First Nations News & Views: This Week - Code Talkers, Slurs and Silencing Native Tongues

by: Meteor Blades

Sun Feb 05, 2012 at 12:47:38 PM PST

Welcome to the third edition of First Nations News & Views. This weekly series is one element in the "Invisible Indians" project put together by navajo and me, with assistance from the Native American Netroots Group. Each Sunday's edition is published at 3:30 p.m. Pacific Time, includes a short, original feature article, a look at some date relevant to American Indian history, and some briefs chosen to show the diversity of modern Indians living both on and off reservations in the United States and Canada. Last week's edition is here.

Cross Posted at Daily Kos

70 Years Ago This Month the Navajo 'Code Talkers' Were Born

Joe Morris Sr. walked away from us on July 17. Keith Little walked away from us on Jan. 3. Jimmy Begay walked away from us Feb. 1. They were Navajo "Code Talkers," three of the tribe's 421 warriors who enlisted in the U.S. Marines to learn how to give Japanese intelligence headaches. Only a handful of those who joined up in the early months of 1942 remain and will soon also "walk away from us," a common Navajo expression for dying. On Jan. 29, the last surviving member of the original 29 enlistees, Chester Nez, celebrated his 92nd birthday. Without them, their commanders and other officers have said, American casualties in battles for Japanese-held islands would have been far more ghastly than they were.

Those 29 and all the other Code Talkers were sworn to secrecy in case the code had to be used again. It was, in Korea and Vietnam. It was never broken. In 1968, the code and the story of its crucial role were declassified, freeing those who invented and used it to tell their experiences. Since then, more than 500 books have been written, several documentaries have been produced, Hollywood made a version called Windtalkers, a film that spends more of its time following Nick Cage around than it does Adam Beach (Saulteaux), who for his role spent six months learning Diné, the Navajo language. Famed sculptor Oreland Joe (Navajo-Ute) created the Navajo Code Talker Memorial at the Navajo Tribal Park & Veterans Memorial at Window Rock, Ariz. Oral histories were taken.

The original 29 Navajo "code talkers" at Camp Pendleton in 1942.

Yet, although President Ronald Reagan declared Aug. 14, 1982, National Navajo Code Talkers Day, it wasn't until Dec. 21, 2000, 56 years after they first saw action, that the five surviving original Code Talkers and relatives of the other 24 received Congressional Gold Medals for their innovativeness and heroism. The other Code Talkers were awarded Congressional Silver Medals. The belated awards contained a deep irony. Many of these men who had saved untold numbers of American lives by using their native language had been punished for speaking that same language as children in boarding schools.  

It may come as a surprise to many who are acquainted with the story of the Code Talkers that the Navajos weren't the only Indians used for code work during World War II. And they weren't the first. The Army even used eight Chocktaw speakers to confuse German troops in 1918. In the the next war, the Army in both the Pacific and Europe used Lakota speakers, Oneidas, Chippewas, Pimas, Hopis,Choctaws, Sac and Fox and Comanches. But those Indians simply talked to each other in their Native language. The first 29 Navajo Code Talkers developed a real code. They could not even be understood by other speakers of Navajo.

The Marines had never used Indians for this purpose. But Philip Johnston, a white man who had grown up on the lands of the Navajo Nation, approached the Corps in mid-February with an idea. Why not use Navajos and members of other large tribes for military communications? Show us, the Marines said. So Johnston brought four Navajos with him to Camp Elliott, Calif., for a demonstration. They were given some military messages. They substituted some Navajo words and then, in pairs, went into separate rooms and communicated by radio. Gen. Clayton Vogel witnessed the success, the decoded messages were accurate renditions of their English originals. He recommended to his superiors that 200 Navajos be recruited.

It took some high-level meetings before a decision was made. But, in April, a pilot program was initiated and in May 29 of the 30 Navajos recruited showed up at Camp Pendleton near Oceanside, Calif., for seven weeks of basic training. They came from places named Chinle, Kayenta, Blue Canyon and Kaibeto. Many had never before been off the reservation.

The Black Hills Are Not for Sale: The Mural Is Up in Los Angeles. Here's How It Got There

by: Meteor Blades

Sun Dec 04, 2011 at 15:08:50 PM PST

This is the third in a year-long series being posted at Native American Netroots dedicated to revealing how American Indians - on reservations and in urban environments - are mostly invisible, a product of long-standing U.S. policy and societal ignorance.

On Nov. 26, 2011, Harper's magazine Contributing Editor and National Geographic photographer Aaron Huey joined Shepard Fairey, the prolific street artist known to most people for his iconic Obama HOPE campaign image, and installed a stunning 20x80-foot mural THE BLACK HILLS ARE NOT FOR SALE. It's at the intersection of Ogden and the highly trafficked Melrose Avenue in West Los Angeles near Fairfax.

The result is a beautiful, intriguing "billboard" that we hope will spur those who walk and drive by to educate themselves about what it means. The composition brings visibility to a group that is otherwise pretty much hidden from the rest of the nation, the Lakota people of South Dakota.

HISTORY AND BACKGROUND:

The Black Hills (He Sapa in Lakota, the language of the people most Americans know as Sioux) were wrenched from the tribes in 1877. Starting in 1922, the Lakota have sought what has become an 89-year-long array of complex legal efforts to have them returned, so far without success.

In 1950, the Sioux Nation filed a petition with the Indian Claims Commission for He Sapa and other lands based on two factors: treaty violations and lack of compensation. Thirty years later, ruling in what is one of the longest running court cases in U.S. history, United States v. Sioux Nation of Indians, the Supreme Court ruled that the Lakotas had been unjustly moved onto reservations and 7 million acres of their lands, including the He Sapa, illegally opened up to prospectors and homesteaders in violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Rather than give the Black Hills back, the court affirmed a lower court decision backing the ICC's award of $106 million in compensation, which included 103 years of compound interest. It did not include compensation for the vast amount of minerals that have been extracted from the area.

The Sioux Tribal Council said no to the settlement, fearing that agreeing to take the money would mean they could never get back the sacred He Sapa. Thus the slogan, "The Black Hills are not for sale." In the 30 years since then, the compensation fund held by the government has grown to more than $1 billion, and the pressure inside the Sioux Nation to accept payment has grown in great part because of the continuing poverty and associated ills the Lakota people endure decade after decade. This past August, a case brought by 19 Lakotas seeking to have the money divided equally among individuals was dismissed by a federal court to the relief of tribal leaders.

Considerable hope has been placed in President Obama to resolve the issue. Unlike past presidents, he is widely viewed among Indians to have actually listened to our concerns and promised to deal with them fairly. Since the highest court has made its ruling, only the President and Congress can change things.

Some solutions have been suggested with varying degrees of acceptance among Lakotas. One proposal would release the accumulated funds from the court-ordered settlement and turn over the federally owned land in the Black Hills and other nearby lands. Excepted would be Mt. Rushmore, which hosts the granite faces of four presidents who presided over the taking of Indian land from coast to coast. No private land owned by non-Lakotas would be part of the deal.

In 2009 the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen's Association formed the Great Sioux Nation He Sapa Reparation Alliance in hopes of presenting a unified voice for realizing a settlement that would hold the United States responsible for the violations of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty and take action on both the land and compensation issues. Nearly 135 years after the Black Hills were taken, the Lakota people still want them back and seem determined not to sell them, not even for a billion dollars.

Here's a video of Aaron Huey's TED talk on the Lakota people and the broken treaties:

Transcript of Aaron's talk and a timeline of treaties made, treaties broken and massacres disguised as battles.

Excerpt:

I have been asked to talk about my relationship with the Lakota. That is a very difficult thing for me because, if you haven't noticed from my skin color, I'm white. And that will always be a huge barrier on a native reservation. You will see a lot of people in my photographs today. I've become very close with them. They have welcomed me like family. They called me "uncle: and "brother" and they welcomed me back many times over in my five years of visits. But on Pine Ridge I will always be what is called Wasi'chu. Wasi'chu is a Lakota word that means "non-Indian," but another version of this word means "Takes the best part of the meat." And that is what I want to focus on today: "The one who takes the best part of the meat." It means "greedy."

Aaron has been photographing his friends on Pine Ridge since 2004. His goal now is to bring much-needed attention to the Lakota and the history of broken treaties with the U.S. government at Honor The Treaties.org

Ojibwa has more history on American Lies and the Treaty of Fort Laramie

North Dakota U Dumps Fighting Sioux Mascot. Can We Finally Get Rid of 'Prairie N****r,' Too?

by: betsyny

Sat Dec 03, 2011 at 12:21:55 PM PST

Tonight! "Hidden America: Children of the Plains," ABC 20/20 Special

by: navajo

Fri Oct 14, 2011 at 14:32:42 PM PDT

       ^{Young Tashina Iron Horse is a competitive pow wow dancer. (credit: Elissa Stohler/ABC News)}

Pine Ridge residents live amid poverty that rivals that of the third world. Forty-seven percent of the Pine Ridge population lives below the federal poverty level, 65 percent to 80 percent of the adults are unemployed, and rampant alcoholism and an obesity epidemic combine with underfunded schools to make it a rough place to grow up. Tashina lives in government housing in Manderson, 30 minutes north of downtown Pine Ridge. She lives with her grandmother, parents, siblings and uncles - sometimes up to 19 people live in the three-bedroom house, which has seen better days.

In the decades following President John F. Kennedy's pledge to fund public housing projects on American Indian reservations, a construction boom began in Pine Ridge. Today, most of these units built in the 1970s and 1980s are in varying degrees of disrepair - a result, critics say, of steep cuts to the Housing and Urban Development budget made by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Public housing dollars today are largely spent battling black mold in reservation housing rather than constructing new homes.

Amid the despair, there are youth across the reservation - like Tashina - who are breaking through the hopelessness with huge dreams and powerful stories.

Check out a sneak peek - Tashina teaches Diane Sawyer some of her moves - below.

Ernesto Yerena's Newest Addition to the Pine Ridge Billboard Project

by: navajo

Sun Apr 10, 2011 at 18:09:15 PM PDT

Below is Ernesto Yerena's latest screenprint made for this project and based on one of Aaron Huey's images from Pine Ridge. Information about Ernesto and his first illustration for this project is featured below the fold.

I'm truly amazed at the magnitude of beauty in this artistic collaboration among Aaron Huey, Shepard Fairey and Ernesto Yerena.  

Art and Activism.

Background on this project below:

Rosebud Rezident Receives a New Propane Heater from Kossack

by: navajo

Mon Mar 14, 2011 at 10:46:23 AM PDT

Lillian Walking Eagle and grand daughter : Lillian's son Cornell said to put the caption "These two old ladies nearly froze."  they have an old faulty ummm lpg space heater? not sure what they're called.  housing is constantly being called by them and housing merely replaces the thermocouple.  i thought i heard liep had funds for furnaces so i told lillian about it.  i told my mom about lillian's situation, and she called the VP willie kindle.  he said he would do something for this gramma.  wks later nothing is done for them.

Kossack kurt, a lurker, my new favorite lurker ordered a heater plus all the necessary accessories and had it shipped to Sherry. Sherry installed it right away.

Here is Lillian with her brand new heater:

Lorikeet, lineatus, RunawayRose and jessica (?) also donated money specifically for heaters. I waited to hear from Sherry to make sure the heaters were safe and the proper accessories were included.  An update on cost, thanks to kurt, is that plus the accessories and shipping the total cost for each heater is $230. I was able to buy 2 more heaters.  Sherry promised to take photos of the new heaters with their new owners.

lpggirl has sent us more photos of our Rosebud rezidents saying THANK YOU to you all for helping them get through another harsh winter in South Dakota.

Below you'll find more THANK YOU photos and details on how you can help. Please share these donation details with family and friends.

Pine Ridge Billboard Project by Aaron Huey

by: navajo

Tue Mar 08, 2011 at 10:38:11 AM PST

I have been documenting the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for the past six years. Recently I have realized how inappropriate it is for this project to end with another book or a gallery show.

More than any project I have done in my career, the ever-evolving Pine Ridge project gives voice to social injustice and a forgotten history. I want my work to empower the Lakota and other tribes who fight for recognition of the past in order to help give them a chance to move forward.

Your involvement will help raise the visibility of these images by taking them straight to the public to the sides of busses, subway tunnels, and billboards. I want people to think about prisoner of war camps in America on their commute to work. I want the message to be so loud that it cannot be ignored.

More Thank You Pics from Rosebud Rez from our Propane Donation Drive

by: navajo

Mon Feb 21, 2011 at 09:59:46 AM PST

Below you'll find more THANK YOU photos and details on how you can help. Please share these donation details with family and friends.

More Photos from Rosebud Rez + Propane Drive Update

by: navajo

Mon Jan 31, 2011 at 08:29:56 AM PST

Sherry Cornelius of St. Francis Energy has sent us more photos of our Rosebud rezidents saying

*THANK YOU*

to you all for helping them get through another harsh winter in South Dakota.

One wonderful couple donated $1000 two weeks ago! From my last diary I sent a $700 check collected from our Native American Netroots PayPal link. Many people called St. Francis Energy directly with their credit cards. Sherry said the response has been overwhelming and it appears you are all sharing this outside of Dkos.

Special grand kudos go to Lineatus and her generous Dawn Chorus Birders who raised over $700 for Rosebud. There is currently $1000 in the NAN PayPal account which includes the Dawn Chorus.  I'll be mailing a very large check STAT.

More photos below and details for you to share so your friends and family can donate also.

Many thanks for the notes of encouragement attached with your donations.

THANK YOU from Rosebud Rez: Photos of your propane donations

by: navajo

Mon Jan 10, 2011 at 08:24:13 AM PST

Some folk were happy to be photographed and this diary is their thank you to YOU for helping them get through another terrible winter in South Dakota since Federal LIHEAP funding ran out in early December.

Sherry says that the common incredulous comment is, "Who is doing this?? Tell them thank you!"

Sherry tells them about us, YOU, Daily Kos and the community that we are.

11 more photos below and details on how you can contribute to this on going effort.

Band-Aid for the Lakotas: But a directly applied one

by: navajo

Mon Jan 03, 2011 at 18:18:52 PM PST

I'd like to give you small update on our recent request for propane help.

This past Friday I posted a familiar diary to many of you asking you to call the propane companies directly and help pay for propane for Lakota families on Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations.

You made more than $3000 in donations over a 24 hr. period. This is excellent because we have bypassed the middlemen, the 501c3s, the red-taped strangled Tribal Councils and the pathetic Federal LIHEAP program.

We've set up relationships with the propane companies that service Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservation. The kind operators/owners know who needs help and can't get it from their Tribal, State or Federal government. No one should freeze to death in the richest country in the world.

Details below on how you can help:

Here we go again: Blizzard hits Dakotas

by: navajo

Mon Jan 03, 2011 at 18:15:01 PM PST

So the big news is that a blizzard has hit the Dakotas and a huge 100 car pile up occurred near Fargo.

What doesn't get reported, as usual are the Lakotas who live in dismal conditions to begin with and struggle every day to survive. It is especially hard during the winter. Now there is a white out and our kossack lpggirl, Sherry Cornelius cannot deliver propane until the blizzard lets up.

I just spoke with Sherry on the phone and she said her business St. Francis Energy is open until 6PM Mountain to take calls for donations but that we could also call her cell phone.

She said there are at least 5 families she knows of that need propane desperately but that the need is always present as time goes on. There is always someone who needs help since gov. funding runs out too soon.

Please, if you can, take the time to call and donate money towards a tank of propane for a Lakota family.  Sherry will deliver the donated propane just as soon as road conditions are safe.

Details below:

The Lakota War Pony Races 2010

by: navajo

Thu Oct 21, 2010 at 15:01:17 PM PDT

CELEBRATION OF THE BATTLE OF THE GREASY GRASS
Also known as the Battle of Little Big Horn

Each year, the Lakota of the Great Plains commemorate their victory over the United States army at the Battle of the Greasy Grass, better known in American history as the Battle of Little Bighorn.

The Lakota celebrate with the Kiza Park War Pony Races near Manderson, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge reservation. A large group of riders, many on bare back, give chase and the winner is the one who captures the flag.

Battle Site of the Greasy Grass by Aaron Huey

Video, photos and transcript below:

Sitting Bull Was Right (HBO's Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee)

by: winter rabbit

Sat Dec 19, 2009 at 05:29:35 AM PST

Historical revisionists of American Indian history portray indigenous people being as violent as white Europeans were before they arrived on this continent and after settlement. Consequently, HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" was no exception in the scene with Sitting Bull and Col Nelson Miles on the Buffalo Robe, as Miles justified the genocide he was committing as "You were as violent as we are, we're doing the same thing to you that you did to them (paraphrasing)."

Sitting Bull Was Right: "This is your story of my people!" (HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee")

by: winter rabbit

Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 05:21:13 AM PDT

Historical revisionists of American Indian history portray indigenous people being as violent as white Europeans were before they arrived on this continent and after settlement. Consequently, HBO's "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" was no exception in the scene with Sitting Bull and Col Nelson Miles on the Buffalo Robe, as Miles justified the genocide he was committing as "You were as violent as we are, we're doing the same thing to you that you did to them (paraphrasing)."

Massacre At Wounded Knee - December 29, 1890

by: SarahLee

Sat Dec 29, 2007 at 21:17:33 PM PST

Some of my relatives went over to the site today to offer prayers and I sweat with them when they returned tonight.   Just thought there should be something here to remember the day.

Freedom! Lakota Sioux Indians Declare Sovereign Nation Status

by: SarahLee

Fri Dec 21, 2007 at 07:52:39 AM PST

Will update then.  Meanwhile. . . .

"I want to emphasize, we do not represent the collaborators, the Vichy Indians and those tribal governments set up by the United States of America to ensure our poverty, to ensure the theft of our land and resources," Means said, comparing elected tribal governments to Nazi collaborators in France during World War II.

Rodney Bordeaux, chairman of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said his community has no desire to join the breakaway nation. Means and his group, which call themselves the Lakota Freedom Delegation, have never officially pitched their views to the Rosebud community, Bordeaux said.

"Our position on that is we need to uphold the treaties, and we're constantly reminding Congress of that message," Bordeaux said. "We're pushing to maintain and to keep the treaties there because they're the basis of our relationship with the federal government."

argusleader.com

------------------
Press Release
------------------

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 20, 2007
9:02 AM

CONTACT: Lakota Freedom
Naomi Archer, Communications Liaison
(828) 230-1404
lakotafree@gmail.com or press@lakotafreedom.com

Threaten Land Liens, Contested Real Estate Over Five State Area in U.S.West; Dakota Territory Reverts back to Lakota Control According to U.S., International Law.

Going Home

by: SarahLee

Mon Oct 22, 2007 at 06:53:47 AM PDT

GOING HOME

  The Catalina Island Conservancy sends the last of the American Buffalo (Bison) home to the Lakota Indians.

Radiation Warning Signs Placed on Cheyenne River

by: SarahLee

Mon Aug 06, 2007 at 07:57:02 AM PDT