Navajo peace diplomat selected for Iran

Navajo selected as peace diplomat for
delegation to Iran

Michelle Cook is a community worker, spiritual activist, and a recent graduate from the University of Arizona with a B.A. in Women's Studies and American Indian Studies. She has advocated for the rights and well being of indigenous peoples and communities both domestically and internationally including the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Michelle is an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation born of the Walk Around Clan and Close to the Water's Edge Clan. She currently resides with her grandmother in Oak Springs Arizona.

Michelle has recently been selected by the Fellowship of Reconciliation (F.O.R) to participate as a civilian diplomat on a Peace and Friendship Delegation to Iran. This fact-finding mission hopes to shed light on and prevent a potential war between the United States and Iran. This is her story and journey.

By Michelle Cook

Part I

The war in Iraq and the Middle East in general was an abstraction, something far from me both physically and intellectually, that was until my sister Gabriella Notah was deployed to Iraq in March 2008. When she was deployed my life changed, no longer would I have the privilege to ignore the war, or its costs, because regardless of whether or not I wanted it, the war, came to me, to my door step, impacting my life, my home, and my family. I see the toll it takes on my family, how deeply we miss her and love her.When I was asked to go to Iran to advocate for peace and dialogue in hopes of preventing Washington's next war, I could not refuse. I believe that it is my responsibility to my sister, to all our people serving in the military and armed forces, to our veterans who have survived war, to know what the facts are, before our people are sent to fight at Washington's behest. I wish I could trust what the U.S. is government officials are saying about Iran that we are to be threatened and in fear of them, but as an indigenous person, I have been taught by history's cruelest lessons to be suspicious of Washington's words and promises. Therefore, it is our responsibility as individuals and as a Nation, to ask these tough questions, to think critically about how another war would effect our people in particular and to do everything in our power to prevent a war that would result in the loss of Navajo lives and human suffering. If our people are asked to go to war then let us make sure we know why, we have a right to know, and a right to decide. I am going to find out for myself, to meet face to face with these people I am suppose to fear and call my enemy. I am going to tell them that our people aspire to be in hozho, to walk in beauty, that we are a peaceful people living by the law of beehaz'áannii. We as a people do not aspire to harm other living creatures or to walk a path of chaos and destruction. Our people and our ways are peaceful and beautiful. I intend to go to these lands to offer pollen to pray for the protection for our people who are there and peace for the peoples of those lands. I will do my best to share with the people of Iran the beauty and wisdom of our culture and life ways. To pray that beauty will be restored to them and their lands so they can rest and have peace and safety.I will do what I can to find the facts and to communicate these facts to our people and to the Navajo Nation Government. I hope that by doing so we as citizens and as a people can make an informed decision on the matter. I only ask that we quiet our minds, open our hearts, that we stop, and critically think about what is happening with Iran and how we could be effected if there is another war. There is still time for the Navajo people to enter into the debate and let our voices be heard. We are a powerful people; we are known throughout the world, and our voice, our words, and our prayers matter. They bring beauty, positive changes, and harmony to all things. As Navajo people I believe we have much to offer the debate on a potential war with Iran especially in our position and experiences with the United States nuclear industry specifically their practices of mining uranium from our lands for nuclear weapons, how they used our people and lands for nuclear testing and experimentation, and the disposal of their toxic radioactive waste on our people, sacred sites, lands, resources, and territories all of which have caused irreparable harm to our people and the generations to come. We also have much to offer the debate in terms of our methods and views of peace making, mediation, and non-violent conflict resolution. In the words of Sun-Tzu, "war is a grave affair of state; it is a place of life and death, a road to survival and extinction, a matter to be pondered carefully", I invite Navajo people and all indigenous nations both young and old, to do just this, to begin to ponder carefully, to have the courage to ask the tough questions, "Is a war with Iran necessary? Does the United States have the legal or moral authority to invade Iran? Is it legal? Most importantly, what role can Navajo people and indigenous nations play in preventing the war and advocating for harmony and non-violence between our peoples and those of the Middle East?

Photo 1: Courtesy photo Michelle Cook. Photo 2: Michelle Cook at the Indigenous Border Summit of the Americas 2007. Photo Brenda Norrell

Kansas ready to welcome Longest Walk

Kansas Welcomes the “The Longest Walk 2”

An American Indian Spiritual Walk for Survival and the 30th Anniversary of Historic Native American Rights March

This is a Direct Call to Support the healing of Mother Earth, environmental protection, and respect for Sacred Sites and Human rights

SYRACUSE, Kansas -- On Tuesday April 8 after traveling on foot over 1,500 miles from San Francisco, CA, the Northern Route of the Longest Walk 2 will arrive in Kansas as they continue their journey across the nation. The Longest Walk 2 Northern Route will walk on highway U.S. 50 from Colorado into Syracuse Kansas and then will be hosted by Kansans across the state through the month of April. On February 11, 2008 Longest Walk- 2 embarked in an extraordinary grassroots effort on a national level to bring attention to the environmental disharmony of Mother Earth, sacred site issues, and to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original longest walk. In the five-month journey from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. Longest Walk 2 participants are carrying out simultaneous North and South walk routes that will have together walked more than 8000 miles across the country.
American Indian activists Jimbo Simmons and Dennis Banks are leading the Walks. The two groups will converge in Washington DC on July 11, where they will meet with United States Congressional members. Jimbo Simmons of the International Indian Treaty Council sates, "In 1978, our communities faced many hardships such as non-existing religious rights and criminalization of our people who fought for cultural survival. This is why the Longest Walk was necessary. As Indigenous Peoples in the United States our environment and our cultural survival are directly correlated and are still imperiled today. ‘This is why we must walk once again’.
On Tuesday, organizers from Kansas will meet the Longest Walk 2 (LW 2) North route as they cross the border near Syracuse. Community members at Syracuse will host the LW 2 where the Walkers will spend two days sharing stories and learning about environmental issues that most concern Kansans. Topics discussed will be the Holcomb Coal Plant, Greensburg building green, Lawrence / Haskell College Wetlands protection, as well as other issues impacting Kansas. In support of LW 2 , The Kansas Sierra Club writes, “Earth's resources should be used responsibly and sustainable so all people including future generations may share nature's bounty. No community should bear disproportionate risks of harm because of their demographic characteristics or economic condition. We support Native People's wielding of their sovereign powers to protect the environment and to establish environmental justice.”
The LW 2 participants will stay in hosting communities along US 50 through Kansas, including Garden City, Dodge City, Wichita, Newton, Lawrence and Kansas City, where public events will be held nightly. The LW 2 will also visit the Greensburg area where Walkers will acknowledge the work of students, citizens, and the Greentown committee in their efforts with re- building a “green” community after the devastating tornado on May 4, 2007.
LW 2 organizers invite the public to join in community events and encourage citizens to walk with the group. The LW 2 consists of Indigenous peoples from North, South, and Central America, as well as people from Europe and Asia.
For local events and other information go to http://www.longestwalk.org/
Contacts:
Kansas State Coordinator
Jim Schneweis jims0326@aol.com
Western Kansas contact (913) 342- 4018
Joni Tucker-Nisbeth(913) 449 4554 (620) 708 2026
National Office
Ricardo Tapia (510) 520-6096 Jimbo Simmons (415) 568- 0926
www.longestwalk.org

Sand Creek, 'Wiping the Tears'

Marty Chase Alone, Oglala, representating the Red Cloud people and a Tiospaye of the Big Road Band, led ceremonies at the Sand Creek Massacre site to release the spirits and wipe the tears. Chase Alone's relatives were descendants of White Antelope and Yellow Wolf, massacred at Sand Creek.
During presentations to the Longest Walk Northern Route, Chase Alone also presented the Longest Walk with a staff representing Native American Prisoners to carry to Washington in their struggle to ensure the ceremonial rights for inmates. Listen to today's interview at Earthcycles:
http://www.earthcycles.net/
Photo: Marty Chase Alone by Brenda Norrell

Sand Creek, healing the wounds of a massacre

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Sand Creek Massacre site in Kiowa County, near Eads, where more than 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians were killed by the U.S. Army in 1864.

By Brenda Norrell
Human right editor
U.N. OBSERVER & International Report

Censored News

SAND CREEK, Colo. – Before first light, the Longest Walk arrived at the site of the massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho children, women and men. Some of the walkers had seen the spirit women dancing and clapping during the women’s walk toward Sand Creek. Other walkers heard the spirit women singing with joy as they arrived.

For the Cheyenne Arapaho on this journey, like Calvin Magpie, Jr., from Oklahoma, it was a time of profound sorrow, remembering the innumerable babies, children, women, men and elderly who were shot in cold blood and mutilated.

For others on the Longest Walk, like Jimbo Simmons, coordinator of the northern route, the assault at Sand Creek was one that has never ended, because now the National Park Service officials have positioned themselves in control and with authority at the site. It is now designated an historic site, with implications for tourism and exploitation.

In these killing fields, the Long Walkers walked up the hill overlooking the trees where Chief Black Kettle’s people camped. The trees are now bare and looked much like they would have on November 29, 1864, when the Colorado Militia carried out the murders of the innocents as the warriors were away from camp. Beyond Black Kettle’s camp site is a flat plain, without trees, where the people ran, where the bodies of the babies, women, children, men and elderly fell as the bullets pierced their bodies.

On the hilltop, the Long Walkers formed a circle, with the staff carriers facing east. Each Long Walker offered a prayer. Returning to the base of the hill, Long Walkers ate breakfast and reflected on this journey of mourning, sorrow and healing.

Rebecca Duncan, Wylacki from Round Valley, Calif., remembered the Cheyenne and Arapahoe massacred. “It was real hard because the spirits are alive.”

Duncan said two days earlier, she had an idea, to gather the women for a women’s walk toward Sand Creek. The women all joined her.

“We didn’t even get ten feet, it was like the women were clapping their hands and jumping around in a circle. The little kids seemed happy,” Duncan said of the massacred women and children.

The night before the memorial, a delegation from the Long Walk, including Cheyenne Arapahoe Calvin Magpie, spent the night at the massacre site. They prayed and introduced themselves to the spirits, before the other Long Walkers arrived.

Magpie said the healing begins this way, with respect, remembrance and prayers.

Gail Ridgely, Northern Arapaho from Wyoming and Sand Creek descendant, visited the Long Walkers here. Ridgely said it was an honor to be among the Long Walkers and the staffs they carry.

Before the memorial at the place of massacre, the Long Walkers watched the documentary, “The Sand Creek Massacre,” produced by Don Vasicek. Long Walkers viewed the film while camped by a reservoir earlier this week, and learned of the history of the massacre. Long Walkers said the film reveals the facts that they did not learn in school, details that do not exist in history books, including the shooting of young children.

Then, on Saturday, April 5, Long Walkers rose at 3 a.m. and traveled to the massacre site. They walked at first light the final half mile up the hill, overlooking the massacre site at Sand Creek.

On Saturday evening and Sunday morning, Marty Chase Alone, Oglala, representing the Red Cloud people and a Tiospaye of the Big Road Band, led ceremonies at the Sand Creek Massacre site to release the spirits and wipe the tears.

Chase Alone's relatives were descendants of White Antelope and Yellow Wolf, massacred at Sand Creek.

Long Walkers said they could hear and feel the unrest and agony when they first arrived. After the ceremonies, walkers said there was a feeling of peace and calm here. Chase Alone said the ceremonies were held to let the ancestors know that they could go on now.

During presentations to the Longest Walk Northern Route, Chase Alone also presented the Longest Walk with a staff representing Native American Prisoners to carry to Washington in their struggle to ensure the ceremonial rights for inmates.

Listen to Marty Chase Alone and others --- from Sand Creek at Earthcycles:
http://www.earthcycles.net/
More at:
Censored News Homepage
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Longest Walk
http://www.longestwalk.org/

Longest Walk, reunited after 27 years

On the Longest Walk Northern Route, near Sand Creek, Paul Owns the Sabre and his mother, Thelma Franks of Denver, are reunited after 27 years in Eads, Colorado. Lee Plenty Wolf Drum Group sang an honor song and a birthday song for all the birthdays they had missed. (Click on arrow to watch brief video.) Video by Brenda Norrell.

Waiting for first light at Sand Creek

By Brenda Norrell

SAND CREEK, Colo. -- It is still dark outside, at Sand Creek. The earth has not yet spun around to greet the morning sun. On this land the Colorado Militia murdered babies and children, butchered women and elderly. They were, they are, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe people. The Longest Walk is here early, waiting for first light. In front of us is the place of massacre. Behind us is California, Nevada, Utah and most of Colorado. The Longest Walkers and runners have crossed the land behind us on foot, ready to cross the land in front of us. I wonder who will hear the screams of the women, the mothers, who saw their children shot and bleeding, shot and dying. I wonder who will feel the old ones’ hearts when they saw their daughters and wives, mothers and sisters, dying in pools of blood with their babies clutched in their hands. One of the survivors’ descendants tells of the baby’s heart that stopped in the cold by the river. Then, suddenly, a ray of sunlight struck the child and this beam brought the child back to life. We are waiting for first light. We are waiting for first light to restore the sight of humanity. We are waiting for first light in a world that has grown dark with poison and ruin. We are waiting for the dead to make us alive again. We are waiting to remember, we are waiting for the world to remember.