http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/ Sumter Cheraw Indians en-us Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:49:18 GMT 1440 CPG-Nuke Dragonfly The Sumter Cheraw Indians News http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/rss.html http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/images/logo.png http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/ http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=248 By Duane Champagne February 15, 2012 Maybe you’ve heard: The Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs has a deputy for policy and economic development. In recent years, that office has played an increasingly significant part in tribal government planning and goals. A good thing, too. Because if reservation communities can’t continue to enter into the marketplace and create wealth and income for tribal members, they will remain impoverished and at the mercy of the federal government. Just consider the numbers. According to the Census Bureau, the poverty rate for reservation Indians in 2010 was 28.4 percent, while the poverty rate for all Americans was 15.3 percent. Poverty rates on some reservations, like the San Carlos and Pine Ridge, can be more than 50 percent. By now, we all know the miseries that come with being poor: substandard education, ill health, chronic unemployment, bad housing and pitiful economic opportunities among them. Not to mention the pathetically limited resources for political and cultural practice and renewal. It’s a grim fact that Indian poverty, both reservation and urban, remains a central feature of contemporary Indian life. Fortunately, Washington knows this. And so it is encouraging to see the federal bureaucracy devoting at least some management resources to policy and economic development issues. As it is, these activities are mandated by congressional legislation. But plenty of challenges remain. Take the Office of Tribal Self-Governance, which is devoted to contract negotiations and monitoring of federal contracts. It carries out necessary and important tasks for tribal governments. But it is not engaged in helping tribal governments and communities prepare for market competition. Nor does it handle culturally acceptable ways to approach market enterprise. Witness, too, the Office of Indian Gaming, which assists tribes in negotiating compacts with state governments. All well and good. But as Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar recently noted, less than half of federally recognized Indian reservations have gaming establishments, and only about 232 are engaged in casino-style gaming. “Most tribal gaming operations are quite small,” he said, “and are located in rural areas.” And then there is gaming revenue itself. It has helped many tribes provide needed services such as housing, safety, health and education. Gaming funds have been a significant building block for some tribal governments and communities to obtain greater self-governance. Nonetheless, Indian gaming successes are limited. For most Indian communities, gaming just can’t provide enough support for economically sustainable empowerment. Granted, the assistant secretary’s policy and economic development office has begun to more directly address some important issues. These include economic financing, training in entrepreneurship and management, marketing of energy and minerals, economic capacity building and workforce training. The office recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development for future collaboration on economic development for Indian tribes. A major consultation initiative to hear the voice of tribal leaders about proposed revision of leasing rules affecting residents, business leasing, and wind and solar power leasing issues will be completed by this summer. And including Indian cultural values and community goals within economic development planning is becoming an important priority. Members of the Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota collected $117 million in oil royalties in 2011, thanks in part to cooperative relations between the DOI and the tribal government to support environmentally safe oil extraction. The division of energy and mineral development is actively promoting environmentally friendly, or green, job creation for reservation communities. Since 2009, the division of capital investment has guaranteed more than $209 million in loans to Indian individual and tribal businesses that are designed to benefit reservation economies. Before you get too hopeful, though, remember this: The total budget for Indian policy and economic development is only about $40 million, of which about $25 million goes to salaries. That’s a pittance. When it comes to investment and culturally agreeable economic development on Indian reservations, the DOI isn’t doing nearly enough. Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:49:18 GMT http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=247 “ I am poor and naked but I am the chief of a nation. We do not want riches but we do want to train our children right. Riches would do us no good. We could not take them with us to the other world. We do not want riches. We want peace and love. ” —Red Cloud Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:45:24 GMT http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=246 By Thomas O. Mills February 19, 2012 Read more:http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/19/shoshone-farmer-raymond-yowell-set-to-take-on-the-bureau-of-land-management-98837 http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/19/shoshone-farmer-raymond-yowell-set-to-take-on-the-bureau-of-land-management-98837#ixzz1ms1KPiv4 In the past 80 years Raymond Yowell’s ancestral homeland has had more than 900 nuclear bomb tests, 50 million ounces of gold extracted from its depths, and now, his cattle rounded up and sold to the highest bidder for past due grazing fees from land he has grazed for more than 20 years. He was born in Elko, Nevada in 1931. His parents lived near the Ruby Mountains, South of town, the location of the signing of the famous Ruby Mountain Treaty of 1863. This treaty guaranteed that “peace and friendship” between the White man and the Shoshone would last as long as the grass shall grow. The treaty covered some 60 million acres of land located in four states on today’s maps. His ancestor’s existence would seem meager by today’s standards, but their connection to Mother Earth set them apart from the new arrivals that landed on this continent. They were told by their elders that the white man was coming and that he was to be welcomed. “Do not resist when the strange ones come, they will be many. Try to adapt to their strange ways and customs. They do not have a connection with our Mother Earth as you do, but they are very strong and they leave trails for others to follow, there is no end to them, like the ants on the prairie,” the elders would say. To the Native Americans, animals, plants, and the earth are all living things. When an individual excepts responsibility for any of these things it is his duty to protect and respect them as you would your own child. The cattle Yowell owned were not native to this land but brought here by the white man, but still Raymond felt a deep respect for each animal in his care. The problem started with the buffalo. An animal that the Creator did place on this continent. The buffalo use to roam the land with freedom and dignity, no fences, water rights, grazing fees, or boundaries that restricted their movement across the land. The Native American’s knew how to exist with the buffalo, their ceremonies matched their arrival and departure, so the Shoshone’s cycle of life and the buffalo cycle of life were one in same. The animals hoofs broke up the soil and their droppings carried the seeds that regenerated the next years vegetation. The buffalo were bigger, faster, stronger, and better tasting than the white man’s cattle. They could jump six feet straight up in the air and run 35 to 40 miles per hour. Their meat was lower in cholesterol and had less fat then the cattle that replaced them. The only problem was they did not respect the newly constructed fences that criss-crossed and divided the country side. None of the white man’s fences could hold the mighty animal or keep them off of the new train tracks that were being constructed. To solve the problem, the government offered to pay $3.00 for each buffalo hide. As the going rate for a days wages was $1.00 per day, it was to no ones surprise that more than 100,000 buffalos were killed, on a daily bases, and their carcasses were left to rote, in the sun, where ever they fell. Yowell was not around when this event took place but his elders told him about it. He does not understand why anyone would do such a thing to a living animal or why the white man thinks he can own the land by building a fence around it. He was always taught that no one can own the land, that the land itself is a living thing. His elders cautioned him, “try and adapt to the situation and do what ever you have to do to survive,” they would say. Yowell (his last name was passed down from his Grandfather who was given the name by two German brothers who farmed in the area) was 20 years old when he enlisted in the United States Air Force during the Korean War. At about this same time, the Nevada Proving Grounds was established in Southern Nevada south of his ancestral home. The 1,360 square mile site conducted 928 nuclear explosions between 1951 and 1992 with 100 of these explosions taking place above ground. Mushroom clouds could be seen for hundreds of miles and dust from these clouds drifted across the Shoshone homeland and rest of the countryside. Yowell did not understand why anyone would do such a thing to Mother Earth and Father Sky but again he was told to adapt, do what ever you have to do to get by. Yowell was 30 years old when gold was discovered just west of his home in South Fork, Nevada. The discovery was called the Carlin trend and contained some of the largest gold producing ore in North America. By 2002, more than 50 million ounces of gold were produced by grinding the ore into a fine powder, mixing this powder with a mild solution of cyanide and water, and leaching the gold out of the stone. Some of the largest open pit mines in the world are located in this area. As the price of gold goes up, the mines go deeper and wider. Again Yowell does not understand why anyone would do such a thing to Mother Earth for a shiny metal and again he was told to adapt. Now at 81, Yowell can adapt no more. His Livestock Association questioned why he and the Shoshone had to pay a grazing fee for their own land and request a copy of the permit. They had been paying a fee every year since 1940 but none of them had ever signed any document. The mater was turned over to the Bureau of Land Management and no one there could provide any document to support the fee, so Yowell and his Livestock Association quite paying the bill in 1984. The grass was still growing and the cattle were still grazing 19 years later when on May 24, 2002 the BLM sent armed rangers and three semi’s to confiscate all of the cattle. To add insult to injury, the BLM sent Yowell a bill for $180,000 for his part of the total $2.5 million in unpaid grazing fees and fines that the BLM said they were owed. When Yowell told them he was retired and his cattle were his only income, the BLM garnished 15 percent of his small social security check. He never received any money from the sale of his cattle. At the present time Yowell is preparing his case for a hearing in Reno, Nevada on February 21. He has filed a $30 million dollar lawsuit against the BLM and the Treasury Department. With no money for attorney fees, or the fight, he only hopes someone will come to his aid. This case could change the fundamentals of the Federal Indian Law’s concerning grazing rights, treaties, and the fees charged to Native Americans now and in the future. Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:42:48 GMT http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=245 By ICTMN Staff February 17, 2012 Outspoken Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum is not shy about establishing his points of view in speeches on such interesting subjects as man versus nature and Christendom—all of which will be of interest to Indian country. Santorum is riding a surge of momentum heading into the February 28 primaries in Arizona and Michigan. On February 7, Santorum swept primaries in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado—the latter two states have a strong American Indian presence. That momentum has also carried over into the main race as Santorum has jumped into the lead with 30.8 percent, ahead of Mitt Romney by 1.6 percent as of February 13’s Real Clear Politics poll. According to the Washington Times, the February 7 results show a growing pool of support for Santorum and possible dangers for Romney as the race progresses. With the primary season about to heat up, Santorum’s momentum could continue to grow especially in the Midwest and Mountain West, areas with large blue-collar populations according to the Washington Post. Of course, many Native issues loom large in these states. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul continue to be a part of the race, though neither is building momentum. Santorum’s recent rise to the front of the Republican Presidential Candidate race has brought a new round of analysis on the viability of a hard-line right-winger in a national election. Santorum has made much of his Christian faith, which he uses to inform his contemporary views of the world. American Indians, however, may find some elements of his traditional, biblical point of view disturbing. Consider, for example, his attitudes towards nature, and philosophies that seem closely aligned with such troubling retrograde, harmful historical concepts such as the doctrine of discovery. To wit: “We were put on this Earth as creatures of God to have dominion over the Earth, to use it wisely and steward it wisely, but for our benefit not for the Earth’s benefit,” Santorum told an audience at the Colorado School of Mines where he was a guest speaker February 6 at the Colorado Energy Summit. Where he called climate change a “hoax” and advocated for a fossil fuel heavy energy plan according to RealAspen.com. “We are the intelligent beings that know how to manage things and through the course of science and discovery if we can be better stewards of this environment, then we should not let the vagaries of nature destroy what we have helped create.” The vagaries of nature? Is he referring to dam control or perhaps Keystone XL Pipeline, or the artificial snow on the San Francisco Peaks? And what about the degradations of large-scale mining? Santorum’s stance is clearly in contrast to that of Bolvian President Evo Morales who created a law protecting Mother Earth. One area Santorum and Romney tend to agree on? Big corporations, big money and fossil fuels. Protecting the environment isn’t a high priority. “The idea that the Crusades and the fight of Christendom against Islam is somehow an aggression on our part is absolutely anti-historical. And that is what the perception is by the American Left who hates Christendom. … What I’m talking about is onward American soldiers. What we’re talking about are core American values.” Santorum shared this nugget on his South Carolina campaign stop and made No. 3 of The Week’s nine controversial Santorum quotes. “Core American values” built from Christendom is something familiar to Natives, and how the Church tried to assimilate Indians into society. Santorum took a very clear stance on contraception when he was interviewed by CaffeinatedThoughts.com and shared at thinkprogress.org, “One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country…. Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.” Speaking on the topic of same sex marriages in an Associated Press interview in 2003 Santorum said, “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does. It all comes from, I would argue, this right to privacy that doesn’t exist in my opinion in the United States Constitution. In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That’s not to pick on homosexuality. It’s not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing.” Santorum’s addresses have also favored factory work over social programs: “I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them other people’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn their money and provide for themselves and their families. The best way to do that is to get the manufacturing sector of the economy rolling.” Suffering for Santorum is a good thing and he feels Americans should suffer some, “Suffering, if you’re a Christian, suffering is a part of life. And it’s not a bad thing, it is an essential thing in life … There are all different ways to suffer. One way to suffer is through lack of food and shelter and there’s another way to suffer which is lack of dignity and hope and there’s all sorts of ways that people suffer and it’s not just tangible, it’s also intangible and we have to consider both.” Santorum’s infatuation for fossil fuels is also evident especially with comments like, “Drill everywhere … There is no such thing as global warming.” Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:39:01 GMT http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=244 By Grant Schulte Lincoln, Nebraska (AP) February 2012 A Native American tribe sued some of the world’s largest beer makers, claiming they knowingly contributed to devastating alcohol-related problems on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the state of South Dakota. The Oglala Sioux Tribe of South Dakota said it is demanding $500 million in damages for the cost of health care, social services and child rehabilitation caused by chronic alcoholism on the reservation, which encompasses some of the most impoverished counties in the United States. One in four children born on the reservation suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, and the average life expectancy is estimated between 45 and 52 years – the shortest in North America except for Haiti, according to the lawsuit. The average American life expectancy is 77.5 years. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court of Nebraska also targets four beer stores in Whiteclay, a Nebraska town near the reservation’s border that, despite having only about a dozen residents, sold nearly 5 million cans of beer in 2010. Tribal leaders and activists blame the Nebraska businesses for chronic alcohol abuse and bootlegging on the Pine Ridge reservation, where all alcohol is banned. They say most of the stores’ customers come from the reservation, which spans southwest South Dakota and dips into Nebraska. “You cannot sell 4.9 million 12-ounce cans of beer and wash your hands like Pontius Pilate, and say we’ve got nothing to do with it being smuggled,” said Tom White, the tribe’s Omaha-based attorney. Owners of the four beer stores in Whiteclay were unavailable or declined comment when contacted by The Associated Press. A spokeswoman for Anheuser-Busch InBev Worldwide said she was not yet aware of the lawsuit, and the other four companies being sued – SAB Miller, Molson Coors Brewing Company, MIllerCoors LLC and Pabst Brewing Company – did not immediately return messages. The lawsuit alleges that the beer makers and stores sold to Pine Ridge residents knowing they would smuggle the alcohol into the reservation to drink or resell. The beer makers supplied the stores with “volumes of beer far in excess of an amount that could be sold in compliance with the laws of the state of Nebraska” and the tribe, tribal officials allege in the lawsuit. The vast majority of Whiteclay’s beer store customers have no legal place to consume alcohol since it’s banned on Pine Ridge, which is just north, state law prohibits drinking outside the stores and the nearest town that allows alcohol is more than 20 miles (32 kilometers) south, said Mark Vasina, president of the group Nebraskans for Peace. The Connecticut-sized reservation has struggled with alcoholism and poverty for generations, despite an alcohol ban in place since 1832. Pine Ridge legalized alcohol in 1970 but restored the ban two months later, and an attempt to allow it in 2004 died after a public outcry. The reservation spans impoverished areas, including Shannon County, South Dakota, which U.S. census statistics place as the third-poorest in the U.S. It has a median household income of $27,300 and nearly half of the population falls below federal poverty standards. Tribal President John Yellow Bird Steele said the tribe council authorized the lawsuit in an effort to protect the reservation’s youth. “Like American parents everywhere, we will do everything lawful we can to protect the health, welfare and future of our children,” he said. The tribe views the lawsuit as a last resort after numerous failed attempts to curb the abuse through protests and public pressure on lawmakers, White added. He said the tribal council voted unanimously about four months ago to hire his law firm. “The illegal sale and trade in alcohol in Whiteclay is open, notorious and well documented by news reports, legislative hearings, movies, public protests and law enforcement activities,” the lawsuit states. “ All of the above have resulted in the publication of the facts of the illegal trade in alcohol and its devastating effects on the Lakota people, especially its children, both born and unborn.” Nebraska lawmakers have struggled for years to curb the problem, and are considering legislation this year that would allow the state to limit the types of alcohol sold in areas like Whiteclay. The measure would require local authorities to ask the state to designate the area an “alcohol impact zone.” The state liquor commission could then limit the hours alcohol sellers are open, ban the sale of certain products or impose other restrictions. Nebraska state Sen. LeRoy Louden, whose district includes Whiteclay, said he introduced the measure with support from county officials who have seen their health care and jail incarceration costs rise. Sun, 19 Feb 2012 22:28:13 GMT http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=243 My god, can the government even count? The United States Census recently assessed that the Native population in America has grown a staggering 39 percent in the past decade. It seems that there are now 5.2 million Native Americans across the United States, as opposed to the 2.2 million reported by the census a mere 10 years ago. A few years back the Census Bureau had a representative at one of the pow wows I produce, and I found that he was encouraging everyone to register as a Native American who had a great-grandmother story. Therefore, everyone who showed up as a guest and was moved by the sound of the drums, savored the smell of frybread or had a high cheekbone, signed up with the census as a Native American. As long as the census is adding these state-incorporated Cherokee tribes and others to their count there will never be a real accountability of Native people. States across America have allowed little Indian clubs, organizations and hobbyists to be recognized as state tribes, which is a direct insult to the three real Cherokee tribes and their members. No one is saying that some of these people are not of Cherokee linage, but if you don’t meet the criteria to be on the rolls of the Eastern Band, the Keetoowah or Cherokee Nation, then just be proud to assess yourself as a descendent. I am guessing that the legitimate Cherokee Tribes of North Carolina and Oklahoma can appreciate the support of people with remnant blood stock and/or the mere love of the Cherokee culture, but they do not need anyone else’s help to make babies or new tribes as they have paid dearly to remain culturally identifiable while others sat back until it was either fashionable or profitable to try and recognize themselves as a tribal member. I myself am not a tribal member of any group nor do I wish to be but I do value the working alliance that I have had with all the federal Cherokee tribal factions as an advocate for many of their concerns. During the late 1980s during a land occupation in Georgia, I was supported by the Keetoowah, Cherokee Nation and the Snowbird EBC in which they allotted me their flags and allowance to represent them regarding sacred site conservancy. You can help save the whales, dolphins, trees, etc., without becoming one. As an animal welfare advocate I have found myself speaking up for those who can’t speak for themselves, but the Cherokee people and other Native people have tongues, minds and hearts and do not need myself or others to speak on their behalf nor to create offshoot tribes as associates. It’s one thing to be a historian, a descendant and/or a collaborator for and/or with tribal entities or individuals, but it’s entirely different to profess yourself as a tribal conglomerate composed of an existing tribe. Anyhow, the state of Georgia and others have been shameful with their quick stroke of the pen when initiating little fad-oriented groups into state tribes as though they are made up of people who have sustained their native identity via their language, the arts, religious/spiritual and agricultural practices, etc. The Appalachian culture is a fusion of Scotch, Irish, German and European Cultures along with that of Native Peoples and it has proud roots of its own that flourishes throughout the eastern United States. In many cases when you hear how an element of Native people hid out in the mountains during the Forced Removal, they either regrouped with an alliance of Natives that now make up Cherokee, North Carolina, Snowbird or other Indian communities recognized by the Eastern Band or they splintered off into non-Native groups. So for the most part, it is most likely that the hearsay tale of an ancestor hiding out in the Eastern Mountains of Alabama or Georgia during the Trail of Tears either perished or intermarried into one of the Euro-groups that settled in the Cherokee region. With all of that said, it does not mean that one’s Cherokee blood has dissipated nor that one’s love for the Native culture does not exist. However, to claim tribal membership outside of an existing tribe by incorporating a tribe is cultural and spiritual piracy and for state governments to endorse and/or support the incorporation of Cherokee tribes outside of the three existing legitimate Cherokee tribes is a blatant attempt to create the illusion that these states have reconciled with those they forcibly—and I might add, illegally—removed from their rightful homeland in 1838-39. As a intertribal historian and cultural event producer, I am of Native descent myself and quick to point out that where my wife is full blood and my children more so than I, if I get a nose bleed I might not be Indian tomorrow but I will still be their father and Native in origin. I have been producing cultural events for almost a quarter of a century and have friends and family comprised of several tribes but that does not make me more Indian than white. I have pun-fully stated that I am “Redneck & Indian” and in the Indian exploitation business but in real life I like many others have a real affinity, reverence and respect for Native cultures. Where I have friends and extended family in the Cherokee Nation and within the Eastern Band, I am not tribally associated with them nor do I speak for them, but I do feel for their plight in which they have to combat the sometimes belittling and often exhausting individuals and groups that plagiarize their identity as a tribal entity. To claim Cherokee heritage or any other linage that you may belong to via documentation or family hearsay is a right of passage throughout our lives but to undermine the relevance of another is less than savory and disfiguring to oneself. So, if a person of descent does not meet the criteria to be on the rolls of a legitimate tribe, it does not necessarily mean they are not Indian. But it also does not justify their creating piggy-back tribes that lend to state governments lending credence to them or allocating any prospective state or federal appropriations to them and/or their state tribe affiliate members. Maybe, just maybe, some of these little groups might want to simply create an Indian association or some other advocacy organization that supports a cultural interest that so many people have come to love. The “Trail of Tears Association” has done a lot to restore, preserve and maintain historic sites and trail-ways and where some of these folks are of Cherokee descent, many are just plain ol’ hard-working people who want to do something adventurous and nice for the people they say they love so much and/or may even be descendants of. Someone once said, “One percent Cherokee, 100 percent!” Okay, I like that saying but for crying out loud, don’t let the Federal Census hear that or the next time they take a survey the New Cherokee Tribes will have more members than Chief Zuckerberg and the Facebook Tribe. Either way, have a happy day. Chipa Wolfe is an earth activist, writer, cultralist, historian on intertribal affairs, cultural educator and performer. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 04:00:43 GMT http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=242 It’s good to be reminded that sometimes front line Indians themselves, without the aide of Federal programs, or elected Tribal leadership for that matter, are quite capable of developing and implementing strategies that have far ranging impacts. Operating outside established American law that seeks to regulate Indians is working very well at the Akwesasne Mohawk community. Business is booming and with the exception of the salaries earned at the BIA recognized Tribe and their gaming operations, New York State receives no money from Indian economic activities and no American cigarettes are sold, only native produced brands, further depriving a hungry and weakened State New York of our financial resources, while having great positive financial impact regionally. At Akwesasne the business community understands their significant impact on the regional economy and has been taking steps to reach out and further tighten the prosperous relationships around them. The following presentation is a reminder of how people should and can work together. Rotary Club of Malone Presentation Charles Kader, Guest Presenter Ladies and gentlemen of the Rotary Club of Malone, I would like to thank you for your participation in the Rotary International. You and your one million plus fellow Rotarians represent that social quotient of moving from witness to participant, creating action from inaction, and by providing ethical leadership demonstrations in your daily lives that call of “service above self” is made whole on the canvas of life. I stand before you today in fellowship and honor. My family originated in these parts and I moved back to the North Country after growing up in Pennsylvania. I have worked closely with both the federally recognized tribal government, and more recently with the traditional Akwesasronon who are your neighbors. I have also served as the Chamber of Commerce liaison to local “Mohawk” businesses. I mention these affiliations to underscore that orientation to the economies of the North Country that I am keenly aware of. It goes without saying that anywhere two currencies exist, separated by a significant body of water, untaxed trade will proliferate. Look no further back than 200 years ago, when Fort Covington-area farmers expressly made their produce and livestock commercially available to the British garrison in Cornwall-proper, who paid in silver, in preference over American troops who paid in American script, during the War of 1812. However, I am not here to focus on individual trade opportunities. Wider scale economic gain is required to benefit the entire North Country economic base. The area that is under our feet right now is referred to as the homeland of the People of the Land of the Flint. In the Kanienkeha language, the homeland is called Kanienkeh, and the people refer to themselves as Kanienkehaka. It stretches from the Mid-Atlantic States more commonly thought of as Cherokee territory, however, Cherokee is an Iroquoian language, and this homeland extends into Upper Quebec. It was never ceded, sold off, or procured by another First People, and was treated with great respect by European colonial powers. The Two Row Wampum (Kaswentha) symbolizes the implicit agreement that these early power-brokers readily entered into. This wampum maintained the symbolic distance between mainstream and original governments that allowed each to co-exist without interference. Today, the American federal government asserts that the Kanienkehaka are now United States citizens. This does not sit well with certain Kanienkehaka families, who are not enrolled members of the Saint Regis Tribe, and therefore are not represented by any elected government. The limits of the tribal governments focus on their immediate land bases, where the majority of their tribal enrollees live. Outside of that, there is not much more tribal internal support to push the fences out, so to speak. Conversely, the resiliency of the Kanienkehaka people within business circles is well known globally. I like to look at existing conditions and see what can be done with them successfully, instead of bemoaning what is not there. Problem number one for the North Country economy is lack of population. A stable population base attracts commercial interest. Numbers count. The sparse population in turn has left significant land parcels underutilized and possibly vacated. This trend agrees with the Onkwehonweh (original people) visionaries who were told that their land would be overrun but only temporarily, and then would be returned to them. The current tax base contribution of vacant parcels is zero. To do something with this land, in sweeping fashion, will offset decades of regressive economic trending. The willingness to seek out partners and recognize common destinies is the root of any rehabilitation effort. Stubbornness never sells. Value is what you can get, not what you hope it is worth. Doing it for ourselves. In researching this presentation, I asked others what their ideas were, for economic development within Kanienkeh. Farmers told me to keep it simple. Managers said to keep the training to a minimum. Mechanics said to buy machines that could be fixed in the field and were based on a common platform. The consensus regarding use of the land would be to encourage hayfield and switchgrass growth. The hay could be harvested for export to support agriculture projects, it could be used to create renewable housing materials, and livestock feeding would be more easily facilitated, while the switchgrass could be formed into pellet fuel as an alternative to hard wood pellets. A cooperative effort might be a way to diversify. These projects would employ workers from both our communities. Smart and willing workers will be needed. All may apply. Not all will stay. Sweat is equity. A similar pitch could be made to Saint Lawrence County audiences. Expanding on this regional approach, I personally would like to see localized currency equivalents to the United States dollar. A cooperative effort between Malone, Akwesasne and Massena businesses to redeem a self-contained denomination would work to offset the cash drain cycle that currently sees locally earned dollars head out of the region after only one or two transactions. Localized insurance also would be a goal; buy here, pay here. Similar community denomination systems currently exist in both the USA and Canada, in thirty five states, including New York. The key to this type of transaction is that the locals using the homogenized currency receive more buying power by using the community currency, and this would create additional volume by sale with participating businesses. The real hedge of this supplementary exchange would be in the eventuality of electronic currency dominion. The extra distance of ten miles between Akwesasne and Malone has benefited Massena as a shorter drive to shop or eat by many Akwesasronon. Malone would benefit immediately in a mutually beneficial “free trade zone” that would soon see retail outlets looking to new ways to do business. Downtown Malone as an outdoor mall. There are no red or blue Upstate county maps to interpret here. The color of the North Country map can best be exemplified by the famous New York loyalist militia, the Johnson’s Greens of the Mohawk Valley, during the American Revolution. A successfully green North Country will attract attention for tolerance and cooperation, based on common benefit. Neighbors should look forward to new and renewed relationships, instead of suspicion of potential customers. “One size fits all” social engineering has never set well in cross-border-cultures. The people are too hardy and the ties are too strong to both shores. Thank you for listening to my basic approach to revitalization via land use through job creation. No one wants anyone more to leave these lands, especially your children. They are our future. We owe it to them to provide for their livelihood in some way to help to keep them here. The higher education opportunities will also increase regionally, further embellishing existing prestigious programs. Health care options favor a growing population base. The Chambers of Commerce joining hands regionally also lends itself to enhanced networking on new and developing paradigms. The finest accomplishment of a capital-based society is job creation, the economic fountain of youth. I dream of a “Made on Turtle Island” warehouse club that will buy as locally as possible, wherever local is, and rebuild the old American supply side capacity to a sustainable level as a trade imbalance-resistant domestic goods market. This region needs to stick together and embrace cooperation as a momentum building act. Thank you very much for your time and interest. Charles Kader (Turtle Clan) was born in Erie, Pennsylvania to a World War Two veteran. He attended Clarion University of Pennsylvania, earning degrees in Communication and Library Science, as well as Mercyhurst College where he earned a graduate degree in the Administration of Justice. He has worked across Indian country, from the Blackfeet Community College in Browning, Montana (where he married his wife) to the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, and now resides in Kanienkeh. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:54:39 GMT http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=241 On January 19, a Menominee Indian seventh grader named Miranda Washinawatok was benched and suspended from a Catholic School in Shawano, Wisconsin, for speaking her Native Menominee language with two other girls from the Menominee reservation. Shawano is a small town located several miles south of the reservation; like many off-reservation communities, there is a longstanding history of racist attitudes against Indians, although we like to think that the relations have improved over the years. Unfortunately, this incident shows that racism is alive and well in Wisconsin. That this also happened in a parochial school makes it a wake-up call for everyone who believes that America has moved beyond such displays of ignorance. Historical precedents to this type of action are plentiful—think of all the Native children who were cruelly punished for speaking their languages in the shameful days of Indian boarding schools in the 20th century. Yet, the bad heartedness behind this history persists when a 12-year-old child is subjected to such treatment in 2012. The Washinawatok family is a well-respected family at the Menominee reservation. They have a long history of involvement in American Indian issues at home and abroad. Miranda’s great aunt, Ingrid Washinawatok, was murdered in Colombia in 1999 while working for the rights of Indigenous people there. Her grandmother, Karen Washinawatok, is currently the director of the Menominee Language Program, and former chairwoman of the Menominee Language and Culture Commission and is a past Menominee tribal chairwoman. Last year in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Karen was a presenter at a symposium sponsored by the Indigenous Language Institute. Miranda’s great grandfather, James Washinawatok, was a tribal judge, whose namesake grandson is now a practicing attorney. This family, like many others in Indian country, has been generationally dedicated to the preservation of the culture and sovereignty of their people and Indigenous people everywhere. So my response is much more than an expression of moral support or a reaction to a single incident; my response has joined others that are resonating throughout Native communities in the U.S., Canada and the Western Hemisphere. Of course, there are those who have trivialized this incident, but seemingly small events are the catalyst for huge reactions. I believe this is one such incident that proves the days when one was forbidden to speak his or her Native language are not behind us but, sadly, is still part of the mindset of many Americans. The work of the Indigenous Language Institute, on which I currently serve as president, is to help preserve the use of heritage languages of Indians and other Native people here and throughout the world. The Washinawatok incident has served to refocus the attention of Indian Country and the general public on how the use of one’s Indigenous language is still an active, controversial and, sometimes, explosive issue. Moreover, it is a sharp reminder that we continue to live among those whose ignorance would force them to strike out at a child upon hearing words they don’t understand. The Indigenous Language Institute stands with the Washinawatok family, especially Miranda—the brave young girl who drew the wrath of her teachers, the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin and Native peoples everywhere who have endured such undeserved abuse for simply using the language of their ancestors. Let’s all show our support for Miranda Washinawatok and the countless others who have been disrespected by ignorant adults who ought to know better. Jerry L. Hill, Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, is the president of the Indigenous Language Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:51:42 GMT http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=240 Kaid Benfield The Ohkay Owingeh Tribe and Pueblo in New Mexico has returned to its roots with an award-winning, mixed-income housing project based on traditional Native forms. It's an exciting and inspiring project. Built by the Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority explicitly as an alternative to sprawl-type housing, Tsigo Bugeh Village is a $5.3 million residential community that reflects traditional pueblo living with attached units divided around two plazas, one oriented to the solstice and the other to the equinox, as the tribe’s original pueblo was built. As the Housing Authority’s website points out, the homes are attached, their scale and massing similar to the original Ohkay Owingeh pueblo: “this is key to our architectural heritage, and the idea of community living that is central to our way of life.” As someone who has a part Cherokee ancestry and is proud of it, I can’t help but feel a bit of wistful irony in the accomplishment, given that Native American settlements were in so many respects the original sustainable communities in North America, before the arrival of European colonists. Indeed, the well-known sustainable development firm Jonathan Rose Companies highlights the pueblo form as a model: “Like villages in the Himalayas, [traditional] Pueblo villages have a clear edge and are surrounded by fields of sustenance. The community is organized in a progression of spaces from the private realm, to the semi-private, to the most public reality, the plaza, or town square. Culture after culture, each with different ecosystems, have built their communities this way. We believe this is the natural form for human communities.” Tsigo Bugeh Village places 40 rental homes on a 6.5-acre site. Nine have been made available at market rates, the rest reserved for those earning between 40 and 60 percent of the area median income. The Village also includes a number of traditional outdoor ovens for community use, along with a community center featuring a large kitchen, business center, exercise rooms, and laundry facilities. The Village was built pursuant to a larger master plan to guide the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo’s future. Bestowing a national award for smart growth achievement in 2004 (when the pueblo was known as the San Juan Pueblo), the federal Environmental Protection Agency hailed the plan as the first smart growth model for Native American tribes: “It provides a long-term growth strategy, coordinates existing infrastructure with housing and commercial development, preserves the walkable historic plazas, and encourages retail and commercial uses in a ‘main street’ style. The plan also includes design guidelines that enhance the traditional building pattern to preserve the architectural heritage of the pueblo, fostering a distinctive sense of place.” Implementation of the plan is guided by a Tribal Planning Department and a community advisory council of neighborhood representatives. The Housing Authority’s website points out that “Tribal leaders realized that continuing to develop sprawl housing would severely limit the land base for agricultural use and open space for future generations.” A premium was placed on involvement from the Tribal community and respect for the Pueblo’s traditions: “This is the first tribally driven planned housing development on the reservation since the creation of the traditional housing constructed over 400 years ago, and it is the only rental housing on the pueblo. As a result, OOHA placed a focus on planning, and sought community involvement and input. We held a series of meetings to understand what our community’s housing needs were, and we asked people to tell us how their home could support their values: social, family, cultural and spiritual. We asked them what materials were most important to them in a home, and whether their current homes satisfy any of these values or needs. “We also had esteemed storytellers in the community come to the meetings and describe their experiences growing up in the historic core of the Pueblo, with everyone’s grandmother watching over them as they played, the yearly whitewashing of plaster under the portals, and the seed ball game that was played every spring. As a result, not only was the site plan and building massing built similarly to the old pueblo, but the floor plans were developed to accommodate the many people that come through the homes on feast days.” The Village’s landscaping comprises all native, drought-resistant plantings. The homes are equipped with energy-efficient, high-insulation windows, and those that face south have overhangs for passive solar gain. The process and financing were not simple, but that just brings all the more credit to the Tribe and Housing Authority for such an outstanding result. I did a bit of research on the history of the Ohkay Owingeh Tribe while preparing this article. As you might imagine, it has been rich but not pretty, especially during the many years of Spanish rule, followed by those of American occupation. Only with a Supreme Court ruling in 1913 and Congressional passage of the Pueblo Lands Board Act of 1924 was the Tribe able to fully reclaim title to Pueblo land. In the decades sense, Tribal members have blended their traditions with participation in the larger American economy. In a sense, the master plan and the completion of Tsigo Bugeh Village represents a culmination of the Tribe’s reassertion of its right to a sustainable future. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:01:55 GMT http://www.sumtercherawindians.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=239 El Paso, Texas (AP) February 2012 A West Texas tribe has received about $200,000 in restitution from disgraced ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and consultant Michael Scanlon. The El Paso Times (http://bit.ly/xuMUpO) reported that the money is part of court-ordered repayment from millions of dollars scammed from the Tiguas (TEE’-wahs) nearly a decade ago. The Tiguas, who employed lobbyists in their efforts to operate a casino, are owed about $1.85 million from Abramoff and Scanlon. Abramoff in 2008 was sentenced to four years in prison on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion. He was released in 2010. Scanlon last year began serving a 20-month term for conspiring to bribe public officials. Tribal Lt. Gov. Carlos Hisa said that the payments so far total about $200,000. Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:59:19 GMT