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Come to the Gathering of Nations, welcome assembly for new and returning students interested in Native American studies, activism, and awareness.
When: September 18, 2008 at 7:00-8:30
Where: Reitz Student Union, Room 287
What: Come learn about the group, meet the members, and experience the Native American presence on campus. Learn about Native/Indigenous Studies minor. We will have guest speakers and refreshments!
Come and Enjoy the fun!
SANTA FE, N.M. — The memories of long summers spent on Navajo land as a little boy have stayed with Nolan Eskeets, like the words his grandfather spoke from his deathbed.
“Up, little one,” his grandfather said to him in Navajo, a language Nolan did not understand.
Now a barrel-chested 18-year-old, with a rush of long brown hair, Nolan summons these memories — the days herding sheep through the valleys, the redolence of fresh fry bread, the unfamiliar language of his grandfather — whenever he picks up a pen.
Nolan will use that pen and his baritone when he competes this summer in the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival in Washington, D.C. He and a group of fellow students at the Santa Fe Indian School are part of a growing program that has won a slew of local and regional poetry slams and twice earned an invitation to the festival, which pits teams of the country’s top young spoken word poets against one another.
Finish reading this article from the New York Times
Hear the poetry performed too!
THE WHITE HOUSE (FinalCall.com) - When militant Native American activists captured Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay, reclaiming it as Indian land more than 30 years ago, the group was referred to in the local White-media as “Red Muslims,” hoping that linking them with not-well-spoken-of Nation of Islam “Black Muslims” would tarnish their reputation.
They continued to organize, and in 1978 marched 3,600 miles from Alcatraz, arriving in Washington 40,000 strong to protect Native rights and sovereignty.
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of that historic march, 1,000 Indians and their supporters arrived here July 11, with drums, and chants and prayers concluding a five-month, combined 8,000 mile march that took one group along the historic 3,600 mile route and another on a 4,400 mile southern course. It was “The Longest Walk 2,” and they carried the message “All Life is Sacred, Protect Mother Earth.”
“The Longest Walk is an environmental walk. It’s also walking for issues of Native American interest, Native issues, the most important being sacred sites and the environment,” organizer Dennis Banks, who participated in the original 1978 Longest Walk, told Pacifica Radio’s “Democracy Now!”…
Finish Reading this Article and others below:
Disenrollment proceedings by tribal governments have gotten plenty of attention in recent years. The general public has gained the view that disenrollment is largely about competition over money in large gaming tribes. There are certainly instances among tribal communities where family conflicts, material gain, or other issues have led to expatriation of former tribal members. Indian communities and leaders should reconsider decisions to remove members from the tribal rolls. The ability to game is based on negotiations with state governments, and has become increasingly political. Gaming communities need to maintain good relations with the state governments and voters. Nevertheless, Indian communities should not bow to outside pressures when exercising a government power such as expatriation, but tribal governments need to have clear procedures, and hold the best interests of the tribal community in mind when removing people from tribal rolls. Disenrollments should only happen when they serve the interests of long term tribal community building, cultural continuity, and political autonomy.
Calling the fate of Arizona’s eagles “an important issue for our district and the United States,” a federal judge in Phoenix postponed a decision Tuesday about protections for the state’s desert-nesting bald eagles.
U.S. District Court Judge Mary Murguia will decide if federal officials acted too hastily in removing Arizona’s smaller, lighter bald eagles from the federal endangered-species list.
Arizona’s small band of raptors was removed from endangered-species protections in August along with the nation’s other 11,000 bald eagles in the lower 48 states.
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) - The Keystone crude oil pipeline won’t cross American Indian reservations in South Dakota, but it could be located on cultural sites important to Indians, says Russell Eagle Bear, a Rosebud Sioux Tribe representative.
‘’We want to make sure that all the cultural properties are protected along the route,'’ Eagle Bear said. ‘’This is moving quite fast and I think they need to work closely with tribes in the area - all the tribes.'’
An official of TransCanada Corp., which is planning the 2,148-mile pipeline, said the project is not exactly breaking news. Keystone project official Jeff Rauh said it has been public knowledge for almost three years.
He said TransCanada has worked closely with state historical preservation officers and did cultural surveys and reviews to comply with historical preservation requirements.
The present state of American Indian tribal sovereignty is undergoing transition. Indian people generally lament the decline of tribal sovereignty powers owing to Congressional acts, court decisions and federal policies. The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is based on universal human rights principles and, while supporting political and cultural autonomy, does not support establishment of indigenous governments that are seen to compete with existing nation-states.
The declaration encourages indigenous peoples to work out political, land and cultural issues within the framework of nation-state law and political processes. International support of human rights and the declaration will support indigenous efforts to reclaim political, economic and cultural autonomy, and provide at least symbolic checks on nation-states. The human rights philosophy of the declaration suggests a pathway toward creating respect and agreement about universal human rights and encourages greater common ground for peaceful processes of conflict resolution. The international human rights movement represents the laudable task of creating world consensus and a possible basis for less conflict and perhaps future peace in the world.
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - With thousands of people visiting the Tulalip Tribes’ lands to gamble or shop every week, tribal Police Chief Scott Smith wants his officers to have the same authority as any other law-enforcement agent.
But currently, American Indian police officers can’t arrest a non-Indian person on tribal land.
A bill being considered by the Legislature would change that. The Senate Judiciary Committee was expected to hold a public hearing on the measure Feb. 1. Supporters of the bill were calling it a long overdue measure of law-enforcement equality.
‘’Our hands are tied,'’ said Smith, who supervises 25 tribal police officers in one of the state’s most populated reservations. ‘’Why can’t we be on the same playing field and enforce the law equally?'’
LA JUNTA, Colo. - The Northern Cheyenne Indian Nation continues to work on its Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site project, this time creating an educational program for the tribe as well as trying to acquire a portion of the site.
To support the tribe’s plans, the Northern Cheyenne needs additional funding and is accepting donations to help with its Sand Creek programs.
‘’We are contemplating acquiring some land there that could come up for sale,'’ said Steve Brady, Northern Cheyenne and co-chair of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Committee for the Northern Cheyenne Indian Nation. ‘’We’re working toward that end.'’
Currently, the majority of the 12,300-acre Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site is privately owned.
But the National Park Service as well as the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma has acquired about 3,000 acres of the site, with the 1,465 acres acquired by the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma placed in a federal trust in 2005 for management as part of the national historic site, according to Brady.
Recently inducted into the Women’s National Hall of Fame and advocate of sustainable living practices, Winona LaDuke will speak to University of Florida students and staff on March the 1st, at 7:30pm in the Rionball Room. Her lecture will be on sustainability, but from and Indigenous perspective, and she will share her thoughts on how all people can improve the life of mother earth by implementing old Indigenous teachings. If you have any questions about the event, please contact Adam Recvlohe by e-mail at arecvloh@ufl.edu.