The Marigold Trail

Welcome The Insolent and the Rocky

2008-03-26T09:52:00.003-04:00

I've added a number of new blogs recently.

First up is the Insolent Indian.

This particular Indian is a good friend of mine with a sharp tongue and a keen wit. Watch out pretendians and wannabees. She's got your number and this Tsalagi woman doesnt mess around.

Second, I am happy to add Newspaper Rock, the Blog of Rob at Blue Corn Comics. Rob has long kept a vigilant eye on the portrayal of Indians in popular culture and the news. His website and his blog are must-reads and great resources for those neverending "But mascots are an honor" conversations you inevitably have with certain sports fans.

Welcome to you both.

Presidential Policy in Indian Country

2008-03-20T16:47:00.004-04:00

The relationship between Indian nations and the federal government is a complicated one. We are not foreign nations, we are not states. We are, in the infamous words of Justice Marshall, "domestic dependent nations".

Now law scholars have discussed in depth exactly what that means, and lord knows it means less and less in the eyes of the current Supreme Court. But it does mean we have a unique relationship with the US feds, including the Executive Branch. So what the future president outlines are his or her policy in Indian Country is of great importance to us.

So here's the three remaining contenders' issue statements on Indian Country.

Happy 2007

2007-01-02T05:12:00.000-05:00

It's been almost six long months since I've updated this blog. Needless to say, much has been going on in Indian Country, and in my own life. Unfortunately, I've reported little of it here.

It's not exactly a New Year's resolution, but I think I'll make an effort to return to blogging. Look for more commentary on what's going on in Indian Country, including some major sovereignty/feds issues with Freedmen membership in Cherokee, Mel Gibson's version of indigenous Maya, gaming challenges in Congress and other big issues in Indian Country.

Glad to be back. Anything particular that interests folks, drop me a line.

Angry Indian Blog

2006-06-28T18:43:00.000-04:00

A quick note to welcome Angry Indian to my blogroll. His blog is entitled "The Voice of a Native Son: Intelligent Aborigianl Commentary" and he covers issues of interest to all aboriginal peoples from around the world, not just Native Americans. He and I have been having a talk about Oprah on the Navajo Nation which broaded to a chat about Indian jails.

Check out his blog: http://angryindian.blogspot.com/

When Indians Disappear II

2006-05-20T13:00:00.000-04:00

Apologies for my long absense. I've been going through that particular hell known as the first year of law school. Happily, it is over and I hope to return to blogging regularly.

Much has been going on in Indian Country these past months. Massive Bush budget cuts threaten urban Indian health. A violent stand-off goes on between the Canadian government and the Six Nations people in Caledonia. The Abramoff scandal continues.

I'll be spending the summer working for the Navajo Nation out in Window Rock, the seat of the Navajo government. I'll share my experiences with working for a tribal government and living on the Navajo rez. Plus, if anyone is in the area, leave a comment and we'll go to lunch. I already found a great mutton stew stand.

Indian Country in the Crosshairs

2006-02-28T00:08:00.000-05:00

Indian Country and its inhabitants have taken a beating lately in the mainstream media. First, a Wall Street Journal opinion piece calls for the abolition of reservations for the good of Indians. Yes, the whiteman in Washington, as always, knows what is best for Natives, despite that fact that most Natives themselves consider reservation land sacrosant. Then last week the New York Times publishes a sensational article about drug trafficking on the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation in upstate New York, titled "Through Indian Lands, Drugs' Shadowy Trail". If that sounds salacious to you, rest assured it read that way. You'd think that Mohawk reservation, as well as all of Indian Country which was indicted in the article by association, was a lawless haven for gang bangers and drug dealers. Images of the Old West, replete with outlaw villans, corrupt small town officials and outnumbered deputies were conjured up on the front page of that most prestigious of newspapers.

Most of the time mainstream media is content to ignore Natives and the goings on in Indian Country. Reservations and poverty are nothing new, so what is prompting the Wall Street Journal to quote single mother statistics and throw around terms like "rez", as if the author's been hangin' at a '49 with his cuz cruisin' for a snag? And everyone knows methamphetamines are a problem all across rural America. Why does the New York Times seem so horrified that there exists a criminal element on some reservations now?

At least this time, though, some Native journalist are fighting back against the biased press. Indian Country Today has put out the call for a more balanced view of Indian Country, saying that

"The language of termination is heard by the ideologically driven critics. [..] the consistent language of termination introduced by prominent writers such as Holman Jenkins Jr., a member of the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal, who railed against those ''defunct tribes'' and their ''enduring nonsense of Indian 'sovereignty.''' Jenkins bemoaned the surprising resilience of any ''Indian sovereignty,'' pining for an illusive termination from Indian friend, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., an unlikely prospect. ''[B]ut even that may come,'' Jenkins hopes, because the ''backlash'' against tribal sovereignty ''[is] already on the way.'' This is intense anti-Indian tribal rights argumentation. It is being heard across the country and the chorus will continue to croak in the lineup - a dangerous mantra that the media herd too willingly now carries as ''truth.''

Suzan Harjo also weighed in, bringing the New York Times to task for their Dark Continent style approach to Indian Country.

"The first article portrays reservations as mysterious and otherworldly, in the same way that white folks once depicted Africa as the ''dark continent.'' Here, the reporter claims that drug traffickers refer to St. Regis Mohawk territory in Canada and the United States as the ''black hole.'' [...] A reader of this heart of darkness tale would never know that the sun ever shines in Indian country or that anyone drives a school bus or takes care of grandma. Instead, this is a sweeping indictment of all Indian nations and millions of Native people. "

Specific tribes and leaders, like the St. Regis Mohawks and the embattled Red Lake Tribal Leader Floyd Jourdain, have also written articles defending themselves from the unfair Times reporting and, in the case of the Mohawks, demanding an apology.

So what's going on?

If I were a conspiracy theorist type, I'd be looking to the most recent proposed budget cuts from the Bush administration that slash Indian funding something terrible. A little villification of reservations certainly doesnt hurt to convince the ignorant that those budget cuts are justified. And let's not forget all the bad press the Abramoff scandal has caused the Republican Party. If it wasn't for the Indians Abramoff bilked out of millions, this embarrassment wouldn't have happened. Perhaps it is time for a little payback.

But I'm not into all those conspiracies. After all, Indians don't need conspiracies to distrust the Great White Father in Washington; we just need a refresher on US history.

Joe's Four Steps

2006-02-03T02:16:00.000-05:00

If you missed the State of the Indian Nations Address today, you can read the transcript here .

I had a few thoughts about the speech overall, and then a few issues I would like to highlight that I feel are important for the non-Native American population to know.

First, the good news:

Gov. Garcia is a strong speaker and I feel confident that he can represent Indian Country and the issues facing Native peoples. He seemed to have concrete goals and concrete ways to begin to address the major problems facing Native America today.

I particularly enjoyed that he turned to an indigenous paradigm to present his issues and used the Four Directions in Tewa tradition as a framework for his speech, which might be best understood as the Four Steps. He said the four major issues facing Indian Country are Law Enforcement, Health Care, Education and the Economy, and the Trust Settlement.

Now the bad news, which is just a small sampling of how important the issues he outlines in his Four Steps are:

- Homicide is the third leading cause of death for Native women. Seventy percent of American Indians who are the victims of violent crimes are victimized by someone of a different race.

- Healthcare expenditures for Indian are less than half what America spends for federal prisoners.

- Only half of Indian students complete high school. Only 13 percent of American Indians hold bachelors or graduate degrees, less than half the national average.

- More than one in eight Indians lack access to safe drinking water. More than one in twelve lack access to basic sanitation. This is humiliating, degrading, and medically unconscionable. It is wrong, and it has to be brought to an end.

Even those these statistics and the reality they suggest are staggering, Garcia boldy called to task the federal government and the Bush administration to pass and approve the funding for feasible, concrete legislation that is already on the table and could aid Indians here and now: the provision in No Child Left Behind that would allow for charter schools that operate under a indigenous methodology, the Indian Healthcare Improvement Act that is up for a vote in this session of Congress, the settlement the Corbell Trust Case.

Garcia emphasized that Native America is strong, is growing. However, he also acknowledged that the future of Indian Country is somewhat dependent on the federal government living up to its historic agreements and long relationship with the Indians and a future of enthusiastic support of sovereignty and self-determination.

And, well, for that last part, I won't hold my breath.

State of Indian Nations Address

2006-02-01T16:02:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON—January 25, 2006—Joe A. Garcia, President of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) – the nation’s oldest, largest, and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization – will deliver the fourth annual State of Indian Nations Address on February 2, 2006 at 12:00 p.m. (EST) at the National Press Club. The address will take stock of the state of American Indian and Alaska Native nations in the United States. The speech will be delivered two days after President Bush's State of the Union Address and will relay to the President and the general public a comprehensive, contemporary and visionary picture of the challenges and opportunities before today’s American Indian and Alaska Native nations.

Listen tomorrow! Thursday, February 2, 2006 at 12:00 p.m. (EST)
at http://www.ncai.org or http://www.airos.org

“It’s time to tell the real story of Indian Country,” said Garcia. “It’s time to look at our cultures and traditions and what they are telling us to advance successful agendas for Indian people in this modern world.”

Attending will be tribal leaders from across the nation, Administrations officials and national Indian organizations including: The National American Indian Housing Council, Native American Rights Fund, National Indian Education Association, National Indian Gaming Association, and the Friends Committee at National Legislation.

Not Just Casinos

2006-01-30T10:37:00.000-05:00

Title: International Indigenous Business and Entrepreneurship Conference
Conference theme: Fostering Indigenous Entrepreneurship
Conference date(s): June 9-12, 2006
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Deadline: March 1, 2006
Contact: Jaye Francis, Conference Coordinator
Anderson Schools of Management
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131
Phone: 505-277-6471
Fax: 505-277-9868
Email: iibec@mgt.unm.edu
Website: http://iibec.mgt.unm.edu/

Who Should Attend? Academicians, business professionals, government, NGOs, students, and anyone interested in learning and sharing experiences pertaining to Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.

Papers should focus on the conference main theme and related topics such as financing of Indigenous Entrepreneurship, marketing Indigenous products, services, and technologies, indigenous gaming industry, media, entertainment, fashion & design, culture, Indigenous literature (Indigenous languages and National languages), traditional values, ethics and entrepreneurship, biopiracy, mining, fishing and gaming, environmentally friendly technologies, indigenous sustainable entrepreneurship, and the role of regional, federal and multilateral agencies and NGOs in promoting indigenous entrepreneurship. Case studies on indigenous entrepreneurship in Asia, Oceania, Africa, Latin America, North America, and Europe are invited.

Our own James Frey

2006-01-27T12:08:00.000-05:00

Much as been made of James Frey, the now infamous author of A Million Little Pieces. He wrote a "memoir" that turned out to be more fiction than fact and has incurred the wrath of such notables as Oprah, Frank Rich, Maureed Dowd. In fact, on yesterday's very special Oprah, he was held up as an example of what is wrong with our society, perhaps even mankind. Oprah et al implied that people like Frey are akin to Holocaust deniers and his lying undermined the very integrity of the field of journalism. Heavy stuff for a guy who lied about spending time in jail.

So if Frey is this devil, what to do with Nasdijj? The LA Weekly recently published a fascinating peice about a guy named Nasdijj who claims to be half-Navajo from the Rez and had quite the life. He has had some big success in the publishing world, including winning praise as a New York Times Notable Book, a finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award and winner of the Salon Book Award.

Unfortunately, although not altogether surprisingly, it turns out Nasdijj, this "achingly honest" author, is completely full of it. So much so that he's not even Native. Fiction, sure. Memoir, no way. I'll leave the details of his con and the publishing world's patsy to the excellent LA Weekly article. It's enough to disgust anyone.

I would simply ask two questions. Why? Why this need to appropriate Indian voices? When white people speak for Indians, they silence the real Indians. Our voices become secondary to the outside world who would much rather believe the likes of a Nasdijj with his tragic tragic Indian stories of people living in the equivalent of tipis, never having seen a library and all suffering from fetal alcohol syndrome. What's the appeal? It is that non-Natives are comfortable with that representation of Natives somehow? It fits the reservation mythology? It keeps Natives in the past, so "other" as to be unreal?

And second, didn't someone, anyone in the publishing world, bother to ask an Indian? It's not hard. The Navajo Nation actually has a website. And email. But, as the article details, even when such well-respected Native authors as Sherman Alexie tried to raise concerns, they were mostly dismissed because the story was more important than the truth.

So in the aftermath of the Oprah take-down of James Frey, I would ask what is the greater harm here? A pattern of white appropriation of Native identity and voices to make a buck which, in the process, does real damage to the public perception of Natives by non-Natives? Or some idiot who lied about getting a root canal without Novacaine?

You decide.

Giving in the New Year

2005-12-31T11:42:00.000-05:00

Wishing everyone a safe and happy New Year.

This is also the time of year where you might want to consider donating to charities. May I suggest a few of my favorite:

Native American Rights Fund - Founded in 1970, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) is the oldest and largest nonprofit law firm dedicated to asserting and defending the rights of Indian tribes, organizations and individuals nationwide.

Adopt an Elder - The Adopt-A-Native-Elder Program exists to create a bridge of hope between Native Americans and other cultures. It allows us to reach out to one another, share our gifts, and mend the broken circle of our relationship with the Land and the Native Americans who hold it in sacred trust.

American Indian College Fund - Through our scholarships for American Indian college students and our support of America's tribally controlled colleges and universities, we are giving hope to, and creating better lives for, generations of Native American students and their families and communities.

Always investigate the charitiy you chose to support. You can research here at the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance.

If you have any other Native-related charities you would like to list, please feel free to add to the comments.

A Little Native America in your Stocking

2005-12-17T15:44:00.000-05:00

It's that time of the year when, no matter your religious affiliation, you usually have a least one friend or family member to buy for. So if you are doing some last minute holiday shopping and have to give gifts, why not get them something a little different, something with a touch of Native America?

I've listed a few of my favorite places to shop below. By my knowledge, all are owned and operated by Natives. Ideas vary from hip hop and hoodies to Native teas and hot chilis, with some art, jewelry and other things you'd expect to find as well. This is a very small sampling of what's out there, so ask around your local cultural centers, search the web for Native-owned business and put some money back into Native America.

All Native - By far one of my favorite sites. The Ho-Chuck got it together. Here you'll find Native themed food and drink, gift baskets, soaps, t-shirts and all kinds of good things. The site is easy to get around and understand and they have a special section for Christmas cards, ornaments, and other holiday suggestions.

Litefoot and Native Style - Native-themed hip hop and clothing. They've got hoodies, baseball caps, bags and other goodies for the teens you know, or the teen you are at heart. And Litefoot, the artist and entrepeneur behind the brand, is talented behind the mic, so check out the music section, too.

Owned and Operated Indian Art Sites - Native-languages.org has a list of Indian-owned Art sites. If you are going to purchase Indian arts and crafts, you should do it from Indians, don't you think? Look here for fine art gallery listings as well.

Oyate.org - A great catalogue of Videos and DVDs. Everything from dance instruction to documentaries, stand-up comedians to NDN punk rock concerts. Plus they have books, music and all kinds of media to enjoy.

How do you say "Reindeer" in Ojibwe?

2005-12-10T19:22:00.000-05:00

So I'm surfing around one of the many Native communities I belong to, and come across someone talking about Jana. Who is Jana? I didnt know either, but it turns out she's a pop singer and member of the Lumbee tribe. (Isn't Heather Locklear a Lumbee Indian, too? But let's not get distracted..)

Jana has a new Christmas album out, called American Indian Christmas, where on she sings such standards as Silent Night and Joy to the World. The only catch is, she sings them in Native languages. Ten different languages, as I understand it, including Navajo, Arapaho, Ojibwe and others. Sounds interesting, and certainly something a little different than that Regis Christmas album you know you were planning on getting.

Tribal Employee Blog

2005-12-10T16:03:00.000-05:00

Found a new blog by a Navajo guy. Take some time to check it out.

Tribal Employee

He's got an interesting entry about the "modern traditional Navajo" and another on the Medicine Men's Association role in the Save the Peaks trial. Plus some great photography and a pleasant writing style. Enjoy!

Christmas in the Clouds

2005-12-08T19:57:00.000-05:00

It's the time of year when some folks get excited about their Winter Holiday of choice. Unfortunately, for us first year law students, we get excited about crimes, torts and contracts. Crim, torts and contracts exams, that is. But there is one bright spot on my holiday calendar, and that's the new movie Christmas in the Clouds.

IMDB says "[Christmas in the Clouds} is a classic comedy of mistaken identity and romance set during the holiday season at a ski resort that is owned and operated by a Native American Nation. Shot on location at The Sundance Resort in Utah, this is the first contemporary romantic comedy to feature an almost entirely American Indian cast."

Did I hear that right? A romantic comedy that features contemporary Native Americans just..well..being? No social issues? No tragic stoicism? Just a fun holiday movie that happens to have an all-Native cast? Yes, Pocahantas, this is a Santa Claus, and she is writer/director Kate Montgomery. The buzz on this movie is that Montgomery shopped the script in Hollywood for a while, and got the advice to lose the Indians and pick some other ethnic group. "Native peoples are the last bastion of stereotypes," Montgomery explains to the Mercury News. "They are only defined as backdrop -- a shaman or an Indian on horseback or with feathers. You don't see them in a contemporary light."

Lucky for us, Montgomery stuck to her original idea and, four years after its original Sundance debut, her movie is here for us to enjoy. So that's what I plan to do Friday night. Right after my final. Check your own local listings for availability.

Q & A with Joe Garcia

2005-11-28T22:51:00.000-05:00

For those out of the loop, Joe Garcia, the Governer of the Ohkay Owingeh (San Juan Pueblo) was recently elected President of the National Congress of the American Indian (NCAI). He recently had a brief but interesting Q & A about his agenda for Indian Country and what he sees as the major issues facing the tribes. I've quoted some of the highlights below:

What is your agenda for Indian country?

"What I want to do is unite the Indian nations of the United States of America. .."

..What should non-Indians know about Indians?

"We are all Indians or Native Americans, however we choose to be called, but we are not the same in the sense that the Pueblo Indians are diverse and they are different than the Plains Indians. So solutions people may impose or provide, one shoe does not fit all."

In what ways do you see tribal sovereignty being challenged across the country?

"I need to talk a little bit about language, culture and tradition. That's the basis for our sovereignty. If I no longer can speak my language and practice what I have as my way of life ... if I lose that, it diminishes the sovereignty part of it because I can no longer choose to practice what I believe is my way of life."

Read the rest here.

Colorado AIM Blog

2005-11-15T18:00:00.000-05:00

The Colorado chapter of AIM has a nice tribute to Vine Deloria as Sunday's entry:

"[Deloria] had the courage and the vision to challenge the dominating society at its core. He was unapologetic in confronting the racism of U.S.law and policy, and he was prophetic in challenging young indigenous activists to hone their strategies."

This is also just a good blog. Take the time to check it out:
http://www.coloradoaim.org/blog/

Vine Deloria, 1933-2005

2005-11-14T20:45:00.000-05:00

"Vine Deloria Jr., the intellectual star of the American Indian renaissance, passed on Nov. 13, after struggling for several weeks with declining health." - Indian Country Today

My heart is incredibly saddened by this news. Like many Indians my age, Vine Deloria was my first experience of a radical Indian identity. I read God is Red when I was in graduate school, at the age of 22. It changed my life forever. Suddenly there was an eloquent and passionate voice saying all the things I knew to be true; things I hadn't been able to put into words and share with my Ivy League colleagues. Mr. Deloria said them for me and opened my eyes to another way of understanding and living as an American Indian. I went on to read Custer Died for Your Sins and Red Earth, White Lies, books that are on my mandatory Indian reading list to this day.

So, thank you Mr. Deloria. For all you did for us of the next generation, and the generation to come, and the generations after that.. You will be missed but we know your spirit has not left us.

Test Your "Native IQ"

2005-11-11T21:35:00.000-05:00

From understandingprejudice.org

"Why are the Washington Redskins, Jeep Cherokee, and Red Man Chewing Tobacco popular names when the Washington Brownskins, Jeep Chicano, and Black Man chewing tobacco would be considered offensive? Why is the Cleveland Indians baseball logo, Chief Wahoo, acceptable when other racial caricatures, such as Little Black Sambo and the Frito Bandito, are not?

"The answer, in part, is that anti-Indian prejudice does not receive as much attention as do other forms of racism. To counter this lack of attention, the following 10-item test will probe your knowledge of Native American issues. At the end, you will be able to compare your "Native IQ" with other people's scores..'

http://www.understandingprejudice.org/nativeiq/

Save the Peaks

2005-10-26T23:51:00.000-04:00

Once again, Jason over at The Wildhunt provides some good insight and commentary on an issue that is big in Indian Country right now - The Save the Peaks movement.

From Wildhunt: Screw Your Religion We Want to Ski

"Here we see a primary split between the Judeo-Christian conception of "sacred" and the pre-Christian native conception of "sacred". Since most have a hard time envisioning an entire mountain range as holy and an integral part of one's culture and history they don't understand the trouble over what many consider to be a tiny portion of the mountain range. This lack of understanding creates scenes like the following from the first day of the trial. "

Read more..

If you are in the Flagstaff area, please consider coming down and going in the protest:

Tues. Nov. 1st - 5:00 p.m. - Save the Peaks Candlelight Vigil with updates about Peaks trial, March through downtown Flagstaff and Rally on the front steps of City Hall!

photo by Brian Short Wednesday October 12, 2005 at 04:59 PM

The Poppy Garden

2005-10-26T23:30:00.000-04:00

Welcome my friend Shepen to the blogosphere. She's got a new blog called "The Poppy Garden" at http://shepengarden.blogspot.com/. In describing how she chose the name for her blog, she says:

"... you see themes of beauty, death, sleep, and rememberance, all of which can be associated with the poppy flower. And both sets of verse [which inspired the name] come from times and places that I have been intensely interested in for a long time. So here I will plant my thoughts and things that catch my interest, be they beautiful, terrible, or both. And with them my virtual garden will grow...".

Stop by and enjoy.

Crossings of Breath

2005-10-17T20:17:00.000-04:00

Crossings of Breath: Indigenous & Black Relations in North America

When: November 10, 2005

Where: Student Union Building, Lobo A and B (location may change; watch website for more information)

Time: 8:00 -4:30 and 5:00-9:30

http://www.unm.edu/~nasinfo/Conf%20Website/index.htm

A cultural exchange symposium at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. This gathering is part of an emerging scholarship that is changing the ways in which we have viewed race and cross-cultural relationships between Native Americans, Whites, and African-Americans. Much of the existing scholarship has focused on the southeastern U.S. and Oklahoma even though a history of Indigenous-Black relations exists in the Southwest, and these relations deserve to be explored.

This daylong symposium encourages scholarly investigation of the historical and cultural exchanges between Natives and Blacks and dialogue about the politics of identity and tribal sovereignty.

I think African-American and Native cultures have a lot to learn from each other, and I look forward to a dialogue that centers on relations between two ethnic groups that focus on our relationship to each other and not necessarily our relationship to White culture. I'll definitely be there.

(photo of Radmilla Cody, Ms. Navajo Nation 1997-98. I know Ms. Cody was dethroned under some noteriety and served time for her crimes. She may not be the best role model, but she is representative and she is speaking at the conference.)

Transform Columbus Day

2005-10-10T12:04:00.000-04:00

Today is the day of annual bitterness and consternation known as Columbus Day. Most NDNs call it Genocide Day. I have one Navajo friend who calls it National Date Rape Day. Suffice it to say it is not the favorite holiday in the indigenous peoples of the Americas calendar.

Unfortunately, I also have four mid-terms today. Did they do that on purpose? Is this another way to fuck the NDNs over? I kid. I always kid in the face of genocide. But I'm not joking when I say I don't have time to make the comments deserved to educate folks who may not know why NDNs so loathe this holiday.

So I point you to Transform Columbus Day.

Why Transform Columbus Day?

"The Transform Columbus Day Alliance actively rejects the celebration of Christopher Columbus and his legacy of domination, oppression, and colonialism. We also reject historical misconceptions regarding Columbus and his "discovery" of the Americas.

By saying NO to Columbus and his day we are saying YES to a new future of mutual respect, collaboration, and equality..."

1491

2005-09-30T00:26:00.000-04:00

Jason over at Wildhunt draws our attention to the Charles C. Mann book, 1491 : New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus. This book looks quite interesting. I'll definitely be picking it up, hopefully to fit in over fall break.

The book appears to debunk a lot of ideas about what life was like in the Americas before Columbus landed. Jason highlights this choice quote from the Salon.com review:

"What's most shocking about "1491" is the feeling it induces of waking up from a long dream and slowly realizing just how thoroughly one has been duped. We all knew there were problems with the old narrative of brave European settlers crossing the Atlantic to find an empty continent, but it's jarring to discover, as Mann tells us, that in 1491 there were almost certainly more people living in the Americas than in Europe -- and that, in many ways, American civilizations of the time were as advanced as anything across the ocean."

Not so shocking for us NDNs, but perhaps shocking for non-Native Americans who never thought to read beyond what they were taught in school.

He also makes mention of the debunking of the European origins of the Kennewick Man and calls into question the whole Landbridge theory - both concepts that Indians have been grumbling about for a while now but which havent gotten much attention in the mainstream.

Go read Jason's review.

Politicians Talking 'bout NDNs

2005-09-28T13:46:00.000-04:00

Politician #1.First, let me start with the heartwarming news that Tom DeLay (R-Texas) has been indicted. Can you see me dancing? 'Cause I'm dancing.

If you're confused about why DeLay is no friend of Indians, refresh your knowledge of the Jack Abramoff Indian gaming scandal. Now note he was indicted on other charges, but it gives me hope that he will have to answer for his part in the Tigua Tribe's shameful and unethical treatment as well.

Politician #2. Next, we see Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) has said that there should be limits to tribal sovereignty. (Is that like having limits to freedom?) McCain wants more federal oversight of the Indian gaming industry: "To assert tribal sovereignty over an operation that does not involve Indians but non-Indians to me is not a valid enough argument because I have an obligation under the Constitution ... to all of our citizens. [Tribal sovereignty is] overridden to some degree [by a need to protect] all citizens [from potential corruption at casinos]".

Hmm.. I'm not convinced that Sen. McCain's motivation is his concern for all the Non-Natives visiting Indian casinos. It sounds to me like McCain thinks sovereignty is just talk, and when things really matter, like Indians making money, the Feds want the controlling piece of the pie.

Politician #3. Bush is stepping up his opposition to Native Hawai'ian Bill. This Bill would recognize "the right of the Native Hawaiian people to reorganize the Native Hawaiian governing entity to provide for their common welfare and to adopt appropriate organic governing documents", which, as I understand it, means that the Native Hawai'ians would function somewhat like a federally recongnized Native American tribe. This status would potentially change the outcome of such recent court decisions like Doe v. Kamehameha Schools (see also article on court decision).

Politician #4. Ok, this one is soon to be Chief Justice, so I guess he's not technically a politician. Or he's one of the most powerful politicians out there. Depends on your views of the role of judges I suppose. But I digress..

Here's John Roberts! Now, we may not know much about him overall, but some of the areas where he does indeed have a public record is in his involvement with Indian Law. Indianz.com sums up Robert's involvement with Indian Law:

"As an attorney in private practice, Roberts argued two Indian law cases before the high court. In Rice v. Cayetano, he defended the state of Hawaii's Native Hawaiian programs by relying on the federal trust relationship. In Alaska v. Venetie, he argued the relationship no longer existed when it came to trust land in Alaska.

"Roberts lost the Native Hawaiian case, leading to a flurry of challenges to Native Hawaiian programs, some of which are likely to end up before the court again. He won the Alaska case, much to the dismay of Native leaders who are still facing challenges to their sovereignty to this day."

Hugo Chavez is my Boyfriend

2005-09-22T23:40:00.000-04:00

Ok, Chavez isn't really my boyfriend, but I am starting to love him like he is.

From Indian Country Today:

Venezuela offers support to indigenous

"While setting new global standards for the recognition of indigenous rights in Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez has made an offer to bring low-cost gasoline to the poor in the United States, including American Indian tribal communities.

''There is an offer on the table for low-cost heating oil and gasoline for poor communities in the United States,'' said Robert Free Galvan, who is contacting tribes in the United States with Venezuela's offer.

''Hopefully, Indian tribes and Native entities will take advantage of this opportunity to become stronger in the global community.''
[..]
"Venezuela owns CITGO Petroleum Corp., which has eight refineries in the United States, and has set aside up to 10 percent of its refined oil products to be sold directly to organized poor communities, and institutions in the United States without intermediaries. ""

I think Chavez's offer is provocative, even if only for the rhetoric. The whole idea of Native American nations dealing directly with other world nations without the US as an intermediary is an extraordinary one to me. I have often thought that Native nations need to become more involved in the larger international community of indigenous peoples, including looking to international law to hold the US government's feet to the fires of justice. The sad fact is that I am not convinced that Natives will ever receive justice in their oppressor's courts and the more I learn in law school, the more this belief is confirmed. Not that I am convinced that international human rights law is particularly enforceable, at least in its current incarnation. But if we can expand the arena of dialogue and ally ourselves with other indigenous nations, perhaps we are more likely to be respected. And if we are respected, maybe we will be heard.

Ohkay Owingeh

2005-09-20T00:34:00.000-04:00

I was reading Indianz.com and came across a little snippet from an article about how the San Juan Pueblo (my peeps) are planning to change their official name to "Ohkay Owingeh", the name they were known by before the Spanish Conquest. It means "place of the strong people" in Tewa and is quite fitting, considering the Ohkay Owingeh were the only tribe that could declare war for all the neighboring Pueblo tribes, and such bad ass luminaries as Popé hail from there.

Changing your name sounds reasonable, doesn't it? I mean, many Navajo call themselves Diné, Cherokee prefer Tsalagi. It makes sense that a tribe, particularly one that was named after a Spanish saint, might want to reclaim some of their heritage and change their name. I mean, hell, if a New Mexico city can name itself after a gameshow, surely a sovereign nation of Indians can drop the Spanish saint moniker.

But you should read some of the comments made to this article. You'd think the governor of the pueblo, Joe Garcia, had spit on the flags of US and Spain, and told the indigenous peoples of the world to eat cake. Commentators on the article, who I can only assume are non-Native since I have yet to hear an Indian bemoan the evils of gaming, can't resist ranting about casinos (which reminds me to encourage you to please visit the Ohkay casino and resort). They seem equally alarmed about the obvious inevitability of Indians wanting to change the name of the United States of America next (you saw that one coming, didn't you?). They also claim Governor Garcia must care more about the name change than the impoverished people in his own tribe. Because much like the logic used in the mascot debate, it is understood that Indians can only focus on one issue at a time.

Ohkay Owingeh, eh? I like it.

The Greatest Indian in the Whole World

2005-09-11T11:47:00.000-04:00

"The Greatest Indian in the Whole World".

It sounds like a Sherman Alexie short story, doesn't it? But it's a poll that is being held by the The Red Roots Educational Project and The Native Truth, both organizations that are involved in the dissemenation of correct information about Natives and the breaking of stereotypes.

And the list of great Native Americans submitted certainly isn't stereotypical. It's diverse and far-ranging and encouraging. Yeah, there's Pocahatas, but there's also Popé, John Echohawk and John Trudell. There are some wishful thinking long shots, like Elvis and Loretta Lynn, and some silly ones like Benjamin Bratt. (No offense Ben. I loved you on Law and Order. But The Greatest NDN? C'mon now.)

Go check out the list and see how many people you recognise. And don't forget to vote.

Image from Terri Jean website

Katrina's Impact in Indian Country

2005-09-07T01:21:00.000-04:00

I know mainstream media won't cover it, but, as always, Indianz.com lets us know about the six federally recognized tribes that were in the path of Katrina and how Indian Country is stepping up to help them.

I'm happy to hear the National Indian Gaming Association has set up a fund to help tribes in Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi that were affected by Hurricane Katrina and hope to raise $1 million towards relief efforts. Gaming always gets a bad name in the mainstream press (because I guess gambling is bad when Indians run the show, but OK when rich white corporations do it), so I am glad to see they are stepping up and helping the community.

The National Congress of American Indians is co-ordinating donations to the Gulf area tribes and has been working to contact and aid the tribes in that area. They are having mixed success, I gather, with phone lines and electricity still out and some tribes still have not been contacted. It appears the Mississippi Band of Choctaw suffered the most damage.

Indianz.com also reports that many individual tribes are helping out as well:

"The Choctaw Nation is donating all of its Labor Day gaming profits and a week's worth of fuel sales to the disaster effort.

"The Muscogee Creek Nation is working directly with Bogalusa, Louisiana, to provide supplies to the city.

"The Cherokee Nation sent 50 firefighters and is sending food and water for the Mississippi Choctaws to distribute.

"The Miami, Tonkawa and Kaw tribes are making donations to the Red Cross.

"In Montana, the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine tribes on the Fort Belknap Reservation are donating buffalo meat and are starting a drive for clothing, blankets and other essentials."

The list goes on.

Mitakuye Oyasin

2005-09-01T16:29:00.000-04:00

Mitakuye oyasin. It is a Lakota prayer that roughly translates "we are all related/all my relations".

The news out of New Orleans and all over the Southern Gulf Coast just breaks my heart. While this is mainly a forum for American Indian issues, it is foremost a forum for human being (and four-legged) issues. The news reminds me profoundly the simple fact that we are all related.

Please take a moment to help those of your brothers and sisters, the two-leggeds and the four, who desperately need your help.

Humane Society: http://www.hsus.org/

Noah's Wish: http://www.noahswish.org/Donations.htm
(Noah's Wish is a not-for-profit, animal welfare organization that works to keep animals alive during natural disasters.)

Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/

Volunteer, donate, or offer space to the homeless iin your home:

New Orleans: http://neworleans.craigslist.org/about/help/katrina_cl.html

Mobile: http://mobile.craigslist.org/about/help/katrina_cl.html

Baton Rouge: http://batonrouge.craigslist.org/about/help/katrina_cl.html

NDN humor on NS-NV

2005-08-31T13:00:00.000-04:00

Indians are funny. I know we got a reputation as bein' all stoic, but Indian humor is some of the slyest, silliest, downright outrageous humor around. You can never be sure when Indians are making fun of you (almost always), and you can always be sure they're makin' fun of themselves. So if you're not that familiar with NDN humor, or you never get tired of frybread jokes, check out Native Sounds - Native Voices this week.

From AIROS:

"Native Sounds - Native Voices special edition packed full of NDN Humor, so tune in to learn about counting coup on the highway, frybread songs, and powwow skits from the popular powwow group Tha Tribe and much more on Native Sounds - Native Voices" with your host "Kutchiak" John Gregg (Hopi/Inupiat)."

Feed Dates and Times (All Times are ET):
Tuesday - 8/30/05: 10am, 4pm, 10pm
Wednesday - 8/31/05: 4am
Saturday - 9/3/05: 5pm
Sunday - 9/4/05: 6am, 5pm
Monday - 9/5/05: 6am

Click here to listen.

V.O. in the spotlight

2005-08-21T12:43:00.000-04:00

Seems Virgil Ortiz is the man of the fashion hour, and with good reason. His fashions graced the cover of the Native American issue of New Mexico Magazine. His fashion show, staring such celeb models as Eddie and Michael Spears, was the place to be for Indian Market. And, best of all, he's Pueblo (Cochiti). Check out his stuff and put Indigene on your list of must haves for hipsters.

Step aside P. Diddy, V.O's got the spotlight now.

An Indian Lawyer's Creed

2005-08-20T22:39:00.000-04:00

*Yawn* Good morning, all.

These are the words that get me up on a Saturday morning and make me drag myself to the library. The duty is kicking in, so that I may be worthy of the honor.

An Indian Lawyer's Creed

I am an Indian Lawyer, a briefcase warrior. I stand between Indian people and those who would do them harm. The warrior’s role is a duty and an honor.

I defend the few resources that have not been taken from us so Indian people may survive.

I defend the land and air and water on and off the reservations so all people may learn to live in harmony with the Creator’s work.

I defend the right of Indian people to govern them, worship as the choose, and return their dead to the earth.

I will not use my skills against Indian people no matter how wrong I believe them to be. We suffer enough without causing each other to suffer.

I will not use unethical methods in the practice of law because that would dishonor the people I represent.

I will not accept fees from Indian people beyond my needs. If I receive fees from other people beyond my needs, I will remember that a wealthy Indian is one who can quickly forget duty and honor.

Whether I practice or teach of hold office, I will always remember the duty of an elder to share knowledge with young men and women who aspire to be warriors.

I am an Indian lawyer, a briefcase warrior. I stand between Indian people and those who would do them harm. When I do this, I being honor to my tribe, my clan, and myself.

- Steve Russell, Asst. Prof. Of Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio, President of Texas Indian Bar Assn.

Prairie Mary

2005-08-17T19:46:00.000-04:00

I'm swamped this week with law school starting up, so I invite you to read a new blog I just discovered (thanks Chas for passing it on).

Prairie Mary
http://prairiemary.blogspot.com/

Mary lived on the "Blackft" Rez for 10 yrs and has some interesting things to say. Go take a look

All You Out of My Way

2005-08-08T22:45:00.000-04:00

Hanta Po--All You Out of My Way

Dick Bancroft--A Photographic Retrospective of the American Indian Movement," at Ancient Traders Gallery (1113 East Franklin Ave., Minneapolis) through August 13.

Photo: Warriors, The Longest Walk, Tom LaBlanc, John Blue Bird, and Stacey LaBlanc, In Front of the FBI Building, Washington, D.C., 1978.

From nmartists.org, George Slade writes:

Dick Bancroft [the photographer] acknowledges that one reason he committed so much of his energy over the past 35 years to photographing Indians—from South and Central America as well as North America—was because of the strong personalities he encountered in their midst. The gusto, drive, wit, and charisma of leaders like Vernon and Clyde Bellecourt, William and Russell Means, Dennis Banks, and Leonard Peltier cemented Bancroft’s interest in serving history and telling the story of this fundamentally American encounter between dominant and indigenous cultures.

Photo at Right: Dennis Banks, Leech Lake, Takeover of the NSP Dam, Lac Courtes Orielles, Wisconsin, 1971.

These photos are amazingly powerful. I don't have much to say. I'll just let them speak for themselves.

If you don't know much about the American Indian Movement(AIM), I suggest:

Indian Power, Rick St. Germaine, Takeover of the NSP Dam, Lac Courte Orielles, Wisconsin, 1971.

Why Indian Mascots Matter

2005-08-07T13:19:00.000-04:00

I am sure that by now most people have heard about the semi-ban that the NCAA has passed on Indian Mascots in college sports:

"The presidents and chancellors who serve on the NCAA Executive Committee have adopted a new policy to prohibit NCAA colleges and universities from displaying hostile and abusive racial, ethnic, and national origin mascots, nicknames or imagery at any of the 88 NCAA championships."

Now note that this is a semi-ban, because you don't have to actually get rid of your hostile and abusive mascot, you just can't bring it to the playoffs. Bowl games are fine, 'cause the NCAA doesn't oversee them. And, of course, what would a home game be without a little Native mistrel show and some white alumni whoopin' like savages? It warms the heart.

Now I know most of you who are non-Native are wondering what the big fuss is about. What's the harm? It's only sports.

Unfortunately, the evidence suggests that there is indeed harm and the issue has nothing to do with sports.

Dr. Cornel Pewewardy, in his article Why Educators Can't Ignore Indian Mascots, says:

" [The American Indian Mental Health Association of Minnesota], as a group of mental health providers,[states that] we are in agreement that using images of American Indians as mascots, symbols, caricatures, and namesakes for non-Indian sports teams, businesses, and other organizations is damaging to the self-identity, self-concept, and self-esteem of our people. We should like to join with others who are taking a strong stand against this practice."

Rob Schmidt, over at Blue Corn, says the biggest problem facing Natives today is invisibility. He is seconded by such notables as Vine Deloria. How does this apply to mascots? Well, Rob says:

"If we "honor" Indians by painting them as warriors of the past, we mislead people about their present lives. Millions of Americans think Indians vanished or are vanishing--and therefore don't need social justice--precisely because of stereotypes.
and
The mascot and stereotype issues have a lot to do with how people perceive Indians, which has a lot to do with how much respect people pay to Indian rights and sovereignty.
and
If you think of "other" people as less than human, then you feel free to exploit them. So how we perceive them relates directly to how we treat them."

I'm a huge sports fan (expect for pro hockey - the NHL has earned my scorn). I am particularly fond of college ball, both football and basketball. But the issue of Native mascots has nothing to do with sports. It has to do with eliminating racism. A racism so insidious most people think "what's the harm". But imagine having to explain that jumping whooping white guy dressed in turkey feathers to your little son or daughter and why that's OK in our culture. That's what one grad student at the University of Illinois had to do, and it prompted the making of the documentary "In Whose Honor?".

The harsh reality is that Rob at Blue Corn is right. Indians as people in the year 2005 are pretty much invisible in popular culture. Yes, we've got Into the West and yet another Pocahontas movie, but where is a movie about Indians living in the here and now, working, loving, laughing and just being humans? (see: Dancin', Dreamin' Prayin' and Fightin')

My point is that sometimes all people get is mascots. We have a limited and marginalized presence in the mainstream and mascots and the like just reinforce all those negatives. It's about time the NCAA did something, even if it was a little half-assed. Now I'd like to see the Washington Redskins follow suit.

I'm a Brat Camp NDN

2005-08-04T14:15:00.000-04:00

Did anyone see the most recent episode of the ABC reality show Brat Camp?

For those that don't know, the show follows a handful of troubled teens as they go through an Outward Bound type camping experience to try and overcome their homelife problems with the help of the camp couselors. It's actually pretty good, and you come away grateful that you are no longer a teenager.

Anyway, I hear that last night's episode, which I did not see, had the kids go through what they called an "Indian Naming Ceremony" where they painted their faces with random symbols and received medicine pouches. What? Did these kids and couselors suddenly become Indians when I wasnt looking??

Now ABC, on their website, says the kids "receive their own special Earth Names in a mystical Naming Ceremony". They don't specifically say "Indian" (although we all know "mystical" is code for Indian). And I hear from other Indians that they did indeed call it an Indian naming ceremony on the show and they did receive medicine pouches. And yes, they painted their faces, you know, Indian style.

But here's my question. What makes white people think that they can have an Indian Naming Ceremony without any Indians? No culture to back it up, no history to explain the reasoning, no elders to show you the tradition. As someone in an online Native Community that I am a part of said: "Can you see the counselors holding a group bar mitzah, handing out yarmulkes, and giving each of the kids a "real Jewish name"? Or maybe they could have given the kid's authentic priest and nun garb, passed out crackers and grape kool-aid for a "communion", and renamed them with names from the Bible while dousing them with holy water?"

Not only is this insulting to Native traditions, but, and this is most important to me, it perpetuates stereotypes and ignorance. It diminishes and belittles Native practices and helps to undermine the legitimacy of our spirituality.

I hate to be so blunt, but ABC..what a load of irresponsible crap.

Misusing Native Symbols

2005-07-28T12:00:00.000-04:00

Ever wanted to buy some Indian jewelry or crafts but didnt know what was appropriate or how something should be used? Were you dying to get a Native symbol for a tattoo but didn't know if you would offend an entire nation of people with that Thunderbird on your...arm?

Well, Native America Calling is here to help you out.

Friday, July 29, 2005 - Misusing Native Symbols:
Dream Catchers, Kokopelli, Totem Poles…you name it and you’ll probably see these items or symbols on sale in any number of stores or swap meets. Quite often the purpose of the item or symbol is lost on the buyer or they get limited information about the true traditional nature of the item. What does the Dream Catcher really stand for and how was it used in the past? Why won’t some Native people consider hanging a picture of Kokopelli in their home? The use and misuse of Native symbols may offend some Natives but it remains big business for many shop keepers. How does it impact you? Guests include Jodell Meyer (Mille Lacs Ojibwe) Assistant Site Manager/Mille Lacs Indian Museum & Trading Post.

Native America Calling Airs Live
Monday - Friday 1-2pm EST
You can listen on your computer here: http://www.airos.org/

Outsourcing to the Rez

2005-07-27T08:21:00.000-04:00

Next time your computer breaks and you call support, you might be calling Indians in Pine Ridge instead of Indians in New Delhi. That's right. Some jobs have come back from overseas, not just to America, but to Native America.

Karlene Hunter is the founder and president of Lakota Express, "an experienced, full-service direct mail and telemarketing company with a proven track record" that happens to be located on the Pine Ridge Reservation. While her company employs 18 people now, they are expecting to expand staff to 150 soon. That is incredibly significant in a play where unemployment runs at 84%.*

So be nicer to those Customer Service people. They might be Indians.

The Basic Skills Caucasian American Workbook

2005-07-22T20:51:00.000-04:00

Sometimes parody is much more effective than all the well-meaning lectures in the world. Found at Oyate.org.

Beverly Slapin and Annie Esposito invite us to read the Basic Skills Caucasian American Workbook and 10 Little Whitepeople. The reviews are in, and the experts are impressed:

Slapin, Beverly, and Annie Esposito, Basic Skills Caucasian Americans Workbook.1994, b/w illustrations.

"Profound scholarship."
–John J. Knucklebones, Ph.D, The Sacred and the Profane: Studies in Ancient White Art

"Slapin and Esposito have caught the magic of the Caucasian. May their 'talking leaves' take you into the Caucasian world of mystery and beauty." –Doris M. Seale, Former Curator Emeritus, Museum of the American Caucasian

Slapin, Beverly, and Annie Esposito, 10 Little Whitepeople. 1995, b/w illustrations.

"[T]eachers looking for picture books that cut across the curriculum will find this a good way to combine a unit on Whitepeople with counting."
–Bookmark

"Hurray! At long last primary school educators and lovers of children's literature have an accurate Caucasian American book written for primary children."
–The Five Porcupines

I don't believe Slapin and Esposita mean to offend; I think they mean to enlighten. If these books sound ridiculous to you, then good. Similar books featuring Indians sound ridiculous to us.

These books are for sale at Oyate.org, along with others on how to look for bias against Indians in children's books.

How to Spend a Saturday

2005-07-15T17:13:00.000-04:00

Here's where I'll be tomorrow.

The Annual Eight Northern Indian Pueblos Arts & Crafts Show.

"A bustling Native American festival with a dazzling spectrum of visual arts, music, dance and food [..] Start with the idea that Native Americans themselves - not art gallery directors, not collectors, not museum people - organize and operate the event. Stir in about 300 of the nation's most talented Native American artists working as jewelers, potters, sculptors, painters, wood carvers and more. In addition to visual attractions, visitors will find an exciting program of traditional Pueblo dances, the haunting rhythms of Native American drums, and the delicious enticement of traditional Pueblo food."

It's OK to want to be there, too.

Good TV

2005-07-13T16:10:00.000-04:00

Being disconnected from the world this past week has been great, but I am back none too soon. There are some noteworthy TV shows of interest to Natives and everyone else on this week.

Guns, Germs and Steel on PBS
http://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/

In this TV version of his Pulitzer-prize winning book, Jared Diamond explores the deceptively sinple question of why some cultures have advanced at a faster rate than other cultures. Why has the Whiteman grown to dominate the world economically? Diamond proposes an answer that might startle you.

This Monday's episode: In Part 2 (of three), Jared Diamond explores reasons why Spanish Conquistadors conquered the Incas in 1532 "instead of the other way around."

Airing Mondays 7/11,7/18 and 7/25 at 10/9 central, but check local listings to make sure.

Lewis and Clark and the
Journey of Sacagawea on PBS
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/

Ken Burns takes on Lewis and Clark, followed by an hour on Sacagawea: Recalling the young Native American woman who traveled with Lewis and Clark through tribal oral histories, along with Lewis's and Clark's journals.

Wednesday, July 13, 10:00pm

And don't forget to watch the conclusion of Into the West and tell me what you think.

Summer Hiatus

2005-07-05T13:53:00.000-04:00

It's that time of the year for NDNs. Ceremony time. So I am on summer hiatus for a few days, up in the Taos mountains with family, far away from the internet.

I should return to blogging next week. Until then, keep reading Indianz.com and enjoy the summer.

NDN Thoughts on Eminent Domain

2005-06-27T09:24:00.000-04:00

I'm sure by now everyone has heard about the most recent high profile Supreme Court ruling. The one that involved bulldozing the houses of little old ladies to make room for high-rise hotels, yuppie condos and, dare we guess, a Starbucks or four.

The Court ruled that "local governments may seize people's homes and businesses -- even against their will -- for private economic development". This, as I understand it, is part of the law of eminent domain.

Eminent domain "is the power of the state to appropriate private property for its own use without the owner's consent." Usually there are riders that stipulate that the land must be used for public works and that the owner must be justly compensated.

OK, ndns, is any of this sounding familiar?

Now I don't know all the legalese (yet) and I'm not trying to draw legal parallels so much, but I gotta say, as soon as I heard that report, I thought, well, now you know how Indians feel.

And I'm not alone on that thought.

Georgia Albert posts on ProudToBeNativeAmerican:

"Not to long ago the Indians had control of their ancestoral lands, the land to raise their families on, and then the government exercised eminent domain. The government seized the Indian's ancestoral lands and sold their land to private parties. The Indians could only stand and watch as their land, their Mother, was stolen from them, and sold to private parties. And now, the government has come for the land of the citizens of the United States, the government is using the same tatics used to steal Indian lands, the eminent domain scam. "

Karma's a bitch, ain't it?

Is Cradleboard in Your Kid's Classroom?

2005-06-23T17:13:00.000-04:00

What did you learn in school about Indians? Not much? Or at least not much that was accurate? That could be changing.

The Cradleboard Teaching Project, a revolutionary new curriculum started by Indian musician and singer Buffy Sainte-Marie, is working to address that problem:

"The Cradleboard Teaching Project turns on the lights in public education about Native American culture - past, present, and most important for the children - the Future. It comes out of Indian country, and reaches far beyond, into the mainstream classroom and into the future of education.

"Backed by lesson plans and an excellent curriculum, the Cradleboard Teaching Project is also live and interactive, and totally unique; children learn with and through their long-distance peers using the new technology alongside standard tools, and delivering the truth to little kids with the help of several American Indian colleges. Cradleboard reaches both Indian and non-Indian children with positive realities, while they are young."

From their FAQ: What are the Problems that Cradleboard is designed to remedy?

- Native American people suffer from being misperceived all their lives because of the lack of accuracy in the mainstream. Native American reality is virtually invisible to ourselves and our peers and the parents of our peers. Any child whose concept of self identity must depend upon what’s reflected as Native American in the world of school and media will come up empty. It’s like looking in the mirror with a group of friends and having everybody reflected but yourself.

- Native American children don’t see anybody on television or at the movies with whom they can identify. They have no visibility and no impact. Meanwhile their innocent non-Indian peers celebrate a Broadway-style Pocahontas who sings like a showgirl and dances with pink bunnies. What is a Native American child to do? Most Native American children don’t know anybody who lives like “Dances with Wolves” any more than a non-Indian child knows anybody who lives like Mary Poppins.

- Statistics show that the same inaccurate, stereotypical curricula about Native peoples that hurt Native Americans also produce Mainstream adults with inaccurate or negative views about Indians. When a Native American child grows up, he and she will have to deal with both sides of this dilemma: absence of a strong self concept and inaccurate perceptions from others.

- Lack of enriching, accurate information about Native American people and cultures are in part to blame for our having the highest depression and suicide rates in the country. Leading up to this fact are high rates of school drop-out, concomitant high unemployment, welfare dependency, substance abuse, and rates of poverty.

Actually sounds like something everyone could use, not just school kids.

Stop. Think.

2005-06-18T23:24:00.000-04:00

Take a moment and look at the ad to your left. Grandparent. Child. Ice cream cone. Colored chicken feather "Indian" head dress. Major pharmaceutical product.

WTF?

Now if you aren't Indian, you're probably thinking, "So what"? So I want you to do a little exercise. Imagine this ad with the kid dressed up as, say, the stereotype of a Black man, or a Chinese man, or an Indian from India. Go ahead. Make the little outfit in your head, complete with hat or turban or whatever fits. Now imagine Tylenol printing that for an ad campaign. Uh huh.

So what makes Indians different? Why are our traditions and practices allowed to be dress-up for little children in ad campaigns? Why aren't we accorded the same respect as any other ethnic group?

Is it because Indians are the past? We are all dead, so making fun of us or belittling our cultural practices doesn't matter? Is that why words like "redskin" persist as acceptable term, why "braves" and "chiefs" are still found as caricatured mascots on high school football fields? And why Tylenol doesnt know any better?

Tylenol got one thing right. The ad says to stop and think before taking Tylenol. I couldnt agree more.

Summering with the Shinnecock

2005-06-17T13:01:00.000-04:00

I think we've all heard of The Hamptons, that exclusive summer playground of the rich and famous, home to P-Diddy, Billy Joel, Seinfeld, The Hiltons, and numerous other East Coast celebs and millionaires. Turns out that property, where the average home is US$993,269, and more exclusive conclaves can run to an average of US$1.39-million, should belong to the Shinnecock tribe.

Now the Shinnecock aren't telling the rich to leave their their homes, but they are claiming that the land was taken from them by the State of New York and they would now like to be paid some back rent and interest. How much could that be, you ask? Well, the land has been assessed at a value of US$1.7 billion. You could hold a pretty nice Labor Day Powwow with that cash.

The Shinnecock have long held that this land was taken form them illegally. It seems that about 150 years ago a group of private investors got the New York legislature to approve the transfer of the land based on a petition signed by a mere 21 Shinnecocks. Some of those "signatures" were only "X", and others belonged to minors and, uh, dead people. Yes, dead people.

Now some people are claiming that this lawsuit, which certainly seems unwinnable, considering the facts that the Shinnecock are not a federally recognized tribe and recent court losses like Oneida Indian Nation v. City of Sherrill imply the courts may not be friendly to Indian land claims, was filed as leverage in casino negotiations. The Shinnecock have been trying to open a casino on their 800 acre reservation in the Hamptons, but their snooty neighbors, who I am sure happily vacation in Vegas and Monte Carlo, have strongly opposed the plan.

Randy King, chairmen of the tribes board of trustees, says "This land claim will enable us to have what our vacationing neighbours take for granted - steady jobs, better education for our children and access to quality healthcare."

I agree. I figure whether the money to fund those things comes from a casino or by forcing the hand of the State of New York, the Shinnecocks have some payback coming their way.

Audio Files: Oversight Hearing On Indian Youth Suicide Prevention

2005-06-15T23:40:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Indianz.com for providing this great audio of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Oversight Hearing on Youth Suicide. All linksbelow are from Indianz.com:

All files are Mp3's, so you can download the files for later listening as well.

Introduction - 7:43 - 3.09MB
Introduction by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) and short statement
by Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona)

Panel I - 5:55 - 2:37MB
Testimony by Dr. Richard Carmona, U.S. Surgeon General

Statement - 4:27 - 1.78MB
Statement by Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Oregon)

Q&A - 3:38 - 1.45MB
Questions and Answers with Panel I

Statement - 2:36 - 1.04MB
Statement by Sen. Tim Johnson (D-South Dakota)

Q&A - 18:30 - 7.41MB
More Questions and Answers with Panel I

Panel II - 42:56 - 17.2MB
Testimony by Panel II

Q&A - 22:52 - 9.16
Questions and Answers with Panel II

Oversight Hearing On Indian Youth Suicide Prevention

2005-06-15T10:33:00.000-04:00

US Senate Committee On Indian Affairs
Oversight Hearing On Indian Youth Suicide Prevention
Set for June 15, 2005
9:30am et

A live web broadcast of senate hearings covering Indian youth suicide
will air this June 15, 2005 at 9:30am. Web site URL:
http://indian.senate.gov/

If you have testimony you would like to have entered into record on
this issue, please use this email address:
testimony@indian.senate.gov

You have two weeks from now to have your testimony placed on the senate record for this issue. United Native America has been told what the senate panel wants is positive feed back they can use to enact new legislation that will bring about positive changes for American Indian youth.

"..And Feel Like Hurting Somebody"

2005-06-14T10:02:00.000-04:00

“If Crazy Horse, or Geronimo, or Sitting Bull came back...They would start a war....They’d listen to some dumb-shit Disney song and feel like hurting somebody....”

Someone in another blog recently posted a review of the Sherman Alexie book Indian Killer.

"..if the Ghost Dance worked ...All you white people would disappear. All of you. If those dead Indians came back to life...They’d kill you. They’d gut you and eat you heart."

Pocohantas fans beware. New Age wannabes, step off. It could get ugly.

Indian Killer is probably my favorite novel by Alexie. It's a murder mystery set against the backdrop of contemporary Indian politics and cultural clashes in Seattle. It's got enough "whodunit" to keep everyone reading, and enough challenging in-your-face politics to make you really think. I highly recommend.

I'm hesitant to say this, but I heard the movie version is in production. Anyone know if that's true? Even if it is, that does *not* mean you should wait for the movie to come out. Alexie's writing style is one of the joys of reading his works.

And don't be dismayed if your were taken aback by the quotes above. The book may challenge you, but it's not so easily dismissed as Angry Indian^TM.

"Indian Killer tells this story without preaching or yelling. We follow characters we genuinely care about, whether white or native, because nothing is black and white even the so called enemies are interesting and human. Even the thugs who are beating up the vagrants are shown as more then just three dimensional bigots. In the end this just makes their actions all the more disturbing."

And who doesnt like disturbing?

NAC's Going West, Too

2005-06-09T23:39:00.000-04:00

Native American Calling is talking about Into the West on tomorrow's show.

from NAC:
"What is written in history books is often from the point of view of non-Natives. Imagine what Geronimo or Chief Seattle would have said if they wrote history books about the events that took place during their lifetimes. Turner Network Television is set to air a six-week mini-series on the settling of the American west. They hired Native advisors who helped in the accurate portrayal of Native people and they hired Native actors to play the parts of historical figures. How can non-Natives learn about the history of Native Americans from this television series? And how did the Native actors and advisors help portray the Native perspective? Guests to be announced."

Show airs Friday, June 10, 1-2 pm EST. Listen here online.

I'm Headed "Into the West"

2005-06-09T22:07:00.000-04:00

Friday, tomorrow night, at 8/7c, I'm headed Into the West.

I've been waiting for a while for this Stephen Spielberg produced miniseries to premiere on TNT. It is being touted as the first epic telling of Westward Expansion that takes into account the Indian point of view. The six part minseries follows the adventures and twists of two families, one white and one Lakota, over 50 years. Various family members hit such historical highlights as the California Gold Rush, the building of the transcontinental railroads, The Battle of Little Bighorn, and Wounded Knee.

I paroused the cast and I think almost every Indian who's every worked in Hollywood is in it. Some of the well-recognized names are Wes Studi, Graham Greene, Eddie and Michael Spears, Irene Bedard, Russell Means, and Gordon Tootoosis. And those are just the Indians I recognize! Who is Jay Tavare? (Yeah, I think I've seen him on the cover of romance novels, too. Is he like the Indian Fabio?)

I see that Crazy Horse and Red Cloud make appearances (not to mention Custer), so that's pretty exciting! Let's keep our fingers crossed that it is good, shall we?

Although I have to say some early reviews have been harsh.

Elaine Wolff of the San Antonio Current says "Why then do the meticulously (and, I imagine, expensively) recreated scenes play so awkwardly? Even the actors who portray Lakota tribespeople don't seem to be entirely convinced of their own authenticity. Part of the fault lies with the filmmakers who decided that these scenes require more narration than the all-white scenes. The unintentional effect is to make the Native Americans seem childlike and deserving of patronization."

Uh oh. Childlike? Patronizing?

And then Alan Sepinwall at the Star Ledger opines "Most of the people we meet are historical archetypes at best, blanks at worst.[...]The Lakota characters are even sketchier than their white counterparts, there less as people than as symbols. The Lakota sequences seem shorter and more obligatory as the story moves along, as if the writers knew they were necessary to provide historical balance but had no idea how to make them interesting."

I'm starting to get a bad feeling. But I'm going to give it a chance. So should you.

When NDNs Disappear

2005-06-08T22:35:00.000-04:00

I've been on a road trip. About 3,000 miles total since May 31 and over 600 miles today alone. Yes, I'm a little tired.

I saw a lot of Indians. A family running a taco franchise on the Cheyenne rez right by the dialysis clinic, a well dressed guy in the Bill Clinton museum wearing tasteful turquoise earrings. And Albuquerque. Well, let's just say Albuquerque's full of ndns. That's one of the reasons I now call Albuquerque home.

That's right. No more New York City. I am now a resident of the Duke City.

I also saw many a remarkable Indian..thing. A little cartoon "running Indian" logo at a gas station. Lots and lots of dolls, feathers and moccasins in Oklahoma, which, btw, is "Native America", so their license plates say. (New York's say "The Empire State". What do you think that means?) A number of roadside Indian "museums", replete with tipi. (May I say again my peeps never lived in tipis, nor did many tribes. Once again, the Plains Indians steal the spotlight.)

And so now you know what happens when Indians disappear; they hit the road. But now I'm back and shall return to normal blogging. Once I get some serious sleep.

That and $1.99 Gets You A Cup of Coffee

2005-05-27T21:47:00.000-04:00

Up in Kingston, Ontario it looks like there is a new meaning to DWI. Let's call it Driving While Indigenous. Yes, Natives have joined the ranks of the targets of racial profiling.

Looks like a study entitled "Bias Free Policing" found disparities in the justice system. Although Natives only make up 1.6% of the city's population, they account for 2.2% of all stops. That means you're 1.4 more likely to get stopped by the cops for Driving While Indigenous. (But never fear. There report also concludes that you are 3.7% more likely to get stopped if Driving While Black, even though Blacks make up a miniscule 0.6% of the population.)

The police chief has apologized, but of course admits no wrongdoing, prefering to blame "The System".

Speaking of apologies in place of action, Congress has put forth a resolution that would apologize to Native Americans for "many instances of violence, maltreatment and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the United States." I get the feeling that's a Big Deal, cause it turns out Congress has only apologized twice for official government conduct, those being the unlawful otherthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdon and the detention of Japanese Americans during WWII. No, no apology for slavery. That's crazy talk.

Apologies are a start. As the Great White Shaman Dr. Phil says, "You gotta name it to claim it."

But in both these instances, by the Ontario Police Chief and by the Congress of the United States, you have to ask what the point of an apology is if it is not followed by meaningful action. An apology alone may acknowledge the fact you know you did wrong, but if you don't do something to correct the harm you have done, then your words are empty. (Imagine if someone stole your car, apologized for it, but didnt give it back. Yeah, useless like that.)

So I am reminded of a Lakota friend of mine, who recently waxed pop music on the subject, quoting a line from a They Might Be Giants song, "Your Racist Friend": "Can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding." And you certainly can't just say you're sorry.

When Your Laws Aren't My Laws

2005-05-27T10:04:00.000-04:00

The University of New Mexico School of Law recently released its most recent volume of its Tribal Law Journal. "The purpose of the Tribal Law Journal is to promote indigenous self-determination by facilitating discussion of the internal law of the world’s indigenous nations. The internal law of indigenous nations encompasses traditional law, western law adopted by indigenous nations, and a blend of western and indigenous law. Underscoring this purpose is the recognition that traditional law is a source of law."

It makes for good reading. Here's my recommendations:

Tribal Law as Indigenous Social Reality and Separate Consciousness [Re]Incorporating Customs and Traditions into Tribal Law by Christine Zuni Cruz "explores the reflection of traditional legal concepts and values in enacted laws of indigenous nations. The premise of this article is that "an indigenous nation’s sovereignty is strengthened if its law is based upon its own internalized values and norms." Zuni-Cruz’s article questions the impact of enacted western laws on indigenous communities’ people and culture."

Troublesome Aspects of Western Influences on Tribal Justice Systems and Laws by Alex Tallchief Skibine "provides readers with an overview of the colonial process by which tribal written law resembles the legal structures of the states and the federal government. Skibine’s article highlights why and how tribal court systems have been influenced by western law, as well as the problems associated with the integration of tribal justice systems into the U.S. political system."

The Status of Traditional Indian Justice by Agustin Grijalva "discusses constitutional reforms in Ecuador that recognize traditional Indian law and traditional Indian authorities as collective Indian rights. This article explores the historical background of the constitutional reforms, how these reforms might affect the current Ecuadorian judicial system and some potential problems in administering these reforms."

Diné Bi Beenahaz’áanii: Codifying Indigenous Consuetudinary Law in the 21st Century by Kenneth Bobroff : "The fundamental laws of the Diné, "the People" in the Navajo language, were placed by the Holy People long before Spaniards arrived in the New World. Since Coronado first traveled to Navajo Country almost five centuries ago, Diné have resisted European assaults on Navajo Law. On November 1, 2002, the Navajo Nation Council acknowledged the survival of the fundamental laws of the Diné, recognizing four specific constituent elements "traditional law, customary law, natural law, and common law" and explaining the principles of each."

Read all the articles here.

In the News

2005-05-23T12:11:00.000-04:00

There is a lot going on in Indian Country these days and with my cross-country move underway, I don't seem to have the time to get to it all. I want to make mention of a few things, and I promise to come back and talk a little more in depth later on.

1. My thoughts on the season finale of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are forthcoming. Overall, I enjoyed it. I thought it did a good job of showing Natives in a contemporary real-life light, despite the one comment by the British designer about the Indian guy just "vanishing" after he gave him a gift. Uh, yeah, maybe he just wandered over to the free snacks. Did you think of that? Seriously, would any other enthic group mysteriously "vanish"? I did learn one valuable lessons: Indians make white people cry..alot.

2. There's been a national forum on disenrollment held by members of California tribes. They argue their ouster is one of the fallouts of gaming. So is it legit or is it greed?

3. The Pueblo are finally getting props for kicking some major Spanish ass back in the day. There's a statue of Pope (that's Po-pay) going up in Washington D.C. this fall to commemorate the leader of the Pueblo revolt and get the story out there. I love the story of the Pueblo revolt, not just cause they are my peeps, but because they are a success story in the midst of so much sorrow in the history of Indians.

4. There's some Alaskan Native rappers making news.

5. The heat is righteously scorching the corrupt collective asses of Jack Abramoff and Grover Norquist. Let's just hope the flames flare and catch Delay and Ralph Reed before the inquiry fires fade. As their hightly unethical and potentially criminal treatment of Indian tribes comes under more scrutiny, Norquist whines that "[John] McCain hates me." So do I, so that's one thing me and McCain can agree on..

And those are the stories catching my attention today. Enjoy.

Reminder: Ty Pennington's comin' to the Rez

2005-05-19T15:10:00.000-04:00

Just a reminder that Ty Pennington and crew are comin' to Indian Country this Sunday at 7/6 c. It's the two hour season finale special.

My original thoughts on that are here. Note airtime change.

Would Indians Make Better Businesses?

2005-05-18T11:19:00.000-04:00

Back in March, Native Women in the Arts and the Centre for Indigenous Sovereignty held a symposium on the "insight and vision on the subject of cultural approaches to management based on fundamental Indigenous principles and models of leadership". They said that this symposium would "look at Indigenous cultural approaches to management, community inter-relationships, decision-making, capacity-building, and nurturing healthy arts and cultural leaders and organizations".

How interesting!

My curiosity is most piqued by the idea that there are inherent differences between indigenous approaches to management and leadership and non-indigenous approaches. What would those differences look like? How would they play out? Could you teach them in business/ public administration school? But most of all, would they be successful ? How would you know?

Goodbye Motel 6, Hello Beantown Jailhouse

2005-05-14T10:44:00.000-04:00

Just when you thought it was safe to go on your summer vacation.

While Spearfish, South Dakota may have repudiated their law about shooting three or more Indians walking down the street together, Boston still has a little anti-Indian law on the books that is endangering their bid to host a big journalism conference. Turns out Boston has a law dating from 1675 that declares that any Indian entering the city is to be arrested.

Now no one really believes Boston will enforce this law. But as Dan Lewerenz, president of the Native American Journalists Association and member of the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska said, "We're considering what it means for us to endorse a city that officially and effectively bans Native Americans. We know it's not going to be enforced, but in theory, the police could arrest us when we arrive at the airport."

Two Democrats in the state congress are working to repeal the law, but until that happens, Boston's official lawbooks say that Indians are "not to be suffered to lodge in Town, unless in Prison." Guess I better cancel my reservation at the Motel 6.

Indians Seein' " Visions"

2005-05-11T09:39:00.000-04:00

KAET, a public broadcasting station in Arizona, has a show with a simple but powerful premise: "Native American issues as seen by Arizona's Native Americans".

The show is called Native Visions and it "brings together heads of state, policy makers, community leaders, government officials, and healers for a groundbreaking one-hour special." Groundbreaking indeed! How often do you see the Native persective in the media, much less on a news or issues-related show? Oh sure, we show up as a vanishing people from the 19th century in plenty of movies and television, but a show focusing on current issues? With eloquent guys in suits, smart women asking tough questions of senators, people discussing issues of sovereignty, education and healthcare, as it pertains to Native Americans? That is unheard of. And that is progress.

Check out the website, where you can also read transcripts of past shows and find out more about the program.

The show airs Wednesday, May 11 at 7 p.m. on Channel 8.

Inside Dachau with Sherman

2005-05-10T09:53:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a huge fan of Sherman Alexie. I love his movies, I love his short stories and novels, but most of all I love his poety. So in honor of the anniversary of the end of World War II this week, I offer Inside Dachau, by Sherman Alexie.

1. big lies, small lies

Having lied to our German hosts about our plans
for the day, Diane and I visited Dachau
instead of searching for rare albums in Munich.
Only a dozen visitors walked through the camp
because we were months away from tourist season.
The camp was austere. The museum was simple.

Once there, I had expected to feel simple
emotions: hate, anger, sorrow. That was my plan.
I would write poetry about how the season
of winter found a perfect home in cold Dachau.
I would be a Jewish man who died in the camp.
I would be the ideal metaphor. Munich

would be a short train ride away from hell. Munich
would take the blame. I thought it would all be simple
but there were no easy answers inside the camp.
The poems still took their forms, but my earlier plans
seemed so selfish. What could I say about Dachau
when I had never suffered through any season

inside its walls? Could I imagine a season
of ash and snow, of flames and shallow graves? Munich
is only a short train ride away from Dachau.
If you can speak some German, it is a simple
journey which requires coins and no other plans
for the day. We lied about visiting the camp

to our German hosts, who always spoke of the camp
as truthfully as they spoke about the seasons.
Dachau is still Dachau. Our hosts have made no plans
to believe otherwise. As we drove through Munich
our hosts pointed out former Nazi homes, simply
and quickly. "We are truly ashamed of Dachau,"

Mikael said, "but what about all the Dachaus
in the United States? What about the death camps
in your country?" Yes, Mikael, you ask simple
questions which are ignored, season after season.
Mikael, I'm sorry we lied about Munich
and Dachau. I'm sorry we lied about our plans.

Inside Dachau, you might believe winter will never end. You may lose
faith in the change of seasons
because some of the men who built the camps still live in Argentina,
in Washington, in Munich.
They live simple lives. They share bread with sons and daughters
who have come to understand the master plan.

2. history as the home movie

it begins and ends with ash, though we insist
on ignoring the shared fires in our past.
We attempt to erase our names from the list
that begins and ends with ash.

We ignore the war until we are the last
standing, until we are the last to persist
in denial, as we are shipped off to camps

where we all are stripped, and our dark bodies lit
by the cruel light of those antique Jew-skinned lamps.
Decades after Dachau fell, we stand in mist
that begins and ends with ash.

3. commonly asked questions

Why are we here? What have we come to see?
What do we need to find behind the doors?
Are we searching for an apology

from the ghosts of unrepentant Nazis?
We pay the entrance fee at the front door.
Why are we here? What have we come to see?

The actors have moved on to the next scene
and set: furnace, shovel, and soot-stained door.
Are we searching for an apology

from all the Germans who refused to see
the ash falling in front of their locked doors?
Why are we here? What have we come to see

that cannot be seen in other countries?
Every country hides behind a white door.
Are we searching for an apology

from the patient men who've hidden the keys?
Listen: a door is a door is a door.
Why are we here? What have we come to see?
Are we searching for an apology?

4. the american indian holocaust museum

What do we indigenous people want from our country?
We stand over mass graves. Our collective grief makes us numb.
We are waiting for the construction of our museum.

We too could stack the shoes of our dead and fill a city
to its thirteenth floor. What did you expect us to become?
What do we indigenous people want from our country?
We are waiting for the construction of our museum.

We are the great-grandchildren of Sand Creek and Wounded Knee.
We are the veterans of the Indian wars. We are the sons
and daughters of the walking dead. We have lost everyone.
What do we indigenous people want from our country?
We stand over mass graves. Our collective grief makes us numb.
We are waiting for the construction of our museum.

5. songs from those who love the flames

We start the fires
on the church spire:
ash, ash.
We build tall pyres
from children's choirs:
ash, ash.
We watch flames gyre
and burn the liars:
ash, ash.
We watch flames gyre
from children's choirs:
ash, ash.
We start the fires
and burn the liars:
ash, ash.
We build tall pyres
on the church spire.
ash, ash.
We build tall pyres
and burn the liars:
ash, ash.
We watch flames gyre
on the church spire:
ash, ash.
We start the fires
from children's choirs:
ash, ash.

6. after we are free

If I were Jewish, how would I mourn the dead?
I am Spokane. I wake.

If I were Jewish, how would I remember the past?
I am Spokane. I page through the history books.

If I were Jewish, how would I find the joy to dance?
I am Spokane. I drop a quarter into the jukebox.

If I were Jewish, how would I find time to sing?
I am Spokane. I sit at the drum with all of my cousins.

If I were Jewish, how would I fall in love?
I am Spokane. I listen to an Indian woman whispering.

If I were Jewish, how would I feel about ash?
I am Spokane. I offer tobacco to all of my guests.

If I were Jewish, how would I tell the stories?
I am Spokane. I rest my hands on the podium.

If I were Jewish, how would I sleep at night?
I am Spokane. I keep the television playing until dawn.

If I were Jewish, how would I find my home?
I am Spokane. I step into the river and close my eyes.

7. below freezing

Dachau was so cold I could see my breath
so I was thankful for my overcoat.
I have nothing new to say about death

Each building sat at right angles to the rest.
Around each corner, I expected ghosts.
Dachau was so cold I could see my breath.

Everything was clean, history compressed
into shoes, photographs, private notes.
I have nothing new to say about death.

I wanted to weep. I wanted to rest
my weary head as the ash mixed with snow.
Dachau was so cold I could see my breath.

I am not a Jew. I was just a guest
in that theater which will never close.
I have nothing new to say about death.

I wonder which people will light fires next
and which people will soon be turned to smoke.
Dachau was so cold I could see my breath.
I have nothing new to say about death.

A Little Myth Busting from Billings

2005-05-06T09:46:00.000-04:00

Roger Clawson's doing a little myth busting over on the Billings Outpost. It's spot on and well written, so I thought I'd just share it.

from: Myth Persists About Payments to Indians

"[...]In Western pool halls and post offices, anywhere whites gather, the myth persists. In brief, bigots claim that Indians receive a check from the government once a month.

"Other handouts claimed include free food, housing and education.

"Some people have even seen those checks. Here’s why:

"Most Indian tribes are like corporations, like General Motors or Microsoft. They have sources of income, expenses, assets and liabilities. When they make a profit, they pay dividends to their shareholders.

"In the case of the Indian tribes, the shareholders are the tribal members. Tribes sell timber, grass, oil or coal found on or under tribal lands. After paying the tribal government’s expenses, the cash is divided between tribal members.

"Make a profit. Pay a dividend. In this respect General Motors and the Crow Tribe operate alike. But there is one critical difference. The BIA serves as the tribe’s banker. Revenues collected by the BIA are deposited in the U.S. Treasury before being transferred to the tribal government or individual tribal members via government check.

"Uncle Sam writes the checks but it’s Indian money, not tax dollars.

"These irregular checks (called per-capita payments) usually arrive twice a year, around mid summer and just before Christmas. Some tribes make per capita payments of $500 or so. Poorer tribes may struggle to pay members $30. Sometimes the tribes end the year in the red and there are no per capita payments. Some tribes have struck it rich with oil or casino developments. Their members, like rich white folks, may live high on the hog.

"Pretend that your great-grandfather owned a huge ranch. When the calves are sold in the fall, you and other heirs get a check. When Acme Wildcatters strike oil on this land, you and the cousins drive new cars and winter in Arizona. Are these handouts? Most wouldn’t think so.

"Imagine your great aunt leaving you a block of Das Widgewerks stock. Would you be ashamed to clip coupons?

"Yes, Indians sometimes get coal and oil money, if the coal or oil is found beneath tribal lands.

"Just like great-grandpa’s heirs, tribal members get paid for what is theirs.

"No, Indians do not get an automatic free ride to college. A few wealthy tribes may invest in their young people, providing scholarships for those who qualify. In that case, it’s Indian money, not federal tax money, that pays for books and tuition.

"Finally, the federal government does spend a bundle on the nation’s Indian reservations. Indians receive assistance through education and food and housing programs. Come to think of it, so do whites who live off the reservations."

Read the rest of the article here.

Clawson doesn't cover every scenario. After all there are treaty agreements with varying terms and over 500 Indian nations in Indian Country. But he gets a good start and sheds a little light on one of the uglier stereotypes we have to deal with.

We Don't Waste People

2005-05-04T09:30:00.000-04:00

Good news out of the Navajo Nation. The Navajo President, Joe Shirley, vetoed a measure that would have banned gay marriage on the reservation. Mr Shirley said that gay marriage was a non-issue in Navajoland and if the tribal council, who first drafted the measure, wanted to protect "family values", they should worry about issues like domestic violence, sexual assault and gangs. He also said that "the legislation veiled a discriminatory aspect in the guise of family values, which goes against the Navajo teaching of non-discrimination and doing no psychological or physical harm."

I am very glad to hear this. Many Native cultures have traditionally had no issues with people who are homosexual or differently gendered. In fact, Two Spirits have often played a sacred role in tribes as creators, people who walk between the worlds and healers. It is a shame that some Natives, like the Cherokee, have decided to adopt what I consider mainstream Christian-influenced discrimination againsts gays and lesbians. It is, I think, one of the worst kinds of colonialism.

We would all do well to remember the words of Joe Medicine Crow of the Crow Nation, who said "We don’t waste people the way white society does. Every person has their gift."

Armchair Powwow

2005-04-30T11:47:00.000-04:00

Watch a live webcast of the Gathering of Nations.
>>>>Click Here.

You'll have to make your own frybread.

The Nations are Gathering (and you're invited)

2005-04-26T23:15:00.000-04:00

I'm off to Albuquerque in the morning, where soon I'll be surrounded by more ndns than you can shake a paper treaty at. I'm going to the Gathering of Nations, arguably the biggest powwow in the country, besides maybe Schemitzun. My cousin's Drum, Young Bird, won first prize last year, so they are one of the invited Drums.

I may be scarce for the next week as I will be spending time with my family and visiting the University of New Mexico law school. That is if I am still ambulatory after all the frybread* and chilis I intend to consume.

Some days it's good to be indigenous.

Photo from http://www.gatheringofnations.com
* I know I just blogged about decolonizing your diet, so I will be eating frybread in moderation. I promise.

Through a Smoky Mirror

2005-04-25T21:14:00.000-04:00

Welcome my friend Yehecatl to the blogosphere. He has a fine website called The Aztec Gateway and after months of ~~prodding~~ encouragement, he has finally started a blog called Through a Smoky Mirror.

Yehecatl writes:

"Four Hundred and Eighty-Five years ago in May, the Spaniards executed a massacre of Aztec celebrants in main ceremonial center of Tenochtitlan. The celebration was Toxcatl, the primary festival for the god Tezcatlipoca, "The Smoking Mirror." Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, then ruler of the Aztecs, had asked his captors' permission before beginning the festivities. Pedro de Alvarado (left in charge by Cortes as he ran off to defend himself from fellow Spaniards coming to arrest him) agreed to it, only to change his mind halfway through and decide to kill most of the people taking part in the celebration.

"This Toxcatl, I begin my blog. What will be on this blog, you ask? At first, subjects inspired by Toxcatl. After that, things of relevance to my religious and spiritual experience. Some of these things will be related to Mesoamerican topics, some of them will be current issues that I feel effect the religious climate in general, and some will be related to that odd and uncomfortable grouping of divergent religious paths that has come to be known as the Pagan community. This blog won't be anything fancy to look at, but I hope it will be of at least some interest to the small segment of the population it is intended for."

Please Don't Shoot the Indians

2005-04-22T14:33:00.000-04:00

Good news for any Indians visiting Spearfish, South Dakota. Mayor Jerry Krambeck has repudiated the law that says, "If three or more Indians are walking down the street together, they can be considered a war party and fired upon."

Now to be fair, Krambeck says that there is no evidence that this law actually existed. Actually he says the law doesn't exist now, but that does not mean such a law never existed. He is convinced that this is just an urban legend that got started on the Internet and has become so believed, and believable, that he felt the need to officially repudiate it.

Indians can now feel free to travel to Spearfish, although I still wouldn't travel in groups, just in case.

Bulldozing the Holy Land

2005-04-21T12:36:00.000-04:00

This just in! WTF News reports that they have bulldozed parts of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to make gravel for the new trans-Israel highway! Jews, Christians and Muslims have complained loudly, but since part of the Mount is held in private ownership, they're pretty much screwed. But that'll be one sacred highway.

What? Not true? Ridiculous, even? Well, maybe and maybe not.

Woodruff Butte, AZ is a sacred place for the Hopi, Zuni and Navajo. But because parts of it were sold off to private non-Native ownership, it has been bulldozed and turned into gravel to make roads. The tribes complained and to the state of Arizona's credit, they revoked Dale McKinnon and his company's license to sell his gravel to the state for state road projects. He is, it seems, still allowed to sell it to private companies to the tune of millions of dollars.

Mr. McKinnon sued the state and lost. This week his appeal reached the Supreme Court, where it was rejected. So the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling holds. In it's ruling, the judge says two things that caught my attention:

"Because of the unique status of Native American societies in North American history, protecting Native American shrines and other culturally-important sites has historical value for the nation as a whole, much like Greece's preservation of the Parthenon, an ancient Greek temple of worship."

and

"Native American sacred sites of historical value are entitled to the same protection as the many Judeo-Christian religious sites that are protected on the National Registry of Historical Places, including the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C..."

Indeed they are, judge. And while such sentiment may seem obvious to us Indians, it's good to hear those words coming from a federal judge.

As to my Temple Mount fake news example from above, I was inspired by a line from the documentary In the Light of Reverence, which features the destruction of Woodruff Butte as one it its stories:

"For Most Americans the Holy Land exists on another continent. But for Native Americans, the Holy Land is here."

Will we as a country allow our holy sites and national treasures to be turned into gravel, or will we work to preserve something as sacred, besides the American dollar?

Hollywood Magic

2005-04-19T16:48:00.000-04:00

My good friend the Doc over at Bitter Daze has written a great post on the Magical Negro.

The "Magical Negro" (MN) is never the protagonist in a film, because she/he must support the star character [..] "The Magical Negro" often appears as someone uneducated and in a low station of life, such as a driver (ex. Morgan Freeman in Driving Miss Daisy) or prisoner (ex. Michael Duncan Clarke in Green Mile), and is depicted as wiser and spiritually deeper than the protagonist. The purpose of the "Magical Negro" in the plot is often to help the protagonist --who is almost always white--get out of trouble, and to help this white character recognize his own faults and overcome them. The Black character may literally have special powers, or he may be mysterious in a way that suggests otherworldliness.

Wonderful, hilarious and spot-on, Doc.

I would write a companion piece on the the Magical Indian, but arent all Indians magical? Don't they all speak to the animals, have visions, and say wise things in short mystical sentences, usually accompained by off-camera drums and chanting? The only exception to the Magical Indian would be the Angry Young Indian, who is often a warrior and hates the White Man at first. But once he realises the White Man in question (think Kevin Coster) is a Good White Man ^TM, he lets go of his anger and learns to love the White Man. At this point he, too, becomes a Magical Indian.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention there are also magical Asians. They often teach not only life lessons, but martial arts. That's way cooler than beadwork.

Dances With Wolves poster from German Release. Graham Greene looks particularly magical.

Ty Pennington's comin' to the Rez

2005-04-14T11:04:00.000-04:00

I watch the ABC show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Or at least I used to. Before the cheese and sap level threatened to drown me in a sea of disabled children and weeping widowers being saved by earnest white designers. Now don't get me wrong. The show does good things. It's just, well, can't they do them without the maudlin soundtrack and human interest backstory? Just tell me these people are broke and need a house. I'll understand and I'll be appropriately excited. Who wouldnt want a new house?

But I digress. The news I wanted to share is it looks like Extreme Makeover is coming to the rez! The Navajo Nation, to be exact. They will be building a new home for Lori Piestewa. Piestewa was the Hopi woman who was the first female soldier killed in Iraq, and despite my cynicism at the presentation of the show, I cannot think of a more deserving family (see photo). The show will also be rebuilding the Navajo Nation Veterans Office. All very cool.

The Piestewa episode, which is also the season finale, will air Sunday, May 22, and 8pm EST. Mark your calendars and get a fresh box of kleenex ready. You're gonna need it.

Gettin' a degree in Cherokee

2005-04-12T17:04:00.001-04:00

O-si-yo, y'all. I read today that Northeasteastern State University is now offering a 4 yr Bachelor's Degree in Cherokee Education. The program is aimed at future K-12 teachers and will include classes such as Elementary Cherokee, Conversational Cherokee, and Cherokee Cultural Heritage.

Either this is an excellent idea that is long overdue and will help to preserve and grow speakers of the Cherokee language, or it will attract every wannabe with a great-grandmother Cherokee princess in the greater Midwest. But hey, anyone who is willing to put in the work for a four year degree deserves some props.

Speaking of Cherokee (excuse the pun), I was surfing around the Official Cherokee Nation website and found some cool language stuff. You can take online Cherokee classes (requires registration), download the Cherokee font for your computer, or listen to Cherokee radio shows in Cherokee. Pretty cool. I wish we had a fraction of this stuff in Tewa.

Language preservation and growth is a Big Deal in Native communities. Check out Native Languages of the Americas and see what you can do to help, or talk to you elders or others in the community about how you can learn your own language.

Once we lose the language, we lose something integral to the culture and to the diversity of the human experience that cannot be recovered.

Picture of Cherokee Alphabet from http://www.turtletrack.org/Issues00/Co10072000/CO_10072000_Language.htm

27 tons of Indian

2005-04-11T12:41:00.000-04:00

War broke out Satuday among the tribes of North Dakota. Tex Hall, president of the NCAI, led the charge. 250 warriors, weighing in at an average of 215 lbs each, took up the challenge. (That's 27 tons of Indian!) And all of Indian Country must heed their call!!

Enemy number one? Fat. Let's face it, many of us are just plain fat. Commodity food, our genetic intolerance for carbs and poor preventative health care have conspired to continue the genocide against out people. And the disease du jour ain't smallpox anymore. It's diabetes.

According to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, 11.5% of Native Americans have Type II diabetes, compared to 3.9% of Whites. For people over 45, that number skyrockets to around 21.5%, compared to 8.3% among Whites. That's one in five. One in five! But added to stats is the fact that diabetes may be widely underreported among Natives. In a recent screening study 40-70% of Native adults were found to have diabetes.

And the truth is that diabetes is an ugly disease. My doctor, a no-nonesense Russian woman, put it to me this way: "You go blind, they chop off your foot, and you go on dialysis". Lovely. And exactly how I imagined spending my retirement years. But the truth is that I am at high risk, too. My grandfather died of the disease, and unfortunately, it's just in my genes. (Now tell me you want to be part-Indian.)

There is a movement to "de-colonize" the Native diet, which sounds like a rallying cry to me. And while that means limited my intake of frybread, I'm with you, Tex, and your formidable warriors! Bring on the salads!

cartoon from Redwire Magazine: http://www.redwiremag.com/cocacolonial.htm
"decolonize your diet" from http://www.cafepress.com/decolonizenow
frybread picture from Clarita's mom: http://modular.fas.harvard.edu/clarita/Mom%20photos/

Startling the Rich

2005-04-07T12:15:00.000-04:00

Wow! I have to admit I was pretty impressed to hear that the World Bank President James Wolfensohn recently visited the Pine Ridge Reservation. For those that don't know, Pine Ridge has long been considered "the poorest of the poor". emcompassing the two poorest counties in the United States. That's right. Not Detriot. Not the Bronx. Not some dusty border town in Texas. Pine Ridge.

Wolfensohn is finishing up his second 10 yr term as head of the World Bank, and in his speech on the rez he said "the dignity, culture and rights of indigenous people must be respected in programs created by the World Bank". Indeed! To that end, he's created a Global Fund for Indigenous Peoples that will give small grants for sustainable projects, pilot programs to strengthen indigenous organizations, and financial support to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

He also added that he was "startled" by the level of poverty indigenous Americans face in this very very wealthy country. You're not alone, James. I think most Americans would be startled at the level of poverty on the reservations. Some quick facts from the US Census Bureau.

	Bennett County	Shannon County	South Dakota	United States
Median household money income, 2001 model-based estimate^§	$25,313	$20,916	$35,282	$41,994
Per capita money income, 1999	$10,106	$6,286	$17,562	$21,587
Persons per household, 2000	3.14	4.36	2.50	2.59
Persons below poverty level, percent, 1999 model-based estimate^§	39.2%	52.3%	13.2%	12.4%
Children below poverty level, percent, 1997 model-based estimate^§	46.5%	46.2%	19.0%	19.9%
American Indian and Alaska Native persons, percent, Year 2000^¶	52.1%	94.2%	8.3%	0.9%

Source of above statistics: US Census Bureau, State and County Quick Facts
(http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/46000.html), found at http://www.pineridgerez.net/overview.php
^§Includes everyone in the county, not just Lakota people
^¶Includes persons reporting only one race.

But your visit and your determination left me feeling pretty positive, James! I think the World Bank's really gonna take Native Americans into consideration now. I think things are gonna change!

Then I read Wolfensohn is being replaced by Paul Wolfowitz on June 1. Uh, nevermind.

Off the Radar

2005-04-06T13:27:00.000-04:00

There has been some talk of Jeff Weise' Neo-Nazi sympathies, of his Goth fashion and violent animations. But could this really be the problems facing Native kids today?

from Indianz.com:

"Nearly 10,000 Indian and Alaska Native children, or about 1.2 percent, are in foster care, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

"In comparison, 1.8 percent of African-American children and about 0.5 percent of white children are in foster care but the HHS data may not tell the whole story. According to the National Indian Child Welfare Association, 25,000 Indian children, or 3 percent, live in foster care or with relatives, a figure that doesn't include Alaska Natives."

Indianz.com is quoting a story from the NYTimes.com, which goes on to talk about how Native kids get overlooked when it comes to federal funding. It seems that Native kids just aren't on anyone's radar. Until they shoot up their schools, that is. And even that attention is fleeting.

Also a note about where some of those famed Indian casino profits may be going. The NYTimes.com says that on the Lummi Nation, which is profiled in the article, the tribe has invested $2 million dollars of casino profits into a home for kids.

A Personal Note

2005-04-01T11:15:00.000-05:00

On a personal note today, I was accepted to the University of New Mexico School of Law. I'll be starting this August. I plan to focus on Indian Law.

I'm very pleased and excited and hope the experience will bring some good things to this blog.

Red Lake: "Today, I speak as a father."

2005-03-29T17:26:00.000-05:00

From Floyd Jourdain, the Red Lake Tribal Chairman

"Last week I spoke on behalf of the Red Lake Nation as its leader and a saddened member of this community. Today, I speak as a father. As many of you are aware, my son Louis has been charged in association with the shootings that occurred here last week. My heart is heavy as a result of the tragic events that unfolded here at our Nation. But it is with optimism that I state my son Louis' innocence. He is a good boy with a good heart who never harmed anyone in his entire life. I know my son and he is incapable of committing such an act."

Read the rest of his statement at http://www.floydjourdain.com/

Red Lake Update II

2005-03-29T08:46:00.000-05:00

All from Indianz.com

" The worst incident of school-related violence took an unusual turn on Monday with the disclosure that the son of Red Lake Nation Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. has been arrested and charged in connection with last week's deadly shootings."

Read article here.

"Breaking five days of silence on the worst incident of school-related violence since Columbine, President Bush dedicated part of his weekly radio address on Saturday to the shootings at the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota.

"The remarks came after Bush made a five-minute call to Red Lake Chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. on Friday morning. It was his first direct contact with an official from the tribe since "one of the darkest and most painful occurrences in the history of our tribe," as Jourdain said just hours after the shootings.

"Bush's silence contrasted with former President Bill Clinton's speedy response to the incident in Columbine, Colorado, that left 15 dead in 1999. And it was markedly different from his decision to break his vacation in Texas to go back to the White House and sign unprecedented legislation that allowed federal court intervention in the case of Terry Schiavo, a brain-damaged Florida woman."

Five days to respond? And then we get a five minute phone call? That's it? Too little, too late, Mr. President. But when have you ever cared about Indians?

Read article here.

Someone told me that a bald eagle flew over during a funeral at Red Lake and the newscasters at CNN were astounded. Everyone else expected it. That makes me smile.

Red Lake Update

2005-03-25T11:52:00.000-05:00

Kent Nerburn, a former teacher at Red Lake High School, has a good blog entry called "A Message to Journalists about the Red Lake Tragedy".

http://www.kentnerburn.com/blog/archives/000077.html#more

If you would like to donate to the Red Lake Memorial Fund, you may do so at

Red Lake Nation Memorial Fund
P.O. Box 574
Red Lake, Minnesota 56671

Red Lake Net News also reports the following:

Red Lake Memorial Fund
Friends and family members have established a fund for
the victims of the Red Lake shootings and their families.
Donations can be made at any Wells Fargo Bank to the
Red Lake Band of Chippewa Memorial Fund.

Urban Indians on the Radio

2005-03-23T17:07:00.000-05:00

Native America Calling, a live one-hour call-in show talking about the goings on in Indian Country, will host a show about Urban Indians this Friday, March 25th. Here's the official blurb:

"According to the last census figures, approximately 60% of individuals who identify themselves either as Native American or Alaska Native reside off reservations and villages. Whatever the reason may be, many Natives choose to call cities like New York, Denver, Minneapolis or Los Angeles home. But wherever these Native people live, they face many of the same issues as Natives who live on their reservations. Now several Urban Indians across the country are organizing a group they hope will help address the issues of Urban Indians. Guests to be announced."

You can check to see if NAC plays in your area or you can listen to this show via the internet by going to

http://www.airos.org/listentoaudio.html

Click on the green button the left hand side that says "Listen to Live Radio".

The show airs live on Friday, March 25th form 1pm-2pm.

The Red Lake Shooting

2005-03-22T14:11:00.000-05:00

The most recent school shooting has happened on the Red Lake Reservation in Northern Minnesota. Jeff Weise, a sophmore at Red Lake High School, shot 24 people. Ten have died, including Jeff himself. It is the worst incident of school violence since Columbine, where fifteen died and 23 were wounded.

I've been reading the news reports, from CNN.com and nytimes.com and some of the local smaller Minnesota papers. Indianz.com has a summary of all the current articles on the shooting.

The thing that struck me the most about Jeff Weise was his reported interest and admiration for Hitler. Not the sort of thing you would expect to find in a Native kid living on a rez. He was a poster on the nazi.org website under the name "NativeNazi" and "Todesengel". He has a Hitler quote in his .sig and he has one post admiring Charles Manson's philosophy. Although I will say both the quote and the philosophy seem rather mundane when you read them without knowing who wrote them (follow link above). Ah, the seduction of words when the actions they inspire are not taken into account.

He also posted on a "Native American For Nationalists from 'Native American'/'Indian' tribes" forum, but that info, according to Indianz.com, cannot be retrieved.

I admit I am left even more curious in reading his postings. He seems like a nice normal kid, with a sense of humor and intellectual curiosity. I want to know what was going on in his head that made his go on this murderous self-destructive shooting spree.

He was only a sophmore in high school, but his life had been difficult. He had lost his father to suicide, his mother to brain damage resulting from a car accident. He was living in a rural population where 40% of the people live below the poverty line. He was, by some accounts, a "goth-kid, loner" - but not so unusual for Indian kids, including myself. What drew him to neo-nazi philosophies? Was it the nationalist rhetoric? He is quoted as saying "I guess I've always carried a natural admiration for Hitler and his ideals, and his courage to take on larger nations." How that turned into the belief that he should kill his grandfather and companion and then go to school and apparently randomly shoot 24 people, and finally himself, we will probably never know.

It is a heartbreaking mystery to me, and I can only feel sorrow at the wasted life.

I think also, there is a perception that this sort of school violence is a white problem. Clyde Bellecourt, founder of the Minneapolis-based American Indian Movement, is quoted as saying: "Everyone in the Indian community is feeling really bad right now, whether they're a member of the Red Lake or not, we're all an extended family, we're all related. Usually this happens in places like Columbine, white schools, always somewhere else. We never hear that in our community."

But his brother Vernon points out the obvious: "No one would ever think that that type of violence would visit itself in our communities, it's not part of our culture and our traditions, so we're kind of puzzled by it all. But our young people are not exempt from the same problems young people have across the country, so our communities are now being victimized by this same kind of violence."

Courts Consider Cell Block Spirituality

2005-03-21T14:49:00.000-05:00

Good news for Indians incarcerated in Nebraska. The U.S. District Judge Court recently ruled that they may practice traditional ceremonies, including the right to "have two powwows a year and use traditional foods such as fry bread, corn and 'berry dish' in their ceremonies.[..]The inmates agreed not to use tobacco which is banned in prison but will use chinshasha, which is made from the bark of red willow trees, as a substitute." (I never knew powwows and fry bread where traditional, but that doesn't diminish their point.)

Considering how important one's religion is and how hard many Native prisoners have fought for the right to worship in a traditional way, this ruling is a positive sign. And on the pragmatic side, it seems like the practice of one's chosen religion in prison faciliates the rehabilitation process, including "reductions in alcoholism and anti-social behavior, decreased recidivism rate, and improved self-esteem and dignity".

In a related case, Jason at The Wild Hunt writes today that the Supreme Court is hearing a case involving religious rights from minority and/or controversial pagan religions from inmates in Ohio. Folks over there don't seem to be very optimistic that that ruling will be positive.

Of Chiefs, Braves and Redskins

2005-03-17T00:13:00.000-05:00

It's that most wonderful time of the year again. The college basketball championship tournament, affectionately referred to as March Madness by fans around the country, starts today. And if you are a fan, you'll know that Illinois is the number one team in the country, losing only one game during the regular season. Going into the tournament, Illinois is the favorite to win the national title.

But Illinois sports is in the news for a more dubious reason as well: their mascot. (see photo)

The issue of Indian mascots is a long fought battle that I quite honestly can't even believe continues. Shouldn't the mascot issue be an open and shut case? Shouldn't mascots like "Redskins" and "Braves" and silly degrading minstrel-like half-time shows featuring white people dressed up in the equivalent of Indian black-face, wearing feathers and facepaint and whooping and dancing, been long ago dropped as racist, insulting drivel? Shouldn't it?

Not according to some ESPN.com fans, whose level of ignorance and internet-fuled bravado knows no bounds. Despite the psychological considerations that argue the detrimental effect of these mascots, especially on kids, and despite the fact that Native Americans have said repeatedly that they find no honor in the likes of Chief Illiniwek and that "Redskins" is a slur on par with the N-word - and no one who values their life would name their team something like that - some people still insist that the furor over Indian mascots is a politically-correct ado about nothing.

So maybe Illinois will win the national championship (although my money's on the University of North Carolina). But I'd be much more impressed if Illinois woke up to the 21st century and proved itself to be a public instutition of higher learning worthy of respect by dropping "The Chief" as its mascot.

What You Pawn I Will Redeem

2005-03-14T23:27:00.000-05:00

Short Story Half-Hour With Sherman Alexie, featuring "What You Pawn I Will Redeem".

Make a pot of coffee or tea, wrap up in a comfortable blanket, and read one of my favorite short stories.

"One day you have a home and the next you don’t, but I’m not going to tell you my particular reasons for being homeless, because it’s my secret story, and Indians have to work hard to keep secrets from hungry white folks.

I’m a Spokane Indian boy, an Interior Salish, and my people have lived within a hundred-mile radius of Spokane, Washington, for at least ten thousand years. I grew up in Spokane, moved to Seattle twenty-three years ago for college, flunked out after two semesters, worked various blue- and bluer-collar jobs, married two or three times, fathered two or three kids, and then went crazy."

Continue...

Survey says..."lil teepees and straw houses"

2005-03-11T14:20:00.000-05:00

So I was searching for something today and came across this poll in another blog. (I did try to post my own answers, but got an error message, so if someone from the original blog comes across this post, feel free to comment in the comments section or email me. I'd love to hear from you.)

The answers are somewhat predictable, and a few are disturbing. Some folks did manage to give decent answers, so I won't go all militant on them, but let's take a look:

Q #1. Name Five Famous American Indians: typical answers were Sitting Bull, Sacajawea, Crazy Horse, Geronimo, Pocahontis, Red Cloud, Chief Joseph, etc. (I kept their spellings)

Answers gets 1 of 5. This gets a bad rating because all these people have been dead for generations. What, there are no famous Indians from this century? This perpetuates the stereotype that Indians are a thing of the past and not a present and vibrant people now. They do get one point because Crazy Horse, Red Cloud and Geronimo were badasses, and there were two women consistently on the list.

But a better list would have read something like :Leonard Peltier, Tex Hall, Wilma Mankiller, Russell Means, John Trudell, Chris Eyre, Sherman Alexie, N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Silko, Ella Carla Deloria, Vine Deloria..you get the picture. To the bloggers' credit, they did get Jim Thorpe, Ira Hayes, and Graham Greene. Someone even said Cher. Cher? I always thought she was Armenian. (?)

Q #2. Name some qualities that you would associate with American Indians: By far the most common answers were "proud" and "spiritual", but to cover both ends of the spectrum, we also got some "respectful" and "drunk".

Answers gets 3 of 5. They are OK answers, but pretty stereotypical. Positive stereotypes are better than negative ones, but they are still stereotypes. Using them does not allow the person in question to be fully human.

Q #3. What do you think about the future of American Indians?: Hey, that's a pretty good question! And the answers were mixed. We got "I see the American Indian going the way of the Samurai", "it doesnt look good".

Answers get 4 out of 5. OK, the Samurai thing is silly and dramatic, and some of the opinions just show an ignorance of things in Indian Country, but overall the answers were pretty good. My favorite answer was "Same as mine".

Q #4. Where do you think Indians live?: Best answers were "Live? they live in houses. I would imagine just like everyone else.." and "eerie music plays in the background:: 'They live among us…'".

Answers get 4 out of 5. Most were good, even clever, like the ones above. But we also see "arizona,nevada,places where the desert is in there lil teepees and straw houses". That person brought down the whole group with that stupid answer. Let's hope that was a joke, eh?

Q #5. What do you think they wear?: Most rightly said clothes and thought this was a silly question.

Answers get 5 out of 5.

Q #6. Name three things from their culture that you have heard of and explain it the way you understand it: Every single answer mentions either something religious or tobacco oriented. I was a little dismayed to see so much "spiritual" stuff. I would have liked to see more industry and innovation, inventions and artwork mentioned. One blogger did mention traditional crops, but what about boat building; Anasazi and Pueblo architecture; various tribal art like jewelry, paintings, pottery, stitching and weaving; contributions to medicine, botany, geometry, astronomy, etc.

Answers get 1 out of 5.

Q #6. Do you know the difference between a clan and a tribe, please explain?: This seemed like a weird question to me. I wouldnt expect good answers on this one, and the understanding of clan membership varies according to tribes. Overall, the answers were OK, but special bad award goes for this answer: "Clan, from what I know, seems to be a group of individuals who give up just that, their individuality, and believe in a ONE idea, and a ONE God/Leader. Giving up all they are for that one belief."

I think he means "cult".

Answers get 4 out of 5.

So that's my take. Bad in some places, but decent in others. Now the question becomes, how would you have done? Be honest.

Black Cloud

2005-03-10T14:48:00.000-05:00

Black Cloud opens tomorrow in Selected Cities. I know it is showing at the Loews Cineplex State in NYC. Check to see if it is showing in your city.

Here's the description from IMDB:

"Black Cloud, is an inspirational story about a young Navajo, Native American boxer, who overcomes personal challenges as he comes to terms with his heritage, while fighting his way for a spot on the US Olympic boxing team."

Since I am a complete sucker for inspirational sports movies and Eddie Spears, who plays the starring role, I will be seeing it. It also stars Russell Means and Tim McGraw (is that last one a good thing?) and is written and directed by Rick Schroeder. Yes, Silver Spoons fans, Rick Schroeder. And I know he's done a lot of things since Silver Spoons, including a nice stint on the now defunt NYPD Blue. But I'll always think of him first as little Ricky Stratton.

Review will follow next week.

Congress, on Indian Country

2005-03-07T15:40:00.000-05:00

Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and recently laid out what he thought were the top concerns from Indian Country in front of Congress this session.

- The Federal Budget: Under Bush's new 2006 budget more that $200 million dollars were cut from Indian programs, including education, housing and health care. McCain refers to these cuts as "self-defeating" and "not good". You think?

- The Trust Fund scandal/Cobell v. Norton: The sum up: Since the late 19th centurty the federal government has held in trust billions of dollars that belong to Native Americans and their families. This includes revenues for land sales, as well as mining, grazing, and timber rights, etc. The fund has been grossly mismanaged and the Indians have not received the monies owed to them. The suit that was filed in 1996, Cobell v. Norton, has yet to be settled, even though the lower courts have ruled in their favor. Read the details here.

- Off-Reservation Gaming: Should tribes be able to have casinos and other gaming off their reservations? What about out of state? Should the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe, based in Oklahoma but claiming ancestral lands in New York, be able to build casino in New York? Was this the intent of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act or have some tribes overstepped their bounds? Will the backlash be significant and potentially damaging? Debate continues.

- The Abramoff/Delay Scandal (see NOW video) :Jack Abramoff, a DC lobbyist and Michael Scanlon, a PR man, both with ties to Tom Delay (and Ralph Reed) stand accused of bilking over $82 million dollars from Indian tribes who hired them to work on their behalfs in Washington, pushing their gaming interests. Instead of lobbying for their clients, they referred to the Indians as "morons", "monkeys" and "losers", and each man personally pocketed $21 million dollars for themselves, prompting Senator Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND) to call their activities "a cesspool of greed, a disgusting pattern, certainly, of moral corruption, possibly of criminal corruption...a pathetic, disgusting example of greed run amok." Indeed! Hearings continue.

Before you buy that Dream Catcher...

2005-03-05T12:18:00.000-05:00

..check to make sure it wasn't made in Vietnam. Because the enforcement of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act just experienced a setback. (Read case here.)

"The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-644) is a truth-in-advertising law that prohibits misrepresentation in marketing of Indian arts and crafts products within the United States. It is illegal to offer or display for sale, or sell any art or craft product in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian or Indian Tribe or Indian arts and crafts organization, resident within the United States."*

And lest you think we are talking about small potatoes here, a doll at a powwow or a fetish at the flea market, the Indian Arts market is a $1 billion dollar industry. Yes, $1 billion dollars. That's a lot of turquoise jewelry.

Dancin', Dreamin', Prayin' and Fightin'

2005-03-02T13:10:00.000-05:00

I've gotten a few inquiries about Indian movies, so I present to you my highly subjective and arbitrary list of the top 5 Native American movies you've probably never seen. This list is subject to change, and if you've got a movie that I missed and you think worthy of my unofficial list, leave it in the comments and I will consider it.

I think we've all seen Smoke Signals. If you haven't then go rent it right now. It is the contemporary Indian movie sine qua non. It is poetic at times, laugh out loud funny at others, and crying into your kleenex at others. It hits sweeping moments of storytelling and resonates with issues everyone faces when it comes to their fathers. It's also just a buddy/road movie.

So now that's I've made the obligatory mention of everyone's favorite Indian movie, on to my list of the ones you've never seen.

1. The Business of Fancydancing - This is Sherman Alexie's directoral debut and a surprisingly challenging film. Smoke Signals it aint and I say that's a good thing. The plot centers around two friends who grew up together on the rez and after high school go their separate ways. The death of a mutual friend brings them together again where they face each other, their memories, their futures and what it means to be an Indian in contemporary society. I love that the protagonist is gay - how many gay Indians do we get to see? I like Alexie's modern choppy narrative style, littered with improvisational conversations between the characters and snippets of his own poetry. What might seem pretentious in other movies works effectively here.

2. In the Light of Reverence - A documentary about three sacred places and the conflict that surrounds them as the Indian communities and the White communities clash over their approach to the land. The documentary moves along well and some of the lines, particularly by the White folks, are so outrageous that you have to laugh. Or at least, you laugh because if you didn't you'd cry. It can be a little depressing, but then I think it sheds some much needed light on both points of view on the issue. Unfortunately, and I warn you now, Indians are losing most of these battles to protect sacred lands.

3.Dreamkeeper - Not a movie per se, but a Canadian miniseries. An intergenerational road movie is the framework for a wonderful visually vivid retelling of Native American myths. Myths are explored from a number of tribes and cultures, and we are shown how they apply to the lives we live today, and the importance of keeping these stories alive. Definitely long, but worth the viewing. Starring Eddie Spears, whose upcoming movie Black Cloud opens next Friday. I'll talk more about it in a separate post.

4. Incident at Oglala - Another documentary. This is the story of AIM in the 1970's and specifically the murder charges and subsequent arrest and imprisonment of Leonard Peltier. This was produced by Robert Redford and has some great interviews with the people that were there, so if you're all for freeing Leonard Peltier but have no idea what the hell he's really in prison for, see this. For example, did you know that two other men were arrested with the same charges and found innocent in an earlier trial? Do you know about Myrtle Poor Bear? This movie is not perfect, but you should see it, hopefully in conjunction with..

41/2. CointelPro: The FBI's War On Black America - CointelPro was the name of the FBI's Counter Intelligence Project under Hoover during the 1960's and 1970's. Their goal was to inflitrate and destroy groups like The Black Panthers and the American Indian Movement. They did a pretty job. While this movie focuses mostly on the destruction of the Black Power Movement, it does talk about AIM and is a eye-opening companion to "Incident at Oglala" and will starkly remind you just what this country is capable of, even against its own citizenry. And we worry about The Patriot Act.

5. Rabbit-Proof Fence - This is not a Native American movie, but a Australian movie about their aboriginal boarding school system, similar to the ones in place in the US and Canada only a generation ago. This is not ancient history, but the personal history of our mothers and grandmothers. "Rabbit-Proof Fence" tells the true story of three girls who were taken by force from their families and put in an boarding school, where they would learn to be good servants for whites, 1,500 miles away. They escaped, and this is the story of their amazing journey through the outback to find their way home.

There are hundreds, yes, hundreds of other movies by and about Native Americans and other indigenous peoples. You do have to seek many of them out, but if you've got a Netflix subscription or something similar, it isn't that hard. Neflix even has "Natives Themes", "Natives in Films" and "It's a Native Thang" user recommendation lists. There is life beyond Dances With Wolves. Go and seek it out!

49in' with Sherman

2005-03-01T11:49:00.000-05:00

As long as we're talking movies, Sherman Alexie wrote a short film documentary called "49?" (starring Gene Tagaban *swoon*) that got a lot of play on the film festival circuit (Sundance, SXSW, etc), and I think I completely missed it. Anyone seen it? Anyone know how to get a copy of it? Alexie's official site says it is now playing, but all the Film Festival listings are a few years old.

Go Watch the trailer now.

American Indians and the Academy

2005-02-28T12:21:00.000-05:00

If you watched the Academy Awards last night, I am sure you were overwhelmed by the number of Native Americans up for awards. What, you didnt see any? You would think Indians weren't making movies, but that's just not true.

Have any Natives ever won an academy award? Or even been nominated?

Well, it seems that Jeff Chandler was nominated playing the role of Apache chief Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950). But unfortunately, Chandler was a white man only playing an Indian. 'Fraid that doesnt count.

It wasn't until 1970 than a Native American was nominated for an Oscar. Chief Dan George was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for his role in Little Big Man. He did not win.

And after another 20 yr interval had passed Graham Greene was nominated for his supporting role in Dances With Wolves. Alas, he did not win either.

And that looks to be it. Twice we've been nominated for supporting roles and twice we've lost. Always the Tonto, never the Lone Ranger.

There was one other "Native moment" of note in Oscar history. Upon receiving his Best Actor award for the Godfather, Marlon Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather (aka Maria Cruz) to decline his award. I've read some conflicting accounts over whether Cruz was Native or not, but nevertheless she made part of a rather mild speech that was cut short. At the time, AIM was under seige at the Second Wounded Knee and by the Tuscon Weekly's account, the people at Wounded Knee were happy to get the support.

Oh, and according to that same article in the Tuscon Weekly, Clint Eastwood "asked if the Best Picture Oscar should be awarded 'on behalf of all the cowboys shot in John Ford Westerns over the years'." Nice, Clint. So glad you won last night.

And I think that wraps up the history of Native Americans and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. If you know of any moments, nominations or *gasp* wins, pls leave them in the comments and I will happily add them.

Oh, and for a nice recap of last night's award's, might I recommend my friends over at Bitter Daze.

For the dead are not powerless

2005-02-27T13:15:00.000-05:00

[03/04/05 Edit: Chas Clifton offers a reality check. See details in the comments.]

A little Sunday morning inspiration attributed to Chief Seattle's 1853 Treaty Oration. Yes, the US National Archives casts some doubt on the origin of his words (does that surprise anyone?), but to me it does not matter. The sentiment is precise and true, be it history or myth. Besides, are they not the same thing in our hearts?

There was a time when our people covered the whole land
as the waves of a wind-ruffled sea covers its shell-paved floor.
But that time has long since passed away
with the greatness of tribes now almost forgotten.

[..]The ashes of our ancestors are sacred
and their final resting place is hallowed ground,
while you wander away from the tombs of your fathers
seemingly without regrets.

[..]Your dead cease to love you
and the homes of their nativity
as soon as they pass the portals of the tomb.
They wander far away beyond the stars,
are soon forgotten and never return.

Our dead never forget the beautiful world
that gave them being.
They still love its winding rivers,
its great mountains and its sequestered vales,
and they ever yearn in tenderest affection
over the lonely-hearted living,
and often return to visit and comfort them.

[..]Every part of this country is sacred to my people.
Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove
has been hallowed by some fond memory
or some sad experience of my tribe.
Even the rocks,
which seem to lie dumb as they swelter in the sun
along the silent shore in solemn grandeur
thrill with memories of past events
connected with the fate of my people,
the very dust under your feet
responds more lovingly to our footsteps than to yours,
because it is the ashes of our ancestors,
and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch,
for the soil is rich with the life of our kindred.

[..]And when the last Red Man
shall have perished from the earth
and his memory among white men
shall have become a myth,
these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe
and when your children's children shall think themselves alone
in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway,
or in the silence of the woods,
they will not be alone.
In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude.

At night, when the streets of your cities and villages
shall be silent and you think them deserted,
they will throng with the returning hosts
that once filled and still love this beautiful land.

The white man will never be alone.
Let him be just and deal kindly with my people,
for the dead are not powerless.

Will the real NDN pls stand up?

2005-02-25T11:02:00.000-05:00

Indian Country Today has an article on the phenomena of "out-Indianing" each other.

Is this our own version of political correctness? Whattaya gotta do to be a Real Indian (TM)?

cartoon by: Marty Two Bulls Sr.

From Indian Country Today, Trimble: Figuring out who are the real NDNs

[..] "As ideologies formed around that era's new activist movements, being a ''real'' Indian required adherence to certain traits, demeanor and dress. A real Indian, for example, eschewed suit and tie, but wore equally non-Indian and stereotypical Hollywood attire such as leather vests, headbands and fringes all over. So-called ''Rez cars'' were no longer embarrassments; decorated with ostentatious displays of dream catchers, little war bonnets, and ''Indian Pride'' bumper stickers, they became faddish and an effective means of out-Indianing.

''Out-hipping'' is another form of out-Indianing. That means being hip to the latest buzzwords like NDN and the latest jokes about welfare, commodities and frybread.

In Indian circles, one can also be ''out-reverenced.'' That is having to be corrected, icily, about something that is or should be considered too sacred for jocularity. I learned to stay out of American Indian chat rooms on the Internet when I was informed that I should be ashamed for using the Lakota name Heyoka (he's sacred), and even joking about that little prehistoric Woody Herman, Kokopeli (sacred, too). I was excoriated for saying I am Oglala Sioux instead of Oglala Lakota."

---
For the record, let me say that I will never wear fringe or a headband. It is a question of taste and style, not Indian-ness. I fear the gauche. But jokes about commodity foods and frybread are funny, so I might partake in those. Better if you can combine them, like when my aunt demands condensed milk for her frybread recipe because, as my cousin put it, it gives in that certain commodity je ne sais quoi.

And I've seen that out-reverenced phenomena at work. Not always, but on the internet, where no one knows if you're Foolish Dog clan, what's the point?

The A train is my war pony

2005-02-23T15:27:00.000-05:00

The National Urban Indian Family Coalition went and had an "Urban Indian summit" and 66% of us showed up, so to speak. Yes, 66% of self-identified American Indians and Alaska Natives live in the big city. In contrast to pre-1990, when the majority of Indians lived on the Rez. Times are achangin'.

Seems like the majority of urban Indians can be found in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, Anchorage and Tulsa. (Although I was just in Seattle for the weekend, and there be a lot of Indians there, too.)

What does this mean, that more Indians are living away from the Rez? What will the impact be in us keeping our specific tribal identities? We already borrow across cultures and times. Will be become a new tribe - the Urbanites? And more importantly, will we be able to get good frybread in NYC?

6oz of pleasure and pain

2005-02-22T12:51:00.000-05:00

So Starbucks has a new chocolate drink named Chantico, after the Aztec goddess of the hearth. They say "the name evokes the warmth and enchantment that the goddess Chantico symbolized and the experience that customers will find in every cup of Chantico(TM) drinking chocolate." That's lovely. But last time I checked, the goddess Chantico also wore a crown of poisoned cactus spikes and symbolized the combination of pleasure and pain that is domestic life. Of course, the 6 oz drink does have 390 calories and 21 grams of fat, so perhaps the name is more thoughtful than I give them credit for.

Is "corporate Indian" an oxymoron?

2005-02-22T11:51:00.000-05:00

In Indian Country Today, Lance Morgan asks, if an Indian works in corporate America, is s/he still an Indian? Are we guilty of stereotyping ourselves right out of economic success? Can you get an MBA and still do your own beadwork? Are Indians really capitalists, stolen horses and all, and this commie tribal shit is just plain overrated?

Read Collective cultural guilt

..then I'm a groupie

2005-02-17T12:21:00.000-05:00

In his interview with the Arizona Daily Star, Indian poet, author, filmaker extraordinaire Sherman Alexie says "I figured I'd have a good career but nothing like this. I'm almost a rock star."

Well, if Alexie is a rock star, then I'm a groupie. He's all over the 2005 Tucson Poetry Festival, so someone go throw their underwear at him for me.

A People of Action and Hope

2005-02-16T20:16:00.000-05:00

Recently, Tex Hall, the President of the National Congress of the American Indian, oldest and largest tribal government organization in the United States, gave his State of American Indian Nations address. Read it all here.

Hall covered the two biggies in Indian Country, education and health, both victims of underfunding and budget cuts. But he also mentioned a few newcomers that I was happy made it in: telecommunications/infrastructure creation and entrepreneurship.

Probably the most eye-opening statements were Hall's assertions that Native women are raped at three times the rate of the national average (9 out of 10 by non-Natives!) and only 50% of Natives graduate from high school. Horrible facts that we must work to stop. But Hall ended on a note of hope.

"..We have faced the worst that could be thrown at us and survived..

We are a people of action and hope. We have too much at stake to not protect out communities and our families. Native nations, like our homelands, shall endure. This country is the land of the our ancestors and the land of our children."

Identifying Churchill

2005-02-16T16:58:00.000-05:00

It has been interesting to see the way that the Ward Churchill controversy has been handled. I search the mainstream media for mention of Churchill's association with AIM and his claims of Native blood, but they seem to avoid mention of it. Do they worry that the mere mention of the man's rather outspoken ethnic self-identification will make them racists? I'm frankly surprised they don't all drop their cause-du-jour and rally round the Indian. Don't folks like to do that? Or is it that they aren't sure how to handle an angry Indian that would call them and those like them "little Eichmanns"?

On the other hand, the talk in Indian country is all about Churchill's claims to indigenous bloodlines. Most Indians seem to be rushing to distance themselves from Churchill, ready to believe that he isn't a real Indian. But then, most Indians err on the side of doubt when it comes to such claims. Nevermind that Churchill has critiqued the dominant culture for its history of genocide and its continued oppression of Native peoples. From what I can tell, he's on our side.

What's my opinion? Well, obviously Churchill is now suffering from a delayed case of dumbass. He may have had something interesting to say in his 9/11 essay of three years ago, but because of the sensational language he used to express it, not many people are going to hear it. But I also strongly believe in freedom of speech, particularly in academia. So if the man wants to be a dumbass, then by all means.

As for the identity issue. Well, I'm all for granting the widest possible lattitude when it comes to self-identification. Who am I to say who one is or is not? As long as he doesn't start talking about his Cherokee princess grandma, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

The Journey Begins

2005-02-16T13:03:00.000-05:00

When the Aztecs celebrated the holiday of Xocotlhuetzi, they laid trails of marigolds for their ancestors, so that the dead could find their way home. This tradition continues in the celebration of Los Dias de los Muertos. Consider this my marigold trail.