This photo of a hunter standing with his kill, a sacred white buffalo, has been circulated widely across the Internet in recent weeks. It caused outrage from many groups. Now, the hunting lodge in Texas that organizes the controlled “hunts” of white buffalo has apparently stopped offering the white buffalo option.

Jesse Abernathy, Native Sun News Editor, has the full story:

HUNT, Texas – A hunting lodge in this small, unincorporated – and fittingly named – community came under fire recently by Native Americans from across the country for its offering of staged white buffalo kills.

Situated in the heart of the Lone Star State, the family-owned Texas Hunt Lodge provides big-game packages to hunting enthusiasts from coast to coast. Rare white buffalo, or bison, packages run upwards of $14,000, according to information once contained on the lodge’s website.

Texas Hunt Lodge, which has been in existence since 2008 and touts access to over 100,000 acres of ranch land, is headed by Aaron Bulkley.

“There are no seasonal restrictions on hunting the White Buffalo, or White Bison, in Texas, which makes it a suitable trophy year round,” proclaims apparently now-excised advertising from the hunting lodge’s website.

Phone calls to the Texas Hunt Lodge by Native Sun News went unanswered.

For centuries, the white buffalo has been a potent symbol of cultural preservation for the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota peoples of the Great Plains. Hunting and harvesting the hard-to-find icon is considered sacrilegious by many of these “Buffalo People.”

“The company started the white buffalo hunts about two years ago, and there was a big outcry about it then,” said James Swan, founder and president of the Rapid City-based United Urban Warrior Society.

The lodge acquiesced to pressure from Native Americans at the time and ceased its white buffalo hunts, according to Swan.
“But now it’s started back up again,” he said. “It’s a slap in the face for our people.”

Swan is a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe.

“(Texas Hunt Lodge’s) argument now is that they’re technically not white buffalo, but inbred beefalo,” Swan said. “But the thing is, if you go to the pictures of what they claim are beefalo on their website – beefalo look more like a Brahma bull than beef or buffalo – but the pictures, those are buffalo.”

However, there appear to no longer be any remaining images of or references to the white buffalo hunting package on the company’s site.

Read the rest of this entry »

Oregonians seem split when it comes to supporting or opposing a proposed ban on the use of Native mascots and nicknames in high schools there.

As the Gazette Times of Corvallis, Ore., reports, there are arguments coming from both sides:

SALEM — Kiante Davis is well aware of controversy over the use of Native American symbols and team names. That’s partly why he chose to wear a headdress to Wednesday’s girls basketball state tournament game.

Davis, 15, is a Lebanon High School sophomore, and said he’s proud of his native heritage, which includes Cherokee and Montauk. Both the headdress and Lebanon’s team name, the Warriors, reflect that pride, he said.

“Mainly I did it because of school spirit,” he said. “I don’t take it (as) offensive.”

But an opposite viewpoint was also expressed last week, when the Oregon State Board of Education heard the first reading of a recommendation to ban Native American nicknames or mascots at more than a dozen Oregon high schools.

Sam Sachs of Portland, a 1986 graduate of South Albany High School, was one of three speakers Thursday who disagreed.

Sachs said he carried a giant Confederate flag, then a symbol of the South Albany Rebels, when he ran around the football field as a high school junior to celebrate his winning touchdown over West Albany. That symbol was wrong, Sachs said, and so are Indian symbols.

“To me, people aren’t mascots. Let me just say to you: African American mascot. Latino mascot. Jewish mascot. Lincoln High Jews?” Sachs asked. “Does that sound right to you?”

A decision is expected sometime in May.

Jenna Cederberg

Talking dictionaries aim to document, preserve endangered languages

Using ancient languages in danger of being lost, National Geographic has created eight new talking dictionaries, according to the Canadian Press.

The dictionaries contain more than 32,000 word entries in eight endangered languages. They comprise more than 24,000 audio recordings of native speakers pronouncing words and sentences, along with photos of cultural objects.

Among the participants on a panel about the use of digital tools at the AAAS meeting was Alfred (Bud) Lane, among the last known fluent speakers of Siletz Dee-ni, a Native American language spoken in Oregon. Lane has written that the talking dictionary is — and will be — one of the best resources in the struggle to keep his language alive.

The languages have been recorded and written, but part of the project also involves taking photographs of native speakers.

Native student responds to a Times article about his home
Did you read the Feb. 3 New York Time’s article on the Wind River Reservation?

A lot of students from Wind River did, and they responded in a variety of ways about their feelings of how the story depicted their home.

Students on the Wind River reservation read and discussed the piece in classes at Fort Washakie Charter High School, and, according to Michael L. Read, an English teacher there, felt that “the article seemed to reinforce the stereotypes that they get labeled with frequently.” In an e-mail, he wrote, “These students know that there are problems in their community, but they also love it and are fully committed to honoring their ancestors and the future.”

One student, Willow Pingree, responded through a comment online. It’s worth reading and reflecting on. (Pingree’s entire letter is printed online on a Times learning blog.)

Montana to allow hunters to shoot wandering Yellowstone bison
There’s no bison management agreement yet when it comes to how tribes and government agencies will manage bison in Montana, but on Thursday the state announced it would allow hunters to shoot the animals if they wander outside Yellowstone National Park.

Associated Press reporter Matt Volz has the story.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials say that allowing hunters to enforce those tolerance areas is an adjustment to an Interagency Bison Management Plan change that expands the boundaries where bison can wander. It would allow hunters to shoot bison that stray beyond designated areas during or outside of the bison hunting season.

. . .

The plan was approved in a 4-1 vote. Commissioner A.T. “Rusty” Stafne, a former Fort Peck tribal chairman, voted against the measure, saying the agreements with the tribes should be in place first.

Neighboring farmers and ranchers fear the bison will spread disease and destroy their property.

Two lawsuits are pending over allowing bison to leave Yellowstone in search of food at lower elevations in the winter. A third lawsuit aims to block the relocation of the 68 bison to Fort Peck and Fort Belknap.

Jenna Cederberg

Incredibly happy to pass along this update on Russell Means, diagnosed this summer with deadly throat cancer:

By Jesse Abernathy, Native Sun News Editor:

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – In a remarkable turn of events, actor and American Indian activist Russell Means says he has defeated throat cancer.

This reversal of fortune is nothing short of a miracle. Means was diagnosed this summer with what was then essentially referred to as incurable, or inoperable, esophageal cancer. His physician gave him mere days to live at the time, he said. “The prognosis was grim,” Means told Tom Lawrence of the Mitchell Daily.

In a Dec. 8 telephone interview from his seasonal home in Scottsdale, Means spoke in a clear, robust voice – a stark contrast to his last Native Sun News interview in August, when his tones were made fragile and husky by the disease.

“I won the battle, man – I’m cancer-free,” he declared victoriously. “The doctor told me the day before yesterday that ‘Mr. Means, you will not die of cancer’.”

The triumph in Means’ voice was unmistakable.

Means, an enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, partially attributes his amazing recovery to the outpouring of support – in the form of supplication – from all of the multifaceted corners of the globe.

“I beat it with prayer – prayer from all over the world from all the different disciplines,” he said.

“And Indian prayer,” Means added. “Indian prayer and Indian medicine,” he said, in referencing his primary spiritual and cultural connection to his Lakota brethren.

Read the rest of this entry »

Puerto Rico sees increase in blacks, American Indians
Tired of census numbers yet? One more maybe? Interesting figures show the number of people identifying themselves as black or American Indian in Puerto Rico jumped about 50 percent in the last decade.

Once again we come back to the question: Are these accurate numbers or just a sign of better outreach methods to minorities and reservations? Here’s what the Associated Press wrote:

The increase suggests a sense of racial identity may be growing among the various ethnic groups that have long been viewed as a blurred racial mosaic on the U.S. territory, although experts say it is too soon to say what caused the shift.

The growth in those calling themselves black or American Indian reduced the population share of Puerto Ricans who identify themselves solely as white. That group dropped nearly 8 percentage points to about 76 percent of the island’s 3.7 million people.

Dueling Redskin mascot headlines
Ok, ok. Done with mascot stories too? Well, here’s just a pair more: Red Lodge High students praised by state officials in mascot change then, Redskins Mascot Reinstated at Maine High School.

The Billings Gazette reported last week on a public official who spoke at the Red Lodge high school in Red Lodge, MT, about the recent school board decision to change the Redskin mascot name.

In Maine, however, the school reinstated the Redskin mascot after rigorous debate, ICTMN reports.

Smithsonian artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith paints her world
From the Daily Evergreen, WSU:

With each word, visiting artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith crafted a picture of the history of Native Americans and the injustices against them. Smith, a contemporary Native American artist, presented the history of her people not only through her words but with the works of fellow artists from the past 40 years on Wednesday to a full hall in Kimbrough 101.

Born on the Flathead Reservation in 1940, Smith is considered one of the most acclaimed American Indian artists and political activists, according to the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Her art focuses on images of Indian sufferings and stereotypes set against the background of the modern American way of life.

Read the rest of this entry »

You’re going to hear a lot about the Seminoles in the coming days. (The Florida State men’s basketball team is making a run for the NCAA championship.) Is that offensive? Is it hostile and abusive?

As Sporting News AOL Fanhouse columnist Greg Couch notes in his column: From an official standpoint it’s hard to tell.

The NCAA described the use of Native mascots using the terms hostile and abusive six years ago, Couch writes. But you still see names and images of Seminoles and Fighting Sioux on the courts and fields year after year.

Couch argues that both the Seminole tribes in Florida and the university have monetary incentives to keep the name around. He always notes several conversations he’s had with Tribal members who feel the mascots honorary. There are a lot of unanswered questions.

And while a number of schools, including the University of Illinois, have succumbed to the NCAA and made changes, the whole move has been one ugly, messy, confusing failure.

Why?

Because the NCAA’s leadership has been so weak.

Even more so, it has exemplified the typical NCAA hypocrisy and greed. If you think imagery is hostile and abusive, and you are the governing body, then you cannot allow the Florida State Seminoles to run up and down the court. During its football games, FSU still has a student dressed as Chief Osceola riding onto the field on a horse, planting a flaming spear into the turf.

That’s not hostile and abusive, but Chief Illiniwek, the former Illinois mascot who used to dance at halftime of its football games, was?

Where does the NCAA actually stand on this? What was it after?

Jenna Cederberg.

ND House: UND must keep Fighting Sioux name
Early this week the House of the North Dakota Legislature passed a bill that would require the University of North Dakota keeps its controversial Fighting Sioux name, the AP reported.

The only problem is, a lawsuit settled between UND and the NCAA says the school needs to drop the abusive and hostile name.

Supporters of the measure argued that North Dakota’s Board of Higher Education, in deciding to discard the nickname and logo, ignored strong public sentiment in favor of both. Opponents of the nickname and logo say they are racist and demeaning.

“Overwhelmingly, Native Americans and regular North Dakota citizens … they said, we don’t want the name to go away,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Al Carlson, R-Fargo, the House majority leader. “Are we supposed to ignore it, and say, we don’t have the authority to do that?”

Separately, representatives voted down two related bills that required UND to keep the nickname unless the members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe voted to revoke permission for using it. Neither bill got more than eight votes in favor.

Navajo is new Native link at White House

Navajo County has a new representative in the White House. Phoenix native Charlie Galbraith started his job an associate director of the Office of Public Engagement and deputy associate director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs this week, Navajo Times reports.

His jobs are wide-reaching.

(Galbraith) understands that each of the 565 federally recognized tribes has different issues and is looking forward to learning about their cultures.

“They’re going to keep me busy,” he said of his mission to keep the president current on their issues.

Galbraith is taking over the position from Jodi Gillette, Standing Rock Sioux, who is now deputy assistant secretary for policy and economic development at the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Tulsa women turns idea into booming business

Jenna Cederberg

It’s been more than 100 years since members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation hunted buffalo.

Although treaty rights originally guaranteed the tribes access to buffalo hunts, the Oregon-based tribe recently finished walking a five-year road to reprove the right. The work was spurred by CTUI member Jim Marsh, who took his first bull last week Wallowa.com reports.

His journey over those five years was more than just the distance between Oregon and Montana. Marsh pushed to assert his tribe’s right, and became a part of the politics in the process.

“Every time Jim saw me over the last four years, it was, ‘So Carl, how’s the bison hunt coming?’” recalled Carl Scheeler, wildlife program manager for the CTUIR’s department of natural resources.

“Jim was very supportive and right there reminded me every time he saw me that it was important to him.”

Scheeler said the CTUIR looked at the buffalo picture as far back as the 1990s, when the board of trustees briefly considered having a domestic herd. It soon decided against that, in favor of subsistence and cultural hunting.

Of course, the tribes’ history with buffalo go back to ancient times. The Treaty of 1855, which set up the Umatilla Indian Reservation, ensured the right to hunt buffalo along with other traditional foods such as salmon, deer and elk.

“The 1855 treaty mentioned 24 times about buffalo,” Marsh said.

Getting Montana and other government agencies to recognize that right took years.

Thanks to Indigeneity for the link.

Jenna Cederberg

Sioux Nation still saying no to $1 billion
Maria Streshinsky, of the Atlantic, re-examines the Sioux Nations resilience in their fight to own the Black Hills in South Dakota. While some do say take the money, others say compensation in the form of $1 billion isn’t enough – and isn’t the point.

Streshinsky tells us about one lawyer who keeps patriotism in his heart as he fights to restore his nation’s right to the land.

Bayou Tribes want payback from BP for lost way of life
Tribal fishermen who depend completely on the wares they bring from the marshes of the bayou on the Louisiana coast are still waiting for reimbursements from BP, ICTMN reports.

A $20 billion compensation fund has been set up for those effected by the oil spill that shut down waters there after a BP oil rig exploded, but how it will be distributed has yet to be determined.

“With the oil, how long will it last? Oil isn’t like a hurricane,” said Thomas Dardar, the principal chief of the United Houma Nation, the state’s largest Indian tribe with about 17,000 tribal citizens, to the AP. “You can’t just pick up after it’s over. The Indians in Alaska after Exxon-Valdez tell us they’ve been dealing with the oil for 20 years.”

Coburn, Inhofe call for withdrawal of judicial nomination of Arvo Mikkanen (Kiowa Tribe)
The Tulsa World is reporting that Oklahoma’s two senators are both holding ground in opposition of the nomination of Arvo Mikkanen for the open federal judge seat in Tulsa.

Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe are both urging the nomination be withdrawn.

Coburn said he already has talked with President Barack Obama’s staff about other “qualified” candidates.

As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which handles judicial nominations, Coburn is a key player in that process. That is especially true for any nomination for an Oklahoma position.

Under the traditions and customs, senators hold what can amount to veto power over individual nominations from their home states.

If Mikkanen’s nomination is approved, he would be only one of three Natives to ever serve as a federal district judge. Both others have served the state of Oklahoma.

Jenna Cederberg