Reno Truck Assault On Protesters: Update.

https://youtu.be/x0D-BgU82jI

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Detectives are preparing legal documents for possible criminal charges after an 18-year-old man drove a pickup truck through a crowd of protesters rallying in support of Native American rights in downtown Reno, Police Chief Jason Soto said Wednesday.

Soto made his remarks to the Reno City Council as a parade of American Indians, local clergy and others expressed their outrage over the fact no one’s been arrested after five protesters were struck Monday night by the truck on the street beneath the city’s famous arch with the slogan, “Biggest Little City in the World.”

Soto said an affidavit is in the works that could lead to prosecution. But he said he won’t discuss the possible charges or any other details because the investigation is ongoing.

In a different article, Soto was making noises about the protesters being in the street, rather than on the sidewalk, heavily implying they deserved to be run over, because street. It has been stated that people gathered in this spot to take photographs. It’s more than obvious that the police chief does not want to press charges in this case, and it’s also obvious he doesn’t think much of anything done was wrong. I’d like to see the Mayor address that little problem.

The Rev. Luther DuPree, an African-American bishop who oversees the Northern Nevada Churches of God in Christ, questioned whether the driver remains free because he is white.

“If it was any other culture, I believe an immediate arrest would have been made,” he said.

Kitty Colbert, 59, the most seriously injured woman who remained hospitalized Wednesday, was accompanied at the rally by her grandchildren who “saw her run over like a bag of beans,” said Ray Valdez, who was drumming and leading the group in prayer just before the incident.

Soto said the activists did not have a permit to protest in the street, but some had gathered in the travel lanes of Virginia Street on the main casino drag.

Jessica White, a local artist, said the activists were gathering in the crosswalk for a group photograph when “the driver began honking and revving his truck’s engine in an obvious attempt to frighten us.”

“I saw a driver purposely drive into a group of people and continue until there were injuries and terror,” she said Wednesday.

Tara Tran said the driver and passenger were yelling “racist” remarks before she was struck by the truck.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say the protesters deserved it… they were blocking traffic,” Tran told the council. “We were not blocking their direction. They were following us. They were not scared. I looked into their eyes. It was not a look of fear. It was a look that they were having fun.”

Grace Potorti, ex-leader of the Nevada Conservation League, said she was driving the opposite direction on Virginia Street when she saw the truck “plow into people, stop and — while people were lying on the road — continue to run over them.”

“This happened under the very symbol of Reno,” she said. “It happened under the arch!”

Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve said in a statement Tuesday Reno police “will hold anyone responsible accountable for their actions once the investigation has concluded.”

“The city does not condone hate,” she said Wednesday.

Full story at The Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Shailene Woodley Released.

Courtesy Morton County Sheriff's Office Shailene Woodley, charged with criminal trespass during peaceful civil action against the Dakota Access oil.

Courtesy Morton County Sheriff’s Office
Shailene Woodley, charged with criminal trespass during peaceful civil action against the Dakota Access oil.

Celebrity support flooded in for the actress after her arrest on Monday October 10 with other water protectors at a Dakota Access oil pipeline (DAPL) construction site. She paid a $500 fine and prepared for an October 24 court date, according to USA Today.

“Shailene Woodley has been released from the Morton County Jail in North Dakota,” her spokesperson told Us Weekly in a statement on Tuesday. “She appreciates the outpouring of support, not only for her, but more importantly, for the continued fight against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.”

The star of Snowden, Divergent and The Descendants, among other films, was among 28 unarmed people arrested by riot police for peacefully demonstrating at the site where Energy Transfer Partners is working on the 1,172-mile-long, $3.8 billion pipeline set to wend its way through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois, carrying as many as 550,000 barrels of crude daily from the Bakken oil fields. She livestreamed the arrest on Facebook.

Actor Mark Ruffalo also spoke out in support of Woodley, as did Maggie Q, her costar in the Divergent series.

“I stand with @shailenewoodley for standing with the Standing Rock Water Protectors. #NoDAPL,” tweeted Ruffalo, who is outspoken against climate change and walked with Indigenous Peoples alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2014 People’s Climate March in New York City.

“You can arrest someone but you CANNOT silence them,” wrote Maggie Q on Twitter.

Mainstream media picked up on the arrest and mentioned the pipeline controversy. But MSNBC commentator Lawrence O’Donnell took it a step further by noting the irony of date of the arrests, including Woodley’s, on criminal trespassing charges. It was for many (though not for all) a celebration of Christopher Columbus, who he dubbed “the greatest trespasser in human history.”

Via ICTMN.

I’m one of the Central Park Five. Donald Trump won’t leave me alone.

Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five, is speaking out, and has an article in The Washington Post. Some people will remember this, will remember when this happened, the divisiveness among people, the distrust, those who were already predisposed towards racism grabbing on to it, as if it were the final proof that no black man could ever be trusted around any woman, but especially not a white woman. One person who jumped the highest on the bandwagon of bigotry was Donald Trump. He took out a massive, full page ad, declaring their guilt, and demanding the return of the death penalty in very large type. Most people, after learning those young men had been ruthlessly railroaded, tortured, and wrongly convicted and imprisoned, would at least attempt to mumble some sort of excuse, then have the grace to shut the fuck up. But we all know that isn’t Asshole Donald’s way. No. Why do that when you can continue to insist you were right? As Mr. Salaam points out though, it’s much worse that when it comes to Trump. This man is, if not a bonafide maniac, a man with maniacal views and much worse solutions when it comes to all those he sees as problems.

During our trial, it seemed like every New Yorker had an opinion. But no one took it further than Trump. He called for blood in the most public way possible. Trump used his money to take out full-page ads in all of the city’s major newspapers, calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty in New York.

During that time, our families tried to shield us from what was going on in the media, but we still found out about Trump’s ad. My initial thought was, “Who is this guy?” I was terrified that I might be executed for a crime I didn’t commit.

Thirteen years later, in 2002, we were exonerated. Matias Reyes eventually confessed to the rape and was definitively linked to the victim by his DNA. New York paid us $41 million in 2014 for our false imprisonment.

Trump has never apologized for calling for our murder. In fact, despite all evidence to the contrary, he’s still convinced that we were guilty. When the Republican nominee was recently asked about the Central Park Five, he said, “They admitted they were guilty.” In a statement to CNN’s Miguel Marquez, Trump wrote, “The police doing the original investigation say they were guilty. The fact that that case was settled with so much evidence against them is outrageous. And the woman, so badly injured, will never be the same.” It’s further proof of his bias, racism and inability to admit that he’s wrong.

When I heard Trump’s latest proclamation, it was like the worst feeling in the world. I felt as if I couldn’t breathe. Since I was 15, my life has never been my own. I had no control over what happened to me. Being in the spotlight makes me wary and self-conscious again. I am overwhelmed with a nagging fear that an overzealous Trump supporter might take matters into his or her hands.

Doing something simple like picking up dinner for the family or going to the aquarium takes on a whole new wrinkle. I’m always looking over my shoulder, keeping an eye out for people who stare too long. Like a soldier always on high alert, I feel as if I can never enjoy myself fully, with all of the adrenaline that comes with that. It’s a scary feeling.

In some ways, I feel like I’m on trial all over again. Like Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown, young men who were killed and then crucified in the media, I know what it is to be a young black man without a voice. Even though we were found innocent by a court of law, we are still guilty in the court of public opinion. That brings a certain kind of stress.

I realize, too, that I’m not the only victim. Trump has smeared dozens of people, with no regard for the truth. And he has backed a “law and order” system that would systematically target minorities. Trump says he would like to re-institute practices like New York’s “stop and frisk,” a policy proven to be unconstitutional and unjust. When we hear that he is going to be a “law and order president,” a collective chill goes down the spine of those of us who have been the victims of this “law and order.”

Black people across America know that because of the color of our skin, we are guilty before proven innocent. As a result, sometimes we lose the best years of our lives. Sometimes we lose our actual lives. We must not let this man ascend to the highest office in the land when he has always proven that he lets neither facts nor humanity lead his steps.

Full article at The Washington Post.

The Fight for Tosawihi.

Photo by Joseph Zummo Tosawihi Complex, a contemporary Native cultural landscape with roots in the deep past.

Photo by Joseph Zummo
Tosawihi Complex, a contemporary Native cultural landscape with roots in the deep past.

As I have mentioned so many times before, Indigenous people all over the world face the constant destruction, or threat of destruction to their homelands, and to sacred places. This is a difficult issue to get across to most Americans, who have no sense which is at all similar to that of Natives, and perspectives are so very different. (For a bit on that, read the excerpt from one of John Trudell’s essays, in the comments here.) Anyroad, there is an in-depth article and photo essay about the fight the Western Shoshone are facing over the spiritual heart of their traditional homeland. As is often seen in such cases, the destruction is well beyond what was necessary, such in the swathes cut for telephone poles, which was much wider and destructive than was close to needed. This contempt is almost always seen in such cases. Non-natives rarely have any care for what natives view as sacred, because all they see is land they can ravage or make money from. They don’t see or understand the sacred, and they know nothing, and seldom care about the history which is there. You all know we have seen that here already in Ndakota, with the contempt from DA and Energy Transfer, then being locked out of the survey of our own sacred sites. All this and more is happening in Nevada right now. Just a very small excerpt here, please go and read the whole article.

[…] The place is ancient, but the fight to protect it is contemporary. Decades of mining have left scars. Like 83 percent of Nevada, Tosawihi sits on federal land administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an Interior Department agency. The BLM, which issues mining permits, calls Western Shoshone accusations of mining-related destruction the product of a “different worldview.” Tribal members say that if the BLM followed federal law, including historic-preservation and environmental regulations, damage could be avoided.

In June, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stay construction for a mining-related power line in Tosawihi until a way could be found to save the ancestral healer’s trail, which had been determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The Band appealed the ruling. Despite the issue still being before the courts, employees of Carlin Resources, part of an international consortium that owned an open-pit gold mine in Tosawihi, fired up their yellow bulldozer. They plowed a rough, nearly 12-mile-long road, along with 50-foot-wide gashes for the bases of the utility poles. They gouged a trench into the side of a nearby hill used for vision quests.

They obliterated much of the healer’s trail, along with the natural pharmacy he cultivated alongside it. Tanya Reynolds, an official of the South Fork Band of the Te-Moak Western Shoshone, called the destruction “beyond words, beyond what is possible to fix.”

“They’re after money and will literally move mountains to get it,” said Murray Sope, from the Shoshone-Paiute Tribe. “But these places are also very valuable to us for teaching our children.”

Demolition of irreplaceable ancient artifacts usually merits outrage, or at least notice. The Islamic State, or ISIS, was widely condemned when it released footage of a yellow bulldozer demolishing the Gates of Ninevah, in the remains of an ancient city in Iraq. Major media outlets reported shock worldwide when ISIS smashed museum exhibits and when the Taliban blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan, in Afghanistan.

In contrast, portions of Tosawihi have simply vanished in a national, and international, blind spot. “We don’t understand their need to destroy,” said Joe Holley, former chairman and now councilman of the Battle Mountain Band of the Te-Moak Western Shoshone. “We are realistic. We know we can’t stop them entirely, but we want them to partner with us. They need to listen when we flag endangered cultural resources. They need to follow their own laws.”

Federal authorities have permitted destruction of Native sites nationwide. In September, more than 1,200 museum directors and scholars condemned the builders of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) for destroying Sioux burial grounds in North Dakota with apparent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorization. The Obama administration asked the builders, Energy Transfer Partners, to halt work until it could scrutinize tribal-consultation policies, including how they had been applied in the DAPL process.

That did not necessarily signal a policy change, though. A few weeks later, under a permit issued on behalf of President Obama by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the same company bulldozed ancient Native sites in Texas, turning them into a sea of mud.

In Tosawihi, the BLM-authorized power line stoked fears of more aggressive mining to come, said Reggie Sope, the healer from Shoshone-Paiute Tribe who ran the sweat lodge ceremony.

“Work began yesterday,” confirmed John Seaberg, senior vice president of the gold mine’s new owner, Klondex, which bought the operation on October 4. Depending on the results of exploratory testing, the company may install another ramp (inclined mining tunnel), Seaberg said. He called tribes “key stakeholders” in the process but refused to comment on ongoing lawsuits. They include Carlin’s suit against the Battle Mountain Band, which the Band has asked the courts to dismiss.

The full 3 page article is at ICTMN.

Beyond Disappointment.

Colin Kaepernick and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. AP photo.

Colin Kaepernick and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. AP photo.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg doesn’t often speak publicly, but while promoting her new book, My Own Words, she used her words to admonish Colin Kaepernick and other athletes taking a knee or engaging in forms of protest in an interview with Yahoo today.

“I think it’s really dumb of them,” the veteran justice told Katie Couric in the Yahoo News video. “Would I arrest them for doing it, no.”

Ginsburg seems to be on the side of those who feel the actions of San Francisco 49ers quarterback Kaepernick, Seattle Reign soccer player Megan Rapinoe, and scores of other athletes across the country are inappropriate, while failing to see the purpose of the protest themselves.

Comparing the kneeling to flag burning, Ginsburg called it “a terrible thing to do,” but said the protesters are within their rights and the law, as long as their actions don’t “jeopardize the health or well-being of other people.”

When Couric followed up for clarification, Ginsburg went further, saying,  “If they want to be stupid, there is no law that should be preventive; if they want to be arrogant, there is no law that prevents them from that.”

Stupid? Arrogant? Really. I don’t see kneeling as an act of arrogance, no matter which direction you view it from. The way I see it, kneeling is emphasising the position all of us peoples who continue to be dominated are already in, and have been in that position for hundreds of years. It’s hardly a patch on the colonial-minded arrogance of ownership still sported by most Americans, and many of them proudly so. How is it stupid? It’s calling attention to a most deep, serious, and pervasive problem, without disruption. One could argue there’s a lack of respect, and yes, I’d agree, there’s a lack of respect for domination, control, a sense of ownership, a demand for servility, the embrace of racism as a good, and the ongoing murders of the dominated peoples. None of those things deserve respect, in any way.

This is incredibly disappointing from someone like Bader Ginsburg, and beyond disappointing. Goes to show how deeply implicit racism inhabits us all, no matter how liberal, open minded and fair we might consider ourselves.

Via The Advocate, full story here.

Breaking: Truck Smashes Into Reno Water Protectors.

KOLO TV After a confrontation with some of the 40 demonstrators rallying in downtown Reno to protest against Columbus Day and the Dakota Access oil pipeline, the driver of a white pickup truck plowed into the crowd, injuring five and sending one to the hospital.

KOLO TV
After a confrontation with some of the 40 demonstrators rallying in downtown Reno to protest against Columbus Day and the Dakota Access oil pipeline, the driver of a white pickup truck plowed into the crowd, injuring five and sending one to the hospital.

A pickup truck plowed into a crowd of mostly Native demonstrators in Reno, Nevada on Monday October 10, injuring five and sending one to the hospital. Participants in the demonstration, organized by the American Indian Movement of Northern Nevada (AIMNN), were gathered under the city’s Reno Arch downtown to draw attention to the real meaning of Columbus Day. They were also there to educate passersby about the conflict surrounding the Dakota Access oil pipeline being routed near the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation.

Suddenly, witnesses said, a white Nissan pickup truck drove by, its occupants hurling slurs. Then it circled back, and stopped. Some of the demonstrators walked up to the vehicle and had words with the occupants. Suddenly the engines revved, and the truck plowed into the group, sending people flying.

Cameras were already rolling to document the demonstration, and they streamed the entire horrifying incident on Facebook. Police said in a statement that the incident occurred at 6:41 p.m., according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.

One witness recounted how two men “drove into marchers after first being seen at the rally start point, driving by once shouting slurs, and then doubling back around to get in front of the protesters before driving into them,” wrote Diana Heideman, owner of Wallflower Botanicals, in a Facebook post. “One elder, a grandmother there with her grandchildren, was hospitalized with injuries to her legs, a broken tailbone, and further tests pending. She is stable and in good spirits. She was planning to depart for #StandingRock tomorrow.”

Several protesters were posing for a photo under the arch when the pickup pulled up for the second time, the Reno Gazette-Journal reported. Police told KOLO TV that the driver called in from a few blocks away to give his own side of the story, and that police had interviewed him and are cooperating with authorities. That was not enough for one of the rally’s organizers, though.

“This is a hate crime,” Quanah Brightman, executive director of United Native Americans Inc. told the Reno Gazette-Journal, adding that the driver had been “stalking” the group of demonstrators. “It’s still brutal to see this kind of racism in America. That man deserves life [in prison] for what he did.”

Via ICTMN.

BREAKING: Tar Sands Pipeline Shut Down.

st

To avert climate catastrophe, activists shut down 5 pipelines bringing Tar Sands Oil into the U.S, in Solidarity with Standing Rock.

This morning, by 7:30AM Pacific time, 5 activists have successfully shut down 5 pipelines across the United States delivering tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada in support of the call for International Days of Prayer and Action for Standing Rock. Activists employed manual safety valves, calling on President Obama to use emergency powers to keep the pipelines closed and mobilize for the extraordinary shift away from fossil fuels now required to avert catastrophe.

[…]

WHERE. Enbridge line 4 and 67, Leonard, MN; TransCanada’s Keystone pipeline, Walhalla, ND; Spectra Energy’s Express pipeline, Coal Banks Landing, MT; Kinder-Morgan’s Trans-Mountain pipeline, Anacortes, WA.

WHO. Climate Direct Action is Emily Johnson, 50 and Michael Foster, 52, of Seattle, WA, Annette Klapstein, 64, of Bainbridge Island, WA, Ken Ward, 59, of Corbett, OR, and Leonard Higgins, 64, of Eugene, Oregon, with the support of Climate Disobedience Action Fund.

Livestream, videos and photos available on our Facebook Page.
https://www.facebook.com/climatedirectaction/

Website
http://www.shutitdown.today

Via Last Real Indians.

Moron Bingo!

Photo courtesy starpulse.com

Photo courtesy starpulse.com

Everyone read Simon Moya-Smith’s 6 Banal Defenses of Columbus Day, And How You Should Respond to the Moron, right? Reading ICTMN today, specifically, an article about the fight for Indigenous Peoples Day at ground zero, Colorado. In that article is one Rita DeFrange, moron, and if this was an actual bingo game, I would have cleaned up. She managed to hit every single moron point. I think Ms. DeFrange needs about 100 copies of Simon Moya-Smith’s article, and must sit down and read it 100 times. Perhaps the points would sink in.

Rita DeFrange, president of the Columbus Day Parade Committee and a member of the Denver chapter of the Order Sons of Italy, said it’s “not fair” that city officials are taking away from one group to give to another.

“It’s a struggle for folks. The community itself is very disappointed. They don’t understand why they are being picked on,” DeFrange told ICTMN.

DeFrange said herself and her community just want to celebrate their history and heritage.

Although Indigenous Peoples’ Day supporters like McLean and Salazar say Columbus shouldn’t be celebrated because of the atrocities he brought to the Native American people, DeFrange however, believes Columbus shouldn’t be judged by today’s standards.

“Unfortunately, we’re evaluating a man by 2016 standards, when the events happened 500 years ago,” DeFrange said. “The community really needs to take a hard look at how we look at our history books.”

Members of the Columbus Day Parade Committee and Order Sons of Italy met with Salazar earlier this year to discuss resolutions that could make both parties happy.

No resolutions were met, DeFrange said.

She said she’s more than happy to celebrate the heritage of the Native American people, but just on a different day.

“It’s one day. It’s a group of individuals who value their Italian heritage,” DeFrange said. “We all value the cultures … that’s what’s so great about America. You know, let’s not take one over the other and that’s the perception that people have.”

Full story at ICTMN.

No DAPL: Shailene Woodley Arrested.

Actress Shailene Woodley being led away in handcuffs after standing with the water protectors at a Dakota Access oil pipeline construction site on Monday October 10. Via Facebook.

Actress Shailene Woodley being led away in handcuffs after standing with the water protectors at a Dakota Access oil pipeline construction site on Monday October 10. Via Facebook.

Actress Shailene Woodley has been arrested for trespassing at one of the construction sites for the Dakota Access oil pipeline, multiple reports confirm.

She was one of 28 people taken in for criminal trespassing, according to the Bismarck Tribune, which reported that more than 200 people were demonstrating at one of the construction sites outside a 20-mile buffer that the federal government had requested the company respect.

In video streamed live on Facebook, Woodley, known for her starring turn in the Divergent movie series, speaks directly into the camera during a two-hour feed chronicling her morning at the construction site near St. Anthony, North Dakota.

“Riot police are arriving. Riot police. Are arriving. At this peaceful protest, where people are praying,” she says at the beginning of a two-hour video, which ends in her arrest.

[…]

After the protectors were asked to leave by police, Woodley was stopped as she walked back to her vehicle to do so.

“To the right of that is our motor home, and to the left of that is…. What IS that?” she can be heard saying, as the camera focuses on vehicles flanking her RV. Then she is stopped by police officers blocking the way.

They just grabbed me by my jacket,” she says into the camera. “They grabbed me by my jacket, and they have giant guns and batons and zip ties, and they’re not letting me go.”

A little while later, after she unsuccessfully tries to find out why she is being detained specifically, an officer tells her, “You were identified.”

She then speaks to the camera.

“So everybody knows, we were going to my vehicle, which they had surrounded,” she said. “And waiting for me.”

Full Story at ICTMN.

Breaking: Court Denies Standing Rock Injunction.

Courtesy Red Warrior Camp/Facebook A three-judge panel has denied the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's request for an injunction that would stop work on the oil pipeline that is slated to go through treaty-protected, sacred burial sites.

Courtesy Red Warrior Camp/Facebook
A three-judge panel has denied the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s request for an injunction that would stop work on the oil pipeline that is slated to go through treaty-protected, sacred burial sites.

Standing Rock Sioux Chairman David Archambault II vowed to continue fighting the Dakota Access oil pipeline (DAPL) after a three-judge panel on Sunday October 9 denied the tribe’s request for an injunction that would have stopped the pipeline’s progress through treaty-protected, sacred burial grounds.

“The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is not backing down from this fight,” said Archambault in a statement after the decision came down at 4 p.m. “We are guided by prayer, and we will continue to fight for our people. We will not rest until our lands, people, waters and sacred places are permanently protected from this destructive pipeline.”

In a two-page ruling, U.S. District Court judges Janice Rogers Brown, Thomas B. Griffith and Cornelia T.L. Pillard acknowledged the “narrow and stringent standard” that formed their legal parameters and noted that key permits allowing the pipeline to cross under the Missouri River are still pending. It also gave a nod to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, noting it “was intended to mediate precisely the disparate perspectives involved in a case such as this one.”

The ruling came down as Native leaders gathered in Phoenix for the 73rd Annual Convention & Marketplace of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), as members participated in a Department of Interior water consultation with tribes at the Phoenix Convention Center. There was an audible gasp of disappointment from the 150 or more attendees at the consultation as NCAI President Brian Cladoosby announced that the court had denied Standing Rock’s appeal of an initial denial on September 9.

While disappointed, Cladoosby expressed some hope for closer study of the consultation process in general.

“But they left I think a window open for our trustee the federal government to really examine the 106 process and make sure that their consultation process is adequate for projects like this one that affects tribes at this level,” he told ICTMN.

The consultation had followed a day-long National Water Summit hosted by the Intertribal Council of Arizona and the Native American Rights Fund. Presenters from federal, tribal and state organizations and agencies had shared information about current Indian water rights settlements, implementation processes, economic development and protecting tribal water quality from climate change and the impact of drought. The decision to engage tribes in consultations regarding federal processes surrounding negotiation and reviewing Indian water rights settlements and potential improvements to the process had been motivated partially by the controversy in Standing Rock, Interior Deputy Secretary Mike Connor told Indian Country Today Media Network.

Thousands of water protectors have gathered in camps near the Standing Rock reservation in support of keeping the DAPL away from Lake Oahe, the tribe’s source of drinking water.

“This ruling puts 17 million people who rely on the Missouri River at serious risk,” said Archambault in the statement. “And, already, the Dakota Access Pipeline has led to the desecration of our sacred sites when the company bulldozed over the burials of our Lakota and Dakota ancestors. This is not the end of this fight. We will continue to explore all lawful options to protect our people, our water, our land, and our sacred places.”

The U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies reiterated their request for a work stoppage within a 20-mile buffer zone around Lake Oahe, but with the denial of the injunction, compliance on the part of Energy Transfer Partners is once again voluntary, the Bismarck Tribune reported after the decision.

“The federal government recognizes what is at stake and has asked DAPL to halt construction,” said Archambault in the tribe’s statement. “We hope that they will comply with that request.”

“We call on Dakota Access to heed the government’s request to stand down around Lake Oahe,” added Jan Hasselman, lead attorney from Earthjustice, which is representing the tribe. “Continuing construction before the decision is made would be a tragedy given what we know about the importance of this area.”

The justices noted that other permits are still pending, and that the pipeline can’t proceed until those issues are resolved.

“But ours is not the final word,” they wrote. “A necessary easement still awaits government approval—a decision Corps’ counsel predicts is likely weeks away; meanwhile, Intervenor DAPL has rights of access to the limited portion of pipeline corridor not yet cleared—where the Tribe alleges additional historic sites are at risk. We can only hope the spirit of Section 106 may yet prevail.”

Via ICTMN. Stay woke, stay informed, help if you can. You don’t need money – signal boosting and spreading the word is more helpful than you can possibly know. A whole lot of non-Native people don’t have the slightest idea of what’s happening, even as close as Montana, which is right next door. Cops are going apeshit, breaking out all the military gear, and itching to hurt people. We need people to know what is going on, so if you can do nothing else, please, please, spread the word, spread links, get a chain of wakefulness going!

https://twitter.com/RuthHHopkins . https://twitter.com/lastrealindians . https://twitter.com/zhaabowekwe . https://twitter.com/SimonMoyaSmith . https://twitter.com/indiancountry . https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoDAPL

Columbus Didn’t Kill Us All: Taino Daca.

Amy Majagua'naru Ponce Emmy-Award winning filmmaker Alex Zacarias and Taino Daca (I Am) lead character Roberto Mukaro Borrero - Amy Majagua'naru Ponce

Amy Majagua’naru Ponce
Emmy-Award winning filmmaker Alex Zacarias and Taino Daca (I Am) lead character Roberto Mukaro Borrero – Amy Majagua’naru Ponce

Emmy-Award winning filmmaker Alex Zacarias recently spoke to ICTMN about his new documentary, Taino Daca (I Am). The 10-year project, set to be released this fall, takes on the grand challenge of revealing new truths about the history, survival and identity of the Taino people, the first indigenous contact for Christopher Columbus when he mistakenly arrived in the Caribbean.

Zacarias explains that this film has a universal story for many tribes, not just for Taino. Referring to the arrival of Christopher Columbus, he says he wants to “bring attention to that story and show that history didn’t begin in 1492, that there are thousands of years of ‘our story.’ The intent of the documentary is to bring awareness of our Taino story that we might be able to engage with government.”

The Taino have struggled to get recognition since history books have long declared them to be an extinct people. “I am enrolled as a Taino through the United Confederation of Taino People, and I have identified as Taino through the U.S. Census.”

You can read the full story of this documentary about the Taino People here, and watch the trailer below:

Full story at ICTMN.

Reuniting Turtle Island: The 2016 Journeys.

Bibi Mildred Karaira Gandia thanks her 8-year-old great niece and PDJ runner Gabby, with a necklace during the ceremony. Amy Morris.

Bibi Mildred Karaira Gandia thanks her 8-year-old great niece and PDJ runner Gabby, with a necklace during the ceremony. Amy Morris.

Every four years since 1992, indigenous communities have been spiritually reuniting the Western hemisphere by participating in The Peace and Dignity Journeys. This massive undertaking is a chain of spiritual runs that cross the continents and connect the regions of North, Central, South America and the Caribbean. The endeavor is an effort to fulfill the ancient reunion prophecy of the Eagle and Condor.

As explained in the short film Shift of the Ages, the Eagle represents the Northern hemisphere, a masculine energy, and the Condor represents the Southern hemisphere, a feminine energy. The harmony between indigenous cultures across both continents, the union of North and South, was shattered by the arrival of Europeans, who brought genocide and a decimation of the traditional ways.

Peace and Dignity runner from Kingston Jamaica, Kalaan Robert Nibonrix (Taino), formally greeting elder Chumsey Harjo (Muscogee Creek Nation) during the closing ceremony of the Eastern Red Tail Hawk route July 23, 2016. (Amy Morris)

Peace and Dignity runner from Kingston Jamaica, Kalaan Robert Nibonrix (Taino), formally greeting elder Chumsey Harjo (Muscogee Creek Nation) during the closing ceremony of the Eastern Red Tail Hawk route July 23, 2016. (Amy Morris)

One interpretation of the prophecy from the Peruvian shaman Lauro Hinostroza states that for 500 years, beginning around the 16th century, the Eagle would dominate. This timeframe coincides with the onset of colonization and the profound shift in the way indigenous cultures functioned between the continents and among their own communities.

The prediction says that at the end of the 500 year cycle, an opportunity would come forth for Eagle and Condor to unite again and begin to restore balance to the world.

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NYC: Indigenous Peoples Celebration.

NY Indigenous Peoples Celebration, October 10 - www.redhawkcouncil.org

NY Indigenous Peoples Celebration, October 10 – www.redhawkcouncil.org

On October 10th 2016, 9 Indigenous organizations in New York City will again unify to bring awareness of Indigenous Peoples Day, traditionally celebrated on Columbus Day. The groups involved are the American Indian Community House, Redhawk Native American Arts Council, United Federation of Taino People, Kechiwa Nation, Halawai, Naoiwi, East Coast Two Spirit Society and Safe Harbors Indigenous Collective.

“These organizations hope to help New York City follow in the footsteps of Multnomah County, Oregon, St. Paul, Minnesota; Olympia, Washington; Traverse City, Michigan, Albuquerque and Sandoval County, and New Mexico who have all replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day,”  said organizer Cliff Matias.

“These cities and the Indigenous populations of United States are banding together to call on Americans to re-thinking who and what Columbus Day symbolizes to Indigenous people to the Americas.”

“For 2016 we once again will be rethinking Columbus Day with a focus on Indigenous people, their beautiful cultures and traditions. This free day will begin at Monday Morning with a 7am sunrise ceremony honoring the Native people around the world who have endured and survived.   Leaders, elders and medicine people from across North America, the Caribbean, Polynesian Islands and South America will sing, pray, and share their cultural traditions with guests overlooking the East River in Harlem New York. “

“The day will continue with a celebration of spoken word, music, traditional performing artists, guest speakers and contemporary performances. Where there will also be artists sharing and selling traditional works, crafts and jewelry.”

Full story here.