Excerpts only, click links for full articles.
On My Final White House Tribal Nations Conference, by President Barack Obama:
This week, I hosted my eighth and final White House Tribal Nations Conference as President, a tradition we started in 2009 to create a platform for people across many tribes to be heard. It was a remarkable testament to how far we’ve come.
It was just eight years ago when I visited the Crow Nation in Montana and made a promise to Indian country to be a partner in a true nation-to-nation relationship, so that we could give all of our children the future they deserve.
Slow, Clean, Good Food, by Winona LaDuke:
In an impressive fossil fuels travel day, I left the Standing Rock reservation and flew to Italy for the International Slow Food gathering known as Terra Madre. A world congress of harvesters, farmers, chefs and political leaders, this is basically the World Food Olympics. This is my fifth trip to Italy for Slow Food. I first went with Margaret Smith, when the White Earth Land Recovery Project won the Slow Food Award for Biodiversity in 2003, for our work to protect wild rice from genetic engineering. This year, I went as a part of the Turtle Island Slow Food Association- the first Indigenous Slow Food members in the world, a delegation over 30 representing Indigenous people from North American and the Pacific. We have some remarkable leaders, they are young and committed.
It is a moment in history for food, as we watch the largest corporate merger in history- Bayer Chemical’s purchase of Monsanto for $66 billion; with “crop protection chemicals” that kill weeds, bugs and fungus, seeds, and (likely to be banned in Europe) glyphosate, aka Roundup. Sometimes I just have to ask: ‘Just how big do you all need to be, to be happy?’
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Donates $250,000 to Standing Rock Legal Fund:
The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians is donating $250,000 to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s legal fund, citing the need to keep pushing for proper consultation even after the Dakota Access oil pipeline issue is decided.
“We support the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s effort to ensure the United States Army Corps of Engineers, or any other agency or department of the United States, strictly adheres to federal environmental review and tribal consultation requirements prior to authorizing any projects that may damage the environment or any sites that are of historic, religious, and cultural significance to any Indian tribe,” said Agua Caliente Chairman Jeff L. Grubbe in a statement on September 27, calling on President Barack Obama to make sure consultation is thorough.
Natives Speak Out Against the Santa Fe Fiesta – The Bloodless Reconquest:
A loud group of about 50 mostly Native protesters disrupted the Entrada kickoff event of the Fiestas de Santa Fe. This is the annual reenactment of Don Diego de Vargas’s “peaceful reconquest” of Santa Fe in 1692 as produced by Caballeros de Vargas, a group which is a member of the Fiesta Council, and several current and past City of Santa Fe Councilors are members of the Fiesta Council or played parts in the Entrada over the years. So these are layers you must wade through when people ask questions and protesters demand changes. And changes or outright abolishment of The Entrada are what the groups “The Red Nation” and “In The Spirit of Popay” are asking for.
Dire Climate Impacts Go Unheeded:
The social and economic impacts of climate change have already begun to take their toll—but most people do not yet know this.
Politicians and economists have yet to work out how and when it would be best to adapt to change. And biologists say they cannot even begin to measure climate change’s effect on biodiversity because there is not enough information.
Two studies in Science journal address the future. The first points out that historical temperature increases depress maize crop yields in the U.S. by 48 percent and have already driven up the rates of civil conflict in sub-Saharan Africa by 11 percent.
‘Counting the Hours’ By Rick Bartow:
Rick Bartow, a member of the Mad River Band of Wiyot, walked on April 2, 2016, and had suffered two strokes before he passed. The IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts reports that those events affected his work, and it can be seen in his collection as “exciting examples of Bartow’s production since his stroke… that evidence a new freedom of scale and expression.”
Born in Oregon in 1946, Bartow was never formally trained in the arts, though his artistic nature was encouraged and he did graduate from Western Oregon University with a degree in secondary arts education in 1969. Right after that he served in Vietnam from 1969-1971, and it was demons from that war that he spent his early years in art exorcising. He says he was “twisted” after Vietnam and his art can be described as disturbing, surreal, intense, and visionary; even transformative.
Celebration of Forgiveness at Black Elk Peak:
On a recent Autumn Saturday in the Black Hills, a handful of men and women gathered at around 9 a.m. at the Sylvan Lake trailhead just below Black Elk Peak. By 10 a.m., they numbered close to 80.
“The focal point of our gathering was to have family members of General Harney have an opportunity to apologize to members of the Little Thunder family,” said Basil Brave Heart, Oglala Lakota, an organizer of the event. Brave Heart initiated and led the effort to change the name of this highest peak east of the Rocky Mountains from Harney Peak to Black Elk Peak.
Among those standing in a circle that morning was Paul Stover Soderman, a seventh-generation descendant of General William Harney, known as The Butcher of Ash Hollow, and to the Lakota as the architect of the same conflict, known to them as the Massacre at Blue Water Creek. Soderman had come to apologize to Sicangu descendants of Chief Little Thunder, the Brule leader of those murdered in that conflict, and to seek forgiveness and healing.
All this and much more at ICTMN.
That photo of Black Elk Peak (or is it the Black Hills in general) is absolutely stunning.
Also, yay slow food!
And Rick Bartow’s art -- I love the colours, they’re bright but dark.
On that Santa Fe protest, yeah, that celebration has to be REALLY changed. It’s time to consider what happened and it was horrible. At the very least the Pueblos should be involved in the planning, it should be remembered that the people who were killed and oppressed and forced into slavery have no reason to celebrate that, and I agree that the history taught in school is awful. That needs to be changed too.
I’ll mention that de Vargas was not the only cruel and horrible person, there was also Juan de Oñate, who ordered the right foot cut off a bunch of Acoma men, in addition to slaughtering people and forcing them into slavery. When a statue of Oñate was built… well, one night the right foot was cut off. There was a note left that said “Fair is fair.” Indeed. It was eventually replaced by the sculptor, but you can still see the seam where it was reattached.
Kestrel:
Would have been more enlightened on the part of the sculptor to leave it off. At least it might have done some good that way, if it got one or two people to think.
@Caine: yeah… that would have been way better but the whole idea behind putting up the statue was to celebrate the Spanish take-over of the region. The reaction was sort of… “But that was 400 years ago! We should put that behind us!” And maybe we could, if people would stop treating indigenous peoples the world over like trash. And even if that were the case? Celebrating a sadistic creep like Oñate is just awful. If the idea is to celebrate togetherness or unity or something, then allow all the people a say, not just some people. Same thing for de Vargas; and oh yes, saying that they did “good” by “bringing Christianity to the region” is really, really debatable.
Kestrel:
Yeah, it is, but people make justifications because “civilization” and “christianity”. As if those were good things. As for the whole “oh, that was 150 years ago, or 400 years ago, or 500 years ago”, the only people who say that are the ones who weren’t at the business end of the pointy stick.
In the slow food article, Winona LaDuke makes a point to include the elders and the younger generation in the conversation. I notice this inclusiveness in many of the articles I’ve been reading on ICTMN, and I’m really appreciating it. White “culture” is not very good about fostering intergenerational links outside the immediate family. I guess that’s an effective way to divide people and keep them from supporting each other and passing on knowledge. Something I’d like to work on in my own life!
I wish I could see the Rick Bartow exhibit in person, those are some intense and beautiful paintings!
Stellatree:
No, and all too often, they aren’t so good with it inside the immediate family, either. That inclusiveness is a foundation of native way of life, from one tribe to the next. It’s a commonality among tribes and nations. As the one elder said at one of the ceremonies at camp, those of us who are adults, we are standing in the childrens’ past. It’s a different way of thinking about time. The past lives, not only in our elders, but in memory, stories, history, which bridges all those standing in the present, and stretches to the future, embodied by the children.
It’s also a matter of respect. Native children are taught to respect their elders, and to value them as well, and all native people respect and value children. The elders and adults are the keepers of history and tradition, the young people and the children are the future which will carry on that history and tradition.
Stellatree:
Right there with you! I so wish I could see them all in person too.
It seems to me that the Native way of looking at it is not all tied up in patriarchal ownership. Reciprocity instead of hierarchy.
I’m not the smartest but I’m sure noticing lately how white supremacy and patriarchy go hand in hand.
Stellatree:
No, no, it isn’t. Women are considered to be equals, and are often in places of high leadership, going from far back in history to present day. Patriarchy is not a concept which would go over all that well in Indigenous cultures.
It’s rather interesting, because the white culture I grew up with has a huge emphasis on minding your elders and learning lessons from them, with a stack of folk tales about how dear old gramps, too old to work, was worth keeping alive because he got the family through a couple famines using the knowledge of experience (it’s a little more complicated than that, this is the ultra-condensed version). I suppose it was different in Canada, where the community was small and pretty much all experiences were shared, but it’s still a pretty important part of social culture here -- sadly, though, getting less and less so. People don’t seem to have time to stop and listen anymore, and lonely seniors (or old people living alone, esp. out in the country but in large cities, too) are getting to be a thing.
I think we’re losing a lot by aligning too much with western-type capitalism.
rq:
Way too many peoples can say that. America is responsible for a whole hell of a lot of destruction.
Caine, thank you for spotlighting Marty Two Bulls’ cartoons. That guy is awfully damned good. Today’s Mr Plastic cartoon has a distinct (and very appropriate R. Crumb vibe. One thing I noted about the cartoon of a few days past, which had that “skeleton fisherman”: Boney-boy was using a Pocket Fisherman. Of course—what other fishing pole could someone like that possibly use? I wish Two Bulls a long, successful, and satisfying career.
I think there might be patriarchy
skirt shaming
Cubist:
Oh, he has had one, and hopefully, that will continue for as long as he wishes. He also does the cartoons at Lakota Country Times. His website is at http://m2bulls.com/ and his son is a very talented artist as well.
Chigau:
No. In spite of Ms. mini skirt, it’s not patriarchy, it’s plain old sexism. Traditional womens’ dress is enforced by women, not men. An elder man might well say something, but that would be a matter of respect in general. These issues are difficult, because of perceived and actual disrespect. The younger people don’t always have it right, and they do have a tendency to be flagrantly disrespectful in some cases. And older people can be rigidly dogmatic.
From what I’ve seen personally, at least in my part of the earth, is a pretty generous amount of leeway. Most of the older women at the camps dress traditionally, more or less, with a long skirt over pants of some type. That’s common in native and non-native women there. A fair amount of younger women dress the same way, but there are also those who wear completely modern dress, or wear leggings under a skirt, and so on. I haven’t worn a skirt at the camps, but I haven’t remembered to take one with me, either. I’ve taken part in womens’ ceremony there, and no one was given any grief over their dress.
I do think that when it comes to ceremony, it probably wouldn’t kill younger people to be traditional in dress, and I also think it wouldn’t kill the elders to loosen up the strictness, especially when it’s obvious the respect is there on the part of younger people.
Oh! The Rules of Wearing Traditional Dress! I know alllllll about those. Single braid! No amber! Tie the belt on your left, dammit, unless you’re wearing a region that ties it in the centre, then tie it in the centre!* No running!
* Opinions vary as to which regions actually do tie it in the centre, but they’re very few.