First Nations News
TFNG Recieves Grant From Puyallup Tribe of Indians
Reported by Michael Hoskins
July 21, 2009
TFNG would like to thank the Puyallup Tribe Of Indians, for thier generous grant in the amount of $50,000.00
Yes that is Fifty thousand dollars which will be used to begin our Housing Assistance Program.Stay tuned to this website while we work on the details for more information.
To find out more information about the Puyallup Tribe Of Indians check out thier website at www.puyallup-tribe.com and also stay connected for future news and program updates by checking in at this news page. We will have more exciting news as the summer roles on.
TFNG Recieves Grant From Potlatch Fund
Reported by Michael Hoskins
June 18, 2009
TFNG would like to thank the Potlatch Fund, a Native American Philanthropy Organization in Seattle, WA, for thier generous grant in the amount of $1,000.00
Yes that is one thousand dollars which will be used to enhance our Culturally based community building initiatives like the Talking Circle and the Womens Circle.
To find out more information about the Potlatch Fund check out thier website at www.potlatchfund.org and also stay connected for future news and program updates by checking in at this news page. We will have more exciting news as the summer roles on.
TFNG Is Now On FaceBook
Tacoma First Nations Gathering is entering the Cyber Social World and can now be found on our new FaceBook page, as well as our new Face Book Group Page. All you need is a FaceBook account, which is free, and then search for us under groups and then join! Then you can post comments, share in discussions and get the latest news and events sent straight to you.
You'll never have to worry about forgetting a Gathering, Ladies Craft Circle, or Talking Circle again as reminders are sent directly to your FB page and email account. You can also join our Powwow Group and share, or find Powwows and Native events all across the nation, as well as post your favorite powwow pics or videos. starting discussions is a breeze with the interactive discussion board also!
Everyone is welcomed to join us. If you are interested please contact us for help or just go straight to FaceBook and sign up now.
tfng@tacomafirstnationsgathering.com
Bradford connects with tribe
By ERIC BAILEY World Sports Writer
Published: 5/11/2009 2:21 AM
www.tulsaworld .com
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20090511_11_A11_Ntvmrc607615#commentform
Last Modified: 5/11/2009 3:40 AM
Native Americans in our state are proud of Sam Bradford.
But do they know who Sherman Alexie is? If you're Native American and have no idea, you are missing out on our generation's best Indian storyteller.
A critically acclaimed author, Alexie is a Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Indian from the northwest. An engaging speaker, he can bring out belly laughs from Indians or provoke a room full of intellectuals.
Bradford, a Cherokee citizen, and Alexie visited northeastern Oklahoma within a week of each other last month. Their talents brought fans to see them; their words were inspirational.
Monday morning quarterbacks often grade Bradford's performance following an OU football game.
But did you know that Alexie's work is also subject to dissection by know-it-alls?
Alexie, who weaves tales about Indians in modern-day America, even joked about a question he recently received.
In a scene in his 1998 movie, "Smoke Signals," the driver of a truck driving backward down a road stops to greet two friends. The transmission is stuck in reverse, but that isn't mentioned.
After a short conversation, the Indian women driving the truck resume their trip — backward.
No, Alexie said he replied, the truck was just broken.
Laughter erupted when Alexie retold this story to a captive audience in Tulsa.
Bradford also knows how to keep a crowd's attention.
He visited the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah last month on the invitation of Chief Chad Smith.
Bradford is 1/16th Cherokee, and even before his Heisman Trophy season, he often was asked about his heritage.
One problem — he had no idea what his heritage was. Being Cherokee wasn't emphasized when he was growing up.
He could have kept pushing aside questions about being Indian, but he didn't. Late last month, he was honored by the Cherokee Nation and seven other tribes for his athletic feats.
In front of many of his people, Bradford admitted that he needed to learn more.
"God has given me a great platform, and my Native American roots extend that platform even more," he said. "There's a difference between talking the talk and walking the walk.
"Obviously I'm Native American and I'm proud of it but beyond knowing I have roots with this culture, I don't know much more than that. For me to come here today, it's just a way for me to learn about the culture."
Bradford, 21, appears to be a Native American sports figure that Indians haven't had since the days of Jim Thorpe. But for them to embrace Bradford, he had to wrap his arms around his heritage.
He took a major step in that visit to the Cherokee Nation, where he spent a day eating traditional food and playing games such as stickball with the students.
Remember that symbolic search about looking at your past before focusing on the future?
Meet Sam Bradford, Cherokee Indian.
By ERIC BAILEY World Sports Writer
*NOTE* The writer has been informed of the error in this story about the “truck” that was actually a car in the movie “SMOKE SIGNALS”. Due to copyright laws we can only post a story as it is published and inform the editor or the writer so they may make the appropriate changes. Please do not email us regarding the mistake.
NPR: Lawmakers move to curb Rape on Native Lands
Date: Mon, 4 May 2009 06:51:09 -0700
VIOLENCE AGAINST NATIVE WOMEN
http://indianz.com/News/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103717296
Lawmakers Move To Curb Rape On Native Lands
by Laura Sullivan
Weekend Edition Sunday,
May 3, 2009
The federal government has recently announced plans to spend hundreds of
millions of dollars to improve medical clinics, buy more rape kits and
bolster the police response to what authorities say is an epidemic of
rapes on Indian land.
The February stimulus bill injected $500 million into Indian Health
Services, the agency that handles most medical needs for Native Americans,
while the appropriations bill that passed in March is also adding funds.
The March bill increases the budget for the Bureau of Indian Affairs by
$85 million to provide additional law enforcement on reservations.
Meanwhile, Congress is attempting to strengthen the authority of tribal
police with a new bill that would grant Native American tribes greater
police powers.
Advocates say it would be a sea change for tribes, which are largely
dependent on the federal government when it comes to law enforcement on
their lands.
Two years ago, the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, which straddles
North and South Dakota, had five Bureau of Indian Affairs officers to
patrol an area the size of Connecticut. Officials there, and on many
reservations nationwide, described a rampant problem of rape where
hundreds of cases were going unreported, uninvestigated and unprosecuted.
According to the Justice Department, 1 in 3 Native American women will
be raped in her lifetime. Tribal leaders say predators believe Native
American land is almost a free-for-all, where no law enforcement can touch
them.
In many ways, those offenders may be right. Few cases of sexual assault
in Indian country make it to the courthouse. In the 1978 case Oliphant vs.
Suquamish, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that only federal prosecutors can
prosecute crimes on Indian land. But those federal prosecutors are also
responsible for terrorism cases, white-collar crime and drug racketeering.
Rape cases are often shuffled aside. Many officials told NPR that cases
involving the rape of a single woman on a reservation just don't hold the
kind of prominence those other cases do.
In recent years, thanks largely to casino money, many tribes have
started their own police forces, hired tribal prosecutors and built their
own courtrooms and jails. But the 1978 ruling says Native American police
and prosecutors can only prosecute Native Americans. They can't arrest and
charge people from outside the reservation, which is especially problematic.
According to the Justice Department, 80 percent of the assailants in
rape cases on the reservations were non-native men. Tribal police say the
law forbids them from arresting those offenders, no matter how good their
evidence is. But they say when they turn the cases over to federal
prosecutors, nothing happens. One federal report found U.S. attorneys
decline to prosecute 75 percent of Indian rape cases every year.
Tribal law enforcement is also hamstrung because even when they have an
American Indian offender, the law says they can't prosecute felonies like
rape and they can only imprison an offender for up to one year.
This jurisdictional maze could change though, if a new bill before
Congress passes. A bipartisan group of senators has introduced the Tribal
Law and Order Act, which would allow tribal police to arrest anyone who
commits a crime on Indian land, regardless of the offender's race. The law
also calls for better tracking of which cases the U.S. Attorney's office
declines and why. It would give local police and sheriff's offices grants
if they cooperate with tribal police and cross-deputize their officers.
If the bill passes, tribal officials say, their police will have the
same authority state and local officers have across the country, and they
may be able to put a dent in the number of sexual assault cases they see
every day.
Copyright c. 2009 NPR.
"Columbia River tribes want halt to Sportfishing"
Date: Sat, 2 May 2009 06:33:49 -0600
From: 'anahuy59'
Subj: Columbia River tribes want halt to sportfishing
Mailing List: First Peoples News
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/
index.ssf/2009/05/columbia_river_tribes_want_hal.html
Columbia River tribes want halt to sportfishing
By Scott Learn
May 1, 2009
The group representing tribal nations along the Columbia River says
Oregon and Washington have allowed too much nontribal fishing of upper
Columbia spring chinook, likely shorting tribes dependent on the fish
given what appears to be an unexpectedly low run.
The Columbia River Intertribal Fish Commission - which represents the
Nez Perce, Umatilla, Warm Springs and Yakama tribes - sent a strongly
worded letter to the states earlier this week.
So far, tribal fishermen upstream of Bonneville Dam have caught about
1,000 spring chinook, while nontribal fisheries have caught about 19,000,
according to the letter from N. Kathryn Brigham, the group's chairwoman.
The two numbers are supposed to end up about equal.
Spring chinook, the first fish up the Columbia and the river's most
valuable pound for pound, are important to the tribes' diet, ceremonies
and commercial harvest. They're also important to sportfishermen and
nontribal commercial fishermen. And the wild runs of spring chinook that
originate in the upper Columbia and Snake rivers are among the most
endangered, both listed under the Endangered Species Act.
Fishery managers projected a near record run of 300,000 upriver spring
chinook this year, about a quarter wild fish and three quarters hatchery.
But so far, only 22,000 have reached Bonneville Dam, about half the total
at the same time last year, when the run totaled slightly less than
180,000 by the end of the season in June.
Brigham called the situation "unacceptable," noting that an overly
optimistic forecast last year also left the tribes short on fish. The
states' decision to allow additional sportfishing in mid-April despite the
obviously low returns showed "apparent disregard for risk management," she
wrote.
"It is evident that the states have chosen to reverse the 'burden of
proof' by requiring proof that the pre-season forecast is not accurate,
rather than verifying with in-season evidence that it is," Brigham said.
If the states and the tribes can't agree on satisfactory changes under
the federal court case that covers fishing allocations, she said, the
tribes will ask the court to remedy "this terrible situation."
Sportfishing on the Columbia below Bonneville Dam is now closed, with at
best small openings upstream. Steve Williams, deputy fish administrator
for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, said he's hoping for high
returns in May and June but doubts the sportfishing season will be
reopened given the low runs to date.
"It's obviously a very late-timed run," he said. "I have told people not
to anticipate any reopening."
In an earlier letter to the tribes, the heads of Oregon and Washington's
fish and wildlife agencies said they were conservative in how much fishing
they allowed. Under the states' management plan, the 2009 run would need
to fall to less than 156,000 fish - about half the original projection -
for nontribal fisheries to exceed ESA percentage limits on the catch of
wild fish, they said.
Williams said he understands the tribes' concerns, but he defended the
states' management.
"We took a very conservative approach, more conservative this year than
we have ever taken," Williams said. "Should we do something different next
year? Obviously, there's going to be a lot of discussion about that."
Copyright c. 2009 The Oregonian, Oregon Live LLC. All Rights Reserved.
'Climate change' forces Yup'ik to abandon Village
Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 10:55:19 -0700
From: 'anahuy59'
Subj: 'Climate change' forces Yup'ik to abandon village
Mailing List: First Peoples News
From: David Kitchen
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/04/24/
climate.change.eskimos/index.html
'Climate change' forces Eskimos to abandon village
By Azadeh Ansari
April 24, 2009
(CNN) - The indigenous people of Alaska have stood firm against some of
the most extreme weather conditions on Earth for thousands of years. But
now, flooding blamed on climate change is forcing at least one Eskimo
village to move to safer ground.
The community of the tiny coastal village of Newtok voted to relocate
its 340 residents to new homes 9 miles away, up the Ninglick River. The
village, home to indigenous Yup'ik Eskimos, is the first of possibly
scores of threatened Alaskan communities that could be abandoned.
Warming temperatures are melting coastal ice shelves and frozen sub-
soils, which act as natural barriers to protect the village against summer
deluges from ocean storm surges.
"We are seeing the erosion, flooding and sinking of our village right
now," said Stanley Tom, a Yup'ik Eskimo and tribal administrator for the
Newtok Traditional Council.
The crisis is unique because its devastating effects creep up on
communities, eating away at their infrastructure, unlike with sudden
natural disasters such as wildfires, earthquakes or hurricanes.
Newtok is just one example of what the United Nations Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change warns is part of a growing climate change crisis
that will displace 150 million people by 2050.
The group says indigenous peoples in Asia, Central America and Africa
are threatened by shifting environmental conditions blamed on climate
change.
"We will not be able to survive"
Tom's ancestors have been living in the region for centuries, he said.
"Our land is our resource, our source of food; it's our country. We live
off of it. If we go to another village or city, we will not be able to
survive," Tom said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has estimated that moving Newtok could
cost $130 million. Twenty-six other Alaskan villages are in immediate
danger, with an additional 60 considered under threat in the next decade,
according to the corps.
The village crisis is taking place as more than 400 indigenous people
from 80 nations gather 500 miles (800 kilometers) away in Anchorage,
Alaska, at the first Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change.
The conference aimed to address global issues effecting indigenous
communities like the Yup'ik Eskimos. The five-day summit also hoped to
raise global awareness about the crisis facing these indigenous
communities and to help them speak with a more unified voice, said
Patricia Cochran, chairwoman of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, which
hosted the event.
U.N. scientists have long blamed increases in average global
temperatures on the emission of excess greenhouse gases such as carbon
dioxide by industry and the burning of petroleum-based fuel.
Summit delegates will work on a declaration outlining the climate
change-related issues facing indigenous people. The declaration will be
agreed upon Friday and presented at the Conference of Parties United
Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.
"On the international level, the meeting in Copenhagen at the end of the
year is incredibly important, it will lay down the road map on how we
tackle climate change and who gets to be involved," said Sam Johnston of
Tokyo, Japan-based United Nations University, a co-sponsor of the summit.
"Climate change poses threats and dangers to the survival of indigenous
communities worldwide, even though they contribute least to greenhouse
emissions," United Nations General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto said
at the summit.
Worldwide threat
Climate change, conference delegates say, is threatening the traditional
lifestyles of indigenous peoples around the world. Specific environmental
threats include droughts, sea level rise, warmer temperatures; lack of
rainfall, flooding and loss of biodiversity, climatologists say. The
specific combination of threats varies by region.
For example, in the island nation of Papua New Guinea, an increase in
population growth coupled with rising sea levels is decreasing the amount
of crop land making farming very difficult for the indigenous people of
the region, according to the U.N.
In the African nation of Kenya, the Samburu tribe is on the verge of a
food and economic crisis, the U.N. said, as lengthy droughts kill
livestock that provides income and sustenance for the community.
In Mexico, highland Mayan farmers are fighting to survive amid
decreasing rainfall, unseasonal frost and unprecedented changes in daytime
temperatures, the U.N. reported. These conditions are forcing the farmers
to plant alternative crops and to search for other sources of irrigation.
"We are the ones that are the most effected" by climate change, said
Saul Vicente-Vasquez, a Mexican economist and longtime human rights
activist for indigenous peoples.
"Climigration" refers to the forced and permanent migration of
communities because of severe climate change effects on essential
infrastructure. This differs from migration caused by catastrophic
environmental events such as hurricanes and earthquakes. The concept of
"climigration" implies that there is no possibility of these communities
returning home, said Alaskan human rights lawyer Robin Bronen, who coined
the term.
"There needs to be a new institutional framework that is created, that's
based in human rights doctrines ... that facilitates relocations," Bronen
said.
Back in Newtok, village leaders continue to work with federal and state
representatives while they plan to relocate.
"We have a new village, but we don't have all the funding that the
village needs to move right now," said Sally Russell Cox planner with the
Alaska division of community and regional affairs.
If the crisis worsens and forces an emergency evacuation, Cox said
officials want to provide "a safe place to go if they need to get out of
the village."
As for Tom, he said he's looking forward to getting it over with. "We
hope to move to the new village site and be able to get on with regular
life."
Copyright c. 2009 Cable News Network.
Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Journey to heal Boarding School abuses
Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 12:43:06 -0600
From: 'anahuy59'
Subj: Journey to heal historic Indian Boarding School abuses
set to begin on May 16
Mailing List: First Peoples News
http://www.goldentrianglenews.com/articles/2009/05/06/
glacier_reporter/news/news5.txt
Reminder - Journey to heal historic Indian Boarding School abuses set to
begin on May 16
The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness begins on Saturday, May 16, at
the Chemawa Indian School in Salem, Ore., and concludes a continent away
on June 24 in Washington, D.C.
The 40-day, 6,800-mile transcontinental event will visit 24 historic
Indian boarding school sites to promote learning, emotional healing and
forgiveness of the harm done to American Indians during the almost 100-
year boarding school era that began in North America in 1879.
A petition will be presented in Washington to President Barack Obama on
June 24, requesting an apology on behalf of the U.S. government for the
abuses of Indian children during the American boarding school era. There
are presently about 3,000 signatures, total.
It is now widely accepted that the historic and intergenerational trauma
suffered by American Indians, First Nations people, and Alaska Natives
throughout North America has been propagated down the generations and is a
major cause of today's social and health problems experienced by
indigenous peoples. Afflictions such as alcohol and drug abuse, mental
health issues, diabetes, chronic ill health, incarceration, poor job
opportunities and numerous co-occurring disorders have been traced to the
culture cleansing and assimilation abuses of both missionary schools and
government schools during the boarding school era, approximately 1879-1970.
There is a growing precedent for apologies to indigenous peoples by
heads of state and other institutions. In February of 2008, the Australian
government apologized to its aboriginal people for abuses to children
during the Australian Stolen Generations period of the 19th and 20th
Centuries. In June of 2008, the government of Canada apologized to its
indigenous people for the abuses of its residential school era. More
recently, on April 29, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his sorrow at the
anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the Church in
the Canadian residential school system and offered his sympathy and
prayerful solidarity for healing, according to a Vatican communiqu/
released on April 30.
Most recently, on April 30, U.S. Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas re-
introduced the Native American Apology Resolution, which offers an apology
from the United States government to American Indians. Companion
legislation was also introduced in the House by Representative Dan Boren
of Oklahoma, according to an April 30 news release.
To prepare local indigenous communities for the coming of the Wellbriety
Journey for Forgiveness, 12 Historical Trauma workshops were held across
the U.S. in April. Attendance, enthusiasm and healing experiences were
strong at each event. Hundreds availed themselves of the opportunity to
prepare for the coming of the Journey to their communities. For example,
on April 18 over 100 participants attended the Historical Trauma workshop
in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, site of the former Mt. Pleasant Indian
Industrial School, which operated from 1893 to 1933.
Everyone, American Indian or otherwise, is encouraged to express their
solidarity with the request for a U.S. government apology by signing the
online petition for Apology for Abuses at US Indian Schools, available by
visiting www.whitebison.org. Much more information on the upcoming event
is also available on the website.
The Wellbriety Journey for Forgiveness is sponsored by White Bison Inc.,
an American Indian non-profit organization. The Journey is being funded by
grassroots efforts. All those believing it is time for the U.S. government
to step up and make an apology to its indigenous people are invited to
help fund this historic event by contributing at the website and also
signing the petition.
www.whitebison.org.
Copyright c. 2009 Golden Triangle News.
These posts contain articles from:
www.indianz.com; www.tulsaworld.com; www.pechanga.net; www.indiancountrytoday.com;
bsnorrell.blogspot.com; http://www.rlnn.com/index.html;
Mailing Lists: UNA-News, First Peoples News, Religious Genocide,
Indigenous Peoples Literature, Frostys AmerIndian,
Censored News, Mohawk Nation News, Native American Poetry;
UUCP Mail and were gleaned from:
www.nanews.org
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