Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

September 9, 2017

RENO -- Peltier Prayer Circle and Rally, Photos by Bad Bear




Northern Nevada AIM Prayer Circle and Rally on Leonard Peltier's Birthday
Reno, Nevada
Photos by Western Shoshone Photojournalist Carl Bad Bear Sampson








Western Shoshone Photojournalist Carl Bad Bear Sampson said, "We wanted to show our respect and let people know we are still standing in Northern Nevada."

SANTA Fe: 12 Arrested Protesting Conquistador Celebration on Stolen Pueblo Land


Courtesy Photo

Photo Frances Madeson

12 Arrested by Santa Fe Police Department for Protesting the Entrada of the Fiestas de Santa Fe; At Least 8 Charged with Misdemeanor Crime of Criminal Trespass, to be Held Overnight

Frances Madeson

Special to Censored News

SANTA FE -- A demonstration of several hundred Natives and non-Natives protesting La Entrada, the annual celebration of the reconquest of Natives by Spanish Conquistadores in 1692 twelve years after the successful Pueblo Revolt, ended in a dozen arrests of protestors, primarily for criminal trespass.

At 5:09 pm, the individuals singled out for arrest at the 3rd consecutive protest of La Entrada at the Fiestas de Santa Fe were brought into the Santa Fe County Detention Center for booking. At least eight of those were arrested for Criminal Trespass, a misdemeanor, and one of the eight was additionally charged with Disorderly Conduct, a petty misdemeanor under the New Mexico criminal statutes. 

At around 8 pm, Santa Fe Police Department Public Information Officer Greg Gurule told Censored News that 80 officers were involved in the arrests, and that no one had been hurt.

The irony of Natives and their non-Native supporters being arrested on stolen Pueblo land for criminal trespass was not lost on the friends and partners of some of those arrested, who were waiting along with Censored News for the arrival of the arrestees at the Detention Center. Ordered by a stern group of four security officers to vacate the parking lot, or be subject ourselves to arrest for trespass, we were not permitted to stand at a distance even of a hundred yards and watch them get out of the van to make sure they were all intact. There was cause for concern because at least half a dozen of those arrested had been held in the police van for over four hours, and temperatures had risen outside to 81 degrees.

Dan Cron, Esq., who has organized the arrestees' access to what he termed a pro bono legal defense "strike force," explained the process for release of arrestees charged in the Magistrate Court system. (Municipal Court or District Court release processes may be different.) Cron told Censored News that on July 1, 2017 an amendment to the NM State Constitution went into effect that revised the prior bond and release system. In the pre-amendment system, bond could be posted almost immediately and people could be released by virtue of paying the bond. The problem with that system he explained was that many indigent people could not raise the few hundred dollars needed to post bond, and often languished in incarceration. 

Since the amendment has gone into effect, judges are required by law to evaluate cases within 48 hours, in this instance by Sunday afternoon/evening at the latest. If the arrestee is determined not to be a danger, bond is allowed to be posted and the arrestee released. Santa Fe's four Magistrate Court judges serve on a rotation basis and usually go to the detention center on Saturdays and Sundays, so it is possible that the arrestees will be released tomorrow (Saturday), or not. 

La Entrada, which was scheduled to be held from 2-3 pm, was unexpectedly moved to noon today, and the program, usually an hour long, was curtailed to twenty minutes. Censored News got wind of the schedule change around 11:30 am, and reached out to Matt Ross, Santa Fe's Public Information Officer and Rima Krisst, Santa Fe Tourism's Tribal Liaison for confirmation and explanation, but received no response from either city employee. 

The Entrada protest, which had been called by organizers for 1pm at Cathedral Park, where the protestors had planned to rally before marching to the nearby plaza, was caught by surprise. Organizers abandoned the idea of gathering at Cathedral Park and told attendees to proceed directly to the plaza where the reenactment of Don Diego de Vargas entering the city to retake it for the Spanish crown was underway. When protestors arrived at the plaza in this more haphazard way, another surprise awaited them--a cordoned off area designated as a "Free Speech Zone."

The concept of a "Free Speech Zone" was a hallmark of Michael Bloomberg's mayoralty in New York City. Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzalez recently received $800,000 in support of a failed "soda tax" measure from the billionaire whose net worth, according to Forbes, is estimated to now be $53 billion. Bloomberg's fortune rose from only $4 billion, when he assumed the mayoralty in 2001. He is now the 6th richest man in Turtle Island.

Today in Santa Fe protestors were corralled by the police into Mayor Javier Gonzalez's "Free Speech Zone," and those who ventured outside its confines to continue the protest were subject to arrest. 

Witnesses said that Jennifer Marley, one of the lead organizers of The Red Nation, a sponsoring organization of the protest, was forced to the ground by at least four officers, handcuffed and paraded up and down a street for no apparent reason. 





September 7, 2017

'Racism and the Indigenous World' by Chili Yazzie, Dineh



Censored News Series on Racism in America
RACISM AND THE INDIGENOUS WORLD
By Duane 'Chili' Yazzie
Censored News
My supposition is that there was not just one creation but four, a black one, a yellow one, a brown/red one and a white one. Accordingly peoples across the planet have their own creation stories. We were all made by the same Creator and in his benevolence he gave us each a distinct way to live, exemplified by the separate uniqueness of our peoples. So long as people lived in accord with their original virtues and principles, there was happiness and peace.
When Columbus came upon the Indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere he wrote the following to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, his benefactors and financiers, “So tractable, so peaceable, are these people, that I swear to your Majesties there is not in the world a better nation. They love their neighbors as themselves and their discourse is ever sweet and gentle, and accompanied with a smile: and though it is true that they are naked, yet their manners are decorous and praiseworthy”. Then he and his successors proceeded to smash the Indigenous world with great deliberateness.
The white race, likewise, would have been given the original gifts of righteousness, humanity, peace and freedom and they probably lived these virtues for many years. So what happened, that a core of them became arrogant, greedy and barbaric? My speculation is that, in the far distant past they were brutishly intruded upon. The vile intruder was none other than Lucifer, the guy who got kicked out of heaven, the guy fell in physical form or spirit form and he had to land somewhere. He fell among the white race and he proceeded to subvert the people, his “host”.
He brainwashed the people to believe that they were superior to all, that the world is theirs and that they had to go out and claim it, regardless of who or what might be in the way. And that they should get filthy rich in the process. The mission was to destroy all that was good and natural in the Creator’s creation. This was Lucifer’s revenge.      
Predominately in world history it has been the white race that has ventured out onto unchartered waters to lay claim to all they found. This mission to conquer new lands, exacting annihilation and seeking fortune was sanctified for centuries by an earthly power, the Pope. The Pope has been regarded as the Ruler of the World, he was/is believed by his followers to be endowed with supreme authority by divine right. As the purported Ruler of the World, various Popes throughout history issued Papal Bulls (proclamations). There are at least three such Papal Bulls that ultimately impacted and permanently devastated the world of the Indigenous Peoples.
On June 18, 1452, Pope Nicolas V issued the Dum Diveras which in essence, declared that all pagans were to be conquered and consigned to perpetual servitude.
On January 05, 1455, the same Nicolas V issued the Romanus Ponifex which authorized European dominion over discovered lands and sanctified the seizure of new lands, it encouraged the enslavement of non-Christian people of the world and to claim all their possessions and covert those possessions to the use and profit of the Europeans.
On May 04, 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued the Inter Caetera which granted to Spain, the ownership of all the lands to the West, the Western Hemisphere.
The purposes of the Romanus Ponifex and the Inter Caetera eventually combined to be what we now know as the Doctrine of Discovery. These Papal Bulls and the Doctrine of Discovery provided the authorization, justification and motivation for the capture and subjugation of the Western Hemisphere; the greatest land fraud and largest holocaust in human history.
The premises of white superiority, white supremacy and white privilege are conceived through the conspiracy and intent of these Papal Bulls. The practice of these whiteness paradigms concludes as racism against people of color. The racism of this core group is ingrained, it is in their DNA by now. Racism is like an addiction, a strong addiction, however, as some alcoholics and drug addicts who kick their habits, a racist could also rise above this sickness. If they have the courage of a sober alcoholic.  
The premise of american capitalism also has its roots in these Papal Bulls. An implicit cause of racism is capitalism. The wellness of mind and spirit of the capitalist is to have money and the purpose of life therefore, is to get more money. The quest for wealth is a powerful force, a greater addiction than racism. A relentless and unquenchable hunger for riches intertwined with racism is a force nearly unstoppable. This is the main thrust of racism that continues to intrude and destroy the Indigenous world. My conclusion is that so long as there is capitalism there will be racism; they both have the same immoral wicked roots.
Copyright Duane Chili Yazzie, Censored News