Lori Piestewa's Dream Comes True

Reprinted from the May 28th edition of The Arizona Republic
– Opinions/Letter to the Editor

The writer is the brother of Lori Piestewa. He writes for the Piestewa family.

It was a dream of my sister, Lori Piestewa, to one day build or buy a house in Flagstaff for her children and parents.

From Kuwait, in early 2003, she’d often write that she was unsure about her role in this war or what her fate would be, but she was always sure of one thing: Her two children would be taken care of.

How could she have had the vision, the foresight, the ability to see what lay ahead?

She knew. Probably even when lying awake at night in her room at Fort Bliss, or trying to sleep through the sandstorms on the desert floors of Kuwait, or on a hospital gurney in Iraq during her final hours in this world, she knew someday, somehow, it would happen.

The people of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” figured it out, too. So did the people of Shea Homes, the San Manuel Band of Native Americans, the American Indian Council of Governments, Cavco, Breuners and thousands of businesses and individuals who volunteered their time and services to fulfill a worthwhile dream.

What happened is not about a big house in the country, status, power or money. It is about a spirit that, when harnessed, can make the world a better place.

Lori figured it out as she boarded a plane for Iraq, and in her special moment in time earned a place where she will always be able to carry on her legacy – a legacy of giving!

To the givers: There are no words nor any miraculous deeds that could begin to repay for what you have given to our family.

You have blessed us with your thoughtful contributions of time and love. We are eternally grateful to each of you, and we ask that you and yours be blessed with love and happiness each day of your lives.

You are truly the catchers of dreams.
Wayland Piestewa, Tuba City, AZ

Sorry about the delay in setting up a new article. Having many computer problems. Found it strange in Wayland’s letter there is no mention of Jessica Lynch – Lori’s sister soldier and best friend. It is my understanding it was Jessica who first approached the ABC “Extreme Makeover Show” with the idea for the Piestewa home - b

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

For news and information on Native American and First Nations actors, go to Annie's site at www.NativeCelebs.com and follow the threads.

The Conservative View by Ken Hughes:
http://hughes-report.blogspot.com

Abramoff Investigated For Defrauding Tribes

This article comes from SHO-BAN News, Fort Hall Idaho. The official Newspaper of the Shoshone Bannock Indian Tribe.

Submitted by Ken Lynch

WASHINGTON (AP) - Lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a close associate of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, says his efforts on behalf of American Indian tribes were well worth the multimillion-dollar fees he charged.

Abramoff is under investigation for his work involving the tribes' casino interests.In an interview with Time magazine, he also said he regretted the language he used to describe his Indian clients in e-mails, saying the words were ``more common to a drill sergeant or a football coach.''In the messages, he referred to his Indian clients as monkeys, troglodytes, morons and the 'stupidest idiots in the land'."

Abramoff and associate Michael Scanlon have collected at least $66 million from six tribes, including the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. A federal grand jury and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee are investigating allegations that they defrauded the tribal clients of millions of dollars.

Scanlon is a former aide to DeLay, R-Texas. House Democrats are seeking an ethics inquiry into DeLay's acceptance of special interest-financed trips arranged by Abramoff.

"The return on investment for these tribes, and all my clients, is far better than anything they or we could have imagined,'' Abramoff told Time. "They realize that spending millions to save billions is just good business.''

Reports show the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and three other tribes each paid Abramoff $180,000 monthly. The Choctaws alone paid him $11 million since 1998.

NATIVE WINS NATIONAL HEALTH AWARD

Bonny Beach, a Cherokee/Cheyenne and board treasurer for the American Indian Prevention Coalition in Phoenix is among the ten individuals singled out for their work to improve community health. She will receive $120,000 from the Robert Wood Johnson Community Health Leadership Program.

She established a non-profit agency to curb alcoholism, substance abuse and violence among young adults. In 1997, Beach co-founded the American Indian Prevention Coalition that later developed NDNS4Wellness Behavioral Health Agency.

The agency includes a 30-bed residential treatment program to help teenagers break alcohol and drug habits. It also treats about 75 youths each week through an outpatient clinic. In addition, the agency provides education and prevention programs at five high schools throughout the Phoenix area.

It is preparing to open a workforce development center called Pathfinders that will employ 18-year olds to make custom embroidery, leather and printed products.

Beach said the goal of the American Indian Prevention Coalition is to improve the health of Native Americans in part by “restoring their cultural and spiritual traditions”.

This article has been edited for length and content from a May 23rd story in The Arizona Republic bylined Kerry Fehr-Snyder.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

For news and information on Native American and First Nations actors, go to Annie's site at www.NativeCelebs.com and follow the threads.

The Conservative View by Ken Hughes:
http://hughes-report.blogspot.com

Native Vote 2004!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Olympia, WA. May 17, 2005) – The First American Education Project today released its latest report; “Native Vote 2004: A National Survey and Analysis of Efforts to Increase the Native Vote in 2004, and the Results Achieved”. The full report can be found at http://www.first-americans.net/Publications.htm

The study and resulting report, authored by Russ Lehman from the First American Education Project and Alyssa Macy of the Center for Civic Participation was conducted and produced in order to “examine the state of Native participation in the American electoral process … and the specific impact of the effort in 2004 to dramatically increase that participation.”

Across the country, federal and state campaigns in 2004 saw candidates and political parties pay dramatically increased attention to Native American voters. As a result of the impact Native voters had in major state and federal races (the defeat of Slade Gorton -WA. 2000, and the victories of Tim Johnson -S.D. 2002, and Janet Napolitano - AZ. 2002) unprecedented efforts occurred in 2004 to secure the support of Native communities.

The reports’ findings conclude “Overall, Native participation grew … a small amount in some places… tremendously in others. The extent to which increases occurred were directly tied to the presence of …the first-of-its-kind national Native Vote effort (which) can be credited with a near perfect record in directly resulting in increased participation.

“Native Americans are impacted every day by the decisions of local, state and federal policy makers. The importance of helping determine who those people are cannot be overstated. Though there is never a guarantee that any one vote will decide an election, to not vote is to guarantee it won’t.”, the report finds.

The report found that eligible Native Americans voters will show the highest participation rates in elections in which candidates are speaking directly to them on issues which affect their lives. Further, in what is likely to stay a much divided electorate in many parts of the country, the role Native voters’ play in the outcomes will only increase.

The report was sponsored by the National Congress of American Indians. The FAEP, a non-profit and non-partisan organization founded and directed entirely by Tribal leaders, is widely recognized nationally for its work in public opinion research, education and public affairs.

CAMPUS PROGRESS NATIONAL STUDENT CONFERENCE

On July 13, more than 500 progressive students from college and university campuses across the country will gather in Washington, DC., for the first annual Campus Progress National StudentConference.

A one-day crash course that explores progressive student leadership from an insider's perspective, the Conference will feature a powerful schedule of skill-building workshops; effective advocacy and media training seminars; and panels and forums led by some ofthe top progressive newsmakers we've been talking about atCampusProgress.org.

This is a chance for progressive students to connect and networkwith other students, top political leaders, policy experts, and journalists from all over the country. It's an opportunity todirectly engage with Campus Progress by sharing your stories, your campus strategies, and your views. It's a time for you to speak up about the issues that matter most to you.

Most of you know that Campus Progress, a project of the Center forAmerican Progress, is a brand-new effort to strengthen progressive voices on college and university campuses nationwide; counter the growing influence of right-wing groups on campus; and empower new generations of progressive leaders.

Campus Progress includes:
(1) A dynamic multimedia Internet publication, Campus Progress.org.
(2) Funding, training, and mentoring for student publications on more
than a dozen campuses already.
(3) A campus speakers bureau that, in our first two months, already has sponsored over 40 speaking events.
(4) Conferences and training sessions for students, starting with this July 13th program.

Among those who have already participated in the work of Campus Progress by speaking at our events or contributing to our website are: Jeff Chang, Margaret Cho, Larry David, Howard Dean, Elizabeth Edwards, Dave Eggers, Thomas Frank, Al Franken, Seymour Hersh, OmerIsmail, Alexis McGill, Barack Obama, Susan Rice, Al Sharpton, Gayle Smith, Jim Wallis, and numerous talented students and other young people who are activists, policy analysts, and journalists.

From 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on July 13, students will join us at the brand new Washington Convention Center, blocks from the White House in the heart of downtown Washington, D.C. Any student starting or returning to college or university in 2005 can apply to attend.

Students -- whatever you do, DON'T WAIT! Attendance is free, and applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until June 15, 2005. Space is limited, and the event will fill up quickly.

Register now by visiting
http://www.campusprogress.org/page/s/conferencereg.

For more information about local housing options and/or travel arrangements, or to get answers to your questions about the conference, please contact our conference coordinator, Peggy Cusack 571.321.0650, e-mail at progress@capitolnetworkinc.com.

Thank you,
Amalia and Alyssa
Questions: 612-879-7578

Alyssa Macy
Political Development & Policy Director
Email: alyssa@centerforcivicparticipation.org

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

For news and information on Native American and First Nations actors, go to Annie's site at www.NativeCelebs.com and follow the threads.

The Conservative View by Ken Hughes:
http://hughes-report.blogspot.com

Natives Who Live In Straw Houses

are easing the housing shortage on reservations with the help of the Red Feather Development Group of Bozeman, Montana.

Similar to Habitat For Humanity, the Group educates and empowers American Indian Nations to create sustainable solutions to the severe housing crisis within reservation communities. Red Feather teaches affordable approaches to home construction through the basic use of materials found on reservations, like straw in bales.

Yeah, the stuff tossed out of pickups to feed the horses. It was discovered that when stacked straw bales are netted and stuccoed they create a sturdy wall and become an excellent
source of home insulation.

This all began seven years ago when Robert Young of Seattle, Washington – a former resort clothing manufacturer – was shocked to read an article about Native American elders found frozen to death every year in their own reservation homes because of a lack of heat, electricity and running water.

Of the 2.5 million tribal members living on American Indian reservations, more than 300,000 are homeless or living in life-threatening situations. Thousands more live in substandard, over-crowded conditions.

Young decided to “adopt a native elder” through a national charity and flew to the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota to met his adopted grandmother, Katherine Red Feather, a Lakota–Sioux.

After seeing Red Feather’s living conditions, an abandoned trailer, Young spent two years recruiting friends and raising money, then partnered with the University of Washington to learn how to build homes using local materials.

Young’s dream of just building one house for Katherine Red Feather has grown into an organization named in her honor. Volunteers have completed 35 building projects on reservations in Washington, Montana, and South Dakota, all highly endorsed by the likes of Oprah and Robert Redford.

The latest project is in Hotevilla, AZ where a straw model for 60 year old Mary Tenakhongva home has just been completed to solve a housing crisis in this remote community on the Hopi Reservation in the northeastern part of the state.

Tenakhongva and her daughter and granddaughter had been living in a stone house with no water or electricity. About four years ago, when she was serving on the village Council, she began to look for a way to build affordable housing in the village.

She looked at molded concrete, tires, cans and bottle but was most intrigued with the straw bale concept of construction. A random phone call got Tenakhongva in touch with Red Feather Development. Her approach attracted their attention. “I have a problem that is similar to many other tribal members. We need housing on this reservation and we need to be involved in the construction.”

Tenakhongva’s home is the first of Red Feather’s Elder Housing Initiative in Hotevilla. Although it will take years to meet the current housing demand as a result of overcrowding on the reservation, Red Feather offers one solution – one straw bale home at a time.

The organization brought in volunteers from 15 states to work alongside Hopi tribal members for weeklong stints during the month of April.

Young maintains his organization is teaching people how to build their own communities. “We’ve gone to straw bale because it’s more volunteer and community friendly. People can see us stacking straw. We tell them the big blocks of straw are like adult legos and the stucco process is like a mud fight. It’s done by hand and it’s quick. You can stucco an entire building in one coat in two and a half hours.”

Tenakhongva’s finished home is 1,000 square feet, has two bedrooms, one bath and costs about $55,000 to build. (How times have changed. Our family's two bedroom, one bath home cost $6,800 in 1950.)

Hey guys and gals, thinking “summer vacation”? Why not volunteer your services to building straw bale homes for Red Feather Development and reservation Indians. For volunteer information, go to http://www.redfeather.org/.

This column has been edited for length and content with information gathered from the Red Feather Development Group website; Oprah’s Angel Network and The Arizona Republic in an article bylined Judy Nickols.

TAKE BACK AMERICA CONFERENCE

We strongly encourage you to fill out an application to become an "Emerging Progressive Leader" and attend Campaign for America's Future's 2005 Take Back America Conference held from June 1st to June 3rd.

Campaign for America's Future is offering one hundred free registrations for the conference and as a recognized emerging leader you will have the opportunity to network, socialize and meet the progressive leaders of today.

Campaign for America's Future is a center for issue advocacy, communications, and coalition building to forge a new American majority for progressive reform. It is shaping forward-looking alliances around strategic policy initiatives to produce expanded economic opportunity, social justice, a healthy environment, and a more democratic society.

The Take Back America Conference is the biggest progressive gathering of the year. It brings thousands of progressive activists, thinkers and leaders together to discuss our community's vision, unite our groups and train our campaign organizers.

The conference is a catalyst for building the infrastructure we need to ensure
that the voice of the progressive majority is heard. From Howard Dean to John Edwards to Jesse Jackson to Hillary Clinton, Take Back America is always an envious and high profile occasion.

Campaign for America's Future's website, www.ourfuture.org, to find out more information about the organization and conference. Be sure to write (the name of your organization) in the section that asks you to list "Honors, Awards, Fellowships and Leadership Positions."

Notice that Campaign for America's future is offering free registration
but not free travel (we will leave it up to you to decide how you want to handle that). Your application will be looked at thoroughly and we are confident that you will be seen as a strong candidate.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

For news and information on Native American and First Nations actors, go to Annie's site at www.NativeCelebs.com and follow the threads.

The Conservative View by Ken Hughes:
http://hughes-report.blogspot.com

A 'Bush Tale' In The Black Hills

The information for this op/ed piece came from an Associated Press report in the May 15th issue of The Yuma Daily Sun - bobbie

A park official wants to show the Indian perception of Mount Rushmore Memorial Park in South Dakota, but whose perception is it? The Bush administration’s version of what Native Americans should believe about Mt. Rushmore and the four huge granite faces of American presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Roosevelt or the Native American version that the faces are a symbol of treaties broken by the federal government.

The man who will tell the story is Mt. Rushmore Park superintendent Gerard Baker, himself, an American Indian who completes his first year on the job at the end of this month.

“What I want to do,” Baker said, “is to educate America, including Indian people, children, mainly, as to how the Indian people lived before the coming of the white man.”

Baker is a member of the Mandan/Hidatsa tribes and acknowledges he doesn’t like controversy but deals with it because of his desire to educate people and challenge them to learn more about different cultures.

One of the memorial’s most ardent opponents is Charmaine White Face who heads Defenders of the Black Hills. She said, “Many of us consider this to be our treaty territory. Mount Rushmore is an insult because the Black Hills are sacred,”

Although White Face complimented Baker for his educational philosophy she has conflicting emotions about his holding the Park’s highest post. She believes his presence, as top official, implies to the millions of tourists who visit the park every year that the Natives agree with that “monstrosity (the granite faces), that desecration of sacred land.”

Baker said he took the job only after talking to the family and elders at the Fort Berthhold Indian Reservation where he grew up.

In the end, he decided he could put the position to good through informing park visitors about a part of U.S. history they may not be familiar with. The truth about the government breaking treaties with the American Indian tribes? He said he eventually plans to include that information in future talks, but not yet.

Instead, he wants to tell his 3 million people per year audience not only about teepees and horses and battles but families. What did grandma do? What did grandpa do? What did the kids do?

“We know about the breaking of the treaties, the taking of the Black Hills but I’m not too concerned at this point to get that message out right away.”

I’ll bet White Face is concerned. So so am I. I feel we have a right to be concerned about another “Bush Tale”.

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

For news and information on Native American and First Nations actors, go to Annie's site at www.NativeCelebs.com and follow the threads.

The Conservative View by Ken Hughes:
http://hughes-report.blogspot.com

A Farewell Tribute To Mary Dann

Submitted by Ken Hughes

Posted: May 12, 2005
by: Steven Newcomb / Indigenous Law Institute

On Saturday morning, April 30, 2005, Dann family members, relatives, friends and supporters gathered at the Dann family ranch in Crescent Valley, in the Western Shoshone Territory (Nevada), to honor Mary Dann.

As white billowing clouds hovered in the distance above beautiful desert mountain peaks, people gathered in remembrance of Western Shoshone elder Mary Dann, who died on Earth Day, April 22, while checking a fence line at the Dann ranch.

Western Shoshone spiritual leader Corbin Harney said a prayer in the Shoshone language and blessed the food. He reminded everyone that Mother Earth provides us with all the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe and the land we live on.

He advised everyone to stay mindful of this fact.A number of Mary's immediate family members reminisced about Mary's life and told everyone how much they had learned from her wisdom and from the powerful example that she set.

Carrie Dann stated that her sister would want everyone to be strong and stand tall, respectful and dignified. Deborah Harry, a Paiute activist and executive director of the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism, who travels a lot internationally, told everyone that she continually meets indigenous women in other parts of the world who view Mary and Carrie Dann as role models and a source of inspiration for their own human rights struggles.

A small black and white photograph of Mary was handed out to those attending the honoring. The photo shows a gray cloud-streaked sky above the vast expanse of the land in Crescent Valley. Mary is seen sitting among the sagebrush on the desert terrain, looking out across the land. Desert mountains appear in the distance.

The following text is printed on the back of the photo:''Mary Dann, born in Eureka County Nevada to Dewey and Sophie Dann on January 1, 1923. Our Beloved Daughter, Sister, Auntie, Gagoo, Friend and Inspiration, left this world on April 22, 2005.

She will return to mother earth, her voice will be heard in the whispering wind.She reminds us that we are loved. Her desire is for her people to take up the good fight and do what is right.

Mary may be gone but never forgotten. People traveled from as far away as Connecticut, Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego and Reno, and from many Shoshone communities in Nevada.

They came to pay their respects to an indigenous woman with unwavering resolve who will be dearly missed; a woman who was determined, to her last breath, to resist efforts by the U.S. government to suppress the traditional Western Shoshones.

She, her sister Carrie, and other Western Shoshones vehemently opposed and continue to oppose efforts by the United States to force a monetary payment upon them for Western Shoshone lands described in the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley.Western Shoshones, such as the Danns; the Western Shoshone National Council; and the Te-Moak Tribal Council say the disputed lands still rightfully belong to the Western Shoshones as recognized in the Ruby Valley Treaty.

The Dann family has lived for generations in the specific region of the Western Shoshone territory where the Dann ranch is located.In the 1970s, the United States filed a lawsuit against the Danns for grazing cattle on what the U.S. government claimed was U.S. ''public lands.'' The United States claimed that the Danns were trespassing on ''public lands'' by grazing their cattle without having obtained a permit from the United States.

The Danns took the position that they should not have to get a permit from the United States to graze cattle on Western Shoshone lands recognized by treaty. Mary Dann often said, "Show me the document by which Western Shoshone land was transferred to the U.S. and we will step aside.

The case went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, only for the court to rule against the Danns because the government had paid itself some $26 million dollars for Western Shoshone lands, or roughly 15 cents an acre on average. By 2004, this amount had, with interest, accumulated to some $140 million.

Last summer, Sens. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and John Ensign (R-Nev.), along with Rep. Jim Gibbons, (R-Nev.), succeeded in getting a bill passed through Congress to distribute the monies to Western Shoshones for lands the United States says were taken from the Western Shoshones by ''gradual encroachment.'' President Bush then signed the distribution bill.

In 2002, despite the Treaty of Ruby Valley - despite the lack of any specific evidence that the Western Shoshones ever ceded or relinquished their land rights and despite the lack of any evidence that the United States ever engaged in a specific taking of Western Shoshone lands - armed agents of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management stole hundreds of cattle and horses from the Danns and other Western Shoshones, such as Raymond Yowell and Myron Tybo, to punish them both economically and emotionally. At the time, Carrie referred to such actions as ''domestic terrorism'' by the federal government.

Mary Dann and her sister Carrie received international recognition for their work to protect Western Shoshone rights. They worked together courageously and tirelessly to maintain a traditional Western Shoshone lifestyle, culturally and spiritually rooted in the land. In addition to facing off with the U.S. government, the Danns have fought against the poisoning of Western Shoshone land and water by international gold mining corporations and by the nuclear bombing of their lands.

At the April 30th honoring of Mary, Carrie Dann assured everyone in attendance that ''the work'' will continue. However, she also spoke of the need for younger Western Shoshones to begin to assume a greater role in maintaining the struggle to protect the Western Shoshone ancestral homeland.

Another Western Shoshone woman from a neighboring community spoke of the need for Western Shoshones as a whole to come together and fight for their rights.Western Shoshone elder Mary McCloud, who was unable to attend the gathering, said of the Dann sisters: ''Shame on the United States for trying to strip them of their land'' and for taking their livestock.

In a released statement, Carrie said: ''Mary would want us to be strong. She believed in living her life for the protection of her family, the life - the sacred (the land, the air, the water, the sun) - and for the future generations ... I will continue to do this, even with my sister gone ... We must always remember the future generations and protect the sacred things so that the little ones coming behind us will be OK. The struggle will go on.''

After everyone had eaten at the honoring, a strong spring rain moved in from the west and blessed the greening Earth.

Steven Newcomb, Shawnee/Lenape, is the Indigenous Law Research Coordinator at Kumeyaay Community College, a co-founder and co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute, and an award-winning columnist for Indian Country Today.

By using this service, you accept the our Terms of Use and Privacy Statement.© 1998 - 2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

For news and information on Native American and First Nations actors, go to Annie's site at www.NativeCelebs.com and follow the threads.

The Conservative View by Ken Hughes:
http://hughes-report.blogspot.com

New Rule Opens National Forests To Development

Submitted by Jeanne Bedell-Mashkikinabinais

By John Heilprin, Associated Press writer

Washington – The last 58.5 million acres of untouched national forests, which President Clinton had set aside for protection, were opened recently to possible logging, mining and other commercial uses by the Bush administration.

New rules from the U.S. Forest Service cover some of the most pristine federal land in 38 states and Puerto Rico. Ninety-seven percent of it is in 12 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Governors can submit petitions within 18 months to stop road building on some 34.3 million acres where it would now be permitted or request that new forest management land be written to allow the construction on some of the other 24.2 million acres.

Many officials make it clear much of the land will remain untouched. The Forest Service will have the final say over the governor’s petitions. But the agency is creating an advisory committee to help put the rule in place.

The agency said petitions from the states could be based in requests to protect public health and safety; reduce wildfire risks; conserve wildlife habitat; maintain dams, utilities or other public works; or ensure that people have access to their private property.

Jim Angell, a lawyer with the Earthjustice law firm, said plaintiffs already are lining up to challenge the changes that were announced on May 5th.

The column was edited for content and length.

Jeanne writes:

The above story is a link to the unedited article below that brought tears to my eyes, because as a Native American who virtually grew up around the north woods and continues to visit the north woods, many people in this country can't see as I do the trashing of the environment that may not be here for our grandchildren.

As I travel north through Minnesota through Wisconsin to Duluth and on to Michigan I am appalled at the clear cutting, water pollution from paper processing plants. The crowds as I see through my eyes, ravaging on to obtain lake front property and harboring boats on water that you shouldn’t even touch with your hands because you may stir up toxins.

Pristine it is, as the rising sun dances across the water like twinkling stars, little do people realize that it’s what you can’t see that could hurt you; it’s what you don’t try to understand that will succumb to annihilation of the future generations and our Native people who have lived in the north woods for thousands of years.

This article represents the worst attempt at trying to sway the American public that it is not going to hurt the ecosystem, or the oldest trees left of the great national forests. Again we do not see what’s underneath or care to know, trusting that our government knows best so we will do nothing to stop the logging, further devastation of the last old growth forests.

How sad it is to realize that these national forests possibly provide for a balance when fossil fuels continue to pollute the air? I am just one person, a person in the masses of people, who sees something that could be possibly be the end to truly natural preserved forests that have been there for millenniums, who Presidents before have fought to protect for all the people. This ruling affects 38 states, what will be left before time will expose new subdivisions, malls?

We must get this out, as this article states:

GOVERNORS CAN SUBMIT PETITIONS WITHIN 18 MONTHS TO STOP ROAD BUILDING ON SOME OF THE 34.3 MILLION ACRES

So this will benefit who? People who made a choice to move next door to national forests and we should accommodate them to have road access so they can get to their destinations faster? Reduce wildfire risk? Why not move the people out of there, because it is the HUMAN who puts national forests at risk. Below the article further suggests-

“The states could be based on requests to protect public health and safety: reduce wildfire risks: conserve wildfire habitat: maintain dams, utilities or other public works; ensure that people have road access to their private property.”

Why not use this new ruling for governors to make a last ditch effort to stop this from happening?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/roadless_forests

Jeanne Bedell-mashkikinabinais

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

For news and information on Native American and First Nations actors, go to Annie's site at www.NativeCelebs.com and follow the threads.

The Conservative View by Ken Hughes:
http://hughes-report.blogspot.com

The Ironworker – Pride And Native Unity

There is a saying in Native circles: The Iroquois built the East Coast, the Navajo built the West Coast.

According to a story in "The Arizona Republic" bylined Angela Cara Pancrazio, Native Americans account for one third of the 66 ironworkers building the new convention center in downtown Phoenix. Most of them are Navajos but others represent the Mohawk, Sioux and Apache tribes.

The Mohawks of Canada and Northern New York State are legendary for walking steel and erecting such monuments as the Empire State and Chrysler building and Rockefeller Center. Many of them came from the St. Regis Indian Reservation at Hogansburg, now known as Akwesasne, just east along the St. Lawrence River of my hometown, Massena, New York.

The Mohawks helped to build the World Trade Center’s twin towers and in the fall of 2001, a younger generation of Mohawks returned to New York to clear the twisted metal from the 9/11 site.

Their history with ironwork goes back to the 1880’s when Iroquois men were hired to build a railroad bridge in exchange for permission to include a piece of that bridge on their reservation.

From that time on, generations of Mohawk ironworkers followed one another to the urban areas to earn a good living at a trade that held a sense of pride.

“We were so good at climbing around,” said Richard Glazer-Danay, a retired Mohawk ironworker. ”From there in, we did ironwork. “You grow up with it. It’s good pay, you go to the union hall with your dad. It’s a family tradition, a tribal tradition. Everybody does it!”


The young Danay worked on the Verranzo-Narrows Bridge that connects Brooklyn and Staten Island in New York City. Two of his uncles were among the ironworkers photographed in the 1930’s atop a beam with the city far below during the construction of the Rockefeller Center. That famous photograph has become the symbol for ironworkers across the country.

What started with the Mohawk Tribe on the US-Canadian Border spread among American Indians from Boston to Philadelphia to Chicago and then west as a way to earn a good wage and gain an honorable reputation.

There’s always been speculation as to why Native Americans are so comfortable doing ironwork at such heights. Forty something Louis Pronovost, a member of the Mohawk tribe and the oldest of his crew, has had year to explore that speculation.

“Anybody who says they’re not afraid of heights is lying,” says Pronovost.”You run around at 60 stories but you’re more careful at 100 stories. You’ve got to respect it.”

He believes he developed his skill of navigating narrow steel beams and respect for heights as a young boy growing up on the Kahnawake Reservation near Montreal, Canada where we had a lift bridge that goes up and down. “We’d run around on it when we were kids.”

The best explanation Peterson Zah, a former Navajo Chairman,
can give pertaining to the “sure-footed” Navajo trait is that historically the Navajos didn’t walk in fine shoes on sidewalks or in places that everything is balanced and level. They also have the historic experiencing of tracking animals in the woods and hunting animals in rocky areas.

The Sangster brothers are Navajos. Jerome, 24, and Edmund 23, took to ironwork as soon as they graduated from Valley High in Sanders, AZ. They have one of the most dangerous jobs in a most dangerous profession. They are connectors. They work as a pair raising the steel skeleton of a building one girder at a time.

“In connecting” Edmund said, “You have to have a relationship where you trust your partner. I see my brother day and night. I trust him more than anybody. We’re up there, I look out for him and he looks out for me. How much closer can you get?”

“The Ironworker” has been edited for length and content.

This story brought back long-forgotten memories of my experiences with bridge walking. They ended abruptly at age 15 when I was atop the span across the Susquehanna River in Sidney, New York.

I was half way across the top girder when I made the mistake of looking down at the river. I got my first attack of acrophobia, flopped on my belly holding on to the girder for dear life, and froze. It took the State Police to get me down to earth. bobbie

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

For news and information on Native American and First Nations actors, go to Annie's site at www.NativeCelebs.com and follow the threads.

The Conservative View by Ken Hughes:
http://hughes-report.blogspot.com

An Elder Passes: Mary Dann, Western Shoshone

Submitted by Ken Hughes

© Indian Country Today April 28, 2005. All Rights ReservedPosted: April 28, 2005by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today

Mary Dann, one of a duo of renowned and beloved activist elders from the Western Shoshone Nation, passed away on the evening of Friday, April 22. Along with her sister Carrie Dann, Mary conducted a courageous and extremely difficult fight with the federal government on behalf of the Shoshone Treaty of Ruby Valley.

She was in her 80s, a grandmother and active rancher who kept and herded cattle and horses. She died in an-all-terrain vehicle accident while fixing fence on her Crescent Valley, Nev. (Newe Sogobia) ranch.

She was considered a highly knowledgeable traditionalist who had lived on the land all of her life. A woman of deep commitment to the justice of her case for the sovereignty of Western Shoshone land, Mary Dann died, as her niece Patricia Paul stated, ''as she would have wanted - with her boots on and hay in her pocket.''

Mary and Carrie Dann have been the focus and primary line of resistance in the fight to protect Western Shoshone land from confiscation by the U.S. government. The Dann siblings - Mary, Carrie, Richard and Clifford - contend that the land was never transferred to the U.S. and that the ranching sisters ran their cattle and horses on the open range. They refused to be ruled by federal regulations and declined to pay grazing fees.

The U.S. Indian Claims Commission, established in 1946 to ''compensate'' tribal groups for claims to land and resources confiscated or ''lost'' to the U.S., awarded the Shoshones $26 million in the late 1970s. This was intended to pay for lands that the federal government held the tribe had lost to ''gradual encroachment'' of non-Indians. On principle, the tribe for many years successfully refused the payment, which grew over that time to more than $140 million.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management sued the Danns in 1974, and in 1985 the U.S. Supreme Court held that the tribe had lost title when the money - although unaccepted by the Western Shoshone - was deposited by the Indian Claims Commission in an account held in trust for the tribe by the Interior Department. Last year, Congress, under pressure from Nevada's senior senator, Harry Reid, a Democrat, forced the disbursal of the funds to tribal members.

As Carrie expressed for the family in a work published at Cornell University in 1996: ''We don't want any damn money from them ... my land is not for sale ... they can't buy my rights ... to them the land is real estate, to me it's my Mother.''

A standoff occurred in 1992, when heavily armed agents from the BLM moved in to round up 250 of the Danns' horses. The Dann siblings and tribal supporters fought as best they could during a six-day crisis that saw Clifford Dann douse himself with gasoline and threaten to light it if the BLM persisted.

The beginning of the end for any justice in the case came in 2002, when the BLM seized 277 head of cattle from the Danns' herd. In 2003 the BLM, which claimed jurisdiction over the same range, charged that the Danns owed $3 million in fees and penalties.Perhaps this case, more than any other in recent history, exemplifies America's pathology for stealing Indian lands and resources. Mary Dann was quoted as telling the federal range managers - in a sentiment echoed by Indian leaders to European governments since the time of first contact - ''Just leave us alone.''

In time, Robert Redford and other Hollywood luminaries came to recognize and film the Dann sisters in their milieu, and many people around the world prayed and wrote letters in their behalf. In the end the BLM, representing the U.S. government, claimed the land by force as if to say, in the most consistent message heard by Indians in five centuries, ''We stole it fair and square.''

All social struggles have complexity. In the Dann case, the federal government found allies among some tribal members who supported the distribution of federal monies as a quit-claim over the disputed lands. This side of tribal culture considered the Dann sisters an obstacle to a one-time payment of some $20,000 per eligible tribal member.

Nevada's congressional delegation and, significantly, Democratic Sen. Harry Reid led the fight to legalize the controversial and essentially forced distribution of the payment. It should also be noted that President Bush readily signed the legislation that purportedly would open the doors wide to resource excavation of Western Shoshone lands.

While the case of two elder Indian sisters might have appeared hopeless in confrontation with the mightiest land-gobbling power on Earth, the quest for justice and American Indian freedom the Dann family has represented will live on for a long, long time.

Of the four courageous siblings, Carrie did most of the speaking in court and in public rallies and events. About the passing of her beloved sister, Carrie Dann, as always, provided the strongest, most appropriate words:

''You must remember she [Mary] came from the earth and she is returning back to the arms of her mother, the earth. She has completed the cycle. This Earth Mother will cradle her forever. The wind will carry her body in all four directions.

"Those of us remaining here in the physical world ... must be strong - stronger now for those who have passed ahead of us and those who are yet to come. Mary believed in living her life for the protection of her family, the life - the sacred [the land, air, water and sun] and for the future generations.

''We must remember that Mary stood proud, strong, dignified [and] respectful against all types of racial discrimination, [and the] desecration of her spiritual ways by the [Bureau of Land Management and] Department of Interior ... She stood up against the mining industry, the nuclear industry, the energy industry.

''Mary never took 'no' for an answer but she stood her ground for what she believed in and for the Truth. Not because she wanted to, but because she had to. I will continue to do this, even with my sister gone. I believe in these things also.''

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

For news and information on Native American and First Nations actors, go to Annie's site at www.NativeCelebs.com and follow the threads.

The Conservative View by Ken Hughes:
http://hughes-report.blogspot.com

Native Lobbyist Regrets Language

Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff told TIME magazine he regrets the language he used in e-mails to describe his Indian clients.

In messages he referred to them as “monkeys, troglodytes, morons and the ‘stupidest idiots in the land'.” But, he maintains the multi million-dollar fees he charged the tribes involving casino interests were well worth the money.

Abramoff and his associate, Michael Scanlon, collected $66 million from six tribes: The Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana; Tigua Indians near El Paso, Texas; The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in Palm Springs, CA; Pueblo Sandia Tribe of New Mexico; Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan.

A federal grand jury and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee
are investigating Abramoff and Scanlon with allegations they defrauded the tribes of millions of dollars.


COMMUNITIES OF COLOR WORKSHOPS SET FOR JUNE 11TH
Submitted by Sunshine Archambault

The Center for Civic Participation and the League of Rural Voters present a one-day workshop for young people/students of color: Building Political Power in Communities of Color

Workshop Description: In the 2004 elections, people of color turned out to vote in record numbers—yet, for a number of reasons, our communities are still grossly underrepresented in the political processes of this country.

While we may not have maximized our participation in the electoral arena, we have long histories of organizing for economic, social justice, and civil rights throughout history. These stories are routinely left out of mainstream educational institutions and progressive political conversations!

As a result young people are further disenfranchised because they are not made aware of the powerful organizing histories of their communities as well as their historical leadership roles in creating change. Join us for an interactive, multimedia workshop looking at three historical movements in communities of color: American Indian Movement, Civil Rights Movement, and Immigrant Rights Movement.

We will discuss approaches to organizing in communities of color with an emphasis on building leadership and political power from within. The workshop will finish with group exercises on planning, communication, and outreach.

This workshop is geared to provide support, networking, and hands-on training to young people/students of color who want to and are making change in their communities.

Where: Minneapolis location to be announced
When: Saturday, June 11 (10 am to 4 pm)
Cost: FREE w/lunch provided

This workshop is limited to 20 people!! Please fill out the application and return it ASAP to sunshine@centerforcivicparticipation.org

Thank you,
Amalia and AlyssaQuestions: 612-879-7578

Application: Building Political Power in Communities of Color

Name:
Address
Phone Number:
Email:
Age:
Organization/Affiliation:
How do you identify yourself racially or ethnically?
What made you decide to apply for this training?
What do you hope to get out of this training?
What skills/tools/talents/abilities do you have to share with other participants?

NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.

For news and information on Native American and First Nations actors, go to Annie's site at www.NativeCelebs.com and follow the threads.

The Conservative View by Ken Hughes:
http://hughes-report.blogspot.com