Navajo Jean Whitehorse: Boarding schools, relocation and sterilization

The Occupation of Alcatraz offered Navajo Jean Whitehorse the best education
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com


SAN FRANCISCO -- Jean Whitehorse, Navajo, endured the US government’s boarding schools, relocation and sterilization. Today, she says the BIA unwittingly gave her the best education that money could buy; not by giving her job training in the San Francisco area, but by placing her near the Occupation of Alcatraz.
At the age of 19, it was the right time and the right place for Whitehorse to learn who she was as an American Indian.
Speaking at the 42nd Anniversary of the American Indian Movement, during the weeklong conference, Whitehorse described her own journey, beginning with the exile of her people, the Navajo or Dine’.
Whitehorse said when Navajos were forced on the Longest Walk, they were removed from their homeland for four years. The government returned Navajos to only ten percent of their land, and only did so because the government felt the land was worthless. Later, oil, gas, uranium and coal were discovered on Navajoland.
Whitehorse, from the Eastern Agency of New Mexico on the Navajo Nation, said she grew up with abuse in boarding schools. The “Board of Education was the ruler. It was to punish you. My whole boarding school experience was all about abuse.”
She said in those days, parents were not able to defend their children. “Back then, our mothers and fathers weren’t there to talk for us. They weren’t there to protect us.”
Next came relocation. Whitehorse was sent to the Bay area to learn a vocation, then was pressured to stay and work. During this time, she went to Alcatraz, two months after the initial takeover in 1969. This came at the time of Black Panthers and protests of the Vietnam War. San Francisco offered an education.
“I had to learn to survive.” From the very beginning, she wanted to go home, she did not know where she was. However, she was told that she was to learn a vocational skill. When she persisted to go home, she was told the BIA would get her a job.
“The longer I stayed here -- they kept me here -- I learned about myself, what it means to be an American Indian.”
Praising the young people who attended the AIM conference, Nov. 22-26, she urged Indian youths to learn their traditions, ceremonies and songs. “Learn your language, that is how you are going to learn to be strong.”
Whitehorse pointed out that Navajo elders say that when the people stop speaking their language, they will stop being identified as who they are as a people.
Urging young people to learn about their real history, she said it is important to know that the land of Navajos is held in trust by the US government and what that means in terms of natural resources.
Whitehorse studied law one year in order to make sure she understood federal Indian law. She discovered the secret of federal Indian law.
“I found out that it is not written to help us. It is written for Congress to use as they please.” She pointed out that Navajo elders are still being relocated because of the coal on their lands.
Besides being a target of relocation, Whitehorse was the target of another well-funded US government program.
It was “Native American sterilization, another genocide, another way to attack us.”
“Some of us were told, ‘You’re unfit to bring your own kind into this world. You’re uneducated, you’re on welfare. Your children are going to be on welfare too.’
“I only had one daughter when they did that to me. Sometimes I wish I had four or five children.”
“I’m very happy that a lot of families have little children,“ she said, urging parents to hold on to their children, and bring them up right.
“Make sure they keep their language.”
After boarding schools, relocation and sterilization, came self-determination.
But, she said, American Indian self-determination does not come easy.
“We have to work at it,“ she said, stressing the need to reunite and be strong. She said the future is in the hands of the youths.
The relocation programs were about removing the young people from the land, so the land could be seized for the resources.
Whitehorse said she stayed in the Bay area for four years, then went home.
“My education is very important to me. When I talk about where I’ve been, where I’m going, I always say, ‘I was here at the right time, at the right place, at the BIA’s expense.’ They sent me here, paid my way around, gave me money to stay. The more I stayed, the more involved I got with the movement on the island.”
Whitehorse said, "Stand up for what's right, even if you are standing alone."
.

Listen to more of this presentation, along with a talk by Yvonne Swan, Colville. Recorded by Earthcycles: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11027639

Watch Jean Whitehorse's presentations at the 2009 AIM West Conference.
Video by Mary Ellen Churchill. Filmed in San Francisco, California, November 23rd, 2009.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkIRkaBmmwo
Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87C513-G_Xo&feature=related
Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtX7zVc6Zus

AIM Conference: Video Highlights 2010

LINKS TO VIDEO HIGHLIGHS
AIM Women share strength and power at 42nd AIM Anniversary
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
SAN FRANCISCO -- The American Indian Movement's 42nd Anniversary continues today, Friday, at the Baha'i Center, beginning at noon, with a concert at 6 pmt: www.aimwest.info
Here are some highlights from Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday webcasts by Earthcycles. (Move the time bar, the tiny circle, forward to locate speakers on the videos.)
AIM Women's Leadership: Go to hour 1:54:30; Morning Star, Madona Thunderhawk, Yvonne Swan, Anne Begay and Corine Fairbanks:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11046674
Wednesday evening: Aztec dancers, Clyde Bellecourt and the Native Youth Discussion:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11067683
Clyde Bellecourt, AIM cofounder: Go to time: 1:27:00:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11046674
Yvonne Swan, Colville, and Jean Whitehorse, Navajo:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11027639
Indigenous Rights speaker Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. Speakers on disenrollments at Robinson Rancheria. Go to hour: 1:00:00
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11028232
Protection of burial grounds, Shellmounds and other sacred places. Wounded Knee and Morning Star. Go to time: 17:00:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11044797
Diabetes: Native speakers on diabetes and eating healthy, presenters with audience discussion. Go to time: 58:00:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11030202

Zapatistas and Vicam Yaquis: In Defense of Water

Photos above: Copyright Ofelia Rivas, O'odham. (Top) The Defense of the Water in Vicam Pueblo, Sonora, with Yaqui authorities, CNI representatives and organizers of the event. 

At the Indigenous National Congress on Yaqui's Vicam Pueblo, Zapatistas are the Stronghold

By Brenda Norrell Censored News http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.coma

November 23, 2010

Photo: Ofelia Rivas at Bolivia Climate Summit/Copyright Ben Powless

VICAM PUEBLO, Sonora, Mexico -- The Zapatistas joined Indigenous Peoples from throughout Mexico at the Yaquis’ Vicam Pueblo in Sonora, Mexico, for the National Indigenous Congress. With the urgent message, “In Defense of Water,” Indigenous Peoples united in the struggle for autonomy and protection of Mother Earth.

Ofelia Rivas, founder of the O’odham Voice Against the Wall from the US/Mexico border region, was a member of the O’odham traditional delegation. Zapatista Comandantes from Chiapas joined Indigenous from Michoacán, Veracruz, Oaxaca and throughout Mexico. While focused on the defense of water, Rivas recognized the Zapatistas as the Stronghold for Indigenous Peoples and pointed out the systematic displacement of Indigenous Peoples in Mexico.

Rivas said O’odham went to Vicam Pueblo as members of the National Indigenous Congress, Nov. 20-21, to support the people in defense of water and to discuss land, water, autonomy and the impacts of bad government. O’odham also brought their message.

In northern Sonora, a road is being constructed through O’odham land, which O’odham never gave consent for. O'odham did not give consent for the use of their water. Both their fresh lagoons and the Sea of Cortez, as non-O‘odham refer to it, are impacted by this new development. 

She said during the Congress the people created a strong Declaration from the National Indigenous Congress and the Yaqui Peoples. While there, Yaqui shared the story of their water, which originates in the Sierra Madres. The precious water of Yaquis is now targeted by the Mexican government, which plans to build an aqueduct to divert it.

“Even in Mexico, the treaties with the Yaquis have never been honored,” Rivas said, pointing out that both Mexico and the United States have failed to honor Indian treaties.

Rivas said Mexico’s new project would further divert water that Yaquis use for agriculture and survival. As a result, Yaquis have filed a lawsuit in Obregon against Mexico to regain their water rights. Rivas said traveling in Mexico means enduring checkpoints and always wondering whether one would make it to their destination. (The Rio Yaqui pueblos are located about an eight-hour drive south of the US/Mexico border.)

While camping in Vicam Pueblo for three days, O’odham were honored to observe the strong Yaqui culture and ceremonies. Rivas urged support for the Yaquis to halt the systematic oppression, which will diminish their way of life.

“They need the support of all people.”

“The government is dividing the people to fight amongst each another.”

With increased removal for their homelands by the government of Mexico, Yaqui and other Indigenous Peoples are now faced with displacement and separation from their communities, long known as one of the first steps in the genocide of peoples.

“It looks like the reservation system," she said. Rivas said Mexico is removing Indian people from their territories while claiming that new programs will end their poverty with subsistence.

Meanwhile, the killing continues.

“They are still killing us, Indigenous Peoples, throughout Mexico.” While the bloodshed continues, Rivas said Indigenous Peoples are continuing to build autonomy and addressing bad government. This new unity and strength of Indigenous Peoples is resulting in fresh attacks from governments and corporations. She said the bad government sees the people standing up.

“This is the reason for the new attacks; there is a building of strength of Indigenous Peoples from throughout all the world.”

“We will always stand up for the defense of the water, the defense of the land, the defense of our autonomy, the defense of our way of life.”

Reflecting on the role of the Zapatistas, she said, “The uprising of the people has been the Stronghold.”

“The Zapatistas are the Stronghold for us Indigenous Peoples. They were pushed to the limit, where they said ‘OK, enough is enough! We are not going to let them take our lands, take our way of life, take our food, take our culture and exploit who we are as people.’”

“We’ve existed for thousands of years in our own systems. It is our way of life. We governed ourselves.”

“It has always been in defense for all creation, it has never been for individuals, specific organizations or governments. It has always been in defense of all living things. That is still the message of the Zapatistas.”

“This bad government is trying to dismantle that and divide the people.”

In Vicam, O’odham described the militarization of their homeland, Tohono O’odham land on the US/Mexico border.

“Every other day the helicopter comes at night, spotlights the homes and goes back and forth.” No one explains to the people what the Border Patrol is doing, working at night in the desert with heavy machinery.

For O’odham who gather firewood or venture out at night, asking questions of the Border Patrol means risking one’s life, detainment or harassment. O’odham women cannot sleep at night. Rivas, co-chair of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples at the Bolivia Climate Summit, is now preparing to attend the UN Climate Summit in Cancun, Nov. 29--Dec. 10, 2010, as an Indigenous grassroots delegate.

Indigenous Peoples and campesinas are arriving by caravans and establishing tent communities and marches during the summit. Rivas said she will carry from Cochabamba to Cancun the strength of the people. She will also carry the hope of the people in the United Nations, that it will work for real change. She said governments must stop denying global warming and set standards to decrease emissions, in order “to halt the contamination of the air we breathe and the water we drink.”

“The huge governments, developed nations, need to be responsible.” Rivas encouraged Indigenous Peoples to remain centered in their traditions. “We need to return to our ceremonial way of life, return to our prayers and start really concentrating on the well-being of Mother Earth, which is how we survived these thousands and thousands of years as Indigenous Peoples.”

“We need to go back to that and for people to realize that we have not disappeared off the land. We are still here.”

“We need to survive through Mother Earth and be responsible. Protect Mother Earth in any way you can,” she said, urging simple acts like not buying throwaway plastics.

“We need to remember to return to those roots. It will really make a change in our lives.” 

Listen to Ofelia Rivas' interview on this gathering of the National Indigenous Congress on the Defense of Water. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/brenda-norrell 

Read Yaquis statement: In Defense of Water http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2010/11/zapatistas-yaqui-in-defense-of-wateral.html

National Indigenous Congress: Official document 'En Defensa del Agua'

http://www.scribd.com/doc/44094723/Defensa-del-Agua-DECLARACION-DE-VICAM

English translation: Declaration 'In Defense of Water' http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/11/vicam-pueblo-in-defense-of-water.html 

Article copyright Ofelia Rivas, Brenda Norrell, Censored News

Photo copyrights Ben Powless, Ofelia Rivas

May not be used without permission 

LISTEN NOW: Clyde Bellecourt AIM San Francisco

42nd Anniversary of AIM hosted by AIM West UPDATED: Listen NOW: AIM Women's Leadership Yvonne Swan, Morning Star Gali, Anne Begay, Madonna Thunder Hawk and Corine Fairbanks. Anne Begay, Navajo, mother of Kathy Peltier, daughter of Leonard Peltier, told of being questioned when Kathy was two years old. He said, “Well, we know who you are. And if you’re smart, you’ll know what we did to Anna Mae can happen to your daughter too.” The women's panel is speaking now of infiltration and the government agents with "shiny shoes" that stalked them and led to lives of fear for their children. Yvonne Swan, Colville, said the government is just a screen for the corporations. Madonna Thunderhawk, Lakota, spoke of the beginning of the movement and the harmony and spirit of family that existed. "As Clyde said, 'We were a movement.'" She said, "Anyone could jump on our bandwagon." "The respect was just there." Thunderhawk spoke of men and women treating one another with respect and dignity. To watch the AIM Women's Leadership presentation, slide time bar (the tiny circle forward to 1:54:00 ) Watch video recorded Tuesday: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/11046674 Previous speaker on video: Clyde Bellecourt