The Owner of Wounded Knee, Jim Czwcynski, plans to auction the land unless the Oglala Sioux Tribe acts by May 1.
By Brandon Ecoffey
Native Sun News Managing Editor
RAPID CITY—Very seldom does a story about Indian country garner international attention, especially one that broke in an Indian newspaper.
The story of the sale of the historical site of Wounded Knee has traveled beyond the borders of the United States and with the approaching May 1 deadline for the tribe to buy, the entire world has turned their attention to the Pine Ridge Indian reservation.
Many tribal advocates made note of the national media attention surrounding the recently passed Violence against Women act. Tribal political pundits like Ryan Wilson (Oglala Lakota) noted that for the first time in living memory legislation impacting Indian country was at the forefront of the national news cycle. For those with a significant Native American following on Facebook and Twitter, the days leading up to the passage of the bill were filled with postings urging both lawmakers and friends to speak out in favor of the bill.
Baby Veronica sits on Dusten Brown’s lap. Veronica has been with her father for more than a year, but the adoptive parents still hope for her return.
By Christina Rose
Native Sun News Associate Editor
WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court will hear the case of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Veronica which has been at the center of an Indian Child Welfare Act debate since 2009. It is a classic case of “He said, She said,” according to Chrissi Ross Nimmo, Assistant Attorney General at Cherokee Nation.
The basis of the case is that the State of South Carolina laws defining paternity are trumped by ICWA. The Supreme Court has been asked to decide if the state laws that say a father must be actively involved in the baby’s life should override the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.
A recent telephonic press conference presented the opinions of American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. Mark Demeray, past president of the AAAA and adoption attorney in Seattle, called the case “tragic for all parties and especially the child, no matter what the outcome.” However, court records could show that the true tragedy might be the way the adoption agencies and attorneys neglected to follow ICWA from the start.
(DENVER) The Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council passed a resolution on March 23, 2013, which became available to the public over the weekend. The resolution urges protection of the wild, migratory buffalo in and around Yellowstone National Park and Montana.
This important resolution was brought forth to the Council by Jimmy St. Goddardd, Spiritual Leader of the Blackfeet Confederacy. St. Goddard supports the work of the wild bison advocacy group, Buffalo Field Campaign.
“Everyone that has a legal right to manage the buffalo are doing wrong, and with this resolution, the Tribes have crafted strong legal language to protect and preserve our culture and heritage.“ Said Jimmy St. Goddard, Spiritual Leader of the Blackfeet Confederacy.
The resolution urges the Governor of Montana, the Montana Legislature, U.S. Department of the Interior, Yellowstone National Park, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Forest Service, to recognize and honor their trust responsibilities and treaty obligations to American Indian Nations with cultural, religious, and treaty rights and affiliations with buffalo. The resolution urges these agencies to provide for viable populations of wild migratory buffalo (or bison) in the wildlife species’ native habitat.
St. Goddard said, “This resolution puts the agencies on notice that there has to be legal consultation with the Tribes, and a Buffalo Summit has to happen right now. The Interagency Bison Management Plan needs to be brought back to the table because it is hurting the buffalo instead of helping them.”
PINE RIDGE—The Lakota Voice project is continuing its efforts to stem the epidemic of youth suicide in Indian country. The project that has used abstract means in the past to fight youth suicide is now expanding and employing the talents of the widely acclaimed graffiti artist “Focus” to further promote their message of hope.
The LVP is a partnership between Oglala Lakota College and the American Advertising Federation of the Black Hills and is a suicide prevention program that targets youth on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation. Each year the AAF sponsors an ad campaign for one non-profit group in the Black Hills Area and this past year’s chosen organization was Oglala Lakota College.
RAPID CITY—While at the most recent North Dakota Coalition on Abused Women’s Service membership meeting on March 26, 2013 Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) verbally attacked a member of the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe and stated that he wished he could, “ring the Tribal council’s neck and slam them against the wall.”
The comments came in front a large contingency of North Dakota’s anti-violence against women groups. Mellissa Merrick a member of the Spirit Lake Sioux tribe and the director for Spirit Lake Victim Assistance in Fort Totten, ND was the recipient of the verbal barrage. Ms. Merrick shared her story on the independent Native American journalism site LastRealIndians.com last week and in it she provided, in detail her experience at the coalition meeting.
“We sat there in shock. We could not believe that he was doing this,” Merrick told Native Sun News. “When I looked out in to the crowd and saw other victims in tears it started to sink in that he was actually saying these things,” she added.
“You’re not welcome here… We’ve said no from day one.”
And with these firm words the TransCanada representatives were kicked out of Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation last week. The seemingly aloof TransCanada officials showed up at the Tribal Office in Eagle Butte, South Dakota in an attempt to win the tribe over to the pipeline, but were met with a swift, firm response. Robin LeBeau, Cheyenne River Sioux Councilwoman for District 5, saw them in the parking lot and promptly told them off.
WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT: Members of America’s last continuously wild bison population, the so-called Yellowstone buffalo, have been intensely attacked by state and federal agencies working under the highly controversial Interagency Bison Management Plan (IBMP). Volunteers with Buffalo Field Campaign, a wild bison advocacy and media group, document all actions made against the buffalo by state and federal agencies and advocate for thier lasting protection.
Watch an exclusive video from Buffalo Field Campaign showing hazing (forced removal) operations that occurred this week:
Click the image to watch BFC’s video or visit this link.
“These taxpayer funded hazing operations are highly abusive, disruptive, wasteful, unjustifiable and certainly unnecessary,” said Buffalo Field Campaign spokeswoman Stephany Seay. “Wild migratory bison are native to Montana, and are an ecologically extinct keystone wildlife species. The Yellowstone herds are beloved the world over, and should be valued and treated with respect wherever they roam, not brutalized to appease Montana’s livestock industry.”
Hazing of wild bison takes place every spring in the Hebgen Basin during the height of calving season. On May 13 through 15, the Montana Department of Livestock and other IBMP agencies seriously disrupted the ecosystem and local residents with industrial-scale bison hazing, using a large number of government horsemen, law enforcement officers, and a helicopter to evict native wild bison from Montana. Hazing occurs because Montana’s livestock interests refuse to accept wild bison on the landscape. The forced removal of native wild bison in the Hebgen Basin takes place on the public lands of Gallatin National Forest and Yellowstone National Park, as well as on private land where wild bison are welcome.
There are currently no cattle present in the Hebgen Basin, and in most places where wild bison roam in Montana, cattle will never graze.
The Hebgen Basin, west of Yellowstone National Park, is also important habitat for the federally protected threatened grizzly bear.
Buffalo Field Campaign is the only group working in the field, the policy arena and the courts to defend and protect America’s last wild bison populations. More information about Buffalo Field Campaign and their work to help wild bison can be found at http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org.
HANOVER, NH—A recent protest and the response to it by Dartmouth’s Native American student group has left the Native Alumni of Dartmouth at odds with the Ivy League college’s current Native American students.
Nestled in the forests of central New Hampshire, Dartmouth College is home to one of the most successful Native American student programs amongst America’s elite institutions of higher learning. Originally founded in 1769 by Eleazer Wheelock and Samson Occom, a Mohegan and primary fundraiser, the college has a long history of educating Native people as the charter states its purpose is “for the education and instruction of Youth of the Indian Tribes in this land.” Dartmouth has a reputation for producing highly successful Native American alumni, a group that includes the likes of Charles Eastman (Santee Dakota), one of the first Native Americans in history to earn a medical degree.
The Owner of Wounded Knee, Jim Czwcynski, plans to auction the land unless the Oglala Sioux Tribe acts by May 1.
By Brandon Ecoffey
Native Sun News Managing Editor
RAPID CITY—Very seldom does a story about Indian country garner international attention, especially one that broke in an Indian newspaper.
The story of the sale of the historical site of Wounded Knee has traveled beyond the borders of the United States and with the approaching May 1 deadline for the tribe to buy, the entire world has turned their attention to the Pine Ridge Indian reservation.
Many tribal advocates made note of the national media attention surrounding the recently passed Violence against Women act. Tribal political pundits like Ryan Wilson (Oglala Lakota) noted that for the first time in living memory legislation impacting Indian country was at the forefront of the national news cycle. For those with a significant Native American following on Facebook and Twitter, the days leading up to the passage of the bill were filled with postings urging both lawmakers and friends to speak out in favor of the bill.
This IREHR Special Report takes you inside the April 6 meeting hosted in Bellingham, Washington by the anti-Indian groups Citizens Equal Rights Alliance and Citizens Equal Rights Foundation. The report sheds light on these groups’ anti-Indian ideas and goals, their legal strategy and their plans to re-invigorate anti-Indian activism in Washington State and around the country.
“Take these tribes down”
The Anti-Indian Movement Comes to Washington State
By Chuck Tanner
April 6, 2013. As blue sky peeked through the clouds of an overcast Northwest morning, a group of mostly indigenous people gathered near the Lakeway Inn Best Western in Bellingham, Washington. Drumming and singing pulsed as those present held signs reading, “Honor the Treaties” and “We are All the People.” Event organizers, Idle No More Bellingham, had called community members together to protest two organizations “who are holding a conference to discuss opposition to the existence of tribes as separate and sovereign entities.”[1]
Inside a Lakeway Inn conference room, about fifty people were gathered to hear a lineup of speakers assail the very ideas of tribal sovereignty and treaty rights – of tribal nationhood. The anti-Indian movement had come to town. The concerns of Idle No More Bellingham were entirely justified.
The Bellingham conference was sponsored by the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance (CERA) and Citizens Equal Rights Foundation (CERF), one of a series of events being hosted around the country by these closely-linked national anti-Indian groups. CERA/CERF held previous meetings in New York and Massachusetts; others are slated for late April in the Midwest and June in Northern California. CERA/CERF organized these forums after canceling their regular annual Washington D.C. conference.
These two groups’ cross-country drive comes as One Nation United (ONU) – the other major national anti-Indian group – appears in decline. Despite building relations with former Washington State Attorney General (and losing 2012 gubernatorial candidate) Rob McKenna in 2007, ONU took down its webpage and quit responding to email inquiries in the last year.[2] CERA/CERF’s conferences appear aimed at boosting ties with local activists and asserting itself as “the” national anti-Indian umbrella. The meeting ended with CERA/CERF committing to help revive anti-tribal activism in Washington State.
Baby Veronica sits on Dusten Brown’s lap. Veronica has been with her father for more than a year, but the adoptive parents still hope for her return.
By Christina Rose
Native Sun News Associate Editor
WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, the US Supreme Court will hear the case of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Veronica which has been at the center of an Indian Child Welfare Act debate since 2009. It is a classic case of “He said, She said,” according to Chrissi Ross Nimmo, Assistant Attorney General at Cherokee Nation.
The basis of the case is that the State of South Carolina laws defining paternity are trumped by ICWA. The Supreme Court has been asked to decide if the state laws that say a father must be actively involved in the baby’s life should override the federal Indian Child Welfare Act.
A recent telephonic press conference presented the opinions of American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. Mark Demeray, past president of the AAAA and adoption attorney in Seattle, called the case “tragic for all parties and especially the child, no matter what the outcome.” However, court records could show that the true tragedy might be the way the adoption agencies and attorneys neglected to follow ICWA from the start.
RAPID CITY—The auction of 70 masks that are considered highly sacred to the Hopi people was allowed to take place in Paris after a French judge refused to step in on behalf of the tribe. The auction which took place Friday, April 12, 2013 gained national attention as the Hopi nation fought tooth and nail to prevent it from taking place.
The court made note that the Hopis did hold “sacred value” to the objects but ended up ruling that the value the tribe had placed on the masks did not allow the court to deem them as elements of a human body. The Hopi believe that the sacred objects are living beings and attempted to articulate this belief to the court. The court however was unwilling to accommodate the religious understandings of the tribe and would not assimilate the Hopis traditional understandings into a legal ruling that would have essentially classified the masks as human. In France the sale of elements of the human body is prohibited.
(DENVER) The Montana-Wyoming Tribal Leaders Council passed a resolution on March 23, 2013, which became available to the public over the weekend. The resolution urges protection of the wild, migratory buffalo in and around Yellowstone National Park and Montana.
This important resolution was brought forth to the Council by Jimmy St. Goddardd, Spiritual Leader of the Blackfeet Confederacy. St. Goddard supports the work of the wild bison advocacy group, Buffalo Field Campaign.
“Everyone that has a legal right to manage the buffalo are doing wrong, and with this resolution, the Tribes have crafted strong legal language to protect and preserve our culture and heritage.“ Said Jimmy St. Goddard, Spiritual Leader of the Blackfeet Confederacy.
The resolution urges the Governor of Montana, the Montana Legislature, U.S. Department of the Interior, Yellowstone National Park, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Forest Service, to recognize and honor their trust responsibilities and treaty obligations to American Indian Nations with cultural, religious, and treaty rights and affiliations with buffalo. The resolution urges these agencies to provide for viable populations of wild migratory buffalo (or bison) in the wildlife species’ native habitat.
St. Goddard said, “This resolution puts the agencies on notice that there has to be legal consultation with the Tribes, and a Buffalo Summit has to happen right now. The Interagency Bison Management Plan needs to be brought back to the table because it is hurting the buffalo instead of helping them.”
The case of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, now before the Supreme Court, calls into question the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act.
SEATTLE – Casey Family Programs with the support of 17 other national child welfare organizations has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The case of Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, now before the Supreme Court, calls into question the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act.
The coalition of philanthropic and nonprofit organizations represents decades of frontline experience working to improve the lives of vulnerable children and their families. The group supports ICWA because it has helped establish the values and practices that have become central to effective child welfare practice. In particular, this law reinforces the important role that families and communities play when determining the best interests of children in their care.
“The Indian Child Welfare Act reflects the best practices in child welfare,” says David Sanders, Casey Family Programs’ Executive Vice President of Systems Improvement. “It works to prevent the unnecessary breakup of families and helps keep children connected to their communities.”
