Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

July 3, 2010

Residential School Survivor: Queen of England Took Children Away

Breaking News: This weekend, protestors in Winnipeg and Toronto will confront Elizabeth Windsor, aka "Queen of England", with an unanswered letter asking that she identify the fate of aboriginal children under her care:

Residential School Survivor: Queen of England Took 10 Children Away
Photo: Kamloops Residential School


Statement of William Arnold Combes
http://www.hiddenfromhistory.org

I am an Interior Salish spirit dancer and am 58 years old. I live in Vancouver, Canada.

I am a survivor of the Kamloops and Mission Indian residential schools, both run by the Roman Catholic church. I suffered terrible tortures there at the hands especially of Brother Murphy, who killed at least two children. I witnessed him throw a child off a three story balcony to her death. He put me on a rack and broke some of my bones, in the Kamloops school basement, after I tried running away.

I also saw him and another priest burying a child in the school orchard one night.

In September 1964 when I was 12 years old, I was an inmate at the Kamloops school and we were visited by the Queen of England and Prince Phillip. I remember it was strange because they came by themselves, no big fanfare or nothing. But I recognized them and the school principal told us it was the Queen and we all got given new clothes and good food for the first time in months the day before she arrived.

The day she got to the school, I was part of a group of kids that went on a picnic with the Queen and her husband and school officials, down to a meadow near Dead Man's Creek. After awhile, I saw the Queen leave that picnic with ten children from the school, and those children never returned. We never heard anything more about them and never saw them again even when we were older. They were all from around there but they all vanished.

The group that disappeared was seven boys and three girls, in age from six to fourteen years old. I don't remember their names, just an occasional first name like Cecilia and there was an Edward.

What happened was also witnessed by my friend George Adolph, who was 11 years old at the time and a student there too.

____________ _________ __
William Arnold Combes
(signed and witnessed in the original)

February 3, 2010
Vancouver, Canada
Read more:

http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2010/07/residential-school-survivor-queen-of.html

Arizona's White Supremacy: A New Look for Old Racism


Arizona's White Supremacy: A New Look for Old Racism
Art by Marco Frucht.
Article by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

TUCSON- Arizona's new push for racist laws by the governor and legislators exposes a truth that many want concealed. Not only have white racists taken over control of Arizona lawmaking, but they are now battling to disguise their intentions, and the fact that racism toward people of color thrives in Arizona.

For Indigenous Peoples living in their homelands on the US/Mexico border, the racial profiling is already constant. People of color are already constantly stopped, detained and questioned for no reason by the US Border Patrol and police along the border.

Both the US Border Patrol and police officers along the border act with impunity. They stop, detain and question people without reason. (This even happens to me, a news reporter, when I travel with Tohono O'odham. I am stopped, detained and questioned for no reason.)

The abuse does not stop here. Ofelia Rivas, O'odham human rights activist, has been handcuffed and thrown up against a police vehicle as a Tohono O'odham police officer, a non-Indian, tried to silence her. She has been held at gunpoint by Border Patrol. Other O'odham have been beaten by Border Patrol agents, some in front of their young children.

As for the migrants in the desert, it only takes a look at federal court records in Tucson to see that US Border Patrol agents get away with murder. They shoot and kill people for throwing rocks. They murder people at close range without provocation.

Unless one lives in the border region, and is either a person of color, or spends time with people of color, the truth is not always apparent.

Racism thrives within the US Border Patrol and in police departments along the border, from California to Texas.

The Arizona governor and legislators will not be able to conceal the racism that infests Arizona. Marciopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is a living symbol of racism in Arizona, a living symbol that injustice and racism flourish in Arizona law enforcement.

The armed patrols stalking migrants in the desert are another dangerous infestation of racism, one of the many hate groups in Arizona.

Racists in Arizona are always looking for laws and rhetoric to avoid the truth, to put a new spin on their quest for power.

But the truth is, the United States was colonized by immigrants, immigrants who murdered entire Indian Nations and kidnapped, tortured and murdered blacks as slaves. The colonizers of the United States carried out a holocaust.

Just as Arizona lawmakers want to put a spin on their racism, the United States conceals the true foundation of its colonization, which was carried out by murderous white immigrants.

Southern Poverty Law Center: Hate Groups in Arizona
Hate Groups map link:
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/hate-map#s=AZ
.
American Border Patrol Anti-Immigrant Sierra Vista
Deaths Head Hooligans Racist Skinhead
Faithful Word Baptist Church Anti-Gay Tempe
Free American White Nationalist Tucson
Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints General Hate Colorado City
Mesa Crew Racist Skinhead Mesa
Nation of Islam Black Separatist Phoenix
National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
National Socialist Movement Neo-Nazi Phoenix
Nationalist Coalition Neo-Nazi Mesa
Phoenix Boot Boys Racist Skinhead Phoenix
Sons of Aesir Motorcycle Club General Hate Maricopa County
United for a Sovereign America (USA) Anti-Immigrant Phoenix
Vinlanders Racist Skinhead Mesa
Volksfront Racist Skinhead Phoenix
White Knights of America Neo-Nazi Tonopah

U.S. Hate Groups
The Southern Poverty Law Center counted 932 active hate groups in the United States in 2009. Only organizations and their chapters known to be active during 2009 are included.

July 2, 2010

Guatemala Maya: Searching for Bodies in the Sonoran Desert

LISTEN LIVE FROM SB 1070 Protest in Tucson
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
Sebastian Quinac, Guatemalan Maya Kaqchikel, describes searching for the bodies of Guatemalan women, men and children, who died while walking in search of a better life. Sebastian organizes search efforts in the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona with the Guatemalan Consulate, so families may bury their loved ones in their home villages. English, with brief summaries in Maya Kaqchikel and Spanish.
Sebastian describes his efforts to locate the body of a newly married 28-year-old Guatemalan Maya in the Sonoran Desert several years ago. Currently, he is organizing a search effort for a father and three sons who are missing in the desert south of Tucson, where extreme temperatures can reach 115 to 120 degrees, and even put searchers lives at risk. (Listen: 15 minute interview live from the SB 1070 Protest in downtown Tucson on Friday, July 2, 2010.)
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell


Listen to internet radio with Brenda Norrell on Blog Talk Radio

LISTEN: Indigenous Battle Border Racsim





Listen to internet radio with Brenda Norrell on Blog Talk Radio

Human Chain of Resistance to SB 1070 begins today
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
(FRIDAY, JULY 2, 2010) Indigenous Alliance without Borders is among 14 organizations taking action against new racist legislation in Arizona, including SB 1070, with a month of action. Today, Friday, July 2, a human chain will be formed around the Arizona State Building, at Congress and Granada downtown, from 4 to 7 p.m., in a show of taking back Arizona from racist legislators and the governor.
Listen to Jose Matus, Yaqui ceremonial leader and director of the Indigenous Alliance without Borders on Censored Blog Talk Radio. For 30 years, Matus has escorted Yaqui ceremonial leaders from Rio Yaqui, villages in southern Sonora, Mexico, to Arizona for temporary visits to conduct ceremonies. Matus deals with the harassments from Homeland Security and US Border Patrol while crossing the border on a regular basis. Listen (10 minute interview:)
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell
Immediately at the conclusion of this interview for Censored Blog Talk Radio, at the car in south Tucson, two Tucson police on bicycles came up and asked us if we had warrants out on us. Of course we didn't. In the case of Jose Matus, it seemed to clearly be a case of racial profiling.

Communities Uniting To Resist
Coalición de Derechos Humanos
No More Deaths
Tucson Samaritans
UA Students Against SB 1070
Tucson May 1st Coalition
International Action Center of Tucson
Tierra Y Libertad Organization - TYLO
We Reject Racism Campaign
Jewish Voice for Peace- Arizona Chapter
Alianza Indígena Sin Fronteras
Restoration Project
Alliance for Global Justice
Tucson YWCA
Calpolli Teoxicalli
We Reject Racism Campaign
Green Valley Samaritans
Corazón de Tucson (Vecinos Unidos Por La Dignidad Humana)
Human Chain of Resistence!!
4:00pm - 7:00pm
State Building
Northwest Corner of Congress and Granada
Tucson, AZ
Join us today for the first of four weeks of action and RESISTANCE against SB 1070. Spread the word!
Por los próximos 4 viernes, nuestra comunidad de Tucson se movilizara de 4:00 pm a 7:00 pm enfrente del edificio estatal en Tucson Arizona.
The next four Fridays, our Tucson community will gather from 4:00 to 7:00 pm in front of the State Building in Tucson, Arizona.
¡Venga y únase a crear la Resistencia y alzar la voz que estamos en contra de la SB 1070!
Come join in creating the Resistance and raise your voice that we're against SB 1070!
¿Que?Formaremos una cadena humana alrededor del edificio estatal para alzar la voz que estamos en contra de la SB 1070!
What?We'll form a human chain outside the State Building to raise our voices that we are against SB 1070!
¿Cuando?Viernes 2 de Julio de 4:00 pm a 7:00 pm enfrente del edificio estatal. Noroeste esquina de Congress y Granada.
When?Friday, July 2 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm in front of the State Building. NW corner of Congress and Granada.
¡No dejemos que nuestra voz se quede sin escuchar!
We will not allow that our voices are not heard!
¡YA BASTA!/ENOUGH!
Comunidades Uniéndose a La Resistencia
Communities Uniting To Resist