Contact: Mark Anquoe, American Indian Movement - West
(415) 566-5788 gazelbe@yahoo.com
http://www.aimwest.info/
Corine Fairbanks American Indian Movement – Santa Barbara (805) 212-4947
corine68@yahoo.com
http://www.myspace.com/aimsantabarbara
Native Americans Protest Reinstatement of Racist Mascot
By Mark Anquoe and Corine Fairbanks
CARPINTERIA, California – The Carpinteria based Coalition Against Racism in Education (C.A.R.E.) will hold a rally and protest outside of Carpinteria City Hall on Tuesday, February 10th at 4:30 pm. That evening, the Carpinteria district school board will continue to hear arguments regarding a petition to rescind its own April 2008 decision to remove the Native American sports imagery at Carpinteria High School. C.A.R.E. demands that the previous decision be upheld in accordance with official positions on Native American mascots published by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the National Education Association, the American Psychological Association and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, among others.
The demonstration is also being held to draw attention to the threats and intimidation against the Native American community that have become commonplace since the 2008 ruling. Supporters of the racist mascot have made multiple death threats against Eli Cordero, the 15 year old Chumash youth who originally petitioned the school board to remove the imagery. A child of one of the supporting school board members was also targeted, prompting the child’s transfer to another school. No one has been charged with making the threats, as police have refused to recognize any “credible threat”. Those who publicly support the mascot’s removal have been refused service at local restaurants, harassed in their homes and even pursued into and accosted at their churches.
Protest organizers expect aggressive opposition at the Tuesday rally. At a protest on January 27th, the Federal Department of Justice sent an agent from their Los Angeles office to ensure proper police protection of demonstrators. Previous protests have been met with mascot supporters shouting racist epithets, spitting, and throwing rocks.
Although the Carpinteria school board will hear arguments on Tuesday, it is not expected to vote on the matter until February 24th. C..A.R.E is also organizing a rally and march on that date.
February 9, 2009
Katenay: Resistance at Sweet Water Stronghold
Protesting is not Resisting, Resistance are based on Profound Manifestos:
“Ancient Big Mountain Supreme Ways Dictates Dineh Resistance, Pauline Whitesinger Continues to Defy B.I.A. Police Harassment & Threats”
By Bahe Y. Katenay
Sheep Dog Nation Rocks
http://sheepdognationrocks.blogspot.com/
Republished with permission
Sweet Water Stronghold, Big Mountain. February 9, 2009 - Dineh elder resister of the traditional lands of Sweet Water is bundled up for the chilly winds as she takes some hay out to her sheep and goats. The herds need a little extra feed before going out to graze. The non-Indian, volunteer supporter is dressed warm and ready to follow the sheep as he chops some wood for grandma, Pauline and while the herds nibble on the scattered hay on the ground. Not many non-Indian volunteers do occasionally make themselves available from their busy lives to come out for short stays and help traditional, elder resisters. Very few traditional elder residents are now left throughout such regions affected by the harsh relocation laws of 1974.
When asked, “How is everything out here?” The well-outfitted supporter says, “Just a lot of babies, and that is why I’m carrying this!” He wears a large, hand-sewn canvas bag which he referred to is to be used in case any of the sheep or goats have “babies.” Soon the sheep and goats are done feeding and they head towards the great pristine canyon of Sweet Water, and the supporter suddenly quits all chit-chat, grabs his stick and runs off toward a herd that is disappearing into the juniper forest.
Each non-Indian supporter that make these short stays with traditional elders have unique and deep sense of passion that is more than just positive, but they have the understanding of the suffering from injustice and the presence of environmental destruction. Though these kind of ‘hardcore’ supporters are becoming rarer, they value the human connections to nature or to the eco-systems rather than connections to corporate entities and its policing/policies. They see and appreciate, more than most native Americanas, what still exist out here at Big Mountain especially where an elder like Pauline lives. Supporters like this one at Sweet Water do have ‘profound’ commitments to stay two weeks or more to learn and experience a glimpse of natural survival skills and maybe a very small bit of ancient human ritual ways. Within their profound commitments they know they may encounter at any moment the ‘terror-threats’ of the U.S. sponsored, BIA Indian Police Gestapo.
Grandma Pauline moves about slow as she closes the “hay barn” doors that are made from frames of a single-bed, and the barn’s roof is of tattered plastic tarps and the walls are of leaning juniper logs. She greets with a friendly and joyful hand shake as she adds a little sense of humor to her greeting. Grandma is still strong but age is still giving her a challenge, too. She is like a story teller as she makes numerous comments about things and about the conditions out there. She also knows that she is part of a situation which is the struggle for liberation at Big Mountain—her birth place.
A few supporters are very concerned and that is why this independent monitoring of human rights violation and religious intolerance is being carried out. The Arizona-based, Black Mesa Indigenous Support had received a phone message on behalf of Pauline in January about BIA Police personnel posing threats to demolish a traditional earth lodge. Because of the lack of resources, it took a while for the support network to finally establish contact and get the information. This situation with her re-building this sacred lodge should be a natural process but the regional BIA Hopi Agency saw it as a violation of U.S. Court decisions in the name of the federally-supported Hopi council. Grandma Pauline who still lives according to her ancestors’ ancient, cultural lifestyles completed the earth lodge and which is another, direct-action that is obviously missing in Indian country, true Native Resistance!
Grandma recalls what happened on January 20th as she also refers to a radio announcement, “It was about that time, 10 AM, when the radio said that in the east ‘the hand shall to be raised,’ when my grandson beckoned me outside because there were some visitors. It was those BIA-Hopi Police, again, and one officer got out of the vehicle followed by a female officer. I sat down on the bench against the house and they both sat on either side of us, the man who spoke Dineh sat next to me. As he said, ‘we hear you are out here sitting in the mud and we come to check on you,’ the third officer got out of the vehicle and started to walk over towards the newly rebuild lodge.
“My response to the officer next to me was, ‘I’m sitting in the mud out here? You say that as if you spoke with someone that lives with me and knows about my situation.’ Then we all noticed that the third officer was taking more pictures of the earth lodge like (they) do not have enough pictures of it by now.
“I begin to ask the officer sitting with us, why do you all need more pictures and you all should just stop these picture-taking of my home? The officers both ignored my request but the third officer came over and took a couple pictures of me and my grandchildren. The police said nothing more to us but left to return and drive by my resident again, and they drove slowly like they were still up to something. About a week ago, (they) did not come here but (they) again drove by very slowly like they were making some intense observations. I believe these (BIA) police are going to start doing as they please because the actual Hopi council is in defunct…”
The Call to Action for Support Continues
The protests in the American streets where Starbuck, Bank of American and GE own the concrete-n-steel sidewalks are hopeless! Come to the place of opportunity to show the American Police State that you support the natural humans pay homage to, not control, the Mother Earth. At Big Mountain, you will see and understand what real resistance is and experience being part of defending the profound ancient ways of life that are threaten into extinction. Come out, rough it, have patience, find that humbleness within you, and you will be in the human circle for revolution. Help, Save the Microcosm of the Universe at Big Mountain, the Whitesinger Earth Lodge!
© Sheep Dog Nation Rocks, 2009
>>>>
For more information about how you can help, contact: blackmesais@riseup.net or visit www.blackmesais.org and / or leave a voice message @ 928-773-8086.
“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducated the person who learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours!”
--Cesar Chavez, (activist & educator)
“Ancient Big Mountain Supreme Ways Dictates Dineh Resistance, Pauline Whitesinger Continues to Defy B.I.A. Police Harassment & Threats”
By Bahe Y. Katenay
Sheep Dog Nation Rocks
http://sheepdognationrocks.blogspot.com/
Republished with permission
Sweet Water Stronghold, Big Mountain. February 9, 2009 - Dineh elder resister of the traditional lands of Sweet Water is bundled up for the chilly winds as she takes some hay out to her sheep and goats. The herds need a little extra feed before going out to graze. The non-Indian, volunteer supporter is dressed warm and ready to follow the sheep as he chops some wood for grandma, Pauline and while the herds nibble on the scattered hay on the ground. Not many non-Indian volunteers do occasionally make themselves available from their busy lives to come out for short stays and help traditional, elder resisters. Very few traditional elder residents are now left throughout such regions affected by the harsh relocation laws of 1974.
When asked, “How is everything out here?” The well-outfitted supporter says, “Just a lot of babies, and that is why I’m carrying this!” He wears a large, hand-sewn canvas bag which he referred to is to be used in case any of the sheep or goats have “babies.” Soon the sheep and goats are done feeding and they head towards the great pristine canyon of Sweet Water, and the supporter suddenly quits all chit-chat, grabs his stick and runs off toward a herd that is disappearing into the juniper forest.
Each non-Indian supporter that make these short stays with traditional elders have unique and deep sense of passion that is more than just positive, but they have the understanding of the suffering from injustice and the presence of environmental destruction. Though these kind of ‘hardcore’ supporters are becoming rarer, they value the human connections to nature or to the eco-systems rather than connections to corporate entities and its policing/policies. They see and appreciate, more than most native Americanas, what still exist out here at Big Mountain especially where an elder like Pauline lives. Supporters like this one at Sweet Water do have ‘profound’ commitments to stay two weeks or more to learn and experience a glimpse of natural survival skills and maybe a very small bit of ancient human ritual ways. Within their profound commitments they know they may encounter at any moment the ‘terror-threats’ of the U.S. sponsored, BIA Indian Police Gestapo.
Grandma Pauline moves about slow as she closes the “hay barn” doors that are made from frames of a single-bed, and the barn’s roof is of tattered plastic tarps and the walls are of leaning juniper logs. She greets with a friendly and joyful hand shake as she adds a little sense of humor to her greeting. Grandma is still strong but age is still giving her a challenge, too. She is like a story teller as she makes numerous comments about things and about the conditions out there. She also knows that she is part of a situation which is the struggle for liberation at Big Mountain—her birth place.
A few supporters are very concerned and that is why this independent monitoring of human rights violation and religious intolerance is being carried out. The Arizona-based, Black Mesa Indigenous Support had received a phone message on behalf of Pauline in January about BIA Police personnel posing threats to demolish a traditional earth lodge. Because of the lack of resources, it took a while for the support network to finally establish contact and get the information. This situation with her re-building this sacred lodge should be a natural process but the regional BIA Hopi Agency saw it as a violation of U.S. Court decisions in the name of the federally-supported Hopi council. Grandma Pauline who still lives according to her ancestors’ ancient, cultural lifestyles completed the earth lodge and which is another, direct-action that is obviously missing in Indian country, true Native Resistance!
Grandma recalls what happened on January 20th as she also refers to a radio announcement, “It was about that time, 10 AM, when the radio said that in the east ‘the hand shall to be raised,’ when my grandson beckoned me outside because there were some visitors. It was those BIA-Hopi Police, again, and one officer got out of the vehicle followed by a female officer. I sat down on the bench against the house and they both sat on either side of us, the man who spoke Dineh sat next to me. As he said, ‘we hear you are out here sitting in the mud and we come to check on you,’ the third officer got out of the vehicle and started to walk over towards the newly rebuild lodge.
“My response to the officer next to me was, ‘I’m sitting in the mud out here? You say that as if you spoke with someone that lives with me and knows about my situation.’ Then we all noticed that the third officer was taking more pictures of the earth lodge like (they) do not have enough pictures of it by now.
“I begin to ask the officer sitting with us, why do you all need more pictures and you all should just stop these picture-taking of my home? The officers both ignored my request but the third officer came over and took a couple pictures of me and my grandchildren. The police said nothing more to us but left to return and drive by my resident again, and they drove slowly like they were still up to something. About a week ago, (they) did not come here but (they) again drove by very slowly like they were making some intense observations. I believe these (BIA) police are going to start doing as they please because the actual Hopi council is in defunct…”
The Call to Action for Support Continues
The protests in the American streets where Starbuck, Bank of American and GE own the concrete-n-steel sidewalks are hopeless! Come to the place of opportunity to show the American Police State that you support the natural humans pay homage to, not control, the Mother Earth. At Big Mountain, you will see and understand what real resistance is and experience being part of defending the profound ancient ways of life that are threaten into extinction. Come out, rough it, have patience, find that humbleness within you, and you will be in the human circle for revolution. Help, Save the Microcosm of the Universe at Big Mountain, the Whitesinger Earth Lodge!
© Sheep Dog Nation Rocks, 2009
>>>>
For more information about how you can help, contact: blackmesais@riseup.net or visit www.blackmesais.org and / or leave a voice message @ 928-773-8086.
“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducated the person who learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours!”
--Cesar Chavez, (activist & educator)
The spy maggots, worming their way out
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
After the Denver police spy files were revealed in 2002, my friends, the spied upon, said, "It isn't just happening in Denver. It is happening all over the United States."
In Denver, the secret police spy files became public through attorney discovery in a local court case. The spy files did not become public because of the integrity of the Denver Police Intelligence Division. Those secret police spy files included cases that went back 30 years. Of course all of the American Indian activists names were there, the usual suspects working for peace and justice. But there were surprises in the list of 3,200 individuals and 208 organizations.
Denver police spied on an 80-year-old grandmother because she had a "Leonard Peltier" bumper sticker on her car.
Denver police also spied on American Indian attorneys at the Native American Rights Fund and a senator who worked for Native American rights. South Dakota Sen. James Abourezk, who once headed the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, was spied on. Abourezk obtained a copy of his spy file and said he still didn't have a clue why he was targeted. Abourezk said he hadn't been in Denver in 15 years. The Abourezk spy file just said the Denver police were watching him.
Anyone helping Navajos at Big Mountain or Zapatistas in Chiapas in Denver was under Denver police surveillance.
The Quakers, it turned out, were among the most spied on in the US, revealing the insanity of US police probes of the peace-seeking.
In the end, after a lawsuit was filed against the Denver Police Department by American Indians, the ACLU and others, the spied-upon could go and retrieve their spy files in Denver. However, this required updating Denver police records with current IDs and personal information, so many passed.
Now, years later, spy files are worming their way out of police file cabinets everywhere, like maggots in wait, feeding on the dark and decaying fecal matter of failed trust.
American Indians were a primary target of the Denver police. In retrospect, it appears Denver activists were a sort of pilot project for extensive domestic spying because of the large network of multi-agency task forces in Colorado and secret US military operations in Colorado Springs.
Elsewhere in the United States, groups of peace activists opposed to the Iraq war and organizations working against the death penalty were targets. Their meetings were infiltrated by liars and deceivers. In Maryland, peaceful climate change activists were listed as "suspected terrorists." Code Pink women who never came to Maryland were tracked in spy files by Maryland State Police.
Now, it is revealed that one million Americans are on the US watch list. One million Americans are being spied on. How can any government provide manpower to spy on one million people?
One of the ways that the US spies on 1 million citizens is to place secret spy rooms at telephone companies, including Verizon and AT&T, as revealed in the book, The Shadow Factory. The US subcontracted Israeli companies to data mine the operations, so now Israeli companies have sensitive information on most Americans. Still there was so much information from recording everyone's phone calls and e-mails, it was often ineffective. Those plotting the 9/11 attack were within two miles of the NSA. Although the NSA was listening, probably even eating at the same cafes, the US agents said they did not know the 9/11 plotters were in the neighborhood.
The CIA has a new strategy: Advertising for CIA spies in American Indian newspapers.
In reality, this means that those Native American newspapers are now funded by the CIA. Advertisements for the CIA Clandestine Services have appeared now for months on the websites of Indian Country Today and Native American Times, even on the same webpages with articles about American Indians struggling against this same oppression.
Mohawk Nation News states that spies for foreign nations forfeit their birthright. The US and Canada are foreign governments.
"Espionage is a violation of the Kaianerehkowa, the Great Law, our constitution. A spy breaking their own nation's laws can be imprisoned. Wampum 58 provides that, 'any persons who submit to laws of a foreign people are alienated and forfeit their birthright and claims of the Rotino'shonni:onwe and territory,'" Mohawk Nation News states.
During the Earth First! trial in Prescott, Arizona in 1991, a particularly sleazy informant was on the witness stand, one of many who revealed a trail of FBI misconduct. Of course, that revelation of FBI misconduct did not prevent the majority of the five defendants from going to prison. The FBI even had to drive the monkey wrenchers to their so-called crime because they didn't have a ride.
The sleazy informant was a former boyfriend of one of the defendants. He was placed back in her home as a babysitter to be an informant. He bugged his former girlfriend's bedroom with a listening device. When the federal prosecutor was asked why she placed this sleazy informant on the witness stand, her response was, "Everyone knows that informants are always sleazy."
As a news reporter covering the Earth First! trial as a stringer for AP, this was the first of many revelations in federal court for me, including the fact that the federal prosecutors and the federal judges are on the same team. This trial also opened a window into the corrupt world of US spying and how federal agents coax people into what appears to be a crime.
The question remains, "Who is the criminal now?"
Read more:
ACLU, July 2008: Watch list hits 1 million
http://www.aclu.org/privacy/35968prs20080714.html
Israeli firms listen to your cell phone calls
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95689436&ps=cprs
More on the Israeli telephone spy subcontractors:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1029006
AT&T whistleblower exposes network monitoring room
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/att-whistleblow.html
Tacoma, Wash., police spy files; police shared files with private prison contractor GEO (formerly Wackenhut)
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2009/01/271435.shtml
Brandon Darby, exposes himself as federal informant in Katrina aid at Common Grounds and RNC, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/us/05informant.html?ref=us
Obama says Freedom of Information Act is back in 2009:
http://www.narconews.com/Issue55/article3347.html
ACLU: Denver police spy files
FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force
Spy Files documents indicating that the FBI's Joint Terrorist Task Force is tracking peaceful protesters. Spy Files Documents relating to the Multi-Agency Group Intelligence Conference (MAGIC). http://www.aclu-co.org/spyfiles/samplefiles.htm
Maryland State Police spied on activists
http://www.aclu.org/police/spying/37898prs20081119.html
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
After the Denver police spy files were revealed in 2002, my friends, the spied upon, said, "It isn't just happening in Denver. It is happening all over the United States."
In Denver, the secret police spy files became public through attorney discovery in a local court case. The spy files did not become public because of the integrity of the Denver Police Intelligence Division. Those secret police spy files included cases that went back 30 years. Of course all of the American Indian activists names were there, the usual suspects working for peace and justice. But there were surprises in the list of 3,200 individuals and 208 organizations.
Denver police spied on an 80-year-old grandmother because she had a "Leonard Peltier" bumper sticker on her car.
Denver police also spied on American Indian attorneys at the Native American Rights Fund and a senator who worked for Native American rights. South Dakota Sen. James Abourezk, who once headed the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, was spied on. Abourezk obtained a copy of his spy file and said he still didn't have a clue why he was targeted. Abourezk said he hadn't been in Denver in 15 years. The Abourezk spy file just said the Denver police were watching him.
Anyone helping Navajos at Big Mountain or Zapatistas in Chiapas in Denver was under Denver police surveillance.
The Quakers, it turned out, were among the most spied on in the US, revealing the insanity of US police probes of the peace-seeking.
In the end, after a lawsuit was filed against the Denver Police Department by American Indians, the ACLU and others, the spied-upon could go and retrieve their spy files in Denver. However, this required updating Denver police records with current IDs and personal information, so many passed.
Now, years later, spy files are worming their way out of police file cabinets everywhere, like maggots in wait, feeding on the dark and decaying fecal matter of failed trust.
American Indians were a primary target of the Denver police. In retrospect, it appears Denver activists were a sort of pilot project for extensive domestic spying because of the large network of multi-agency task forces in Colorado and secret US military operations in Colorado Springs.
Elsewhere in the United States, groups of peace activists opposed to the Iraq war and organizations working against the death penalty were targets. Their meetings were infiltrated by liars and deceivers. In Maryland, peaceful climate change activists were listed as "suspected terrorists." Code Pink women who never came to Maryland were tracked in spy files by Maryland State Police.
Now, it is revealed that one million Americans are on the US watch list. One million Americans are being spied on. How can any government provide manpower to spy on one million people?
One of the ways that the US spies on 1 million citizens is to place secret spy rooms at telephone companies, including Verizon and AT&T, as revealed in the book, The Shadow Factory. The US subcontracted Israeli companies to data mine the operations, so now Israeli companies have sensitive information on most Americans. Still there was so much information from recording everyone's phone calls and e-mails, it was often ineffective. Those plotting the 9/11 attack were within two miles of the NSA. Although the NSA was listening, probably even eating at the same cafes, the US agents said they did not know the 9/11 plotters were in the neighborhood.
The CIA has a new strategy: Advertising for CIA spies in American Indian newspapers.
In reality, this means that those Native American newspapers are now funded by the CIA. Advertisements for the CIA Clandestine Services have appeared now for months on the websites of Indian Country Today and Native American Times, even on the same webpages with articles about American Indians struggling against this same oppression.
Mohawk Nation News states that spies for foreign nations forfeit their birthright. The US and Canada are foreign governments.
"Espionage is a violation of the Kaianerehkowa, the Great Law, our constitution. A spy breaking their own nation's laws can be imprisoned. Wampum 58 provides that, 'any persons who submit to laws of a foreign people are alienated and forfeit their birthright and claims of the Rotino'shonni:onwe and territory,'" Mohawk Nation News states.
During the Earth First! trial in Prescott, Arizona in 1991, a particularly sleazy informant was on the witness stand, one of many who revealed a trail of FBI misconduct. Of course, that revelation of FBI misconduct did not prevent the majority of the five defendants from going to prison. The FBI even had to drive the monkey wrenchers to their so-called crime because they didn't have a ride.
The sleazy informant was a former boyfriend of one of the defendants. He was placed back in her home as a babysitter to be an informant. He bugged his former girlfriend's bedroom with a listening device. When the federal prosecutor was asked why she placed this sleazy informant on the witness stand, her response was, "Everyone knows that informants are always sleazy."
As a news reporter covering the Earth First! trial as a stringer for AP, this was the first of many revelations in federal court for me, including the fact that the federal prosecutors and the federal judges are on the same team. This trial also opened a window into the corrupt world of US spying and how federal agents coax people into what appears to be a crime.
The question remains, "Who is the criminal now?"
Read more:
ACLU, July 2008: Watch list hits 1 million
http://www.aclu.org/privacy/35968prs20080714.html
Israeli firms listen to your cell phone calls
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=95689436&ps=cprs
More on the Israeli telephone spy subcontractors:
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1029006
AT&T whistleblower exposes network monitoring room
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/att-whistleblow.html
Tacoma, Wash., police spy files; police shared files with private prison contractor GEO (formerly Wackenhut)
http://seattle.indymedia.org/en/2009/01/271435.shtml
Brandon Darby, exposes himself as federal informant in Katrina aid at Common Grounds and RNC, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/us/05informant.html?ref=us
Obama says Freedom of Information Act is back in 2009:
http://www.narconews.com/Issue55/article3347.html
ACLU: Denver police spy files
FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force
Spy Files documents indicating that the FBI's Joint Terrorist Task Force is tracking peaceful protesters. Spy Files Documents relating to the Multi-Agency Group Intelligence Conference (MAGIC). http://www.aclu-co.org/spyfiles/samplefiles.htm
Maryland State Police spied on activists
http://www.aclu.org/police/spying/37898prs20081119.html
Investigation: COINTELPRO 'Reign of Terror'
From: LPBSG North Denver CO
Subject: The FBI must be investigated re. COINTELPRO “Reign of Terror”
Sample Letter : To The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
Chairman Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. House of Representatives
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Congressman Conyers,
COINTELPRO is an acronym for a series of counterintelligence programs conducted in the 1950s-1970s by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) against various dissident groups and political activists.
Despite citizens’ efforts since 1975, no serious effort has been made to officially investigate alleged constitutional and human rights violations by the FBI against such organizations and individualsnor have such occurrences against residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, been addressed.
In 1975, the U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (or “Church Committee”) was poised to address allegations of misconduct with respect to the FBI’s counterintelligence program and its targeting of Indigenous civil rights organizations and Native American activists following the 71-day siege at Wounded Knee, SD (27 Feb-8 May 1973). That hearing was cancelled and never rescheduled.
The last official request for relief, initiated in March 2004 (and still pending), was a request to your Committee for congressional hearings focused on the FBI’s improper use of confidential informants in Indian Country.
I join with other activists and organizations in asking the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, to schedule hearings on "COINTELPRO: Its Legacy and Continuing Impact." This inquiry must include an investigation of the so-called “Reign of Terror” on the Pine Ridge Reservation (1973-1976), the many deaths and injuries that occurred during that time, and the role of the FBI in fomenting violence on the reservation in an attempt to “neutralize” the Indigenous rights movement.
All Americans have the right to know the truth. Most of all, however, Indians must be heard on these matters.
I believe that these measures will finally bring closure to the residents of Pine Ridge and put to rest the tragic events of the 1970s. I also believe this to be the Committee’s opportunity to find the truth and, hopefully, pass legislation that will begin to address some of the gross injustices committed not only against political activists and dissident organizations under the auspices of COINTELPRO, but reverse laws enacted since September 11, 2001, that have limited our constitutional freedoms.
Sincerely, [Your Full name + address & Signature] -- end sample letter --
Send a copy of your correspondence to: Senator Patrick Leahy,
Chairman Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. Senate
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
IPF WEBSITE:
http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm
and www.myspace.com/leonardpeltierisinnocent IPF e-mail: ipforum@skynet.be
Also, please visit the website of the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee (LPDOC): www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
LPDOC e-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
Subject: The FBI must be investigated re. COINTELPRO “Reign of Terror”
Sample Letter : To The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
Chairman Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. House of Representatives
2138 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Congressman Conyers,
COINTELPRO is an acronym for a series of counterintelligence programs conducted in the 1950s-1970s by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) against various dissident groups and political activists.
Despite citizens’ efforts since 1975, no serious effort has been made to officially investigate alleged constitutional and human rights violations by the FBI against such organizations and individualsnor have such occurrences against residents of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, been addressed.
In 1975, the U.S. Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (or “Church Committee”) was poised to address allegations of misconduct with respect to the FBI’s counterintelligence program and its targeting of Indigenous civil rights organizations and Native American activists following the 71-day siege at Wounded Knee, SD (27 Feb-8 May 1973). That hearing was cancelled and never rescheduled.
The last official request for relief, initiated in March 2004 (and still pending), was a request to your Committee for congressional hearings focused on the FBI’s improper use of confidential informants in Indian Country.
I join with other activists and organizations in asking the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, to schedule hearings on "COINTELPRO: Its Legacy and Continuing Impact." This inquiry must include an investigation of the so-called “Reign of Terror” on the Pine Ridge Reservation (1973-1976), the many deaths and injuries that occurred during that time, and the role of the FBI in fomenting violence on the reservation in an attempt to “neutralize” the Indigenous rights movement.
All Americans have the right to know the truth. Most of all, however, Indians must be heard on these matters.
I believe that these measures will finally bring closure to the residents of Pine Ridge and put to rest the tragic events of the 1970s. I also believe this to be the Committee’s opportunity to find the truth and, hopefully, pass legislation that will begin to address some of the gross injustices committed not only against political activists and dissident organizations under the auspices of COINTELPRO, but reverse laws enacted since September 11, 2001, that have limited our constitutional freedoms.
Sincerely, [Your Full name + address & Signature] -- end sample letter --
Send a copy of your correspondence to: Senator Patrick Leahy,
Chairman Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. Senate
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
IPF WEBSITE:
http://users.skynet.be/kola/index.htm
and www.myspace.com/leonardpeltierisinnocent IPF e-mail: ipforum@skynet.be
Also, please visit the website of the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee (LPDOC): www.whoisleonardpeltier.info
LPDOC e-mail: contact@whoisleonardpeltier.info
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