Manataka American Indian Council Volume VI Issue 1 January, 2004
CONTENTS:
01. Letters to the Editor 10. National Holiday Petition
02. Women's Council Meeting 11. If Earth Were A Village
03. Save Tongass National Forest 12. From Native Hawaiian To Native
04. Australians Persecute Bushmen 13. Blood Quantum Petition
05. Mantaka Membership Meeting 14. What It Means To Be Poor
06. Prayer Basket 15. Ascension Test
07. Manataka New Born Baby 16. Speak Cherokee
08. Web Site Updates 17. Woableza Update
09. News from Indian Country 18. Unsubscribe
Manataka.Org now has the
Home of Becky Owl Woman Moore
136 Waine Place
Hot Springs, AR 71901
501-627-0555
Directions: From Hwy 70 East at Spring Street. Go EAST on Spring, past 'S' curve and railroad track. Turn LEFT on Honeycutt. Go past one-lane bridge to top of hill. Watch closely. Turn LEFT on to Waine. 1st two-story cream-colored house.
Normally, the Women's Council meets regularly at 11:30 a.m., on the first Saturday of each month at Desoto Park located at the corner of Hwy 7 North and Hwy 70 B (Gulpha Gorge Road), Hot Springs, AR. In case of inclement weather, the meeting will be at Phil's Family Restaurant, 800 East Grand Avenue, Hot Springs.
The Women's Council is open to any female member of MAIC and their guests. Members and guests are requested to give $2.00 during each meeting.
Contact: Judy Whitefeather Filmore 501-922-4468
Women's Healing Retreat:
May 7 - 9, 2004. Cost: $5.00 each day. Guest speakers to be announced. Space is limited. Make your reservation now. Judy Whitefeather
We urgently need your help to protect Alaska's Tongass National Forest, which is now imperiled by timber industry allies in the Bush administration.
The Timber Products Company, which makes various types of plywood, veneer and laminate products, is currently negotiating with government officials in Alaska to re-open a veneer mill in Ketchikan that would jeopardize wild and roadless areas in the Tongass by increasing demand for ancient trees.
The Forest Service is exploiting the possible re-opening of the mill as an excuse to undermine the "roadless rule" that protects our wild national forests -- and to exempt the Tongass from the rule altogether.
Please go to http://www.savebiogems.org/tongass/takeaction.asp?step=2&item=10105
and send a message urging the president and CEO of the Timber Products Company to withdraw immediately from negotiations to re-open the mill.
The Tongass National Forest's 17 million acres of glacial fjords, volcanic mountains, misty rainforests, giant conifers and luxurious tundra contain rich salmon spawning grounds and prime grizzly bear and wolf habitat. They also boast the world's densest population of bald eagles.
In 2002, the U.S. Forest Service spent $34 million preparing logging projects and building logging roads in the Tongass -- it makes no sense to increase these taxpayer subsidies to industry by promoting even more logging.
But the potential re-opening of the Ketchikan mill would help the Forest Service justify any decision to exempt the Tongass from protection and clear the way for chainsaws.
Please defend the Tongass by going to http://www.savebiogems.org/tongass/takeaction.asp?step=2&item=10105
right now and telling the president of the Timber Products Company to withdraw from negotiations to re-open the Ketchikan veneer mill. Tell him that if he continues to endanger America's greatest temperate rainforest, you will work with NRDC to lodge protests with the retail stores that sell his company's products.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
John H. Adams
President
Natural Resources Defense Council
BioGems: Saving Endangered Wild Places
A project of the Natural Resources Defense Council
http://www.savebiogems.org
One of Australia's best-known authors, Doris Pilkington Garimara, has filmed an ad for Survival International, the worldwide organization supporting tribal peoples. Ms Pilkington is the author of Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence, a true story of how her mother and aunt were taken from their families by the government and raised in mission stations and white households. The book, and the recent film Rabbit Proof Fence, brought home to white Australians the devastating effects such policies of forced integration had on those at the receiving end.
In the ad, Ms Pilkington describes how Survival helped her father's people, the Martudjara of the Western Desert, return home to their traditional land in the 1980s, and establish two new communities that are today growing and thriving.
Ms Pilkington also uses the ad to denounce the fact that other countries' indigenous people are now going through the same experience as her family:
'It may seem incredible to you, but the forced assimilation of indigenous peoples like that once suffered by the Aborigines is not over, and some governments still openly support and practice such policies.
'Right now in Botswana the Bushmen people who have lived on their lands for thousands of years are being forcibly expelled and relocated far from their homes just like my mother was. In bleak resettlement camps 20,000 years of knowledge and wisdom is ending in squalor.
'Survival is campaigning for the Bushmen so they can return to their traditional lands and choose their own way of life.
To see the advert, go to: http://www.survival-international.org/ram/doris-56k.ram (modem)
If you would like to receive Survival's press releases by email please register your details on the following page of our website: http://www.survival-international.org/enews.htm
Survival International is a worldwide organization supporting tribal peoples. It stands for their right to decide their own future and helps them protect their lives, lands and human rights.
Survival International
6 Charterhouse Buildings
London EC1M 7ET
UK
Tel: (+44) (0)20 7687 8700
Fax: (+44) (0)20 7687 8701
info@survival-international.org
http://www.survival-international.org
PAID YOUR DUES?
Now is a good time to support the many programs, services and events of MAIC. We can always use a small donation. Now you can pay by check or credit card online. It's easy, secure and fast!
MANATAKA MEMBERSHIP MEETING
MAIC membership meetings are held 11:30 a.m. on the Third Sunday of each month at the Fire Circle in Gulpha Gorge Campgrounds, located on Hwy 70B between Hwys 70 East and 7 North on the east side of the Hot Springs Mountain, unless otherwise announced. In case of inclement weather, the meeting is held 1/4 mile away at the Quality Inn on Hwy. 70 East. Everyone welcome!
MEETING DATES:
January 18, February 15, March 21, April 25
THE ELDER COUNCIL will meet on 1:30 p.m., Sunday, January 11, 2004 at the home of Bob McFarlin.
MATERIAL
DONATIONS NEEDED BY MANATAKA
1. Reams of ink jet paper
2. Postage stamps
3. 12 sheets 1/2" plywood
4. 25' aluminum poles (3-5" diameter)
5. Tipi poles are needed
LAND
- Donate land to be used as financing
leverage for the Manataka American Indian Village. Any size or
location is acceptable. Certain tax benefits may apply.
MEMORIAL GIFTS
- When a friend or relative passes, honor their memory and
send a tax deductible contribution to MAIC and we will send the
family in your name a beautiful letter and memorial certificate.
Do you have a story to tell or an article you would like to see appear on our website?
If so, please send it today.
Learn To Speak Cherokee: Beginning Cherokee Classes will be held on January 17, 2004 at the Simmons Bank in Mammoth Spring, Arkansas. The one day workshop will be taught by Cliff and Connie Bishop.The cost will be $5.00 and starting time will be 9:30 a.m. For more information and to reserve your place in the class, you can contact John W. Brown at 870-856-3481 or Claude Williams at 417-778-7037.
According to a news report from Reuters, Mick Henry, a 59 year old retired builder from Yorkshire, England, is the long lost chief of the Ojibway tribe in Manitoba. Henry, the son of a Canadian soldier and an English mother, was born during the Second World War. His father returned home to his people shortly after the war was over and didn't maintain ties with his son. Henry was located by relatives through the internet. The new chief was surprised to learn that his "People" don't still live in tipis and hunt for their food. And in true "white man" fashion, Chief Henry is hoping to cash in on his newly found heritage. "When contacted by telephone by Reuters, a Henry family spokeswoman said: " 'He is not speaking to the media about his story any more without a fee.' " What a novelty. It's usually the tribe that's lost.
Former South Dakota Governor Convicted Of Manslaughter
William "Wild Bill" Janklow, 63, former four-term South Dakota governor, has been convicted of manslaughter in the death of Randolph E. Scott, 55, of Hardwick, Minn. Janklow was driving his car at a high rate of speed and ran a stop sign, broadsiding Scott, killing him instantly. Janklow had been ticketed for numerous previous speeding infractions and often bragged about his lead foot. Janklow ran for governor of South Dakota on an anti-Indian platform. He portrayed Indians as "criminals ad communists" and told reporters "The only way to deal with these AIM leaders is to put a bullet in their
heads." In 1974, tribal prosecutor Dennis Banks' investigation resulted in charges of rape being filed against Janklow who was an attorney for the Rosebud Indian Reservation and director of legal services. He was tried in absentia and convicted in tribal court for the armed rape of 15 year old Jancita Marie Eagledeer who he had hired to babysit his children. Miss Eagledeer later was the victim of an unsolved hit and run accident. Perhaps all is in balance between Wild Bill Janklow and the Universe now.
Courtesy of Susan Bates, Editor Hill & Holler Newsletter
susanbates@webtv.net
If
The Earth Was a Village
If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of
precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios
remaining the same, it would look something like the
following.
There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and
south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual
11 would be homosexual
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world's
wealth
and all 6 would be from the
United States.
80 would live in substandard housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1 (yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed
perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and
education becomes glaringly apparent.
If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a
roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are richer than 75%
of this world.
If you have money in the bank, you are among the top 8% of the
world's wealthy.
If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over
two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.
40 people don't have enough clean water to drink (50,000
people a day die of water-borne disease)
33 have no electricity
16 have electricity less than 10 hours a day
16 live on $1 or less per day
33 live on $2 per day
If you live in the U.S., you are part of the 5% of the global
population which is consuming 40% of the world's resources and
creating 25% of the emissions that cause global warming [Well,
maybe not you personally.]
Today's generation has consumed more
resources than the 14 previous generations together -- and
much of it becomes landfill. The poorest 20% of the world's
population consume just 1% of its resources.
Using the "ecological footprint" model of Mathis
Wackernagel, the average American's lifestyle requires 24
acres per person to sustain; this compares with a world
average of 7 acres, 4 acres in China, and 1 acre in
Bangladesh. If each person were to have an equal share of
bio-productive
land and sea, leaving nothing for the 25 million other
species, there would be 5.2 acres available per person.
If these 100 people were part of your extended family, and YOU
were that one person with a college education, a computer, a
good income, and money in the bank, how might you change your
lifestyle?
What do you really need, and what is a luxury?
Would you work at a job which creates luxuries for people who
don't need them?
What work might you choose to do instead?
To view a similar presentation called "Miniature
Earth" as a Flash presentation, in one of several
languages, go to: http://www.thesustainablevillage.com/miniature_earth/
For an analysis of the accuracy of the data in the Earth
Village model, go to:
http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/populate.htm
Our thanks to:
Larry Morningstar, Editor, Indigenous Peoples Newsletter mana7@opendoor.com
Courtesy of Scott Kender and Cathy Holt http://www.talkingbirdspress.com/colm100.html
http://www.naute.com/stories/earth.phtml
"Each of us is put here in
this time and this place
to personally decide the future of humankind.
Did you think you were put here for something
less?"
--
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
HELP INDIGENOUS PEOPLE OF THE EARTH!
by Anne Keala Kelly
recognition legislation actually boils down to.
A bill that, in its initial form, gave some autonomy to Hawaiians has at last been stripped down to mean total control will belong to the Department of the Interior and a select few Hawaiians. Many Hawaiians
still don't understand the process of federal recognition despite four years of questions, disagreements, and an apparent lack of support for the bill outside of the homesteads. And presently, homesteaders are the only members of the Hawaiian community being targeted for "education" about the bill by the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA).
The legislation, as written, sets up a "Hawaiian governing entity" that takes its orders from the Department of Interior (DOI), the secretary of which changes with each new administration. At present, the DOI is being sued by American Indians who allege that they were robbed of billions of dollars throughout the 20th century; that agency is responsible for holding Indian land assets in trust. Although they have been ordered twice by a federal court to come up with a full accounting of those assets, the DOI appears to have misplaced the records.
The Akaka Bill also sets into motion a land claims settlement that some say will extinguish Hawaiian rights and claims to the crown and government lands of the Hawaiian Kingdom, referred to as "ceded lands."
The questions surrounding the bill have consistently remained the same: What does it mean to become a "Native American?" Does federal recognition address the present day issues Hawaiians are faced with as a people: desecration of sacred sites, the out-migration of Hawaiians because they cannot afford the jacked-up cost-of-living that comes with being "American" in Hawai'i, and the short walk from the neighborhood block to the cell block taken by so many young Hawaiian men and women. Then there
are historical issues like the dismemberment of an independent nation state known as the Hawaiian Kingdom. The list could go on, and the questions outnumber the answers.
When we feel helpless and powerless, it is a lesson for us from the Creator. Rejoice in it. That may sound odd, but it is a great gift. When we feel powerless and helpless, it is the Creator showing us that we are in the wrong place, not where our power resides. It is a lesson that we are in a situation in which we have no power, so it is futile to try to have power or control.
Native America does not believe that the
BIA or any other government organization has the right to
determine who is or is not Native American by degree of
blood. There is no other group in America that is ever asked
who they are by how much blood.
This archaic process began in 1705 in Virginia as a way of
denying civil rights to blacks and Indians who at that time
were assumed to be inferior races. Many states instituted
these laws as a way of deciding who had equal rights to
whites and encouraged people of color to relinquish their
identities so as to be able to enjoy the rights freely given
to others. In this way, it was assumed that Native
people would eventually become extinct through assimilation
and intermarriage. But this did not, and will not,
happen. Native people, even through intermarriage and
assimilation will not disappear. Even through
intermarriage and assimilation, Native people still hold
tightly to their culture and their lineage and must be
honored and recognized by their own determination alone, not
by degree of blood.
The idea that any government can identify who is Native and
who is not by blood quantum is an out dated and unnecessary
ideology that is held today because of the governments
unwillingness to provide services to people with certain
degrees of blood. It is time to do away entirely with this
process. Blood quantum does not determine who and what
Indians are. Only Native societies and /or communities have
the sovereign right to determine who is and who isn't a part
of their nation, tribe, clan, or community. Because it has
always been an Indian value to be inclusive, high numbers of
black Indians, Hispanics and Anglos have been accepted
through various means into many Indian communities, in
addition to those who are Indian, with mixed ancestry. Every
indigenous nation had and has a process for accepting, or
adopting outsiders into the fold. From mixed blood
Indians through intermarriage, to like-minded people of
other races, indigenous communities and nations must
determine "who is Indian".
It is no mystery that America has financial obligations to
its Indian nations and "certified" Indian people,
but these are doled out intermittently and begrudgingly.
Simply put, the fewer indigenous citizens, the less money
will be paid out. And the more difficult it is to be legally
certified "Indian", the less Indians there will
be. Not only is this racist economics in action but it is
also blood quantum genocide. By allowing America to
determine who is Indian, simply because the government
doesn't want to be held accountable, to their word, by
meeting their obligations, we allow the US government to
legislate Indians out of existence. No other group including
African Americans, Asians, Latinos need a card to prove who
they are.
With this petition, we are declaring that the only
recognition necessary is that of community acceptance and
involvement. This is the right of our sovereignty and self
determination. As with all other people in all other social
programs in this country, the people that should be the
recipients of Indian government programs should be
determined solely by need, not by blood quantum and not by
association with reservations.
Submitted by:
Christine Rose/STAR
http://www.egroups.com/group/STAR-STAR
Lawrence Sampson/SETAim
http://www.setaim.com
Sincerely,
Woableza
Update:
We spoke with Lakota Holy Man Robert
Woableza LaBatte last week. He sounded sooo good.
He laughed a few times during the conversation
and said he is traveling again and was in Missouri at
the time.
His travels are mainly in pursuit of additional rehabilitation therapy. He has gotten back his color and gained a little weight after the feeding tube was removed.
Yes, the metal plate in his head still causes some headaches. Hearing in his left ear is reduced but he is on the road to recovery. It would not surprise us to wake up one morning with Woableza banging on the door wanting to go the sacred Manataka.
Learn the Tsalagi language the easy way... The See, Say, Write method works!
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Reserve your set of Chief Jim Gray Wolf Henson’s Cherokee language tapes and book today!
Send $40. Check/money order to MAIC, PO Box 476, Hot Springs, AR 71902-0476
Manataka American Indian Council
PO Box 476
Hot Springs, AR 71902-0476
501-627-0555
manataka@sbcglobal.net