The Digital Rez's topics - tribe.net

U.S. History 101

CupcakeExpress — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:24:45 GMT

Tribe: A Governmental phrase; an Anglo-American concept with Germanic roots applied to the Indigenous peoples of North America during the Reorganization Act of 1934.

Creating a "Tribe": After the Dine peoples returned to their homelands, in the late 1800s, from Bosque Redondo, where they had been held as prisoners of war following the historic Long Walk, the discovery of minerals and natural recourses was made on their land. Because of the nature of federal trusteeship, it became necessary for the Federal Government to create a "tribal" government, with "chiefs" i.e. leaders or chairmen among the Navajo. This chiefdom system of government (totally foreign to the Navajo, who are traditionally democratic) had to be created so that corporate interests could acquire official land leases from the "tribe" in order to exploit their lands.

In other-words, because reservation land is held in trust to Native communities, only those communities have the authority to let outsiders dig for Uranium and other resources on their lands. Because the majority of Native peoples during the 1930s wanted no part of such desecration, the only way the slime balls could get such blasphemous land leases out of them was to force them into creating Anglo-American-style governments. You get the idea.

posted in The Digital Rez - 2 replies

Graduation Inspiration

Hoopes — Sat, 10 May 2008 16:47:19 GMT

Out of tragedy, success
Grad achieves top honors in wake of horrific losses
By Karrey Britt
May 10, 2008

It seemed fitting that 27-year-old Willow Abrahamson Jack was the first to walk across the stage and receive her bachelor’s degree Friday during Haskell Indian Nations University’s commencement ceremony.

That’s because fellow students, teachers and family say she is a leader and an inspiration.

“When I see what Willow has went through, it’s incredible to finally see this day,” said her mother, Rose Ann Abrahamson, of Sacramento, Calif. “She persevered despite the many challenges and obstacles that she had to face.”

About three years ago, Willow lost her husband, Daryl, and 4-year-old daughter, Maliah, in a rollover accident near Butte, Mont. She and her son, Nakeezaka, who was 6 at the time, survived, but Willow suffered severe injuries to her spine, pelvic region and head. Doctors told Willow, an award-winning jingle dancer, that she would need a wheelchair or walker.

“I was feeling like the whole world was caving in. It was like I was living a real-life nightmare, something I would never want to see anybody go through,” she said.

“It was a really, really, really hard time. All of my hopes and dreams were completely crushed. I felt like giving up.”

What kept her going was a visit a month after the deaths from the Dalai Lama, who after hearing her story wanted to meet her. He reminded Willow that she still had a son and happiness to share.

“It was a humbling experience,” she said.

In fall 2006, she returned to Haskell where she and Daryl had earned associate’s degrees just months before the fatal accident.

“I decided I can’t be sitting there acting like a crybaby. I am the mother and the father now. I have a child to raise. I’ve got to quit this road of self pity,” she said.

Just as Willow and Nakeezaka were settling down and “things were fine,” tragedy struck again. They were in another rollover accident last June on the South Lawrence Trafficway. They were taken by helicopter to Kansas City hospitals. Her son broke his arm and femur. She shattered her pelvic region and her right knee. Doctors, again, told her that she would need a wheelchair or walker.

“I thought about giving up a lot last summer,” she said. “But, me and my son — we helped each other.”

Willow said she often thought of the passage: “This too shall pass.”

On Friday, she walked across the stage with Nakeezaka, who will turn 9 on Mother’s Day. Both waved to the cheering crowd with big smiles on their faces. The announcer read that Willow dedicated her graduation to her son and daughter. She graduated magna cum laude.

“This is like completing that walk that I wish they could have been here for. This was our plan for our family,” she said.

Today, she will be the head lady dancer at Haskell’s powwow — a high honor. Last month, she helped organize Haskell’s first Indigenous Empowerment Summit.

Her sister, Leela Abrahamson, 17, said she admires Willow and her accomplishments.

“She’s amazing and always has a positive aura,” Leela said. “She’s one of those women who leads by example.”

Willow will pursue a master’s degree in social work at Kansas University in the fall. She would like to establish community-based programs on American Indian reservations and work on preserving Native American culture and traditions.

“Whether I make pennies or I don’t make anything, I don’t really care because it’s about living a happy life,” she said.

Originally published at: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/may/10/out_tragedy_success/

posted in The Digital Rez - 1 reply

Bilagáana and nuclear power on the Navajo reservation...

RPMcMurphy — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 04:01:32 GMT

I taught developmentally disabled people from the res for 8 years...
I saw the results of Peabody Coal's uranium mining.

If you're interested please join a conversation here :
http://tribes.tribe.net/giftedandtainted/thread/11d9b8e7-8cbf-4f95-b86e-b86b1d328010#35ee98fa-72c5-447d-9471-a21da9ad9225

This guy seems to think the disaster is just an idea from a book.

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies

Apology to Australian aborigines

Mazan — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 09:50:53 GMT

The Australian government has apologized to the aborigines of Australia for the forced removal of aboriginal children from their families in past times, a practice known as the "stolen generation". In many workplaces around Australia, people stopped work to watch a live telecast of the apology by the newly elected (Labor Party) Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. The telecast showed a crowd of some thousands of people, including many aborigines, who had traveled from all over Australia, standing in front of the Parliament building when the speeches by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition (Dr Brendan Nelson) were made, and watching on large screens set up for their use. Although the speech was probably a bit corny - how could it not be, given the enormity of the abuse perpetrated on innocent aborigines over a long time - every aboriginal spokesperson congratulated the government for doing the right thing. The previous Prime Minister, John Howard, who had refused to make such an apology himself, declined to attend the occasion. The four previous PM's before him did do so, the oldest of whom, E. G. Whitlam < en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gough_Whitlam > , a WW2 veteran who was elected in 1972. Mr Whitlam famously returned an area of the Australian desert to the local aboriginal tribe in a ceremony in which he symbolically poured a handful of red sand into the hands of one of the elders of the tribe, Vincent Lingiari < see picture here: www.theage.com.au/articles/...33075.html >. For the text of the apology and related news stories from News.com.au, visit this site: < www.news.com.au/story/0,23...0-2,00.html >.

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies

THE GENOCIDE OF NATIVE AMERICANS:

Exodus — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 00:45:39 GMT

THE GENOCIDE OF NATIVE AMERICANS:
A SOCIOLOGICAL VIEW
The term Genocide derives from the Latin (genos=race, tribe; cide=killing) and means literally the killing or murder of an entire tribe or people. The Oxford English Dictionary defines genocide as "the deliberate and systematic extermination of an ethnic or national group" and cites the first usage of the term as R. Lemkin, Axis Rule in Occupied Europe, (1944) p.79. "By 'genocide' we mean the destruction of a nation or an ethnic group." The U.N. General Assembly adopted this term and defended it in 1946 as "....a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups." Most people tend to associate genocide with wholesale slaughter of a specific people. However, "the 1994 U.N. Convention on the Punishment and Prevention of the Crime of Genocide describes genocide beyond outright murder of people as the destruction and extermination of culture." Article II of the convention lists five categories of activity as genocidal when directed against a specific "national, ethnic, racial, or religious group." These categories are:

Killing members of the group;
Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of group;
Deliberately infliction on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Genocide or the deliberate extermination of one ethnic group by another is not new, for example in 1937 the Pequot Indians were exterminated by the Colonists when they burned their villages in Mystic, Connecticut, and then shot all the other people -- including women and children -- who tried to escape. The United States Government has refused to ratify the U.N. convention on genocide. There are many facets of genocide which have been implemented upon indigenous peoples of North America. The list of American genocidal policies includes: Mass-execution, Biological warfare, Forced Removal from homelands, Incarceration, Indoctrination of non-indigenous values, forced surgical sterilization of native women, Prevention of religious practices, just to name a few.

By mass-execution prior to the arrival of Columbus the land defined as the 48 contiguous states of America numbered in excess of 12 million. Four centuries later, it had been reduced by 95% (237 thousand). How? When Columbus returned in 1493 he brought a force of 17 ships. He began to implement slavery and mass-extermination of the Taino population of the Caribbean. Within three years five million were dead. Fifty years later the Spanish census recorded only 200 living! Las Casas, the primary historian of the Columbian era, writes of numerous accounts of the horrendous acts that the Spanish colonists inflicted upon the indigenous people, which included hanging them en masse, roasting them on spits, hacking their children into pieces to be used as dog food, and the list continues.

This did not end with Columbus' departure, the European colonies and the newly declared United States continued similar conquests. Massacres occurred across the land such as the Wounded Knee Massacre. Not only was the method of massacre used, other methods for "Indian Removal" and "clearing" included military slaughter of tribal villages, bounties on native scalps, and biological warfare. British agents intentionally gave Tribes blankets that were intentionally contaminated with smallpox. Over 100 thousand died among the Mingo, Delaware, Shawnee and other Ohio River nations. The U.S. army followed suit and used the same method on the Plains tribal populations with similar success.

FORCED REMOVAL FROM HOMELANDS
For a brief periods after the American Revolution, the United States adopted a policy toward American Indians known as the "conquest" theory. In the Treaty of Fort Stansix of 1784, the Iroquois had to cede lands in western New York and Pennsylvania. Those Iroquois living in the United States (many had gone to Canada where the English gave them refuge) rapidly degenerated as a nation during the last decades of the eighteenth century, losing most of their remaining lands and much of their ability to cope. The Shawnees, Miamis, Delawaresm, Ottawans, Wyandots, and Potawatomis watching the decline of the Iroquois formed their own confederacy and informed the United states that the Ohio river was the boundary between their lands and those of the settlers. It was just a matter of time before further hostilities ensued.

FORCED ASSIMILATION
The Europeans saw themselves as the superior culture bringing civilization to an inferior culture. The colonial world view split reality into popular parts: good and evil, body and spirit, man and nature, head and hear, European and primitive. American Indians spirituality lacks these dualism's; language expresses the oneness of all things. God is not the transcendent Father but the Mother Earth, the Corn Mother, the Great Spirit who nourishes all It is polytheistic, believing in many gods and many levels of deity. "At the basis of most American Native beliefs is the supernatural was a profound conviction that an invisible force, a powerful spirit, permeated the entire universe and ordered the cycles of birth and death for all living things." Beyond this belief in a universal spirit, most American Indians attached supernatural qualities to animals, heavenly bodies, the seasons, dead ancestors, the elements, and geologic formations. Their world was infused with the divine - The Sacred Hoop. This was not at all a personal being presiding ominpotently over the salvation or damnation of individual people as the Europeans believed.

For the Europeans such beliefs were pagan. Thus, the conquest was rationalized as a necessary evil that would bestow upon the heathen "Indians" a moral consciousness that would redeem their amorality. The world view which converted bare economic self interest into noble, even moral, motives was a notion of Christianity as the one redemptive religion which demands fealty from all cultures. In this remaking of the American Indians the impetus which drove the conquistador's invading wars not exploration, but the drive to expand an empire, not discovery of new land, but the drive to accumulate treasure, land and cheap labor.

CULTURE
Culture is the expression of a people's creativity -- everything they make which is distinctively theirs: language, music, art, religion, healing, agriculture, cooking style, the institutions governing social life. To suppress culture is to aim a cannonball at the people's heart and spirit. Such a conquest is more accomplished than a massacre. "We have seen the colonization materially kills the colonized. It must be added that it kills him spiritually. Colonization distorts relationships, destroys and petrifies institutions, and corrupts....both colonizers and the colonized."

Strategies of targeting American Indian children for assimilation began with violence. Forts were erected by Jesuits, in which indigenous youths were incarcerated, indoctrinated with non-indigenous Christian values, and forced into manual labor. Schooling provided a crucial tool in changing not only the language but the culture of impressionable young people. In boarding schools students could be immersed in a 24 hours bath of assimilation. "The founder of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania , Capt. Richard H. Pratt, observed in 1892 that Carlisle has always planted treason to the tribe and loyalty to the nation at large. More crudely put, the Carlisle philosophy was, "Kill the Indian to save the man." At the boarding schools children were forbidden to speak their native languages, forced to shed familiar clothing for uniforms, cut their hair and subjected to harsh discipline. Children who had seldom heard an unkind word spoken to them were all too often verbally and physically abused by their white teachers. In short, "there was a full-scale attempt at deracination -- the uprooting or destruction of a race and its culture." A few American Indian children were able to run away, others died of illness and some died of homesickness.

The children, forcibly separated from their parents by soldiers often never saw their families until later in their adulthood, after their value-system and knowledge had been supplanted with colonial thinking. When these children returned from boarding schools they no longer knew their native language, they were strangers in their own world, there was a loss, a void of not belonging in the native world, nor the white man's world. In the movie "Lakota Women," these children are referred to as "Apple Children [red on the outside, white on the inside]" they do not know where they fit in, they were unable to assimilate into either culture. This confusion and loss of cultural identity, leads to suicide, drinking and violence. The most destructive aspect of alienation is the loss of power, of control over one's destiny, over one's memories, through relationships -- past and future.

Jose Noriega's well-documented historical account of the forced indoctrination of colonial thought into the minds of American Indian children as a means of disrupting the generational transmission of cultural values, clearly demonstrates the cultural genocide employed by the U.S. government as a means of separating the American Indians from their land.

FORCED REMOVAL
The "Indian Removal" policy was implemented to "clear" land for white settlers. Removal was more than another assault on American Indians' land titles. Insatiable greed for land remained a primary consideration, but many people now believed that the removal was the only way of saving American Indians from extermination. As long as the American Indians lived in close proximity to non-Native American communities, they would be decimated by disease, alcohol, and poverty. The Indian Removal Act began in 1830. Forced marches at bayonet-point to relocation settlements resulted in high mortality rates. The infamous removal of the Five Civilized Tribes -- the Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Seminoles -- is a dismal page in United States history. By the 1820's the Cherokees, who had established a written constitution modeled after the United States Constitution, a newspaper, schools, and industries in their settlements, resisted removal. In 1938 the federal troops evicted the Cherokees. Approximately four thousand Cherokees died during the removal process because of poor planning by the United States Government. This exodus to Indian Territory is known as the Trail of Tears. More than one hundred thousand American Indians eventually crossed the Mississippi River under the authority of the Indian Removal Act.

STERILIZATION
Article II of United Nations General Assembly resolution, 1946: In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group, as such: (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. In the mid-1970s a Choctaw-Tsalagi Indian Health Services doctor was approached by a 26-year-old American Indian woman who desired a "wonb transplant." She had been sterilized when she was 20 at the Indian Health Service hospital in Claremont, Oklahoma. It was discoverd that 75 percent of the Claremont sterilizations were non-therapeutic, that women American Indians were being prompted to sign sterilization forms they didn't understand, that they were being told the operations were reversible, and that some women were even being asked to sign sterilization papers while they had yet to come out of birthing sedation.

Common Sense magazine reported that the Indian Health Service "was sterilizing 3,000 Indian women per year, 4 to 6 percent of the child bearing population...Dr. R. T. Ravenholt, [then] director of the federal government's Office of Population, later confirmed that 'surgical sterilization has become increasingly important in recent years as one of the advanced methods of fertility management'." Ravenholt's response to these inquires "told the population Association of America in St. Louis that the critics were 'a really radical extremist group lashing out at a responsible program so that revolution would occur'."

From the beginning of European control there has been an unrelenting drive to commit genocide over another culture. The American Indians were a majority so the Europeans called them an enemy. One of the major facts the United States Government has failed to understand is that the spiritual aspect of life is inseparable from the economic and the political aspects. The loss of tradition and memory will be the loss of positive sense of self. Those reared in traditional American Native societies are inclined to relate events and experiences to one another, they do not organize perceptions or external events in terms of dualities or priorities. This egalitarianism is reflected in the structure of American Indian literature, which does not rely on conflict, crises, and resolution for organization.

INTELLECTUAL RICHES
American Indians felt comfortable with the environment, close to the moods and rhythms of nature, in time with the living planet. Europeans were quite different, viewing the earth itself as lifeless and inorganic, subject to any kind of manipulation or alteration. Europeans tended to be alienated from nature and came to the New World to use the wilderness, to conquer and exploit its natural wealth for private gain.

But for American Indians, the environment was sacred, possessing a cosmic significance equal to its material riches. The earth was sacred -- a haven for all forms of life -- and it had to be protected, nourished, and even worshipped. Chief Smoholla of the Wanapun tribe illustrated American Native reverence for the earth when he said in 1885:

"God said he was the father of and earth was the mankind; that nature was the law; that the animals, and fish and plants beyond nature, and that man only was sinful.
You ask me to plow the ground! Shall I take a knife and tear my mother's bosom?

Then when I die she will not take me to her bosom to rest.

You ask me to dig for stone! Shall I dig under her skin for her bones?

Then When I die I cannot enter her body to be born again.

You ask me to cut grass And make hay and sell it, and be rich like white men!

But how dare I cut off my mother's hair?

American Indians' agricultural and medical wisdom had been ignored by the European invaders. In their rush to control the land and people much has passed them by and much has been destroyed. Sadly, what seems to have been almost totally ignored is the American Indians' knowledge that the Earth is their mother. Because their mother continues to give us life we must care for and respect her. This was a ecological view of the earth.

"There are tens of millions of people around the world who, within only the last few centuries -- and some cases only the last few years -- have seen their successful societies brutally assaulted by ugly destructive forces. Some American Indian societies have been obliterated. Some peoples have suffered separation from the source of their survival, wisdom, power, and identity: their lands. Some have fallen from the pressure, compromised, moved to urban landscapes, and disappeared, but millions of American Indians, including tens of thousands here in the United States, have gained strength in the face of all their adversity. Their strength is rooted in the earth and deserves to succeed."

In writing this paper I have attempted to broaden your knowledge of genocide and American Indians. This is not a complete history of the genocide that has occurred in the United States, nor is it meant to be.

Books used for references and internet addresses:

Mander, Jerry, In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations," Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1992: 349.
Mankiller, Wilma and Wallis, M., A Chief and Her People, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1993: 8.
Memi, Albert, The Colonizer and the Colonized, Boston: Beacon Press, 1965: 151.
Olson, James and Wilson, R., Native American, In the Twentieth Century, University Press, 1988, 11.
The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., Through Indian Eyes, Pleasantville, New York/Montreal, 1995: 338.
Susan Brill, Bradley U. (brill@bradley.edu) Discussion group regarding the genocide of Native peoples.
http://www.igc.apc.org/toxic/
http://conbio.bio.uci.edu/nae/knudsen.html
Federal Indian Policy http://mercury.sfsu.edu.cypher.genocide.html.#children
Trail of Tears http://ngeorgia.com/history/nghisttt.html
*This is the history of my people “The 1st Nation” The Indigenous People of this Land*
now that you have leaned about what it is to be a Native (Indigenous) American, seek out your history of were you come from – Before you say your native at hart -

posted in The Digital Rez - 1 reply

Lakota Freedom: Treaty Withdrawal For Elders and Children

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 21:10:59 GMT

MEDIA ADVISORY
Immediate Release: 24 December 2007

Media Contacts:
Naomi Archer, Communications Liaison (828) 230-1404 lakotafree [at] gmail.com

Lakota Freedom: Treaty Withdrawal For Elders and Children

Sovereignty Action Sparks World Discussion, Disagreement, Inspiration

Lakota - What began as sparsely attended press conference announcing Lakota sovereignty has grown into an international roar of freedom inspiring people on every continent and sparking excitement and discussion in homes, tribal councils, schools, and on internet blogs and message boards. Across Indian Country in particular, the impact of the sovereign action is creating both inspiration and concern as the reality of freedom sinks in.

But mixed with the excitement and joy are concerns the Lakota people's needs will not be fully met, especially needs and concerns of the youth.

Lakota Freedom delegate and Oglala Lakota Cante Tenza - Strongheart Warrior Society leader Canupa Gluha Mani (Duane Martin Sr.) issued the following statement after discussion with the Strongheart Grandmothers:

"The whole Lakota declaration of withdrawal from the treaty is vested on the power of the Lakota people and our children.

When we undertook the process of announcing the withdrawal, the capacity was far greater than most people anticipated about an individual. But throughout our history, the people have never excluded anyone within their own lifeway and when it becomes a listener's view that its about one individual, one individual does not represent the nation itself, the nation represents the individual, and that is Lakota.

The withdrawal is for the people, the Elders, mothers, fathers, and the children.

Throughout our history and through the enforcement of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, Congress said they would oversee the provisions of 1868 (Fort Laramie Treaty), but they failed to do so. Some minor provisions were kept, but overall the treaty was not honored. Because if the treaty was honored, we would not have this colonial catastrophe of alcoholism, drug abuse and poverty and we wouldn't have the overall high incarceration rate of the male and female in the prison populations. This leads to our children being taking away by Social Services which puts our children out of balance from learning the traditional lifeway.

When the children can reconnect with who they are, they come back to the process of knowing what is Lakota in the true point of view. In this true point of view Lakota is about being free and left alone, so we can govern and save our own with the teachings of the Animal Nations.

If we can conclude with this statement in the positive venue, its not about Russell Means, and certainly not about Canupa Gluha Mani or any individual, this about the Lakota Nation and the Animal People who are no longer alone."

We are the freedom loving Lakota from the Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana who have withdrawn from the constitutionally mandated treaties to become a free and independent country. We are alerting the Family of Nations we have now reassumed our freedom and independence with the backing of Natural, International, and United States law. For more information, please visit our new website at www.lakotafreedom.com.
###

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies

Lakota Sioux Indians Declare Sovereign Nation Status

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 03:34:23 GMT

MEDIA ADVISORY
Immediate Release: 19 December 2007

Media Contacts:
Naomi Archer, Communications Liaison (828) 230-1404 lakotafree [at] gmail.com

Freedom! Lakota Sioux Indians Declare Sovereign Nation Status

Threaten Land Liens, Contested Real Estate Over Five State Area in U.S. West

Lakota Satisfies Treaty Council Mandate of 33 Years, Drafted by 97 Indigenous Nations

Dakota Territory Reverts back to Lakota Control According to U.S., International Law

Washington D.C. – Lakota Sioux Indian representatives declared sovereign nation status today in Washington D.C. following Monday’s withdrawal from all previously signed treaties with the United States Government. The withdrawal, hand delivered to Daniel Turner, Deputy Director of Public Liaison at the State Department, immediately and irrevocably ends all agreements between the Lakota Sioux Nation of Indians and the United States Government outlined in the 1851 and 1868 Treaties at Fort Laramie Wyoming.

“This is an historic day for our Lakota people,” declared Russell Means, Itacan of Lakota. “United States colonial rule is at its end!”

“Today is a historic day and our forefathers speak through us. Our Forefathers made the treaties in good faith with the sacred Canupa and with the knowledge of the Great Spirit,” shared Garry Rowland from Wounded Knee. “They never honored the treaties, that’s the reason we are here today.”

The four member Lakota delegation traveled to Washington D.C. culminating years of internal discussion among treaty representatives of the various Lakota communities. Delegation members included well known activist and actor Russell Means, Women of All Red Nations (WARN) founder Phyllis Young, Oglala Lakota Strong Heart Society leader Duane Martin Sr., and Garry Rowland, Leader Chief Big Foot Riders. Means, Rowland, Martin Sr. were all members of the 1973 Wounded Knee takeover.

“In order to stop the continuous taking of our resources – people, land, water and children- we have no choice but to claim our own destiny,” said Phyllis Young, a former Indigenous representative to the United Nations and representative from Standing Rock.

Property ownership in the five state area of Lakota now takes center stage. Parts of North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana have been illegally homesteaded for years despite knowledge of Lakota as predecessor sovereign [historic owner]. Lakota representatives say if the United States does not enter into immediate diplomatic negotiations, liens will be filed on real estate transactions in the five state region, clouding title over literally thousands of square miles of land and property.

Young added, “The actions of Lakota are not intended to embarrass the United States but to simply save the lives of our people”.

Following Monday’s withdrawal at the State Department, the four Lakota Itacan representatives have been meeting with foreign embassy officials in order to hasten their official return to the Family of Nations.

Lakota’s efforts are gaining traction as Bolivia, home to Indigenous President Evo Morales, shared they are “very, very interested in the Lakota case” while Venezuela received the Lakota delegation with “respect and solidarity.”

“Our meetings have been fruitful and we hope to work with these countries for better relations,” explained Garry Rowland. “As a nation, we have equal status within the national community.”

Education, energy and justice now take top priority in emerging Lakota. “Cultural immersion education is crucial as a next step to protect our language, culture and sovereignty,” said Means. “Energy independence using solar, wind, geothermal, and sugar beets enables Lakota to protect our freedom and provide electricity and heating to our people.”

The Lakota reservations are among the most impoverished areas in North America, a shameful legacy of broken treaties and apartheid policies. Lakota has the highest death rate in the United States and Lakota men have the lowest life expectancy of any nation on earth, excluding AIDS, at approximately 44 years. Lakota infant mortality rate is five times the United States average and teen suicide rates 150% more than national average . 97% of Lakota people live below the poverty line and unemployment hovers near 85%.

“After 150 years of colonial enforcement, when you back people into a corner there is only one alternative,” emphasized Duane Martin Sr. “The only alternative is to bring freedom into its existence by taking it back to the love of freedom, to our lifeway.”

We are the freedom loving Lakota from the Sioux Indian reservations of Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana who have suffered from cultural and physical genocide in the colonial apartheid system we have been forced to live under. We are in Washington DC to withdraw from the constitutionally mandated treaties to become a free and independent country. We are alerting the Family of Nations we have now reassumed our freedom and independence with the backing of Natural, International, and United States law. For more information, please visit our new website at www.lakotafreedom.com.

posted in The Digital Rez - 1 reply

mysticism

dominic — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:16:05 GMT

COMMONALITY AMONGST THE WORLD'S MYSTICS:

If you study the life of past mystics you'll find they share several things in common:

First, they all speak of an induction – or of a need to learn/realize a new level of understanding. They all speak of a fundamental shift in consciousness (be it called awakening, realization, divination, or being born again).

Second they all tell of making a journey into and through a despair process of being “undone” as the precursor to this fundamental shift in consciousness -- be it through experiencing 40 days and nights in the wilderness, starving under the boddhi tree, facing the dark night of the soul, or the hero’s journey. There is a Journey of metamorphosis that all mystics have undergone in some way.

Third, it is an inner journey that must be taken up and navigated alone. This is a hallmark of the mystic’s realization: The reason the journey must be alone is because that which must be faced, seen, and surrendered in order that something new can emerge, is only possible through sustaining the fear and despair process of being alone and meeting the ultimate and fundamental fear of “non-being” and annihilation.

Fourth, they all seem to realize the frustration of being misunderstood by those who have not yet been through the awakening journey -- “those who have ears to hear, let him hear.” A great deal of the mystical writings are devoted almost exclusively to the fact that fundamental spiritual truth cannot be understood by the intellect nor correctly put into words. Forever, the great spiritual teachers have tried through the insufficiency of words to point toward that which can ever and only be experienced and known on a level that is before and beyond the mind. This is something unfathomable to those who have not yet had this breakthrough revelation - and particularly so in our contemporary culture that has become so overly reliant and blinded by the limiting paradigm of the scientific method that forever reduces our understanding of intelligence to that which is sensory, measurable and linear in nature. (...Life isn't (only or always) linear .. In fact it rarely is, except in man-made constructions and habituated uses of the mind.)THE CRYSTAL SKULLS

Please join us at this forum
http://groups.msn.com/TheInternationalMysticalOrderofKnightTemplars/_whatsnew.msnw

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies

Arrogant europeon assumptions? Or?

carlos-ity — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 01:38:05 GMT

Hey, i'm a non-indigenous european person and i've been having a discussion with an elder lady friend about the topic of exactly what indigenous folks were like compared with europeans, and whether there was always a shared mentality of severe alienation in both cultures, and here's what she said to me...(i'm looking for insights from others, including possible proofs or info leading us to seeing such)

>Please I don't mean to offend you.,
but the reality exists that long before europeans came to this
continent that war, starvation, incest, slavery and genocide was a
reality for the people. There has always been inhumanity in every
cultuer and indeed the natives were particularily ruthless and felt
justified by there culture.... that europeans were so capable of
overpowering thier foes had alot to do with the developement of steel
and manufacturing, but the mentality of consciousness is universal
and although the european culture was colonistic they did not/ do not
hold the strings of brutality and even within european cultures there
existed a great deal of enlightenment.... Also let us not forget the
stong hold and influence of the church which is probably much more
influencial than any european country ...
---
i replied:

Where do you get this information, S? How do you know these things for certain? How can a european know what happened long before europeans were here?

Oh, yes, you are partially indigenous; yet what does that really mean if you look only through the lens of the european way of seeing? (a way that has, by the way, systematically utilized fraud and sleight-of-hand to conceal its own history not only during conquest of the indigenous people here, but also on *every* topic after "legally" securing this land). Every topic you can think of, i bet that there is a long history of suppression of truths that simply are not allowed.

Some questions:
Where do you get the idea that the original natives practiced genocide against each other?

What does slavery really mean between varying cultures, and do severely alienated cultures like european cultures truly have similar ways of seeing these things? After all, indigenous folks never had *wage slavery* (they tended to look out for each other, realizing the value, i see and think); nor did they have all of these long lists of ways to keep some marginalized while others, via deceit, gained wealth!

Why is starvation spoken here? If a group, say the Irish, die of a "potato famine" is there a context that is deeper? How about when others,
say indigenous folks began to starve? In what context, again? Perhaps because their food stores were destroyed by europeans always taking and hardly giving anything in return? And before europeans arrived? --Okay, some starved at times, just as the Irish, just as the peasants in a world dominated by feudalism.

Does incest mean the same thing in all cultures?

For instance, if there is no heavy-feelings in a culture about sexuality or *bad touches*
then would people have the same kind of a taboo feeling about it that a culture that *has* such heavy-feelings (via the state-backed church's
way of control over the people through proscribing all sex acts except missionary-position procreation made by heteros married by the chruch)? Are there grey area ways that make it possible to approach things which are taboo in one culture and yet not at all similarly viewed in another?

No, i see very heavily-loaded value assumptions being thrown, blanketly, upon the "primitives" in general by you and so many others. i say, read some critique and demystification of anthropology (and any other usually politically-suberservient social "science") before you make your sweeping judgements (which have a curious way of making the conquering society sound so much "better", notably). i know an author off-hand that could help you in that area...i'm trying to recall his name...um...oh yes, Theodore Roszak (spelling?) went into this in some detail in his book about the 1970s counterculture.

And i don't agree, either, on the "mentality of consciousness" as you seem to believe it was some universal. Look at indigenous medicine, look at how shamans were created and when, look at every facet of pre-colonized life and then tell me that they shared a "mentality of consciousness"! i don't see that at all!

But when the europeans arrived, a ton of shit began cropping up. Tribes were divided up and the old trick of "divide and conquer" was employed systematically (to this day); indigenous folks did not understand this. Nor did they understand the selling of lands. You read any account of old-way chiefs talking to europeans and you see that there is a QUALITIVE difference between the two cultures! Once indigenous folks were pushed into the insanity of european seeing and believing, all of these pollutions began cropping up, and peoples, seeking to remain in harmony, did what they could to get along; but systematically, they were fooled and tooled! Only now have they, as a whole people, begun to get a full understanding of we colonized peoples' mentality.

So the point i'm trying to make is that we can see, often too clearly, that indigenous society wasn't nearly as insane as european society! How?

By recalling that the waters were not polluted, the forests were not decimated, the wild animals were not decimated by hunting, nothing was
wasted, and so on and so forth. Guns were not invented, not even the wheel. Alienation did not exist as we know it today, if at all; Mom nature (aka wakan tanka) was always there in everything they were and did. Animals, when killed, were prayed to (before and after death).

Even if i'm somewhat "romanticizing" the indigenous, pre-"civilized" way of life, you know you cannot help but to see the truth when
comparing with european feudalistic society, right?!

The other info is interesting to me, thanks for sharing about the jewish guy who saw in his captors their lostness; do you have a title in mind?
i'd like to read about that one.

As for the stronghold of the church? Back when the church ran states, okay. Yet, after they became *subordinate* to states, all they did was
its bidding. We can see examples of this in movies like "At Play In The Fields of the Lord", where missionaries are tolerated to change
the indigenous peoples, but if they don't, the military will kill and terrorize them. The church (and every state-subordinate religion!)
is yet only one more example of the bigger picture of the meta Chess Game being played on all diverse humans who subordinate their individualities to such a dumbed-down way of being in the world. Do you see what i'm saying?

posted in The Digital Rez - 4 replies

Growing up on the rez

Ginger — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 07:27:36 GMT

Native brothers and sisters,
will you share a story, short or long, happy or sad . . .
What was it like to grow up on a rez?

posted in The Digital Rez - 7 replies

Update Sharbot Lake

WabanakiWmn — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 20:22:37 GMT

OPP “LOOSE CANNONS” AT SHARBOT LAKE –

BIZARRE AND STRANGE HAPPENINGS!

MNN. Sept. 8, 2007. On Saturday September 8th MNN went to

Sharbot Lake to support the Algonquins in friendship. We

Mohawks are concerned about the outcome of the protest

against uranium mining because the Ottawa and St. Lawrence

River watershed on Kanion’ke:haka land is going to be affected.

We won’t let our water table get poisoned.

Algonquin war chief Harold Perry initially sent a wampum to the

Tyendinaga Mohawks for our people to join them. The wampum

is an official invitation for us to take part in the operation, not just

to be bystanders.

The Algonquins have asked supporters to visit the site of the protest.

They are trying to stop Frontenac Ventures from opening up a

uranium mine on their unsurrendered territory. Every sane and

healthy person, whether indigenous or a member of the colonial

society, can support this.

The reception at the site was stiff. We were invited to go behind

the wired fence in front of the old vacant Robertsville Mine on

Highway 509 west of Perth Ontario. We talked with war chief Earl

Brodeur. His wisdom appears to be beyond idealism. Earl told us

they were getting worldwide attention following the articles.

This is an issue that the governments who have been bought off

by commercial ventures would rather ignore.

Then the old war chief, Harold Perry, came out of the tent meeting

that was taking place beside the road outside the gate. He told us

we were not welcome and to leave immediately. He accused MNN

of inaccuracies in the stories about their issue. They say they’ve

been “damaged by them” and wanted control over MNN stories.

We were then escorted to the outside of the front gate and stood

next to the road.

Then the Ontario Provincial Police officer, Randy Cota, who is also

a chief of the Ardoc Lake Algonquins, joined us. He voiced solid

opposition to three issues that MNN had raised: the OPP’s presence

within the protest; his association with MREL Mining Resources

Engineering Limited who had been developing and testing bombs

about 6 miles behind the protest site; and the presence of the

religious right.

This reminded us of when Jim Loney of the Peacemakers Team was

held hostage by the Iraqis. Jim Potts, advisor to the OPP, phoned

around and asked us to make statements to the Iraqis to let him go.

Not long after Potts was plotting a raid against us at Six Nations which

we headed off and Potts backed down. The religious right has in fact

impacted negatively where lives were lost because people bought into

their rhetoric based on positions that everyone can agree with, such

as the need for peaceful solutions.

When MNN pointed out that the research on MREL was correct

according to their own website, they stopped short. Also, that close

associations do exist between the OPP and the defenders, particularly

himself.

We agreed that MNN will peruse their reports provided “from the site”.

In other words, they appear to have adopted the customs of the

dominant states which want to prevent investigative journalism and

for the media to publish only the stories by their “imbedded” reporters.

So much for freedom of the press which was once considered a pillar

of democracy.

They were asked, if the inaccuracies were so glaring, why weren’t

they brought to MNN’s attention. MNN has always conducted fuller

investigations and printed corrections or retractions. They replied

that, “Everybody was too busy!” They were asked if at anytime did

MNN not support the Algonquins? They said that was not the problem.

So what is it?

From all appearances a hierarchy has been developed and taken hold

of the site, with the OPP sitting at the top. They maintain police cruisers

before and after the site and constant surveillance of everyone going in

and out. They have enlarged their presence at the Sharbot Lake

detachment with a huge trailer and some of the paraphernalia a para-

military force might need for a sudden attack from an obscure position.

Brian Heslip, of MELT, “Major Events Liaison Team”, is there to help

the people develop the “right approach” toward the OPP presence.

His Colgate smile sparkles and his eyes twinkle with warmth when

he says, “I couldn’t hurt a fly”. He’s not stiff like an OPP. His body

language is relaxed as often happens with people who are secure in

their power. Two weeks of Aboriginal Sensitivity Training got rid of any

outward appearances of racism. He actually made a beaded bracelet

and took part in a sweat lodge. No kidding! This makes him an expert?

There is nothing like a good sweat to make you feel like an indigenous,

he thinks. The next thing you know, he will be applying for his Indian

Status card.

It was also strange to see all those tents along the road allowance.

How good of a defense could a few elderly white ladies launch when

the invasion happens?

Then we left and went to visit an elder member of Ardoc Lake

Algonquins who lives nearby. Let’s call her “Madge”. She lives in a

small house in the bush at the end of a dirt road. While we sat at her

kitchen table drinking tea and eating her nutritious cookies, she

received a call from OPP officer, Brandy Winter [Badge number

9323, phone 613-279-2195]. Brandy is part of ART “Aboriginal

Relations Team”. She warned Madge, “If you go to the main site,

you may be turned away because you are not welcome there.

This message is from the Algonquins and the settlers”. Butter

couldn’t melt in her icy mouth.

It looks like the OPP has authority to tell Algonquin elders if they

can speak with their people. The elder then asked, “Could I be in

danger? Everybody knows I live alone. What can I do for my

safety? I thought this was a non-violent demonstration”.

Madge phoned the OPP and reported the incident. Then MNN

reported to the OPP that they were witnesses when Madge received

the threat. MNN then asked the OPP for safe passage out of the area.

Last July the OPP had followed and intimidated three women

supporters who had come to Perth for the demonstration and then

to the site at the invitation of Harold Perry.

Yesterday MNN phoned several relatives and told them about the

latest incident.

On the way out OPP cars passed us every 5 minutes. Normally

people don’t see them for weeks at a time. A resident has to call

the local donut shop to get them to do their job. Please, Tim Horton,

don’t set one up there. The OPP should leave intead of creating all

this trouble. Maybe their rash actions are the result of caffeine

withdrawal because they’re always speeding through Lanark

County. They’re the main violators of the speed limit.

Brandy Winter refused to give Madge her phone number. “What will

I do if I am attacked?”

Brandy said, “Just go outside and wave down a passing OPP”.

Honestly, this is basically what Brandy said. Brandy said three

times that this was “not an order from the police”.

As funny as this account is, these are state police tactics.

Even the OPP dispatcher at Smiths Falls said it “was weird”.

She wondered if it was a prank. No, it was a threat against an

elderly wisp of a member of the community. She eats a lot of

spaghetti trying to put some weight back on. She lost ten pounds

since the protest started.

What will happen if the OPP bring in armed troops with all those

infiltrators in there? The Algonquins may not see it coming. At least

five OPP infiltrators have even formed a drum group at Ardoc. They

were the host drum for the recent pow wow on September 1st.

Instead of being thanked for our assistance, we were chased away.

Why? Their defense of the OPP, the religious right and MREL is

bizarre. We can’t tell who is giving the orders from Ottawa or

Washington or some corporate headquarters. How can the OPP

threaten solid support that has not threatened or committed any

crime? Don’t forget that uttering threats is a crime. The documented

threat so far has come from the OPP.

It is becoming apparent that the outsiders have infiltrated the site.

Let’s hope that the majority of Algonquins are not heading into the

“acquiescence stage”?

MNN is not undermining support of the land, water table and the

prohibition of uranium mining that the Algonquins and settlers are

working for. MNN continues to support this stand. Attention has

been successfully diverted from the threat to the water shed posed

by the uranium mine and to the skullduggery involved in state

sanctioned manufacture of car bombs.

What is the OPP staging? Are they trying to ease the Algonquins

into a settlement of their unsurrendered lands? Then Frontenac

Ventures can start their uranium mining?

Recently Ontario Superior Court Judge Lynn Ratushny of Ottawa

made a decision regarding the 2004 RCMP raid of the home of Julliet

O’Neill, an Ottawa Citizen reporter. They wanted her sources of

information and seized all her documents and computer files.

This was found to be unconstitutional and illegal in a free and

democratic society.

OPP and Canada, MNN is not “Pravda”, which was the official voice

of the communist totalitarian regime in Russia at a time when no

media could criticize the government. Canada is going in this

direction by trying to intimidate all media to go along with their

“party line”.

Kahentinetha Horn

MNN Mohawk Nation News

See: "Sharbot Lake"

http://www.mohawknationnews.com/news/news4.php?lang=en&layout=mnn&category=58&srcurl=%2Fnews%2Fnews3.php%3Flang%3Den%26layout%3Dmnn%26sortorder%3D0

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies

Update Sharbot Lake

WabanakiWmn — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:13:09 GMT

I respectfully ask to post this update. If it is not ok, please feel free to take it down?

with respect
nanci

OPP “SNUBBED” BY SHARBOT LAKE ALGONQUINS

MNN. Sept. 3, 2007. 200 or more Indigenous and their supporters
shouted down a sheriff who was delivering a colonial court order.
This is very strange. The colonial courts pretend to protect
property rights. There is no evidence that the Algonquin people
ever gave up their rights to this land. Why would the court make
an order to support intruders? It seems to be taking orders from
a private company that wants the Algonquins to remove a
blockade and stop protecting their land. They’ve been blocking
a proposed uranium mine north of Sharbot Lake since June 2007.

Superior Court Justice Gordon Thomson issued the order on
Monday, August 27th. The Algonquins are not Canadians.
Foreigners have no jurisdiction over them according to
international law. The Ontario Provincial Police OPP, Frontenac
Ventures and all the other non-Algonquins are trespassing.

The settlers could be given a temporary right to reside by the
Algonquins. Such permission is not unprecedented. These
were granted in early colonial times based on Algonquin law
and consensual agreements. The settlers who have homes
on Algonquin land are supporting their landlords. The
Algonquins could grant them ‘permission’ to continue using
their ancestral land so long as they respect Algonquin laws
and protect the integrity of the environment for future
generations.

The two sheriffs, escorted by OPP, were met on the road
outside the mine by 24 Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwan
warriors. They were not allowed on the property, which is
located off Highway 509 about 12 kilometres north of
Sharbot Lake. The sheriffs shouted from the road over the
crowd who drummed, chanted and yelled.

The OPP had come to break the peace and the Algonquins
refused to cooperate with them. Shabot Obaadjiwan war
chief, Earl Badour, signalled for the native flag to be turned
upside down to symbolize that "the colonial
government has put them all in distress."

The sheriffs left with their armful of papers and could not
get close enough to post one on the fence.

The native and non-native defenders want a peaceful
resolution through talks and consensual agreement. This
will be impossible so long as belligerent tactics like court
injunctions are used.

The Algonquins are not leaving their land. Residents and
Algonquins oppose uranium mining because of concerns
over devastating environmental affects. The water table of
Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec from the lakes into the
Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers will be contaminated and
make the area unlivable for humans, animals and vegetation.
Algonquins environmental laws do not allow such exploitation
by anyone.

Ontario has no right to issue “death warrants” to the
Algonquin people and the settler population at large by
granting permits and licenses to organizations involved in
illegal activities or any other harmful ventures.

The trespasser, Frontenac Ventures, is suing the Algonquins
for $77 million and is seeking a court injunction to have the
defenders kicked off their land. The temporary injunction will
have a full hearing on September 20th in Kingston Ontario.

The Ontario government has no authority over the Algonquin.
The Algonquins never accepted to become British subjects
or Canadian citizens and there has been no conquest. They
will accordingly be boycotting this kangaroo court. The judges,
the government and the exploiters all sit on the same side of
the table as the judge, jury and executioner. If Canada and
Ontario are not willing to respect Algonquin rights, they should
bring the matter before a neutral independent international court.

OPP spokesman, Paige Whiting, said they have no plans to
move in on the Algonquin defenders for the time being [because
they know they have no right to do so]. They usually prepare for
such an attack by considering a ratio of at least 4 cops or more
to 1 victim. The estimate in this case of 200 people would mean
they have to muster 800 or 1,000 policemen and soldiers to
conduct their oppressive operation.

This would be an international invasion of the Algonquin nation.
Whiting said, “We’ll warn them a few minutes before the big
onslaught to give them a chance to get out of the way of our
war machines”, or words to that effect.

OPP have set up a large command post at the Sharbot Lake
detachment. More OPP have been brought in from neighboring
counties [for the forthcoming ‘big’ action!]. It’s obvious they’re
getting ready for some kind of aggressive action against the
Algonquin and their supporters.

Algonquin war chief Badour said his group has always been
"non-confrontational" and is always ready to talk outside the
colonial court with the police, the corporations, their government
puppets and the press at anytime.

The defenders have caught the attention of the Christian
Peacemakers Team International, an organization that claims
to work to conserve peace through “pacifism”. Those who
want to work with them have to learn the pacifist philosophy.
They will teach us how to turn the other cheek. If that’s the case,
then they’re visiting the wrong side of the issue. We have
peaceful ways. They should use their philosophy to pacify
the police and other colonial agencies who are constantly
threatening to break the peace and the laws and to commit
atrocities against us.

The “Christian Peacekeepers” is another pacification group.
They work with such police as the OPP that threaten to
come onto independent Indigenous lands to attack us and
help the exploiters to our resources. These people should
tell the OPP that we abhor their threats of invasions, court
injunctions, demonization of us on the media and the
impending contamination of our people and our land.

About 80 vehicles lined the roads for the protest yesterday.
Many non-natives wore bright yellow T-shirts with the slogan
"no uranium mine, there is a better solution." Ever since the
officers left, the crowd has been happy and relaxed. Everyone
was happy to defy such a destructive court order. We like these
kinds of pow wows!

Brothers, Sisters, Friends and Allies, to help please contact:
paulasherman@trentu.ca; chiefdoreen@aol.com;
john@plentycanada.com; rcota@sympatico.ca

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

See: "Sharbot Lake"
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/news/news4.php?lang=en&layout=mnn&category=58&srcurl=%2Fnews%2Fnews3.php%3Flang%3Den%26layout%3Dmnn%26sortorder%3D0

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies

EMERGENCY POST: HAUNTED CHILD - TIM CAFFREY

Elaine — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:03:12 GMT

THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN POSTED AT HUMAN RIGHTS IN ACTION (GOOGLE GROUPS), VARIOUS TRIBE SITES, EFx2, FACE BOOK, MY SPACE, YAHOO, MS LIVE & BLOGGAR, ETC. I WRITE UNDER A COMMON CONTENTS LICENSE SO AS LONG AS YOU DON'T EDIT IT OR FORGET TO CREDIT THE AUTHOR PLEASE FEEL FREE TO POST THIS ANYWHERE YOU FEEL IT WILL HELP TIM CAFFREY. OH BOTHER IT! JUST DON'T EDIT IT FORGET MY NAME IF YOU WANT! emch

King George, VA

Achairde All:

Well, I survived the first half of the trip and it was just about as pleasant as one could imagine it to be. However, I have hoisted the EMERGENCY Flag because there is a man in South Dakota who is in dire need of our help. By that I mean a concentrated effort and not merely reading this and saying how horrible it is and moving on. I have placed this is its entirety so you can read it for yourselves. I have been in touch with Arnie Berkeland and Arnold Miller who is Governor Rounds Aide when it comes to Clemency & Pardons. I have obtained two experts willing to donate their time- one in Bi-racial Adoptions and the other is a Guardian Ad Litem Attorney who has worked on similar cases. Right now I am attempting to find a Psychiatrist or Psychologist who has the expertise in PTSD and Child Abuse we need to complete our efforts. The Oglala Sioux Nation passed a Resolution in Tim's favor on Friday, August 10th and when I spoke with Mr. Berkeland this past Monday, August 13th, he advised that a very respected retired Politician has also agreed to speak to the Governor on Tim's behalf.

Modblog refugees will remember the flaming I took when I reported an abused child to the Norman, OK Police Department after I read her postings at her Blog. I and some of my friends in Human Rights & Children's Rights work offered her our help and her answer was to take her pages down and pretend that she was just mad at her Mom. Folks, I appreciate a good vent as much as the next woman but I DO know the difference and so did the Norman Police because I took the precaution of printing out those pages BEFORE she could delete them. The result was that she and her mother received the help they needed. The saddest thing about Tim Caffrey is that a whole cadre of Adults KNEW about his abuse and NO ONE- NOT EVEN THEIR MINISTER AND HIS WIFE DID ANYTHING CONCRETE TO HELP HIM. When the Norman Detective asked why I had "bothered' to report the case my response was simply, 'IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO."

Tim Caffrey was originally charged with Murder One and it was changed to Manslaughter One when the Judge refused the charge. In every other state he would have received a maximum of 40 to 45 years. Done, on average, a third of that sentence or 14 years and been Paroled. He received Life WITHOUT Parole and has been incarcerated for twenty-seven years. Of course he didn't exactly get the most objective of trials. Everyday we read about some sexual predator who got twenty-five to Life and is out in five. Don't believe me? Check out your state's Sexual Offender List. The one that is supposed to let you know where they are so you can protect your kids. Since a large majority of them seem to want to move Florida I check the FDLE List once a month. There is a man who just moved in directly across from me who is not only listed as a Registered Sex Offender in big bold red letters it says:

THIS MAN IS ALSO REGISTERED AS A VIOLENT SEXUAL PREDATOR

NOW there is a comforting thought now isn't it? In his entire 'career' he has done less than a third of time that Tim Caffrey has done. We need to change that and we need your help to do it. I KNOW that I can count on you to do the right thing because we have made a difference on other issues. Jeb Bush may not be governor anymore but you can be he remembers the 11 days we shut his email down. 0;-) We can do it again- so please spread the word.

Keep the Faith mo Charan!

Slan leat,
Elaine
AKA Cabin Fever
CABIN FEVER ONLINE

PICTURE OF ABUSED CHILD CONTINUES TO HAUNT WOMAN

By Betty Adams Aitchison

Caldwell, Idaho

Published: August 7, 2007 - ARGUS

I am a voice from the faraway past of Timothy Sean Caffrey. I am Betty Adams Aitchison, whose husband pastored the little Faith Missionary Church in Martin, S.D., for 10 years. This was in the mid-1960s and 70s. The Bill and Olive Caffrey family attended our church. I knew them well.

Tim Caffrey is an Oglala Sioux, adopted by the Caffreys when he was less than a year old. I was a part of Tim's formative years. I taught him in Sunday School and vacation Bible school.

Bill Caffrey was a politically powerful man as South Dakota regional director of health and welfare. He also was an abusive alcoholic. I witnessed some of the abuse of Tim and tried to intervene but to no avail.

One particular incident has continued to haunt me through the years. It is a picture of a little 14-year-old Sioux Indian boy, sitting in the living room of Bill and Olive Caffrey's home, being disciplined for sharing marijuana with a friend.

I was living in Idaho at the time but visiting Martin. Olive asked me to basically act as a mediator when they addressed this issue.

Olive began the questioning. I still remember exactly how we were all seated. I was on the couch. Olive was across the room to my left, Tim, to my right, and Bill, pacing the floor. Olive asked Tim where he had gotten the marijuana, and Tim reluctantly told her. She asked, "Why didn't you just say 'no' and tell us what had happened?"

Tim replied, "I made a mistake, and I'm sorry."

At this point, Bill stomped toward Tim. "You made a mistake. We are the ones who made the mistake. The biggest mistake we ever made was when we adopted you, you stupid Indian," Bill said, cuffing Tim on the head.

Tim burst into convulsive sobs, and Bill walked away.

I got up from my seat and went to Tim. I said, "Timmie, you are a good boy who did a bad thing. You are not a stupid Indian. You are a brilliant boy with a right and powerful heritage."

Bill Caffrey was an overbearing, abusive alcoholic who often inflicted physical and emotional abuse on Tim. Olive worked at the Gordon hospital, 50 miles away, and left home at 2 p.m., not returning until after midnight, leaving Tim at the mercy of Bill's drunken outbursts and hostilities.

I have never, nor do I now, condone Tim's handling of this situation. However, almost 27 years have passed since I sat through the trial of a 17-year-old Indian boy, tried as an adult, by a white judge, 12 white jurors and a white attorney, and I heard the sentence of life without parole.

There is no question that the boy acted wrongfully when he shot and killed his adoptive father. However, many years of agonizing remorse have made Tim the man he is today. He is a well-rounded, gentle man who has worked hard to prepare himself for life outside the prison walls. He has mastered the art of welding and continues his education as much as is available to him.

Tim has a very strong support group. It is headed by Arnie Berkeland, a Sioux Falls businessman, who has visited Tim more than 1,200 times in the past 27 years. Tim will be provided with good employment and housing as well as spiritual and emotional support.

I urge you to please write Gov. Mike Rounds, asking him to sign the unanimous recommendation of the South Dakota Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Tim's sentence from life to time served. This is the third time the board has voted to reduce Tim's sentence.

Tim was never a 'murderer.' He was an abused child, pressed beyond measure and made a terrible mistake in dealing with his abuser. For this, I feel he has paid sufficiently.

White men charged with the same crime are walking free today. Please work for 'equal justice' in this case. -30-

Timothy S. Caffrey # 20483
S.D.S.P. Box 5911
Sioux Falls, SD 57117-5911 USA

Date of birth: May 28-1963
Nation/tribal affiliation: Oglala Sioux
Release date: none

I would like a pen pal that would increase my intelligence based upon what
I've written. No gossip, no complaining, just learning and expanding.
Thank you!

Listening To: WALELA - TELL THEM THAT THEY LIE
I'm Feeling: RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
Tags: abuse, bigotry, child, injustice, native, american and petition

posted in The Digital Rez - 1 reply

URGENT MESSAGE from Kahtinetha Horn- Mohawk Nation News

WabanakiWmn — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:08:24 GMT

I received this in my email this morning from Kahntinetha Horn please read and pst widely. Thanks

URGENT! JUDGE ILLEGALLY ORDERS ALGONQUINS TO BE

INVADED WED. AUG. 29TH. Brothers, Sisters, Friends, Allies,

Supporters, and Environmentalists needed!

MNN. August 28, 2007. Judge Gordon Thompson has ordered the

Algonquins who are blocking access to a proposed uranium mine

north of Sharbot Lake to leave immediately. The people have been

told to expect the police on Wednesday, August 29th. All supporters

are asked to come to the site to help maintain the peace. This is only

the beginning of things to come under the conservative regime with

the help of the liberals at Queen’s Park Toronto. The Bush

administration in Washington DC needs uranium for their military

industrial schemes.

Justice Thomson has ordered the protesters to leave and allow Frontenac

Ventures Corporation to start uranium mining, to contaminate the

watershed of all of eastern Ontario and western Quebec, one of the

most densely populated areas in Canada.

"Frontenac shall have immediate, unfettered and unobstructed access

to the subject property including the field office, access road and all of

the identified exploration property and the Clarendon site," Justice

Thomson wrote. If the judge wanted to be truthful, he should have added,

“and the right for Frontenac to contaminate, destroy the unborn, carry out

genetic damage to the flora and fauna of the entire area”.

The interim injunction stands until a full hearing can be heard, which

includes a $77-million lawsuit and a full injunction against the Algonquins

starting on September 20.

We are very concerned that a judge who is supposed to be impartial

would not even consider the rights of the owners of the land. This is a

blatant example how our lands are being illegally expropriated. We have

been facing these “gold rushes” all over Turtle Island.

The mine gates are at highway 509 just north of Sharbot Lake, off highway

7, west of Perth and 42 miles north of Kingston.

The Algonquins know it’s their land. Chris Reid, the lawyer for the Ardoch

Algonquins said his clients are "not going to leave”. Who is oversees Judge

Thompson? He doesn’t appear to have read any Supreme Court decisions

that provide that Indigenous people must be consulted and give their fully

informed decision by a clear majority on a clear question, for any activity

by foreigners like Frontenac or any corporate Canadian in any form.

If the Algonquins are attacked, it will be a one-sided battle. The Indigenous

People vow to protect our land and jurisdiction. The world will see how

vicious and corrupt the corporate regime of Canada is. We have no physical

weapons. Our only weapon is the truth and doing what is right.

The Algonquins have already warned the colonial authorities and their agents

to stop trespassing on unsurrendered land, breaching the peace and

threatening violence. They point out that colonial courts represent only

their adversaries and their corporate interests. A neutral third party at the

international level is the proper forum. Frontenac Ventures Corporation is

trespassing. Their intent is to exploit and kill creation. When the owners of

the land say “no”, it’s “no”! There is nothing to negotiate.

A surrender of Indigenous land must be done under their own law, the

constitution of Canada (Section 132) and international law. It must be done

through negotiation and a vote on a clear question by the majority of the people.

Even Canadian law does now allow this kind of annexation without consultation,

consensus and compensation. Algonquin law does not allow the land to be

alienated.

The company must allow an archeologist visit the site to "determine aboriginal

burial sites" and other items of significance. They are even going after our

ancestors to contaminate them! Living people isn’t enough for them. It’s half

swamp. They want to create uranium contamination which turns things into a

radio active soup.

The judge' instructs the police to arrest anyone who stands in the way, and

Frontenac cannot be stopped in its right to destroy people and the environment.

This is Ottawa’s prototype for the “final solution” of the “Indian problem”

elsewhere. When it’s all done, they hope nobody will know about it.

The police, probably with the help of the army, under the guidance of the U.S.

Military, may be standing nearby. They will attempt to bull doze everybody,

fully clad in riot gear, lethal lasers and guns. Sharpshooters, like psychotic

Kenneth Deane who killed Dudley George at Ipperwash, will be using us as

target practice. Remember the protest at Tiananmen Square in China in 1989.

One lone tiny person stood in front of those tanks and stopped the military

from killing demonstrators. Nobody wants to see women and children crushed

by the might of present day neo-con totalitarianism.

The police have been instructed to “use their discretion”. This is the same

disease ridden blanket they used at Ipperwash to cover their butts. Aren’t

they supposed to use their discretion at all times? Who gives the final order?

Ontario Provincial Police Commissioner Julian “Little Mouselini” Fantino?

How many snipers have been assigned this time? No matter what, they do

not have a right to kill us to appease the corporations who run Canada. This

is the longtime strategy of a violent and brutal society built upon the memories

of the blood that was shed by our ancestors for the last 500 years. All because

we are protecting the ecosystem and our lives! Don’t they know that our job

is to protect the earth?

The OPP infiltrated into the chieftainship of the Algonquins to show other

Indigenous People how far they will go to take away our lands and rights.

Algonquin Chief Randy Cota, an OPP officer, will make sure the tanks can

come in. He will open the gates for them.

We have a suggestion on how the OPP and all colonial corporate governments

and their agencies can relieve themselves of their pent up urges to steal and

destroy everything in sight. They can start today and prepare for the global

synchronized “Orgasm for Peace” that is taking place on Winter Solstice Day,

Saturday, December 22nd, 2007. This is when everybody comes together to

change the energy field of the Earth through their input. It won’t work if you

don’t close your eyes. Make it easy on yourself and don’t resist, guys.

[coastalpost.com].

Indigenous People, supporters, do not fall for traps. The OPP will have someone

as an “agent provocateur” just like the Surete du Quebec did at Montibello.

Watch out for die hard trademarks like shiny ears.

This is part of an attempt at martial law for all of Turtle Island. Let us make sure

that the OPP or anyone does not provoke a violent confrontation. They need a

reason to impose “a police state”. In our experience with these kinds of sieges,

the police will stop communication, food and freedom of movement. The

corporate media will mislead the public. The “attack will not be televised”.

Only the retaliation that is staged for the public to be turned against us.

Cameras and video tapes need to be there with extra batteries and chargers.

Also international observers need to be inside to be the eyes and ears of the

world with an outlet for their reports.

Supporters are asked to join us as soon as possible. The Ardoch and Shabot

Lake Algonquins will remain peaceful. Police road blocks are usually set up

around a perimeter of anywhere from six to 10 miles or closer. Needed are

edical supplies, fresh water, food, tents, camping equipment, gas for the

generators, vehicles, boats and computers. Media should be inside and outside.

This has been in the works for sometime. There has been much traffic during

the night and day which is unusual. On Sunday police were parked up there

doing radar which is a first.

Canada and Ontario should keep their invading foreign forces off Algonquin

land. It is not a policing issue. It’s an international issue.

The unarmed and peaceful Algonquins and their supporters have been at the

barricade two months. They have held strong and continue to do so.

Contact: paulasherman@trentu.ca; chiefdoreen@aol.com; john@plentycanada.com; rcota@sympatico.ca

Kahentinetha Horn

MNN Mohawk Nation News

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies

activating an intelligent resurgence

carlos-ity — Tue, 01 May 2007 22:22:24 GMT

Perhaps you could use input from an Onkwehonwe and a Lakota? There have been deep words from "core-riors' about resurgence, about traditional/intuitive consciousness resurgence. ((This angle has been put together here by a white red/black/cosmic mutt, me))

The resurgence of the intuitive ancient within us all. To decolonize your mind-set, to inspire your imagination beyond the pale of same old again. To activate our dared imagination and begin going into the "heavenish" (great spirit) you want.

This is an honoring to a poet by the name of Antler....

and to all of the solemn dear deer people! And the Antelope who looked out through a wire fence in "colorado" and spoke to all who might listen....

Listen to words about resurgence by Okwehonwe core-rior:
http://web.uvic.ca/~gta/taiaiake/writing.htm

and, if you're a descendant of colonizers don't forget to hear from this heavily experienced Lakota wisdom keeper:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2005/04/06/17316871.php

How to respond with our intelligence, with our cruciaL ability, to severe alienation all around? Perhaps even to INTENSE alienation. How to intervene?

Of course you realize the value.

Do we intervene in the ways we have been conditioned? In the ways we have been encouraged by war-mind cult-ure? Or do we experiment with and add on to what others have been creating?

There are many ways, up to our imaginations, to respond. Some of you may realize the value of "arting yourself" --in order to "get in touch with" designing our lives so that we activate the "heavenish" we'd like to see on mOm eArtH

If this interests you, then challenge your imagination. Go into your fears. Explore, take chances, experiment, make mistakes.

We are *all* descendants of tribes. We have been reduced into all of these identities and beliefs that others have ordered us to uncritically accept. We can wake up to our power to accept or not accept, or find grey areas in between. We can wake up to our power to envision and become, not allowing any political correct conception, or other colonized chain-of-command way of being and seeing to artificially hold us back.

You may wish to respect others, good. What of *radically respecting* by able-ing your heart, your great spirit, your connections to mOm eArtH, your wisdom, your deep seeing (i.e. reaching through the pain to the heart of alienated, flailing folks), your living high on life?!

some insights into what i have been up to
www.angelfire.com/folk/magixnartz/flouggindex.html

posted in The Digital Rez - 2 replies

Sitting Bull 'GATHERING' Message

michael_irving — Thu, 31 May 2007 18:43:55 GMT

Sitting Bull 'GATHERING' Message

The 'GATHERING' message appears below my explanation.

I think it's time to tell the truth because we may be running out of time. Time has already run out for many people. I believe the following message is from the soul who was Sitting Bull. I am posting this message in support of the World Gathering, 25/26 August 2007.

I would rather this message, for the time being at least, not go far outside Indian / Native American circles. If Indians would like to pass it on to other Turtle Islanders - that is fine. If you wish to send it on to other of the world's indigenous peoples, and perhaps non-indigenous people, that is up to your choice. For now, it feels like this message should first-line go to native peoples of North America.

I have not promoted this message since the 'Start of the World Gathering for Truth' in 2000, however the message has sat quietly on the Internet in a few places since that time.

This message now appears on the Internet here:
http://www.worldgathering.net/worldgathering.html#crucial

Although this message is nine years old in origin I feel it is really meant for now: 2007 and the next year or two. I feel that because now really is the time for the Gathering. The world is getting dangerous, millions of people are dying in very unusual circumstances. And at the same time many people want to communicate and exchange the information and views they have.

In August 1998, I went to 'The Gathering' in north Wales, British Isles. A very large lodge had been built (please don't jump on my case as a knee-jerk reaction, the native Celts here had a very similar culture to the Indians of North America although, admittedly, the lodge had a distinctly North American feel).

Two medicine women came from North America. Also there was a psychic lady from Holland who brought a very interesting message which was read near the start of the gathering. As far as I remember she said the message was from 'White Wolf'. This message really got through to me, it was strong and clear and seemed to cut through the fog of our daily 'modern' lives.

I kept the Dutch woman's phone number, and in 1999, I phoned her up. She told me that 'White Wolf' is one of two names used by the soul who was Sitting Bull. He had come back, again, into my life. Around 1993, when friends and myself were close to hovering craft in the area of the crop patterns in southern England, many people were dreaming of Sitting Bull and were receiving messages to gather at the White Horse hill carvings, etc.

I have more memories of Sitting Bull, and an Indian lifetime I had, but they are personal.

I am not trying to pinch your culture, I have my own right now: native Celtic.

The only reason I am passing this message on - quite possibly from Sitting Bull - is because I feel it is important.

Please let us not waste time and effort throwing things at each other over whether this really is from Sitting Bull. Instead - I ask - we read the words and see if they may be important for our present situation, Then, above all else - let's take action.

A grumbling and building thunderstorm was over this area just before the opportunity appeared to send this to the indigenous people of North America.

World Gathering 25 & 26 August 2007
http://www.worldgathering.net

---------

The Planet Has Come To A Crucial Time – By Sitting Bull

Express your wishes and your truths. Now is the time to express your thoughts and feelings, your hopes, wishes and plans. Exchange the information and ideas you have. Your truths, that which humanity really wishes, have to be expressed.

The People and Ancestors who will come together shall ring in a return, a turn around. There will come a flow on earth which will burst the dark energies surrounding you and your planet.

It is very important that as many people as possible, in different places, should take part in The Gathering. Decide where and when and how to gather. Your participation is required. This is the beginning of the break we are all waiting for; you all on earth and ourselves, out here.

Trust your intuition, the planet is in trouble.

This is the beginning of the turn around.

Reconnect with your own spirit, the spirit of truth within you.

There were made some agreements which need to be complied with. You may be a part of this plan. Now is the time for action… local action... internet discussion… global debate. I tell you again: your participation is needed.

The next twelve months are crucial. Now is the time for the truth. It is time.

Tatanka Yotanka, The Sitting Bull

---------
Dan Evehema, Hopi Nation elder: “We are at the final stages now… so as our prophecy says. Then it must be up to the people with pure hearts that will not be afraid to help us to fulfil our destiny in peace for this world.”
---------

World Gathering 25 & 26 August 2007
http://www.worldgathering.net

posted in The Digital Rez - 6 replies

World Gathering - 25 & 26 August 2007

michael_irving — Thu, 31 May 2007 18:51:51 GMT

World Gathering - 25 & 26 August 2007

Please forward to friends, contacts and mailing lists.
---

World Gathering
- 25 & 26 August 2007
- Saturday and Sunday
http://www.worldgathering.net
http://www.michael-irving.com
(These 2 websites are mirror images of each other.)

- WORLD GATHERING 25 & 26 AUGUST 2007
- All Night Gathering On Hilltops Worldwide
- Use Powerful Flashlights To Signal Other Hilltops
- Time For The Gathering - New Dawn Coming
- Truth For The World - Peace For The World
- Global Meetings - Global Powwows
- The Truth Is Coming
- 25 & 26 AUGUST 2007 WORLD GATHERING
- HILLTOPS WORLDWIDE - BE THERE!

------------------
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." - Goethe
------------------
"A very great vision is needed and the person who
has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest
blue of the sky." - Chief Crazy Horse
------------------

WORLD GATHERING - August 2007
Saturday August 25 and Sunday August 26
Three Events In One .....
(1) Saturday - DAY: Meet with friends and
contacts and discuss the world situation.
(2) Saturday - NIGHT: Meet on a hilltop and
shine a beacon of hope through the night.
(3) Sunday - DAY: Meet with friends and
contacts and discuss the world situation.

The main details for the World Gathering are here:
http://www.worldgathering.net/gathering.html
http://www.michael-irving.com/gathering.html

Arrange Meetings, Powwows, and Hilltop 'Beacon'
vigils for Saturday and Sunday, 25th & 26th August.
Then, send your event details to the email on this page:
http://www.worldgathering.net/contact.html
http://www.michael-irving.com/contact.html

Details of LOCAL 'World Gatherings' will be displayed
under fourteen 'World Regions'; then by Country/Nation;
then by area, state, etc. The main index for the details
of LOCAL 'World Gatherings' is on this webpage:
http://www.worldgathering.net/events.html
http://www.michael-irving.com/events.html

The World Gathering is being launched at the end of
May, 2007, so there may not be many details at our
websites for Local Events until the end of June.

'What should I organise in my area for the World
Gathering?' - Ideas and suggestions on this webpage:
http://www.worldgathering.net/yourevent.html
http://www.michael-irving.com/yourevent.html

Join our Google and/or Yahoo Newsletter lists:
http://groups.google.com/group/worldgathering
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/worldgathering

Watch a short, 'World Gathering' slideshow video at
either Google Video or YouTube. Search at Google
Video or YouTube for: 'WORLD GATHERING'.

Please help publicise this unusual and unique global
linkup. Print out posters; place a WG banner on your
website; forward our Update mailings to your friends,
contacts, and mailing lists; and tell friends about
the World Gathering video at Google and YouTube.
Ideas and materials for WG promotion here:
http://www.worldgathering.net/publicity.html
http://www.michael-irving.com/publicity.html

------------------
"Use every letter you write, every conversation
you have, every meeting you attend, to express your
fundamental beliefs and dreams. Affirm to others
the vision of the world you want."
- Dr Robert Muller, formerly of the U.N.
------------------
“We are at the final stages now… so as our prophecy
says. Then it must be up to the people with pure hearts
that will not be afraid to help us to fulfil our destiny
in peace for this world.” - Dan Evehema, Hopi Nation
------------------

Additional 'World Gathering' inspiration here:
http://www.worldgathering.net/worldgathering.html
http://www.michael-irving.com/worldgathering.html

- WORLD GATHERING 25 & 26 AUGUST 2007
- All Night Gathering On Hilltops Worldwide
- Use Powerful Flashlights To Signal Other Hilltops
- Time For The Gathering - New Dawn Coming
- Truth For The World - Peace For The World
- Global Meetings - Global Powwows
- The Truth Is Coming
- 25 & 26 AUGUST 2007 WORLD GATHERING
- HILLTOPS WORLDWIDE - BE THERE!

World Gathering
25 & 26 August 2007
http://www.worldgathering.net
http://www.michael-irving.com
(These 2 websites are mirror images of each other.)

Please forward to friends, contacts and mailing lists.

Thank you. World Gathering.

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies

RIP Fukkerpantz

nikkrokk — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:00:22 GMT

http://www.yakima-herald.com/obit/show/3407

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies

Tomorrow a Lakota warrior will pour cement

Renard — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 03:20:26 GMT

Every spring is special.
But not every spring offers so much hope to Lakota families for a better tomorrow.

My friends and I have a non-profit organization called Trees, Water & People that works on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota. We have installed more than 140 solar heating systems for families there and planted windbreak trees and shade trees for an additional 160+ families.

Tomorrow... a new spring cycle starts for us.

Tomorrow the descendent of Chief Red Cloud - Henry Red Cloud - a lakota elder and 21st century Oglala Sioux warrior will pour concrete - for a wind turbine that he and I and others will install in May. The concrete needs time to cure before it will be ready.

In a few weeks...on April 26 about 15 of us will arrive in Pine Ridge to plant more trees. We will also bring six fire dancers and continue to bring the "Dance of Fire" to our Lakota friends. While the Lakota have been dancing for 10,000 years... we who are not Native Americans have at least a few moves worthy of sharing... :>)

On May 7-8 at Rosebud - we will plant more "energyscape" trees - trees planted in ways aimed to lower outrageously high Lakota utility bills. On May 9 we will participate with Rosebud and national tribal leaders in putting on a 1/2 day renewable energy conference.

On May 10th we will go to the Little Thunder family home and install a demonstration solar electric system and on May 11th we will install a demonstration wind turbine.

Our goal is to develop new ways to work WITH nature... that are culturally appropriate and help real families with real problems.

It is not for me to worry about the past but to rather build a better future.... one family at a time.

I hope you will too.

Check out our work at www.treeswaterpeople.org .... or email me at richard@treeswaterpeople.org

We could use your support and involvement in spreading this approach and technology to other tribes...

Richard Fox

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies

Looking for a Rez

theresistance — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 21:46:35 GMT

O-Si-Yo, I'm looking for a Reservation, particularly in the central U.S., AR. OK. KS. AZ. NM. CO. UT. S.D. N.D. and NE. are my interests.
I'm a Two Spirit. I make Moccasins, Leatherwork, Beadwork, all kinds of Native Handcrafts.
I'm looking to join a new Lodge, my interest is really Cherokee because that's what I can speak. I'm a Fire Keeper and I'm training to bee a Sweat Master, I can already conduct and lead a Sweat Ceremony but I don't have the proper tools yet.
If anyone knows a Lodge (A-Ni-Pi) that needs any of this or some work in trade for just a place to sleep at night, that would bee great...
Bold as Love, David _-=StOmPiNSiLLy=-_

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies

Racism in Navajo Country

fatherwolf — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 18:09:32 GMT

"This all started with a beating in Farmington in June. A 47-year-old Navajo man who was offered a ride by three white teenagers in Farmington was driven to the outskirts of town, beaten with a stick and punched and kicked. He said they used racial slurs as they pummeled him." - Salon .com

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/09/02/navajo/index_np.html

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_4044405

posted in The Digital Rez - 2 replies

Actual THUNDERBIRD photos

Indian in the machine — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 20:10:19 GMT

Hi Folks

Some images of Thunderbirds.

http://www.spiritfindermusic.com/AMAZINGSASKATCHEWANSKYIMAGES.html

Peace and abundance

Dieter
Indian in the machine

posted in The Digital Rez - 6 replies

for those in or near southern Oregon

wayusa-warmi — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 19:27:45 GMT

Got this in email:

Dear Friends, Help keep the Spirit of First Nations' Day going!

Come Join Us for a Day of Storytelling, Feasting and Traditional Native
Singing

With the Whistling Elk Drum Group

And 16 Native Storytellers (see list below)

Pot -Luck Style Dinner - Families are Welcome

This is a Free Event - No Drugs or Alcohol,

Thursday December 21st, Bellview Grange, 1050 Tolman Cr. Rd. Ashland

12:00 noon till whenever, with a Dinner break

Sponsored by Red Earth Descendants, www.redearthdescendants.org

Other Sponsors Include: R.C.C. Weou Toka Native Club, S.O.U. Native
American Student Union, and Fry Bread Man. In Collaboration with Web
Spirit Community

Storytellers (in alphabetical order)

Roy Bainbridge, Navajo

Terry Chocktoot, Klamath

Brent Florindo, Warm Springs

Pony Gilbert, Apache

Robert Owens Greygrass, Lakota

Nick Hall, Kiowa/Comanche

Teresa Hall, Apache

Roy Hayes, Nez Perce (Grandson of Chief Joseph)

Benson Lanford, Cherokee

Ed Little Crow, Dakota

Agnes Baker Pilgrim, Takelma/Siletz

Jim Prevatt, Shasta

Gerald Skelton, Klamath

Tom Smith, Cherokee

Gerry Smith,

David West, Potawatomi

And more ..

NEXT DAY:

Longhouse Meeting

Friday, December 22 2006, 10:30am - 12:00pm

Following the Storytelling event we would cordially like to invite you
to a Longhouse Meeting scheduled for Friday, December 22nd @ 10:30AM.
We are fortunate to have Roy Hayes Jr., Great Grandson of Chief Joseph
of the Nez Perce to be coming down both for the Storytelling Conference
and the Longhouse Meeting. This is a public event and we would like to
invite all people who are interested in attending. Like the
Storytelling Conference and all Native gatherings this too is a
potluck. Longhouse meetings are for all Nations and are a gathering
where the drums and songs are used in a traditional way, and the floor
is opened up to members of the community to express themselves. Please
join us on this day following the Solstice Storytelling Event.

Location: California and Quincy @ the Family Student Housing Center,
Community Building - Ashland (Look for the Clock Tower)

AND ON NEW YEAR'S DAY

New Year's Pow-wow

Grants Pass Boys & Girls Club . 203 SE 9th Street . Grants
Pass, OR 97526 . (541) 479-1923

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies

Renewable Energy and the Lakota

Renard — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:42:42 GMT

My name is Richard Fox and I am a friend of the Lakota. I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to our work on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota.

I work with the non-profit organization, Trees, Water & People. For the last 5 years, we have been working with the Lakota to improve their living conditions and lower their outrageously high utility bills. We have been doing this by introducing renewable energy approaches that counteract the harsher side of nature. Since many Lakota live in substandard homes and suffer greatly from the weather on the Great Plains, we feel it is a good way to be helpful.

Specifically, we install supplementary solar heat systems that produce heat any time the sun is out for just pennies a day. We also plant trees as windbreaks to lessen the impact of the very fierce north winter wind that blows off the Badlands and sometimes creates ice INSIDE family’s homes. Finally, we plant shade trees to give relief from the relentless summer heat.

We have provided solar heat systems for more than 120 Lakota families. We have additionally planted windbreak and shade trees for more than 125 additional families.

It does not solve ALL of the problems there by any means, but it is what WE can do...and we all can do something.

Truth is... we cannot change the PAST where two cultures clashed and much blood was spilled. We CAN though help to build a better FUTURE, where tribal people are respected and we work together to make a stronger and more united nation.

Our projects are successful because we work WITH nature, and by doing so, we blend new renewable energy approaches with traditional Lakota beliefs.

In the spring of 2007, we will be involved in also installing a wind turbine and a solar photovoltaic system as renewable energy demonstrations as part of the “Clean Energy Education Partnership” with the Rosebud tribe. This will take place in May during a two-day workshop. Both installations will produce electricity and will greatly lower the utility costs of the Little Thunder family.

Additionally in the spring of 2007, we will once again take a small group of people to the Pine Ridge reservation to help us plant trees there. It is no doubt very hard work, but QUITE the powerful experience, with most of us camping out for several days in the community of Oglala. There are a variety of other cultural and interactive activities that will take place then also.

If you are interested in possibly coming and helping or want to learn more about what we are doing or help in other ways, feel free to contact me directly (richard@treeswaterpeople.org) or visit our website (www.treeswaterpeople.org).

Thank you for your time and for your caring thoughts and I apologize for cross posting this on several of my tribe sites

Richard

posted in The Digital Rez - 0 replies