New York tribes to rally tomorrow in protest of Bloomberg’s “cowboy” remark

It’s a shame it takes a subscription to read all of this Newsday story, but the two-paragraph tease is pretty clear: “Native American outrage over New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s broadcast advice to Gov. David A. Paterson to ‘get yourself a cowboy hat and a shotgun’ [read full remarks in the New York Post] to collect Indian cigarette taxes will extend into next week with a rally at City Hall. Harry Wallace, chief of the Unkechaug Indian Nation of Mastic, a frequent target of the mayor, said Friday he was organizing the rally Monday.” Rest assured, we’ll keep you posted. The tax is supposed to go into effect Sept. 1.

Group seeks justice for missing, murdered aboriginal women
Cherry Smiley of the Aboriginal Women’s Action Network in Vancouver deals daily with the worst society dishes out to women – abuse, sexual exploitation, violence. And she has a pertinent question, especially on the issue of young girls finding themselves in these situations: “Why is society not horrified by what is happening here? This is not child labor, it’s child rape, yet the authorities have done little to deal with the pimps and perpetrators.” Valerie Talliman writes about it in Indian Country Today.

Assembly of First Nations seeks probe into police handling of serial killer case
And speaking of missing and murdered women – The Assembly of First Nations has joined other groups seeking a public probe into the way police in Vancouver, British Columbia, handled the caes of serial killer Robert Pickton. Many of Pickton’s victims were First Nations women from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, said National Chief Shawn Atleo, who is a hereditary chief from Ahousaht. “A full and comprehensive public inquiry, with the participation of aboriginal people, is the only way to address the need for respect, justice and a better understanding of how we can prevent these tragedies in the future,” Atleo tells the Montreal Gazette here.

Las Vegas union makes contentious move to organize Navajo casino staff
Accusations and counter-accusations are flying as Culinary Workers Union Local 226, based in Las Vegas, attempts to unionize staff at the Fire Rock Navajo Casino. The union says casino management has been intimidating workers and trying to discourage them from signing up; management says it’s following the letter of the law. Bill Donovan, special to the Navajo Times, lays it all out.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to visit Inuit territories this week
Prime Minister Stephen Harper starts a five-day swing through all three northern territories starting tomorrow. The trip will kick off with a visit to Churchill, Man. Aug. 23. Harper will stop in Cambridge Bay Aug. 24, and then to to Resolute Bay on Aug. 25, the Nunatsiaq News reports here.

Gwen Florio

Tags: aboriginal, Aboriginal Women’s Action Network, Ahousaht, Canada, casinos, cigarette taxes, Culinary Workers Union Local 226, David Paterson, Fire Rock Navajo Casino, First Nations, Henry Wallace, Indian gaming, Inuit, Las Vegas, Michael Bloomberg, Native American women, Navajo, Robert Pickston, Shawn Atleo, Stephen Harper, union organizing, Unkechaug Nation

Here’s a good interview on RaceBending.com by Gabriel Canada with actress Tantoo Cardinal, who does not mince words when it comes to the challenges of being a Native actress in a film industry dominated by non-Natives.

RaceBending is the group that came into being after the outrage over ethnic roles in movies – specifically for Middle Eastern characters in “Prince of Persia” and Asian and Inuit characters in “The Last Airbender” went to Caucasian actors. (See previous post here.)

Cardinal – a Canadian Metis actress who appeared in “Smoke Signals” and “Dancing With Wolves,” among many, many others – insists that “It’s essential that we continue to tell our stories. It’s not enough for us to be the backdrop.”

Canada describes the depth of Cardinal’s experience:

On December 30th, 2009, Cardinal was made a Member of the Order of Canada “for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing arts in Canada, as a screen and stage actress, and as a founding member of the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company.”

It’s a great interview with an impressive woman. Check it out.

And, in the video above, Cardinal talks about her role in “Older Than America,” Georgina Lightning’s film about the atrocities perpetrated upon many Native children in boarding schools. Yet another movie to put on the “to watch’ list.

Gwen Florio

Tags: "Dances With Wolves", "Smoke Signals", Boarding schools, buffalo post, Gabriel Canada, Georgina Lightning, Gwen Florio, Native American actors, Native American films, Native American news, Native American women, Older Than America, Racebending, racebending.com, Tantoo Cardinal

Judge’s ruling halts Seneca Nation mail-order cigarette sales
A federal judge ruled Friday that Seneca Indians in the mail-order cigarette business can no longer use the post office to ship cigarettes while they fight a new ban on the practice, according to this Associated Press story. As the AP writes: “In a mixed decision, Judge Richard Arcara upheld the mail-order ban contained in the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act but temporarily exempted more than 140 Seneca-owned businesses from a provision requiring them to comply with all taxing laws in the places they sell cigarettes.

Death of traditional singer in Glacier National Park prompts investigation
Authorities say Clinton Croff, 30, a well-known traditional Native American singer and dancer, died from from multiple wounds after becoming engaged in an altercation in Glacier National Park, according to this Associated Press report. Croff was from Browning, on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana.

First Nations women married to non-aboriginal men still fighting for rights
Aboriginal women on many First Nations reserves in Canada still are being denied their rights because they married non-tribal men, despite a 1985 law designed to address the issue. Canadian Press reports here about the legal struggle by some women who are even prevented from voting.

Turtle Island News publisher is about all-Native news, all the time
In the 16 years since Lynda Powless started the Turtle Island News on the Six Nations Reserve, she’s been arrested twice (at a band council meeting for refusing to leave), sued (unsuccessfully by then chief Roberta Jamieson) and lodged an Ontario Press Council complaint against another paper on the reserve after it ran a front-page story on Powless’s divorce, writes Denise Davy of the Hamilton Spectator. Powless tells Davy she started the paper because “people on the reserve had no clue what was going on in their own community.”

Tags: aboriginal, Blackfeet, Browning, First Nations, Lynda Powless, mail-order cigarettes, Native American women, PACT Act, Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Now, Seneca cigarettes, Seneca Nation, Six Nations, Turtle Island News

It’s tough to imagine a more powerful force than that of our grandmothers. Hence, the International Council of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers.

This story tells of Carole Hart’s new film, “For the Next 7 Generations: The Grandmothers Speak.”

It tells of 13 women – shamans, medicine women and prayer people from Africa, Asia, the Arctic Circle, North America, South America and Central America – and their activism on behalf of global concerns.

The grandmothers’ mission statement goes thusly:

“We, the International Council of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Mother Earth, all her inhabitants, all the children, and for the next seven generations to come. We are deeply concerned with the unprecedented destruction of our Mother Earth and the destruction of indigenous ways of life. We believe the teachings of our ancestors will light the way through an uncertain future. We look to further our vision through the realization of projects that protect our diverse cultures: lands, medicines, language and ceremonial ways of prayer and through projects that educate and nurture our children.”

As Robin Caudell of the Plattsburgh, N.Y., Press Republican writes:

“For the Next 7 Generations” is a project of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers and the Center for Sacred Studies, a nonprofit “dedicated to sustaining indigenous ways of life through cross-cultural spiritual practices, ministry and education, and a commitment to peace and unity for all peoples.”

Before the project, in the mid-1990s, Hart was in the struggle of her life. She’d been diagnosed with lung cancer that had metastasized to her brain — her disease was in stage 4. Oncologists gave her three to four months to live. She had a long shot of extending her life a year or so. Then she met an oncologist with an experimental program.

But in the midst of that program, she went to a healer in the Native American church, and dropped the experimental treatments. CAT scans showed her cancer disappearing.

Afterward, she had visions of indigenous women, that eventually led to her film chronicling the actions of the grandmothers.

There is a web of life. Everything on the planet is alive and sacred,” she tells Caudell. “Mother Earth is our mother, and the grandmothers take that very seriously. All living things are sacred and special, and we’re not more special than any other living thing.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: "For the Next 7 Generations - The Grandmothers Speak, buffalo post, Carole Hart, Center for Sacred Studies, Gwen Florio, International Council of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers, Native American Church, Native American news, Native American women

Alaska tribe pins economic hopes on new ferry
The Seldovia Village Tribe in Alaska has unveiled the newest ferry in Kachemak Bay — the M/V Kachemak Voyager — which arrived last week at the Homer Port and Harbor. It’s part of a plan from a nearly $1 million boat ramp to be built by the tribe, according to this Homer Tribune story. The ferry will allow tribal members to more easily get to jobs in Homer, 45 minutes away by boat.

First Nations women stage 300-mile march to protest gender discrimination
Despite extensive changes, Canada’s Indian Act still promotes discrimination, especially against women, Indian Country Today’s Gale Courey Toensing writes here. Under the act, Native women who marry non-Native men lose their Indian status, and so do their children, something the protesters term “slow genocide.”

Funding snafu leaves Nunavut law school high and dry
Some 25 Nunavut students had hoped to study law by next September. But the government of Nunavut rejected a $3.6 million funding request from the Akitsiraq Law School Society, throwing those plans in doubt, the Nunatsiaq News reports here.

Grits are originally Native American
So says this San Francisco Chronicle story. Although somewhere along the line they became emblematic of Southern food, they’re made from hominy, which comes from corn – and you know who first cultivated that.

Reality check, during Stanley Cup, on Blackhawks’ name
WLS-TV in Chicago has this piece on the National Hockey League’s Blackhawks name. Check out the story and see what you think. This Flyers fan suggests an alternative – root for Philadelphia. Just sayin’.

This?

Or this?

Gwen Florio

Tags: Akitsiraq Law School Society, Alaska Natives, Chicago Blackhawks, First Nations, Gender discrimination, grits, hominy, Indian Act, Kachemak Bay, National Hockey League, Native American women, NHL, Nunavut, Philadelphia Flyers, Seldovia Village Tribe, Stanley Cup, Team mascots, Team nicknames

Here’s the entire story from the Associated Press:

BILLINGS (AP) – The U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Montana has received funding for three new assistant U.S. attorney positions to prosecute crime on Indian reservations.

In 2009, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., launched an initiative on public safety and victim services in tribal communities. The Justice Department received federal funding for Fiscal Year 2010 to increase the number of prosecutors for cases involving violent crime on Indian reservations.

On Monday, Montana’s office learned it was receiving funding to hire three more assistant U.S. attorneys.

U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter says the allocation is another step in his office’s efforts to support tribal justice systems, meet federal law enforcement responsibilities and address violence against Native American women and children.

Tags: buffalo post, Gwen Florio, Indian reservations, Montana U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter, Native American children, Native American news, Native American women, U.S. Attorney District of Montana, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Justice Department

Here‘s President Barack Obama’s statement, in full below, on yesterday’s passing of former Cherokee Nation leader Wilma Mankiller. And, the video above has a brief retrospective of Mankiller’s life (there’s a short ad, then you have to click again to watch it).

I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Wilma Mankiller today. As the Cherokee Nation’s first female chief, she transformed the Nation-to-Nation relationship between the Cherokee Nation and the Federal Government, and served as an inspiration to women in Indian Country and across America. A recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, she was recognized for her vision and commitment to a brighter future for all Americans. Her legacy will continue to encourage and motivate all who carry on her work. Michelle and I offer our condolences to Wilma’s family, especially her husband Charlie and two daughters, Gina and Felicia, as well as the Cherokee Nation and all those who knew her and were touched by her good works.

Chad Smith, principal chief of the Cherokee Nation Chief, says that “We are better people and a stronger tribal nation because her example of Cherokee leadership, statesmanship, humility, grace, determination and decisiveness.”

Read the tribe’s full statement, as well as condolences from others, here.

And, in this Wall Street Journal story, Mankiller both acknowledges her historic role as a female leader, and pays tribute to her ancestors, reminding people that “”Early historians referred to our government as a petticoat government because of the strong role of the women in the tribe. So in 1687 women enjoyed a prominent role, but in 1987 we found people questioning whether women should be in leadership positions anywhere in the tribe.”

The tribe’s site reports that Mankiller requested that any gifts in her honor be made as donations to One Fire Development Corp., a nonprofit dedicated to advancing Native American communities though economic development, and to valuing the wisdom that exists within each of the diverse tribal communities around the world.

For tax deductible donations, click here or here. The mailing address for One Fire Development Corporation is 1220 Southmore Houston, TX 77004.

A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday at 11a.m. at the Cherokee Nation Cultural Grounds in Tahlequah.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Chad Smith, Cherokee Nation, Gwen Florio, Native American leaders, Native American news, Native American women, One Fire Development Corp., President Barack Obama, Wilma Mankiller

Here’s the entire story from Associated Press writers Murray Evans and Rochelle Hines:

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Former Cherokee Nation Chief Wilma Mankiller, one of the nation’s most visible American Indian leaders and one of the few women to lead a major tribe, died Tuesday after suffering from cancer and other health problems. She was 64.

Mankiller, whose first taste of federal policy toward Indians came when her family ended up in a housing project after a government relocation project, took Indian issues to the White House and met with three presidents. She earned a reputation for facing conflict head-on.

As the first female chief of the Cherokees, from 1985 to 1995, Mankiller led the tribe in tripling its enrollment, doubling employment and building new health centers and children’s programs.

“We feel overwhelmed and lost when we realize she has left us, but we should reflect on what legacy she leaves us,” current Cherokee Chief Chad Smith said. “We are better people and a stronger tribal nation because her example of Cherokee leadership, statesmanship, humility, grace, determination and decisiveness.”

Mankiller met snide remarks about her surname — a Cherokee military title — with humor, often delivering a straight-faced, “Mankiller is actually a well-earned nickname.”
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: buffalo post, Cherokee Nation, Gwen Florio, Native American leaders, Native American news, Native American women, Wilma Mankiller

Wilma Mankiller, who as chief of the Cherokee Nation was the first woman to lead a tribe, has been diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Mankiller addressed the issue publicly in a statement, recounted here by The News on 6 in Okalahoma:

“I decided to issue this statement because I want my family and friends to know that I am mentally and spiritually prepared for this journey; a journey that all human beings will take at one time or another,” she says. “I learned a long time ago that I can’t control the challenges the Creator sends my way but I can control the way I think about them and deal with them.

As the News on 6 recounts:

During her 10 years as chief, Mankiller’s tribe tripled in size to become the country’s second-largest.

She was a leader who revolutionized Cherokee education, health care and business. The tribe now has a high school in Tahlequah. A multi-million dollar Cherokee health center bears Mankiller’s name. And Mankiller herself took a key role in the businesses that now comprise Cherokee Nation Enterprises.

This is not Mankiller’s first bout with cancer. She was treated for lymphoma shortly after leaving office, yet maintained a busy schedule traveling and speaking.

She asks that people who want to send her messages e-mail her at wilmapmankiller@yahoo.com.

Here‘s the official announcement from the Cherokee Nation, with a list of Mankiller’s accomplishments.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Cherokee, Gwen Florio, Native American news, Native American women, tribal leadership, Wilma Mankiller