The Udall Legacy: Like Father, Like Son - New 'Anti-Meth Ad' For Indian Country
RECA Bill Brings Hopes For 'Justice'
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent
WINDOW ROCK – Ever since he became a member of Congress in 1999, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., has been fighting to bring justice to the issue of compensation for uranium workers and downwinders.
“My father had a 30 year crusade for justice in the case of the miners and the downwinders, and during the course of that 30 years, he probably involved most of our family. While I was in private practice I worked with him on many of these cases,” Udall said last week regarding his introduction of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2010.
Udall's father, Stewart Udall, who passed away last month at age 90, was a former Secretary of the Interior and a strong advocate of compensation for Navajo uranium miners. He was instrumental in getting the Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act of 1990 passed and testified to its inadequacies at a June 5, 1993, congressional hearing in Shiprock.
“There have been a number of problems over the years from affidavits not being accepted to difficulties in terms of culture,” Udall said Tuesday. “Many of the things that were asked of Navajo Indians and other Native Americans, they weren't able to provide, and so their claims couldn't go in.
“Now, we've reached the point where there clearly are some additional problems. Post-1971 miners should be covered,” he said. “Uranium core drillers also should be covered and they weren't in the past.” With bipartisan support, Udall is hopeful they can bring the legislation up to date “and make sure justice is done in the long run.”
Liz Lucero and Linda Evers, president and vice president of the Post '71 Uranium Workers Committee, said Udall and co-sponsors of the legislation made history Monday for uranium workers everywhere.
“It's just amazing to me that it's gone on for so long,” Evers said, adding that she and Lucero have only been working for four years on getting support for Post-'71 uranium workers. “There are folks out there that have been working 10 to 15 years on this. Why does it take the government so long to come around and do the right thing?”
The women said they and all the other people that have helped along the way are very happy to see progress being made for the people that have suffered for so long. “This is the beginning of what should have been done for these workers a long time ago. We’re very hopeful that the legislators will see this amendment through to the end, and do the right thing for this group of people.”
The committee expressed their thanks and prayers that all of the co-sponsors of the bill – Sens. Jeff Bingaman, Mike Crapo, Mark Udall, James Risch, Michael Bennet and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan will have the strength to get the bill passed.
Gilbert Badoni, president of the Navajo Dependents of Uranium Workers Committee, will accompany 80-year-old Bettie Yazzie of Sweetwater to New York May 11 to testify about the impacts of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation and its people during the 18th session of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development.
“Bettie is an elder from Sweetwater. She had several miscarriages and lost her husband to lung cancer,” he said. “She has had numerous extended family members also diagnosed with cancer.”
Second-generation dependents of uranium workers who possibly have some form of health ailment associated with radiation exposure are now beginning to surface, Badoni says. His second-oldest daughter from his first marriage was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
“As you look at the mortality rate you begin to see the younger folks being diagnosed with cancer. Guess what? They all come from uranium-working families. We just need to somehow show that to the world.”
It's probably going to take a study specifically for the dependents to wake up the lawmakers, he said. “They know what uranium can do to a person, but that's still not enough for them. I think they're in denial. They're hoping it's going to go away. But guess what? It's not going to go away.”
Udall said that over the years he has been involved with RECA, one of the biggest questions has always been from the families in terms of whether they were contaminated:
“Are the diseases we are getting a result of our breadwinner coming into the house with dirty mining clothes which were contaminated by radiation? Did we bring water in and other things that were contaminated by radiation and use them in our homes, and has that had a health impact?”
The legislation would authorize $3 million for five years for epidemiological research on the impacts of uranium development on communities and families of uranium workers. The funds would be allocated to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to award grants to universities and non-profits to carry out the research.
“It may well be that we find out that the level of exposure wasn't too bad. But we should ask the questions and we should delve into this and find out,” Udall said.
Last fall, Badoni and a group of about 20 elders went to Washington to seek funding for health studies for the dependents of former uranium workers. They swamped Udall's office.
“He took the time out from the Senate floor, although he was busy, and went back to his office and met with us for about 30 minutes. That was really something else. That was a treat for us. In my statement I asked for a non-governmental entity, a university or medical research facility that was not affiliated with the government to do the studies.” Hearing that funding for those studies is in the bill “just made my day,” Badoni said.
It was the plight of the uranium miners and their families that brought Chris Shuey of Southwest Research and Information Center to Navajo back in the 1970s. Shuey first visited Red Valley about the same time Udall's father did. At that time, Shuey was a freelance journalist who wrote about the health and safety problems Navajos were facing.
“To get justice for people who worked in the uranium industry continues to take generations. This a great step that Udall and others have taken,” Shuey said. “But there's a lot of work to get this passed. Getting it introduced is one step. Getting the next round of RECA amendments passed is a huge step, but it's absolutely necessary. And it's necessary for the people who worked after 1971 because it looks like they're just as sick, and there's not actually enough study of their health status.”
Marguerito “Mag” Martinez worked in the mines for Kerr-McGee from 1949 to 1985. Though sick and elderly, he has been a staunch supporter for those who worked the mines and mills after 1971.
“We've had Post-71 miners that have died already of radiation. What did the country say, 'We didn't buy any uranium after 1971?' That's just a cheap-ass excuse not to pay. They left all the radiation right here and we're eating it up,” he said.
Preston J. Truman, long-time activist and advocate for downwinders, saw his first atom bomb test in 1955 from his home in southwestern Utah. At the age of 17, he was diagnosed with lymphoma. Truman said Udall's bill, filed on the 20th anniversary of the original final RECA bill, is probably even more significant than the first.
“It greatly helps fix the many loopholes that tragically let deserving Native Americans fall through the cracks in applying with no recourse. It also once and for all forces the government to accept and compensate the tens of thousands of other downwinders across the West who received as much, and often more radiation than those of us in the pitiful few rural counties covered in the original act.
“For years, many of us from those 'politically acceptable counties' have demanded something be done to expand RECA, calling loudly for JUSTICE, not JUST US! Finally that call has been heard.”
Ad Campaign Targets Meth Use In Indian Country
NATIVE AMERICAN TIMES
SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press Writer
Submitted by Monica Davis
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Federal officials on Wednesday launched an advertising campaign aimed at curbing methamphetamine use in American Indian communities throughout New Mexico and in more than a dozen other states.The three-month campaign expands on a series of radio ads and billboards that were tested in recent years in a handful of states.
The new effort includes nearly $2 million worth of television and radio air time as well as print and billboard space.“There are a lot of cool things about being native. Meth isn’t one of them,” says a voice at the end of one of the new commercials. Indian youth painting a mural, playing basketball and practicing kicks in karate class are used during the 30-second spot to send the message that meth destroys creativity and health.
Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and other officials gathered in Albuquerque to unveil the campaign.“We know that people fall through the cracks on the reservation and fall through the cracks in other places on tribal land. We have to work hard to change that,” he said after citing what he called “troubling” data about meth use rates in tribal communities.
Meth use by Native Americans remains among the highest of any ethnicity. For instance, Native Americans are almost twice as likely to have used meth than whites and Hispanics and about five times more likely than African Americans, according to the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
A national youth risk behavior study done in 2005 showed 14 percent of Native American high school students had used meth one or more times during their life.Alvin Warren, secretary of the New Mexico Department of Indian Affairs, said the problem is particularly troubling on the nation’s largest Indian reservation, the Navajo Nation, which straddles parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.
He shared several statistics: the Navajo-area Indian Health Service reported that 2,167 individuals were treated for meth use in 2000 and 4,077 were treated in eight months in 2004. In 2007, the FBI reported that about 40 percent of all violent crimes committed on the Navajo Nation were directly related to meth use and trafficking.
Kerlikowske said meth use is high in Indian Country because many tribal communities do not have enough police offices. Vast, sparsely populated Indian lands also can benefit meth manufacturers who are looking to cook the dangerous drug while staying under the radar of law enforcement, he said.
Warren said the reason for the high prevalence of meth in Indian communities is complex.“You have to look at what’s at the root cause,” he said. “Historical trauma is part of it, poverty is part of it, lack of opportunity, loss of language and culture, challenging family circumstances. ... I don’t think we appreciate how hopeless sometimes things could be for a particular youth.”
Larry Echo Hawk, assistant Interior secretary for Indian Affairs, said enforcing existing laws are a must but “we’re not going to arrest ourselves out of a problem like this.”
“That is why I’m so pleased to see the ad campaign is all about education and prevention,” he said. “What we’ve got to do is challenge our young people to make good decisions, do what’s right, to stay away from drugs and their ill effects.”
The National Congress of American Indians, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and federal officials first began tackling meth in Indian Country with radio and print ads in 2008. At the time, that was the first national meth prevention initiative developed specifically for tribal communities.
Officials said the new effort expands on that work while continuing to encourage youth to draw strength from their traditions and heritage to avoid the trap of meth. The ads also aim to encourage Indian adults to protect their children.The ads will run through August in New Mexico, Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Wyoming, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Utah.
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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http://falmouth-air.blogspot.com/
THE BUFFALO POST - Missoulian Montana's Native News Blog about Native People And The World We Live In.
http://buffalopost.net/
Check Out NATIVE PRIDE- It's a great site!
http://letstalknativepride.blogspot.com/
NATIVE AMERICA, DISCOVERED AND CONQUERED
http://lawlib.lclark.edu/blog/native_america/
PATHOLOGY.ORG - Up-to-date informmational database on general health and disease information, medical schools and medical resources.
http://www.pathology.org/
FOR ANNIE'S NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS
- go to http://www.nativecelebs.com/
SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC.
http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent
WINDOW ROCK – Ever since he became a member of Congress in 1999, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., has been fighting to bring justice to the issue of compensation for uranium workers and downwinders.
“My father had a 30 year crusade for justice in the case of the miners and the downwinders, and during the course of that 30 years, he probably involved most of our family. While I was in private practice I worked with him on many of these cases,” Udall said last week regarding his introduction of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2010.
Udall's father, Stewart Udall, who passed away last month at age 90, was a former Secretary of the Interior and a strong advocate of compensation for Navajo uranium miners. He was instrumental in getting the Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act of 1990 passed and testified to its inadequacies at a June 5, 1993, congressional hearing in Shiprock.
“There have been a number of problems over the years from affidavits not being accepted to difficulties in terms of culture,” Udall said Tuesday. “Many of the things that were asked of Navajo Indians and other Native Americans, they weren't able to provide, and so their claims couldn't go in.
“Now, we've reached the point where there clearly are some additional problems. Post-1971 miners should be covered,” he said. “Uranium core drillers also should be covered and they weren't in the past.” With bipartisan support, Udall is hopeful they can bring the legislation up to date “and make sure justice is done in the long run.”
Liz Lucero and Linda Evers, president and vice president of the Post '71 Uranium Workers Committee, said Udall and co-sponsors of the legislation made history Monday for uranium workers everywhere.
“It's just amazing to me that it's gone on for so long,” Evers said, adding that she and Lucero have only been working for four years on getting support for Post-'71 uranium workers. “There are folks out there that have been working 10 to 15 years on this. Why does it take the government so long to come around and do the right thing?”
The women said they and all the other people that have helped along the way are very happy to see progress being made for the people that have suffered for so long. “This is the beginning of what should have been done for these workers a long time ago. We’re very hopeful that the legislators will see this amendment through to the end, and do the right thing for this group of people.”
The committee expressed their thanks and prayers that all of the co-sponsors of the bill – Sens. Jeff Bingaman, Mike Crapo, Mark Udall, James Risch, Michael Bennet and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan will have the strength to get the bill passed.
Gilbert Badoni, president of the Navajo Dependents of Uranium Workers Committee, will accompany 80-year-old Bettie Yazzie of Sweetwater to New York May 11 to testify about the impacts of uranium mining on the Navajo Nation and its people during the 18th session of the U.N. Commission on Sustainable Development.
“Bettie is an elder from Sweetwater. She had several miscarriages and lost her husband to lung cancer,” he said. “She has had numerous extended family members also diagnosed with cancer.”
Second-generation dependents of uranium workers who possibly have some form of health ailment associated with radiation exposure are now beginning to surface, Badoni says. His second-oldest daughter from his first marriage was diagnosed with cervical cancer.
“As you look at the mortality rate you begin to see the younger folks being diagnosed with cancer. Guess what? They all come from uranium-working families. We just need to somehow show that to the world.”
It's probably going to take a study specifically for the dependents to wake up the lawmakers, he said. “They know what uranium can do to a person, but that's still not enough for them. I think they're in denial. They're hoping it's going to go away. But guess what? It's not going to go away.”
Udall said that over the years he has been involved with RECA, one of the biggest questions has always been from the families in terms of whether they were contaminated:
“Are the diseases we are getting a result of our breadwinner coming into the house with dirty mining clothes which were contaminated by radiation? Did we bring water in and other things that were contaminated by radiation and use them in our homes, and has that had a health impact?”
The legislation would authorize $3 million for five years for epidemiological research on the impacts of uranium development on communities and families of uranium workers. The funds would be allocated to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to award grants to universities and non-profits to carry out the research.
“It may well be that we find out that the level of exposure wasn't too bad. But we should ask the questions and we should delve into this and find out,” Udall said.
Last fall, Badoni and a group of about 20 elders went to Washington to seek funding for health studies for the dependents of former uranium workers. They swamped Udall's office.
“He took the time out from the Senate floor, although he was busy, and went back to his office and met with us for about 30 minutes. That was really something else. That was a treat for us. In my statement I asked for a non-governmental entity, a university or medical research facility that was not affiliated with the government to do the studies.” Hearing that funding for those studies is in the bill “just made my day,” Badoni said.
It was the plight of the uranium miners and their families that brought Chris Shuey of Southwest Research and Information Center to Navajo back in the 1970s. Shuey first visited Red Valley about the same time Udall's father did. At that time, Shuey was a freelance journalist who wrote about the health and safety problems Navajos were facing.
“To get justice for people who worked in the uranium industry continues to take generations. This a great step that Udall and others have taken,” Shuey said. “But there's a lot of work to get this passed. Getting it introduced is one step. Getting the next round of RECA amendments passed is a huge step, but it's absolutely necessary. And it's necessary for the people who worked after 1971 because it looks like they're just as sick, and there's not actually enough study of their health status.”
Marguerito “Mag” Martinez worked in the mines for Kerr-McGee from 1949 to 1985. Though sick and elderly, he has been a staunch supporter for those who worked the mines and mills after 1971.
“We've had Post-71 miners that have died already of radiation. What did the country say, 'We didn't buy any uranium after 1971?' That's just a cheap-ass excuse not to pay. They left all the radiation right here and we're eating it up,” he said.
Preston J. Truman, long-time activist and advocate for downwinders, saw his first atom bomb test in 1955 from his home in southwestern Utah. At the age of 17, he was diagnosed with lymphoma. Truman said Udall's bill, filed on the 20th anniversary of the original final RECA bill, is probably even more significant than the first.
“It greatly helps fix the many loopholes that tragically let deserving Native Americans fall through the cracks in applying with no recourse. It also once and for all forces the government to accept and compensate the tens of thousands of other downwinders across the West who received as much, and often more radiation than those of us in the pitiful few rural counties covered in the original act.
“For years, many of us from those 'politically acceptable counties' have demanded something be done to expand RECA, calling loudly for JUSTICE, not JUST US! Finally that call has been heard.”
Ad Campaign Targets Meth Use In Indian Country
NATIVE AMERICAN TIMES
SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN, Associated Press Writer
Submitted by Monica Davis
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) – Federal officials on Wednesday launched an advertising campaign aimed at curbing methamphetamine use in American Indian communities throughout New Mexico and in more than a dozen other states.The three-month campaign expands on a series of radio ads and billboards that were tested in recent years in a handful of states.
The new effort includes nearly $2 million worth of television and radio air time as well as print and billboard space.“There are a lot of cool things about being native. Meth isn’t one of them,” says a voice at the end of one of the new commercials. Indian youth painting a mural, playing basketball and practicing kicks in karate class are used during the 30-second spot to send the message that meth destroys creativity and health.
Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and other officials gathered in Albuquerque to unveil the campaign.“We know that people fall through the cracks on the reservation and fall through the cracks in other places on tribal land. We have to work hard to change that,” he said after citing what he called “troubling” data about meth use rates in tribal communities.
Meth use by Native Americans remains among the highest of any ethnicity. For instance, Native Americans are almost twice as likely to have used meth than whites and Hispanics and about five times more likely than African Americans, according to the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
A national youth risk behavior study done in 2005 showed 14 percent of Native American high school students had used meth one or more times during their life.Alvin Warren, secretary of the New Mexico Department of Indian Affairs, said the problem is particularly troubling on the nation’s largest Indian reservation, the Navajo Nation, which straddles parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah.
He shared several statistics: the Navajo-area Indian Health Service reported that 2,167 individuals were treated for meth use in 2000 and 4,077 were treated in eight months in 2004. In 2007, the FBI reported that about 40 percent of all violent crimes committed on the Navajo Nation were directly related to meth use and trafficking.
Kerlikowske said meth use is high in Indian Country because many tribal communities do not have enough police offices. Vast, sparsely populated Indian lands also can benefit meth manufacturers who are looking to cook the dangerous drug while staying under the radar of law enforcement, he said.
Warren said the reason for the high prevalence of meth in Indian communities is complex.“You have to look at what’s at the root cause,” he said. “Historical trauma is part of it, poverty is part of it, lack of opportunity, loss of language and culture, challenging family circumstances. ... I don’t think we appreciate how hopeless sometimes things could be for a particular youth.”
Larry Echo Hawk, assistant Interior secretary for Indian Affairs, said enforcing existing laws are a must but “we’re not going to arrest ourselves out of a problem like this.”
“That is why I’m so pleased to see the ad campaign is all about education and prevention,” he said. “What we’ve got to do is challenge our young people to make good decisions, do what’s right, to stay away from drugs and their ill effects.”
The National Congress of American Indians, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and federal officials first began tackling meth in Indian Country with radio and print ads in 2008. At the time, that was the first national meth prevention initiative developed specifically for tribal communities.
Officials said the new effort expands on that work while continuing to encourage youth to draw strength from their traditions and heritage to avoid the trap of meth. The ads also aim to encourage Indian adults to protect their children.The ads will run through August in New Mexico, Alaska, Arizona, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Wyoming, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Utah.
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.
News Blog - American Indian Report - AIR BLOG
http://falmouth-air.blogspot.com/
THE BUFFALO POST - Missoulian Montana's Native News Blog about Native People And The World We Live In.
http://buffalopost.net/
Check Out NATIVE PRIDE- It's a great site!
http://letstalknativepride.blogspot.com/
NATIVE AMERICA, DISCOVERED AND CONQUERED
http://lawlib.lclark.edu/blog/native_america/
PATHOLOGY.ORG - Up-to-date informmational database on general health and disease information, medical schools and medical resources.
http://www.pathology.org/
FOR ANNIE'S NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS
- go to http://www.nativecelebs.com/
SUPPORTING NATIVE AMERICAN/FIRST PEOPLE - ARTISTS, FILM MAKERS, ENTERTAINERS, ETC.
http://www.krystynmedia.blogspot.com
posted by BobbieoAZ @ 9:46 PM
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