Darryl Worley Headlines 61st Annual Navajo Nation Fair

By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK -- If you're one of those folks who likes living in the "Here and Now," you’re going to love the 61st Annual Navajo Nation Fair, which kicks off Sept. 3 with the Open Indian Junior Rodeo and continues through Sept. 9 with a week of fun-filled events for the entire family.

Rodeo fans, hang onto your hats! You won't be disappointed by this year's lineup, including bareback, saddle bronc, bull riding, chute dogging, steerwrestling, tie-down roping, ladies barrel racing, men’s and ladies breakaway, and team roping.

The Navajo Nation Championship Bull Riding is set for 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4, at the Dean C. Jackson Memorial Arena, followed by the All Indian Rodeo beginning Wednesday, Sept. 5, with one performance per day, an culminating Sunday, Sept. 9 with the Final Four Performance.

The Wild Horse Race will include five performances, beginning Thursday, after the last performance of the All Indian Rodeo. A Traditional Horse Race is set for 8 a.m. Sunday.

The Exceptional Rodeo, which showcases children with special needs, will kick off at 10 a.m. Thursday.

If that isn't enough excitement, be sure to catch the Open Indian Masters Rodeo, beginning at 7 a.m. Friday.

Frazier Shows will provide the Midway carnival rides entertainment beginning Wednesday.

The Ashkii' Happy Kids Day -- a favorite among kids and parents alike --is set for Thursday in the fairgrounds parking area.

The festivities, held in conjunction with the Office of the President's Youth Initiative, include relay races, education booths, obstacle course, amusements, watermelon-eating contest, dummy steer roping and demonstrations.

The day begins with a youth parade down the Midway, featuring many Native American dancers. A 3-on-3 basketball tournament as well as a basketball clinic will be held at the Window Rock Sports Center. Also scheduled is a 5K and 10K Walk and Run for participants of all ages, as well as a Youth Pow-Wow beginning at 5 p.m. at the fairgrounds Powwow Arena.

From Friday on, the fair basically becomes a zoo as folks start lining up early to get the best vantage point for the fireworks display and Saturday morning parade.

LANTIS Fireworks and Lasers Show will provide the fireworks and entertainment following the Wild Horse Race.

After that, men, hang on to your ladies! Because when brown-haired, blue-eyed, 6-foot-6 country crooner Darryl Worley takes the stage at 9:30p.m. at the arena, it ain't "Nothin' But a Love Thang."

Worley, a preacher's son and grandson of a moonshiner from Pyburn, Tenn., is sure to impress even those who aren't country music fans with the title cut from his "Here and Now" album.

Worley was nominated by the Academy of Country Music in 2002 for Top New Male Vocalist and in 2002 and 2003 by the Country Music Association for its Horizon Award.

His tune, "Have You Forgotten," is sure to grab the hearts of Navajo Nation veterans. Written in 2002 after he traveled to Afghanistan, Kuwait and Uzbekistan to entertain U.S. troops, "Have You Forgotten" was nominated for Single of the Year and Song of the Year in 2003.

Worley -- whose music is influenced by the likes of Merle Haggard, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Faron Young and others -- was a key organizer of the annual American Freedom Festival which raises funds for veterans.

Following the Worley concert, fairgoers will start jockeying for position for Saturday morning's annual parade. One of the highlights of the Navajo Nation Fair, the event promises to be standing room only from St. Michaels to Tse Bonito along Highway 264.

Other highlights Saturday, beginning at 6 p.m., are The Night Performance, which includes many Native American Tribes showcasing their art and talent, and the Miss Navajo Nation 2007-2008 Pageant.

Other popular events include the Contest Pow-Wow, beginning Sept. 7, the 4-H Jr./Sr. Livestock Show, a fry bread contest, baby contest, Hip-Hop dance, golf tournament, Gourd Dance and more.

General admission tickets are $6, adults; $4, children and seniors. Parking -- good luck! -- is $5. Tickets for the Darryl Worley Concert are $20.

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Human Rights Protest - Marriott Revokes Award Ceremony Contract - Miner Trapped in Cave-In - Open Letter From Tom Rowe

Submitted by Western Shoshone Defense Project

Human Rights and Environmental Groups To Protest Award To Newmont CEO

Marriott Hotel Revokes Contract for Alternative Award To Western Shoshone Carrie Dann

Miner Trapped By Cave-In At Newmont Mine In Nevada

When Denver’s elite arrive at the Downtown Marriott Hotel for Denver University’s annual fund-raising Korbel Dinner on Aug 30, they will be met by protesters from around the state.

While DU’s Graduate School of International Studies presented its “International Bridge-Building Award” to Newmont CEO Wayne Murdy, protesters will serve Murdy with a Citation for building Newmont’s bridge on a foundation of human rights and environmental abuses. GSIS Dean Tom Farer had refused to revoke the award to Murdy, over objections from a majority of GSIS tenured faculty and protests from communities that are directly affected by Newmont gold mines around the world.

The protesters, representing a host of Colorado-based non-profit organizations, will present what they call the “REAL International Bridge Builder’s Award” to Western Shoshone elder Carrie Dann. But the honoring ceremony will be held on public sidewalks because the Marriott revoked the groups’ contract to hold the honoring ceremony in the Hotel’s Molly Brown room. More information on the Western Shoshone can be found at www.wsdp.org.

In an email to the groups, Marriott’s Director of Event Planning Joe Humerickhouse wrote that the “Hotel see (sic) the Thursday event "Presentation by Carrie Dann" as a conflict of interest to a current piece of business” -- clearly a reference to DU’s Korbel Dinner.

It is unknown who pressured the Marriott to revoke its contract for the meeting room, but Glenn Morris of Colorado’s American Indian Movement, said, “This is reminiscent of Newmont changing the location for its annual shareholder's meeting three times a couple of years ago, for fear of negative scrutiny. Newmont doesn't want its record exposed, DU is embarrassed, and their response is to muscle the Marriott into trying to silence our voice by denying us a venue. Of course, they will not succeed, and we will be there, and we will have our say.”

In Western Shoshone Territories, a Newmont miner was reported missing yesterday after a cave-in at a mine owned jointly by Newmont and Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corp. It is feared the miner is trapped in the underground Getchell Mine. In June, another miner was killed when ground gave way at Newmont’s Midas mine. Both mines are near Winnemucca, Nevada.

On five continents, Newmont-affected communities are constantly engaged in protests, marches and litigation to defend their natural resources and their rights. Oxfam America, Amnesty International and the World Resources Institute have documented community charges against Newmont for contaminating drinking water; polluting rivers and oceans with toxic waste including cyanide, mercury and arsenic; colluding with police and military in order to intimidate, brutalize and detain community activists; bribery; and depriving local fishermen and farmers of their lands and livelihoods.

In April, Newmont shareholders passed a resolution requiring an investigation into the company’s relations with the communities affected by its mines. A report will be presented to shareholders at the 2008 meeting. “Why is DU giving an award to a corporation whose own shareholders have moved to investigate the negative human rights and environmental impacts of their operations?” asks Kara Martinez, a GSIS alumna who coordinates the Denver Justice and Peace Committee.

“This award is an unforgivable affront to many thousands of people whose lives, livelihoods and natural resources are forever marred by Newmont’s mines,” says Paula Palmer, executive director of Boulder-based Global Response.

Carrie Dann, representing the Western Shoshone Defense Project, said, “Newmont has done nothing to address the impact of their operations on the ongoing human rights violations against the Western Shoshone.”

The Colorado American Indian Movement, the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, Global Response, Denver Justice and Peace Committee, the Stop Newmont Coalition and the University of Colorado’s Indigenous Support Network called on their members and all concerned citizens to gather for a civil demonstration outside of the Marriott Hotel (California and 17th Street) at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 30th. Protest organizers have pledged their commitment to non-violence.

Open Letter From Tom Rowe - Former Dean of DU's Graduate School Of International Studies.

Dr. Rowe is Associate Professor and has been a GSIS faculty member for 33 years. From 1981 to 1996, he served as Associate Dean and then Dean of the School.

Why Wayne Murdy Should NOT Be Honored With GSIS International Bridge-Builder's Award

On Thursday, August 30, the Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS), University of Denver, will honor Wayne Murdy, Chairman of Newmont Mining Corporation, with the International Bridge Builders Award at GSIS’ annual Korbel Dinner. This unfortunate action conflicts with GSIS’ long-standing tradition of concern with advancing the human rights of marginalized and oppressed individuals and groups.

The award has been justified by the notion that Murdy has struggled to push Newmont, a company with a deplorable environmental and human rights record and a negative image in many communities around the world, toward greater social responsibility and a greater commitment to human rights.

In reality, however, as Murdy moves toward retirement, after 15 years as a senior executive with the company, Newmont’s operations on the ground do not measure up to the values to which it claims to be committed. Having served for years as CEO and Chairman of Newmont, surely Murdy bears some responsibility for what the corporation does as well as what it says.

We have had enough cases of senior leaders receiving awards while all misbehavior is blamed on subordinates.

It is true that Newmont, under Murdy’s leadership, now says it accepts some voluntary guidelines for protecting communities, human rights and the environment. The United Nations’ “Global Compact” and the “Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance” are among the agreements.

These do not create legal obligations and are not enforceable, so it is difficult to use them to bring real change in corporate behavior. But they do give the appearance of positive measures. Indeed, it is this formal commitment to social responsibility that the Dean of GSIS believes justifies an honor for Murdy, not the actual behavior of the corporation.

The majority of the permanent faculty members at GSIS have opposed the award to Murdy on the grounds that the commitment to human rights and social responsibility seems to be for public relations purposes, since these values are not reflected in Newmont’s operations. In Peru, at Newmont’s Yanacocha mine, on-going controversies and protests have led to widespread violence, intimidation and even murder of critics of Newmont’s operations. A recent publication from the World Resources Institute actually uses Newmont’s mine in Peru as a case study of what corporations should NOT do if they want to operate effectively and fairly within local communities.

In Indonesia, as the most recent issue of MOTHER JONES indicates, controversies continue to swirl around the environmental damage to Buyat Bay and health consequences for local villagers. In Ghana, thousands of local farmers have been displaced and traditional livelihoods have been destroyed by Newmont’s mining operations; and local activists contend that Newmont works with local authorities to abuse and imprison critics. In North America, Newmont operates on Western Shoshone lands without their permission, damaging and destroying sacred sites and the environment and paying no royalties to the Western Shoshone for taking their land or resources.

In all of these cases, Newmont contends that it operates in accordance with local laws, which may be true. But evidence suggests a much too cozy relationship with local governments and officials. Moreover, if Newmont were really committed to behaving responsibly, it would simply do the right thing, whether legally required to do so or not. Newmont should not use weak laws to justify its own abusive behavior!

For all of these reasons, it is at best premature for GSIS to give any award to Murdy or Newmont. At Newmont’s shareholders’ meeting this spring, it was decided that, because of the widespread controversies and negative reports, there needed to be an independent study made of Newmont’s operations and their impact on local communities. If GSIS wants to advance the cause of social responsibility and human rights protection, it ought at least to await the conclusion of that review.

If GSIS is truly concerned with advancing human rights, protection of the environment and social responsibility, however, there are more appropriate individuals to honor than the chief executive of a huge corporation which has disrupted the lives of individuals and communities around the world.

One possibility might be Mirtha Vasquez Chuquilin, who has been threatened with rape and murder for her work in Peru on behalf of communities protesting the operations of Newmont’s Yanacocha mine there.

Another might be Carrie Dann, a courageous woman who has fought for years for the rights of American Indians against the US Government and Newmont and other mining companies. She and other activists have received strong support for their efforts from the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States.

Still another might be Masnellyarti Hilman, the Deputy Minister of Environment in Indonesia and Newmont’s nemesis there because of accusations of terrible environmental damage to Buyat Bay and the villagers living around that Bay. Ms Hilman studied at the Colorado School of Mines on a US State Department fellowship in the 1990s.

Or the honor might go to Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, the Executive Director of WACAM in Ghana, a nonprofit that has struggled to protect the rights of thousands of villagers displaced and inadequately compensated for farmland and forests destroyed to make way for Newmont’s mining.

These and other unsung heroes who struggle on a daily basis for human rights and a decent environment, often at great sacrifice and sometimes even at considerable risk to their lives, are those who truly carry the burden of change and improvement. They may not be wealthy or individually powerful but they are nonetheless those GSIS should be recognizing and honoring for their attempts to build bridges to a better world.

This location has been negated - See above story!
Please join us for the real “Bridge-Builder Award”
Presented to Western Shoshone elder
Carrie Dann
Denver Marriott Hotel, 17th and California
Aug. 30 at 7:30 pm, Molly Brown Room (ask desk for location)

Carrie Dann will accept the award on behalf of community activists in Peru, Ghana, Romania, Indonesia and Nevada who have created a worldwide network of resistance to Newmont’s abusive practices.

Wayne Murdy will be served with a Citation for Building Bridges on a foundation of Environmental and Human Rights Abuses

Western Shoshone Defense Project

So-Ho-Bi (South Fork) office:
775-744-2565 (fax and phone)

Main office:
P.O. Box 211308

Western Shoshone Defense Project
So-Ho-Bi (South Fork) office:
775-744-2565 (fax and phone)

Main office:
P.O. Box 211308
Crescent Valley, NV 89821
Newe Sogobi
775-468-0230
775-468-0237 (fax)

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS 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.

AIROS NATIVE NETWORK plays music, news and other great programs from Indian Country - www.airos.org

FOR NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com

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

NATIVE BIZ LEARNING CENTER - www.learn.nativebiz.com was developed for tribal education specialists serving tribal communities. Any tribal community can register at NO COST.

SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC. http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com.

Quebec Bridge Disaster 100th Anniversary & Commemoration

Submitted by Ann VanWert
"Celebrating the Resiliency of the Kanienkehaka Nation"

Agenda: August 29, 2007
PM
2:30 - Marchers & Floats Convene at the tunnel
3:00 - Opening & Flag Hanging Ceremony at the Cross
3:30 - Memorial March Begins
5:30 - Memorial Site Ceremony
6:30 - Flag Hanging Ceremony at Second Cross (Up the Hill)
7:00-10:00 - Potluck Feast & Social at Karonhianonha

Memorial Commemoration Ceremony
PM
5:30 - Descendant/Ironworker Donald Angus
5:35 - MC Lance Delisle will ask people for a Moment of Silence
5:36 - Bell Ringing
5:40 - Ironworker's Wife/Elder Rita McComber Family Resilience & Special Guest Introduction 5:45 - Family descendants will mark places for the 36 trees with stakes. As they put the stakes in the ground, MC will read off the name of the man for each tree
6:00 - Grand Chief Mike Delisle Jr. "The Resiliency of the Kanien'kehaka Nation"
6:05 - Topping Off 6:05 - Youth Descendant Akwirahtehkha Martin will speak in Kanienkeha and English about the Resilience and Future of the Kanien'kehaka Natio
6:10 - MC invites everyone to go to the cross up the hill for the second Flag Hanging Ceremony

The descendants and community members planning committee wish to acknowledge volunteers, community members and friends of Kahnawake for their time, money, food, floats, and supplies for the celebration and commemoration.

MCK contribution and other technical services $10,000 of ceremony costs.
Canadian National - $133T - Community Memorial
Anonymous donor - $4T - Steel of community memorial

McWeld - Bridge erection of steel
Cookie McComber
Clive Jr. McComber
Lee McComber
Todd Jacobs
David Rice

Locals 711, 361, 40, & Pequot Triabal Nation
Businesses & Organizations
Kahnawakeronon & All Supporters

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS 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.

AIROS NATIVE NETWORK plays music, news and other great programs from Indian Country - www.airos.org

FOR NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com

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

NATIVE BIZ LEARNING CENTER - www.learn.nativebiz.com was developed for tribal education specialists serving tribal communities. Any tribal community can register at NO COST.

SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC. http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com.

NAPT Announcements - Arctic Briefs - Farmers Call For Audits

Native American Public Telecommnications
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY -
Executive DirectorNational Audio Theatre FestivalsThe National Audio Theatre Festivals, a membership organization dedicated to the promotion of the art of audio theatre, for radio, recorded media and the Internet, seeks to hire a part-time Executive Director starting Dec. 1, 2007.

The Executive Director is responsible for the administrative and creative leadership of NATF and for the management of events. Can work from home anywhere in USA. A full job description is posted at: http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=pt9c9dcab.0.xh9kgtbab.8fvnpcbab.7046&ts=S0272&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.natf.org%2F.

The position carries a monthly stipend of $800-1,000, depending on experience. Applicants must send a PDF containing a letter stating why they think they are suited for the job, a resume and the names of two individuals who are willing to recommend them to: searchcommittee@natf.org.

If you prefer to mail in your documents, address documents to Charles Potter, P.O. Box 203, Malden, NY 12453. Filing deadline: Sept. 15, 2007. We encourage qualified female, GLBT, disabled, international and minority classified individuals to apply for all positions. No phone calls, please.

Winner Of The NAPT iPOD Shuffle
"OMG! I'm so excited about the IPod!"
Rosiland Hooper of Carson City, NV. Hooper, a member of the Yerington Paiute Tribe in Nevada, is the winner of the NAPT iPod shuffle.
Congratulations Ros!

Thanks to the 369 people who filled out the NAPT web survey. Your input will be very helpful in our website redesign, which is led by Joseph Brown Thunder (Ho-chunk/Lakota Oglala) and Ryan Redcorn (Osage) and Jason Fong at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=pt9c9dcab.0.4bpn8dcab.8fvnpcbab.7046&ts=S0272&p=http%3A%2F%2Fnativeres.com%2F

The Creek Runs Red
"It gets in your blood," says a resident of Picher, Oklahoma about his sense of hometown pride. His words, however, take on a powerful irony in this documentary about the toxic legacy of Picher's lead mining industry.

Since their town was declared a Superfund site in 1981, Picher's residents have been forced to choose between preserving their image of the American dream and preserving their health. The Creek Runs Red carries us into the heart of this sharply divided community to reveal with extraordinary intimacy and insight the full human tragedy of environmental catastrophe.

Co-produced and directed by Julianna Brannum (Comanche), Bradley Peesley, and James Payne.

New Teachers Greet Nunavik Students
Submitted by Ann VanWert
On Monday, Aug. 20, schools re-opened throughout Nunavik - and students saw many unfamiliar faces, as nearly half of the region's teachers are fresh hires from the South.

Thirty-five new French and 30 new English teachers started work last week, although the Kativik School Board still needs two more English teachers, one for Puvirnituq and another for Kangiqsujuaq.

All community schools have principals, said KSB spokesperson Debbie Astroff.

Many post-secondary students have also returned to their studies, Astroff said. These include 22 English college-level students - 19 at John Abbott College in Ste-Anne de Bellevue, three out-of-province, and 21 French college-level students at the CEGEP Marie-Victorin in Montreal.

Twenty Nunavimmiut are attending university, 15 in the Montreal area, while seven students are enrolled in technical and vocational programs.

Meanwhile, students in Puvirnituq can look forward to a new school next August. Last year, Quebec gave the KSB $7,868,445 for a new elementary school in the community, which is now under construction.

Since Iguarsivik School was built in 1992, the school population has grown from 375 to 500 students.

"Because the language of instruction in kindergarten, grades one, two and three is Inuktitut, the new primary school will mean that our youngest students will be immersed in an Inuktitut learning environment," Astroff said.

The new school will serve about 150 students. It includes 12 classrooms and seven special-purpose rooms, including a library and a space reserved for physical education.

Lights, Action, Thunderstorms!
Submitted by Ann VanWert
by JANE GEORGE – August 24, 2007Nunatsiaq News

Arctic Climate Change May Bring More Weather Pyrotechnics -
This past July, Nunavummiut experienced a full range of summer weather extremes from floods and lightning strikes to cool temperatures and record-breaking highs.

On July 17, people in Arviat were treated to a scary show of forked lightning, which wildlife officers say struck and killed some caribou about 10 kilometres from the community.

Most meteorologists say thunderstorms and lightning have been rare in Arctic regions because the warm, moist conditions needed by thunderstorms are lacking.

An unidentified Arviat resident caught the lightning in a photo that was widely circulated around Nunavut. But Arctic thunderstorms aren't unheard of. Early European explorers in the early 1800s noted thunderstorms on the northern coasts of Canada, Alaska and Siberia.

There may be a lot more thunder and lightning events in Nunavut now than meteorologists know about, said Environment Canada weather meteorologist Yvonne Bilan-Wallace.As the climate warms, lightning may also become a more common phenomenon in Arctic regions than it once was.

"The problem is that there is a lot of year to year variability, so it will be hard to detect in the shorter term," Bilan-Wallace said.

July also brought storms, which dumped torrential rains on Nunavut. On July 20 and 21, Kugluktuk saw more than 178 millimetres (seven inches) of rain, which caused severe erosion in the community.

According to Environment Canada, both of these rainfalls were one-in-100-year events.

Farmers Call For Audits Of Local Farm Service Administration Offices
Submitted by M. Davis
CONTACTS:
HARRY YOUNG 270-275-4590 (African American)
MELISSA & JERRY SEAVER 812-820-8082 (Cherokee)

The resignation of US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gives the Bush Administration the opportunity to revisit the injustices which have been done to middle class American farmers by the US Department of Justice, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Farm Services Administration.

Many farmers have lost their farms due to what farm activists across the nation call a misinterpretation of the Shared Appreciation Agreement, whereby, in exchange for restructuring a farm loan during financial difficulties, the farmer agrees that the USDA takes 75% of the value of the appreciated value of the farm WHEN the farm is sold.

USDA has historically (mis)interpreted the law to mean this: instead of the farm being sold in the future, and the agency receiving the lion’s share of the appreciated value at the time of the sale, the agency forecloses and instead puts the farm up for auction and sells the land at its discretion, thereby putting the family farmer off his land and out of business. This violates the spirit and intent of the law.

In addition to misinterpreting the law, the agency has been accused of misplacing, misdirecting and not crediting farm loan payments, resulting in erroneous auctions of farms across the nation.

This injustice has driven tens of thousands of black, Native American and white farmers off their land and out of business.

Farmers around the nation continue to call for formal investigation into the policies, procedures and practices of local Farm Service Administration offices, which have arbitrarily, and often illegally foreclosed on farm properties. In addition, farm activists want an investigation into the possible conflict of interest of Farm Service Administration employees who receive BONUSES FOR FORECLOSING ON FARMERS, the very farmers whose loans they arranged.

We believe that for the farm service agent to concurrently serve as loan officer, foreclosure agent and bonus recipient smacks of criminal conflict of interest. Too many farmers have lost land in these bogus sales and this practice must end.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS 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.

AIROS NATIVE NETWORK plays music, news and other great programs from Indian Country - www.airos.org

FOR NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com

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

NATIVE BIZ LEARNING CENTER - www.learn.nativebiz.com was developed for tribal education specialists serving tribal communities. Any tribal community can register at NO COST.

SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC. http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com.

Researchers And Inuit Student Make History Come To Life

Submitted by Ann VanWert
A Shipboard Marriage Of Science, Traditional Inuit Knowledge
By JANE GEORGE
Nunatsiaq News

Last month, scientist Eddy Carmack, and Louisa Thom­as­sie, a university student from Kangirsuk, treated researchers on board the Louis St-Laurent to a unique musical composition - an original medley which combined the 1960's folk song "Where have all the flowers gone?" with Inuit throat singing.

First, the two sang together, then, as Carmack strummed the guitar, Thom­as­sie accompanied him with throat singing. The Qallunaat and Inuit music melded seamlessly, the two say.

Their shared dream is that Inuit traditional knowledge and science may one day complement each other in the same way.

But there's a lot of work to do before this happens, admits Carmack, a climate oceanographer with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and Thomassie, an education student at Montreal's McGill University.

Thomassie, who taught school in Nunavik for 13 years before deciding to attend university full time, had first applied to work for the Nunavik cruise company, Cruise North, before she was recruited to work on the Canadian Coast Guard research icebreaker.

There, she worked with the International Polar Year's Three Oceans project, which is criss-crossing the Arctic with a shipload of researchers who want to learn more about how climate change affects ocean currents in the North Pacific, Arctic and North Atlantic oceans.

Thomassie's presence on the Louis St-Laurent as it travelled from Nova Scotia to Resolute Bay in Nunavut went a long way towards giving scientists a new appreciation for Inuit traditional knowledge.

"If we understand each other better, it will be easier for us to work with one another," Thomassie said.

Every evening, Thom­assie listened as scientists gave presentations, where they mostly talked about "exploring places where no one has ever gone before."

In her presentation, made with fellow student and photographer Paul Galipeau, Thomassie decided to remind everyone where they were.

Thomassie spoke about the importance of community and acceptance. "We go through rough times in our communities, but we stick together."

And she told the research­ers about the relocation of Inuit to Resolute Bay in the 1950s. She said if they want to start working with Inuit, they have to understand what Inuit have experienced in the past.

"I tried to get them to understand that maybe when the ship arrives in Resolute Bay, it may trigger some memories about the boats that relocated them."

After the presentation, a scientist said that in 20 years of working in the Arctic, he had never learned as much about the region and its people as he did that evening.

On board, Thomassie was responsible for testing water samples, which are used in the project's research.

To her surprise, Thomas­sie found the scientists weren't intimidating at all, but "great people," who turned out to be easy to work with.

"The last time I did science was in high school. So every time I sat down with them or worked with them, I had my notebook and would say 'what does that word mean?' They patiently explained everything, spel­ling out words letter by letter. I got the bigger picture in the end," she said.

While Thomassie jokes that living together in tight quarters on a ship is the "why the Vikings became barbaric," she said her summer job gave her encouragement to think about picking up her science education again.

And, although mutual trust between scientists and Inuit won't happen over­night, Thomassie said it's worth working towards.

"We Inuit don't look for scientific explanations for how things are because we're not influenced by modern philosophy, which is realism," Thomassie said. "We're more of a spiritual people. So, if we want to reach that goal - which is to give input on Inuit traditional knowledge - we need a lot of innovation, patience and time."

Inuit Leader Sounds Alarm On Global Warming
Submitted by Ann VanWert

Author: thegreatwarming.com
People's Weekly World Newspaper

When she was growing up in an Inuit community in northern Quebec, Sheila Watt-Cloutier never rode anything faster than a dog sled.

Now the 51-year-old grandmother jets across the globe speaking out on environmental issues and warning of the impending catastrophe that is global warming.

A long-time political spokesperson for the Inuit, Watt-Cloutier is actively engaged in climate change initiatives with the aim of persuading states to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases and the use of toxins.

The very survival the Inuit is at stake, she said in a recent interview. “We go out and hunt on the sea to put food on the table,” she said. “You go to the supermarket.”

And if there is one place on the planet where the effects of the “great warming” are immediately felt, it is in the Arctic, said Watt-Cloutier, who, as chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, represents some 155,000 Inuit in Canada, the U.S., Russia and Greenland.

“We on a daily basis observe the minute changes that are occurring in the environment,” Watt-Cloutier said. “We are the guardians of the environment, in fact, because we’re on the land every day ... we’re the early warning system for the rest of the world.”

Originally from Nunavik in Northern Quebec and educated in Manitoba, she now lives in Iqaluit capital of the new territory of Nunavut.

Her people are witnessing first hand the devastating affects of climate change and its relentless assault on their traditional way of life. “We’re already living this reality,” Watt-Cloutier said. “It’s not a theory in the future, it’s right now in the present.”

The ice at the polar ice cap is forming much later in the year and breaking up earlier in the spring, causing havoc for both man and animals. “The sea-ice season is a lot shorter than it used to be. And as a result we have less time to hunt on the ice. Our wildlife, the polar bear, has a lot less time so they’re become a lot thinner.”

Streams on traditional hunting routes that were once fordable have become torrents that claims lives every year. The icepacks have become so unpredictable that even seasoned hunters with knowledge of the land and the cycles, have fallen through and drowned, she said.

“What you see on the surface is no longer what it is underneath. The Arctic sink is warming from under, and the ice is changing from under as well.

“So the rules have all changed and so has the wisdom we pass on to our young people. Many of our elders are being stumped by it, because it is so unpredictable.”

The damage caused by rising temperatures is evident all around the north, although not all regions are affected in the same way. In the Beaufort Sea area, for example, erosion due to the rapid melting of the permafrost is hitting the beaches hard.

“They are having to move houses because they are crumbling,” Watt-Cloutier said. “In Nunavik the permafrost is melting so quickly that they are having to redo the pavement of the runways because are starting to crumble.”

The minutest change in the Arctic changes everything, every ecosystem. The changes in climate have brought a lot more insects and bugs, and new species of birds never before seen in the Arctic are appearing every year.

“I think everything is connected and meant to be where they are. It’s going to be an adaptation period for every species of animal, whether you are a bug, or a human being or a polar bear.”

Watt-Cloutier is fully involved in United Nations work and has for years been working on the treaty to eliminate the use persistent organic pollutants, or POPs.

The so-called “dirty dozen” are among the most fearsome toxic chemicals because of the threat they pose to both humans and animals because they last so long in the environment before breaking down.

“I was personally involved in a lot of that work,” she said. “That took me to different parts of the world, but it’s really paid off.”

Some 50 nations have signed on to the new treaty, making it one of the fastest ratified UN treaties on record. But the global work to get there took some 15 years, she said.

So as they turn their attention to stemming the tide of global warming, the Inuit continue to navigate the significant social and economic changes that have accompanied development of the north.

“We have gone from a nomadic society to a democratic self-governing people, proud to be Canadian.

“We have gone from the ‘snow age’ to the ‘space age’ in one generation.”

So are the Inuit, in a sense, contributing to their own demise?

“I get asked that question quite often,” Watt-Cloutier said. “Yes, we own airlines, we have skidoos, we have trucks, but the reality is our contribution to this problem is very minute.

“It’s off the radar in terms of what we are creating ourselves, whether it’s the toxins or the greenhouse gases. These things are coming from afar.”

The U.S. is by far the biggest culprit, producing 26 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere, she said.

This article originally appeared at www.thegreatwarming.com and is reprinted with permission.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS 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.

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Native Americans Enlist For Turf And Tribe

Donovan Nez joined the Marines out of a sense of tribal duty and to protect his native lands. He served two tours in Iraq. He currently works in Phoenix, where he edits films about young Navajos.

By Jennifer Miller
Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
August 20th, 2007 edition

They continue to join the military in larger numbers than almost any other minority group - many out of a sense of tribal duty.

Fort Defiance, Ariz. - In a grassy clearing amid the dusty hills here, Donovan Nez bends over a bubbling spring. Mr. Nez, 26, is a Navajo Indian and a former marine. Though he wears his dark hair cropped in a military cut, he looks very much the civilian on this Sunday afternoon. He balances on a fallen log, turning every so often to flash a boyish smile at his younger cousins who cluster behind him on the bank.

"When you drink this water," says Nez, "it seeps into every crevice of your body. It rejuvenates you."

Nez turns back to the water at the site known as Swiffle Spring, located on the Navajo Indian reservation just below the Chuksa mountains here, and bows his head. He whispers a prayer in Navajo, then English.

"Mother Earth, ease our physical and mental burdens. Thank you for all you have given us. For safety and strength. For this sacred water." He places his hands in the spring.

When Nez thanks Mother Earth for protection, he often has something specific in mind – namely Iraq, where he served two tours with the US Marines.

Nez believes his faith and traditions helped bring him back safely from the war. More than that, they help explain why he and other native Americans enlist in the military in such large numbers – even though many resent the way the US government has treated their people over the centuries.

They feel an unusual obligation to protect the tribal communities they belong to and, more specifically, the land they've inhabited for generations. The result is that native Americans tend to join the service at higher per capita rates than almost any other minority group.

According to the Pentagon, they represent less than 1 percent of the population, but makeup about 1.6 percent of the armed forces. In some tribal communities, 1 out of every 200 adults have served in the military. Currently, nearly 20,000 native American and Alaskan native people are in uniform.

One reason for the high participation rates, to be sure, are the career and economic benefits. "The military is seen as an opportunity," says Mark St. Pierre, an historian who has lived on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota for 35 years. His book, "Of Uncommon Birth: Dakota sons in Vietnam," follows native Americans who fought in Southeast Asia.

He estimates that nearly 50 percent of males on the reservation have served in the military. "People on this reservation realize they will get VA benefits," he says, "that they might go to college."

The same is true of the Navajo reservation, which sprawls across 27,000 square miles of northern Arizona and extends into Utah and New Mexico. Some 43 percent of the reservation's 180,000 residents live below the poverty line.

Unemployment stands at 42 percent. Nearly 32 percent of homes lack full plumbing. Nez grew up in a cramped trailer. As the oldest of four children, he never had a bed, but slept on the floor or couch.

Yet the cultural motivations for military service run deep among native Americans, too – and set them apart from many other minority groups. A sense of tribal duty is often a primary motivator.

"In a tribal society, social status and approval are important," says Mr. St. Pierre. "If a man's not a veteran, he's going to be less. It's ingrained in the culture."

He and others talk about the "warrior culture" that is so pervasive among native Americans. But this ethos isn't about blind violence. St. Pierre notes that native American tribes have a history of "turf wars" – those fought over land, hunting rights, trade routes, and water access. "For the most part," he says, "American Indians did not fight wars of annihilation."

Nez says the mentality of fighting is "in our blood. It's natural to fight for the cause you believe in." But when he speaks about manliness and strength, he also lists sacrifice and unselfishness as fundamental warrior traits.

Many native Americans find reservation life helps them adjust to the rigors of the military. David Nez, Donovan's uncle, enlisted in the Army in 1974 at the age of 19. He served six years of active duty, and later fought in the Gulf War with the Army Reserve. David Nez says he enlisted for the economic benefits but that his upbringing made military service a "natural choice."

"Growing up, we'd ride horses bareback – just like that." Nez is standing outside a cluster of trailer homes and points to a group of young men riding our direction. The yard is dusty and stretches into a vast landscape of desert brush.

"I could run for a long ways," he says. "I could climb rocks and trees, jump from heights. I was already in physical shape. I already knew hunger and thirst. When I got to basic training and faced all that hardship, I was already up to it."

It's evident that patriotism runs deep here on the Navajo reservation. Many houses fly American flags, and the national anthem is sung at most community events. But native Americans often interpret these symbols differently from the rest of society.

"Our patriotism is first to the family and the clan," says Ed Piestewa, a Hopi, during a veterans-appreciation ceremony on the Navajo reservation. As we speak, a color guard marches out into the searing sun. They're wearing military attire along with feathered head dresses and traditional jewelry. Moments later, the color guard sings The Star-Spangled Banner – in Navajo.

Mr. Piestewa's niece, Lori Ann Piestewa, was the first female soldier to die fighting in Iraq. Her convoy was hit by a bomb in 2003 in Nasiriyah. (Pfc. Piestewa's best friend Jessica Lynch was injured in the same attack).

She was a single mom with two small children and, according to her uncle, hoped military benefits would help support her family. Her decision to serve carried cultural significance as well.

"She was fulfilling a traditional right of passage," says Piestewa. Then he adds, "Natives were enlisting before we were recognized as US citizens. They enlist to protect the family."

Similarly, when Mary Cohoe looks at the flag, she doesn't think about Congress, the president, or democratic ideals. To her, Old Glory is a symbol of the US military and the physical sacrifices she and her people have made for their land.

Ms. Cohoe served in Vietnam with the Red Cross. The US Army issued her a military ID while she was in the country, and she still considers herself a Vietnam veteran. "It's our dirt," she says. "That's where we came from. The flag is the loyalty that we have, as Navajo, to Mother Earth."

As Ms. Cohoe and other veterans explain, the military is one way for native Americans to gain power in a country that they believe continues to ignore and mistreat them. "We are using the system to protect our culture – to survive," she says.

Donovan Nez feels he has achieved a balance between his two identities: Indian and American. Though he lives off the reservation in Phoenix, he edits independent films about young Navajo adults reconnecting with their native roots.

He feels integrated into American culture but not assimilated. Still, he grapples with his military service. "That's an ongoing question for me," he says. "How can you be a vet after the US treated your people so bad?"

At Swiffle Spring, Nez finishes his prayer to Mother Earth. He fills empty milk cartons and soda bottles with water to bring to his parents. Then he hands a brimming pitcher to his sister, who pours the cold water over his cupped hands, head, and neck – an impromptu baptism.

"The reason I'm OK with being a US citizen is that Mother Earth is the same wherever you are," he says. "For me to have the whole US as my home" – Nez pauses mid sentence, as though in awe – "I'm so lucky to be living on my land."

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS 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.

AIROS NATIVE NETWORK plays music, news and other great programs from Indian Country - www.airos.org

FOR NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com

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

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Navajo Filmmaker Standing Firm On Freedom Of Speech - Part 2

By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK ­ Shonie De La Rosa says one of the great beauties about being an independent filmmaker is that it allows him freedom of speech.

So nobody was more surprised than him when he was called into a meeting last week and told that his latest creation, “D.C. Navajo” had upset the Navajo Nation President’s Office, and that he could face possible disciplinary action.

“I guess the timing was wrong because of this meeting” between Kayenta Township, for which he works, and Kayenta Chapter. The two entities have been at odds for several years, with some members of the public calling for abolishment of the township.

De La Rosa said “D.C. Navajo” was filmed last week in one day. “It took me two days to edit it. It was not like it was a huge, massive production.”

In doing research for his film, he looked at current major issues on the Nation. Besides Desert Rock, he said, he found casinos and pegged his film to that, thinking, “I’ll make it that this guy is getting a kickback from the bank so they can lend them some money to build these things. They give them an incentive.”

Then Thursday, he stumbled across a Navajo Times story which stated that JP Morgan Chase had awarded the Navajo Nation an open line for credit for $100 million. “How was I supposed to know? It just so happened that when I was doing research on the Internet, JP Morgan Chase was the only bank named in the story.

“If it was Wells Fargo or whatever, I might have used Wells Fargo. If that’s the problem, it's strictly coincidental. It’s not like I have any inside information on what's going on,” he said.

“Why are we borrowing money in the first place when we’ve got nearly a billion dollars of our own sitting in the bank? Wouldn't it be smarter to borrow it from ourselves? Wouldn't the interest rate be a lot lower?”

The Sheephead Films production is “about a guy that’s just no good.That’s it. Joe Shirley’s picture is hanging up on the office wall, just like his picture hangs up in any other Navajo Nation office. The guy gets a check from J.P. Morgan Chase and he turns around and gives Joe Shirley a thumbs-up -­ the picture on the wall.

“The whole meaning behind that is that Joe Shirley was the main one who initiated the whole thing on the Navajo casinos. He spearheaded it. He got it going. He’s giving him the thumbs-up like, ‘You know Joe, if you didn't get this whole thing rolling, I wouldn’t be getting this money.’ It’s not directly involving Joe Shirley as part of the corruption of this guy at all.”

De La Rosa says he is not a bad person; he’s a filmmaker. “We’re not out to expose anything that might be a cover-up or anything like that. I just make films ­ because I enjoy it. I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs. It’s not like I went out and got a DUI or did a hit-and-run, or beat my wife up in Gallup, or anything like that.

“I’m a filmmaker. It’s my right to make films about anything I want to.” Since “D.C. Navajo” posted on the Internet for viewing, he said, “I’ve been getting phone calls from people that work for the Navajo Nation, the BIA, the school districts, saying it’s about time somebody did a film like this.

“A lot of people said, ‘My boss is like that. It’s just horrible. But don’t use my name’. Even in the e-mails, I get e-mails from people who say, ’I work for the Navajo Nation’, or ‘I work for the BIA’, or ‘I work for the school, but I’ m using my yahoo or hotmail account to tell you I really like this film because I don’t want anyone to trace this e-mail back to my work account and know it’s me’.”

But fear of speaking out due to possible retaliation is not a situation unique to Navajo, he said. “Unfortunately, it is like that all over. It’s retaliation against people that say things are wrong, and that’s sad. It shouldn’t be like that.”

De La Rosa has been with working with the township for about three years. Before that, he spent many years working for Kayenta School District. It was the same there, he said.

“Nobody ever spoke up for fear of their jobs. I know what it’s like. It’s like that everywhere you work here on the rez. You can't speak up against the boss, you can’t speak up to what you think is wrong. If you do, you’re a troublemaker and you get thrown out. They replace you. That’s the reason why most people never say anything.

“The way I feel, I’m standing up for everybody that’s fighting for their freedom of speech, whether they be a filmmaker, a painter, a journalist, a book writer, whatever. It’s an American right. I’m not just standing up for myself.

“For someone to flex their muscle and use their power to go in there and try to suppress something that hurts their ego or feelings or whatever itis, that's wrong. It’s an abuse of their authority and it’s also violating my constitutional rights.”

If he hurt the President’s ego, he said, “So what? People hurt my ego all the time. They say, ‘Your movie sucks’ And I’m like’Ouch’! Yeah, that hurt my ego, but I’m not going to go out there and try to bring them down. It’s their right to say what they want to say to me about my work. I respect that and I would like them to respect that it's my right to make whatever I want to.

“Why make a big deal out it, you know? He (Shirley) gets chewed up worse than this in editorials or editorial cartoons. This is just a spoof; it’snot meant to be true or factual. And it’s not even about him. It’s about a tribal official in the Navajo Nation office in D.C. There was no harm intended. I wasn't trying to bring up any issues.”

On a side note, he said, he received a call Saturday from an individual who works in the D.C. office, commending him on the film. “The individual stated that it was the funniest film he had ever seen. The individual requested that he remain nameless. It’s easy to see why, considering the situation at hand.”

”D.C. Navajo”, a Sheephead Films production, is available for viewing on the Internet on You tube’s website:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8a3EbWE5wE

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS 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.

AIROS NATIVE NETWORK plays music, news and other great programs from Indian Country - www.airos.org

FOR NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com

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

NATIVE BIZ LEARNING CENTER - www.learn.nativebiz.com was developed for tribal education specialists serving tribal communities. Any tribal community can register at NO COST.

SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC. http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com.

Stop Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining - Trail Of Tears Cherokee Legacy - Little Bear Goes To School

Stop Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining In The Appalachians
Submitted by Western Shoshone Defense Project
By signing up for iLoveMountains.org, you will become an integral part of the movement to raise awareness about mountaintop removal coal mining - and you've helped to expose the more than 470 mountains that coal companies have already destroyed in Appalachia.

Today, I want to tell you about a place that is ground zero in the fight to stop mountaintop removal coal mining , a place called Coal River Mountain.

Located in westernmost Raleigh County, West Virginia, Coal River Mountain is under threat from Massey Energy.

Massey has applied for two mountaintop removal permits, and is considering a third, that would destroy nearly 6,000 acres of Coal River Mountain, effectively decapitating it. They would fill 18 Appalachian valleys with toxic coal mining waste and destroy the tallest peaks ever to be mined in West Virginia.

But a coalition of grassroots organizations, led by Coal River Mountain Watch, have joined together to protect Coal River Mountain - and bring the attention of the nation to the ongoing tragedy that is mountaintop removal coal mining.

You can help. Will you forward this email on to just one person you know, and ask them to add their voice to the more than 20,000 Americans who are standing up to raise awareness about mountaintop removal coal mining?

Simply forward this email right now.

The effort to stop the Coal River Mountain project is gaining momentum at the local level. Just last week, more than 100 local citizens filled the bleachers at a public hearing held by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection at the Clear Fork Elementary School to speak their minds about the massive proposal.

There has never been such a turnout to a public hearing on a mine permit in West Virginia... but even more incredibly, every single citizen who spoke, spoke in opposition to the mine.

There are many reasons that local citizens oppose the mine: it will pollute their drinking water, heighten the risk of local flooding, and destroy the mountains and the beautiful landscape that have been their family home for as many as nine generations.

The mine, too, would destroy the long-term economic future of Coal River Mountain. As many citizens said at the hearing, for just a few years worth of jobs and a few years worth of coal, the mine would wipe out the opportunity to build a wind power facility that could provide long-term jobs and enough power to meet the needs of more than 90,000 homes forever. (Click here to learn more about the alternative wind power facility.)

Yet despite the united - and, at the hearing, unanimous - opposition to the plan to destroy Coal River Mountain, local citizens hold little hope that their testimony alone will stop the mine - because the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection has never denied a permit application for a mountaintop removal mine. Never.

That's why it is absolutely critical that you forward this email on to at least one friend or family member today.

Even though most Americans would never support the destruction of this beautiful mountain and irreplaceable landscape, the people living near Coal River Mountain believe that their mountain will be destroyed because most Americans simply don't know what's happening in the hills and hollows of Appalachia.

The power to change that lies in your hands, right now. Please, forward this email to your friends and family, and ask them to join you in standing up to end mountaintop removal coal mining. They can join by clicking here:
http://www.ilovemountains.org/take_action/

Thank you for taking action and standing with the people of Coal River Mountain.

Mary Anne Hitt
iLoveMountains.org

We Need Your Vote!
Submitted by Jeanne Bedell-Mashkikinabinais
Please VOTE for this Long video nomination. I and grandson are in it among a mostly volunteer cast for a good cause and a very talented fim production company! Jeanne

"Trail of Tears Cherokee Legacy"
has been nominated "Best Long Form Video / DVD With Music Accompaniment" at the:
Native American Music Awards (NAMA)
Please take a few minutes to cast your vote for "Trail of Tears Cherokee Legacy".
Cast Your Vote Here!
Watch A preview of: Trail of Tears Cherokee Legacy

Congratulations and Hooray, For Soon To Be - Dr. Jeanne Bedell Bailey.
More on this fabulous lady - later -----

BEWARE - A 419 Nigerian Scam!!!
Dear Friend,
It has been long we communicated last, am so sorry for the delay ,I mean your cheque of USD$850.000.00 that my boss asked me to mail to you as soon as you request for it , but due to some high price of courier company you fails to respond to me, and presently the cheque is still with me here in Benin Republic, I went to the bank to verify if the cheque still good but i was told that your cheque is good that you can cash the cheque to any bank in the world,I wich to inform you that I have finde.

A new contact from a friend of mine who works with Diplomatic Courier Company here in BENIN REPUBLIC that will deliver your cheque at your door step with a cheeper rate, which the company said that it will cost you the sum of $98.00 us dollars, so you have to hurry and registerwith them now.and try to ask them to give you the Direction which you will use to send the $98.00 to them to enable them proceed the delivery of your cheque ,because your draft is already with them, the draft was packaged in a way that the courier company will not open it untill you receiver it according to them it will only tak them 2 days to deliver the cheque to your door step, so my friend you have to hurry and mak sure you send the $98.00 to them to enable them deliver the draft to you,cantact them immedaitely with the information giving to you, so that your $850.000.00will be deliver to you this week,

Below is thier email address: (impexcompany@yahoo.fr
And the Directors name is ( DR BEN OKOYE) Please do send your full address to them such as
YOUR FULL NAME .........
YOUR ADDRESS WHERE THE DRAFT WILL BE DROP
YOUR CONTACT PHONE................

And try to get back to me by writing me through my privat email address;edolombe01@yahoo.fr

I wait to hear from you soon.Thank you.
Mr Edward Mark Olombe

-If these guys could learn to write in English!!! It is a complete rip-off, but you would be surprised how many people fall for it - B

Little Bear's First Day Of School
Submittted by Ken Hughes
It was Little Bear’s first day to attend the Whiteman's school.

Little Bear was 8 years old and he was told he would have to be in a grade with 6 year olds since he had never been to school. Little Bear objected. He was a proud Shoshone Indian and not uneducated.

He told the teacher he had been schooled by his father and grandfather. He told her to come with him outside and he would show her how much he knew about things not found in books.

The next surprise Little Bear was confronted with he was told he had to cut his braided hair off to conform with the white children in the school. And second, he could no longer be called Little Bear, from then on he would be known by Glenn Kirk his Christian name.

When Little Bear returned home he went to his grandfather for comfort and to tell him he didn't want to go to the Whiteman's school anymore. His grandfather explained Little Bear was caught between to cultures, half Indian and half white.

In order to survive as a man Little Bear must learn the Whiteman's ways. He wouldn't be able to survive in the old ways. His grandfather told him of the surrender of the tribe and how they marched hundreds of miles from their green lands on the Salmon River to the dry foot hills of Fort Hall.

Little Bear survived the Whiteman's schools and eventually became part of the Whiteman's culture. He became Glenn Kirk, [secretly he was Big Red so called for his height and his red hair.]

Glenn prospered through hard work and the teachings of his grandfather. Glenn covered most of America and Canada as an over the road truck driver. Those long nights on the highways of America Glenn could almost imagine his ancestors riding their Indian pony's along side of him begging him to park his truck and return to the old ways.

Little Bear has completed the cycle of parenting now he has grandchildren he must teach of their Indian heritage. He must tell them they are descendents of Sacagawea and Beaver Dick. He must tell them of Jenny of the Tetons and her sacrifice to save a white family. Little Bear has much to tell his grandchildren. Will they listen or scoff at their grandfather's passion for the old ways?

We live for our dreams not our children's and grandchildren's dreams.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS 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.

AIROS NATIVE NETWORK plays music, news and other great programs from Indian Country - www.airos.org

FOR NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com

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

NATIVE BIZ LEARNING CENTER - www.learn.nativebiz.com was developed for tribal education specialists serving tribal communities. Any tribal community can register at NO COST.

NAJA ALERTS, POTPOURRI - Every Tuesday when available.

SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC. http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com.

Spoof Film Creates Navajo Nation Flap - Part 1

By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
WINDOW ROCK ­ Depending on who you talk to, an independent film about a corrupt Navajo Nation official is much ado about nothing, or not.

Regardless, Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. is taking a lot of heat for a film Communications Director George Hardeen says the president has yet to view.

Filmmaker Shonie De La Rosa of Kayenta said the film, “D.C. Navajo” was produced as a comedy and was not to be taken seriously.

The film deals with a corrupt tribal official in the Navajo Nation’s Washington Office who accepts kickbacks, discards important mail in the trash can, and gives the run-around to a consultant trying to get paid for services rendered to that office.

De La Rosa sent out a press release Tuesday stating that last Friday, he and fellow township employee Jarvis Williams, who acted in the film, were asked to sit in a meeting with Kayenta Township management staff, which was held because of the film.

He stated that Andre Cordero, who works for the tribe’s Human Resources Department, came to the township to inform his supervisors of what some of the township employees were doing. Human Resources deals with tribal personnel issues.

"He stated that some employees of the township were making a mockery of the Navajo Nation and that the township needed to address and take care of this issue,”De La Rosa said, adding that Cordero also stated that Shirley canceled his attendance at public meeting Sunday in Kayenta because of this issue.

"We were informed during the meeting that what we did was wrong and at the wrong time. We were also indirectly blamed for the cancellation of the meeting with Dr. Joe Shirley,” De La Rosa stated in the press release.

"It was also stated that Andre had worked very hard to set up this meeting between the Township and the Navajo Nation President and that this who episode had ruined this opportunity. We were also indirectly told that this was grounds for possible reprimand and/or termination for our actions.

"I personally feel that if this film did upset him (Shirley), he should have addressed the issue himself and face-to-face with us personally, and not by sending one of his assistants to come to my place of employment and speak to the Town Manager and our supervisor about something I did on my own time.

"I believe that the Kayenta Township was being punished by the Navajo NationPresident for something they had no control over.” he stated.

Ed Whitewater, De La Rosa’s supervisor, said Tuesday that Cordero met with township management last week. “We knew that he was a representative from the president¹s office. He didn’t really come out and say that he was directed to be there or anything like that.

"But he came in to say, ‘I’m here to give you a heads up and notice on what’s going on.’ He didn’t really indicate that the president sent him.What he did say was the President’s Office had reviewed the film and wasn’t happy about it. In fact, he used the words ‘upset about it’.”

Whitewater said there was indication from the Kayenta Chapter president that Shirley would attend the meeting regarding township/chapter issues and was going to be there for at least a couple hours. “There was no agenda that had his name on it. It was just verbal information from the chapter president that he was going to be there.”

Whitewater said Cordero informed them that the two individuals representing the township had made the film and told them, “We’ll leave it up to you guys to do what you need to do about it.” He said Cordero told them it was a reflection on the township. “He didn’t really suggest a reprimand or termination.”

He added that the township was never involved in the film and was not aware of it. “In fact, we had never seen the film until this came up. I haven't seen it myself, but I would like to see what it is all about. We are not planning on reprimanding or taking any kind of disciplinary action to the staff members involved in this.”

De La Rosa said, ”I would expect to see something like this happen in a Communist country such as North Korea , China, or Cuba where the Communist governments have a say in everyone's opinion, actions or statements. This is the United States. We are not a Communist government.

"Furthermore, I do not believe the Navajo Nation President's Office has the right to intimidate anyone’s job security in any job position that they may hold anywhere,” he said. “I do not apologize for making the film. It is my constitutional right to freedom of speech.”

Presidential spokesman Hardeen said late Tuesday that he spoke with President Shirley when he got to Veterans Park following a domestic violence walk. He said Shirley told him he hasn't seen the film, but he laughed about it and said, “If you can't take satire, stay out of politics.”

Hardeen said, “Shonie’s press release is a hoax on the heels of the film, which, of course, is brilliant.”

Earlier in the day after been informed of the press release, Hardeen said, "The press release is not news, it’s opinion. It’s just Shonie expressing an opinion.”

He said that Cordero lives in Kayenta. “This may be a personal issue to him, but he is not representing the president, saying to reprimand any employee.No.1, the president wouldn't tell him to say that.”

Hardeen said that Clinton Jim of the President’s Office was assigned to go to the chapter meeting to moderate, not to participate. “The issue is between the chapter and the township if there is an issue. The President’s Office is not taking sides on anything regarding the township or thechapter.”

Regarding the film, he added that the president does not get upset about criticism; it comes with the job. “A film like that is not something that’s going to upset him. He loves this kind of stuff. He appreciates satire. He’s well-read. He’s got bigger fish to fry.

"I think Shonie was a little put out by anything that Andre said, but Idon't even know what Andre said because I wasn’t there.” He added that Cordero was off Tuesday because it was a tribal holiday.

Asked whether Cordero was sent at the request of the president, Hardeen said he had not talked to him about it, but I seriously doubt it. The president does not send people out to complain about stuff. It’s not his style.

"He never gives me that direction ­ write a letter and say something about somebody. Even when I write and I say I don’t like a news story that you wrote, it’s not Joe Shirley saying, ‘Go give it to her.’ It doesn't work like that.”

Hardeen said he had a letter running in Tuesday's Gallup Independentregarding the Desert Rock Energy Project.

"Oftentimes there are things written about the president and I ask if I can respond to things. Most of the time he says ‘Just let it go’ He’s not bothered by criticism. He says that no matter how well any leader is doing, there will always be criticism. If you spend your time responding t criticism, that's all you’ll be doing. There are other things to do to occupy our time.

”The Desert Rock letter is one of the rare instances he gave me the go-ahead to respond to something,” Hardeen said.

"Maybe Shonie’s trying to attract more attention to the film,” he added.

De La Rosa disagreed. “If that’s so, then how come I got called in by my supervisor?”

”D.C. Navajo”, a Sheephead Films production, is available for viewing on the Internet on You tube’s website:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8a3EbWE5wE

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS 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.

AIROS NATIVE NETWORK plays music, news and other great programs from Indian Country - www.airos.org

FOR NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com

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

NATIVE BIZ LEARNING CENTER - www.learn.nativebiz.com was developed for tribal education specialists serving tribal communities. Any tribal community can register at NO COST.

NAJA ALERTS, POTPOURRI - Every Tuesday when available.

SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC. http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com.

PowWow = Reconnect For Native Woman - Mandan Rancher Preserves Native Langauge

Submitted by Ann VanWert
By JODI RAVE
Lee News Service

ROCKY BOY, Mont. - It's been 11 years since Margarita Hawley has been to the annual powwow on Montana's Rocky Boy's Reservation.

She left Wednesday after reacquainting with friends and relatives during the annual event near the Bear Paw Mountains. The celebration attracted some 400 dancers from across the U.S. who competed for $180,000 in prizes.

Hawley long has been part of a powwow community, an appreciation of dancing instilled by her father, the late Pete Hawley. Her dad always encouraged the whole family to participate. And he routinely took his grandchildren to powwows across the West.

"My dad said, 'Never take them out of the powwow circuit,'" she said. "When he got sick and died, we start doing it all ourselves."

The powwow season is in full swing across Indian Country, giving family separated by distance a chance to reconnect. Margarita and her husband arrived in Rocky Boy with their children, Ramona 17, Mario, 15, and Manny, 7.

As her children danced, Margarita Hawley watched with others from chairs beneath a branch-covered arbor, once the norm among Great Plains powwows. The green leaves from the shade remind me of a generation that has passed by.

My late Lakota grandmothers, Eunice, Helene and Alberta Dupris, of the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota, would regularly arrive each summer for the annual powwow in Mandaree, N.D., on the Fort Berthold Reservation. My grandmas always said the Mandaree singers were their favorite drum group.

My grandmothers are gone, but I can still see them sitting around the powwow camp in their cotton dresses and nylon knee-highs.

It was comforting to be around them. And they were never short of dollar bills pulled from their purses for us kids.

I met Hawley at the Eagleman family camp at the Rocky Boy powwow. She doesn't have a whole lot of memories of elderly relatives from Rocky Boy. That's because her father was born with red hair, pushing his birth father to wrongfully disown him. Pete Hawley was sent away to boarding schools, and he left the reservation for good as a teenager.

Pete Hawley spent time in California before moving his young family to Seattle. Margarita Hawley, now 37, has been in that city since she was 4. Despite losing a connection to his biological family, Pete Hawley never lost touch with his Indian roots. He was adopted by a Yakima family in Washington. And he wrote a book called "Born Cree: The Life of Pete Hawley of Sitting Horse Drum."

He was 47 when Margarita Hawley was born. She was a fancy shawl dancer until her first child was born in 1989. She started to make dance outfits for them as soon as they could walk. Ramona started dancing at age 3. Her first outfit was a pink Minnie Mouse dress. Mario first danced at 4. And Manny at 1.

When Margarita Hawley was younger, she would help her aging father work on her dance regalia. She would sort tiny glass seed beads by color for his aging eyes as he beaded designs on her moccasins.

Margarita Hawley recently quit a job on Pier 91 in Seattle, which freed her to attend the Rocky Boy Celebration.

"I've been missing too many powwows with the kids," she said.

When the weekend's dance competition ended, her boys each placed second in their grass dance categories.

It was nice to be back, she said. It provided an opportunity for her family to be included in tribal ceremonies after the dancing ended.

Although Margarita Hawley hasn't been at the powwow in more than a decade, she did return to the reservation in 1999 to bury her father. He'd discussed his death with his family. He talked about where he would be buried.

"I'm not going back to Rocky Boy," he told his family.

But it was his tribe, the land of his birth.

"OK, I'll go back," he said. "I'm going to go home."

(Jodi Rave covers American Indian issues for Lee News Service. She can be reached at 800-396-8537 or jodi.rave@;lee.net.)

North Dakota Rancher Helps To Preserve Native Language
Submitted by Ann Van Wert
Bismarck Tribune

TWIN BUTTES (AP) - An effort to save the Mandan language may rest on the shoulders of a 75-year-old horse rancher.

Experts believe Edwin Benson is the only person living who speaks fluent Mandan, the language of the American Indian tribe that became the host of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark during the explorers' winter encampment in North Dakota more than 200 years ago.

For the past three summers, in six-hour shifts, Benson and California linguist Sara Trechter have camped out in a small office so he can speak into a microphone while Trechter takes notes. The two recently finished transcribing seven Mandan folk stories.

Benson's grandfather insisted on keeping alive Mandan traditions and language. Ben Benson forbid speaking English in his home, a log cabin near the mouth of the Little Missouri River.

Trechter, who teaches at a university in Chico, Calif., learned about efforts to preserve the Mandan language from her doctoral thesis adviser, a Siouan language expert at the University of Kansas. She got in touch with Calvin Grinnell, who works in the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara cultural preservation office on North Dakota's Fort Berthold reservation. Grinnell directs the language preservation project with Joseph Jasztrembski, a history professor at Minot State University.

The effort started about seven years ago with a grant from the National Park Service, which paid to videotape Benson telling folk stories at the Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site near Stanton.

The project's goal is to produce material for language labs on the reservation, ideally with the videotapes of Benson telling his stories in Mandan and follow-along captions of Trechter's transcriptions on the bottom of the screen.

Work has been slow, plagued at times by technical problems, sporadic funding and busy schedules. Benson uses an office near the Twin Buttes Elementary School, where he teaches Mandan.

Since finishing the folk stories, Trechter and Benson been recording and transcribing Mandan social and cultural customs.

Trechter has had to master some quirks of the language. She learned, for example, that a bird is said to "stand" while flying but "sit" when perched on a tree. She has found that some words or phrases simply defy translation into another tongue.

In the archives of the North Dakota Heritage Center in Bismarck, Trechter said she found "boxes and boxes" of material, including a Mandan dictionary compiled in the 1970s and 1980s, and manuscripts from the 1920s and 1930s.

Jasztrembski compared the work to restoring an endangered plant or animal species.

"I think language revitalization is something like that," he said. "It takes a great deal of time to do."

Grinnell said the tribal college archives has hours of tape recordings of elders from the 1970s that might provide helpful material.

Trechter, 44, said she has already seen enough material to keep her busy for the rest of her career.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS 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.

AIROS NATIVE NETWORK plays music, news and other great programs from Indian Country - www.airos.org

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

NATIVE BIZ LEARNING CENTER - www.learn.nativebiz.com was developed for tribal education specialists serving tribal communities. Any tribal community can register at NO COST.

NAJA ALERTS, POTPOURRI - Every Tuesday when available.

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Juanenos And Panhe - Art School Scholarships For Native Students - New England Natives Write History!

Juanenos And Panhe - The United Coalition To Protect Panhe
By Robert Bracamontes

Almost every person on earth has been to a burial site in his or her lifetime. Very few, if any, would rush to think about damaging or destroying those sacred lands. But throughout American history, and even today, desecration of Indigenous People’s sacred lands is a common occurrence in the landscape of the colonial mindset of the government and their corporate accomplice.

For Panhe, the Acjachemen/Juaneno Village that existed ten thousand years ago and is still used today for gatherings and prayers, this history of desecration is quickly becoming a problem in the present day as it is about to be destroyed by a projected toll road. This issue of defending burial sites, like Panhe, far out shadows the political fighting taking place over federal recognition. This movement takes us to a timeless place of universal thought about how we are ultimately and unwaveringly the same.

I took pictures at Panhe that show us gathering as a single group, proving a united front is possible when it comes to protecting our sacred land and religious freedom. Our willingness to stand up for our rights and freedoms in order to protect our history and culture far exceeds any petty arguments over federal recognition. Should we win this battle, it would have huge ramifications on other Indigenous Peoples struggling to protect their sacred land.

How would America feel if we decide to build a toll road over the Lincoln monument, John or Robert Kennedy’s grave, or the Arlington Cemetery? You can be sure the President, the Supreme Court, Congress and the moral righteousness of the law would protect the sanctity of these historical places. But justice belongs to all people and we have every right to have our sacred ancestors buried at Panhe left to rest peacefully without being dishonored.

Today feels like a new kind of Manifest Destiny has started all over again. There is no respect for our land, our culture or us. The US government is still intent on breaking every dignified law on earth to humiliate us all over again.

Americans have been the curators of the false history about Columbus “discovering” a continent. It was the beginning of the end for our ancestors who were already here. But imagine if we, the first people of this continent, started a reverse Manifest Destiny.

First, in keeping with the present day stereotype of California Indigenous People, would be to build more casinos, only in Washington D.C. Then we would dig up Abe Lincoln, knock down that big cement thing of him, and give his bones to somebody who could prove they were his ancestors. If somebody did step forward, we’d say we don’t really recognize him or her as a group worthy or deserving of our acknowledgement.

Last, Kennedy’s graves and their assassinations This will help give us proof that America was such a barbaric culture, built on false pretenses that they had a democracy for the people with free speech, etc. So free, they killed their own leaders.

This sounds really all too ugly for me. Why can’t people feel the pain of the Indigenous People every time a sacred burial land is disturbed? I am ashamed to write about those images of Abe, John, Bobby, but that is exactly what is happening at Panhe. The great and united people, the Acjachemen, Juaneno Tribe are waiting for all of you to show us respect and dignity. Those resting at Panhe are calling out to us, in the hope that we will never forget them and that we will stand up against those that wish to harm them.

To Rebecca Robles rerobles5@yahoo.com and Angela Mooney
D’Arcy angela.ucpp@gmail.com thank you for making people think about what they are doing to the living Indigenous People, who have watched this injustice take place over and over again. Your work to protect Panhe is greatly appreciated. You are examples of what it means to be true leaders, because you embrace us all.
Bob Bracamontes
Yu-va'-tal 'A'lla-mal
(Black Crow)
http://www.onlinewithbob.com/

Prestigious Art School For Native Students
Submitted by Christine Yazzie

Subject: Full Scholarship to prestigious art school for native students, (grades 9-12), Idyllwild Arts Academy near Los Angeles, a prestigious art school and also a boarding school, has two full-ride scholarships to fill in the next week. Each has a value of $45,000 per year. If not filled, the monies will go back to the donor.

Perhaps you know of a student who meets the criteria:
1. Native American, registered with their tribe.
2. GPA of 3.0 or higher
3. Keen interest and talent in the arts (written, visual or performance)
4. Willing to attend a boarding school

Interested students can contact Idyllwild's Admissions Office or read more
online at:
http://www.idyllwildarts.org/academy/academy_admission.html

http://www.idyllwildarts.org/
Christine Yazzie ~ Los Angeles, CA USA
Email: krystyn_media@yahoo.com
Web: http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com/

Southern New England Natives Write Their Own History
Submitted by Peter N. Jones

Summary
For the first time in the 400 year colonial history of the American Indians of southern New England have written their own story. Covering all modes of their traditional life, A Cultural History of the Native Peoples of Southern New England is a landmark publication.

Body
Very few books on the history and culture of the southern New England indigenous peoples have been written by the Native themselves. Standard academic books read like a clinical autopsy of a dead culture from many years ago. Contrary to this, A Cultural History of the Native Peoples of Southern New England provides an understanding of the ways, customs, and language of the southern New England American Indians from the Native's perspective.

Written and compiled by two Wampanoag Indians, the book incorporates voices of modern Elders and other Natives spanning the historic records of the 1500s and 1600s. As author Moondancer stressed, "everything about the beauty, power, and richness of our culture has been included."

Sections of the book cover appearance, language, family and relations, religion, the body and senses, marriage, sickness, war, games, hunting, and much more. This book is one step in many by the Native peoples of southern New England as they reclaim their culture and identity.

As Moondancer noted, "The proud and fiercely independent Native American peoples of southern New England once walked tall and proud on this land. With this book, we are now beginning to walk tall again."

For more information about the book and Bauu Press, please visit: http://www.bauuinstitute.com/
Thanks,
Peter

Peter N. Jones, Ph.D.
Bauu Institute
PO Box 4445
Boulder, CO 80306
pnj@bauuinstitute.com

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS 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.

AIROS NATIVE NETWORK plays music, news and other great programs from Indian Country - www.airos.org

FOR NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com

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

NATIVE BIZ LEARNING CENTER - www.learn.nativebiz.com was developed for tribal education specialists serving tribal communities. Any tribal community can register at NO COST.

NAJA ALERTS, POTPOURRI - Every Tuesday when available.

SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC. http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com.

UN Message For Indigenous Peoples

U.N. Message For Indigenous Peoples
SECRETARY-GENERAL, MESSAGE ON THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE WORLD'S INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
Submitted by The Western Shoshone Defense Project
9 August 2007At:
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/view01/

Today, we celebrate the contributions which indigenous peoples make to humanity through their rich civilizations. We also celebrate the partnership that has existed for three decades between indigenous peoples and the United Nations.

From that partnership have emerged significant international achievements, including the proclamation of two International Decades of the World's Indigenous People, the establishment of a Special Rapporteur on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, and a United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Today, indigenous peoples have a home at the United Nations.

But today is also a time to remember those indigenous peoples who continue to suffer discrimination, marginalization, extreme poverty and conflict; who face dispossession of their traditional lands and livelihoods, displacement, destruction of their belief systems, culture, language and way of life -- and even the threat of extinction.

Recently, the international community has grown increasingly aware of the need to support indigenous people -- by establishing and promoting international standards; vigilantly upholding respect for their human rights; integrating the international development agenda, including the Millennium Development Goals, in policies, programmes and country-level projects; and reinforcing indigenous peoples' special stewardship on issues related to the environment and climate change.

Our fast-paced world requires us to act with urgency in addressing these issues. As we do, let us be guided by the fundamental principle of indigenous peoples' full and effective participation. Let us give life to "Partnership in action and dignity" -- the theme given by the General Assembly to this Second International Decade of the World's Indigenous People. On this International Day, let this be our motto and inspiration.

TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE, OPINION PIECE, COMMENTS 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.

AIROS NATIVE NETWORK plays music, news and other great programs from Indian Country - www.airos.org

FOR NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com

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

NATIVE BIZ LEARNING CENTER - www.learn.nativebiz.com was developed for tribal education specialists serving tribal communities. Any tribal community can register at NO COST.

NAJA ALERTS, POTPOURRI - Every Tuesday when available.

SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC. http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com.