Bracamontes - Protection Of Sacred Sites - SMSC Sponsors Indoor Triathlon - Indian Arts Internships

Speech for U.S. Attorney General Civil Rights Environmental Justice Visit
Tom Perez, who is the United States Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, and Monica Ramirez, who is Counsel to the Attorney General, were in Los Angeles on February 25, 2010,
Thank you Tom Perez and Monica Ramirez for your time.

I am Robert Bracamontes. I am a Juaneno from the Acjachemen Nation.
It is seemingly impossible for me to express the spirit of all of my ancestors before me, since they go back in time over 10,000 years, but for them I must be diligent.

The importance of preserving ancestral land which is scared to us is paramount to the preservation of our culture and way of life. The encroachment by those that wish to control this land must be stopped if the history of my people is to continue for the ages. Protection of Sacred sites is an environmental justice issue.

It has been human nature to move from place to place settle for a time and move on. And more important is the fact that we end up with like minded, culturally similar faces around us. So today many of us in this room share being raised in the barrios of urban society. We move from one barrio to the next seeing the tacos, hearing the music and marrying in the churches that are the same as those left behind. So to the Native Civilizations we have moved from village to village which is part of our past, present and future. We have not all died and disappeared.

Our sacred village Panhe is all those things that make us. The plants are used for medicines and sage for ceremony. My cousin Ronnie Bracamontes was the last one buried there about 15 years ago.

Sacred sites may not be that easy to find, unlike our popular barrios many of us have come from, the most famous East Los Angeles. But Panhe has no Whittier Blvd or King Taco. There are no distinguishable signs that tell people it is there. So to the naked eye it is easy to assume nobody lives there, but to us the Juanenos from the Acjachemen Nation it is a sacred place.

Our sacred sites have been a constant source of concern as far as preservation for the future generations of Juanenos. These Sacred burial and village sites are seen as just a patch of land to the dominate culture and their government. Businesses see these areas as easy pickings. I can't think of any equivalent agency that their sole purpose was or should be to protect Native American Land, especially in the more urban areas where people are also totally ignorant about that fact we are not all dead.

I am thinking the formation of the EPANL Environment Protection Agency for Native American Land would be a good start. The seven sites we visit on our annual Ancestral Walk are great examples of this struggle.

The village of Panhe is of super importance. It is a village, burial site, and a cultural center where we meet and pray. Many traditions take place, the Ghost dance, etc and plants used for ceremony are found here that carry special meanings. Cal State Long Beach is on one of our sacred sites, Puvungna, where once a year the Bear dance is held and carries a great feeling of unity and healing for the tribe.

SO, it is paramount that Natives be included whenever there is land encroachment. We were able to fend off a planned toll road by forming the United Coalition to Protect Panhe and coalition with other groups, including City Project and Robert Garcia. But more avenues to protect sites are needed.

I remember an experience I had with my dad. His name is Joseph. He roamed the countryside hunting for rabbits to eat. He was bare foot until the age of 14, his hair in a braid to his waist. He hated school and would rather go hunting.

When I got older he took me out to teach me how to hunt for food. We stood there, he whispered, there is the rabbit. I looked and looked and could not see it. He pointed at it. I could not see it. We stood there what seemed like a long time, finally the rabbit moved. I saw it. I asked him why I could not see the rabbit. He told me my eyes were ruined by the city. I wasn’t able to see what was so obvious because I wasn’t taught or trained or maybe my eyes were unwilling.

The federal government must not let the city lights ruin their vision of where Sacred Native sites exist. Are lands can no longer be the food for development. We must all learn to train our eyes to see what is right in front of us. Natives require the respect and protection given to all historical sites. We should do our best to see the Rabbit.

Thank you,
Robert (Bob) Bracamontes
Yu-va'-tal 'A'lla-mal(Black Crow)
Acjachemen Nation, Juaneno Tribe
http://www.onlinewithbob.com/

Dakotah! Sponsors Eighth Indoor Triathlon
Open to Public
By Tessa Lehto
Communications Specialist
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Prior Lake, MN – Registration is now open for Dakotah! Sport and Fitness’ Eighth Annual Indoor Triathlon. The event, which is open to the public, will be held on Friday and Saturday, April 10 and 11, 2010. With an overwhelming early response to registration from previous participants, spots filled quickly for the Saturday morning heats so heats were added on Friday afternoon. Registration will remain open until all spots are full.

Since the event will be held indoors, the competition is structured differently than a typical triathlon. The events are timed, and participants are judged on the total distance they complete in the allotted time period. The three stages of the event for adults are a 7-minute swim, a 30-minute stationary cycle ride, and a 20-minute run or walk on the indoor track.

The field of up to 60 participants will be divided into heats of four that will rotate through the three events. The fee is $25 for DSF members and $35 for non-DSF members. Registration may be done online at http://www.dakotahsport.com/ or by calling 952-445-9400. Participants will receive a t-shirt, and the top three male and female finishers will receive awards.

"This is a unique format so that any level of fitness can compete. Judging is based on cumulative distance to accommodate all fitness levels. It's set up that way to get more people involved," explained Dakotah! Sport and Fitness Director Tad Dunsworth. "Our participants have enjoyed the event in previous years.”

For more information about the triathlon, contact Dakotah! Fitness Assistant Director Renee Engman at 952-496-6875 or go to http://www.dakotahsport.com/.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community and Dakotah! Sport and Fitness will also sponsor the Dakotah! Sport and Fitness Lakefront Days Triathlon Saturday, August 7, 2010, in Prior Lake.

About Dakotah!The area’s premier fitness facility, Dakotah! Sport and Fitness offers a vast array of amenities with something for everyone in their 305,331 square foot facility. Amenities include an indoor track, aquatic center, indoor ice arenas, a double gymnasium, a cardio studio, a cycling studio, group fitness classes, free weights, circuit training equipment, and much more.

Dakotah! Sport and Fitness is owned and operated by the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, a federally recognized Indian tribe in the Prior Lake and Shakopee area of Minnesota. The SMSC is also the owner and operator of Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, Little Six Casino, Playworks, the Shakopee Dakota Convenience Stores, The Meadows at Mystic Lake, and other enterprises on the reservation south of the Twin Cities.

IARC Offers Two Nine-Month Internships
Submitted by Christine Yazzie
The School for Advanced Research, Indian Arts Research Center (IARC) offers two nine-month internships to Native individuals who are recent college graduates, current graduate students, or junior museum professionals interested in furthering their collections management experience and enhancing their intellectual capacity for contributing to the expanding field and discourse of museum studies.

The internships include a $2200 monthly stipend, housing, book allowance, travel to one professional conference, and reimbursable travel to and from SAR. The deadline to apply is March 30, 2010.

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A New Decade, A New Tribal Spirit

By Terrance H. Booth, Sr. Tsimshian Tribe
National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) has established national Native goals in a speech in Washington, DC given by Jefferson Keel, President of NCAI. It gave much details and historic background on what Alaska Native and Native American Tribes have as their social and economic problems and conditions.

It was about empowerment of our people and implementing hope for our tribal people of Indian Country, USA. The speech encouraged gaining a stronger voice in our tribal affairs suggesting that we have something to pass on to the next generation of our tribal people. It further stated with strong emphasis that we have our social and economic needs met.

At the reservation level we as Native people are very familiar with what needs to happen and get done for your particular areas where you reside and live your life. NCAI is our Native Advocacy Organization that confronts Congress, Congressional Committees, Federal Agencies, policy makers, lawmakers and those influencing the legislation of our Native people. NCAI has been working in our behalf since 1944 and has made many accomplishments in our behalf of us tribes.

We as individual tribal members should make a stronger voice for NCAI and find out what the national Native Goals are for each year it makes a major presentation to the Presidential Administration, US. House of Representatives and US Senators. The follow up on these national goals lobbying, giving testimonies to different congressional committees and to key people in Washington, DC.

What can we as tribal people add to their work as they confront those that make the laws governing Indian Country, USA. We make a stronger voice by collectively writing letters to our elected officials, request field hearings on legislation on Indian Affairs in the areas where we live or visit the congressional field offices in the states and spend time with congressional staff at state offices, some states have several field offices for our congressional delegation.What do we do or say to these staff people working on issues not only confronting Natives but they are busy on the public at large issues.

What do we know? We live and work on our reservations, we know first had what is confronting us at the reservation level, we know our economic conditions, we know the jobless rate, we know that there is no work, we know the Native health issues, we know that additional programs are need to have a more stable economic environment for the good of our tribal people. We know the problems of our youth, young adults, adults and our senior citizens.

In this new decade let us take great strides in creating a better life for the good of all our tribal people across Indian Country, USA. It is time to build new tribal economies and study what steps we need to do to bring and improve our tribal economies. We will readily see that most of our reservations for goods and services tribal revenues are spent off our reservations instead of spending our tribal revenue on reservations.

Example, some tribes have no tribal utility companies and thus have to depend upon off reservation utility companies. This means dollars are spent off reservations for utility services. To get the tribal revenues spent on reservations tribes can implement having their own tribal utility companies and thus create substantial tribal earnings.

The spending that goes off reservations is known as an economic leakage. To keep dollars on reservations create economic opportunities to spend tribal dollars on our tribal reservations. By doing this is a way to become prosperous. To become further prosperous once tribal utility companies are in place look at alternative energy opportunities with the creation of tribal energy parks that can sell energy to utility companies. This by itself creates jobs, creates revenue and greatly builds substantial tribal wealth development.

If we do economic analysis of our reservations and see where our tribal monies go we would readily see dollars in most cases go off reservations.In this new decade let us in Indian Country have elimination of poverty, creation of better Native health care and services, creation of tribal businesses that focus on bring tribal economic betterment to the tribal settings. For several decades we have lived in poverty and it is time to end poverty in this new decade.

Our ancestors and tribal leaders of the past and current tribal leadership need to be honored and we do this by creating our individual voice expressing the goals of NCAI, Tribal Goals, Tribal Regional Goals for we have the tools to make a major impact upon Washington, DC. We have online websites that advocate different issues confronting the poor of this nation America.

We have computer to create statements, to send testimonies to Congressional Committees, to different federal agencies, we have online ability to contact other organizations working in our behalf like The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) a Quaker Lobby in the public interest keep watch on Native Legislation and networks with tribes, sends out legislative alerts to keep our Native People informed on legislation for Alaska Native and Native Americans. Their website: http://www.fcnl.org/nativeam/

The efforts of our great Alaska Native and Native American tribal leaderships needs to be honored and respected for their gallant efforts being made in our behalf in Washington, DC. A Yuma Indian by name of Chiparooni once said, “Yes, we know that when you come, we die.” Let us reverse these words that depict a conquered nation, and a defeated people. Lets awaken our Native greatness to bring life to our Native Nations.

In the speech seven action steps were presented to the Administration and Congress. Stated that the steps will create jobs, expand health care; improve education, address crime, and more.

The Action Steps:
- First, take action to restore tribal lands and allow us to use our land as we see fit.
- Second, is to address law enforcement.
- Third, is to guarantee equal treatment under the law by granting tribal governments the same treatment as state and local governments on tax and finance matters.
- Fourth, is an investment in our children so that they grow into healthy youth and become the next generation of tribal leaders, community members, and business leaders?
- Fifth, is to ensure effective distribution of funds to tribal governments.
- Sixth, is interagency coordination to improve tribal infrastructure.
- Seventh, finally, we need the Administration to support legislative fix for last year’s Carcieri decision by the Supreme Court.

We now have before us seven action steps as adopted by our tribal leaders. How will we respond to these action steps to ensure they receive proper attention and are met? How will we move our national Native goals through the US House of Representative and the US Senate and that the Office of the President is aware of these goals? Will our own tribal governments make sure these goals are met? Some tribes pass their own tribal resolutions to present to Congress and will the tribes do this?

This writer has confronted some of our US Representatives and US Senators and always ask them how much of an impact does a single letter regarding legislation make upon their decision for passage or no vote on it. Their response is that a single letter to them can be important enough to consider passage or no vote.

So, letters to our elected are of importance. Some of us do not have the opportunity have of going to Washington, DC; will each state has US Senator and US House of Representative State Offices. We can confront staff of the Senator or Representative in your home state.

Besides the adopted action steps each Tribe has their issues to present. Some states have Native Organizations to assist tribes; like in Pacific Northwest States there is Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians that present regional issues to Congress. In Southwest there is Intertribal Council of Arizona, Inc that works on regional issues of Arizona. Other regions have similar tribal organizations advocate issues of tribes.

Let's have a new decade of bring much social and economic betterment to the life of our tribal people. In 11 States we have 28 Native State Legislatures. In Montana it has a Native Official for Office of Public Instruction in charge of all of educational matters in that state. In Arizona it has a Navajo candidate running for office of Secretary of State. So, Natives are turning out to vote both in the primary and general elections.

Let's work to bring prosperity to the life of our reservation settings and stop the economic leakages like off reservation utility companies. We spend lot of our dollars off of our reservations and by stopping economic leakages we spend monies on our reservations this brings to our reservations a much-improved tribal economies. We see some gaming tribes joining forces to address their tribal economies.

If all tribes do this we can have new tribal economies and this can be done through alternative energy by formation of Tribal Energy Parks for all of America will need 70% more electricity. Every tribe has solar, wind, water, falling water and biomass to convert into energy. Already through Department of Energy Tribal Energy Programs several tribes have done feasibility studies to see what will work for their reservation settings.

We need to go step further and create energy parks to not only become energy independent but also sell needed energy to our neighbors.

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Casting Call In Montana For Native Film - Neil Diamond on 'Hollywood Injuns'

Novel By Native American Writer To Be Filmed
Missoulian
Written by Associated Press
MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) – A novel by celebrated American Indian writer James Welch is being made into a movie, and hundreds of people are showing up at auditions hoping to land a part.

Filmmakers and brothers Alex and Andrew Smith, who are twins, said they plan to start filming the movie based on the novel “Winter in the Blood” in July, and that it will be shot entirely in Montana.

Hasalyn Harris, the film’s public relations director, said the cast will be exclusively Native American, and mostly from Montana.“I think they’re wanting it to be as authentic as possible,” she said Saturday as she took in hundreds of applications at the casting call at the University of Montana’s University Center.

The novel by Welch, published in 1974, is described as a key book in the Native American Renaissance that began in the 1960s. It is set on the Fort Belknap Reservation and follows one man’s struggle to find his identity and roots in a modern world while dealing with self-doubt and addiction.

Welch was born in 1940 at Browning to a Blackfeet father and a Gros Ventre mother and grew up mainly on the Fort Belknap Reservation. Welch died in 2003 at age 62.

“I would love to see it as a movie, period,” said Lois Welch, a retired University of Montana literature professor and widow of James. “I’m really touched about the way they’ve been able to keep it so close to the text.”

Alex and Andrew Smith, and writer Ken White, wrote the screenplay for the movie.

Mathew Weasel, 13, of Missoula, was one of those trying to land a part.“I don’t really know what’s going to happen,” he said. “I’m just going to try my best.”

Perry Lilley Sr. was hoping to land the role of Lame Bull. He said he appeared in movies and on television in the past before drugs and alcohol ended his career.“My wife told me about this, and my dreams flashed before me again,” Lilley said. “I get an opportunity to do this again, this time drug and alcohol free. Thank the Creator.”

Another casting call is planned in the coming months in eastern Montana.

Welch wrote about being an Indian in modern American society, and with each of his books came more accolades, a growing fan club and an international following that led to speaking invitations across Europe.

Welch’s works were translated into French, and he was given France’s Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters medal.

Information from: Missoulian, http://www.missoulian.com/

Cree Filmmaker, Neil Diamond, Explores How Hollywood Has Depicted Aboriginals
By Victoria Ahearn (CP)
TORONTO — Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond remembers watching spaghetti westerns as a child in the basement of the local church in Waskaganish, in northern Quebec. As he rooted for the cowboys, he didn't realize that the actors playing the native Americans were white, or that they were supposed to represent aboriginal culture.

Then about seven years ago, while watching another western, it hit him: many white actors - from Charles Bronson and Elvis Presley to Burt Reynolds - have played aboriginals in Hollywood films. And the version of North American native they were playing was typically an offensive stereotype.

Thus began Diamond's journey in making the enlightening and humorous documentary "Reel Injun," about how Hollywood has shaped the image of Native Americans. It opens Friday in Toronto and Vancouver.

"I started remembering the questions I'd get when I moved away from the community to go to school in the (Quebec) south - from students and adults alike - asking if we lived in teepees, if we rode horses or if we spoke 'Indian,' " Diamond said in a recent interview."

I figured that's where those ideas came from. That's the only place you saw Indians living in teepees and riding horses and speaking 'Hollywood Indian,' which is apparently a whole language in itself."

Diamond, who lives in Montreal, hops in his beat-up "Rez car" at the start of the film to drive around Canada and the United States to examine the origins of cinema's "enduring love affair with the Injun."

Through interviews with activists, film critics, comics, historians and actors - including Winnipeg's Adam Beach and Clint Eastwood - Diamond outlines the evolution of native images in movies, from the silent era to contemporary times.

Classic westerns he explores include the 1924 silent feature "The Iron Horse" and 1941's "They Died With Their Boots On." He also looks at children's animated pieces that perpetuate stereotypes, including the Disney film "Pocahontas" and Looney Tunes cartoons.

"I always get embarrassed with some of the really bad filmmaking that's using all these stereotypes," said Diamond, whose other documentaries include 2004's "Heavy Metal: A Mining Disaster in Northern Quebec."

"There's one where every time the native character is about to deliver a line a flute starts to play, or if they're going to say something really profound, an eagle cries."

Hollywood started to dispel such stereotypes around the 1970s, he said, with films including "Little Big Man" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

That trend continued with movies including "Once Were Warriors" and "Smoke Signals" that portray native people "as human beings," added Diamond.Still, there's progress to be made, he added.

Nine-time Oscar nominee "Avatar," for instance, is like "Dances With Pocahontas in Space" with its depiction of animated Na'vi native characters, said Diamond."(For) the story, I saw something on the Internet saying they just took the synopsis from 'Pocahontas' and replaced all the names ... It's kind of lazy storytelling, I find."

Diamond said he's not knocking the technical brilliance of "Avatar," he just wishes that some of the millions of dollars put into the special effects had been spent on "developing a good story."

"They're basically eight-foot-tall, blue Indians with tails. That's pretty much what the story is ... I'd recommend 'Avatar' with a caveat: don't go for the story, just go to see it."

"Reel Injun" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last September and screened a month later at the ImagineNative Film and Media Arts Festival in the city.

It will make its U.S. debut next month at the South by Southwest film and music festival in Austin, Texas. Said Diamond: "It'll be interesting to see how it's received there in cowboy country."
Copyright © 2010 The Canadian Press.

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'Canada, O Canada!' Uranium Mining And Indigenous Communities

The Impacts Of Uranium Mining On Indigenous Communities
by Heather Tufts
PEACE, EARTH AND JUSTICE NEWS

The climate change debate positions nuclear power as a partial solution to carbon emissions according to some scientists and politicians. Uranium mining speculation lacks comprehensive health and safety regulations while the ethics of Canadian exported uranium, which can lead to depleted uranium used in zones of war, needs greater scrutiny.

Abandoned uranium mines and the subsequent hazards experienced in forgotten communities have also been virtually ignored in Canada leading to tragic, unmitigated circumstances. The long-term negative impacts of uranium mining can be witnessed in the small, rural community of Déline (North West Territories) which has a Dené population of 800 people.

They are located right on the shore of Sahtu (Great Bear Lake) about 300 miles north of Yellowknife. Great Bear Lake is considered to be one of the last great fresh water lakes in the world. This area on the north shore of Sahtu was the site of radium mining from 1934 to 1939, and then a uranium mine from 1943 to 1962.

During the mining era the Dené of Déline, mostly men worked as labourers and as coolies carrying gunny sacks of radioactive uranium ore and concentrates on the transportation route. Waste from both radium and uranium mines were dumped directly into the lake and used as landfill. Port Radium was owned and operated by a Canadian crown corporation but uranium ore and concentrates were extracted, milled and sold to the US Government for the Manhattan Project to build an atomic bomb during the Second World War.

Deline In The North West Territories.
The mine initially operated under the emergency regulations of the War Measures Act. The circumstances and time-line mean that retroactive mitigation and compensation are an enormous legal challenge and decades later the Dené continue to pay a high price in environmental and health effects.

No warnings were issued at the time about the hazardous and toxic nature of these ores and so people took no precautions regarding their drinking water or their traditional foods. In 1975 young men from Déline were sent to work in the tunnels on a Government training program without masks for radon gas exposure.

In 1997 ten young men were sent with only two hours of training to clean up "hot spots" of radioactive soil in Sawmill Bay without shower or decontamination facilities. Once again the Dené people of Déline were not informed of these hazardous exposures but recent information mean that they now live in constant fear of their contaminated land, water, animals with ongoing concerns about their health and survival.

Déline is known as the “village of widows’ because most of the men who worked as labourers in the mines have died of some form of cancer. The widows, who are traditional women, were left to raise their families without husbands and breadwinners. As a result they became dependent on welfare and relied on the young men who remained in the community to help supply them with their traditional foods. The women are struggling and the village is seeing the first generation of young men in the history of the Dené to grow up without the guidance and teachings of their grandfathers, fathers and uncles. This unfulfilled tradition threatens the cultural and spiritual survival of the only community on the Great Bear Lake.

In 1998 the Dené First Nation lobbied the federal government for compensation and mitigation. On September 6, 2005, Déline community members were given the disappointing findings of a five-year study to examine the health and environmental impacts of the government-owned radium and uranium mine which had operated for almost thirty years in Déline.

Although the community had lost 15 former ore transport workers to cancer the report stated that the numbers of deaths were insufficient to prove unequivocally the link to the mine. By not acknowledging the full health consequences of uranium mining the government offloads the responsibility to compensate or provide justice to the Dené First Nation.

To date consultations with government are still underway with anticipated costs for remediation in the millions of dollars. An agreement about cause and affect has not yet been reached. In a related situation in Port Hope Ontario, NDP MP Nathan Cullen called for an investigation in 2007 into Health Canada’s denials of the health risks of uranium contamination with the accusation that profits are influencing policy.

These issues remain unresolved in 2010 even though increased uranium mining is imminent in some Canadian provinces. Uranium exploration near the world famous Thelon Game Sanctuary in Nunavut alarmed the Dené and Inuit communities who are dependent on the caribou herds that use the area for grazing and calving.

The current land use plan for Kivalliq (Keewatin) has been in place since 2000 and prohibits uranium mining in the region until Nunavut’s environmental assessment process has reviewed all the related environmental and health impact issues. In contradiction to the local land use plan Nunavut’s Inuit land claims commission adopted a policy in favour of uranium mining returning the legacy of uncertainty to the area. Their policy framework provides the tenuous rationale that uranium mining and nuclear energy could mitigate some of the climate change impacts in the north.

The policy does not account for the quantifiable fossil fuel usage in uranium exploration nor resolves issues about the impacts of nuclear waste storage. They assert that environmental and health concerns related to uranium mining have been resolved but provide no supporting evidence. Dissention rapidly gained momentum from the Inuit in Baker Lake and the Hunters and Trappers Association who demanded a moratorium on all mining exploration. The vehement opposition to the uranium mine proposal near the Thelon Game Sanctuary eventually led the Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board to recommend rejection of uranium exploration at Screech Lake in 2009.

However a junior mining company from Vancouver, Kaminak recently struck a deal with Nunavut Tunngavik Inc (NTI) to allow uranium exploration in the Kivalliq region, about 200 km inland from Whale Cove. The deal, or memorandum of understanding, is unusual for a few reasons. It's the first time NTI has given permission for a company to hunt for the radioactive material on Inuit-owned land.

The deal would give NTI partial ownership of the spin-off company created by Kaminak to search for uranium and the hope of economic progress. Uranium development in Saskatchewan dates back to the 1930s when the first discoveries were made in the far north. Since that time controversial uranium exploitation has undergone several waves of investment and although it contributes to the nuclear industry and is opposed by many NGOs there has been virtually no opposition from any political party in Canada.

Today uranium is one of Canada’s leading exports with the highest percentage being mined in the province of Saskatchewan on indigenous lands. The wilderness of the north is a land of glacier lakes and pine forests with low lying areas dominated by peat bogs and black spruce. To the west of the Athabasca Basin is a large, unique area of sand dunes.

Clean water and land has sustained a wide variety of fish and animals which was the foundation of social and economic development for aboriginal people in the area for many years. The land is rich in uranium deposits but this hazardous mining industry poses a considerable threat to the natural ecology and the values of people who live on the land. At the heart of this issue is a system of indigenous beliefs and culture which regards them as inseparable from the land, the waters and the animals.

Environmental assessment panels have often listened to the submissions of aboriginal people in the area who have expressed deep concerns for the toxicity of uranium mines. The impact of mining on their ancestral lands where they are the traditional custodians contravenes their spiritual and cultural beliefs. Conversely emerging job opportunities in a struggling northern economy have out of necessity led to the partial cooperation of some native bands with uranium mining projects.

In 1993 the La Ronge Indian Band gave their support to the Kitsaki uranium mining development at Rabbit Lake citing increased economic benefits for their community, with the caveat that environmental impacts were closely monitored. Employment opportunities are short-term and hazardous but highly financed propaganda to promote the benefits of uranium mining to northerners potentially trumps aboriginal self-determined, sustainable, economic alternatives.

The often cited rationale that nuclear power is the quintessential solution to greenhouse gas emissions negates the harsh reality that much of the ore contributes to US weaponry. Activist and author Jim Harding (Canada’s Deadly Secret: Saskatchewan Uranium and the Global Nuclear System) offers a compelling argument against uranium mining by outlining its potential for military weapons: “About 90 percent of the depleted uranium is left in a pile which the military has access to. And there’s lots of uranium there. They take the depleted uranium into their own reactors, bombard it with neutrons, create plutonium for weapons, use the depleted uranium in the casing of H-bombs, and now, since the ‘90s, use that as the heavy metal in the weaponry – the bullets, the anti-tank bullets.”

Harding also argues that the geopolitical uses and long-term environmental effects are being hidden, and outweigh the short-term economic gain by which communities and governments are sometimes wooed. He cites the Harper government’s eager acceptance of nuclear energy as evidence that Canada is going down a path of misplaced intentions. The potential for economic growth and the need for employment have resulted in some aboriginal labour initiatives in the mining industry.

The Athabasca Basin Development Ltd. Partnership (ABDLP) was established in 2002, and is 90% aboriginal owned. ABDLP provides services to both mining exploration companies and the main operating uranium mines in the region. In total, some 600 northerners work for ABDLP in winter road maintenance, freight and transportation, mine camp setup, janitorial services, security and underground mining services, as well as line-cutting for seismic exploration.

However the environmental, health and social impacts of uranium development extraction on aboriginal communities in the Canadian North remain an urgent concern to many communities. Mining activity has altered the landscape through the construction of roads, new settlements and the underground mine sites.

Ore extraction and processing have released dangerous chemicals into the air and water and in spite of the participation of the ABDLP there is still a predominance of non-native labour which has displaced and marginalized local indigenous people. Primarily it is the large multinationals, not the local people who benefit from the multi-million dollar uranium mining industry in Saskatchewan and elsewhere.

In the United States Canadian uranium mining speculation has increased in spite of indigenous opposition and a long legacy of life-threatening damages on Navajo Reservations. Barrick Gold of Canada which nets profits of over 1.5 billion dollars a year is active in uranium exploration in New Mexico but it has not committed sufficient funds to adequately address the contamination that has already destroyed four aquifers in Navajo territory.

The uranium industry is attempting to convince the public that it will bring high-paying jobs and tax money to the state by buying advertisements in local papers and other news media while paying industry representatives to testify at hearings.

Four years ago, the 2006 Indigenous World Uranium Summit held in Navajo territory in the U.S. issued the following powerful declaration: “We, the Peoples gathered at the Indigenous World Uranium Summit, at this critical time of intensifying nuclear threats to Mother Earth and all life, demand a worldwide ban on uranium mining, processing, enrichment, fuel use, and weapons testing and deployment, and nuclear waste dumping on native lands.”

More than 300 participants from 14 countries participated in the event, with a variety of topics including international efforts to halt uranium mining, and the devastating effects on health and culture. Indignation grew as they realized that American Indian uranium miners in both the United States and Canada (Saskatchewan and NWT) had been sent to their deaths to work in the uranium mines long after scientists warned of the health hazards of radon gas and radiation.

Notwithstanding the continuous outcry, uranium production in Canada is likely to increase significantly in the coming years. The Harper regime is poised to align its policies with Obama’ renewed pro-nuclear power stance as a solution to climate change! Several new Canadian mines, now planned or under construction, go into operation sometime after 2011. The two largest projects are Cameco's Cigar Lake mine and Areva's Midwest mine, both in northern Saskatchewan.

Canada is the world’s largest producer of uranium with about 60% exported to the United States where depleted uranium is manufactured as weapons. Many abandoned uranium mines have left behind a devastating legacy but the nuclear industry has re-branded itself as a viable solution to global warming. The profitable Canadian uranium mining industry lacks serious scrutiny; meanwhile remote indigenous communities are especially vulnerable to hazardous impacts thinly veiled as economic promise.

FastFacts:
* Canada is the world's largest uranium producer, accounting for 20.5% (9,000 tonnes U) of world output in 2008.
* Production comes mainly from the McArthur River mine in northern Saskatchewan province, which is the largest in the world.
* Production is expected to increase significantly after 2011 as the new Cigar Lake mine comes into operation.
* With known uranium resources of 499,000 tonnes of U3O8, as well as continuing exploration, Canada is in a strong position to meet future world demand. Only Australia has more known uranium resources.
* There has never been a uranium mine in British Columbia.
* The BC Energy Plan clearly states that nuclear power will not be a part of B.C.'s energy supply mix.

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Aid For Snowbound Tribal Communities - Navajo 'Green Economy' Commission

Aid Requested For Tribal Communities Hit By Storms
Published by Reznet New
http://www.reznetnews.org/

A succession of blizzards have ravaged several tribal communities across Indian Country and they are in great need of donated goods (e.g., non-perishable food, water, shovels) and financial assistance in orderto purchase medical supplies, propane for heating homes, and gasoline for emergency vehicles.

The National Congress of American Indians is asking that you contact tribal personnel directly to find out specific needs and share your resources with them. Please be aware that there may be other tribes in need and if you have additional information, please contact NCAI and we will send out an update.

If you have any questions, please contact Ahniwake Rose at NCAI, 202.466.7767 or [1].**

Contributions to a federally recognized tribal government are treated the same as a contribution to a state government under 7871 for purposes of charitable contributions deductibility; as, the contribution will be used exclusively for "public purposes" which in this instance is disaster relief for the ice storm of January 2010.

Navajo Nation:
Navajo NationDepartment of Emergency Management
c/o 2010 Snowfall Operation
PO Box 620
St. Michaels, AZ 86511
Contact: Navajo Nation, Johnny Johnson, Emergency Operations, Center Incident Commander, (928) 871-7848

Navajo Nation requests that all donations come in the form of gift cards which will be used to purchase all needs for community members and tribal responders from local vendors.
They are also requesting 50,000 sandbags.

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe:
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe/2010 Disaster Account
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribal Chairman’s Office
Attn: Ice Storm Emergency Fund
PO Box 5902001 Main Street (Tribal Offices)
Eagle Butte, SD 57625

Online Donations: https://secure.piryx.com/donate/0oFFsK8c/Cheyenn-River-Sioux-Tribe/ [2]
Contact: Cheyenne River, Robin Le Beau, Chairman’s Assistant:
(610) 568-2101

Medical items needed include: glucose strips, first aid kits, children’s aspirin/pain reliever, and cough syrup.

Oglala Sioux Tribe:
Oglala Sioux Tribe
Attn: Dean Patton, Treasurer
P.O. Box 2070
Pine Ridge, South Dakota 57770
Contact: Oglala Sioux, Loretta Afraid of Bear, Public Relations, (605) 867-5074

Rosebud Sioux Tribe:
Rosebud Sioux Tribe
c/o Emergency Preparedness Program
P.O. Box 910
Rosebud, SD 57570
Contact: Bill Giroux, Emergency Manager, (605) 747-2559

Items needed include: non-perishable goods, heaters, and candles.

Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Chairman Charles Murphy
PO Box D
Fort Yates, ND 58538
Contact: Pete Red Tomahawk, Tribal Emergency Coordinator, (701) 854-8500

Two Appointed To Navajo Green Economy Commission
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent
WINDOW ROCK – Anna Ronden of Gallup and Wahleah Johns of Forest Lake have been certified as members of of the Navajo Nation Green Economy Commission.

Ronden and Johns were sponsored by Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan and approved by the Intergovernmental Relations Committee for staggered terms. Rondon will serve a four-year-term and Johns, a two-year term. They both were approved 9-0 by IGR.

Rondon said she has been working with the Navajo Nation in a professional capacity since 1981.

“Since then I have grown to know a lot of the needs at the chapter level and I really look forward to working on this commission,” she said. She is hoping to help the chapters develop “green land use planning and green projects at the local level.”

“The Navajo chapters and the people need an opportunity to green their lifeways and to go back to our traditional teachings, and blend that with the Western technology where appropriate. I'm just really honored that the IGR had the confidence to vote me in.”

Wahleah Johns, co-director of the Black Mesa Water Coalition, was one of several members of the Green Economy Commission who addressed Council last July when the Navajo Nation made history by becoming the first nation in Indian Country to pass legislation promoting green jobs.

“This is the just the beginning for Indian Country. We hope our efforts pave the way for other tribal nations to bring local sustainable green jobs to their communities,” Johns said at the legislation's passage.

In his first quarterly report to Council in January, Morgan said his office is researching policies which will allow the commission to work effectively with the divisions in the executive branch.

“Numerous entities have already contacted my office regarding the commission and are enthusiastic about the potential it can bring to their communities. My office is also researching ways we can capture monies to put into the fund, which was also passed by this Council.”

The commission is charged with helping leverage federal and state funding for green economy projects, now estimated to be in the billions of dollars. The funds would be allocated to the five Navajo agencies and then down to the Nation's 110 chapters.

“It is vitally important that we as Navajo people, as Native American people and people in general, continue protecting our Mother Earth and all her precious resources,” Morgan said. “Our livelihood as Navajo people has always depended upon the unique relationship we have with the land.”

He said the same concepts of the Dine way of life were reflected in the green legislation. “It is surely a reflection of our core values as Navajo people.”

Tony Skrelunas, former executive director of Navajo Division of Economic Development and a member of the Green Jobs Coalition, previously told Council that there are many green business opportunities that fit perfectly with Navajo culture.

Just one facility manufacturing items such as solar panels could create hundreds of jobs, he said. Renewable energy plants, textile wool mills, weavers co-ops, farmers markets, traditional/organic farms, production of certified Navajo mutton, and green construction projects all could contribute toward a more sustainable economy.

“We have thousands of homes that don't have electricity; we have thousands of families that now have homes, and we can build an economy just by providing those people very good green homes.

“We can create businesses and markets here where we help those families and we help people get into the business of providing renewable energy systems, providing renewable energy installation, doing straw bale construction,” he said.

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Feds Asked To Stop Ignoring Navajo Nation Extradition Laws - Future Olympians Can Train At The Dakotah! Figure Skating Club! - Native Storytelling

Navajo Proposes Extradition Changes
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent
WINDOW ROCK – The federal government is ignoring Navajo Nation extradition laws and procedures, and Chief Prosecutor Bernadine Martin wants it to stop.

“I have told the federal government, 'We are a sovereign nation. We have our people, we have our culture, our language and our laws, which we should follow. When I was sworn in on Sept. 2, my oath was to Navajo law, not the federal law. The oath of our law enforcement is to Navajo law.

“What we are trying to do is focus the attention back on the extradition procedures so defendants are treated fairly and are given notice and an opportunity for a hearing before they leave the Navajo Nation,” Martin told the Intergovernmental Relations Committee Monday.

The extradition law was passed by the Navajo Nation Council in 1978. In 1994, the solicitor of the Navajo Nation, who at the time was James W. Zion of Albuquerque, issued an opinion that outlined the procedures for extradition, but in recent times, no one has been following the procedure, she said.

Churchrock Delegate Ernest Yazzie Jr. is sponsoring legislation urging the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies to respect and comply with Navajo extradition laws and procedures. The legislation was on IGR's agenda, however, Yazzie was not present at the time it came up so it was not considered.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Kee Allen Begay said the legislation is important because “outside agencies need to know how we do business.” He asked that the agenda be amended so Martin could present her report. The request was approved 7-2.

In the first month after she was sworn in as chief prosecutor, Martin fought extradition against the federal government on a Navajo defendant in a homicide case. She said it was not intended to challenge federal jurisdiction, because it was clear the federal government had jurisdiction. “It was the way it was handled that I had issues with.”

What the federal government was doing was coming to the Nation and “badging out” Navajo defendants, she said.

“They would put defendants in our jail and not charge them with anything. They were just sitting in our jail; they don't know why. On their logs they put like 'federal custody,' yet they were never charged with a crime and they were held for days and days. In one incident, a defendant was held for 29 days without having been charged.

“But the case I want to focus on, which brought my attention to the issue again, was the Reehahlio Carroll case. He was accused of killing a nun,” she said.

Carroll was accused in the beating death of 64-year-old Sister Marguerite Bartz, who died sometime around midnight on Halloween at her home in Navajo, N.M., where she served at St. Berard's Mission Church.

He was arrested Nov. 4 on a reckless driving charge and charged in Window Rock tribal court for reckless driving. Because of the nature of the driving offense, he was considered a threat to the community, a motion was filed to deny bail, and Martin said they received a hearing notice for Nov. 5.

“At that time I had no information that he was a suspect in that murder which had occurred in the early hours of Nov. 1. The federal government never came and talked to me; never said, 'We have a suspect and we want him extradited.'

“Communications went on between law enforcement and the federal government – and I refused to turn him over. I said, 'You have to give me notice, we have to have the complaint and the affidavit so we can file an extradition petition, and we can submit the request to the president, who has the authority to sign orders of extradition.' They didn't give it to me.”

Martin said she intervened in the federal court case and told the judge what happened, “because what it effectively did was put one sovereign government – ours – against the federal government – another sovereign – which should never happen.”

“In 1967, the chairman of the Navajo Nation Council had made a statement into law ... It says every accused Navajo Indian is entitled to a hearing and no police can turn over a defendant without having had a hearing. That has been violated time after time after time over recent years, and we don't want to do that any longer.”

The Government Services Committee also passed a resolution on July 15, 2008, recognizing that the Office of the Chief Prosecutor is a lead criminal justice executive of the Navajo Nation for all purposes and responsibilities, Martin said.

“Extradition is a responsibility of the chief prosecutor, and I want to ensure that all defendants of Navajo descent are entitled to every right that the law gives them.”

She asked that the Navajo Nation approve the legislation “because we no longer need the federal government to speak for us.” The people have the Navajo Nation Council, the chief justice, and the president as agents to speak for them, she said. “We don't want the federal government coming here and making our decisions for us, especially in this area.”

IGR accepted the report 9-0.

Dakotah! Figure Skating Club Established
by Tessa Lehto
Communications Specialist
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Prior Lake, MN – Dakotah! Ice Center is now home to the Dakotah! Figure SkatingClub. Established in mid-2009, the club currently has about 40 skaters and member parents. Community children, youth, and adults who train as figure skaters formed the club with DSF figure skating coach Trudy Oltmanns.

“Our program prides itself on instilling hard work and discipline into its participants. Most of the skaters train five to six days per week. We train all year round and compete all over the country. Our local skaters have travelled as far as Colorado Springs and Spokane, Washington, this year,” said Oltmanns.

Trudy Oltmanns is a skating coach at the Dakotah! Ice Center which opened in November 2008.

The Dakotah! Figure Skating Club is a non-profit organization. Community member Tina Van Cleve, president of the Figure Skating Club explained. “All of the money we bring in goes back to the club to support the skaters. Some of the things we will do with donations are buy extra ice for more practice, buy the skaters warm up suits, buy off-ice equipment, and hopefully build lockers for the skaters in the off-ice room downstairs. We also hope to sponsor skaters that have talent but can't afford the costs of figure skating since it is a very expensive sport.”

Trudy’s daughter Olivia, a member of the Dakotah! Figure Skating Club, is already a champion skater at the age of 12. For two years Olivia partnered with Tyler Broderick. The two of them won the National Intermediate Pair Champion title at the US Junior National Figure Skating Championships in 2008 and 2009. Olivia has a new partner, Josh, also a member of the club. Both Olivia and Joshua Santillan relocated to Minnesota to train at Dakotah!. Olivia and Josh placed second at sectionals in Wichita, Kansas, this year which earned them a spot at the U.S. Figure Skating Nationals in Spokane in late January 2010 where they placed sixth. Josh is also the 2009 Pacific Coast Sectional Champion.

Tina said, “It is a great sport for my kids and others to be involved in. It is great for the kids to have something to work for and to set goals for themselves. I believe that it is a great focus for them to keep them out of trouble as they enter their teen years.” She has been impressed with the positive changes in her own children since they started skating.

The Dakotah! Ice Center presented a holiday ice skating exhibition and fund raiser December 14, 2009, which was well attended by family and friends. Children in the Learn to Skate Program as well as figure skaters participated in the exhibition as well as some visiting skaters from other clubs. Skaters showcased the skills they learned while figure skaters demonstrated their competitive programs to an array of holiday music. Seventeen groups of Learn to Skate students and more than 20 figure skaters performed.

The club hopes to host a U.S. Figure Skating competitive event sometime in the near future. For photos and video of the event, go to http://www.dakotahsport.com/. Membership in the Dakotah! Figure Skating Club is $150 a year for a parent and child. Contact Trudy Oltmanns at Dakotah! Ice Center at (952) 496-6856 or email Tina Van Cleve at tina6797@aol.com for more information or to join.

Story Telling - The Native American Way
Submitted by Monica Davis
Native American customs are passed down from generation to generation, often through storytelling.

Stories about bravery, fortitude, generosity and wisdom help preserve tribal culture.

Thursday, Feb. 18, through Saturday, Feb. 20, South Dakota State University will host the American Indian History and Cultures Conference. Theme for the 18th annual conference is storytelling, an integral part of tribal culture.

Some of those stories will be told by people from the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota tribes. Susan Power, a Yanktonnai Dakota born in Chicago and now teaching at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn., will give her perspective in a keynote address, "Stories That Can Save the World." Her presentation begins at 7 p.m. Thursday in Volstorff West Room in The Union.

Power, a descendant of Chief Mato Nupa (Two Bears), won the PEN/Hemingway Award in 1995 for her first novel, "The Grass Dancer." Her most recent work, "Roofwalker," is a collection of fiction and nonfiction pieces that describe the forces of tradition and belief in the lives of contemporary Native Americans.

At 10 a.m. Friday in Volstorff West, Nellie Two Elk and John Little Bald Eagle from Todd County Schools will share traditional and contemporary Lakota stories. They won the 2009 Lakota Nation Invitational Storytelling Competition.

Events continue through Saturday,

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Tim Giago - Natives As Political Independents

Natives Finding True Voice As Independents
Indianz.com
Opinion
by Tim Giago
Like millions of other Americans I watched the State of the Union address by President Barack Obama almost as a moth drawn to a flame. I saw something afoot that I haven’t read about in the words of other columnists even though it was not something I expected.

Whenever the President made a point that may have been intended to draw the audience together, African American, white women and Democrats stood and cheered while their Republican counterparts sat on their hands.

The real problem with this is that the Republican delegation was made up entirely of white males. Is this indicative of a racial divide? While most African Americans cheer for Obama are those opposed to his politics also opposed to his race? It certainly seemed that way to me.

The one political group not visible during the address was the one group that will make a huge difference in the elections of 2010: the Independents. It was this group that took it to the Democrats in Massachusetts and cost them the seat held by a Democrat for more than 50 years. It is clear that the Independents were saying with their vote: Obama, you do not speak for me. To even think that Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat would be taken by a Republican even 1 year ago would have been heresy. The Obama Administration found itself asleep at the switch.

Have either the Democrats or the Republicans truly been representative of the minorities or most Americans in America? What have the Democrats, who have professed to be the shining beacon for minorities since the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, done to earn the minority vote?

As an example, they have taken the votes of Native Americans for granted for too many years. As I have suggested in the past, it is time for Native Americans to shake their traditional support of Democrats and shift their allegiance to the Independent Party.

All you have to do is go to the courthouse where you are registered to vote and tell the clerk you wish to switch party affiliations. You sign a simple form and gazooks, you are now an Independent.

This will make you a political magnet for Republicans and Democrats. They will come after your vote with promises they may actually be forced to keep, that is if they want your vote in the next election.

There is a sure way to test this approach. Look around you and whether you live in an urban setting or on an Indian reservation ask yourself: Am I better off now than I was last year? Am I better off than I was 10 years ago? I think you will soon find the answer to that question. And stop thinking of yourself as a victim, but instead see yourself as a new, independent political force, because that is what you will become.

You can bet that the Democrats and the Republicans will come up with ideas they hope will secure your vote because both parties know that in states with large Native populations, your vote can and will make the difference. But never forget that Democrats and Republicans have been handing you empty promises for more than 100 years.

It is not carved in stone that you have to be a Democrat, or a Republican, for that matter. The same old politics of the past has not made that much of an improvement in your life and you know it. The worst thing that can happen to either party is that they cannot ever take your vote for granted again and they will soon understand that your vote is a vote they must earn. If you are an Independent you can sort through the platforms of the other parties and pick and choose those with ideas closer to your own.

South Dakota must open its primary elections. At the moment if you are an Independent in South Dakota you are not allowed to vote in the primaries and that is simply un-American. We can change this law as one voice. To learn more about the Independent movement go to Independentvoice.org. You may be surprised how many independent thinkers are on this website and how so many of them think just like you.

The Democrats and the Republicans are in gridlock. They march to the same tune and cannot move forward because neither side will cross the aisle. It is a childish game that makes politics more important than the people.

The state of union is in disarray because bi-partisan politics is dead. If Native Americans are to find their own voice in American politics, they must separate themselves from the mainstream and join the ranks of the Independents.

Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, is the publisher of Native Sun News. He was the founder and first president of the Native American Journalists Association, the 1985 recipient of the H. L. Mencken Award, and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard with the Class of 1991. Giago was inducted into the South Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2008. He can be reached at editor@nsweekly.com.

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Skinwalker Visits Navajo Casino - SMSC 'Newsroom'

Navajo Casino Business Thrives Despite Skinwalker Visit
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent

WINDOW ROCK – It is not usually a topic debated on the Navajo Nation Council floor, but be that as it may, rumors of a skinwalker visiting Fire Rock Casino should be discussed, Delegate Ervin Keeswood told Council and members of the Navajo Gaming Enterprise during the opening of winter session.

“Rumors are that you all had a visitor at the casino. As I understand it, it was the night time. A werewolf or witch-walker of some sort actually came into the establishment, to some degree. There were witnesses and somebody fainted – it would be interesting to hear that,” Keeswood told Navajo Gaming Enterprise CEO Robert Winter.

“Maybe I shouldn't be talking about it in the open, but I think the Council should be told about incidents like that because it does create an atmosphere that is not conducive to the patrons,” Keeswood said.

Shortly after the casino opened its doors in November 2008, about 4 o'clock in the morning, one of the employees, who Winter thought was a member of Housekeeping, “believes that she saw a witch or another spirit of some kind,” he said. There was some concern by employees and casino security was called to escort employees to their vehicles.

In a later interview, Winter said the report he got was that “the skinwalker was seen at the front of the casino by the entrance. If there were multiple sightings continually, we'd be concerned. We haven't had a reported incident since.

“It could have been a human being, for all I know, that was not well-dressed,” he said, jokingly, but on a serious note, added, “I don't scoff at these things. I've been blessed five times since I've been here – with good reason. Hopefully that's the last we will see of whatever was there.

“We have had a number of blessings of the casino in the interest of Navajo tradition. The most recent one was when lightning struck one of the lights, ran down the wire and came into the casino. We closed the casino for a half-day and had a Lightning Ceremony that's consistent with Navajo tradition.”

Despite the uninvited guest, Fire Rock thrived its first year and continues to advance in its profits, according to Winter.

Plans are to introduce a Navajo village special slot event that is culturally appropriate, enclose the patio and make it an all-weather area available for conferences, market weddings. and expand food and beverage activities.

“Every Tuesday will be lobster Tuesday,” Winter said. “It's been that way for the last couple weeks. We've had very, very good success with it.” They also have added Sunday brunch for families and recently had more than 400 seats occupied.

“We've had some complaints, including from members of Council, about the availability of the dance floor,” he added. We've remodeled that and there will be ability to do one-two, one-two.”

But the real news, Winter said, is they are working aggressively with the Investment Committee on completing term sheets for other gaming projects, including two small Class II casinos in Tse Daa Kaan (Hogback) and Chinle, each at a cost of about $4 million. Upper Fruitland also is progressing and should move very quickly once they resolve an issue with home sites, which he thought would be settled around the end of January.

Winter also had some good news regarding the Navajo flagship, Twin Arrows, a resort casino proposed near Flagstaff.

“I met with the Department of the Interior. We went to Washington and we applied for an Indian land determination. They have preliminarily told us that our application looks extremely good. It has basically no legal issues to it. If it proceeds as quick as we hope, it could be done in the next 60 to 90 days as a declaration of Indian land.”

Navajo Tribal Utility Authority is willing to fund the utilities for the projects and receive payment for that funding after the facilities are opened, Winter said.

“We have an MOU that we're about to sign with NTUA for the project in Twin Arrows. That hotel will be a green hotel.” The advantage is that Coconino County, where it will be built, is a green county, he said. “We are meeting with the county in about two weeks to go through our proposed project for Twin Arrows and we expect their support as well.”

One of the resort casino's big draws will be a European spa. “Our market study shows that there are significant foreign tourists that come through that area and we need to have that kind of a facility to attract them in an overnight capacity and a vacation capacity,” Winter said.

The one problem he foresees is getting the funding to complete everything as one project, rather than in phases. “It has a synergistic relationship,” he said.

The Gaming Enterprise also has submitted a term sheet to the Investment Committee with respect to the Pinta Road casino. Winter said there needs to be about $3.5 million of work on the interchange, but added, “We have the support of the Arizona Department of Transportation to complete that project.”

Shawn McCabe of the Gaming Enterprise board, said they have already invested roughly $2 million in pre-construction costs at Twin Arrows.

“It was determined that Twin Arrows, notwithstanding the other sites, would be the most profitable area that we could develop, “ he said, but “in order to do that, we need to bring the complete package to market, which would be the hotel, casino, spa, and possibly a signature golf course. Without the entire package, the numbers simply don't work.”

Leupp Delegate Leonard Chee said that in addition to the $2 million the Enterprise has invested, “the Navajo-Hopi Land Commission has already put up some money for the land acquisition. ... With that investment made, it's only logical to me that we invest in the most profitable location.”

Keeswood raised an issue related to financing. “The greatest thing would be to use Navajo money on all the projects. The problem that I'm seeing is we're charging ourselves too much interest. If it's Navajo money, we may want to look at that in a different view. Why do you take money out of one pocket and put it in another pocket and charge yourself interest? It doesn't make any sense to me.”

Winter reminded Council that timing is everything, especially in respect to Twin Arrows. “There's only room for one resort. If you don't build it first, and somebody else does, the ability to build the resort is gone. I don't think there's anybody that wants not to build the resort. It's a question of putting together the resources to do it.”

Shakopee Mdewakanton Website Unveils Newsroom Feature
by Tessa Lehto
Communications Specialist
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Prior Lake, MN – To help members of the media obtain information for stories and other projects about the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, a new feature on the Community’s website was recently unveiled. Information and photos of the SMSC are now more readily available in a new section called the “Newsroom.” The section is also designed to be useful for students, researchers, and the general public.

The Newsroom features Frequently Asked Questions with detailed answers to 25 questions commonly asked about the SMSC. Topics covered include history, the reservation, tribal government, tribal sovereignty, land issues, infrastructure, good neighbor, charitable giving, and economic impact. A detailed Tribal History is also available.

Photo galleries with downloadable high resolution photographs of Dakotah! Sport and Fitness, Koda Energy, Playworks, the Shakopee Dakota Convenience Stores, The Meadows at Mystic Lake, Dakotah Meadows, and the Water Reclamation Facility can also be found within the Newsroom. More information and photo galleries of the Wind Turbine and Koda Energy are also available on the homepage.

Press releases dating back to August 2009 are also in the Newsroom. Older press releases, dating back to January 2004, can be found elsewhere within the website.

Special events will be covered in the Newsroom. The Fortieth Anniversary Celebration of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is in this section, with plans to add future coverage of events such as Young Native Pride, the Annual Wacipi (Pow Wow), the Wellness Conference, and the dance exhibition at the Mall of America.

Contact information for media inquiries and a place to subscribe to receive press releases is also located in the Newsroom. More information will be added in the coming months, so members of the media and the general public are encouraged to visit the site periodically for updates.

The SMSC also recently added a search feature to the website, making it easier to find information. The SMSC website offers an interactive map of the reservation, video clips, news clips, reports, press releases, contact information for the various departments, links to enterprises, and more.

For more information, go to www.shakopeedakota.org.
The Newsroom is located at www.shakopeedakota.org/newsroom.
Press releases prior to August 2009 can be found at:
www.shakopeedakota.org/news_archive.

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Peace Not War - SMSC Offers Emergency Service Courses

The Echo For Peace Not War
Bob’s Acceptance Speech for the Nobel Peace Prize:
By Robert Bracamontes
Let me begin by thanking President Obama for sharing the Nobel Peace Prize with all of us that work for peace every day. When the announcement was first made public he said that there were many deserving people and he shared it with them. So, I accept it and below I present my own acceptance speech.

When we look back at history it is easy to presume that humans were the greatest creatures to ever walk mother earth. There have been great feats, unbelievable physical art works, and institutions that mold society into what it is today. But this is not enough to insure a place for the ages. Peace will ultimately determine humankind’s longevity on this planet, because war’s present course only leads us down a destructive path of annihilation one day at a time.

Our collective capacity to understand and embrace peace before war will bear out in the narrative of history. Those that make war only rationalize the use of violence. Most have used it to change societies that do not conform to their likeness. War is our detriment. It is not a solution. It is humankind’s greatest flaw.

The constant preparation for it leads to antagonisms that leave each person vulnerable to attack. It leaves us on unstable ground for solving the true goals that humankind has faced throughout time. Sustenance, shelter, medical care and free education at every level are in fact what peace would allow. The provision of all necessities will guarantee us our safety and prolonged existence for the ages through the presentation of peace first.

There would have been no Hitler had the German people laid to rest the philosophy of political violence as part of the basic fabric of their culture, as many in the world today still follow. But somehow political leaders, professors and others that manufacture consent in society have fallen for the vicious cycle of kill first, peace second, just as Germany did under Hitler. For that matter just as humankind has since the beginning of time.

So how do we change and correct a lifelong error of misunderstanding about the glamour of war and the weakness of peace? We can no longer let groups of criminals rule and dictate our behavior to the point that pouring more cruelty and death on top of conflict seems like the reasonable answer. Nor can we blame those we corner mentally or physically, shaming and humiliating them while starving them to death with sanctions.

And then pretend we do not understand their reaction to our oppressive occupation of time, space and mind. These invasions of arrogant terror create the atmosphere for hating the interloper. We need not question them for wanting to defend their lives and culture because it is a natural reaction for those that are being hunted.

Leaders in the world that say they want peace, but understand war is a reality in order to maintain the peace are behaving no differently than the average street thug. There is a claiming of turf and the spoils go to the victor. They use the philosophy of killers. “I need to kill a few more women and children first, in order for the world to have peace. It is not my fault that they get in the way when I seek out my enemy.”

We then continue to excuse ourselves for bombing homes where the enemy is in mixed company and right off the innocent as expendable, sterilely naming it collateral damage, casualties. You see how delusional it is, this cycle of death is not a solution on the road to attain peace, but it only feeds juvenile retaliation. As if you could convince the world to stop the violence while pointing a gun at them.

The fact is any leader that advances war on nations that have not declared war on them becomes the wicked interloper. For the earth’s only super power to attack one of the poorest countries in the world because a few criminals are being sought is unconscionable. This behavior is immoral by any standard of common decency and intellectually defies the logic of ordinary people that live a peaceful existence.

When you speak of the evil elements in the world, do you ever think of the war you perpetuate as blocking the ultimate end of war? The real leaders of history put down their arms to negotiate and teach by example to the children of the world that peace is the only choice. They reminded us about the dangers of the escalation of weaponry.

With so much power in these weapons of mass destruction that exists in the hands of the current super power, the world still quivers at the sound of war for peace. The memories of the United States of American government, who openly used them on innocent women and children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, are haunting. For some war becomes a way of life. It serves to defend false imposing ideas about a certain brand of democracy that the rest of the world is supposed to follow or face the consequences. Those nations that conform become favored and share in the spoils of war.

We need not wonder what the real motives have been for war. Currently in the Middle East it is the quest for oil and new pipe lines that must be built to fill our greedy self interest. No coincidence that Exxon Mobil has acquired a great deal in Iraq. In Afghanistan, China is extracting precious cooper metal from a huge mine, 11 million tons, while US trained Afghan troops stand guard. This is why the rich and powerful love war, it is their forte. It is their way to maintain power and crush real change that could lead to a lasting peace at the expense of their riches.

America’s military under Bush II had little reason to bomb water supplies and other infrastructure in Iraq. When they did, they failed to hurt Hussein’s army, but instead the innocent people, women and children suffered for lack of food, water and medicine. Obama’s oxymoron of war for peace includes the ugly sanctions aimed at new advisories. These too will make sure the masses will be hurt the most when they go without the basic needs to survive, while politicians boast of success.

When I think of war, it is one of the most vulgar words used in any language. It is not the common FU and other expletives that constitute vulgarity; their usage is meant to add color to the vernacular heard in everyday conversation the world over.

But, the words that should be considered offensive and truly vulgar, in any language, are those that cause so much pain and misery to humankind. War, its cohort’s genocide, holocaust, and their cousin’s famine, pandemic are the words that we should teach as hideously vulgar. How dare you say them, act on them and feel no sense of guilt or responsibility for all the human lives that have been lost. How many Gandhi’s, Martin Luther King’s, did we vanquish to the halls of oblivion because of War?

But throughout history we have all be dirtied by war and the taint of terrorism. Is the mirror so cloudy that we can’t see world history clearly? Did not some Jewish people commit a terrorist act when a bomb was planted at the King David Hotel that killed 91? Oddly we have made up with other known terrorist groups or leaders, like Omar Kaddafi. Obama says Al-Qaeda can’t be reasoned with, what he is really saying is he lacks the initiative to open dialogue with the enemy. And haven’t we played the terrorist?

For me the most vicious of terrorist’s acts was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hundreds of thousands of innocents have died as a result and been stricken with cancer. So, history does repeat itself. We act out with waging war, synonymous with terrorism and other atrocities, like it is normal behavior. Then we negotiate with those we dominated and make them favored nations, while those that continue to resist catch more bombs.

Peace is a way to reason, through intellect, that we can overcome hate and destruction. With peace resources wasted on war can be used for the betterment of the world. The world has never taught peace, which is why so few put it before war, even though it is tantamount in understanding humane citizenship and not nationalistic antagonisms. Peace can put an end to the atrocities we grow so weary of seeing over and over again in history.

I am sorry, but war by any other name is the perpetrator of injustice and crimes against all of humankind. When we look back at history it will be war that was our demise. The earth will be scorched by the flurry of chemicals left by bombs of mass destruction, and humankind will be extinct. Mother Earth may be uninhabitable for people, but it will live on as it has for billions of years, while we lay six feet under. Peace, if left untouched as the number one priority for humankind will result in abandoning the use of what set us apart from all evolutionary life on mother earth, our intellect to unravel conflict.

If our intellect has true meaning, then let it lead us around the corners of history and on to a new page. Let our intelligence lead us to the era dominated by PEACE and not war. Peace teaches us a deep respect for human life. It shows us that human life is not a commodity to be peddled at the market and later discarded as garbage.

While every human being dreams of eternal life, peace can guarantee it. From one generation to the next we can pass on the true significance of self preservation for humankind and the planet we all treasure by teaching peace.
Peace,
Robert (Bob) BracamontesYu-va'-tal 'A'lla-mal(Black Crow)
Acjachemen Nation, Juaneno Tribe
http://www.onlinewithbob.com/

Mdewakanton Emergency Services Offering EMT, First Responder Courses
Tessa Lehto
Communications Specialist
tessa.lehto@shakopeedakota.org

Prior Lake, MN – The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announces five classes starting in February 2010 for Emergency Medical Services and health care providers offered by the Mdewakanton Emergency Services department. Classes are open to the public and will be held in the training room in Fire Station 1 across from Mystic Lake Casino on the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community reservation in Prior Lake.

Mdewakanton Emergency Services provides emergency medical training including Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), First Responder, and American Heart Association CPR and AED classes.

An EMT Refresher Course will run Friday through Sunday, March 5-7, 2010, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. The cost for this class is $275. This class is open to individuals ages 18 and older.

A second and separate EMT Refresher Course will run Tuesday through Thursday, March 16 – March 18, 2010, from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The cost for this class is $275. This class is open to individuals ages 18 and older.

A First Responder Refresher Course will run Thursday and Friday, February 18 and 19, 2010, 6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. and Saturday, February 20, 2010, from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. The cost for the class is $120. This class is open to individuals ages 17 and older.

A CardioPulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) class for health care providers will run Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. This class costs $50 plus $3 for a certification card.

A second, separate CardioPulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) class for health care providers will run Monday, March 15, 2010, 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. This class costs $50 plus $3 for a certification card.

For more information about these classes, contact Laura LaFavor, Mdewakanton Emergency Services, at 952-233-1077 or register online at www.mdfire.org.

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

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Native Americans/First Nations Can Relate To Haiti's Worst Nightmare - Native American Studies Workshop

Haitian Parents Facing Their Worst Nightmare: Children Being Stolen
by Monica Davis
It's a parent's worse nightmare: someone steals your child and you have no idea where your child is. It's bad enough that the Haitian people have endured a devastating earthquake. Now they are being targeted by arrogant do- gooders and evil doers as well.

It has often been the case that the parental rights of people of color have been abrogated by white folk, from slavery to modern times. Families were not families in slavery; family members were bought and sold as property, with no consideration for family ties.

Native American children were taken from their parents and forced into residential schools hundreds of miles away, where many faced torture, sexual abuse and death, under the guise of "civilizing them".

And so it has been that for hundreds of years, that one of the greatest fears black parents and Native American parents have had is the inability to control the destiny of their families and children. Their parental rights, always fragile, could be snatched away for some one else's pleasure or convenience.

Cultural competency often runs in the opposite direction when it comes to these kinds of cases. Caseworkers, adoption agencies and other blind do-gooders often assume that any household they choose is better than the one the of color child has. In this hyper paternalistic view, white folk know best, no matter what it costs the child's family.

Culturally paranoid welfare caseworkers are afraid of coming into your house--so they recommend your parental rights be revoked. White missionaries assume that any child in a minority culture is "better off" being raised by white folks in a European or Western culture. Missionaries come to Haiti and assume that they can do anything they want, after all, they are white and "have good intentions."

The sad thing is, many see no problem with what they are doing. Why should they have to answer to "colored governments"? They are white, and white is right. Yes, I am on a bandwagon here, and I'm not going to step down.

The history of cultural arrogance in this country goes back centuries. Native Americans are still fighting for information on thousands of children who "disappeared" into church run residential schools in the United States and Canada. Rev. Kevin Annett, an activist who broke the story on residential school abuse 15 years was recently beaten by two men in Canada for his advocacy on behalf of the survivors of this atrocity.

Children were stolen from their families under the cover of law, abused, tortured and killed. All under the guise of being "civilized" by white missionaries. That many of these children ended up dead, or as sexual abuse survivors points to an arrogance and evil on the part of the so-called missionaries that knows no bounds.

Native people know what they are talking about. They have seen evil with their own eyes. Many of the survivors of these atrocities have seen children molested, murdered and killed. They have seen sex rings in operation, organizations which hide behind the authorities which protect them, and are often complicit in these crimes against humanity. And so, when black, brown, red and yellow people stand up and demand that authorities stop aiding and abetting child traffickers, they are not doing so out of ignorance or spite. They know what is happening to their children.

They know trafficking in children for immoral purposes is not a figment of their imaginations.
Haiti has had a major domestic problem in child trafficking and child slavery for years. Two years ago, a conference in child slavery in Haiti noted "the plight of an estimated 173,000 Haitian children internally trafficked for domestic servitude, known as Restavek (stay with)."

An organizer of the conference told a reporter that the problem was serious. Thousands of children whose parents were unable to care for them, sent them to the cities in the care of strangers, believing that the strangers could give their children a better life.

Through the Restavek system, parents unable to care for their children send them to relatives or strangers living in urban areas supposedly to receive care and education in exchange for housework. But the reality is a life of hardship and abuse; enslaved by their so called "hosts", the children seldom attend school.

The situation was bad enough before the quake turned thousands of children into orphans or displaced persons. Now, it seems, that these very vulnerable children are now being targeted by arrogant do gooders and evil doers as well.

The earthquake-generated chaos in Haiti has turned the nation into a fertile hunting ground for resource pirates and child traffickers. The economic and institutional chaos, combined with the revelation that Haiti has massive oil reserves, has put the nation in the cross hairs of rapacious oil companies, child traffickers and other opportunists. And, unfortunately, neither the children, nor the government have the resources to go head to head with the traffickers and energy pirates.

The fact that the Dominican Republic is keeping an eye on cross border child travel has cut the legs out from under traffickers and people who are trying to take children out of Haiti illegally.

Unfortunately, the cultural arrogance of these wannabe do gooders allows them to think that they don't have to follow the rules and can change the game plan to their own advantage. Now, they say that the American missionaries who were jailed for not having the right paperwork to travel with the Haitian children have good intentions.

But we know all about "good intentions", don't we?

A lot of damage has been done to poor people and native people because of someone else's "good intentions." You can't just go to a foreign country that has been devastated by disaster and snatch up unaccompanied children and take them out of the country for "adoption". There is a process--particularly when one of the children states outright that she is NOT an orphan.

Now, one could counter that perhaps the child was engaging in wishful thinking, but that is no excuse. If she had no surviving parents, she, and others like her may other relatives. These children aren't stray animals that people "find and take home." They are real people, with families--somewhere. They have rights. As do their native countries.

Haiti's Prime Minister told the Associated Press that the missionaries were no innocents. He said they knew that some of the children weren't orphans. "It is clear now that they were trying to cross the border without papers. It is clear now that some of the children have live parents," Bellerive said. "And it is clear now that they knew what they were doing was wrong."

Ironically, Haiti is in no position to try the alleged child traffickers in court because they have to court buildings that are still standing. So, they turn to the United States for justice. That's the same United States, whose renegade citizens didn't have the right paperwork for traveling outside of the country with the children.

Native American Studies Workshop
Submitted by Christine Yazzie

USC faculty and graduate students will be hosting a new Native American Studies workshop series this semester, drawing together scholars from diverse departments who work on Native American material. The workshop will meet on selected Fridays from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. in the American Studies Conference Room (WPH 303) on the USC campus. Please find below our spring semester schedule.

We would like to send out a special invitation for our inaugural meeting, February 5, where Professor John Carlos Rowe will lead a discussion of his essay, "Disease, Culture, and Transnationalism in the Americas."

In the future we will be posting the essays on our website prior to the meetings and encourage attendees to read the papers before attending. For this first session, please email one of the workshop coordinators for a copy of the essay. Looking forward to a great semester of presentations!

Sincerely,
Jonathan Berliner, Lecturer in English, University of Southern California -Tok Thompson, Assistant Professor of Teaching in Anthropology, University of Southern California
Workshop Coordinators
berliner@usc.edu
thompst@earthlink.net

Spring 2010 Schedule Native American Studies Workshop
All sessions will be held from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. in the American Studies Conference Room (WPH 303) on the USC campus.

-February 5
John Carlos Rowe, USC Associates Chair in Humanities and Professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity
"Disease, Culture, and Transnationalism in the Americas"

-February 12
Walter Williams, Professor of Anthropology, Gender Studies and History, USC
"Native Americans and the Confederate States of America: A Model for Indigenous/State Relations in the 21st Century"

-March 5
Jonathan Berliner, Lecturer in English, USC
"Written in the Birch Bark: The Linguistic-Material Worldmaking of Simon Pokagon"

-March 26
Laura Fugikawa, Ph.D. Candidate in American Studies and Ethnicity, USC
"Alternative Images? Urban Indians as Reel Indians"

-April 2
Tok Thompson, Assistant Professor of Teaching in Anthropology, USC
"Speaking with the Elder Brothers: Interspecial Communication in Native American Traditions"

-April 16
Joan Weibel-Orlando, Associate Professor Emerita of Anthropology, USC, and Paula Starr, Executive Director of the Southern California Indian Centers
"Telling Paula Starr"

-April 23
Carolyn Dunn, Ph.D. Candidate in American Studies and Ethnicity, USC
"Those Long, Lonely Nights at the Diner: Specificity of Home and Place in Arigon Starr's The Red Road"

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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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 www.nativecelebs.com

CATCH COLORADAN PETER JONES AT:
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