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Native Americans

Winnemem Wintu Fight For Cultural Survival In Northern California

October 8, 2015 Rucha Chitnis, www.indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com ,
By Rucha Chitnis for Indian Country Today Media Network, At a sacred fire in the ancient village site in Coonrod, Chief Caleen Sisk raised a glass of ceremonial water towards a soaring Mount Shasta. The Winnemem Wintu Tribe members gathered for a Fire and Water ceremony at sunrise to pray for the return of their revered salmon and for the health of their sacred spring in Mount Shasta and surrounding waterways. “Salmon are life. They bring life, and they should be back on this land again,” said Chief Sisk, spiritual leader of her tribe. The Winnemem Wintu are known as the Middle Water People, their identity tied spiritually to a sacred spring on Mount Shasta, a river that once flowed here unfettered and the Chinook salmon that flourished in the waters.

Hundreds Gathered For A Rally Against Enbridge

October 8, 2015 Melissa Shaw, www.tnewsfriends.net ,
By Melissa Shaw for News Friends, About 500 people attended a rally in support of eight First Nations, four environmental groups and one labour group challenging the Federal Government’s approval of Enbridge’sNorthern Gateway pipeline. The crowd gathered at the corner of Howe and Georgia Street in Vancouver on Thursday October 1, the first day of a six-day hearing in the Federal Court of Appeal. “The struggle involves all the nations and everything from direct action to court cases to political action,” said Bob Ages during the rally. Ages is a member of the Council of Canadians and the Unist’ot’en Solidarity Brigade, which is “physically blocking pipeline crews” working on Chevron’s Pacific Trails Pipeline (PTP), which crosses Wet’suwet’en traditional territory in Northern BC.

Healing The Wounds Of Native American Tragedies

September 25, 2015 Derek Royden, www.occupy.com ,
By Derek Royden in Occupy - The Black Lives Matter movement has made a significant impact in part because African Americans are a visible presence in America’s large urban areas. By contrast, Native Americans are more easily ignored since they often live in more rural areas and on reservations. Native American culture, and often Natives themselves, remain a source of ridicule in contemporary North American culture in a way that other groups are not, at least not in such open fashion. For example, sports teams nationwide still proudly flaunt racist names and symbols referring to Native American peoples and traditions. Now, issues of police accountability are opening the public's eyes to the continuing struggles of North America’s First Peoples and other groups unfairly targeted by law enforcement.

Senate Confirms First Native American Ambassador

August 31, 2015 David McCabe, www.huffingtonpost.com , ,
By David McCabe in The Huffington Post - The Senate confirmed Keith Harper as ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council Tuesday, making him the first Native American to ever become a U.S. ambassador. Harper is an attorney who was one of the lawyers behind a landmark class action lawsuit brought by Native Americans against the federal government. President Barack Obama first nominated him in June 2013. "I’m pleased that my colleagues have voted to appoint another historic first for Indian Country," said Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Chairman Jon Tester (D-Mont.) in a statement. "As a longtime advocate for the civil rights of Native Americans, Keith will be a great Ambassador for our country.” A member of the Cherokee Nation, Harper helped represent around 500,000 Native Americans who brought a class-action suit -- Cobell v. Salazar -- against the United States in the 1990s over alleged federal mismanagement of revenue from mines and oil wells owned by Native Americans.

Rainbow Uprising Of Consciousness Peace March

April 1, 2015 David Crockett Williams, www.popularresistance.org ,
The Rainbow Uprising Peace March is a ten-month project that is being initiated with a prayer ceremony at Noon on Wednesday, April 1, 2015, outside Santa Barbara City Hall in De La Guerra Plaza. This project represents a call to all the faithful of Islam and Israel to embrace the teachings of nonviolence and accept the message of The Great Law of Peace. April 1st in the US is considered “April Fool’s Day” but it is little known that this comes from an old English annual “Truth Day” holiday where everyone was supposed to tell the truth on that day even if it made them seem like fools. 1treeThis Rainbow Uprising Peace March will culminate over seven days with the “8th Fire Prophecy” 20 year anniversary commemoration prayer walk from Malibu to the UCSB Tree of Peace (January 26 – February 2, 2016)

5 Surprising Facts On Indigenous Conflicts With Police

February 2, 2015 Joie Chen, www.america.aljazeera.com , , ,
But concerns about how police treat native communities aren't new. In 2000, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights noted that "many native Americans in South Dakota have little or no confidence in the criminal justice system" and warned that "the administration of justice at the federal and state levels is permeated by racism." The commission recommended increasing the number of Native Americans on the force, but 15 years later, the number of native officers on the 120-man Rapid City force has jumped fromjust one to three in a city where about 10 percent of the population is native.

Edmund Metatawabin Embarks On Healing Journey

November 20, 2014 West Coast Native News, www.westcoastnativenews.com ,
In late spring, Edmund Metatawabin will embark on a journey that will take him north from his home in Fort Albany to the land of his ancestors. It’s a sacred area in Cape Henrietta Maria, where the southern tip of Hudson Bay and the northwestern tip of James Bay meet. It’s where the ancient ceremonial grounds and a few scattered structures of his people still stand. For Metatawabin, it’s the next chapter in a healing process that began in the 1970s in the backyard sweat lodges of southern Alberta. Now 67, the former chief of Fort Albany First Nations has carved out an impressive career as an educator, writer and activist. It’s a reminder that, while Metatawabin is renowned as an educator who is dedicated to teaching young natives about the traditional ways of the Cree, he still sees himself in some ways as a student who continues to learn and heal.

Slurskins Protest Sunday In San Francisco

November 20, 2014 Matt Barrows, www.sacbee.com , , ,
Hundreds of Native Americans will gather outside Levi’s Stadium on Sunday to protest the nickname of the 49ers’ opponent. The “Change the Name. Change the Mascot” rally is not expected to draw the thousands of protesters who showed up with signs and banners when the Washington Slurskins played the Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis earlier this month, but organizers said it is gaining strength. Tony Gonzales, director of American Indian Movement-West, said he initially figured the rally would draw 200. He now expects double that amount. Gonzales said he has been working with the Santa Clara Police Department and that starting at 10 a.m. Sunday, a coalition of groups will set up near the city’s convention center, which is across the street from the stadium.

Plan To End Cycle Of Native American Poverty

November 11, 2014 Ariel Schwartz www.fastcoexist.com , ,
Native American reservations are hotbeds of poverty and alcoholism, with residents often struggling to find employment or basic housing. On many reservations, residents often do what they can to leave. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, home of the Oglala Lakota Nation, is emblematic of the situation. Some 55% of residents travel 50 miles each day to work—and those are just the residents that have jobs. Poverty is so dire that it's not uncommon to find up to 20 people living in a trailer with two or three bedrooms. A community regenerative plan, led by Nick Tilsen, a young member of the tribe, is aimed at changing all that. Tilsen and his Thunder Valley Community Economic Development Corporation are trying to build an entirely new "regenerative community" on 34 acres of empty land on the reservation. Tilsen's ambitious plan for a sustainable community consists of a number of affordable single-family residences, lofts, townhouses, and co-housing spaces; a daycare center; onsite wind power; an aquaponics greenhouse, and other amenities that residents don't currently have access to.

Modern Day Discrimination Against Native Americans

October 23, 2014 Matt Saccaro, www.mic.com , ,
Despite the furor over the Washington Redskins and Columbus Day, the most serious discrimination against Native Americans doesn't take place at a football game or during a poorly-named day off from work. It starts in schools, and pervades all aspects of a Native American's life as time goes on. Native American children attend dilapidated, below-standard schools, some of which date from the Great Depression era. The government is supposed to look after the federally-financed schools, but this task is seemingly beyond their ability, or just beyond their ability to care.

Indigenous Elders On Climate Summit: ‘We Can No Longer Wait’

September 21, 2014 Shawn Mulford, www.PopularResistance.org , , ,
Today, in advance of the UN Climate Summit on Tuesday, September 23rd, environmentalist, indigenous peoples and activist will be marching in New York to bring attention to climate change. The Indigenous Council encouraged the marchers by stating, “Know that you yourself are essential to this World. Each of us is put here in this time and this place to personally decide the future of humankind. We must sacrifice and move beyond our own comforts and pleasures. We must stop the damaging activities and begin working on restoring the natural environment for the future of All Life.”

Police Say Tasing 8-Year-Old Native Girl Was Justified, Family Sues

August 25, 2014 Vincent Schilling, www.indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com , , ,
In October 2013, An 8 year old Rosebud Sioux girl was shot by a stun gun when Pierre Police arrived on scene and were not able to obtain a paring knife the young girl was holding. In the days that followed, the family of the little girl reported she was suffering from trauma, while the Pierre Police Chief Bob Granpre said the actions of the Police were justified. Since the incident, family members have secured the use of Dana Hanna and Patrick Duffy as attorneys in the South Dakota area and the tribe has spoken out against the incident. The Pierre police after releasing initial findings will no longer offer comment on the matter after inquiries by ICTMN. Rose Stenstrom, the grandmother of the little girl and a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribal council, says she was upset that her little granddaughter was a delightful and talkative little girl who some media outlets made out to be a monster. “My granddaughter is really just a friendly little girl,” says Stenstrom. “She talks a lot. Because she likes to talk, you could change her mind really easy. I have been around her, she is not anywhere near what people describe her as. They made her out to be a little monster and she is not.” Stenstrom also said the response to the original situation was not handled with any sort of professionalism.

Police Brutality Against Black And Brown People

August 25, 2014 Gyasi Ross, www.indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com , ,
Native people are the most loving people in the world. And it makes sense—so many of us have seen this movie before. We got our own problems, right? Still, ever since the Michael Brown tragedy in Ferguson, Missouri, I’ve received hundreds of Facebook messages and emails—Native people understanding the connection between black folks’ interaction with law enforcement and Native folks’ interaction with law enforcement. The Natives who’ve contacted me seem to know, “We’re not saying all police officers are bad. Heck, most are ok.” But those Natives know that when things do go haywire and a police officer does do something bad to someone, it’s usually someone brown. And when that brown-skinned person is killed or hurt badly, it’s usually for something small. Insignificant. Something that doesn’t deserve deadly force. Like allegedly stealing cigars. That’s rough. But to quote Bill Murrary in Stripes, “That’s the fact, Jack!”
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