It seems like someone ought to let the president know that an American Indian man fasted in front of the White House for one week. Someone ought to say this man sat on a bench in Lafayette Park, starving in a silent protest, not taking even water.
Except to briefly say -
Someone should tell the White House there was a Native American man starving for the freedom of Leonard Peltier on their front lawn.
Mr. President, Ben Carnes was fasting on the White House Lawn for Peltier's freedom.
The Indian removals which destroyed one quarter of the Cherokee tribe, were actually conceptualized by Jefferson and then extended and carried out by Jackson. There were great debates about whether the "redskins" were human and whether they had souls.
Since Obama was willing to have a beer with a professor and an officer of the law over racial issues, why then shouldn't he meet with Ben Carnes to discuss freeing Leonard Peltier?
After releasing an original and continuing disciple of death cult leader Charles Manson who attempted to shoot President Gerald Ford, an admitted Croatian terrorist, and another attempted assassin of President Ford under the mandatory 30-year parole law, the U.S. Parole Commission deemed that my release would "promote disrespect for the law."
Ben Carnes is fasting in Lafayette Park across from the White House in solidarity with freedom for Leonard Peltier. Peltier is a citizen of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians who has been held as a political prisoner of the Government of the United States of America for over 33 years.
Since Obama was willing to have a beer with a professor and an officer of the law over racial issues, why then shouldn't he meet with Ben Carnes to discuss freeing Leonard Peltier?
As a result of Leonard Peltier's recent PAROLE DENIAL, Sundance Chief Ben Carnes, a member of the Choctaw Nation, will go to Washington, D.C.to stand & Fast in front of the White House between September 5 - 12, 2009, in hopes of securing a meeting with President Obama.
I've been thinking about how and when Obama could pull it off, and use it as a distraction to pass the Public Option in Health Care.
Indian genocide is a controversial subject on the internet and on this site. Genocide and Holocaust are words that are easy to throw around, often to grab a reader's attention, but proving them is something else. What one group calls genocide, another group may call progress. This statement is used in the same context as the saying...one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
The argument for Indian genocide is based primarily on letters written by General Jeffery Amherst during the French and Indian War.Letters by General Amherst and Colonel Bouquet mentioning spreading smallpox to Indians does not mean that this was ever carried out. Assumptions derived from letters and oral traditions are not proof of anything.
I apologize for the deceptive title. My main objective in having written this last year was not to create a new blog (Native American Netroots serves as that function). My main objective was and is to encourage people to blog about the issues that are outlined in this essay, and for the reasons stated herein.
I finished this in approximately May of 2008 and wanted to wait till the issue came up again and after I was able to let it go to discuss it. Poignantly, I wish to discuss the issue of "many simply feel they do not belong."
Thousands of Native Americans are not enrolled in their tribes because their bloodlines have become diluted over the years, as is happening with the Comes Last family. Even some full-blooded Native Americans lack enough of any one tribe's heritage to qualify for enrollment. .. And, on a more intangible note, many simply feel they do not belong.
Another way of saying "many simply feel they do not belong" is to say that many feel isolated. I'll offer some thoughts on that and then share the essay I wrote in 2008.
Long, long time I come here - and during those trials. Now I'm 68 years old, can hardly walk, can hardly sing. Oh before I go, I want Leonard to be free.
The child was touched without permission, during this time the assailant was holding what we can easily refer to as a "deadly weapon" given that you could hypothetically be killed by a pair of scissors. In fact, it is not a stretch to imagine this happening.
WHEREAS, S.P.I.R.I.T is working for the rights of Oklahoma Indians, all American Indians, Indigenous people and the peaceful solution to all differences; and
WHEREAS, the Oklahoma History and US History does not provide the whole and true history of Oklahoma Indians or American Indians (Native Americans), and
WHEREAS, re-enacting the Land Run in public schools and in communities in Oklahoma is demeaning and humiliating to Oklahoma Indians, and
- snip -
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the undersigned and S.P.I.R.I.T, the group formed to help American Indians with matters such as these, formally requests the Oklahoma School Boards, Department of Education, Legislators and public officials to abolish the Land Run re-enactments held annually in this state.
Vine Deloria Jr. in God Is Red uses the self explanatory phrases, "spiritual owners of the land" and "political owners of the land." Now, it is the "political owners of the land" who have taken tribal lands by conquest and yet distort the historical record.
Three members from the Hopi Tribe arrived to give their testimonies as show support for their neighbors, The Dine. Their presence dispelled the public relations myth that the traditional Hopi and the Dine are involved in a Range War."
"Springtime" continues, as "BIA Hopi Agency Police and Rangers are patrolling this region (Big Mountain) where a few traditional elders continue to live and also resist federal mandates to relocate."
As we speak, there exist a state of fear and anxiety in a traditional community at Big Mountain in the heart of Black Mesa. And as we speak, the federally deputized officers of the BIA Hopi Agency Police and Rangers are patrolling this region where a few traditional elders continue to live and also resist federal mandates to relocate.
I went to the SPIRIT garage sale on this cold, windy day in Oklahoma, and donated a couple things. The garage sale was to raise funds so that SPIRIT can achieve 501c3 status; also, it was so that SPIRIT can afford extra traveling expenses for speaking purposes. Brenda Golden, who " helped establish SPIRIT, a group that increases education and awareness about Oklahoma Indians," gave me her permission to quote her entire new article from theNative American Community Examiner. (Also, catch her at Red Town Radio)
One last thing before you read Brenda's article, "Oklahoma Fairness Bill and tribal sovereignty." That is, I asked her if she wanted me to inform people that they could volunteer to help with things like paper work for SPIRIT. She said, "I could use all the help I can get." So feel free to contact her through the site that's linked to if you're interested in helping. Now to the issue at hand.
Why is "The 'fairness' bill (is) an attempt to turn Oklahoma businesses and citizens against the Tribal Nations?" Read on.
Gover recited a litany of wrongs the BIA inflicted on Indians since its creation as the Indian Office of the War Department. Estimates vary widely, but the agency is believed responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Indians.
The last photo from the Fort Smith Historical Society begins by asking a question: "What does it mean to be civilized?" The implication being, the dominant culture was civilized, while the American Indian culture wasn't.
"I never did hear the words Native Americans, American Indians, or First Nations in school. I was taught about the Civil War and Slavery, but never did the word Native American come out of my junior high school history teacher's mouth. He was the football coach of our team, the "Red Skins."
I began college right after my high school graduation and took the course, American History to 1877. The Department Chairman taught that course. Consequently, I became so upset at being made to read "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown in that class, that I could not sleep for two nights.
The FBI told us that American Indians are still the most assaulted in hate crimes, and I had thought there that "some or many will not admit that violence against Native Americans is made more probable because of the institutionalized racism that is American Indian sports teams mascots, even if it is true - and it probably is."
Well, it is. Death threats against a 15 year old have spawned, because a coward published a 15 year old American Indian's name in a newspaper.
A local businessman placed a quarter-page ad in the local newspaper explicitly naming and targeting Eli Cordero, the young student who originally brought the issue to the school board.
WHEREAS, S.P.I.R.I.T is working for the rights of Oklahoma Indians, all American Indians, Indigenous people and the peaceful solution to all differences; and
WHEREAS, the Oklahoma History and US History does not provide the whole and true history of Oklahoma Indians or American Indians (Native Americans), and
WHEREAS, re-enacting the Land Run in public schools and in communities in Oklahoma is demeaning and humiliating to Oklahoma Indians, and
- snip -
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the undersigned and S.P.I.R.I.T, the group formed to help American Indians with matters such as these, formally requests the Oklahoma School Boards, Department of Education, Legislators and public officials to abolish the Land Run re-enactments held annually in this state.
...a forum for the discussion of political, social and economic issues affecting the indigenous peoples of the United States, including their lack of political representation, economic deprivation, health care issues, and the on-going struggle for preservation of identity and cultural history
Contributing Writers
SarahLee
exmearden
Land of Enchantment
KentuckyKat
Kimberley
Bill in MD
DeepHarm
TiaRachel
Kitsap River
translatorpro
4Freedom
bablhous
No Way Lack of Brain
Tom Lemon
Soothsayer99
swampus
ParkRanger
Richard Cranium
Martha Ture
codetalker
Site Donations
- Help me keep this community blog goin'. --navajo
NDN News & Links
The Indigenous Democratic Network, INDN's List, is the only grassroots political organization devoted to recruiting and electing Native American candidates and mobilizing the Indian Vote throughout America on behalf of those candidates.
Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights News by Brenda Norrell
