Revolutionary Native Women Writers -- Twelve Years of Original Energies at Censored News

Ofelia Rivas, Kahentinetha Horn, Sandra Rambler, Debra White Plume, Michelle Cook, Buffy Sainte Marie, Louise Benally.

Revolutionary Native Women Writers -- Twelve Years of Original Energies at Censored News

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News

Censored News begins its 13th year of publishing in late September. Today we honor the Native women who were the first to share their voices and work with us. In the beginning, Censored News was a humble effort to reveal what had been censored when I was a staff writer at Indian Country Today. Through the years, it emerged, growing organically, as a platform for Indigenous Peoples and global human rights.
Kahentinetha Horn, long known for her defense of Oka, was among the first to generously share her work with Censored News. When Mohawks came to the southern border in 2006 and 2007, a powerful solidarity began between the north and the south, including the Zapatistas when Marcos and the Comandantes came to Sonora in 2007. Living in her homeland at Kahnawake, Kahentinetha publishes Mohawk Nation News, sharing guidance and words from the traditional teachings and the Mohawk Warrior Society. Kahentinetha writes the history that she lives.
Debra White Plume, revolutionary thinker and writer, living on her Lakota homeland on Pine Ridge, has shared her writings since the beginning. As the founder of Owe Aku International Justice Project, Debra has fought for the land, water and people, fighting against uranium mining and corruption, and fighting for truth and in defense of the land and water. When the Lewis and Clark re-enactors arrived in South Dakota, Debra gave them a symbolic "blanket of small pox." Censored News honored Debra twice previously as our 'Woman of Year' for her resistance.
Ofelia Rivas, O'odham lives on the Tohono O'odham Nation, at the so-called border that divides her family's homelands in what is now Sonora, Mexico, and Arizona. Ofelia exposed the construction crew on the border barrier digging up the remains of O'odham ancestors. The ancestors were later returned to their resting place with ceremony. She also exposed the Israeli spy towers now threatening O'odham communities. She has led the resistance to abuses by the U.S. Border Patrol in her homelands, and now delivers food and supplies to O'odham south of the border who are cut off from grocery stores by new border crossing  restrictions and closures of traditional routes. When the current US government halted migrants at the border, Ofelia welcomed them.
Michelle Cook, Dine' lawyer, has been a voice at Censored News since the beginning, sharing her experiences as a university student, first at the border, then in Iran, and later as she traveled from New Zealand, where she was a Fulbright scholar sharing with Maori, to the Mother Earth Conference in Cochabamba, Bolivia. At Standing Rock, she founded the Water Protector Legal Collective, and co-produced with Govinda Dalton, Standing Rock Spirit Resistance Radio, live from Oceti Sakowin. Michelle organized the bank divestment teams of Native women to Europe, hosted by WECAN International, in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The long censored words of Louise Benally of Big Mountain, and Cree singer Buffy Sainte Marie, finally became known when I was terminated at Indian Country Today in 2006.
Earlier, Louise Benally spoke out against the bombing of Iraq on the day it was bombed by the United States, comparing it to the atrocities of the Dine' walking, suffering and dying on the Longest Walk to imprisonment. Louise remembered her ancestors at Fort Sumner, Bosque Redondo.
Indian Country Today censored Louise's voice and refused to publish a retraction. Louise continues to resist relocation at Big Mountain, orchestrated by Peabody Coal, energy barons and politicians.
Buffy Sainte Marie was at Dine' College on the Navajo Nation in 1999, joining John Trudell and other great Native musicians in concert. It was here that Buffy described how she was censored out of the music business by two U.S. Presidents -- Lyndon Johnson and Ronald Reagan. The US Presidents disappeared her shipments of records and told radio stations not to play her songs. Buffy's stance against the Vietnam War, and her song "Universal Soldier," made her a target for the war machine. 
Buffy's words at Dine' College were censored for seven years by Indian Country Today, Even when some of those words were published in 2006, the portion about uranium mining on Pine Ridge was censored by Indian Country Today. Buffy has generously shared her work with Censored News since the beginning.
Sandra Rambler, San Carlos Apache writer and photographer, was among those censored by Indian Country Today, in the struggle of Apaches to protect their land and water from politicians and corporations. Sandra shared the voices of San Carlos Apache elders -- the force behind protecting the land and water, sacred Mount Graham and Oak Flat -- before the elders made their journey to the Spirit World.
These revolutionary Native women writers and thinkers share the same love, tenacity and freedom of spirit shown by Che in South America. It is their willingness to sacrifice and arise that inspires new generations and generates hope.
There are no words adequate to express gratitude to these revolutionary writers, thinkers and organizers who were the first to share their words, photos, travels and clear thoughts  with Censored News.
Today, their voices are joined with Indigenous women from around the Earth, and their words of resistance, dignity, autonomy and self-reliance, without compromise, are translated into languages worldwide.
We say 'thank you' for your original energies. Your love, passion and clarity has steadily exploded into inspiration and movements in the homelands and around the world.

In memory of the children, Dine' and Apache imprisoned at Bosque Redondo,
during the Longest Walk.

Dedicated to my friends, Cate Gilles, journalist on Navajo and Hopi lands, and Leroy Jackson, cofounder
of Dine' Citizens against Ruining the Environment, who were both found dead.
Without their running ahead, and showing the way, this ongoing work would not be possible.
Thank you.

Links:
Mohawk Nation News
http://www.mohawknationnews.com/

Owe Aku International Justice Project
http://oweakuinternational.org

Ofelia Rivas, O'odham, founder of O'odham Voice against the Wall
http://www.solidarity-project.org/

Louise Benally, uncensored on bombing of Iraq and the Longest Walk to imprisonment
http://bsnorrell.tripod.com/id78.html

The Blacklisting of Buffy Sainte Marie, by Censored News
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-blacklisting-of-buffy-sainte-marie.html

Michelle Cook, divestment team in Europe. Read more at WECAN, International
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2018/04/indigenous-womens-delegation-in.html

Sandra Ramber, Apache, The Gift of Water and the Apache Burden Basket
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2015/03/sandra-rambler-at-oak-flat-gift-of.html

Notes:
At Censored News, everyone is a volunteer. Censored News has published for 12 years with no salaries, grants, or revenues. Please donate to these powerful writers. Contact Censored News for contact information for writers, Brenda Norrell, publisher: brendanorrell@gmail.com 

Indian Country Today was created in the mid 1990s by Tim Giago, Lakota, who never censored my articles. After ICT was sold to the Oneida Nation in New York in the late 1990s, the censorship began. ICT was recently acquired by the National Congress of American Indians in Washington, D.C.

Copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News

'Crying Earth Rise Up' Premiere Packed at Sedona Film Festival

“Crying Earth Rise Up” Premiere at the International Sedona Film Festival

Article and photos by Natalie Hand
Lakota Media Project/Owe Aku
Censored News
Dutch translation by Alice Holemans, NAIS
French translation by Christine Prat

SEDONA, Ariz. -- The emotionally charged documentary “Crying Earth Rise Up” was showcased to a full house at this week’s Sedona International Film Festival.

Filmmaker Suree Towfighnia and film editor Sharon Karp were on hand for the screening. “This is the fourth screening of the film. We literally finished production just last week. So I feel a sense of relief and accomplishment,” stated Towfighnia.

The film focuses on two Oglala Lakota women on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Elisha Yellow Thunder, a young mother with a daughter, Laila, who was born with cloacal abnormalities that causes internal organs to be connected. Laila’s only functioning kidney fails at age 8. Elisha’s quest to determine the cause of her daughter’s birth defects leads her to the water on her homeland. Majoring in geology, she is mentored by Dr. Hannan LaGarry, a geology professor and author of 5 year study on hydrology the Oglala aquifer. Yellow Thunder describes LaGarry as her mentor who teaches her to study water and uranium outcroppings on her homeland as a possible cause of the high number of birth defects/stillborn babies on Pine Ridge. “My little girl’s story is too big not to tell,” stated Yellow Thunder.

Filmmaker Suree Towfighnia,  daughter, Debra White Plume, film editor
Sharon Karp, and Elisha Yellow Thunder

Water brought Elisha together with Debra White Plume, a frontline activist who is challenging Canadian mining giant Cameo, who operates the Crow Butte uranium mine near Crawford, Nebraska, near the Pine Ridge reservation. White Plume filed an intervention opposing Cameo’s 10 year renewal license and application to expand their mining operation in December of 2007. She is the only individual intervener in this case against Cameo. In the film, White Plume attributes the in-situ leach mining operation at Crown Butte for contaminating the aquifer that flows under her homeland. Dr. La Garry serves at the expert witness in White Plume’s defense.

“This work is about protecting precious water, for all of us, for Mother Earth and our coming generations. This film will help tell our truth to the world, all over the world water is in shortage, there are droughts or floods, or water is so contaminated it cannot be ingested by humans. We tell our truth based on our love of our generations, stated White Plume to a standing ovation.

This is Towfighnia’s second production that features Oglala Lakota activist Debra White Plume. Her first collaboration with White Plume was a pro-hemp film entitled “Standing Silent Nation”.

The film is scheduled to screen in Portland, Oregon; Sante Fe, New Mexico; California; Nebraska; Navajo Nation and other venues.

For more information or to host a screening, visit “Crying Earth Rise Up” on Facebook.
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Janine Yazzie, Dine', Six World Solutions initiative, Deb and 

Louise Benally, Dine' anti-mining activist. 

Deb with Klee Benally, singer and filmmaker.

French translation by Christine Prat

SALLE COMBLE POUR LA PREMIERE DU FILM ‘CRYING EARTH RISE UP’, A SEDONA, ARIZONA

On March 6, 2015, in EDUCATION/CULTURE, Lakotas, by Chris P

PREMIERE DE ‘CRYING EARTH RISE UP’ AU FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU FILM DE SEDONA

Article et photos Natalie Hand
Lakota Media Project/Owe Aku
Publié sur Censored News
2 mars 2015
Traduction Christine Prat

SEDONA, Arizona – Le documentaire, chargé d’émotions, « Crying Earth Rise Up” a été présenté devant une salle comble cette semaine, au Festival International du Film de Sedona.
La réalisatrice Suree Towfighnia et la monteuse Sharon Karp étaient présentes à la projection. « C’est la quatrième projection du film. Nous l’avons terminé il y a tout juste une semaine. Alors, je me sens soulagée et j’ai l’impression d’un accomplissement » dit S. Towfighnia.
Le film porte principalement sur deux femmes Oglala Lakota de la Réserve Indienne de Pine Ridge, dans le Dakota du Sud. Elisha Yellow Thunder est une jeune mère dont la fille, Laila, est née avec des anomalies internes. Le seul rein de Laila qui fonctionnait lâche à 8 ans. La recherche d’Elisha pour déterminer la cause des anomalies congénitales de sa fille la mène jusqu’à l’eau de sa terre natale. Diplômée en géologie, elle est dirigée par le Dr. Hannan La Garry, professeur de géologie et auteure d’une étude de 5 ans de l’hydrologie de la nappe aquifère Oglala. E. Yellow Thunder présente H. La Garry comme le mentor qui lui enseigne comment étudier l’eau et les résidus d’uranium dans sa terre natale comme cause possible du taux élevé de malformations congénitales ou de bébés mort-nés à Pine Ridge. « L’histoire de ma petite fille implique trop de choses pour ne pas être dite » a déclaré E. Yellow Thunder.

La réalisatrice Suree Towfighnia,  sa fille,
Debra White Plume,la monteuse 
Sharon Karp, et Elisha Yellow Thunder

C’est l’eau qui a rapproché Elisha de Debra White Plume, une activiste de première ligne qui défie le géant minier canadien Cameo, qui exploite la mine d’uranium de Crow Butte, près de Crawford, dans le Nebraska, non loin de la réserve de Pine Ridge. Debra White Plume a déposé une intervention s’opposant au renouvellement pour 10 ans de la licence de Cameo et à sa demande d’expansion de ses opérations d’extraction en décembre 2007. Elle est la seule personne impliquée dans cette affaire contre Cameo. Dans le film, Debra White Plume attribue à la lixiviation in-situ de l’extraction à Crown Butte la contamination de la nappe aquifère sous sa terre. Le Dr. La Garry est témoin expert pour la défense de Debra White Plume.
« Le sujet de cette œuvre est de protéger l’eau précieuse, pour nous tous, pour Notre Mère la Terre et pour les générations à venir. Ce film nous aidera à dire la vérité au monde, partout où on manque d’eau, où il y a des sécheresses ou des inondations, ou où l’eau est tellement polluée qu’elle ne peut être consommée par des êtres humains. Nous exprimons notre vérité sur la base de notre amour pour nos générations futures » dit Debra White Plume devant un public debout pour l’ovationner.
C’est la deuxième production de S. Towfighnia qui met en scène l’activiste Oglala Debra White Plume. Sa première collaboration avec Debra White Plume était le film « Standing Silent Nation ».

Le film doit être projeté à Portland, Oregon ; Santa Fe, Nouveau Mexique ; en Californie, au Nebraska, dans la réserve Navajo et en d’autres endroits.

Pour plus d’informations ou pour organiser une projection, voir la page Facebook de « Crying Earth Rise Up »

Janine Yazzie, Diné, Six World Solutions initiative,
Debra et Louise Benally, Diné, anti-extraction minière.

Debra avec Klee Benally, chanteur et réalisateur.

Tagged with: contamination à l'uranium • Crying Earth Rise Up • Debra White Plume • eau polluée à Pine Ridge • festival international du film de Sedona • Lakota media project • owe aku

Dutch translation by Alice Holemans, NAIS

Home » Nieuws » * PREMIERE VAN ‘CRYING EARTH RISE UP’ TROK BOMVOLLE ZAAL OP INTERNATIONAL SEDONA FILM FESTIVAL

* PREMIERE VAN ‘CRYING EARTH RISE UP’ TROK BOMVOLLE ZAAL OP INTERNATIONAL SEDONA FILM FESTIVAL

Artikel en foto’s door Natalie Hand

Lakota Media Project/Owe Aku

Bron: Censored News: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.be/2015/03/crying-earth-rise-up-premiere-packed-at.html

Vertaald door NAIS: www.denaisgazet.be

Sedona, Arizona

De emotioneel geladen documentaire ‘Crying Earth Rise Up’ werd deze week aan een bomvolle zaal getoond op het Sedona International Film Festival.

Filmmaker Suree Towfighnia, daughter, Debra White Plume, film editor 
Sharon Karp, and Elisha Yellow Thunder

Filmmaker Suree Towfighnia en film editor Sharon Karp waren aanwezig.

“ Dit is de vierde screening van de film. De productie is nog maar juist een week klaar. Nu heb ik een gevoel van opluchting en voldoening.” Verklaarde Towfighnia.

De film focust op twee Oglala Lakota vrouwen in het Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Zuid Dakota.

Elisha Yellow Thunder, een jonge moeder met een dochter Laila, die geboren werd met een cloaca anomalie.(*)

Wanneer Laila 8 jaar oud is laat haar enige werkende nier het afweten.

Elisha’s zoektocht om de oorzaak van haar dochters afwijking te vinden leidt haar naar het water in haar thuisland.

Haar mentor is Dr.Hannan LaGarry, een professor Geologie die haar helpt met haar studies geologie.

Yellow Thunder praat over haar mentor die haar leerde om het water en uranium rotslagen in haar thuisland te onderzoeken als mogelijke oorzaak van de hoge cijfers van afwijkingen bij de geboortes en doodgeboren kinderen in Pine Ridge.

“Het verhaal van mijn kleine meisje is te groot om te vertellen,” verklaarde Yellow Thunder.

Water bracht Elisha in contact met Debra White Plume, een frontlinie activist die actie voert tegen de Canadese mijnreus Cameo, die de Crow Butte Uranium –mijn uitbaat nabij Crawford, Nebraska, dicht bij het Pine Ridge reservaat.

“Dit werk gaat over het beschermen van het kostbare water, voor ons allen, voor Moeder Aarde en voor de toekomstige generaties. Deze film zal ons helpen om de waarheid aan de wereld te vertellen, over de hele wereld is er watertekort, droogtes of overstromingen, of het water is besmet en kan niet door mensen gedronken worden. Wij vertellen onze waarheid gebaseerd op onze liefde van onze generaties,” verklaarde Debra White Plume die een staande ovatie kreeg.

Janine Yazzie, Dine', Six World Solutions initiative, Deb and 
Louise Benally, Dine' anti-mining activist.

Dit is Towfighnia’s tweede productie waaraan de activiste Debra White Plume meewerkt. Haar eerste samenwerking met White Plume was een pro- hennep film “Standing Silent Nation”.

De film zal getoond worden in Portland, Oregon; Santa Fe, New Mexico; California; Nebraska; Navajo Nation en nog op andere plaatsen.

Deb with Klee Benally, singer and filmmaker.

(*) Cloaca anomalie is een samenkomst van het rectum, vagina en urinebuis in een enkel gezamenlijk kanaal. Cloaca anomalie komt 1 op 20.000 voor bij de levend geborenen. Het komt alleen voor bij meisjes en omvat het meest complexe defect in het spectrum van anorectale misvormingen.

Lakotas 'Crying Earth Rise Up' at Film Fests 2015

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Debra White Plume, Lakota

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Sedona Film Festival, Arizona, Feb. 26 and 28, 2015

http://www.sedonafilmfestival.org/

Frozen River Film Festival, Minnesota

Crying Earth Rise Up: Feb. 21, 2015 at 1 pm 

Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 5:30 PM - Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 8:30 PM (CST) Winona, MN

http://frff.org/

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"Crying Earth Rise Up" tells the story of two women who resolve to uncover the human cost of uranium mining and its impact on sacred water. Debra White Plume is a Lakota grandmother and tireless leader in the fight to protect her people's water and land from corporate polluters. Debra is the lead plaintiff in a case challenging uranium mining on Lakota treaty territory. Elisha Yellow Thunder intimately understands the dangers of contaminated water. A young mother and a geology student, she unknowingly drank water with high levels of radiation while pregnant with her first daughter, whose severe medical anomalies are life-threatening. "Crying Earth Rise Up" documents the growing movement of native and non-native people of the Great Plains in their battle to stop the expansion of uranium mining.