construction of a housing project on Six Nations land. We need your continued help, solidarity and support to stand with us. Our talented and successful Indigenous performers and entertainers would be honored to perform for ALL our brothers, sisters, friends and allies.

We are inviting you ALL to a Benefit Concert in Support of Six Nations Reclamation Efforts, and bring peace to a difficult situation. Admittance to the concert will be by cash donation, and will be kept in trust for the Reclamation Efforts.

As the SPEARHEADER of this Concert, we want to say KHENORONHKWA, (we give you love medicine) as we appreciate all the Indigenous artists and musicians who have already confirmed and stand with us in support. It has been OVERWHELMING.

We have Keith Secola, Willie Dunn, The Shane Anthony Band, The Pappy Johns Band, Digging Roots, Howard Lyons and Joseph Fire Crow (just to name a few), confirmed for the big date. In total we have over 27 bands booked for this date, and they are coming from as far away as New Mexico to do this!!!!!!

Please note that All our First Nations performers are coming to do this Benefit Concert on their own dime, and out of the goodness of their hearts, to stand in solidarity with Six Nations and The People.

We also want to say a HUGE and heartfelt Nya:wen (thank you) to our Brothers at GRAND RIVER ENTERPRISES, who have stepped up to the plate and have sponsored a World Class Stage with all the bells and whistles. Only the BEST will do for our First Nations Artists and Entertainers!!!!

We have also been receiving donations of Artwork from Aboriginal Artists across Canada and the US, so that we may have an Art Auction with all the proceeds going to the Reclamation Efforts in Six Nations. The date of this Auction will be announced at the concert. KEEP IT COMING....A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR TALENTED FIRST NATIONS ARTISTS OUT THERE!!! NYA:WEN KOWA!!!

Well known First Nations Actor, Gary Farmer,(Pow Wow Highway, Smoke Signals) and First Nations Actress/Singer Cheri Maracle(Black Fly, Moccasin Flats) have confirmed their support as MC for this benefit. You are ALL welcome to come and support us, and enjoy some of the finest First Nations talent across Canada and the U.S. Indigenous artists CAN make a difference.

Let's all take a stand together.

IT'S FOR OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR FUTURE. WE NEED TO REMEMBER WHERE WE CAME FROM. We need to rally behind Six Nations and The People.

Please send this on to your fellow Indigenous Musicians, Artists, and Entertainers. We want to show the Unity among our Peoples and our supporters across Canada and the U.S.. LETS TURN THIS INTO AN INDIGENOUS ““WOODSTOCK FOR UNITY””

If you are NOT available to perform, then please feel free to send any donations; Art work, CDs, or anything you can, from your heart, to show your support.

Keep up the great work everyone!!!!!!
Please contact our events Coordinator, Tuesday Johnson-MacDonald, of TAP Resources (519-445-1794) on how YOU can help, and/ OR SEND MONETARY DONATIONS TO :
TAP Resources, Six Nations Reclamation Efforts
P.O. Box 669, Ohsweken, ON N0A 1M0

Performers and Artists: Contact David R. Maracle,
before May 31, 2006 to confirm your appearance as a performer, 613-396-2767; or email at davidrmaracle@aol.com.

PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP
David R. Maracle

THIS IS DAVID R. MARACLE – HERE ARE THE UPDATES:

PLEASE DONT FORGET...

BE SURE EVERYONE IS AWARE, DUE TO SAFETY, WE WILL BE CHECKING ALL BACKPACKS AT THE GATES....OR NO ENTRANCE WILL BE PERMITTED.

PLEASE NOTE, THAT BAYVIEW VARIETY OF TYENDINAGA MOHAWK TERRITORY HAS DONATED $1000.00

MOHAWKS OF THE BAY OF QUINTE ARE WINNING.....CAN YOU BEAT US!!!!HELP SUPPORT SIX NATIONS RECLAMATION SITE.....

LETS PUT THIS OUT THERE TO THE COMMUNITY.....NIA:WEN...

ALSO,
We will soon have an updated version of the flyer to send to you, as Adam Beach(Code Talkers) and Brandon Oak (spirit) Flint Eagle(Indian Summer) and Tom Clair (The New World) will be appearing at the concert, and helping with Emceeing the show...We have over 35 acts booked solid for this Historical Concert that the artists are calling "Redstock"...

Again, we are overwhelmed with over 30 acts, and unfortunately, we have now had to turn down people for the show, but PLEASE DO COME AND STAND WITH US IN SOLIDARITY. Campsites and food vendors are available. It will be a great opportunity for you to make contacts, mingle, and enjoy....

talk soon.
PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP TO ALL

David R. Maracle
NATIVE EXPRESSIONS http://www.davidrmaracle.com/

INDN's LIST WECOMES FIRST 'MAGGIE GLOVER FELLOW'

We at INDN’s List are excited to introduce our first Maggie Gover Fellow. Georgetown undergraduate Kody Looper will bring energy and creativity to the team this summer in Tulsa.

Kody Looper, originally of Sallisaw, OK, is a rising junior majoring in government and history. Formerly a student at the University of Tulsa, Kody moved to Washington this spring to work for the reelection campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton while attending Georgetown University, where he has recently transferred.

At TU, Kody served as president of the campus Young Democrats, opinion editor of the campus newspaper, and a student senator. Kody has also served as secretary of the GLBT caucus for the Young Democrats of America. A member of the Cherokee Nation, Kody’s embrace of unity through diversity and commitment to civic activism embody the tireless work of the late Maggie Gover, for whom the fellowship is named.

“Kody has already dedicated his education and a budding career to the causes for which Maggie stood firm: activism, awareness, justice, and fairness,” remarked Kalyn Free. “Maggie would be proud of this exceptional young Indian who has already been hard at work carrying on her huge legacy.”

As progressives, we must look always to the future, as we work to build a better America. The thoughtfulness, drive, and energy that young people bring to the civic space provide vision for that future and the will to get there. Young citizens are the future, and INDN’s List works hard to provide them the opportunities they need to succeed as public servants and civic leaders committed to progress.


Committee Overwhelmingly Approves VRA Extension

In a tremendous victory for voting rights advocates, the House Judiciary Committee overwhelmingly approved a 25-year extension of the expiring provisions of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) on May 10, 2006. The Committee cleared this bipartisan legislation, H.R. 9, by a 33-to-1 vote.

The Committee considered a number of amendments during the markup including an amendment offered by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) that would have eliminated voting assistance provided to citizens who don't speak English very well (Section 203). The proposal was defeated by a 26-to-9 margin with 11 Republicans joining all 15 Democrats in opposition.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Mushroom Cloud Blast In Nevada Delayed Indefinitely

Submitted by Ursula Powers Sindlinger

By KEN RITTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The federal government on Friday indefinitely postponed a massive explosion that planners said would generate a mushroom cloud over the Nevada desert and critics feared would spread radioactivity across the West.

Officials said delaying the non-nuclear explosion dubbed "Divine Strake" would allow time to answer legal and scientific questions about whether it would kick up radioactive fallout left from nuclear weapons tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"The previously announced date of no later than June 23 is no longer accurate," said Darwin Morgan, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration in North Las Vegas. "The experiment will be scheduled at a date later to be announced pending the legal action."

Anti-nuclear activists, an Indian tribe and Utah and Nevada congressional lawmakers have pressed the government to address safety concerns raised since James Tegnelia, director of the federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency, said the blast "is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons." He later retracted the statement, saying it was inaccurate.

A federal judge in Las Vegas let government lawyers on Friday withdraw a finding that there would be "no significant impact" from the blast without acknowledging any shortcomings alleged in a lawsuit filed by the Winnemucca Indian Colony and several Nevada and Utah "downwinders."

U.S. District Court Judge Lloyd George said he wanted questions about the test resolved.

"You tell the bureaucrats that the time has come for this thing to move in a timely fashion," the judge told Justice Department lawyers as he canceled a June 8 hearing but called for written filings from both sides within four weeks.

"I will not endure delay after delay," the judge said.

The explosion was first scheduled June 2 and delayed to June 23 to allow time for a court review of the lawsuit filed by Reno-based lawyer Bob Hager. The suit claims the federal government failed to complete required environmental studies before planning to detonate the 700-ton ammonium nitrate and fuel oil bomb.

Designers said the blast would be of the same material but some 280 times larger than the bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

"This is the second time they have announced the intention to explode this bomb at the Test Site and the second time that we've stopped them," Hager said. "Until they do the science right, they'll never be allowed by the court to do this test, and that's the way it should be."

A spokesman for the federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency declined comment. The agency has said the explosion would help gather data about penetrating hardened and deeply buried targets.

Critics have called the planned blast a surrogate for a low-yield nuclear "bunker-buster" bomb.

This week Hager filed an affidavit from John Burroughs, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy in New York, calling the test "wholly inconsistent" with U.S. nuclear weapons nonproliferation treaty obligations.

Hager also submitted opinions from experts, including Richard Miller of Houston, author of the "U.S. Atlas of Atomic Fallout," and Dr. Thomas Fasy, a board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility in New York City, that the blast posed a risk of increased cancer to people living downwind of the Test Site.

The planned blast rekindled fears of illness among "downwind" residents in Nevada, Utah and Arizona who recalled government assurances that nuclear tests in the 1950s and early 1960s posed no risk. Since 1990, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act has provided for payments to downwinders who contracted certain cancers and other serious diseases.

Opponents have collected signatures in Utah to block the explosion, and a Memorial Day weekend protest is planned at the Nevada Test Site.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate minority leader, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, issued statements welcoming the delay.

"We have always been concerned about background radiation at the site," Hatch said. "We have been repeatedly told ... that this was not a concern. But since we've asked them to back up their conclusions with scientific evidence, it looks like our concerns are justified."

A spokeswoman for Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said the postponement showed explosion planners were "proceeding responsibly and with appropriate caution."

Associated Press Staff Writers Erica Werner and Jennifer Talhelm contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.

Halt The Destruction Of Glaciers Providing Pure Water
Submitted by Ursula Powers Sindlinger

No to Pascua Lama Open-cast mine in the Andean Cordillera on the Chilean-Argentine frontier. We ask the Chilean Government not to authorize the Pascua Lama project to protect the whole of 3 glaciers, the purity of the water of the San Felix Valley and El Transito, the quality of the agricultural land of the region of Atacama, the quality of life of the Diaguita people and of the whole population of the region.

Judge for yourself if you want to take action. In the Valle de San Felix, the purest water in Chile runs from 2 rivers, fed by 2 glaciers. Water is a most precious resource, and wars will be fought for it. Indigenous farmers use the water, there is no unemployment, and they provide the second largest source of income for the area.

Under the glaciers has been found a huge deposit of gold, silver and other minerals. To get at these, it would be necessary to break, to destroy the glaciers - something never conceived of in the history of the world - and to make 2 huge holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for extraction and one for the mine's rubbish tip.

The project is called PASCUA LAMA. The company is called Barrick Gold. The operation is planned by a multi-national company, one of whose members is George Bush Senior. The Chilean Government has approved the project to start this year, 2006.

The only reason it hasn't started yet is because the farmers have got a temporary stay of execution. If they destroy the glaciers, they will not just destroy the source of specially pure water, but they will permanently contaminate the 2 rivers so they will never again be fit for human or animal consumption because of the use of cyanide and sulphuric acid in the extraction process.

Every last gramme of gold will go abroad to the multinational company and not one will be left with the people whose land it is. They will only be left with the poisoned water and the resulting illnesses.

The farmers have been fighting a long time for their land, but have been forbidden to make a TV appeal by a ban from the Ministry of the Interior. Their only hope now of putting brakes on this project is to get help from international justice. The world must know what is happening in Chile.

The only place to start changing the world is from here. We ask you to circulate this message amongst your friends.

Email noapascualama@yahoo.ca for further information.

more info at the links here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1297389#1297477

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Geronimo's Skull - A Matter Of Respect

‘The Code of silence over whether a secret society holds remains must end.’

From the editorial pages of The Arizona Republic, May 24th, 2006.

At first one is tempted to laugh.

It sounds like a hokey movie plot, so absurd as to be dismissed with a wave of the hand and cascades of lame puns.

But the matter of Geronimo’s skull is serious business, and if someone with the authority could spare the time, a definitive investigation might lay some troubling questions to rest.

The story involves President Bush’s grandfather, Prescott Bush, and a secret Yale University society known as Skull and Bones. The society’s roster over the years has included an impressive number of America’s movers and shakers, including both Bushes elected to the White House.

According to a 1933 document purporting to be an official Skull and Bones history, Prescott Bush was among the group of soldiers who robbed the grave of the legendary Apache chief in Fort Sill, Okla, during World War 1. The skull and other artifacts were supposedly spirited to the Skull and Bones headquarters in New Haven, Conn.

This document first surfaced 20 years ago, at which time Apache leaders futilely tried to retrieve the skull from society members and publicly asserted they were stonewalled in the process. In 1988, a lawyer representing Skull and Bones told The Arizona Republic it did not possess the famous cranium and described the 1933 document as a hoax.

Now, Yale archives have yielded a 1918 letter that revives the old suspicions. The letter, from one Skull and Bones member to another, says in part, “The skull of the worthy Geronimo the Terrible, exhumed from its tomb at Fort Sill by your club is now safe inside the T”(The “T” stands for Tomb, the club’s mausoleum like headquarters on the Yale campus.)

The letter by itself, proves nothing other than that club members at the time believed thy did indeed possess Geronimo’s skull and that they obtained it by digging up a grave at Fort Sill, where Geronimo was buried in 1909.

But was it Geronimo’s grave?

On that point some experts are dubious, in part because records indicate Geronimo’s burial place was unmarked and hidden by brush until 1920, two years after the purported desecration. On the other hand, Skull and Bones members interviewed by journalist Alexandra Robbins have admitted the presence of a skull in a glass case they call Geronimo.

This is a matter of no small concern to Geronimo’s descendants and to the San Carlos Apache tribe in Arizona. If the remains of their forefather and tribal hero are indeed ensconced on the halls of a college men’s club, that would be an outrage to be corrected forthwith.

And judging from the 1918 letter, it seems more than likely that the remains of some Indian, if not Geronimo himself, were disturbed. The outrage would be no less even were the bones owner more obscure.

The question speaks to some of the most troubling aspects of America’s past and even its present: its treatment of indigenous peoples, its cultural arrogance. The past will continue to haunt us until good-faith efforts are made to correct its mistakes, and this could well be one of them.

It is necessary for Skull and Bones to come clean on this. No one is asking them to divulge their secret handshake or reveal their initiation rites.

But fraternal codes of silence are poor excuses for covering up wrongdoing if indeed wrongdoing occurred.

It’s time we found out.

Anglos Once Were The Immigrants
By DAVID HOUSE
Ft. WorthStar-Telegram Staff Writer

Whether illegal immigration issues stir brilliant debates or cries of fear and intolerance, one historical fact is always overlooked: America's own holocaust, carried out by (guess who?) illegal immigrants from (guess where?) Europe -- uninvited foreigners who came to these shores and took everything they could.

That's not getting much mainstream attention. I'm taking off my reader advocate hat to offer some personal thoughts about this matter out of love for my mixed Cherokee/Scots-Irish heritage.

Somehow the deaths of a guesstimated 11 million Native Americans at the hands of attacking, manipulative immigrants during a 400-year span seems worth bearing in mind as Americans respond to alarms about porous borders, jeopardized healthcare and threats to justice and quality of life posed by "illegals."

Americans can say, surely not with pride, that our country knows from centuries of personal experience how unchecked immigration devastates life and why it's an issue that deserves the best of our thinking and empathy.

Our history brims over with examples -- brutal, bloody instances of inhuman immigrant actions that are far removed from the basic aspirations so often associated these days with "illegals."

Most "illegals" might dream of a better life, but it's doubtful that, like the earlier immigrants and the perpetual forces they set into motion, they're plotting to seize others' property, kill babies and earn bounties based on body parts brought back from raids.

Consider that, in the late 1630s, the British wiped out every man, woman and child of the powerful Pequot tribe of southern New England in retaliation related to conflicts arising out of fur-trade struggles. A few years later, Dutch authorities in charge of the settlement of "New Netherland" on the island of Manhattan carried out unspeakable actions against a local tribe they feared.

Russell Shorto's national bestseller, The Island at the Center of the World, examines Dutch Manhattan and includes a pamphlet account of one nighttime raid by Dutch soldiers against that local tribe: "[I]nfants were torn from their mothers' breasts, and hacked to pieces in the presence of their parents."

More graphic detail is included, and as Shorto noted, the account probably involved some exaggeration, but there's no reason to doubt that the bloody raid occurred and that soldiers were as lavishly praised as documentation says.

Immigrant authorities were just beginning in their efforts to obliterate "the savages," as American history chronicles. One tiny detail includes legislation approved in Massachusetts and elsewhere in New England in the 1700s that authorized bounty payment for scalps or heads of Indians, young and old.

This is not to detract from the good -- friendships, sympathies, exchanges of knowledge and philosophies -- that flowed between Indians and foreigners, but the relationship's bottom line is what we have today: a shameful record of attempted extermination, abuse and destruction that accompanied virtually every aspect of the immigrants' taking of North America.

Some of the best-known names in American history are soiled with prejudice and arrogance aimed at Native Americans.

As lovely a patriot as Thomas Jefferson, who spent months with the Iroquois learning about their Great Law of Peace and later writing their philosophy into his draft of the Constitution, was convinced that the best solution in dealing with Native Americans was to drive all of them west of the Mississippi.

That earthy war hero-president, Andrew "Old Hickory" Jackson, is one of the most despicable Indian-haters on record -- and not just because he made no bones about his racism and championed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Even today, some Native Americans hate the sight of a $20 bill because it bears Jackson's image.

The 19th century in particular was dark with accounts of foreign intruders' invasions of Indian country, especially in the Southeast and West, and the carnage that resulted.

Among the overwhelming number of accounts of that horrible period are the killings of legendary Oglala warrior Crazy Horse and famed Hunkpapa Lakota chief and spiritual leader Sitting Bull.

To make long stories short:
In 1877, Crazy Horse was fatally bayoneted from behind while struggling in custody at Fort Robinson, Neb.

In 1890, Sitting Bull was dragged from his cabin on the Standing Rock reservation in South Dakota by Lakota policemen appointed by white authorities. One of the officers killed the defenseless chief with a shot to the head.

A few weeks later, the St. Louis Republic in Missouri editorialized:
"So when Sitting Bull was surprised and overpowered by the agents of the Great Father, he set his greasy, stolid face into the expression it always took when he was most overcome by the delusion that he was born a native American from native American ancestry. Disarmed and defenceless [sic] he sat in the saddle in which he had been put as a preliminary to taking him to prison, and without a change of countenance urged his handful of greasy followers to die free. This idiotic proceeding he kept up until he was shot out of the saddle.

"So died Sitting Bull. So was removed one of the last obstacles in the path of progress. He will now make excellent manure for the crops, which will grow over him when his reservation is civilized."

Sitting Bull might have been one of the last obstacles to Anglo settlement of the West, but his killing wasn't the last abuse of Native Americans by any means.

Abuses of property and rights continue to this day, and they spring from the same destructive immigrant practices such as greed and elitism that were brought here by foreigners long ago, which help to explain why illegal immigration is of special, if grim, interest among some Indians.

JoKay Dowell, a media consultant and Quapaw-Peoria-Cherokee activist based in Park Hill, Okla., has been closely following developments related to illegal immigration. She views the matter from a Native American perspective.

"The immigrant nation that is the U.S. has a short memory," she said, "and is in denial of their own historical facts: they are descendants of immigrants who came here and took, either by force, coercion or dishonesty, lands and resources and banned the religions, languages and cultures of the original indigenous peoples of this continent.

"Now those descendants of Uncle Sam's immigrant children fear the karma of their ancestor's actions. But those they fear do not come to take, destroy and claim. They have always been here and always will be."

These are thoughts that cross some of our minds when we hear rhetoric about the so-called invasion of illegal immigrants (many of whom are -- gasp -- Indians) and calls to protect "our" land. If we smile in response, it's not so much out of agreement. We see a payback coming home to roost.

David House is senior editor/reader advocate for the Star-Telegram. He is a member of the Native American Journalists Association.

© 2006 Star-Telegram and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.http://www.dfw.com

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Sixty Years Ago

By Larry Mitchell

The Elders on my rez
had this prophecy sixty years ago:

They said there will come a time
When our people will kill each other over an evil spirit
and it will not be alcohol!

Now I hear about our people fighting and dying
Over a drug called ‘Meth’
Families are falling apart.
Their houses become like poison.
Young girls teeth are rotting and falling out
Over this drug.
Some stay awake for days lost in violent paranoia!

It is not just on my rez
But it is happening all over Indian Country!
Native people are dying here in the Twin Cities
over this drug.
This devil drug leaves a path of violence and sorrow
and is a threat to our survival as a people!

The Elders on my rez
had this prophecy sixty years ago!

May 16, 2006 in Potawatomi Song-Poems Permalink

Native Protestors Clash With Non-Native Residents
Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Native protesters in Caledonia, Ontario, clashed with non-Native residents on Monday, putting negotiations to resolve the long-running dispute on hold.

The protesters from the Six Nations Reserve removed their blockade yesterday but re-erected it when non-Native residents put up their own barricade. Some non-Natives then tried to abandon their blockade but weren't supported by their fellow residents. There were fist fights and scuffles among the two groups.

Tensions also simmered when non-Natives angrily left bread and cheese, a symbol of Queen Victoria's offering to the Six Nations Reserve, at the Native blockade. Native protesters hurled the bread and cheese back at the non-Natives.

The situation worsened when a transformer station at the protest site caught fire, causing a power loss for 8,000 people. Non-Natives claimed the Native protesters sabotaged the transformer but there are conflicting reports about whether it was a malfunction or not.

Talks to resolve the dispute had been set to resume today but have been put on hold.

(This is an important story to me because if my genealogy record is correct, Joseph Brant was my great-great grandfather. Bobbie)

Copyright © 2000-2006 Indianz.Com. In Print

House Restores Funds Critical To Indian Programs
Monday, May 22, 2006

Republicans and Democrats in the House rebelled against the Bush administration's budget proposal last week and restored funds to critical Indian programs.

By a 293-128 vote, the House passed Interior's fiscal year 2007 budget bill on Thursday. The measure funds Indian programs at a total of $5.9 billion, $204 million above current levels and $62 million above the amount the White House requested in February.
The White House had sought to eliminate the entire urban Indian health program and all Johnson O'Malley education grants. Tribal leaders and key members of Congress protested the cuts as ill-advised.

In the report accompanying the bill, members of the House wrote that "reductions to Indian health, welfare and education programs are unacceptable."

The House Appropriations Committee restored all $32.7 million for urban the 23 Indian health clinics across the country. The money will prevent the facilities from cutting back services or closing their doors outright.

"Funding for the urban health program has been restored and the proposal to eliminate this program is rejected," the report states.
The House also fully restored $16.3 million to Johnson O'Malley, a program that provides school supplies, tutoring and other services to Native American students in public schools. "The committee feels that the justification for the reduction, that there are other programs in the government that could provide these funds, is unfounded," the report states.

The House expressed displeasure with the lack of funding for post-secondary education as well. For the past five years, the Bush administration has zeroed out the budgets for United Tribes Technical College in North Dakota and Crownpoint Institute in New Mexico.
The two tribal colleges "are institutions of higher learning that provide an educational benefit to Indian country," the bill report states. "The continued reduction of funding for these institutions is of great concern."
Other areas of concern included the construction of new Indian Health Service facilities. The Bush administration sought to cut $20 million from the account but the House added $19 million, brining the total for facilities construction to $36.7 million.

"The Service needs to do a better job of requesting and justifying construction funding for its hospital and clinic facility needs," the House wrote. "At the level of funding requested in 2007, it would take 48 years to complete the facilities on the current priority list."
Overall, the IHS is funded at $2.83 billion for 2007. This represents a $138 million increase over current levels and $7.6 million above the Bush administration's request.

Over at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the bill includes nearly $2 billion for the operation of Indian programs, an increase of $11.2 million increase over current levels and $6.8 million above the Bush administration's request.

The House commended the BIA for presenting its budget in a better format. But lawmakers directed the agency to submit a report by December 31 that explains how money is being used at the central office in Washington, D.C., and at the regional offices.

"The committee however, remains concerned about the amount of carryover monies in many of the accounts and about complaints from tribes that there was inadequate consultation with Tribes and tribal leaders during preparation of this year's budget," the report states.
"The committee is also concerned that the process of making budgetary data available to tribes is inadequate."

The Office of Special Trustee, whose budget has grown considerably since the start of the Bush administration, is funded at $150 million. This represents a cut of $35 million to cut back historical accounting projects of individual Indian and tribal trust funds.

The House again criticized the administration's decision to take money away from the BIA and spend it at OST. "The committee believes that these funds would have been better used to fund greatly needed health, law enforcement and education programs in Indian country," the report states.

The bill now goes onto the Senate for consideration. In prior years, lawmakers have made changes to the figures passed by the House but the overall levels for Indian programs has generally remained the same.

Indianz.com. In Print
URL:http://www.indianz.com/News/2006/014080.asp

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Return Geronimo's Remains From Yale's 'Skull & Bones' Society

A Letter To The Editor to The Arizona Republic this week from an Apache who resides on the San Carlos Reservation has prompted me to rerun this article originally posted on Native Unity last December. Bobbie O’Neill – Native Unity editor

Submitted by Editor,
Progressive SupportNetwork
Contact@prsupport.net
http://www.prsupport.net

December 25, 2005
by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today

SAN CARLOS, Ariz. - American Indians are petitioning Congress to investigate the elite Skull and Bones society at Yale University and return the remains of Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo to Apaches for reburial.

The online petition describes the desecration of Geronimo's grave in 1918 by members of the society, including President George W. Bush's grandfather, Sen. Prescott Bush. The men removed Geronimo's head and a prized silver bridle, which had been buried with him.'

'Using acid and amid laughter, they stripped Geronimo's head of hair and flesh. They then took their 'trophies' back to Yale University and put them on display in the clubhouse of the secret fraternity 'Skull and Bones,''' states the petition.

Outraged American Indian tribal members from across the nation and indigenous people from around the world are signing the petition with plans to pressure Congress to act.

Apache leaders want Geronimo to be buried, as he requested, in tribal lands in the mountains of San Carlos.

''Geronimo left his rifle and peace pipe here when they took him away,'' Thompson said. ''When Geronimo was taken from this land, he wanted to come back and be buried on San Carlos in the Triplet Mountains.''

Skull and Bones admitted to San Carlos Apache leaders almost 20 years ago that it was in possession of a skull it called Geronimo's in its secret ''museum'' in New Haven, Conn.

Raleigh Thompson, who served as San Carlos Apache tribal councilman for 16 years, told Indian Country Today that he was among the Apache tribal leaders with whom Skull and Bones officials met in New York in a series of meetings beginning in 1986. He said the society, of which Bush and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, are members, admitted that it held Geronimo's remains.

San Carlos Apache Chairman Ned Anderson and tribal attorney Joe Sparks were also members of the Apache delegation that met with the society in New York. Anderson and Thompson said the delegation met with Skull and Bones officials and Jonathan Bush, brother of George H.W. Bush.

Thompson said Prescott Bush was among a group of six Army soldiers who dug up Geronimo's remains at Fort Sill, Okla., in 1918. The San Carlos Apache Tribe received a copy of a logbook describing the graverobbing and a photograph of a skull on display before meeting with the board in New York.

Thompson said the society attempted to return a skull - that of a child - which the Apache delegation rejected. Skull and Bones members subsequently threatened legal action if the photograph were not returned.

Attorney Endicott Davison, representing Skull and Bones, denied that the society had Geronimo's skull. He claimed the logbook was a hoax.

Alexandra Robbins, a former staff member of The New Yorker magazine and author of ''Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League and the Hidden Paths of Power,'' told ICT that her research supports the Apache leaders' statements. Robbins believes that Geronimo's skull is in the society's tomb.

The petition for the return and reburial of Geronimo's skull states that Skull and Bones is a secret society founded at Yale in 1832. Its history is intertwined with that of the German Illuminati and the Nazi Party, according to the petition.

''They maintain a windowless building called 'The Tomb' at 64 High Street, New Haven, Connecticut. The club's assets are controlled by a front company, The Russell Trust Association Inc. Every year, 15 Yale juniors are 'tapped' for Skull & Bones membership. They are indoctrinated into the cultish society with elaborate rituals steeped in satanic theatricism and latent homosexuality.

''The goal of this fraternity is to create the ultimate network of 'good ole boys' around the world. Their alumni include Prescott Bush's son [George H.W.] and grandson [George W.] as well as heads of state and leaders of numerous intelligence agencies, trading companies, business empires and law firms,'' according to the petition.

Since the initial leak of information to the Apache leaders, other sources have confirmed that Geronimo's skull is, as asserted in the petition, indeed on display in The Tomb and considered the ''mascot'' of this ''club'' on High Street.

The petition further states that the ''undersigned are horrified with this display of elitist, racist witchcraft'' and asks Congress, with the assistance of whatever law enforcement necessary, to launch an immediate investigation into the theft and possession of human remains by Skull and Bones, Russell Trust Association Inc. and any members of the U.S. government involved, past or present.

Stephen Flute, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, signed the petition and said, ''If the situation were reversed, someone would be in jail or would have been executed. It wouldn't even matter to them if the right person were in jail, as long as one of 'us' paid the price.''

Sheri Big Back Bement, Northern Cheyenne/Apache, said Geronimo remains respected. ''You will never see an Indian dig up the bones of the dead. We know what respect is. Their ignorance and stupidity will come back on them and their families.''

Mohawk Sakaronhiotane Ricky Diabo signed with this message: ''When you mess with the spirits you shall be punished by the spirits.''

View the petition and signatures online at
www.petitiononline.com/Geronimo/petition.html.

5, 071 people have signed the petition - Are you one of them?

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Gaming Tribes In Controversy

But, there is some positive news:

May 12th March Recalls '92 Gaming Standoff
It has been 14 prosperous years since the Fort McDowell Nation fought to keep gaming alive on its reservation and reaffirm its sovereignty.

It was early on a Tuesday morning in 1992 when a Mayflower van loaded up the tribe’s 349 video gaming machines from the Ba’Ja Bingo Center, but tribal members used construction equipment, cars and even their own bodies to create a blockade to stop the machines from leaving the reservation in a stand-off with the federal and state governments that lasted several months.

In 1993, then Interior Secretary, Bruce Babbitt, a former Arizona governor announced that Indian gaming would proceed.

Since then Fort McDowell, a tribe with nearly 1000 members, has diversified its investments. In addition to owning the casino, it produces construction materials, runs a farm and operates a gas station.

The tribe has a growing tourist economy with an RV park and the Radisson Fort McDowell Resort and the We-Ko-Pa Gold Club. The tribe also operates a Western Adventures attraction and the Radisson Poco Diablo Resort in Sedona.

Their next venture will be in cultural tourism as the tribe recently hired a new manager whose job will include marketing the tribe’s culture and the establishment of a museum on the reservation.

May 12th has become the Fort McDowell Sovereignty Day that includes a symbolic march beginning at 7a.m. through the reservation in remembrance of the 1992 protest that tribal members made to the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix.

The year, 1993, was a milestone for Native Americans throughout the nation as it marked the beginning of tribal casino gaming. Everything was going along at a smooth and steady pace until the Jack Abramoff scandal began to erupt more than a year ago that exposed the politically corrupt, greedy players (both Native and White) in the lobbying game.

One can’t help but wonder if there are forces in the making that are trying to kill off the goose that lays the “golden slot machines” across the country. Now, the spotlight is on all gaming tribes operated by a former friend, Arizona Senator John McCain, who has introduced legislation to take control of Indian gaming away from tribal government and putting it in the hands of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

Shame On Casino Market Wars
Editors Report - Indian Country Today
May 12th, 2006

The shame of anti-Indian lobbying - by Indians. It sure is hard to have much respect for tribes that actually lobby to hurt other tribes' financial opportunities. In the Abramoff affair, among the sins of the tribes involved, the most egregious is the greed that sees them go out of their way to monkey wrench other Indian tribal efforts at opening and sustaining their own gaming enterprises.

We know how two of Abramoff's clients - the Louisiana Coushattas and the Mississippi Choctaws - paid a lot of money to have Abramoff fight Texas gaming, which he did via the services of Christian conservative icon Ralph Reed.

As Dallas-Fort Worth's WFAA-TV reported May 5, ''Abramoff used money from two Indian tribes to mobilize the religious right to oppose gambling from other tribes.'' The report indicated that this season, as ''the legislature convened in Austin this year, lobbying expert [Andrew] Wheat was surprised to see that the Chickasaw tribe of Oklahoma had three lobbyists at the capital. ... State records show the Chickasaws are spending $120,000'' to oppose Indian gaming in Texas.

Planners and lawyers can justify ''market share'' wars among tribal casinos, but it begins to be a deadly disease when considering the nature of American Indian tribal interests in North America. It's bad enough when hugely successful tribes show no creativity in helping out the more needy reservations. But when successful tribal entities actually try to destroy the opportunities of others, it makes you wonder what kind of values makes them at all distinct from the worst of corporate rapaciousness? Don't tribes have enough enemies without trying to damage other Indians?

Another shady side of casino gambling - employee theft!

Federal Charges For Casino Worker
Arizona Daily Star, May 12, ‘06

An employee of Casino del Sol and Casino of the Sun has been indicted on federal charges of casino theft, according to Pascua Yaqui officials.

The employee is accused of using fraudulent winning gaming tickets to steal money, according to a letter sent by officials to tribal members Thursday.

In the letter, Chairwoman Herminia Frias reported that the U.S. Attorney's Office obtained an indictment against the tribal member charging theft from one of the Pascua Yaqui-owned casinos. The employee is not named in the letter.

The amount of theft was not detailed, but the letter states that in May 2005, a casino employee noted several "suspicious" winning tickets for payment. The casino later followed up with an investigation involving the tribe's Gaming Office, tribal police and the Attorney General's Office. The Arizona Department of Gaming and the FBI were also involved in the investigation.

"I and the other council members are troubled that this alleged theft occurred and we are taking the action necessary to protect the tribe, the casinos and you. As you know, the casinos are the tribe's primary source of revenue and therefore we must be diligent in protecting it from future crimes," Frias' letter states.

Nathan Pryor, assistant to Frias, would not comment on the situation, instead referring questions to Pilar Thomas, the tribe's attorney general.
Thomas said she could not comment because the U.S. Attorney's Office had not yet announced the indictment. She said the announcement will be made today.

The letter outlines that the investigation revealed several internal failures that allowed the theft to occur. Based on these investigation results, the letter states that the tribe and the casino have taken steps to correct those issues.

Outlining steps the casino enterprise has taken, the letter goes on to note several procedural changes with the hiring of new senior management, improving tribal laws and oversight of the casinos, and strengthening internal controls and procedures inside the casinos.
In February, the tribe announced the hiring of William Walsh, a former general manager of a Colorado casino, as chief executive of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe's gaming enterprises.

Both Casino del Sol, on West Valencia Road five miles west of Interstate 19, and Casino of the Sun, near South Camino de Oeste and West Los Reales Road, employ about 1,300 workers.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

The Caledonia Dispute - First Nations In Crisis

CALLING ALL ABORIGINAL PERFORMERS, ENTERTAINERS, ARTISTS TO SUPPORT SIX NATIONS RECLAMATION
Submitted by Jeanne Svhiyeyi Aga Chadwick

DATE OF CONCERT HAS BEEN CONFIRMED FOR FRIDAY,JUNE 16TH, AT THE SITE IN CALEDONIA, TO PROCEED AT NOON

I am sure you are now ALL aware of the unrest going on in the Six Nations Territory, and what they are trying to accomplish in Caledonia. I, David R. Maracle from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, am a First Nations Artist and Musician, and want to show support. I am calling all my fellow Aboriginal musicians, entertainers and artists to band together to show OUR support, and give back to OUR communities, and do a Benefit concert up in Six Nations, at the Site of Reclamation.

I am trying to establish interest in this initial contact...We have had an overwhelming response already, but are still looking for performers

This is a free concert, no one is being paid to perform, and if you can afford to be there to support this, it would be greatly appreciated by our future generations to come. Everyone will come on their own dime, but we have been assured that there will be plenty of food and camping space available.

We, as Aboriginal Artists, have clout and will have the EYE of the Media and the Eyes of the World upon us. We can make a difference right now. Please email me back, as I have spoken to SEVERAL of the organizers of the barricade in Six Nations, who feel that this would be very worthwhile. It’s time to take a stand and bring all the Aboriginal Peoples together to show the world, that we are all NOT "SITTING AROUND WAITING FOR A MONTHLY CHEQUE" as one of the government officials said in the newsbroadcast.

WE are professional people who need to take a stand, and pitch in NOW...ITS FOR OUR CHILDREN AND THEIR FUTURE TO DO THIS. WE NEEDTO REMEMBER WHERE WE CAME FROM.....having a band card is not a privilege, its a RIGHT...being Native isn’t a trend...its our blood. We want to rally behind the People, show our support, and stand up for our Aboriginal Rights, and the time is now...

Please call me at my home at 613-396-2767, or my cell at 613-391-5132 if you will stand up and be counted

...Please send this on to your fellow Aboriginal Musicians, Artists, Entertainers, etc....The more on board will show Unity within the First Nations Peoples across Canada. LETS TURN THIS INTO AN ABORIGINAL WOODSTOCK FOR UNITY AND STOP THEFT AND INJUSTICES ON OUR NATIVE LANDS

If anyone is interested in donating artwork, there will be a silent auction as well. Please contact our events Coordinator Tuesday Johnson-MacDonald of TAP Resources (519-445-1794) on how you can help, and where to send any donations.

PEACE AND FRIENDSHIP
DAVID R. MARACLE
NATIVE EXPRESSIONS,
TYENDINAGA MOHAWK TERRITORY

"The tall mountains and the valley floors, this is our church.We worship there so our Indian way of life can exist."

Opinions and Views - Native Protest Continues
Dave Cressman – The Hamilton Record, May 12th, 2006

Once again, generations of federal government deceit and neglect have led to another outburst of aboriginal frustration that the province is expected to contain and “keep the peace”.

Confrontation is not the answer. It’s hard to muster up sympathy for a developer who knowingly purchased lands in an area under dispute and now cries for pity. In my view, this is but one example of the many huge debts society owes to First Nations people across Canada.

As hard as it is to find anything positive in the sorry and volatile dispute at the would-be subdivision in Caledonia, a few positives are noteworthy.

Most important is Premier Dalton McGuinty's choice of negotiation versus the heavy-handed choice of his predecessor, Mike Harris.

In a similar situation the wrong response by the government resulted in the tragic death of native protester Dudley George. Next is the wisdom and courage of the members of Haldimand council who publicly denounced what I consider to be prejudiced remarks by their mayor.

The irritation of Caledonia residents "inconvenienced" by the demonstration is not surprising, but these pale in comparison with the injustices endured by the Six Nations community for generations, as successive federal governments have ignored the treaty commitments made in the 1700s by then governor Frederick Haldimand, Chief Joseph Brant and his followers, i.e., native control over all land six miles on either side of the Grand River.

It's time for Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the rest of us to put an end to the stalling and negotiate, in good faith and honesty, solutions to legitimate grievances such as those that have surfaced in Caledonia.

It's never too soon or too late to admit to past mistakes and strive for justice. The world is watching.

More Opinions and Views:

Andrew Orkin: "It is time that Canadians remind themselves of all the applicable law, not just the bits that seem to justify our occupation and taking of others' lands. The only alternative is the use of overwhelming military force against the Iroquois, to conquer them.

But Canada's legitimacy and reputation would take a severe beating if the colonial and oppressive nature of its relationship with aboriginal peoples was thus laid bare. Respect for the law is not a one-way, natives-only street. Non-natives and their governments must respect the law, too, and all of it."• Law demands universal respect (The Hamilton Spectator 5/12)

Mary Boutin: "I'm so sorry to have to write this letter, but Caledonia will be a ghost town soon if something isn't done. The businesses are losing money, the house prices have gone down, and people like me, who enjoyed the quaint town, no longer go there.

I realize the natives got a bad deal years ago, but I feel that was a very bad decision they made. I, too, have made some bad investments, but that was my bad choice."• There must be a better way (The Hamilton Spectator 5/12)

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Chippewa Tribe Saves BIA From $3 Million Cut

Thursday, May 4, 2006
Indianz.Com.In Print

A decision by one of Jack Abramoff's former clients has saved tribes across the nation from one of the Bush administration's funding cuts.

In April, the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan voted to return a $3 million federal appropriation to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The money was secured through the lobbying efforts of Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to defrauding his tribal clients.

But what was a bad situation for one tribe has been turned into good fortune for Indian Country. The Saginaw Chippewa earmark will now be used to restore $3 million that the Bush administration took from the BIA budget to pay for fees awarded for the Cobell trust fund lawsuit.

"I commend the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe for returning funds and specifying that they be used to restore the funds," said Keith Harper, a Native American Rights Fund attorney for the Cobell case.

"This is yet another example of what Indian Country can do if we stand united," he added.

In letters to members of Congress, the tribe called on the BIA to use the earmark to patch up a hole created by Jim Cason, the associate deputy secretary at the Interior Department. Cason, a political appointee who was not subject to Senate confirmation, removed $2 million from a BIA account used to pay tribal attorney's fees and imposed a $1 million across-the-board cut on all BIA programs.

Tribes immediately protested the cut, saying they were being penalized for the federal government's mistakes. The Cobell fees were awarded because the Interior Department and the Treasury Department have been on the losing side of the lawsuit.

Cason defended his decision and claimed the Cobell fees, which totaled $7 million, were a surprise even though a ruling on the matter had been pending for over a year. But he reversed course on Monday and said he was "pleased" to inform tribal leaders that the $3 million cut was restored thanks to the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe.

The letter noted "concern" expressed by tribal leaders about his cut. He recently held a meeting with tribes in Denver, Colorado, to discuss the impact on the tribal attorney's fees account, money that is used to negotiate water rights and other types of settlements.

Cason also said the chairman and ranking Democrat on the Senate Interior Appropriations subcommittee wrote letters "to express concern over these reductions." Leaders of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee questioned the cut as well.

The Saginaw Chippewa Tribe secured the earmark for a school construction project. The money was placed in the 2004 Interior appropriations bill because the BIA had determined the tribe didn't qualify for the program.

The earmark has led to scrutiny of Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Montana), the Interior Appropriations subcommittee chairman. He received campaign contributions from the tribe, and other Abramoff clients, around the same time he secured the $3 million for the tribe.

The tribe eventually decided not to go through with the school construction, leading to the decision to return the earmark to the BIA Tribal Demonstration Project account. Tribal leaders also fired Abramoff after they accused him and his partner, Michael Scanlon, who also pleaded guilty, of taking $14 million for services that weren't performed. Appeals Court Sides with Native American Voters in South Dakota

Appeals Court Sides With Native Voters in SD

PIERRE, SD -- May 5th -The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded an appeals court decision in favor of Native Americans who say that the city of Martin violated the Voting Rights Act by drawing districts that dilute the voting strength of Native Americans.

"This decision underscores the continuing problems faced by Native American voters as well as the need to extend the protections of the expiring provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act which are now being considered by Congress," said Bryan Sells, a staff attorney with the ACLU Voting Rights Project and lead counsel in this case.

The ACLU brought the lawsuit on behalf of two Native American voters who say the redistricting plan adopted by the city in 2002 has the purpose and effect of diluting Native American voting strength. Native Americans constitute approximately 45 percent of the city's population but have been unable to elect any candidates of their choice to the city council because the redistricting plan ensures that white voters can control all three city council wards.

The ACLU offered three alternative redistricting plans that experts agreed would give Native Americans an opportunity equal to that of white voters to elect their preferred candidates. The district court agreed that two of the plans were workable remedies that would alleviate the inequities of the present system, but nonetheless, it decided against ordering the city to adopt a new plan.

The appeals court disagreed with the lower court ruling, and said that "the plaintiffs proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the white majority votes as a bloc to usually defeat Indian-preferred candidates."

Today's decision sends the case back to the district court to make a final determination in the case consistent with the appellate court's findings. The district court will then have the opportunity to develop a more equitable districting plan.

"The Native American community in Martin, and especially the LaCreek District Civil Rights Committee, have worked so hard, for so long, to change their community into a good place to live and raise their children and grandchildren," said Jennifer Ring, Executive Director of the ACLU of the Dakotas. "I am pleased that the Eighth Circuit recognized their right to finally have a say in how their town is run. Nothing beats an actual seat at the table."

Earlier this year, the ACLU issued an 867 page report documenting 293 cases brought by the ACLU in 31 states to protect the right to vote and challenge discrimination in voting. The ACLU has urged Congress to renew the provisions of the Voting Rights Act that have been so effective in thwarting voting discrimination: These provisions are set to expire in 2007.

For a copy of today's decision go to www.votingrights.org/resources/downloads/City%20of%20Martin%208th%20Circuit%20Ruling%2005-05-06.pdf

For more information on the ACLU's efforts to renew the Voting Rights Act, go to http://www.votingrights.org/

Contact:
Paul Silva, ACLU National, (212) 549-2689 - media@aclu.org
Jennifer Ring, ACLU of the Dakotas, (701)461-7290

Arizona Dems Form Native American Caucus

PHOENIX – The Arizona Democratic Party’s State Committee passed a resolution at its spring meeting Saturday forming the Native American Democratic Caucus of America. The resolution was presented by Ernest Begay, the Chair of Apache County and passed unanimously.

“We must move forward in unity,” said Begay. “These are my relatives and so are you,” said Begay, referring to his fellow members of the Arizona Democratic Party

“We support efforts by Native Americans to help themselves, and formation of the Native American Democratic Caucus will help Native Americans gain a voice in the political process,” said Arizona Democratic Party Chairman David Waid. “We respect tribal sovereignty, and I expect the caucus will work to promote this important objective.”

The complete text of the resolution can be found at:
http://azdem.org/index.php?s=file_download&id=101

In addition, the committee appointed Wendsler Nosie, a councilman from Peridot, to the Congressional District 1 At-Large Executive Committee. Nosie is a member of the San Carlos Apache.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Test Bomb Site Delayed

Submitted by Ursula Powers Sindlinger

LAS VEGAS -- A non-nuclear explosion expected to generate a mushroom cloud over the Nevada desert will be postponed at least three weeks, while a federal court reviews plans for the blast, test officials said Tuesday.

"The planned Divine Strake experiment will not be conducted earlier than June 23," said Cheri Abdelnour, spokeswoman for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency at Fort Belvoir, Va. The blast was originally scheduled for June 2..

In documents filed Monday with U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, federal Justice Department lawyers sought to push back from May 23 until early June a hearing on a lawsuit filed by the Winnemucca Indian Colony and several Nevada and Utah "downwinders" to block the blast. The judge did not issue an immediate ruling.

Nevada Division of Environmental Protection spokesman Dante Pistone also said Tuesday his agency was reviewing a revised environmental assessment that test planners filed Friday.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/09/AR2006050901461.html

There Is Nothing Divine About A Bomb Test
Published on Monday, May 8, 2006 by the Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
by Barb Guy

The first I heard of Divine Strake was last month. I was standing a few feet from the Nevada Nuclear Test Site where the experiment will happen. Corbin Harney, a Western Shoshone elder, winkingly gave me permission to enter the U.S. government-run, restricted-access site as his guest, since, if you believe the treaty the government signed, his people still own the land. I declined his invitation - I didn't have time to go to jail. Still, he and I stood together, holding hands, our heads bowed in prayer, or in respect for the prayers of others, as a religious service was held in the nuclear dust.

This Catholic mass welcomed the Shoshone spiritual leader, a Jewish man wearing a tallit and reading from the Torah, a Mennonite, an Episcopal priest, a Jesuit priest, a Zen priest, a Methodist minister, an elderly nun in microfleece pants and sneakers, a former Marine officer, a hibakusha (Japanese survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb), my husband Chris, and me. It was a fine American exercise in people of many faiths coming together, talking through difference, wishing for peace, and petitioning our government.

Divine Strake is the code name for a massive non-nuclear test planned for June 2. An explosion of 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil - ANFO - will send a mushroom cloud perhaps 10,000 feet into the Nevada sky. This gigantic experimental blast will use 280 times the amount of ANFO that demolished Oklahoma City's Murrah Federal Building in 1995, killing 168 people and damaging or destroying more than 300 buildings.

Some experts worry the test is a precursor to developing a nuclear bunker-buster bomb. I suppose reasonable people can disagree about whether to test, but Utahns, downwind from so many nuclear tests that were supposed to be safe, yet turned out to be deadly, can be forgiven if they're wary.

After Sept. 11 nearly five years ago, some Americans began to wonder why people in other countries hate us. They don't all hate us, of course, but suddenly many Americans were shocked at the image of ourselves we saw reflected in infuriated eyes. Historically, America has enjoyed international goodwill, never more so than on Sept. 12, 2001. But that has slipped through our fingers.

A strake, by the way, is a metal strap that holds boats or planes together. Odd. But what makes me go nuclear is the use of "Divine" in the name. I've really had it with the Bush administration positioning things like they were ordered up by God.

And this isn't the first time. There are at least nine other divine tests on the books, including Divine Warhawk and, to really prove the point, Divine Hates.

Up close, each day, Americans are doing lovely, honorable things, but I wonder how we look as a group from far away. We ignore poor people and people stricken with unrelenting illness and pain, we turn our backs on genocide, and we spend our vast wealth and waste our sharp minds on war. Then we name the effort after deity. As if this experiment is ordained by God. The appalling arrogance, the blind blasphemy, the colossal chutzpah, in essentially naming this test after God!

Could this be why people hate us? We make bad choices. We choose to enrich the already wealthy, making everyone else poorer; we ignore the sick and starving; we invent wars but give them very real death tolls; we ruin the only land the world will ever get; we spend sinful amounts of money to create a better way to wage war; and, more and more, we literally do it in God's name.

The Bush administration acts like God prefers us to other countries. Like God isn't also God to Iceland and Bhutan and France and Rwanda. With President Bush in charge, we surely look like we think we're special. A little too special for some people.

We see people across the globe possessed by such a religious vehemence that their humanity is ruined. Crazed with bloodlust, they must destroy human life, American life, to prove God is on their side. Americans find this indefensible - that's not how reasonable people behave.

Then why is President Bush's team putting the language of the holy to our war efforts? To imply that God approves of our actions? I can only wonder what God might really think of America's "Divine" projects.

Who would Jesus bomb? First and foremost, no one. If we fail to grasp that lesson, if we keep confusing the unholy with the sacred, our jihad looks a lot like theirs.

Barb Guy writes a regular column for the Salt Lake Tribune.
© 2006 Salt Lake Tribune

NAJA Releases Strategic Plan
PLAN WOULD STRENGTHEN NAJA THROUGH RECRUITING, ADDITIONAL TRAINING

VERMILLION, S.D. _ The Native American Journalists Association has released a five-year strategic plan to strengthen NAJA, recruit more Native people into journalism and enhance training for students and professionals.

"The plan is fluid and allows us to adapt to changing conditions within our membership and revolutions in the industry, yet provides a solid direction for our organization," NAJA President Mike Kellogg (Navajo) said.

The plan, which was done with help from a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation and Ford Foundation, includes expansion and enhancement of Native media by reaching out to tribal governments about free press standards and open relationships with tribal and mainstream media.

The plan also includes:
. Creating a fundraising development plan to increase NAJA's annual operational budget.
. Further development of board and staff, including staff additions to better serve NAJA's members.
. Collaborating with journalism organizations to recruit more Native people into journalism careers.
. Developing an outreach plan to tribal colleges.
. Supporting Native editorial and opinion by lobbying news organizations to carry Native opinion writers.

"Some of the plan, including marketing and out reach to non-journalism corporations and foundations, has already been set in place," NAJA Executive Director Kim Baca (Navajo/Santa Clara Pueblo) said. "As NAJA continues to grow, the plan will help NAJA become a stronger institution to help raise the next generation of storytellers now that students make up nearly 50 percent of our organization.

"Success of any organization relies not only on its leaders but its members," she added. "We need everyone's help to become that great organization we all want NAJA to be."

Contact:
Mike Kellogg, NAJA Board President – publisher@stwnewspress.com
Kim Baca, Interim Executive. Director – kim@naja.com

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

Tribal Leaders - Join Us For The 2006 Native Vote

Submitted by Heather Dawn Thompson

Its election time again! Every member of the House of Representatives is up for election this year! Tribal leaders please join us to build on the successes we saw in 2004!

Many tribes have been running successful independent Get Out The Vote Campaigns. In 2004 we combined our resources to run the national Native Vote campaign. Collectively, we increased voter turnout, as well as elevated our voice in Washington, D.C. and in the media exponentially. Now, more than ever, we need to have our voices and issues heard again. Please join the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) in combining our efforts nationwide for the national Native Vote 2006 campaign.

The Native Vote Campaign is a national non-partisan effort to mobilize the American Indian and Alaska Native vote. The Native Vote structure will include the appointment of a state-wide Native Vote coordinator (and Election Protection coordinator) for each targeted state, and a Native Vote coordinator (and Election Protection coordinator) for each Tribe or Native community.

Together we will share resources, training, experience, expertise and materials.

Tribal Leaders we need you to:
(1) Designate a Native Vote Coordinator for your Tribe.
(2) Designate a Native Vote Election Protection Coordinator for your Tribe. (Can be a tribal attorney or the Native Vote Coordinator can serve as both)
(3) Send Tribal Coordinators to the Native Vote Meeting and Get-Out-The-Vote/Election Protection Training at the NCAI Mid-Year Convention.

Get Out The Vote. The State and individual Tribal Native Vote coordinators work on getting Native voters registered to vote, educating them about all elections and candidates, and ensuring they make it to the polls on November 7, 2006.

Election Protection. The Election Protection portion of the Native Vote program works on the legal aspects of the election, protecting our rights to vote, providing voter information, and monitoring the polls on Election Day. An example of one of the Election Protection projects is ensuring that all states that require photo identification to vote, accept Tribal ID's as a valid form of identification.

Native vote is critical in all states. This year we will be placing particular emphasis on: Alaska; Arizona; California; Colorado; Idaho; Michigan; Minnesota; Montana; Nevada; New Mexico; New York; North Dakota; Oklahoma; South Dakota; Washington and Wisconsin.

Click here for Native Vote 2006: National Kick-Off Meeting & Training Agenda
Click here for Native Vote 2006: Tribal Contact Form

If you have any questions about Native Vote 2006, please contact Irene Folstrom at mhtml:mid://00000040/mailtifolstrom@ncai.org or A-dae Romero at mhtml:mid://00000040/mailtaromero@ncai.org Or contact the NCAI office at 202-466-7767.

NAJA URGES MEDIA TO CONTINUE ACCURATE TERMINOLOGY TO DESCRIBE IMMIGRANTS

VERMILLION, S.D. _ As thousands of immigrants march today to demonstrate the impact they have on the economy, the Native American Journalists Association urges the media to continue to use accurate language when describing those of other countries living in the United States.

"Through historical and continued similarities, the indigenous population of the United States can readily recognize negative stereotypical language use in media," said NAJA Board Member Ron Washines (Yakima), adding that Native people have been dealing with immigration for more than 500 years. "Today's society must begin to accurately portray our diverse population in order to begin to instill the journalistic integrity required to provide factual accounts."

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists, NAJA's partner in UNITY: Journalists of Color, has issued a list of accurate and pejorative terms used to describe immigrants. Of particular concern is a trend to use the word "illegals" as a noun, shorthand for "illegal aliens." NAHJ says not only is it grammatically incorrect, but the term criminalizes the person rather than the action they are purported to have committed and recommends using the term undocumented workers or undocumented immigrants.

NAHJ Executive Director Ivan Roman says the media has improved its word usage since the debate moved to Congress last month but the level of improvement is haphazard, depending on the outlets involved.

"The language used is important not just for language or grammar's sake, but because it can frame the issue in a way that does a disservice to the principles of fairness and neutrality that are supposed to govern news media coverage," Roman said. "By incessantly using metaphors like 'illegals,' the news media is not only appropriating the rhetoric used by people on a particular side of the issue, but the implication of something criminal or worthy of nothing but suspicision. That helps to predetermine the credibility or respect given to one of the protagonists of this debate, which is not conducive to good journalism."

At the 1994 UNITY convention, the four UNITY partners - NAJA, NAJH, the Asian American Journalists Association and the National Association of Black Journalists - issued a joint statement on the term "illegal aliens." The associations agree the term, except in direct quotations, should not be used. "Do not use the phrase illegal alien or the word alien, in copy or in headlines, to refer to citizens of a foreign country who have come to the U.S. with no documents to show that they are legally entitled to visit, work or live here. Such terms are considered pejorative not only by those to whom they are applied but by many people of the same ethnic and national backgrounds who are in the U.S. legally."

For a reference of appropriate terms, go to NAHJ's Web site at http://www.najh.org/.

Editorial Opinion From Bobbie -

First of all, I want to state that as editor of Native Unity, I have mixed emotions concerning the immigration problem and I find it rather intimidating the NAHJ - National Association of Hispanic Journalists – would like journalists to be “politically correct” and use the terms “undocumented workers” or “undocumented immigrants” in their copy rather than “illegal immigrants”.

According to my dictionary, the term “illegal” means “not legal; contrary to law; unlawful”. In my column when I write about “illegals” I am referring to the thousands of people from Mexico and Central America that cross the border everyweek onto the Tohono O’odham reservation who harass and steal from the residents, run off the native animal population and literally trash the environment with plastic water jugs, discarded clothing, soiled diapers, junk vehicles which have to be cleaned up by tribal members at their own expense. This expense includes hospital care for those who are found at the brink of death under a creosote bush or removal of the bodies of the unfortunates who died from dehydration.

My heart goes out to the thousands of people who illegally cross the border to come to this country to work. My heart does not go out to the “coyotes” who lure them into the country for monetary gains and oftentimes at the request of greedy U.S. employers in search of a source of cheap labor.

The summer season is about to begin which means they will continue to trek across the border and risk their lives in 100 degree plus temperatures. It is tragic and heartbreaking to know that many of these people will die in the canals and on the desert.

NAHJ, forget diplomacy. When I write about the people who recklessly risk their lives and the lives of their children to cross the border without proper documentation, I shall continue to call them “illegal immigrants.”

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.

What Barriers Block 'Biz' On the 'Rez' ?

By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer

RAPID CITY -- Economic development in Indian Country benefits all of South Dakota, tribal leaders told Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., at a Friday economic development listening session in Rapid City.

Johnson hosted the session for tribal leaders and American Indian business people to find out what barriers block business development on reservations.

"I've been talking with people throughout the Black Hills about economic development, and it needs to apply to Indian Country as well," Johnson said.

Johnson said his economic program is based on four pillars - business partnerships, entrepreneurship with help from chambers of commerce and tribal colleges, water and road infrastructure and trying to slow the increase in medical and energy costs.

Tribal leaders who participated include Oglala Sioux Tribe President Cecelia Fire Thunder, Rosebud Sioux Tribe President Rodney Bordeaux, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe Chairman Michael Jandreau and Yankton Sioux Tribe Chairman Robert Cournoyer. They said poor infrastructure stymies business development.

"We need to stop talking about economic development and start doing something about it," Frazier said.

Fire Thunder said better infrastructure is needed throughout the nine districts and 2.7 million acres of land to create business opportunities on Pine Ridge.This includes improvement of roads, education and schools, housing, courts and law enforcement, water and sewer systems and health services. Poor planning, inadequate technical assistance, lack of prompt assistance by Indian Health Services and Bureau of Indian Affairs, land-leasing red tape continue to hinder the tribe's development of a healthy economy.

This includes continuing work on the Mni Wiconi water system."We don't want any other water project money spent until this water project is completed," Fire Thunder said. "It's crucial."

Pine Ridge tribal council representative Lyle Jack said the reservation's development of a $300 million wind farm business had fallen through because the BIA had not responded to an OST Council request sent last July to its regional director.

"I'm very disappointed because we were really looking forward to moving ahead on this," Jack said.

On Frazier's reservation, economic barriers included lack of access to capital for start-up costs. With four banks on the Cheyenne River reservation, Frazier said it is difficult to get a business loan of $100,000 or more to create a business."A lot of our people just don't have equity for a loan," Frazier added.

Bureaucratic red tape often delays or kills businesses on his reservation. The tribe's venture to create a public transit system has yet to move beyond the planning stage because of continued demands by BIA officials.

"Every time we turned around, we have had to jump through another hoop," Frazier said.

Cournoyer said because of the trust status of tribal land, individuals were unable to use their property as collateral to start businesses.He said that tribes also should extend the terms of elected officials, from two years to four years, as a way to provide stability in government. Those officials would have to take on accountability for money spent by the tribe.
"We know that taxpayers always bellyache about money given to Indians; we need to be accountable for that trust," he said.

Bordeaux said that Rosebud's tribal government employs 3,031 people, which is 50 percent of the economic base of the reservation.
Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418
or jomay.steen@rapidcityjournal.com.

Chippewas Begin Random Drug Tests

BELCOURT (AP) - Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa officials are taking steps to try to address what they say is an epidemic drug problem on the northern North Dakota reservation.

The tribe has started random drug testing and has taken legal steps to banish drug traffickers from the reservation."The reason we had to do it is to try to protect our people," Tribal Chairman Ken Davis said. "It's gotten to a point where we are having to take some very drastic measures."

About one-third of tribal employees have been through initial drug testing. Sean LaFountain, coordinator of the Tribal Drug Testing Program, said he expects the initial testing to be completed by late spring or early summer. It will be followed by quarterly random tests of up to 25 percent of employees.

LaFountain is pushing to have other entities adopt the program to create a uniform drug-testing policy across the reservation. The tribe's public utility, the Turtle Mountain Housing Authority and Turtle Mountain Community College have already joined the effort. Turtle Mountain Community Schools is preparing a program that would affect staff, administration and the school board.

"As a board, we have to take a stand," said President Allan Malaterre. "We are doing it to protect our community and especially our kids."

Last year, the school conducted random alcohol Breathalyzer tests among prom-goers and plans to do so again this year, Malaterre said. An after-prom party will provide a drug-free alternative for students.

The Tribal Council on April 5 also adopted an ordinance that enables the tribe to banish American Indians and non-Indians for drug-related or other offenses.

Davis said banishment is a traditional tribal practice that has been permitted under the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa's constitution since 1959. The council decided to activate its banishment power to remove drug traffickers, he said.

"They are coming here to our reservation; and even our own members are endangering our people through the selling of drugs," Davis said.The ordinance provides warning for a first offense, a three-year exclusion for a second offense and a lifetime banishment for a third.

It also allows for emergency exclusions of non-tribal members without a hearing. Davis said that gives the tribe the ability to banish people for offenses over which the tribe lacks jurisdiction, regardless of whether a non-tribal authority decides to prosecute.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

Visit Vietnam Vet. Larry Mitchell at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.