With the Navajo Nation Council considering expanding the Raytheon Missile plant, where the tribe grows corn and potatoes for commercial crops, it is a good time to ponder again why Indian Country Today, where I served as staff writer for the Southwest, demanded that I never write about this.
It happened this way, in the summer of 2006. When Navajo Agricultural Products Industries announced it was negotiating with Cuba to sell its food crops, the newspaper asked me to cover it. I told the editors that I was already researching the Navajo farm (NAPI) and environmental concerns since missile parts were being produced alongside the corn and potatoes.
The editors forbid me to mention this in the article.
I asked if I could report on it in a separate article. The editors prohibited it.
The negotiations with Cuba were going on as Castro became ill. Meanwhile, Navajo workers at Raytheon on the Navajo farm said their pay was so low, they questioned why the Navajo Nation is investing millions into the facility for a small number of low-paying jobs. Other Navajos question why Navajos are participating in producing missiles and bomb parts, like those for laser-directed bombs. They point out that those missiles and bombs kill Indigenous Peoples, and innocent women and children, in other parts of the world.
My research also led me to Arizona Congressman Rick Renzi, who was pressing for expansion of the Raytheon Missiles plant on the Navajo farm. It turns out that Renzi has a background in military intelligence. It turns out that his father works at ManTech International Corporation, which provides military intelligence, along with other things, at Fort Huachuca in Arizona. Fort Huachuca has long been linked to teaching torture practices used in Latin America and more recently at Guantanamo Bay. Two priests were arrested in a peaceful protest there recently over the torture.
The New York Times said Congressman Renzi was under investigation in matters related to the military base and water levels in a nearby river, all related to his father's intelligence firm. Further, a Phoenix news service said a federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, was recently fired after beginning a probe into Congressman Renzi.
Meanwhile, Renzi was selected cochair of the Congressional Native American Caucus.
Obviously Renzi has made lots of friends, including some news reporters and editors who continue to censor the issues.
Below is a link to an article I wrote of the San Carlos Apache protest of Renzi. The article, exposing Renzi's hearing to dilute environmental laws, was censored in 2004.
I was terminated just after my research on NAPI and Renzi in 2006. Shortly before I was fired, one of my articles, on Donald Rumsfeld profiteering from the sale of the bird flu medication Tamiflu, was censored and distorted by the Indian Country Today editors and turned into an advertisement for Tamiflu. The published article, with Rumsfeld new fortune censored, is not the one that I wrote.
For Navajos, the Tamiflu scenario had played out before. Manufacturers of Ribavirin attempted to profiteer from the sale of Ribavirin after the Hantavirus deaths on the Navajo Nation in the 1990s. The attempt was halted by the Navajo Nation Council.
Also, important to Indian readers, is the fact that one of ICT's managing editors repeatedly demanded that I stop writing about "grassroots people and the genocide of American Indians."
If it were not for the blogs and the Internet, this bit of history would be lost.
--Brenda Norrell
Related Updates: Renzi Copper Mine Opposed by Apaches:
http://www.indianz.com/News/2007/002591.asp
US Attorney Charlton fired during Congressman Renzi probe:
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0321usattorney0321.html
FBI Probe Launched, Renzi Steps Down from Congressional Committee/March, 2007:
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/amid-fbi-investigation-renzi-steps-down-from-2-more-panels-2007-04-24.html
Renzi, Renzi's father, the San Pedro River and ManTech:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/25/washington/25inquire.html?ex=1319428800&en=41a50dd7e23d4e04&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
CENSORED in 2004: San Carlos Apache Protest Renzi
http://bsnorrell.tripod.com/id102.html
Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights
March 6, 2007
Mohawk Nation News
Note from MNN Mohawk Nation News: This has been a phenomenal year. We raised issues that Canada has been trying to keep buried for centuries. We took back our land, Kanenhstaton, and kept it. Nia:wen brothers, sisters, friends and allies. Together we may have reached a turning point. There was a lot of skulduggery by those agents of repression who wanted to use force. We managed to hold back an army who wanted to come in for the kill. The Ontario Provincial Police tried a few times and were repelled. ATF in a US Border Patrol vehicle was brought in to spy on us. All sorts of instigators were set up to provoke violence. KKK hate literature was deposited in the post office. Rioters made bon fires and distributed hot dogs and beer to try to establish mob rule in Caledonia. Throughout we defended our jurisdiction, our inherent right to self-determination, our equality as human beings, exposed outright land thefts and duplicity by colonial Canada. We never violated the rights of others. Many profitted from violating ours. We still have not been compensated for the theft of our land and the gratuitous attacks on our people. Could those who attacked the Metis, who gave us Wounded Knee, the Riel "Rebellion", the Kanehsatake/Oka Crisis, Ipperwash, Gustafsen Lake, now Six Nations and countless other violations of our human rights have finally begun to see the light? For the coming year we will continue to ask Canada to obey the laws. All in all, it's obvious that Canada has not faced up to the fact that it has used its institutional force to oppress us. Kahentinetha Horn kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Katenies20@yahoo.com - www.mohawknationnews.com Read on for activities and comments one year later. Send yours to Six Nations % Hazel at thebasketcase@on.aibn.com
Concerts to save Oakland Intertribal Friendship House
Oldest Urban Native American Community Center in the Nation Under Threat!
“Save the Legacy” Fundraiser Events Scheduled to Save the Intertribal Friendship House
Oakland, California - The Intertribal Friendship House (IFH), which is recognized as the oldest Urban Native American Community Center in the nation, is under threat of being lost forever. On Friday, March 23 the IFH will be placed on the Alameda County auction block due to unpaid taxes if necessary funds are not raised. Community members are taking action to raise $30,000 to save the center and preserve the legacy of this cultural and historical monument.
It has also served as the meeting place and organizing center for American Indian activism of the 1960s and '70s including the occupation of Alcatraz, the initiation of the Long Walk, and the creation of the AIM for freedom Survival School, among many other events and actions that had far-reaching effects nationally, many of which continue today.
For over fifty years the IFH continues to serve as the heart of the Bay Area Indian Community. It was established in 1955 to respond to the needs of American Indian people of many tribes who had migrated into the area through the Federal relocation program. For Urban Native Peoples IFH has served as the Urban Reservation and Homeland. In many cases it is one of the few places that keeps them connected to their culture and traditions through pow wow dance, drumming, beading classes, and the many social gatherings, cultural events, and ceremonies that are held there.
"The Intertribal Friendship House is more than an organization. It is the heart of a vibrant tribal community.” said Wilma Mankiller, former Principal Chief, Cherokee Nation. “When we returned to our Oklahoma homelands twenty years later, we took incredible memories of the many people in the Bay Area who helped shape our values and beliefs."
Intertribal Friendship House (IFH) sprang up out of the need for relocated Indians to congregate together, to help each other survive and to forge what became the Urban Indian Community in the San Francisco Bay Area. IFH became the model that other Indian Centers with a specific focus grew out of and replicated.
“Save the Legacy”
Calendar of Events
March 2007
Thursday
March 15
7:00 PM-9:00 PM
Film Screening:
Shell Mound, Spider Kid, and Exterminate Them! The California Story
W/ Special Guests Floyd Red Crow Westerman and Lee Brightman of the American Indian Movement. Shell Mound Director Andres Cidiel and Spider Kid Director Cha-Tah Gould will also be present.
Intertribal Friendship House
Oakland
$8 - $10
Sliding scale
All ages event!
Friday
March 16
7:00 PM-2:00 AM
“Save the Legacy” Benefit Show
All Nations Drummers, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Good Shield, Colored Ink, Ise Lyfe, Brown Buffalo Project, Entre Musicos, E-legal MC, Ariel Lucky, DJ Oye, DJ Agana, DJ Fuse and Sake-1.
Cafe' Axe' Cultural Center
1525 Webster St.
Oakland
$10-15 Sliding scale
All ages event!
No Drugs or Alcohol Allowed
Saturday
March 17
4:00 PM –10:00 PM
“Save the Legacy” Benefit Concert
Aztlan Underground, Blackfire, 7th Generation Rise, One Struggle, Chest full of Arrows and other very special guests!
Aztlan Underground is a fusion band from Los Angeles. Since the early 1990s, Aztlan Underground has played Rapcore. Indigenous drums, flutes, and rattles are commonplace in its musical compositions.
Blackfire a Native American (Dine’) group comprised of two brothers and their sister. Their style is high-energy and comprises traditional Native American, Punk-Rock and Alter-Native with strong sociopolitical messages about government oppression, relocation of indigenous people, eco-cide, genocide, domestic violence and human rights. They strongly advocate for the Protection of Sacred sites and the respect of all cultures.
Good Shield is an indigenous artist of Oglala lakota and Yoeme heritage. He is lead singer and songwriter for Indigenous Soul band, 7th GENERATION RISE out of Humboldt County, CA. Good Shields music writing styles consists of Folk, Funk, Rock, etc set to culturally and politically charged lyrics.
One Struggle an eight piece band which infuses reggae, soul and South American rhythms with a blend of conscious vocals, spoken word, traditional Native songs and hip-hop sure to get your booty shaking.
Eastside Cultural Center
2277 International Blvd @ 23rd Avenue,
Oakland
$10-15 Sliding scale
All ages event!
No Drugs or Alcohol Allowed
“Save the Legacy” Fundraiser Events Scheduled to Save the Intertribal Friendship House
Oakland, California - The Intertribal Friendship House (IFH), which is recognized as the oldest Urban Native American Community Center in the nation, is under threat of being lost forever. On Friday, March 23 the IFH will be placed on the Alameda County auction block due to unpaid taxes if necessary funds are not raised. Community members are taking action to raise $30,000 to save the center and preserve the legacy of this cultural and historical monument.
It has also served as the meeting place and organizing center for American Indian activism of the 1960s and '70s including the occupation of Alcatraz, the initiation of the Long Walk, and the creation of the AIM for freedom Survival School, among many other events and actions that had far-reaching effects nationally, many of which continue today.
For over fifty years the IFH continues to serve as the heart of the Bay Area Indian Community. It was established in 1955 to respond to the needs of American Indian people of many tribes who had migrated into the area through the Federal relocation program. For Urban Native Peoples IFH has served as the Urban Reservation and Homeland. In many cases it is one of the few places that keeps them connected to their culture and traditions through pow wow dance, drumming, beading classes, and the many social gatherings, cultural events, and ceremonies that are held there.
"The Intertribal Friendship House is more than an organization. It is the heart of a vibrant tribal community.” said Wilma Mankiller, former Principal Chief, Cherokee Nation. “When we returned to our Oklahoma homelands twenty years later, we took incredible memories of the many people in the Bay Area who helped shape our values and beliefs."
Intertribal Friendship House (IFH) sprang up out of the need for relocated Indians to congregate together, to help each other survive and to forge what became the Urban Indian Community in the San Francisco Bay Area. IFH became the model that other Indian Centers with a specific focus grew out of and replicated.
“Save the Legacy”
Calendar of Events
March 2007
Thursday
March 15
7:00 PM-9:00 PM
Film Screening:
Shell Mound, Spider Kid, and Exterminate Them! The California Story
W/ Special Guests Floyd Red Crow Westerman and Lee Brightman of the American Indian Movement. Shell Mound Director Andres Cidiel and Spider Kid Director Cha-Tah Gould will also be present.
Intertribal Friendship House
Oakland
$8 - $10
Sliding scale
All ages event!
Friday
March 16
7:00 PM-2:00 AM
“Save the Legacy” Benefit Show
All Nations Drummers, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Good Shield, Colored Ink, Ise Lyfe, Brown Buffalo Project, Entre Musicos, E-legal MC, Ariel Lucky, DJ Oye, DJ Agana, DJ Fuse and Sake-1.
Cafe' Axe' Cultural Center
1525 Webster St.
Oakland
$10-15 Sliding scale
All ages event!
No Drugs or Alcohol Allowed
Saturday
March 17
4:00 PM –10:00 PM
“Save the Legacy” Benefit Concert
Aztlan Underground, Blackfire, 7th Generation Rise, One Struggle, Chest full of Arrows and other very special guests!
Aztlan Underground is a fusion band from Los Angeles. Since the early 1990s, Aztlan Underground has played Rapcore. Indigenous drums, flutes, and rattles are commonplace in its musical compositions.
Blackfire a Native American (Dine’) group comprised of two brothers and their sister. Their style is high-energy and comprises traditional Native American, Punk-Rock and Alter-Native with strong sociopolitical messages about government oppression, relocation of indigenous people, eco-cide, genocide, domestic violence and human rights. They strongly advocate for the Protection of Sacred sites and the respect of all cultures.
Good Shield is an indigenous artist of Oglala lakota and Yoeme heritage. He is lead singer and songwriter for Indigenous Soul band, 7th GENERATION RISE out of Humboldt County, CA. Good Shields music writing styles consists of Folk, Funk, Rock, etc set to culturally and politically charged lyrics.
One Struggle an eight piece band which infuses reggae, soul and South American rhythms with a blend of conscious vocals, spoken word, traditional Native songs and hip-hop sure to get your booty shaking.
Eastside Cultural Center
2277 International Blvd @ 23rd Avenue,
Oakland
$10-15 Sliding scale
All ages event!
No Drugs or Alcohol Allowed
Carter Camp: Remembering Wounded Knee
Ah-ho My Relations, each year with the changing of the season I post this rememberance of Wounded Knee 73. I wrote it a few years ago when some of our brave people had walked to Yellowstone to stop the slaughter of our Buffalo relations. When I did I was surprised at the response from people who were too young to remember WK73 and I was pleased that some old WK vets wrote to me afterwards. So each year on this date I post the short story again and invite you-all to send it around or use as you will. As you do I ask you to remember that our reasons for going to Wounded Knee still exist and that means the need for struggle and resistance also still exist. Our land and sacred sites are threatened as never before even our sacred Mother herself is faced with unnatural warming caused by extreme greed.
In some areas of conflict between our people and those we signed treaties with, it is best to negotiate or "work within the system" but, because our struggle is one of survival, there are also times when a warrior must stand fast even at the risk of one's life. I believed that in 1973 when I was thirty and I believe it today in my sixties. But Wounded Knee 73 was really not about the fight to me, it was about the strong statement that our traditional way of living in this world is not about to disappear and our people are not a "vanishing race" as wasicu education would have you believe. As time has passed and I see so many of our young people taking part in a traditional way of living and believing I know our fight was worth it and those we lost for our movement died worthy deaths. Carter Camp 2007
"Remembering Wounded Knee 1973"
Ah-ho My Relations,
Today is heavy with prayer and reminisces for me. Not only are those who walk for the Yellowstone Buffalo reaching their destination, today is the anniversary of the night when, at the direction of the Oglala Chiefs, I went with a special squad of warriors to liberate Wounded Knee in advance of the main AIM caravan. For security reasons the people had been told everyone was going to a meeting/wacipi in Porcupine, the road goes through Wounded Knee. When the People arrived at the Trading Post we had already set up a perimeter, taken eleven hostages, run the
That night we had no idea what fate awaited us. It was a cold night with not much moonlight and I clearly remember the nervous anticipation I felt as we drove the back-way from Oglala into Wounded Knee. The Chiefs had tasked me with a mission and we were sworn to succeed, of that I was sure, but I couldn't help wondering if we\n were prepared. The FBI, BIA and Marshalls had fortified Pine Ridge with machine gun bunkers and A.P.C.s with M-60's. They had unleashed the goon squad on the people and a reign of terror had begun, we knew we had to fight but we could not fight on wasicu terms. We were lightly armed and dependent on the weapons and ammo inside the Wounded Knee trading post, I worried that we would not get to them before the shooting started. As we stared silently into the darkness driving into the hamlet I tried to forsee what opposition we would encounter and how to neutralize it... We were approaching a sacred place and each of us knew it. We could feel it deep inside. As a warrior leading warriors I humbly prayed to Wakonda for the lives of all and the wisdom to do things right. Never before or since have I offered my tobacco with such a plea or put on my feathers with such purpose. It was the birth of the Independent\n Oglala Nation. Things went well for us that night, we accomplished our task without loss of life. Then, in the cold darkness as we waited for Dennis and Russ to bring in the caravan (or for the fight to start), I stood on the bank of the shallow ravine where our people had been murdered by Custers' 7th Cavalry. There I prayed for the defenseless ones, torn apart by Hotchkiss cannon and trampled under hooves of steel by drunken wasicu. I could feel the touch of their spirits as I eased quietly into the gully and stood silently... waiting for my future, touching my past.",1]
);
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B.I.A. cops out of town, cut most phone lines, and began 73 days of the best, most free time of my life. The honor of being chosen to go first still lives strong in my heart.
That night we had no idea what fate awaited us. It was a cold night with not much moonlight and I clearly remember the nervous anticipation I felt as we drove the back-way from Oglala into Wounded Knee. The Chiefs had tasked me with a mission and we were sworn to succeed, of that I was sure, but I couldn't help wondering if we were prepared. The FBI, BIA and Marshalls had fortified Pine Ridge with machine gun bunkers and A.P.C.s with M-60's. They had unleashed the goon squad on the people and a reign of terror had begun, we knew we had to fight but we could not fight on wasicu terms. We were lightly armed and dependent on the weapons and ammo inside the Wounded Knee trading post, I worried that we would not get to them before the shooting started.
As we stared silently into the darkness driving into the hamlet I tried to forsee what opposition we would encounter and how to neutralize it... We were approaching a sacred place and each of us knew it. We could feel it deep inside. As a warrior leading warriors I humbly prayed to Wakonda for the lives of all and the wisdom to do things right. Never before or since have I offered my tobacco with such a plea or put on my feathers with such purpose. It was the birth of the Independent Oglala Nation.
Things went well for us that night, we accomplished our task without loss of life. Then, in the cold darkness as we waited for Dennis and Russ to bring in the caravan (or for the fight to start), I stood on the bank of the shallow ravine where our people had been murdered by Custers' 7th Cavalry. There I prayed for the defenseless ones, torn apart by Hotchkiss cannon and trampled under hooves of steel by drunken wasicu. I could feel the touch of their spirits as I eased quietly into the gully and stood silently... waiting for my future, touching my past.
Finally, I bent over and picked a sprig of sage - whose ancestors in 1890 had been nourished by the blood of Red babies, ripped from their mothers dying grasp and bayonetted by the evil ones - As I washed myself with that sacred herb I became cold in my determination and cleansed of fear. I looked for Big Foot and YellowBird in the\n darkness and I said aloud --- "We are back my relations, we are home". Hoka-Hey Carter Camp- Ponca Nation AIM FREE LEONARD PELTIER!!! NOW!!! The Battle of Wounded Knee 1973 Resistance Stories of Lakota People by Debbie Lang January 16, 2000 In the spring of 1973, hundreds of Indian people and their supporters occupied the village of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. They demanded an end to the U.S.-government-backed murder and intimidation of American Indian Movement (AIM) supporters and "traditionals" on the reservation. And they demanded that treaties signed by the U.S. government be honored that gave the Lakota (also known as the Sioux) the right to self-rule and to the land surrounding the Black Hills. Federal authorities surrounded them with an army of over 300--which included the U.S. Army, FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agents, U.S. Marshals and state police. The Indians refused to back down. They used weapons to defend themselves and held off the government forces for 73 days. The courage and militancy of the fighters at Wounded Knee grabbed the attention of people all over the world and helped build powerful support for the struggle of Native peoples. Wounded Knee--the site of the massacre of 300 Sioux men, women and children in 1890--became a symbol of Indian struggle and resistance. After this siege, the U.S. government unleashed an intense, murderous repression against the people of Pine Ridge. And AIM activists, including Leonard Peltier, came from around the ",1]
);
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Finally, I bent over and picked a sprig of sage - whose ancestors in 1890 had been nourished by the blood of Red babies, ripped from their mothers dying grasp and bayonetted by the evil ones - As I washed myself with that sacred herb I became cold in my determination and cleansed of fear. I looked for Big Foot and YellowBird in the darkness and I said aloud ---
"We are back my relations, we are home". Hoka-Hey
Carter Camp- Ponca Nation AIM
FREE LEONARD PELTIER!!! NOW!!!
The Battle of Wounded Knee 1973
Resistance Stories of Lakota People
by Debbie Lang
January 16, 2000
In the spring of 1973, hundreds of Indian people and their supporters occupied the village of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. They demanded an end to the U.S.-government-backed murder and intimidation of American Indian Movement (AIM) supporters and "traditionals" on the reservation. And they demanded that treaties signed by the U.S. government be honored that gave the Lakota (also known as the Sioux) the right to self-rule and to the land surrounding the Black Hills.
Federal authorities surrounded them with an army of over 300--which included the U.S. Army, FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agents, U.S. Marshals and state police. The Indians refused to back down. They used weapons to defend themselves and held off the government forces for 73 days. The courage and militancy of the fighters at Wounded Knee grabbed the attention of people all over the world and helped build powerful support for the struggle of Native peoples. Wounded Knee--the site of the massacre of 300 Sioux men, women and children in 1890--became a symbol of Indian struggle and resistance.
After this siege, the U.S. government unleashed an intense, murderous repression against the people of Pine Ridge. And AIM activists, including Leonard Peltier, came from around the
In 1977 Leonard Peltier\n was framed-up for the murder of two FBI agents and railroaded into prison-- where he has now spent 23 hard years. He is respected around the world as a voice for Native people and an inspiring political prisoner who refuses to be broken. November 1999 was Leonard Peltier Freedom Month. Thousands of people traveled to Washington, DC to demand freedom for Leonard Peltier--including people who took part in the Wounded Knee occupation and the Pine Ridge struggle. This article is based on conversations RW reporter Debbie Lang had with these veteran fighters. "In our family stories we have stories of what happened to our people. I have a grandma. Her name was Dora Hi White Man. She survived the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. As a little child, four, five, or six years old, I remember my grandma Dora. So I'm very fortunate to know a survivor of the 1890 massacre. And today you\n might think 1890 was long, long, long ago. But it's just recent, because I knew my grandma and my grandma ran from that massacre. "I live in Oglala. When Wounded Knee 1973 was going on I was a little girl. I looked that way and the whole sky was pink (from the flares being shot up by the government). To me Wounded Knee was just right over the hill there. I was like, Oh right on! Cool! Keep on doing that, man! I was really happy. Little did I know that my nation was trying to make war with one of the big power nations of the world. I was just proud of them. And ever since Wounded Knee I've always been real happy to be an Indian and I'm proud of the fact that you mess with us, we'll mess right back." Arlette Loud Hawk, Lakota, resident",1]
);
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U.S. to help organize and defend the people of Pine Ridge.
In 1977 Leonard Peltier was framed-up for the murder of two FBI agents and railroaded into prison-- where he has now spent 23 hard years. He is respected around the world as a voice for Native people and an inspiring political prisoner who refuses to be broken.
November 1999 was Leonard Peltier Freedom Month. Thousands of people traveled to Washington, DC to demand freedom for Leonard Peltier--including people who took part in the Wounded Knee occupation and the Pine Ridge struggle. This article is based on conversations RW reporter Debbie Lang had with these veteran fighters.
"In our family stories we have stories of what happened to our people. I have a grandma. Her name was Dora Hi White Man. She survived the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. As a little child, four, five, or six years old, I remember my grandma Dora. So I'm very fortunate to know a survivor of the 1890 massacre. And today you might think 1890 was long, long, long ago. But it's just recent, because I knew my grandma and my grandma ran from that massacre.
"I live in Oglala. When Wounded Knee 1973 was going on I was a little girl. I looked that way and the whole sky was pink (from the flares being shot up by the government). To me Wounded Knee was just right over the hill there. I was like, Oh right on! Cool! Keep on doing that, man! I was really happy. Little did I know that my nation was trying to make war with one of the big power nations of the world. I was just proud of them. And ever since Wounded Knee I've always been real happy to be an Indian and I'm proud of the fact that you mess with us, we'll mess right back."
Arlette Loud Hawk, Lakota, resident
of Pine Ridge Indian reservation In the 1960s, in the midst of the\n Black liberation movement and the mass upsurge against the Vietnam War, a great movement of resistance rose up among the Native peoples in the U.S. AIM drew forward a whole new generation of Indian youth to fight the powers. They helped organize a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay; occupations of Mt. Rushmore; a Thanksgiving "Day of Mourning" held at Plymouth Rock; and the Trail of Broken Treaties caravan to Washington, D.C.--which ended with the occupation of the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) building. AIM member Carter Camp told me: "People were waiting for us to appear on the scene and for some Indians to stand up and say that we're not going to take this shit no more. We've lived under this oppression for so many years. We're going to fight back now. The American Indian Movement is the force that stood for the people as a warrior society and said we're no longer going to allow you to roll over our people, to take our land, to\n pave over our reservations and dam up our rivers." The Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota has a lot of valuable natural resources including coal, uranium and an aquifer (an underground water reserve) with millions of gallons of clean water. In 1868, after losing in battle against the Sioux, the U.S. government negotiated the Fort Laramie Treaty. Then, right after this, they began breaking the treaty in order to steal Indian land and resources. The U.S. government and Christian missionaries tried to force the Lakota to assimilate into U.S. society. Children were stolen and forced into boarding schools run by Christians. Lakota language, culture and religious ceremonies were outlawed. By the 1970s, the Lakota had lost two-thirds of their land and the government had plans to steal more--especially in order to get uranium for their nuclear weapons production. In February 1972 Raymond Yellow Thunder was beaten to death by two white men in Gordon,\n Nebraska. Attacks on Indian people by white racists and the police were common around the reservation, and the white people who committed these crimes were almost never punished. This time, AIM led a caravan of 200 cars to Gordon and forced the authorities to file serious charges against the murderers. AIM's actions had an electrifying effect on the reservation. Rosaline Jumping Bull, who grew up on the res, told me: ",1]
);
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of Pine Ridge Indian reservation
In the 1960s, in the midst of the Black liberation movement and the mass upsurge against the Vietnam War, a great movement of resistance rose up among the Native peoples in the U.S. AIM drew forward a whole new generation of Indian youth to fight the powers. They helped organize a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay; occupations of Mt. Rushmore; a Thanksgiving "Day of Mourning" held at Plymouth Rock; and the Trail of Broken Treaties caravan to Washington, D.C.--which ended with the occupation of the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) building.
AIM member Carter Camp told me: "People were waiting for us to appear on the scene and for some Indians to stand up and say that we're not going to take this shit no more. We've lived under this oppression for so many years. We're going to fight back now. The American Indian Movement is the force that stood for the people as a warrior society and said we're no longer going to allow you to roll over our people, to take our land, to pave over our reservations and dam up our rivers."
The Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota has a lot of valuable natural resources including coal, uranium and an aquifer (an underground water reserve) with millions of gallons of clean water. In 1868, after losing in battle against the Sioux, the U.S. government negotiated the Fort Laramie Treaty. Then, right after this, they began breaking the treaty in order to steal Indian land and resources. The U.S. government and Christian missionaries tried to force the Lakota to assimilate into U.S. society. Children were stolen and forced into boarding schools run by Christians. Lakota language, culture and religious ceremonies were outlawed. By the 1970s, the Lakota had lost two-thirds of their land and the government had plans to steal more--especially in order to get uranium for their nuclear weapons production.
In February 1972 Raymond Yellow Thunder was beaten to death by two white men in Gordon, Nebraska. Attacks on Indian people by white racists and the police were common around the reservation, and the white people who committed these crimes were almost never punished. This time, AIM led a caravan of 200 cars to Gordon and forced the authorities to file serious charges against the murderers. AIM's actions had an electrifying effect on the reservation. Rosaline Jumping Bull, who grew up on the res, told me:
"My dad worked for the BIA. He was on the credit board. One time he came home and said, `You know, a strange thing happened today. Some real strange looking Indian boys were at the BIA building. They had long hair. They said they call themselves A-I-M.' We weren't allowed to have long hair so we didn't know what a long hair was. I said, this I've got to see. And that's when they killed my uncle Raymond Yellow Thunder at Gordon. Mom said, `Don't go over there and get in trouble. Don't you try and go over there. You're always doing things wrong.' So\n I sneaked over there. I rushed over there. The TV and media was there. I was busy hiding because I didn't want my folks to see me. But I wanted to join AIM's march. Oh, it was fun, it was really fun. I didn't know we could fight back, you know? I was taught not to fight back, to obey the white people cause I'll get punished. That's what my folks always told me. My grandmother did, too. Then I took my mom and she was right up there with them." Arlette Loud Hawk was a young teenager at the time and I asked her what she remembered. She said: "I remember everything graphically, vividly, with such clarity. One of the reasons why Wounded Knee 1973 stands out in my memories is because of my cousin, Wesley Bad Heart Bull. Wesley Bad Heart Bull had gotten killed in a nearby town called Buffalo Gap. My mother's maiden name is Stella Bad Heart Bull and that was her brother's son who had been killed by white people. Before that I had a cousin that was named Lesley\n Bandley. He was in the United States Army. He was walking along the side of the road and some white boys just came and ran over him and killed him. And there was no justice for Lesley Bandley. And there is no justice for Wesley Bad Heart Bull. "My mom and my dad, they knew Dennis Banks and they knew Russell Means who were both with AIM. My uncle was the vice president of the Oglala Sioux tribe. His name was Dave Long. He always came over to visit my parents. When my cousin died I could hear my uncle telling my mom, `Stella, you'd better call in AIM."' ",1]
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"My dad worked for the BIA. He was on the credit board. One time he came home and said, `You know, a strange thing happened today. Some real strange looking Indian boys were at the BIA building. They had long hair. They said they call themselves A-I-M.' We weren't allowed to have long hair so we didn't know what a long hair was. I said, this I've got to see. And that's when they killed my uncle Raymond Yellow Thunder at Gordon. Mom said, `Don't go over there and get in trouble. Don't you try and go over there. You're always doing things wrong.' So I sneaked over there. I rushed over there. The TV and media was there. I was busy hiding because I didn't want my folks to see me. But I wanted to join AIM's march. Oh, it was fun, it was really fun. I didn't know we could fight back, you know? I was taught not to fight back, to obey the white people cause I'll get punished. That's what my folks always told me. My grandmother did, too. Then I took my mom and she was right up there with them."
Arlette Loud Hawk was a young teenager at the time and I asked her what she remembered. She said: "I remember everything graphically, vividly, with such clarity. One of the reasons why Wounded Knee 1973 stands out in my memories is because of my cousin, Wesley Bad Heart Bull. Wesley Bad Heart Bull had gotten killed in a nearby town called Buffalo Gap. My mother's maiden name is Stella Bad Heart Bull and that was her brother's son who had been killed by white people. Before that I had a cousin that was named Lesley Bandley. He was in the United States Army. He was walking along the side of the road and some white boys just came and ran over him and killed him. And there was no justice for Lesley Bandley. And there is no justice for Wesley Bad Heart Bull.
"My mom and my dad, they knew Dennis Banks and they knew Russell Means who were both with AIM. My uncle was the vice president of the Oglala Sioux tribe. His name was Dave Long. He always came over to visit my parents. When my cousin died I could hear my uncle telling my mom, `Stella, you'd better call in AIM."'
On February 6, police attacked AIM members at a demonstration at the Custer courthouse where they demanded that the white man who murdered Wesley Bad Heart Bull be charged with murder. Arlette told me she watched the TV and saw "Indians had started fighting back with all those federal marshals" after police attacked AIM. In an attempt to counter the growing influence of AIM on the\n reservation, the U.S. government backed the election of Dick Wilson as tribal chief in 1972. Wilson was a super-patriotic reactionary who hated AIM. He used tribal funds to hire thugs called GOONs (Guardians of the Oglala Nation) and began a reign of terror on the reservation against AIM, the "traditionals" and their supporters. Hundreds of people were threatened, beaten, shot at or had their homes burned. Wilson was backed by BIA police and the FBI. Carter Camp described some of the military force the U.S. government positioned on the reservation to back up Wilson: "There was a force of the U.S. Marshals Service there called Special Operations Group. These people were not your regular law enforcement that you might see in a city with a suit and tie on, but they wore combat fatigues and carried M16s. They drove around in humvees and jeeps and they had APCs. They had helicopters. And wherever Indian people gathered, it didn't matter if it was a wedding or a\n funeral, they came out in force. Then they started telling the people that they couldn't gather in groups of larger than four for any reason. Our people were living under this oppression and they just couldn't stand it any longer. And they came to us in the American Indian Movement." Ellen Moves Camp told me how she and other members of the Oglala Civil Rights Organization turned to AIM for help: "We called the American Indian Movement because they were already in Rapid City. They were up in Washington. They went to the courthouse in Custer. So we invited them down. We wanted to talk to them. We were with a boy by the name of Pedro Bissonnette, who later got killed by the GOONs. We were talking to them and they said, "Join the civil rights movement with us. That's where we belong. We got them helping us." In a secret meeting, Ellen Moves Camp and other residents of Pine Ridge persuaded the Sioux elders to invite AIM to intervene. ",1]
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On February 6, police attacked AIM members at a demonstration at the Custer courthouse where they demanded that the white man who murdered Wesley Bad Heart Bull be charged with murder. Arlette told me she watched the TV and saw "Indians had started fighting back with all those federal marshals" after police attacked AIM.
In an attempt to counter the growing influence of AIM on the reservation, the U.S. government backed the election of Dick Wilson as tribal chief in 1972. Wilson was a super-patriotic reactionary who hated AIM. He used tribal funds to hire thugs called GOONs (Guardians of the Oglala Nation) and began a reign of terror on the reservation against AIM, the "traditionals" and their supporters. Hundreds of people were threatened, beaten, shot at or had their homes burned. Wilson was backed by BIA police and the FBI. Carter Camp described some of the military force the U.S. government positioned on the reservation to back up Wilson:
"There was a force of the U.S. Marshals Service there called Special Operations Group. These people were not your regular law enforcement that you might see in a city with a suit and tie on, but they wore combat fatigues and carried M16s. They drove around in humvees and jeeps and they had APCs. They had helicopters. And wherever Indian people gathered, it didn't matter if it was a wedding or a funeral, they came out in force. Then they started telling the people that they couldn't gather in groups of larger than four for any reason. Our people were living under this oppression and they just couldn't stand it any longer. And they came to us in the American Indian Movement."
Ellen Moves Camp told me how she and other members of the Oglala Civil Rights Organization turned to AIM for help: "We called the American Indian Movement because they were already in Rapid City. They were up in Washington. They went to the courthouse in Custer. So we invited them down. We wanted to talk to them. We were with a boy by the name of Pedro Bissonnette, who later got killed by the GOONs. We were talking to them and they said, "Join the civil rights movement with us. That's where we belong. We got them helping us." In a secret meeting, Ellen Moves Camp and other residents of Pine Ridge persuaded the Sioux elders to invite AIM to intervene.
"The best, most\n free time of my life" "For security reasons the people had been told everyone was going to a meeting/wacipi in Porcupine. The road goes through Wounded Knee. When the People arrived at the Trading Post we had already set up a perimeter, taken eleven hostages, run the BIA cops out of town, cut most phone lines, and began 73 days of the best, most free time of my life. The honor of being chosen to go first lives strong in my heart. That night we had no idea what fate awaited us. It was a cold night with not much moonlight, and I clearly remember the nervous anticipation I felt as we drove the back-way from Oglala into Wounded Knee...We were lightly armed and dependent on the weapons and ammo in the Wounded Knee trading post. I worried that we would not get to them before the shooting started... "We were approaching a sacred place and each of us knew it. We could feel it deep inside. As a warrior leading warriors I humbly prayed to\n Wakonda for the lives of all and the wisdom to do things right. Never before or since have I offered my tobacco with such a plea or put on my feathers with such purpose. It was the birth of the Independent Oglala Nation. Things went well for us that night, we accomplished our task without loss of life. Then, in the cold darkness as we waited for the caravan (or for the fight to start), I stood on the bank of the shallow ravine where our people had been murdered by Custer's 7th Cavalry. There I prayed for the defenseless ones, torn apart by Hotchkiss cannon and trampled under hooves of steel by drunken wasichu (whites). I could feel the touch of their spirits as I eased quietly into the gully and stood silently, waiting for my future, touching my past. Finally, I bent over and picked a sprig of sage--whose ancestors in 1890 had been nourished by the blood of Red babies, ripped from their mothers' dying grasp and bayoneted by the evil ones. As I washed myself with that\n sacred herb I became cold in my determination and cleansed of fear. I looked for Big Foot and YellowBird in the darkness and I said aloud, `We are back, my relations, we are home."' ",1]
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"The best, most free time of my life"
"For security reasons the people had been told everyone was going to a meeting/wacipi in Porcupine. The road goes through Wounded Knee. When the People arrived at the Trading Post we had already set up a perimeter, taken eleven hostages, run the BIA cops out of town, cut most phone lines, and began 73 days of the best, most free time of my life. The honor of being chosen to go first lives strong in my heart. That night we had no idea what fate awaited us. It was a cold night with not much moonlight, and I clearly remember the nervous anticipation I felt as we drove the back-way from Oglala into Wounded Knee...We were lightly armed and dependent on the weapons and ammo in the Wounded Knee trading post. I worried that we would not get to them before the shooting started...
"We were approaching a sacred place and each of us knew it. We could feel it deep inside. As a warrior leading warriors I humbly prayed to Wakonda for the lives of all and the wisdom to do things right. Never before or since have I offered my tobacco with such a plea or put on my feathers with such purpose. It was the birth of the Independent Oglala Nation. Things went well for us that night, we accomplished our task without loss of life. Then, in the cold darkness as we waited for the caravan (or for the fight to start), I stood on the bank of the shallow ravine where our people had been murdered by Custer's 7th Cavalry. There I prayed for the defenseless ones, torn apart by Hotchkiss cannon and trampled under hooves of steel by drunken wasichu (whites). I could feel the touch of their spirits as I eased quietly into the gully and stood silently, waiting for my future, touching my past. Finally, I bent over and picked a sprig of sage--whose ancestors in 1890 had been nourished by the blood of Red babies, ripped from their mothers' dying grasp and bayoneted by the evil ones. As I washed myself with that sacred herb I became cold in my determination and cleansed of fear. I looked for Big Foot and YellowBird in the darkness and I said aloud, `We are back, my relations, we are home."'
From "Remembering Wounded Knee," written by Carter Camp Carter Camp says they chose to make a stand at Wounded Knee because of its history--it had special meaning to Native people and was well known to millions of others from the powerful book written by Dee Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. He said: "On the tribal headquarters they put machine gun emplacements on every corner of the roof with big sand bags and they had these .50 caliber machine guns. They thought we were going to attack the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Pine Ridge and the tribal government. But we knew we couldn't. We were too lightly armed. And when we agreed to help the Oglala Civil\n Rights Committee and the traditionals do something we had to find a place where we could make a stand without getting totally wiped out too quickly. We thought we might get wiped out but we wanted a place where people would know about it." On February 27, a caravan of 200 cars of Indians and their supporters wound its way through the darkness towards the village of Wounded Knee. The advanced squad had already liberated it. Carter described how it happened: "First, we captured the BIA police and ran them out of town with no radios or anything and no guns and let them go. Then we took 12 hostages and put them in a safe place. After we had held the place for maybe two hours the AIM leadership came with a caravan of about 400 people. We had set up perimeters around Wounded Knee and by now the FBI and these people are understanding that they've been outflanked because now we're there, we're ensconced and we're starting to build our bunkers. And now they know if\n they come in they're putting their own lives at risk, not just our lives. We're in the defensive position, we're making bunkers and we've got the high ground. And so they're nonplused. They actually don't know what to do. So they backed off a while, which gave us time to get our people situated and that sort of thing and it became a 73-day siege." ",1]
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From "Remembering Wounded Knee," written by Carter Camp
Carter Camp says they chose to make a stand at Wounded Knee because of its history--it had special meaning to Native people and was well known to millions of others from the powerful book written by Dee Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. He said:
"On the tribal headquarters they put machine gun emplacements on every corner of the roof with big sand bags and they had these .50 caliber machine guns. They thought we were going to attack the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Pine Ridge and the tribal government. But we knew we couldn't. We were too lightly armed. And when we agreed to help the Oglala Civil Rights Committee and the traditionals do something we had to find a place where we could make a stand without getting totally wiped out too quickly. We thought we might get wiped out but we wanted a place where people would know about it." On February 27, a caravan of 200 cars of Indians and their supporters wound its way through the darkness towards the village of Wounded Knee. The advanced squad had already liberated it. Carter described how it happened:
"First, we captured the BIA police and ran them out of town with no radios or anything and no guns and let them go. Then we took 12 hostages and put them in a safe place. After we had held the place for maybe two hours the AIM leadership came with a caravan of about 400 people. We had set up perimeters around Wounded Knee and by now the FBI and these people are understanding that they've been outflanked because now we're there, we're ensconced and we're starting to build our bunkers. And now they know if they come in they're putting their own lives at risk, not just our lives. We're in the defensive position, we're making bunkers and we've got the high ground. And so they're nonplused. They actually don't know what to do. So they backed off a while, which gave us time to get our people situated and that sort of thing and it became a 73-day siege."
Everyone I talked with looked back on the armed siege of Wounded Knee as one of the best times of their lives. Russell Loud Hawk helped on the military perimeter around Wounded Knee. He smiled broadly when he said: "AIM came in to straighten out the reservation because before that the traditional people were catching hell from the U.S. government. That's why I was pretty glad that they came. So I joined them. I was telling one of these ladies here, remember all the crazy things we did? You people were in, us guys were surrounded. We pulled some crazy things but I think we outdid the FBI at that time." \n Carter Camp said: "We were fighting every day and in danger every day. But it was a lot of fun. During the lulls in the fighting, or during the time when there was not actual danger, it was just a wonderful time being together. People would break out the drum every night and we'd sing together and different tribes would sing their songs. We had Indian ceremonies that are very special to us, but we don't bring 'em out in public. But now we could have 'em right there where everybody could participate. We don't have to hide them around anymore. We had the elders, medicine men, women and children--all in Wounded Knee with us. "We were a strong community. We all had work to do and fighting to do. But at the same time, we could live together and do the things that we wanted to do, say the things that we want to say, and understand this world the way that Indian people understand it. So it made us feel good. We just really were able to come together in a unity\n that you don't hardly find in Indian Country. We're different tribes and we don't always get around to each other like that. I mean literally thousands of Indian people were coming from around the country. At any one time we might only have 700 or 800 people in Wounded Knee, but people were coming and leaving. Then, of course, a group of AIM people and the traditionalists stayed there throughout the thing." ",1]
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Everyone I talked with looked back on the armed siege of Wounded Knee as one of the best times of their lives. Russell Loud Hawk helped on the military perimeter around Wounded Knee. He smiled broadly when he said: "AIM came in to straighten out the reservation because before that the traditional people were catching hell from the U.S. government. That's why I was pretty glad that they came. So I joined them. I was telling one of these ladies here, remember all the crazy things we did? You people were in, us guys were surrounded. We pulled some crazy things but I think we outdid the FBI at that time."
Carter Camp said: "We were fighting every day and in danger every day. But it was a lot of fun. During the lulls in the fighting, or during the time when there was not actual danger, it was just a wonderful time being together. People would break out the drum every night and we'd sing together and different tribes would sing their songs. We had Indian ceremonies that are very special to us, but we don't bring 'em out in public. But now we could have 'em right there where everybody could participate. We don't have to hide them around anymore. We had the elders, medicine men, women and children--all in Wounded Knee with us.
"We were a strong community. We all had work to do and fighting to do. But at the same time, we could live together and do the things that we wanted to do, say the things that we want to say, and understand this world the way that Indian people understand it. So it made us feel good. We just really were able to come together in a unity that you don't hardly find in Indian Country. We're different tribes and we don't always get around to each other like that. I mean literally thousands of Indian people were coming from around the country. At any one time we might only have 700 or 800 people in Wounded Knee, but people were coming and leaving. Then, of course, a group of AIM people and the traditionalists stayed there throughout the thing."
Ellen Moves Camp remembered: "We had meetings in the morning. We had prayer in the morning. We'd all go and our negotiations would start. And then we had sweats every night...When they'd start firing on us everybody would just sit and wait to see what was going to happen. Once I went outside and I was standing there watching that shooting going on, those flares coming in... It was bad and yet everybody seemed to be happy and everybody worked together. There was no fussing or anything. Everybody was together there. It was a good feeling." Lasting\n Legacy On March 11, AIM and the Oglala Sioux elders declared the rebirth of the Independent Oglala Nation and demanded discussion with U.S. government representatives over the terms of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. In response, the government brought in reinforcements to stop food, supplies and new recruits from reaching Wounded Knee. The phone lines were cut. The major media left. The government announced dozens of indictments against the people inside. On May 4, the White House sent a letter promising their representatives would meet with the Sioux chiefs within weeks to talk about the Fort Laramie Treaty--on the condition that the Indians lay down their arms. The Indians agreed to end their occupation. The government never investigated the BIA as they had promised. Richard Wilson and his murdering GOONs were never prosecuted. Instead a new reign of terror was carried out against the Native people of Pine Ridge. And almost 700 indictments were\n handed down by federal authorities in connection with the Wounded Knee occupation. Ellen Moves Camp was one of the Indian negotiators. She described the government's attitude: "People would come in from Washington and they'd lie to us. They didn't do anything they said they were going to do. We tried to negotiate with them but they just lied to us all the way through. They promised to negotiate the treaties and follow the treaties and they never did do it." ",1]
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Ellen Moves Camp remembered: "We had meetings in the morning. We had prayer in the morning. We'd all go and our negotiations would start. And then we had sweats every night...When they'd start firing on us everybody would just sit and wait to see what was going to happen. Once I went outside and I was standing there watching that shooting going on, those flares coming in... It was bad and yet everybody seemed to be happy and everybody worked together. There was no fussing or anything. Everybody was together there. It was a good feeling."
Lasting Legacy
On March 11, AIM and the Oglala Sioux elders declared the rebirth of the Independent Oglala Nation and demanded discussion with U.S. government representatives over the terms of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. In response, the government brought in reinforcements to stop food, supplies and new recruits from reaching Wounded Knee. The phone lines were cut. The major media left. The government announced dozens of indictments against the people inside. On May 4, the White House sent a letter promising their representatives would meet with the Sioux chiefs within weeks to talk about the Fort Laramie Treaty--on the condition that the Indians lay down their arms. The Indians agreed to end their occupation.
The government never investigated the BIA as they had promised. Richard Wilson and his murdering GOONs were never prosecuted. Instead a new reign of terror was carried out against the Native people of Pine Ridge. And almost 700 indictments were handed down by federal authorities in connection with the Wounded Knee occupation.
Ellen Moves Camp was one of the Indian negotiators. She described the government's attitude: "People would come in from Washington and they'd lie to us. They didn't do anything they said they were going to do. We tried to negotiate with them but they just lied to us all the way through. They promised to negotiate the treaties and follow the treaties and they never did do it."
Millions of people were inspired by Wounded Knee. Hundreds risked their lives and hiked many miles over the hills to join the people inside or to bring food and medical supplies. Doctors and nurses came to help in the Wounded Knee clinic. Telegrams of support came in from all over the world. Tens of thousands of people held support demonstrations in many cities across the U.S. and around the world. The broad support for the Indians at Wounded Knee made it difficult for the government to launch\n a full-scale military assault. Carter Camp told me: "Wounded Knee galvanized Indian Country, all over. During those 73 days we were in there, from Seattle to Washington, D.C. and from New York to Florida, Indian people were trashing BIA offices, protesting at the Indian health services, telling their own tribal governments to stop the leases with the uranium companies and the coal digging and that sort of thing. Indian people were just making themselves known. "Wounded Knee and the rise of the American Indian Movement and the struggle of the late '60s and '70s just changed everything about the way Indian people think of themselves. They started thinking in terms of the future, not of being exterminated or maybe this is our last generation that cares about being Indian. It just invigorated the entire Indian nations...They started having pride in where they came from and what they were and who they were. And that wasn't done in America for many,\n many generations. It also made the government understand that once more there was a line in the sand that they couldn't push us beyond. We had taken all we could absorb and that if they push us just too damn far then we'll fight." This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Onlinerwor.orgWrite: Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: 773-227-4497",1]
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Millions of people were inspired by Wounded Knee. Hundreds risked their lives and hiked many miles over the hills to join the people inside or to bring food and medical supplies. Doctors and nurses came to help in the Wounded Knee clinic. Telegrams of support came in from all over the world. Tens of thousands of people held support demonstrations in many cities across the U.S. and around the world. The broad support for the Indians at Wounded Knee made it difficult for the government to launch a full-scale military assault.
Carter Camp told me: "Wounded Knee galvanized Indian Country, all over. During those 73 days we were in there, from Seattle to Washington, D.C. and from New York to Florida, Indian people were trashing BIA offices, protesting at the Indian health services, telling their own tribal governments to stop the leases with the uranium companies and the coal digging and that sort of thing. Indian people were just making themselves known.
"Wounded Knee and the rise of the American Indian Movement and the struggle of the late '60s and '70s just changed everything about the way Indian people think of themselves. They started thinking in terms of the future, not of being exterminated or maybe this is our last generation that cares about being Indian. It just invigorated the entire Indian nations...They started having pride in where they came from and what they were and who they were. And that wasn't done in America for many, many generations. It also made the government understand that once more there was a line in the sand that they couldn't push us beyond. We had taken all we could absorb and that if they push us just too damn far then we'll fight."
This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Onlinerwor.orgWrite: Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: 773-227-4497
(The RW Online does not currently communicate via email.) \n\nTV dinner still cooling?Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV.\n \n\n \n __._,_.___\n \n \n \n \n Messages in this topic (1)\n \n \n \n Reply (via web post)\n \n \n Start a new topic \n \n \n \n \n Messages \n ",1]
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(The RW Online does not currently communicate via email.)
In some areas of conflict between our people and those we signed treaties with, it is best to negotiate or "work within the system" but, because our struggle is one of survival, there are also times when a warrior must stand fast even at the risk of one's life. I believed that in 1973 when I was thirty and I believe it today in my sixties. But Wounded Knee 73 was really not about the fight to me, it was about the strong statement that our traditional way of living in this world is not about to disappear and our people are not a "vanishing race" as wasicu education would have you believe. As time has passed and I see so many of our young people taking part in a traditional way of living and believing I know our fight was worth it and those we lost for our movement died worthy deaths. Carter Camp 2007
"Remembering Wounded Knee 1973"
Ah-ho My Relations,
Today is heavy with prayer and reminisces for me. Not only are those who walk for the Yellowstone Buffalo reaching their destination, today is the anniversary of the night when, at the direction of the Oglala Chiefs, I went with a special squad of warriors to liberate Wounded Knee in advance of the main AIM caravan. For security reasons the people had been told everyone was going to a meeting/wacipi in Porcupine, the road goes through Wounded Knee. When the People arrived at the Trading Post we had already set up a perimeter, taken eleven hostages, run the
That night we had no idea what fate awaited us. It was a cold night with not much moonlight and I clearly remember the nervous anticipation I felt as we drove the back-way from Oglala into Wounded Knee. The Chiefs had tasked me with a mission and we were sworn to succeed, of that I was sure, but I couldn't help wondering if we\n were prepared. The FBI, BIA and Marshalls had fortified Pine Ridge with machine gun bunkers and A.P.C.s with M-60's. They had unleashed the goon squad on the people and a reign of terror had begun, we knew we had to fight but we could not fight on wasicu terms. We were lightly armed and dependent on the weapons and ammo inside the Wounded Knee trading post, I worried that we would not get to them before the shooting started. As we stared silently into the darkness driving into the hamlet I tried to forsee what opposition we would encounter and how to neutralize it... We were approaching a sacred place and each of us knew it. We could feel it deep inside. As a warrior leading warriors I humbly prayed to Wakonda for the lives of all and the wisdom to do things right. Never before or since have I offered my tobacco with such a plea or put on my feathers with such purpose. It was the birth of the Independent\n Oglala Nation. Things went well for us that night, we accomplished our task without loss of life. Then, in the cold darkness as we waited for Dennis and Russ to bring in the caravan (or for the fight to start), I stood on the bank of the shallow ravine where our people had been murdered by Custers' 7th Cavalry. There I prayed for the defenseless ones, torn apart by Hotchkiss cannon and trampled under hooves of steel by drunken wasicu. I could feel the touch of their spirits as I eased quietly into the gully and stood silently... waiting for my future, touching my past.",1]
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B.I.A. cops out of town, cut most phone lines, and began 73 days of the best, most free time of my life. The honor of being chosen to go first still lives strong in my heart.
That night we had no idea what fate awaited us. It was a cold night with not much moonlight and I clearly remember the nervous anticipation I felt as we drove the back-way from Oglala into Wounded Knee. The Chiefs had tasked me with a mission and we were sworn to succeed, of that I was sure, but I couldn't help wondering if we were prepared. The FBI, BIA and Marshalls had fortified Pine Ridge with machine gun bunkers and A.P.C.s with M-60's. They had unleashed the goon squad on the people and a reign of terror had begun, we knew we had to fight but we could not fight on wasicu terms. We were lightly armed and dependent on the weapons and ammo inside the Wounded Knee trading post, I worried that we would not get to them before the shooting started.
As we stared silently into the darkness driving into the hamlet I tried to forsee what opposition we would encounter and how to neutralize it... We were approaching a sacred place and each of us knew it. We could feel it deep inside. As a warrior leading warriors I humbly prayed to Wakonda for the lives of all and the wisdom to do things right. Never before or since have I offered my tobacco with such a plea or put on my feathers with such purpose. It was the birth of the Independent Oglala Nation.
Things went well for us that night, we accomplished our task without loss of life. Then, in the cold darkness as we waited for Dennis and Russ to bring in the caravan (or for the fight to start), I stood on the bank of the shallow ravine where our people had been murdered by Custers' 7th Cavalry. There I prayed for the defenseless ones, torn apart by Hotchkiss cannon and trampled under hooves of steel by drunken wasicu. I could feel the touch of their spirits as I eased quietly into the gully and stood silently... waiting for my future, touching my past.
Finally, I bent over and picked a sprig of sage - whose ancestors in 1890 had been nourished by the blood of Red babies, ripped from their mothers dying grasp and bayonetted by the evil ones - As I washed myself with that sacred herb I became cold in my determination and cleansed of fear. I looked for Big Foot and YellowBird in the\n darkness and I said aloud --- "We are back my relations, we are home". Hoka-Hey Carter Camp- Ponca Nation AIM FREE LEONARD PELTIER!!! NOW!!! The Battle of Wounded Knee 1973 Resistance Stories of Lakota People by Debbie Lang January 16, 2000 In the spring of 1973, hundreds of Indian people and their supporters occupied the village of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. They demanded an end to the U.S.-government-backed murder and intimidation of American Indian Movement (AIM) supporters and "traditionals" on the reservation. And they demanded that treaties signed by the U.S. government be honored that gave the Lakota (also known as the Sioux) the right to self-rule and to the land surrounding the Black Hills. Federal authorities surrounded them with an army of over 300--which included the U.S. Army, FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agents, U.S. Marshals and state police. The Indians refused to back down. They used weapons to defend themselves and held off the government forces for 73 days. The courage and militancy of the fighters at Wounded Knee grabbed the attention of people all over the world and helped build powerful support for the struggle of Native peoples. Wounded Knee--the site of the massacre of 300 Sioux men, women and children in 1890--became a symbol of Indian struggle and resistance. After this siege, the U.S. government unleashed an intense, murderous repression against the people of Pine Ridge. And AIM activists, including Leonard Peltier, came from around the ",1]
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Finally, I bent over and picked a sprig of sage - whose ancestors in 1890 had been nourished by the blood of Red babies, ripped from their mothers dying grasp and bayonetted by the evil ones - As I washed myself with that sacred herb I became cold in my determination and cleansed of fear. I looked for Big Foot and YellowBird in the darkness and I said aloud ---
"We are back my relations, we are home". Hoka-Hey
Carter Camp- Ponca Nation AIM
FREE LEONARD PELTIER!!! NOW!!!
The Battle of Wounded Knee 1973
Resistance Stories of Lakota People
by Debbie Lang
January 16, 2000
In the spring of 1973, hundreds of Indian people and their supporters occupied the village of Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. They demanded an end to the U.S.-government-backed murder and intimidation of American Indian Movement (AIM) supporters and "traditionals" on the reservation. And they demanded that treaties signed by the U.S. government be honored that gave the Lakota (also known as the Sioux) the right to self-rule and to the land surrounding the Black Hills.
Federal authorities surrounded them with an army of over 300--which included the U.S. Army, FBI and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agents, U.S. Marshals and state police. The Indians refused to back down. They used weapons to defend themselves and held off the government forces for 73 days. The courage and militancy of the fighters at Wounded Knee grabbed the attention of people all over the world and helped build powerful support for the struggle of Native peoples. Wounded Knee--the site of the massacre of 300 Sioux men, women and children in 1890--became a symbol of Indian struggle and resistance.
After this siege, the U.S. government unleashed an intense, murderous repression against the people of Pine Ridge. And AIM activists, including Leonard Peltier, came from around the
In 1977 Leonard Peltier\n was framed-up for the murder of two FBI agents and railroaded into prison-- where he has now spent 23 hard years. He is respected around the world as a voice for Native people and an inspiring political prisoner who refuses to be broken. November 1999 was Leonard Peltier Freedom Month. Thousands of people traveled to Washington, DC to demand freedom for Leonard Peltier--including people who took part in the Wounded Knee occupation and the Pine Ridge struggle. This article is based on conversations RW reporter Debbie Lang had with these veteran fighters. "In our family stories we have stories of what happened to our people. I have a grandma. Her name was Dora Hi White Man. She survived the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. As a little child, four, five, or six years old, I remember my grandma Dora. So I'm very fortunate to know a survivor of the 1890 massacre. And today you\n might think 1890 was long, long, long ago. But it's just recent, because I knew my grandma and my grandma ran from that massacre. "I live in Oglala. When Wounded Knee 1973 was going on I was a little girl. I looked that way and the whole sky was pink (from the flares being shot up by the government). To me Wounded Knee was just right over the hill there. I was like, Oh right on! Cool! Keep on doing that, man! I was really happy. Little did I know that my nation was trying to make war with one of the big power nations of the world. I was just proud of them. And ever since Wounded Knee I've always been real happy to be an Indian and I'm proud of the fact that you mess with us, we'll mess right back." Arlette Loud Hawk, Lakota, resident",1]
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U.S. to help organize and defend the people of Pine Ridge.
In 1977 Leonard Peltier was framed-up for the murder of two FBI agents and railroaded into prison-- where he has now spent 23 hard years. He is respected around the world as a voice for Native people and an inspiring political prisoner who refuses to be broken.
November 1999 was Leonard Peltier Freedom Month. Thousands of people traveled to Washington, DC to demand freedom for Leonard Peltier--including people who took part in the Wounded Knee occupation and the Pine Ridge struggle. This article is based on conversations RW reporter Debbie Lang had with these veteran fighters.
"In our family stories we have stories of what happened to our people. I have a grandma. Her name was Dora Hi White Man. She survived the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee. As a little child, four, five, or six years old, I remember my grandma Dora. So I'm very fortunate to know a survivor of the 1890 massacre. And today you might think 1890 was long, long, long ago. But it's just recent, because I knew my grandma and my grandma ran from that massacre.
"I live in Oglala. When Wounded Knee 1973 was going on I was a little girl. I looked that way and the whole sky was pink (from the flares being shot up by the government). To me Wounded Knee was just right over the hill there. I was like, Oh right on! Cool! Keep on doing that, man! I was really happy. Little did I know that my nation was trying to make war with one of the big power nations of the world. I was just proud of them. And ever since Wounded Knee I've always been real happy to be an Indian and I'm proud of the fact that you mess with us, we'll mess right back."
Arlette Loud Hawk, Lakota, resident
of Pine Ridge Indian reservation In the 1960s, in the midst of the\n Black liberation movement and the mass upsurge against the Vietnam War, a great movement of resistance rose up among the Native peoples in the U.S. AIM drew forward a whole new generation of Indian youth to fight the powers. They helped organize a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay; occupations of Mt. Rushmore; a Thanksgiving "Day of Mourning" held at Plymouth Rock; and the Trail of Broken Treaties caravan to Washington, D.C.--which ended with the occupation of the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) building. AIM member Carter Camp told me: "People were waiting for us to appear on the scene and for some Indians to stand up and say that we're not going to take this shit no more. We've lived under this oppression for so many years. We're going to fight back now. The American Indian Movement is the force that stood for the people as a warrior society and said we're no longer going to allow you to roll over our people, to take our land, to\n pave over our reservations and dam up our rivers." The Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota has a lot of valuable natural resources including coal, uranium and an aquifer (an underground water reserve) with millions of gallons of clean water. In 1868, after losing in battle against the Sioux, the U.S. government negotiated the Fort Laramie Treaty. Then, right after this, they began breaking the treaty in order to steal Indian land and resources. The U.S. government and Christian missionaries tried to force the Lakota to assimilate into U.S. society. Children were stolen and forced into boarding schools run by Christians. Lakota language, culture and religious ceremonies were outlawed. By the 1970s, the Lakota had lost two-thirds of their land and the government had plans to steal more--especially in order to get uranium for their nuclear weapons production. In February 1972 Raymond Yellow Thunder was beaten to death by two white men in Gordon,\n Nebraska. Attacks on Indian people by white racists and the police were common around the reservation, and the white people who committed these crimes were almost never punished. This time, AIM led a caravan of 200 cars to Gordon and forced the authorities to file serious charges against the murderers. AIM's actions had an electrifying effect on the reservation. Rosaline Jumping Bull, who grew up on the res, told me: ",1]
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of Pine Ridge Indian reservation
In the 1960s, in the midst of the Black liberation movement and the mass upsurge against the Vietnam War, a great movement of resistance rose up among the Native peoples in the U.S. AIM drew forward a whole new generation of Indian youth to fight the powers. They helped organize a 19-month occupation of Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay; occupations of Mt. Rushmore; a Thanksgiving "Day of Mourning" held at Plymouth Rock; and the Trail of Broken Treaties caravan to Washington, D.C.--which ended with the occupation of the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) building.
AIM member Carter Camp told me: "People were waiting for us to appear on the scene and for some Indians to stand up and say that we're not going to take this shit no more. We've lived under this oppression for so many years. We're going to fight back now. The American Indian Movement is the force that stood for the people as a warrior society and said we're no longer going to allow you to roll over our people, to take our land, to pave over our reservations and dam up our rivers."
The Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota has a lot of valuable natural resources including coal, uranium and an aquifer (an underground water reserve) with millions of gallons of clean water. In 1868, after losing in battle against the Sioux, the U.S. government negotiated the Fort Laramie Treaty. Then, right after this, they began breaking the treaty in order to steal Indian land and resources. The U.S. government and Christian missionaries tried to force the Lakota to assimilate into U.S. society. Children were stolen and forced into boarding schools run by Christians. Lakota language, culture and religious ceremonies were outlawed. By the 1970s, the Lakota had lost two-thirds of their land and the government had plans to steal more--especially in order to get uranium for their nuclear weapons production.
In February 1972 Raymond Yellow Thunder was beaten to death by two white men in Gordon, Nebraska. Attacks on Indian people by white racists and the police were common around the reservation, and the white people who committed these crimes were almost never punished. This time, AIM led a caravan of 200 cars to Gordon and forced the authorities to file serious charges against the murderers. AIM's actions had an electrifying effect on the reservation. Rosaline Jumping Bull, who grew up on the res, told me:
"My dad worked for the BIA. He was on the credit board. One time he came home and said, `You know, a strange thing happened today. Some real strange looking Indian boys were at the BIA building. They had long hair. They said they call themselves A-I-M.' We weren't allowed to have long hair so we didn't know what a long hair was. I said, this I've got to see. And that's when they killed my uncle Raymond Yellow Thunder at Gordon. Mom said, `Don't go over there and get in trouble. Don't you try and go over there. You're always doing things wrong.' So\n I sneaked over there. I rushed over there. The TV and media was there. I was busy hiding because I didn't want my folks to see me. But I wanted to join AIM's march. Oh, it was fun, it was really fun. I didn't know we could fight back, you know? I was taught not to fight back, to obey the white people cause I'll get punished. That's what my folks always told me. My grandmother did, too. Then I took my mom and she was right up there with them." Arlette Loud Hawk was a young teenager at the time and I asked her what she remembered. She said: "I remember everything graphically, vividly, with such clarity. One of the reasons why Wounded Knee 1973 stands out in my memories is because of my cousin, Wesley Bad Heart Bull. Wesley Bad Heart Bull had gotten killed in a nearby town called Buffalo Gap. My mother's maiden name is Stella Bad Heart Bull and that was her brother's son who had been killed by white people. Before that I had a cousin that was named Lesley\n Bandley. He was in the United States Army. He was walking along the side of the road and some white boys just came and ran over him and killed him. And there was no justice for Lesley Bandley. And there is no justice for Wesley Bad Heart Bull. "My mom and my dad, they knew Dennis Banks and they knew Russell Means who were both with AIM. My uncle was the vice president of the Oglala Sioux tribe. His name was Dave Long. He always came over to visit my parents. When my cousin died I could hear my uncle telling my mom, `Stella, you'd better call in AIM."' ",1]
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"My dad worked for the BIA. He was on the credit board. One time he came home and said, `You know, a strange thing happened today. Some real strange looking Indian boys were at the BIA building. They had long hair. They said they call themselves A-I-M.' We weren't allowed to have long hair so we didn't know what a long hair was. I said, this I've got to see. And that's when they killed my uncle Raymond Yellow Thunder at Gordon. Mom said, `Don't go over there and get in trouble. Don't you try and go over there. You're always doing things wrong.' So I sneaked over there. I rushed over there. The TV and media was there. I was busy hiding because I didn't want my folks to see me. But I wanted to join AIM's march. Oh, it was fun, it was really fun. I didn't know we could fight back, you know? I was taught not to fight back, to obey the white people cause I'll get punished. That's what my folks always told me. My grandmother did, too. Then I took my mom and she was right up there with them."
Arlette Loud Hawk was a young teenager at the time and I asked her what she remembered. She said: "I remember everything graphically, vividly, with such clarity. One of the reasons why Wounded Knee 1973 stands out in my memories is because of my cousin, Wesley Bad Heart Bull. Wesley Bad Heart Bull had gotten killed in a nearby town called Buffalo Gap. My mother's maiden name is Stella Bad Heart Bull and that was her brother's son who had been killed by white people. Before that I had a cousin that was named Lesley Bandley. He was in the United States Army. He was walking along the side of the road and some white boys just came and ran over him and killed him. And there was no justice for Lesley Bandley. And there is no justice for Wesley Bad Heart Bull.
"My mom and my dad, they knew Dennis Banks and they knew Russell Means who were both with AIM. My uncle was the vice president of the Oglala Sioux tribe. His name was Dave Long. He always came over to visit my parents. When my cousin died I could hear my uncle telling my mom, `Stella, you'd better call in AIM."'
On February 6, police attacked AIM members at a demonstration at the Custer courthouse where they demanded that the white man who murdered Wesley Bad Heart Bull be charged with murder. Arlette told me she watched the TV and saw "Indians had started fighting back with all those federal marshals" after police attacked AIM. In an attempt to counter the growing influence of AIM on the\n reservation, the U.S. government backed the election of Dick Wilson as tribal chief in 1972. Wilson was a super-patriotic reactionary who hated AIM. He used tribal funds to hire thugs called GOONs (Guardians of the Oglala Nation) and began a reign of terror on the reservation against AIM, the "traditionals" and their supporters. Hundreds of people were threatened, beaten, shot at or had their homes burned. Wilson was backed by BIA police and the FBI. Carter Camp described some of the military force the U.S. government positioned on the reservation to back up Wilson: "There was a force of the U.S. Marshals Service there called Special Operations Group. These people were not your regular law enforcement that you might see in a city with a suit and tie on, but they wore combat fatigues and carried M16s. They drove around in humvees and jeeps and they had APCs. They had helicopters. And wherever Indian people gathered, it didn't matter if it was a wedding or a\n funeral, they came out in force. Then they started telling the people that they couldn't gather in groups of larger than four for any reason. Our people were living under this oppression and they just couldn't stand it any longer. And they came to us in the American Indian Movement." Ellen Moves Camp told me how she and other members of the Oglala Civil Rights Organization turned to AIM for help: "We called the American Indian Movement because they were already in Rapid City. They were up in Washington. They went to the courthouse in Custer. So we invited them down. We wanted to talk to them. We were with a boy by the name of Pedro Bissonnette, who later got killed by the GOONs. We were talking to them and they said, "Join the civil rights movement with us. That's where we belong. We got them helping us." In a secret meeting, Ellen Moves Camp and other residents of Pine Ridge persuaded the Sioux elders to invite AIM to intervene. ",1]
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On February 6, police attacked AIM members at a demonstration at the Custer courthouse where they demanded that the white man who murdered Wesley Bad Heart Bull be charged with murder. Arlette told me she watched the TV and saw "Indians had started fighting back with all those federal marshals" after police attacked AIM.
In an attempt to counter the growing influence of AIM on the reservation, the U.S. government backed the election of Dick Wilson as tribal chief in 1972. Wilson was a super-patriotic reactionary who hated AIM. He used tribal funds to hire thugs called GOONs (Guardians of the Oglala Nation) and began a reign of terror on the reservation against AIM, the "traditionals" and their supporters. Hundreds of people were threatened, beaten, shot at or had their homes burned. Wilson was backed by BIA police and the FBI. Carter Camp described some of the military force the U.S. government positioned on the reservation to back up Wilson:
"There was a force of the U.S. Marshals Service there called Special Operations Group. These people were not your regular law enforcement that you might see in a city with a suit and tie on, but they wore combat fatigues and carried M16s. They drove around in humvees and jeeps and they had APCs. They had helicopters. And wherever Indian people gathered, it didn't matter if it was a wedding or a funeral, they came out in force. Then they started telling the people that they couldn't gather in groups of larger than four for any reason. Our people were living under this oppression and they just couldn't stand it any longer. And they came to us in the American Indian Movement."
Ellen Moves Camp told me how she and other members of the Oglala Civil Rights Organization turned to AIM for help: "We called the American Indian Movement because they were already in Rapid City. They were up in Washington. They went to the courthouse in Custer. So we invited them down. We wanted to talk to them. We were with a boy by the name of Pedro Bissonnette, who later got killed by the GOONs. We were talking to them and they said, "Join the civil rights movement with us. That's where we belong. We got them helping us." In a secret meeting, Ellen Moves Camp and other residents of Pine Ridge persuaded the Sioux elders to invite AIM to intervene.
"The best, most\n free time of my life" "For security reasons the people had been told everyone was going to a meeting/wacipi in Porcupine. The road goes through Wounded Knee. When the People arrived at the Trading Post we had already set up a perimeter, taken eleven hostages, run the BIA cops out of town, cut most phone lines, and began 73 days of the best, most free time of my life. The honor of being chosen to go first lives strong in my heart. That night we had no idea what fate awaited us. It was a cold night with not much moonlight, and I clearly remember the nervous anticipation I felt as we drove the back-way from Oglala into Wounded Knee...We were lightly armed and dependent on the weapons and ammo in the Wounded Knee trading post. I worried that we would not get to them before the shooting started... "We were approaching a sacred place and each of us knew it. We could feel it deep inside. As a warrior leading warriors I humbly prayed to\n Wakonda for the lives of all and the wisdom to do things right. Never before or since have I offered my tobacco with such a plea or put on my feathers with such purpose. It was the birth of the Independent Oglala Nation. Things went well for us that night, we accomplished our task without loss of life. Then, in the cold darkness as we waited for the caravan (or for the fight to start), I stood on the bank of the shallow ravine where our people had been murdered by Custer's 7th Cavalry. There I prayed for the defenseless ones, torn apart by Hotchkiss cannon and trampled under hooves of steel by drunken wasichu (whites). I could feel the touch of their spirits as I eased quietly into the gully and stood silently, waiting for my future, touching my past. Finally, I bent over and picked a sprig of sage--whose ancestors in 1890 had been nourished by the blood of Red babies, ripped from their mothers' dying grasp and bayoneted by the evil ones. As I washed myself with that\n sacred herb I became cold in my determination and cleansed of fear. I looked for Big Foot and YellowBird in the darkness and I said aloud, `We are back, my relations, we are home."' ",1]
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"The best, most free time of my life"
"For security reasons the people had been told everyone was going to a meeting/wacipi in Porcupine. The road goes through Wounded Knee. When the People arrived at the Trading Post we had already set up a perimeter, taken eleven hostages, run the BIA cops out of town, cut most phone lines, and began 73 days of the best, most free time of my life. The honor of being chosen to go first lives strong in my heart. That night we had no idea what fate awaited us. It was a cold night with not much moonlight, and I clearly remember the nervous anticipation I felt as we drove the back-way from Oglala into Wounded Knee...We were lightly armed and dependent on the weapons and ammo in the Wounded Knee trading post. I worried that we would not get to them before the shooting started...
"We were approaching a sacred place and each of us knew it. We could feel it deep inside. As a warrior leading warriors I humbly prayed to Wakonda for the lives of all and the wisdom to do things right. Never before or since have I offered my tobacco with such a plea or put on my feathers with such purpose. It was the birth of the Independent Oglala Nation. Things went well for us that night, we accomplished our task without loss of life. Then, in the cold darkness as we waited for the caravan (or for the fight to start), I stood on the bank of the shallow ravine where our people had been murdered by Custer's 7th Cavalry. There I prayed for the defenseless ones, torn apart by Hotchkiss cannon and trampled under hooves of steel by drunken wasichu (whites). I could feel the touch of their spirits as I eased quietly into the gully and stood silently, waiting for my future, touching my past. Finally, I bent over and picked a sprig of sage--whose ancestors in 1890 had been nourished by the blood of Red babies, ripped from their mothers' dying grasp and bayoneted by the evil ones. As I washed myself with that sacred herb I became cold in my determination and cleansed of fear. I looked for Big Foot and YellowBird in the darkness and I said aloud, `We are back, my relations, we are home."'
From "Remembering Wounded Knee," written by Carter Camp Carter Camp says they chose to make a stand at Wounded Knee because of its history--it had special meaning to Native people and was well known to millions of others from the powerful book written by Dee Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. He said: "On the tribal headquarters they put machine gun emplacements on every corner of the roof with big sand bags and they had these .50 caliber machine guns. They thought we were going to attack the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Pine Ridge and the tribal government. But we knew we couldn't. We were too lightly armed. And when we agreed to help the Oglala Civil\n Rights Committee and the traditionals do something we had to find a place where we could make a stand without getting totally wiped out too quickly. We thought we might get wiped out but we wanted a place where people would know about it." On February 27, a caravan of 200 cars of Indians and their supporters wound its way through the darkness towards the village of Wounded Knee. The advanced squad had already liberated it. Carter described how it happened: "First, we captured the BIA police and ran them out of town with no radios or anything and no guns and let them go. Then we took 12 hostages and put them in a safe place. After we had held the place for maybe two hours the AIM leadership came with a caravan of about 400 people. We had set up perimeters around Wounded Knee and by now the FBI and these people are understanding that they've been outflanked because now we're there, we're ensconced and we're starting to build our bunkers. And now they know if\n they come in they're putting their own lives at risk, not just our lives. We're in the defensive position, we're making bunkers and we've got the high ground. And so they're nonplused. They actually don't know what to do. So they backed off a while, which gave us time to get our people situated and that sort of thing and it became a 73-day siege." ",1]
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From "Remembering Wounded Knee," written by Carter Camp
Carter Camp says they chose to make a stand at Wounded Knee because of its history--it had special meaning to Native people and was well known to millions of others from the powerful book written by Dee Brown, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. He said:
"On the tribal headquarters they put machine gun emplacements on every corner of the roof with big sand bags and they had these .50 caliber machine guns. They thought we were going to attack the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Pine Ridge and the tribal government. But we knew we couldn't. We were too lightly armed. And when we agreed to help the Oglala Civil Rights Committee and the traditionals do something we had to find a place where we could make a stand without getting totally wiped out too quickly. We thought we might get wiped out but we wanted a place where people would know about it." On February 27, a caravan of 200 cars of Indians and their supporters wound its way through the darkness towards the village of Wounded Knee. The advanced squad had already liberated it. Carter described how it happened:
"First, we captured the BIA police and ran them out of town with no radios or anything and no guns and let them go. Then we took 12 hostages and put them in a safe place. After we had held the place for maybe two hours the AIM leadership came with a caravan of about 400 people. We had set up perimeters around Wounded Knee and by now the FBI and these people are understanding that they've been outflanked because now we're there, we're ensconced and we're starting to build our bunkers. And now they know if they come in they're putting their own lives at risk, not just our lives. We're in the defensive position, we're making bunkers and we've got the high ground. And so they're nonplused. They actually don't know what to do. So they backed off a while, which gave us time to get our people situated and that sort of thing and it became a 73-day siege."
Everyone I talked with looked back on the armed siege of Wounded Knee as one of the best times of their lives. Russell Loud Hawk helped on the military perimeter around Wounded Knee. He smiled broadly when he said: "AIM came in to straighten out the reservation because before that the traditional people were catching hell from the U.S. government. That's why I was pretty glad that they came. So I joined them. I was telling one of these ladies here, remember all the crazy things we did? You people were in, us guys were surrounded. We pulled some crazy things but I think we outdid the FBI at that time." \n Carter Camp said: "We were fighting every day and in danger every day. But it was a lot of fun. During the lulls in the fighting, or during the time when there was not actual danger, it was just a wonderful time being together. People would break out the drum every night and we'd sing together and different tribes would sing their songs. We had Indian ceremonies that are very special to us, but we don't bring 'em out in public. But now we could have 'em right there where everybody could participate. We don't have to hide them around anymore. We had the elders, medicine men, women and children--all in Wounded Knee with us. "We were a strong community. We all had work to do and fighting to do. But at the same time, we could live together and do the things that we wanted to do, say the things that we want to say, and understand this world the way that Indian people understand it. So it made us feel good. We just really were able to come together in a unity\n that you don't hardly find in Indian Country. We're different tribes and we don't always get around to each other like that. I mean literally thousands of Indian people were coming from around the country. At any one time we might only have 700 or 800 people in Wounded Knee, but people were coming and leaving. Then, of course, a group of AIM people and the traditionalists stayed there throughout the thing." ",1]
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Everyone I talked with looked back on the armed siege of Wounded Knee as one of the best times of their lives. Russell Loud Hawk helped on the military perimeter around Wounded Knee. He smiled broadly when he said: "AIM came in to straighten out the reservation because before that the traditional people were catching hell from the U.S. government. That's why I was pretty glad that they came. So I joined them. I was telling one of these ladies here, remember all the crazy things we did? You people were in, us guys were surrounded. We pulled some crazy things but I think we outdid the FBI at that time."
Carter Camp said: "We were fighting every day and in danger every day. But it was a lot of fun. During the lulls in the fighting, or during the time when there was not actual danger, it was just a wonderful time being together. People would break out the drum every night and we'd sing together and different tribes would sing their songs. We had Indian ceremonies that are very special to us, but we don't bring 'em out in public. But now we could have 'em right there where everybody could participate. We don't have to hide them around anymore. We had the elders, medicine men, women and children--all in Wounded Knee with us.
"We were a strong community. We all had work to do and fighting to do. But at the same time, we could live together and do the things that we wanted to do, say the things that we want to say, and understand this world the way that Indian people understand it. So it made us feel good. We just really were able to come together in a unity that you don't hardly find in Indian Country. We're different tribes and we don't always get around to each other like that. I mean literally thousands of Indian people were coming from around the country. At any one time we might only have 700 or 800 people in Wounded Knee, but people were coming and leaving. Then, of course, a group of AIM people and the traditionalists stayed there throughout the thing."
Ellen Moves Camp remembered: "We had meetings in the morning. We had prayer in the morning. We'd all go and our negotiations would start. And then we had sweats every night...When they'd start firing on us everybody would just sit and wait to see what was going to happen. Once I went outside and I was standing there watching that shooting going on, those flares coming in... It was bad and yet everybody seemed to be happy and everybody worked together. There was no fussing or anything. Everybody was together there. It was a good feeling." Lasting\n Legacy On March 11, AIM and the Oglala Sioux elders declared the rebirth of the Independent Oglala Nation and demanded discussion with U.S. government representatives over the terms of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. In response, the government brought in reinforcements to stop food, supplies and new recruits from reaching Wounded Knee. The phone lines were cut. The major media left. The government announced dozens of indictments against the people inside. On May 4, the White House sent a letter promising their representatives would meet with the Sioux chiefs within weeks to talk about the Fort Laramie Treaty--on the condition that the Indians lay down their arms. The Indians agreed to end their occupation. The government never investigated the BIA as they had promised. Richard Wilson and his murdering GOONs were never prosecuted. Instead a new reign of terror was carried out against the Native people of Pine Ridge. And almost 700 indictments were\n handed down by federal authorities in connection with the Wounded Knee occupation. Ellen Moves Camp was one of the Indian negotiators. She described the government's attitude: "People would come in from Washington and they'd lie to us. They didn't do anything they said they were going to do. We tried to negotiate with them but they just lied to us all the way through. They promised to negotiate the treaties and follow the treaties and they never did do it." ",1]
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Ellen Moves Camp remembered: "We had meetings in the morning. We had prayer in the morning. We'd all go and our negotiations would start. And then we had sweats every night...When they'd start firing on us everybody would just sit and wait to see what was going to happen. Once I went outside and I was standing there watching that shooting going on, those flares coming in... It was bad and yet everybody seemed to be happy and everybody worked together. There was no fussing or anything. Everybody was together there. It was a good feeling."
Lasting Legacy
On March 11, AIM and the Oglala Sioux elders declared the rebirth of the Independent Oglala Nation and demanded discussion with U.S. government representatives over the terms of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. In response, the government brought in reinforcements to stop food, supplies and new recruits from reaching Wounded Knee. The phone lines were cut. The major media left. The government announced dozens of indictments against the people inside. On May 4, the White House sent a letter promising their representatives would meet with the Sioux chiefs within weeks to talk about the Fort Laramie Treaty--on the condition that the Indians lay down their arms. The Indians agreed to end their occupation.
The government never investigated the BIA as they had promised. Richard Wilson and his murdering GOONs were never prosecuted. Instead a new reign of terror was carried out against the Native people of Pine Ridge. And almost 700 indictments were handed down by federal authorities in connection with the Wounded Knee occupation.
Ellen Moves Camp was one of the Indian negotiators. She described the government's attitude: "People would come in from Washington and they'd lie to us. They didn't do anything they said they were going to do. We tried to negotiate with them but they just lied to us all the way through. They promised to negotiate the treaties and follow the treaties and they never did do it."
Millions of people were inspired by Wounded Knee. Hundreds risked their lives and hiked many miles over the hills to join the people inside or to bring food and medical supplies. Doctors and nurses came to help in the Wounded Knee clinic. Telegrams of support came in from all over the world. Tens of thousands of people held support demonstrations in many cities across the U.S. and around the world. The broad support for the Indians at Wounded Knee made it difficult for the government to launch\n a full-scale military assault. Carter Camp told me: "Wounded Knee galvanized Indian Country, all over. During those 73 days we were in there, from Seattle to Washington, D.C. and from New York to Florida, Indian people were trashing BIA offices, protesting at the Indian health services, telling their own tribal governments to stop the leases with the uranium companies and the coal digging and that sort of thing. Indian people were just making themselves known. "Wounded Knee and the rise of the American Indian Movement and the struggle of the late '60s and '70s just changed everything about the way Indian people think of themselves. They started thinking in terms of the future, not of being exterminated or maybe this is our last generation that cares about being Indian. It just invigorated the entire Indian nations...They started having pride in where they came from and what they were and who they were. And that wasn't done in America for many,\n many generations. It also made the government understand that once more there was a line in the sand that they couldn't push us beyond. We had taken all we could absorb and that if they push us just too damn far then we'll fight." This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Onlinerwor.orgWrite: Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: 773-227-4497",1]
);
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Millions of people were inspired by Wounded Knee. Hundreds risked their lives and hiked many miles over the hills to join the people inside or to bring food and medical supplies. Doctors and nurses came to help in the Wounded Knee clinic. Telegrams of support came in from all over the world. Tens of thousands of people held support demonstrations in many cities across the U.S. and around the world. The broad support for the Indians at Wounded Knee made it difficult for the government to launch a full-scale military assault.
Carter Camp told me: "Wounded Knee galvanized Indian Country, all over. During those 73 days we were in there, from Seattle to Washington, D.C. and from New York to Florida, Indian people were trashing BIA offices, protesting at the Indian health services, telling their own tribal governments to stop the leases with the uranium companies and the coal digging and that sort of thing. Indian people were just making themselves known.
"Wounded Knee and the rise of the American Indian Movement and the struggle of the late '60s and '70s just changed everything about the way Indian people think of themselves. They started thinking in terms of the future, not of being exterminated or maybe this is our last generation that cares about being Indian. It just invigorated the entire Indian nations...They started having pride in where they came from and what they were and who they were. And that wasn't done in America for many, many generations. It also made the government understand that once more there was a line in the sand that they couldn't push us beyond. We had taken all we could absorb and that if they push us just too damn far then we'll fight."
This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Onlinerwor.orgWrite: Box 3486, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL 60654Phone: 773-227-4066 Fax: 773-227-4497
(The RW Online does not currently communicate via email.) \n\nTV dinner still cooling?Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV.\n \n\n \n __._,_.___\n \n \n \n \n Messages in this topic (1)\n \n \n \n Reply (via web post)\n \n \n Start a new topic \n \n \n \n \n Messages \n ",1]
);
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(The RW Online does not currently communicate via email.)
Geronimo's memorial site in the Gila
Photos from the Gila and Geronimo's memorial. Thanks!
http://ursusgrande.com/members/steve/gilacd.html
http://ursusgrande.com/members/steve/gilacd.html
Racism at the Northern and Southern Borders
Brenda Norrell: Racism at the Northern and Southern Borders
Human Rights Editor
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report, an independent publication at the Hague
http://www.unobserver.com
NOGALES, Arizona, U.S. The prevailing attitudes of white supremacy in the U.S., fueled by TV and radio hate talks shows and the Bush administration's agenda to enrich corporations at any cost, have increased the harassments and hate crimes at the northern and southern borders.Jose Matus, Yaqui ceremonial leader and director of Indigenous Alliance without Borders, based in Tucson, Arizona, was detained for four hours at the U.S. border by Homeland Security's director of the port of entry, Wednesday night.Matus is designated to bring Yaqui ceremonial leaders and participants across the border, including Deer Dancers and Pascoles from Rio Yaqui in Sonora, Mexico, for temporary stays in Arizona for religious purposes. Matus has done this for decades.Homeland Security officials detained Matus, four Yaqui women and two children who were coming across to participate in ceremonies. It was only after Matus called a Congressman, that he was actually allowed to enter the United States with the ceremonial participants.The Homeland Security director had been reading Matus' comments in the news about the harassment of Indigenous Peoples and the militarization of the border region. Apparently, the director was very upset by what he read.The Homeland Security director incorrectly accused Matus of labelling border officials as the "Gestapo."While many others have called the United States' border agents the "Gestapo," Matus is not one of them.Elsewhere, Indigenous in the border region struggle to maintain their cultures in the militarized zones. Still others struggle just to feed their families and survive.The Zapatistas are organizing a resistance camp to defend the Cucapa and Quilihua people in the southern border region, facing extinction because of the loss of their fishing rights in Baha California. The peace encampment will be launched at El Mayor, near Mexicali, on Monday, Feb. 26. A second encampment will be established near San Cristobal de las Casas in the southern region of Mexico.Meanwhile, Mohawks in Canada face the COINTELPRO, U.S. spies and covert operatives, while asserting their rights to their aboriginal territories.For more information: http://bsnorrell.tripod.com/ Invitation to Zapatista Peace Encampments http://www.narconews.com/Issue45/article2569.html Kahentinetha HornMohawk Nation NewsKahentinetha2@yahoo.com http://www.mohawknationnews.com/ Breaking news from the Zapatistas http://www.narconews.com/ By Brenda NorrellHuman Rights EditorU.N. OBSERVER & International ReportPlease also see:US youths killing tramps for 'sport' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/22/wusyouth22.xml
Human Rights Editor
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report, an independent publication at the Hague
http://www.unobserver.com
NOGALES, Arizona, U.S. The prevailing attitudes of white supremacy in the U.S., fueled by TV and radio hate talks shows and the Bush administration's agenda to enrich corporations at any cost, have increased the harassments and hate crimes at the northern and southern borders.Jose Matus, Yaqui ceremonial leader and director of Indigenous Alliance without Borders, based in Tucson, Arizona, was detained for four hours at the U.S. border by Homeland Security's director of the port of entry, Wednesday night.Matus is designated to bring Yaqui ceremonial leaders and participants across the border, including Deer Dancers and Pascoles from Rio Yaqui in Sonora, Mexico, for temporary stays in Arizona for religious purposes. Matus has done this for decades.Homeland Security officials detained Matus, four Yaqui women and two children who were coming across to participate in ceremonies. It was only after Matus called a Congressman, that he was actually allowed to enter the United States with the ceremonial participants.The Homeland Security director had been reading Matus' comments in the news about the harassment of Indigenous Peoples and the militarization of the border region. Apparently, the director was very upset by what he read.The Homeland Security director incorrectly accused Matus of labelling border officials as the "Gestapo."While many others have called the United States' border agents the "Gestapo," Matus is not one of them.Elsewhere, Indigenous in the border region struggle to maintain their cultures in the militarized zones. Still others struggle just to feed their families and survive.The Zapatistas are organizing a resistance camp to defend the Cucapa and Quilihua people in the southern border region, facing extinction because of the loss of their fishing rights in Baha California. The peace encampment will be launched at El Mayor, near Mexicali, on Monday, Feb. 26. A second encampment will be established near San Cristobal de las Casas in the southern region of Mexico.Meanwhile, Mohawks in Canada face the COINTELPRO, U.S. spies and covert operatives, while asserting their rights to their aboriginal territories.For more information: http://bsnorrell.tripod.com/ Invitation to Zapatista Peace Encampments http://www.narconews.com/Issue45/article2569.html Kahentinetha HornMohawk Nation NewsKahentinetha2@yahoo.com http://www.mohawknationnews.com/ Breaking news from the Zapatistas http://www.narconews.com/ By Brenda NorrellHuman Rights EditorU.N. OBSERVER & International ReportPlease also see:US youths killing tramps for 'sport' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/22/wusyouth22.xml
MacDonald: Where are the Navajo millionaires?
MacDonald asks: Where are the Navajo millionaires?
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent
WINDOW ROCK -- Former Navajo Nation Chairman Peter MacDonald is writing abook. This has required him to do hours of research into resource issues andhas led him to a burning question. Where are the Navajo millionaires? For nearly 90 years, since the 1920s when oil and gas were firstdiscovered on Navajo, up till now, MacDonald said Wednesday, "Using Navajos'resources -- water, oil, gas, coal, uranium, and also the land forright-of-way -- the Navajo have made several thousand millionaires." "Millionaires in Gallup, Farmington, Flagstaff -- border towns. But notone Navajo is a millionaire. Isn't that something? "We've made millionaires in Russia, Britain, China, and every place else.... In the United States, some of them are in California, Texas. "How long are we going to do that?" MacDonald asked. "We're going tocontinue to increase that process by doing this Desert Rock." The Navajo Nation is projected to receive $50 million a year from theDesert Rock Energy Project, a proposed 1,500 megawatt mine-to-mouthcoal-fired plant in the Nenahnezad/Burnham area of the Navajo Nation. Dine Power Authority, a Navajo entity, and Sithe Global Power LLC arepartners in the project. MacDonald questioned state and federal legislations which make itlucrative to invest in developing clean-coal plants. "It's funny the way this project, Desert Rock, has followed exactly theway Congress has written how clean fuels should be developed," he said, "andall those who are involved in developing these clean fuels in A-B-C manner,that they would get all these subsidies and grants." MacDonald said it reminded him of "the Halliburton situation -- all thesebig money people." "The legislation appears to be made for Desert Rock. We are the guineapigs for these huge financial exercises by the 'big people,' " he said. "Ifit fails, everybody made money except Navajo. No permanent jobs, no power. "But if it succeeds, there's a huge government subsidy in that (federal)energy legislation. That's what they're using," MacDonald said. Given that Sithe is funded 80 percent by Blackstone and 20 percent byReservoir Capital, MacDonald asked, "You know who is going to get theirmoney first? Blackstone. And most of that money will come from the feds." Members of the Dooda Desert Rock Committee said that as of 9:30 a.m.Wednesday, HB 178, which would give Sithe an $85 million tax break over thelife of the Desert Rock project, was "permanently tabled" in the HouseEnergy and Resources Committee. Elouise Brown of Dooda, who was at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, said theoutcome brought a "sigh of relief" from opponents. "Organizations inopposition of the bill rejoiced with hugs and interviews with media inattendance," she said. Lori Goodman of Dine CARE said the bill now will be taken up by theSenate. "I'm told that if it moves in the Senate, they (Senate committee)could assign it to another House committee," she said. If the plant is built, and the investors make money, MacDonald said,"Fine, they continue to make money. If they don't, they're not hurting. Theymade their money (through subsidies). "The only one that's left holding the bag with maybe a plant that's halfconstructed is Navajo Nation. It's a game at the very highest level," hesaid. * * * * *Gallup Independent OP/Ed 3/1/07Now, here's a man who knows how to party.By Kathy HelmsDine Bureau WINDOW ROCK -- I can't help but laugh when I see the lobbying going on inSanta Fe to give Sithe Global Power LLC an $85 million tax break on theDesert Rock power plant. Especially in light of the Jan. 27 cover story on the Business Daysection of The New York Times. At the top of the page, above "Business Day"in large letters, it states: "Other Perspectives on Social Equity: $60 Million is less than theinterest Blackstone's chairman earns on his $3.5 billion personal fortuneevery few months." Blackstone, a private equity and hedge fund giant, owns 80 percent ofSithe Global. The remaining 20 percent is owned by Reservoir Capital. According to The Times article, Blackstone Chairman and co-founderStephen A. Schwarzman was turning 60 on Valentine's Day and there was abirthday party in the works. His wife, Christine Hearst Schwarzman, an intellectual property owner whohas organized many of her husband's previous celebrations, also was largelyplanning this one. The Schwarzmans' annual Christmas parties at their 24-room duplex at 740Park Avenue apparently are legendary. Schwarzman set a Manhattan record in2000 when he purchased the duplex for $38 million. According to The Times, one year the couple turned the duplex interiorinto a "replica of Mr. Schwarzman's favorite beach, La Voile Rouge, in St.Tropez, where he has a home." "Another year they turned their living room into a giant Las Vegascasino. Last month, (December) the theme was James Bond, with Mr. Schwarzmandone up in a suave tuxedo and model Bond girls circulating among a crowd,"the article said. Now, there's a man who knows how to live! And apparently he has a lot ofprestigious friends. For his birthday party, one of New York's biggest party planners washired to decorate the 35,000-square-foot armory hall. Rod Stewart, who TheTimes said is known to charge $1 million for private parties, was the mainattraction, while Patti LaBelle had the honor of singing ³Happy Birthday² atthe Feb. 13 celebration. The guest list was a closely guarded secret, but included the chiefexecutives of Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearn, as well as Cardinal Edward Eganof the New York Archdiocese. Sen. Edward Kennedy, Secretary of StateCondoleeza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. declined, The Timessaid. In a Feb. 14 story, the newspaper said the party also was attended by NewYork Gov. George E. Pataki, John Thain, chief executive of the NYSE Group,which operates the New York Stock Exchange; Donald and Melania Trump, andABC anchor Barbara Walters accompanied by Vernon Jordan Jr., a Washingtonpower broker and confidant to former President Bill Clinton. The party came just a few days after Blackstone completed the $39 billionpurchase of Equity Office Properties, the biggest landlord in the UnitedStates, in the largest leveraged buyout ever. With backers like Schwarzman and Blackstone behind them, I don't thinkthe Navajo Nation will have to worry about Sithe Global going insolvent. I'm thinking the $85 million tax break Sithe is seeking from the state ofNew Mexico is pocket change to Schwarzman. But, if you're a company like Sithe, and you're building a power plant inNew Mexico, one in Nevada, two in Canada, one in Ma'arib, located in theRepublic of Yemen, and one in Italy -- every little tax break counts, Iguess.GALLUP INDEPENDENT 3/1/07
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup Independent
WINDOW ROCK -- Former Navajo Nation Chairman Peter MacDonald is writing abook. This has required him to do hours of research into resource issues andhas led him to a burning question. Where are the Navajo millionaires? For nearly 90 years, since the 1920s when oil and gas were firstdiscovered on Navajo, up till now, MacDonald said Wednesday, "Using Navajos'resources -- water, oil, gas, coal, uranium, and also the land forright-of-way -- the Navajo have made several thousand millionaires." "Millionaires in Gallup, Farmington, Flagstaff -- border towns. But notone Navajo is a millionaire. Isn't that something? "We've made millionaires in Russia, Britain, China, and every place else.... In the United States, some of them are in California, Texas. "How long are we going to do that?" MacDonald asked. "We're going tocontinue to increase that process by doing this Desert Rock." The Navajo Nation is projected to receive $50 million a year from theDesert Rock Energy Project, a proposed 1,500 megawatt mine-to-mouthcoal-fired plant in the Nenahnezad/Burnham area of the Navajo Nation. Dine Power Authority, a Navajo entity, and Sithe Global Power LLC arepartners in the project. MacDonald questioned state and federal legislations which make itlucrative to invest in developing clean-coal plants. "It's funny the way this project, Desert Rock, has followed exactly theway Congress has written how clean fuels should be developed," he said, "andall those who are involved in developing these clean fuels in A-B-C manner,that they would get all these subsidies and grants." MacDonald said it reminded him of "the Halliburton situation -- all thesebig money people." "The legislation appears to be made for Desert Rock. We are the guineapigs for these huge financial exercises by the 'big people,' " he said. "Ifit fails, everybody made money except Navajo. No permanent jobs, no power. "But if it succeeds, there's a huge government subsidy in that (federal)energy legislation. That's what they're using," MacDonald said. Given that Sithe is funded 80 percent by Blackstone and 20 percent byReservoir Capital, MacDonald asked, "You know who is going to get theirmoney first? Blackstone. And most of that money will come from the feds." Members of the Dooda Desert Rock Committee said that as of 9:30 a.m.Wednesday, HB 178, which would give Sithe an $85 million tax break over thelife of the Desert Rock project, was "permanently tabled" in the HouseEnergy and Resources Committee. Elouise Brown of Dooda, who was at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, said theoutcome brought a "sigh of relief" from opponents. "Organizations inopposition of the bill rejoiced with hugs and interviews with media inattendance," she said. Lori Goodman of Dine CARE said the bill now will be taken up by theSenate. "I'm told that if it moves in the Senate, they (Senate committee)could assign it to another House committee," she said. If the plant is built, and the investors make money, MacDonald said,"Fine, they continue to make money. If they don't, they're not hurting. Theymade their money (through subsidies). "The only one that's left holding the bag with maybe a plant that's halfconstructed is Navajo Nation. It's a game at the very highest level," hesaid. * * * * *Gallup Independent OP/Ed 3/1/07Now, here's a man who knows how to party.By Kathy HelmsDine Bureau WINDOW ROCK -- I can't help but laugh when I see the lobbying going on inSanta Fe to give Sithe Global Power LLC an $85 million tax break on theDesert Rock power plant. Especially in light of the Jan. 27 cover story on the Business Daysection of The New York Times. At the top of the page, above "Business Day"in large letters, it states: "Other Perspectives on Social Equity: $60 Million is less than theinterest Blackstone's chairman earns on his $3.5 billion personal fortuneevery few months." Blackstone, a private equity and hedge fund giant, owns 80 percent ofSithe Global. The remaining 20 percent is owned by Reservoir Capital. According to The Times article, Blackstone Chairman and co-founderStephen A. Schwarzman was turning 60 on Valentine's Day and there was abirthday party in the works. His wife, Christine Hearst Schwarzman, an intellectual property owner whohas organized many of her husband's previous celebrations, also was largelyplanning this one. The Schwarzmans' annual Christmas parties at their 24-room duplex at 740Park Avenue apparently are legendary. Schwarzman set a Manhattan record in2000 when he purchased the duplex for $38 million. According to The Times, one year the couple turned the duplex interiorinto a "replica of Mr. Schwarzman's favorite beach, La Voile Rouge, in St.Tropez, where he has a home." "Another year they turned their living room into a giant Las Vegascasino. Last month, (December) the theme was James Bond, with Mr. Schwarzmandone up in a suave tuxedo and model Bond girls circulating among a crowd,"the article said. Now, there's a man who knows how to live! And apparently he has a lot ofprestigious friends. For his birthday party, one of New York's biggest party planners washired to decorate the 35,000-square-foot armory hall. Rod Stewart, who TheTimes said is known to charge $1 million for private parties, was the mainattraction, while Patti LaBelle had the honor of singing ³Happy Birthday² atthe Feb. 13 celebration. The guest list was a closely guarded secret, but included the chiefexecutives of Goldman Sachs and Bear Stearn, as well as Cardinal Edward Eganof the New York Archdiocese. Sen. Edward Kennedy, Secretary of StateCondoleeza Rice and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. declined, The Timessaid. In a Feb. 14 story, the newspaper said the party also was attended by NewYork Gov. George E. Pataki, John Thain, chief executive of the NYSE Group,which operates the New York Stock Exchange; Donald and Melania Trump, andABC anchor Barbara Walters accompanied by Vernon Jordan Jr., a Washingtonpower broker and confidant to former President Bill Clinton. The party came just a few days after Blackstone completed the $39 billionpurchase of Equity Office Properties, the biggest landlord in the UnitedStates, in the largest leveraged buyout ever. With backers like Schwarzman and Blackstone behind them, I don't thinkthe Navajo Nation will have to worry about Sithe Global going insolvent. I'm thinking the $85 million tax break Sithe is seeking from the state ofNew Mexico is pocket change to Schwarzman. But, if you're a company like Sithe, and you're building a power plant inNew Mexico, one in Nevada, two in Canada, one in Ma'arib, located in theRepublic of Yemen, and one in Italy -- every little tax break counts, Iguess.GALLUP INDEPENDENT 3/1/07
Peltier's "My Life is My Sun Dance" Boulder
February 16, 2007Contact: Theatre13, Rebecca Brown Adelman, 303.931.8828 or rbrown@ad.colorado.edu
Theatre13 presents the world premiere of "My Life Is My Sun Dance"written by Leonard Peltier with Harvey ArdenRun dates: March 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31 and April 1stTimes: Thursdays at 7:00 p.m.; Fridays, Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.; Sundays at 3:30 p.m.$25 general admission, $10 Sunday matineeThursday night performances are buy one ticket get one freeTickets can be purchased online, www.bmoca.org, at the museum, or by calling, 303.443.2122Boulder, Colo. Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Theatre13, and Warrior Artists Productions are proud to present the world premiere of the staged adaptation of "Prison Writings: My Life is My Sun Dance" written by imprisoned human rights activist Leonard Peltier with Harvey Arden. Convicted of murder in 1976, Peltier has been incarcerated for thirty-one years. Many believe that he was unjustly convicted and unfairly imprisoned. In 1999 he published "Prison Writings" a collection of essays, poetry and reflections on more than thirty years of activism from behind prison walls. Peltier's play is a deeply moving account of one man's struggle to survive prison life while working for healing, forgiveness and fair treatment within an inherently flawed justice system.Numerous peace activists, Nobel Prize Laureates, celebrities, scholars, legal experts and organizations continue to call for Peltier's immediate release. Among them, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Rev. Desmond Tutu, the late Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Robert Redford, Rev. Jessie Jackson, and Coretta Scott King. This list is but a fraction of those who continue to advocate for Peltier's release."His case is perhaps the prime example of the American government's continuing failure to resolve its longstanding mistreatment of Native America," says Theatre13's co-managing director Judson Webb. Webb and Paul Soderman of Warrior Artists, the producers of "My Life Is My Sun Dance," say they are compelled to give voice to the story of this man's struggle to serve his people. "Our hope is that the U.S. government will take responsibility for its mistakes and be the government we expect it to be, a government that seeks justice rather than vengeance," says Webb.The show will open on March 15, 2007 at 7 p.m. at BMoCA, 1750 13th Street. Performances will run March 15,16,17,18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31 and April 1. There will be no preview. The Sunday performances will be matinees with curtain at 3:30 p.m. Ticket prices will be general admission $25.00. Thursday ticket prices are two for one with curtain at 7:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday shows are at 8:00 p.m. All Sunday matinees are $10.00. Theatre13 will host a closing reception on Sunday, April 1 immediately following the final performance.Doug Foote, who plays Peltier, dances for the sheer joy of the dance. His Lakota tribal name is Wiyaka Waste (pronounced Wee-ah-kah Wash-tay), translated as "Beautiful Feather." Raised on Standing Rock Indian Reservationhome to Sitting BullFoote is a fluent speaker of the Lakota language, a champion Fancy Dancer and master Native singer. He served in the US Army Reserve completing two tours in Iraq during 2003 and 2004. Doug now attends Red Rocks Community College, working towards a degree in counseling. "I believe in peace and intend to promote peace and unity with all people. I live to be a loving father to my children and a good and loving man to others. This is how I was raised and is what I believe in. Through our Lakota ways I believe in me and in life. Mitakue Oyasin.""My Life is My Sun Dance" is directed by Cathie Quigley-Soderman. She graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and in 1990 completed her MFA in directing at Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts. She then went on to direct classical and new plays in theaters throughout New York City, followed by several years working in the Los Angeles film industry, assisting Warner Brothers' director Richard Donner. Quigley-Soderman also has written four original screenplays.Quigley-Soderman, along with her husband Paul, are co-founders of Warrior Artists Productions, a comprehensive production company and record label dedicated to discovering, developing and producing audio recordings and documentary style films of gifted musicians who are recovering from alcoholism. All profits from the performances will go to the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee.Theatre13, dedicated to the spirit of collaboration, is committed to an ever-deepening exploration of the theatrical experience. We seek to engage and inspire the audience, provide a nurturing home for artists, and contribute a stylistically diverse body of contemporary and original work. For a complete biography on members of Theatre13, please visit the museum website, www.bmoca.orgThe Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is a dynamic venue dedicated to the presentation of significant art of our time. Through an innovative program of regional, national and international exhibition and performance, the museum inspires and educates its communities and visitors from around the world to explore the forefront and evolution of contemporary art.The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is located at 1750 13th Street in downtown Boulder, Colorado. Museum hours starting February are Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 5pm; Sunday noon to 3pm; closed Monday. Regular museum admission is $5 for adults; $4 for students and seniors. Free to museum members and children under 12.Tickets for "Prison Writings" can be purchased online at www.bmoca.org, at the museum, or by calling 303.443.2122. More information about Theatre13 and their season two performances can be found on the museum's website, www.bmoca.org.For additional information, photo and interview opportunities please contact Rebecca Brown Adelman, 303.931.8828.
Theatre13 presents the world premiere of "My Life Is My Sun Dance"written by Leonard Peltier with Harvey ArdenRun dates: March 15, 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31 and April 1stTimes: Thursdays at 7:00 p.m.; Fridays, Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.; Sundays at 3:30 p.m.$25 general admission, $10 Sunday matineeThursday night performances are buy one ticket get one freeTickets can be purchased online, www.bmoca.org, at the museum, or by calling, 303.443.2122Boulder, Colo. Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Theatre13, and Warrior Artists Productions are proud to present the world premiere of the staged adaptation of "Prison Writings: My Life is My Sun Dance" written by imprisoned human rights activist Leonard Peltier with Harvey Arden. Convicted of murder in 1976, Peltier has been incarcerated for thirty-one years. Many believe that he was unjustly convicted and unfairly imprisoned. In 1999 he published "Prison Writings" a collection of essays, poetry and reflections on more than thirty years of activism from behind prison walls. Peltier's play is a deeply moving account of one man's struggle to survive prison life while working for healing, forgiveness and fair treatment within an inherently flawed justice system.Numerous peace activists, Nobel Prize Laureates, celebrities, scholars, legal experts and organizations continue to call for Peltier's immediate release. Among them, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Rev. Desmond Tutu, the late Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Robert Redford, Rev. Jessie Jackson, and Coretta Scott King. This list is but a fraction of those who continue to advocate for Peltier's release."His case is perhaps the prime example of the American government's continuing failure to resolve its longstanding mistreatment of Native America," says Theatre13's co-managing director Judson Webb. Webb and Paul Soderman of Warrior Artists, the producers of "My Life Is My Sun Dance," say they are compelled to give voice to the story of this man's struggle to serve his people. "Our hope is that the U.S. government will take responsibility for its mistakes and be the government we expect it to be, a government that seeks justice rather than vengeance," says Webb.The show will open on March 15, 2007 at 7 p.m. at BMoCA, 1750 13th Street. Performances will run March 15,16,17,18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31 and April 1. There will be no preview. The Sunday performances will be matinees with curtain at 3:30 p.m. Ticket prices will be general admission $25.00. Thursday ticket prices are two for one with curtain at 7:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday shows are at 8:00 p.m. All Sunday matinees are $10.00. Theatre13 will host a closing reception on Sunday, April 1 immediately following the final performance.Doug Foote, who plays Peltier, dances for the sheer joy of the dance. His Lakota tribal name is Wiyaka Waste (pronounced Wee-ah-kah Wash-tay), translated as "Beautiful Feather." Raised on Standing Rock Indian Reservationhome to Sitting BullFoote is a fluent speaker of the Lakota language, a champion Fancy Dancer and master Native singer. He served in the US Army Reserve completing two tours in Iraq during 2003 and 2004. Doug now attends Red Rocks Community College, working towards a degree in counseling. "I believe in peace and intend to promote peace and unity with all people. I live to be a loving father to my children and a good and loving man to others. This is how I was raised and is what I believe in. Through our Lakota ways I believe in me and in life. Mitakue Oyasin.""My Life is My Sun Dance" is directed by Cathie Quigley-Soderman. She graduated from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and in 1990 completed her MFA in directing at Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts. She then went on to direct classical and new plays in theaters throughout New York City, followed by several years working in the Los Angeles film industry, assisting Warner Brothers' director Richard Donner. Quigley-Soderman also has written four original screenplays.Quigley-Soderman, along with her husband Paul, are co-founders of Warrior Artists Productions, a comprehensive production company and record label dedicated to discovering, developing and producing audio recordings and documentary style films of gifted musicians who are recovering from alcoholism. All profits from the performances will go to the Leonard Peltier Defense Committee.Theatre13, dedicated to the spirit of collaboration, is committed to an ever-deepening exploration of the theatrical experience. We seek to engage and inspire the audience, provide a nurturing home for artists, and contribute a stylistically diverse body of contemporary and original work. For a complete biography on members of Theatre13, please visit the museum website, www.bmoca.orgThe Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is a dynamic venue dedicated to the presentation of significant art of our time. Through an innovative program of regional, national and international exhibition and performance, the museum inspires and educates its communities and visitors from around the world to explore the forefront and evolution of contemporary art.The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art is located at 1750 13th Street in downtown Boulder, Colorado. Museum hours starting February are Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 5pm; Sunday noon to 3pm; closed Monday. Regular museum admission is $5 for adults; $4 for students and seniors. Free to museum members and children under 12.Tickets for "Prison Writings" can be purchased online at www.bmoca.org, at the museum, or by calling 303.443.2122. More information about Theatre13 and their season two performances can be found on the museum's website, www.bmoca.org.For additional information, photo and interview opportunities please contact Rebecca Brown Adelman, 303.931.8828.
Alaska: Red Oil says 'No' to Shell Oil
REDOIL
NEWS RELEASE
Contact:
Robert Thompson (907)640-6119/ bolothompson@hotmail.com Jack Schaefer (907) 368- 2453 or 2235 (wk)/jschaefer@tikigaq.comFaith Gemmill, REDOIL Network (907) 750-0188 / redoil1@acsalaska.netFor Immediate Release
February 20, 2007
Alaska Natives Disapprove Shell Oil's Beaufort Sea Oil and Gas Exploration Plan MMS Allows Contentious Oil and Gas Exploratory Activities to Move Forward Without Public Review Fairbanks, Alaska - Today the Minerals Management Service (MMS) announced that they will allow Shell Oil to conduct potentially damaging exploratory oil and gas activities in the Beaufort Sea without consulting public input or conducting an environmental impact statement (EIS). REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands) a network of Alaska Native grassroots leadership is calling for MMS to issue an EIS. REDOIL and many other Alaska Natives are concerned that oil and gas development and exploratory activities would harm the delicate Beaufort Sea marine and coastal ecosystem. The subsistence rights of Alaska Natives must always be protected at all costs. The risks are high for potential damage therefore REDOIL is calling for MMS to issue an EIS to study the impacts of this kind of adverse activity to the region and allow the public to analyze and respond to the proposed off-shore oil and gas exploration plan. Although the issue of exploratory drilling and offshore oil and gas development in the Beaufort Sea is widely opposed and highly contentious among North Slope communities, MMS has failed to provide adequate analysis and public review by not issuing an environmental impact statement (EIS) before approving Shell's exploration plan. "Our animals bypass our village migrating north and then south of us. We feel that there is nothing that can replace our food from our sea. The Native Village of Point Hope has passed a resolution opposing oil & gas development off-shore in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and we have consistently expressed our concern and stated opposition to any sort of offshore oil and gas exploration and development on the record yet it seems our voice falls upon deaf ears. The killer Whale and Right Whale migrate through here, and they are an endangered species, we have raised this issue yet our concerns are ignored by the MMS, as is clear by this decision." stated Jack Schaefer, Vice President for the Native Village of Point Hope Cultural knowledge of the marine and coastal ecosystem of the Beaufort Sea is valuable when these projects come within offshore traditional subsistence use areas. The public and especially the elders and Indigenous Traditional Knowledge (ITK) keepers of the Alaska Native communities must be involved and fully engaged, to address community concerns in regard to impacts to subsistence. REDOIL is deeply concerned with the risks posed to sensitive marine and coastal environments from oil and gas activities in the Alaskan Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Vital subsistence resources that are intrinsic to the livelihood of coastal Alaska Native communities within the entire OCS area are at risk. Shell's exploration activities would occur this summer in several areas in the waters off the shores of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge near the village of Kaktovik and right in the Bowhead Whale migration route. Shell would be using several large exploratory drilling vessels and ice breaking ships. The sort of noise generated from this kind of activity is proven to deflect bowhead whales and other marine life, which could greatly harm subsistence in the region. Robert Thompson, a subsistence hunter and whaler from the community of Kaktovik says: "I am an Inupiat resident of Kaktovik which is within the border of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Shell Oil and the MMS have not addressed many questions related to proposed offshore oil exploration in proximity to Kaktovik. We are concerned that the activities will adversely affect our subsistence whaling and other cultural activities. We have asked about cumulative impacts, these questions have never been answered. Questions relating to human health are now being asked, there have been no answers as to how these concerns will be addressed. Our identity as a people and our cultural survival depends on a clean environment. Indigenous peoples of the Arctic should not be given less consideration than other coastal peoples in the lower 48 where offshore development is prohibited." The socio-cultural systems of the communities of the North Slope could be negatively impacted from noise disturbance produced by exploration and drilling activities that stress the whaling migrations. The social systems in these communities would experience direct impact as long-term deflection of whales from their migratory routes or increased skittishness of whales due to increased exploration activities in the Beaufort Sea would make subsistence harvests more difficult, dangerous, and expensive. "Native Communities have the right to their subsistence way of life. Shell's plans will severely impede subsistence. The MMS must do a full EIS to adequately ensure an open process to address community concerns. Anything less only illustrates that the MMS of the federal governments neglect in responsibility and lack of humanity by failing to listen to the people most directly affected by off-shore oil and gas exploration and development." Says Faith Gemmill, Outreach Coordinator of the REDOIL Network. ###The REDOIL Network consists of grassroots Alaska Natives of the Inupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Tlingit, Gwich'in, Eyak and Denaiana Athabascan tribes who have formed a network to address the human and ecological health impacts of the unsustainable development practices of the fossil fuel industry in Alaska. The REDOIL Network strongly supports self-determination rights of tribes in Alaska as well as a just transition from fossil fuel development and promotes the implementation of sustainable development on or near Indigenous lands. The REDOIL Network is a project of the Indigenous Environmental Network -- It don't take a whole day to recognise sunshine.
NEWS RELEASE
Contact:
Robert Thompson (907)640-6119/ bolothompson@hotmail.com Jack Schaefer (907) 368- 2453 or 2235 (wk)/jschaefer@tikigaq.comFaith Gemmill, REDOIL Network (907) 750-0188 / redoil1@acsalaska.netFor Immediate Release
February 20, 2007
Alaska Natives Disapprove Shell Oil's Beaufort Sea Oil and Gas Exploration Plan MMS Allows Contentious Oil and Gas Exploratory Activities to Move Forward Without Public Review Fairbanks, Alaska - Today the Minerals Management Service (MMS) announced that they will allow Shell Oil to conduct potentially damaging exploratory oil and gas activities in the Beaufort Sea without consulting public input or conducting an environmental impact statement (EIS). REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands) a network of Alaska Native grassroots leadership is calling for MMS to issue an EIS. REDOIL and many other Alaska Natives are concerned that oil and gas development and exploratory activities would harm the delicate Beaufort Sea marine and coastal ecosystem. The subsistence rights of Alaska Natives must always be protected at all costs. The risks are high for potential damage therefore REDOIL is calling for MMS to issue an EIS to study the impacts of this kind of adverse activity to the region and allow the public to analyze and respond to the proposed off-shore oil and gas exploration plan. Although the issue of exploratory drilling and offshore oil and gas development in the Beaufort Sea is widely opposed and highly contentious among North Slope communities, MMS has failed to provide adequate analysis and public review by not issuing an environmental impact statement (EIS) before approving Shell's exploration plan. "Our animals bypass our village migrating north and then south of us. We feel that there is nothing that can replace our food from our sea. The Native Village of Point Hope has passed a resolution opposing oil & gas development off-shore in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and we have consistently expressed our concern and stated opposition to any sort of offshore oil and gas exploration and development on the record yet it seems our voice falls upon deaf ears. The killer Whale and Right Whale migrate through here, and they are an endangered species, we have raised this issue yet our concerns are ignored by the MMS, as is clear by this decision." stated Jack Schaefer, Vice President for the Native Village of Point Hope Cultural knowledge of the marine and coastal ecosystem of the Beaufort Sea is valuable when these projects come within offshore traditional subsistence use areas. The public and especially the elders and Indigenous Traditional Knowledge (ITK) keepers of the Alaska Native communities must be involved and fully engaged, to address community concerns in regard to impacts to subsistence. REDOIL is deeply concerned with the risks posed to sensitive marine and coastal environments from oil and gas activities in the Alaskan Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Vital subsistence resources that are intrinsic to the livelihood of coastal Alaska Native communities within the entire OCS area are at risk. Shell's exploration activities would occur this summer in several areas in the waters off the shores of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge near the village of Kaktovik and right in the Bowhead Whale migration route. Shell would be using several large exploratory drilling vessels and ice breaking ships. The sort of noise generated from this kind of activity is proven to deflect bowhead whales and other marine life, which could greatly harm subsistence in the region. Robert Thompson, a subsistence hunter and whaler from the community of Kaktovik says: "I am an Inupiat resident of Kaktovik which is within the border of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Shell Oil and the MMS have not addressed many questions related to proposed offshore oil exploration in proximity to Kaktovik. We are concerned that the activities will adversely affect our subsistence whaling and other cultural activities. We have asked about cumulative impacts, these questions have never been answered. Questions relating to human health are now being asked, there have been no answers as to how these concerns will be addressed. Our identity as a people and our cultural survival depends on a clean environment. Indigenous peoples of the Arctic should not be given less consideration than other coastal peoples in the lower 48 where offshore development is prohibited." The socio-cultural systems of the communities of the North Slope could be negatively impacted from noise disturbance produced by exploration and drilling activities that stress the whaling migrations. The social systems in these communities would experience direct impact as long-term deflection of whales from their migratory routes or increased skittishness of whales due to increased exploration activities in the Beaufort Sea would make subsistence harvests more difficult, dangerous, and expensive. "Native Communities have the right to their subsistence way of life. Shell's plans will severely impede subsistence. The MMS must do a full EIS to adequately ensure an open process to address community concerns. Anything less only illustrates that the MMS of the federal governments neglect in responsibility and lack of humanity by failing to listen to the people most directly affected by off-shore oil and gas exploration and development." Says Faith Gemmill, Outreach Coordinator of the REDOIL Network. ###The REDOIL Network consists of grassroots Alaska Natives of the Inupiat, Yupik, Aleut, Tlingit, Gwich'in, Eyak and Denaiana Athabascan tribes who have formed a network to address the human and ecological health impacts of the unsustainable development practices of the fossil fuel industry in Alaska. The REDOIL Network strongly supports self-determination rights of tribes in Alaska as well as a just transition from fossil fuel development and promotes the implementation of sustainable development on or near Indigenous lands. The REDOIL Network is a project of the Indigenous Environmental Network -- It don't take a whole day to recognise sunshine.
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