Photo Paul Owns the Sabre (seated) at the International Friendship House in Oakland, after the Longest Walk 2 across America. Paul with Tomas Reyes, who has passed to the Spirit World, with Shaleen, Aislyn and Sage. Photo by Brenda Norrell.
 Poetry by Paul Owns the Sabre, Cheyenne River Lakota A whisper of laughter you can hear as these spirits dance over the blades of grass, on into the little valley out to the crest of the hill and
over to the sounds of the dancing horses of four colors; in step to the sounds that have come from long ago to tell the spirits to come
with them to the starlit meadow and dance with them.
The bells to sound their cadence to those who hear its spirit sound only for them.
Bring my drum so I may sing my song of honor to the spirits that come to me in the night of the dancing stars, so I may remember that
other time when I danced with my grandfather's grandfather so long ago when my land was young.
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
BERKELEY, Calif. -- Long Walker, Painter and Sun Dancer Paul Owns the Sabre, Cheyenne River Lakota, was honored on this week's Bay Native Circle in Berkeley.
Tony Gonzales of AIM West said, "This week’s 'Bay Native Circle' on KPFA 94.1 FM in Berkeley is dedicated to our good friend and brother, a Long Walker, Sun Dancer, a natural-born artist, Mr. Paul Owns the Sabre, who passed to spirit world on February 20, 2017. I've included a taped recording taken with Paul in 2011 by Ms. Brenda Norrell of Censored News, during the Long Walk against Diabetes. A memorial was held two weeks ago in SF at the Native American Health Center and another planned in Oakland at International Friendship House next month, stay tuned in."
In memory of my good friend Paul, I'm republishing the following article which I wrote after we all crossed America together on the Longest Walk 2 northern route in 2008. Paul was a walker and spiritual adviser, and Govinda of Earthcycles and I hosted the five-month live, Long Talk Radio.
Paul Owns the Sabre: Painting the warrior way
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
SAN FRANCISCO -- On the Longest Walk 2 northern route across America in 2008, Paul Owns the Sabre, Miniconjou Lakota from the Cheyenne River Indian Nation, reunited with his mother Thelma Franks, after 27 years apart. Owns the Sabre lived in San Francisco all those years and now says his journey was like that of so many Indian people.
“This reunion and reconciliation is important because so many Native families have been separated,” Owns the Sabre said after a tearful reunion with his mother in Eads, Colorado, in April of 2008. There was a feast, drum song and honor dance for the mother and son long separated on that cold night in Colorado, as the Longest Walk prepared for dawn prayers at the site of the Sand Creek Massacre, where Arapahoe and Cheyenne women, children, men and elderly were slaughtered by the US Calvary on November 29, 1864.
Reflecting in Eads, Colorado, Owns the Sabre, painter, poet and Sundancer, saw the parallels in his life with that of so many Indians, including an early childhood at a brutal residential boarding school in South Dakota, followed by alcoholism, and ultimately a lifetime of sacred walks and runs and reunion with his family.
Later, that same year in 2008, Owns the Sabre presented a life retrospective of his artwork at the Intertribal Friendship House in Oakland, California, Nov. 28 – Dec. 10. After displaying his images of the faces of warriors, and warriors on horseback, he gave the paintings away during an honoring.
Owns the Sabre said in an interview for the Native Sun Weekly that he never considered himself an artist. But, he felt he had a natural gift. He began painting because Indians were dying homeless and no one knew they existed. He was compelled to paint warriors.
“I wanted them to know that they came from warriors,” Owns the Sabre said. His evolution as a painter involved a great deal of tragedy, his own and the pain within the Indian community.
Born Dec. 10, 1939 in Cheyenne Agency on Cheyenne River, Owns the Sabre said he began life in the Forties generation and is now part of the computer generation. Still, he said, “If you are going to participate, you need to draw, talk and sing.”
The most life changing event of his life was the Longest Walk of 1978. He was one of 26 people who made it across America. In all, he was on nine sacred runs and
walks. The most recent was the Longest Walk 2, which departed Alcatraz in February and arrived in Washington D.C. in July, carrying a prayer for the protection of Mother Earth. Owns the Sabre also has been a Sundancer for 25 years at Crow Dog Paradise.
Reflecting on the reunion with his mother after 27 years, Owns the Sabre said the long separation was caused by alcoholism. He encouraged others to make the effort to reconnect with their loved ones, even when it is painful. He said many people feel shame and never attempt a reunion. They miss out on finding out how much they are loved.
In the history of American Indians, he said one event, more than anything else, resulted in the alcoholism, prison rates, domestic violence and murders. It was the creation of the Indian boarding school prototype, Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania, in 1879.
“It started there. The result was cultural genocide.”
“You become something else.” During the Longest Walk 2, Owns the Sabre stood in the cemetery of Carlisle Indian School, surrounded by the gravestones of too many Indian children and spoke to those accompanying him on the Longest Walk. He shared with the Indian children and teenagers the truth of this history and also of hope for the future.
Now, home in San Francisco, Owns the Sabre said it is time for Indian people to become true sovereigns. “We’re still a nation getting handouts,” he said of the array of funding for American Indians. “We’re still in bad shape. We’ve got to find a way to overcome that.”
“When is the day going to come that we are a sovereign people? We are still poor, mocked and made fun of. We end up being a real small minority in a country that is technically ours. We have to live by their rules.
“Haven’t we come far enough to break the shackles of dependence? We need to be strong and need to keep singing our songs.”
Owns the Sabre said Indian people should rise above racism and strive for unity. “We need to become less racist ourselves.”
One of those labels is that of being an urban Indian. “I’m looked upon as an urban Indian myself.
“We can survive in the cities but we give up quite a bit too.”
Owns the Sabre said the ultimate goal for Indian people is not found in a university. “We don’t need to go to a university to become smart people, we are smart people. Just leave us alone.
“I’m tired of people giving us free coffee all the time.”
“We need to stop being used as mascots by a country that hates us, really hates us. We are still told to toe the line.”
He said Indian people are still struggling for equal rights. “We have a country that makes rules every four years and we don’t know who in the hell to believe after a while.” One thing he does believe in is that all people are members of the same human family.
Ultimately, Owns the Sabre said, what he believes in is the circle: The circle of life.
Poem by Paul Owns the Sabre
"Bring my drum, so I can sing my song of honor to my grandfather's grandfather"
Tonight, my thoughts go out to another place: the land of my grandfather's grandfather.
I wonder the thoughts and the feelings of my grandfather's grandfather.
Closeness of the spirit, an awareness of all that is.
The coolness of the rippling clear water over many stones that disappear under the banks
to the many trees that dance in the wind.
The stars to shine so close to the land, a land that is sacred.
Bright are the stars at night that dance across the skies, laughing it seems to the happiness that is
bringing spirituality all around for the generations down the distant road to, the meadowlark and the robin mixed with the sound of the
eagle, echoing from the sky... and the sound of many drums, the
songs that whisper the names of my grandfather's grandfather, the flute to sound its haunting call in
the darkness; to bring with it the sound; the melody of my grandfather's grandfather.
To reach out its message that gives the spirit in me the kinship only my grandfather's grandfather will know.
The ages that have left their mark on this my grandfather's grandfather land, engraved in the stones
that know no age.
The flowers the same when my grandfather's grandfather reached down to smell it's fragrance, and to say a silent word to all of creation;
that remains the same always for the ages that must come.
The strong will of my grandfather's grandfather is in the spirit of the children's children now, and those whose spirit, blue in color flicker
like a light across the many meadows back home; to be born at another time.
A whisper of laughter you can hear as these spirits dance over the blades of grass, on into the little valley out to the crest of the hill and
over to the sounds of the dancing horses of four colors; in step to the sounds that have come from long ago to tell the spirits to come
with them to the starlit meadow and dance with them.
The bells to sound their cadence to those who hear its spirit sound only for them.
Bring my drum so I may sing my song of honor to the spirits that come to me in the night of the dancing stars, so I may remember that
other time when I danced with my grandfather's grandfather so long ago when my land was young.
Hecha tu yelo
All my relations
Owns the Sabre
Sacred Run
Turtle Island
1992
Bay Native Circle KPFA this Week
By Tony Gonzales, AIM West
Censored News
March 15, 2017
SAN FRANCISCO -- This week’s “Bay Native Circle” on KPFA 94.1 fm in Berkeley is dedicated to our good friend and brother, a Long Walker, Sun Dancer, a natural-born artist, Mr. Paul Owns the Sabre, who passed to spirit world on February 20, 2017. I've included a taped recording taken with Paul in 2011 by Ms. Brenda Norrell of "Censored News", during the Long Walk against Diabetes. A memorial was held two weeks ago in SF at the Native American Health Center and another planned in Oakland at IFH next month, stay tuned in.
I also interviewed Elder AIMster Wounded Knee DeOcampo (California Me-Wuk) with an update on "Long Walk 5.2” currently underway across the USA with its theme "Against Drugs and Domestic Violence"; also a tape recorded with Ms. Corrina Gould (California Chochenyo-Ohlone) speaking in support of sacred sites and the Shell Mounds last week at Berkeley City Hall; and hear a brief public comment(s) from (Antonio Moreno) at SF City Hall calling for their Divestment, and against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), of which the BoS did vote in support, unanimously; and, finally, Mr. Douglas Miles, (San Carlos Apache) artist-in-residence at the DeYoung Museum during February. (Douglas left his mark with a mural in SF at corner of 16th and Shotwell Street in La Mision).
All this and much more! Tune in, plug-in, share with friends and enjoy the ride! And if you have announcements of coming events i.e. rallies, and gatherings in general, just write or call my cell! aho!
All my relations!
Tony Gonzales
(Comca’Ac-Chicano)
AIM-WEST director
and Radio HOST
www.aim-west.org
https://kpfa.org/episode/bay-native-circle-march-15-2017/
Bay Native Circle – March 15, 2017
03.15.17 - 7:00pm
Hosts Lakota Harden, Eddie Madril, Janeen Antoine, Vince Medina, and Morning Star Gali bring you today’s Native issues, people, culture and events.
Painting the Warrior Way article and photos copyright Brenda Norrell, Censored News
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Thursday, March 16, 2017
Paul Owns the Sabre Honored on Bay Native Circle KPFA
National Indigenous Congress -- Oaxaca Resisting Wind Farms Threatening Indigenous Lands
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| Resisting wind park in San Francisco del Mar in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec |
National Indigenous Congress condemns wind farms, and violent oppression, threatening Indigenous lands, and demands release of political prisoners
Communique from the National Indigenous Congress
March 9, 2017
To the national and international Sixth
To the free media
To civil society in general
Compañeros, compañeras, as our peoples continue to organize ourselves, each in our own ways and forms, analyzing and making agreements in order to form a Concejo Indígena de Gobierno [Indigenous Council of Government], the war against our peoples doesn’t stop. The three levels of bad government continue to act against our mother earth, our peoples, and our autonomous organizations through plunder and repression.
In the state of Oaxaca
We denounce and condemn with outrage the events in the community of San Francisco del Mar in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region, Oaxaca, where violent actions were carried out, including the use of firearms, in order to try to impose approval of wind power projects that would dispossess the community of a good part of their common use lands and seriously affect the rich and delicate ecosystem there.
March 9, 2017
To the national and international Sixth
To the free media
To civil society in general
Compañeros, compañeras, as our peoples continue to organize ourselves, each in our own ways and forms, analyzing and making agreements in order to form a Concejo Indígena de Gobierno [Indigenous Council of Government], the war against our peoples doesn’t stop. The three levels of bad government continue to act against our mother earth, our peoples, and our autonomous organizations through plunder and repression.
In the state of Oaxaca
We denounce and condemn with outrage the events in the community of San Francisco del Mar in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec region, Oaxaca, where violent actions were carried out, including the use of firearms, in order to try to impose approval of wind power projects that would dispossess the community of a good part of their common use lands and seriously affect the rich and delicate ecosystem there.
Turn Up the Volume! Grassroots Indigenous Women's Radio
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| Union de Mujeres Aymaras de Abya Yala |
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Grassroots Indigenous Women's Radio
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (March 16, 2017) - Cultural Survival and Toronto-based WACC are pleased to announce the first round of grantees of our Community Media Grants Project partnership, an initiative strengthening international Indigenous community radio stations' broadcast infrastructure and systems. Ensuring that Indigenous communities have a viable and critical medium for dissemination of news, information, community events, historical documentation, education and entertainment, the project aims to enhance community efforts to establish and ensure sustainability of Indigenous community-controlled media.
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Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Navajo Grassroots Groups Demand Seat at Consultation on Future of Navajo Generating Station
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Percy Deal, Diné CARE
Nicole Horseherder, Tó Nizhoni Ani
Jihan Gearon, Black Mesa Water Coalition
Censored News
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Navajo public interest groups are demanding a seat at the table after not being invited to a series of meetings that the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation began hosting with stakeholders regarding the future of Navajo Generating Station and Peabody Mine.
In a letter sent to Acting Interior Department Secretary James Cason and Deputy Commissioner David Palumbo, Navajo leaders stressed how the exclusion of Navajo voices repeats a troubling pattern all-too-familiar when it comes to dealing with the Navajo Generating Station.
Participation in a previous DOI work group to develop EPA’s regional haze implementation plan dealing with local pollutants was through “invitation-only,” a tactic used intentionally to exclude vital local voices such as the Hopi tribe and Navajo grassroots groups. During oral argument before the Ninth Circuit on EPA’s Federal Implementation Plan on haze, the court expressed how troubled it was by the government’s exclusion of key stakeholders from the technical working group process.
“We urge the Bureau of Reclamation to not repeat the mistakes of the past in shutting out Navajo and Hopi voices from the current stakeholder process addressing the future of NGS and Kayenta mine,” said Percy Deal, who signed the letter on behalf of Diné CARE and whose family has lived in the shadow of the coal mine for generations.
“Our futures depend a transition that addresses cleanup, securing rights to Navajo water, job and economic development assistance and mapping out a future built on clean energy,” he said. “And the only way that will happen is if we are given the a seat at table where decisions are being made.”
Navajo and Hopi groups have outlined key factors to ensure a successful transition:
Remediate and cleanup the plant and return land and water that have been impacted by more than four decades of coal burning to the Navajo and Hopi in healthy condition;
Work with the plant’s utility owners and the federal government to develop the vast renewable energy potential of the region as a replacement for power from NGS;
Invest in job training and economic development assistance for the workers and communities that will be affected most by the closure;
Secure rights to the 50,000 acre-feet of water that are currently tied to the operation of the plant and the associated coal mine, and to transmission capacity that will connect wind and solar projects
developed on tribal lands to Western energy markets.
CONTACTS:
Percy Deal, Diné CARE, deal.percy@gmail.com
Nicole Horseherder, Tó Nizhoni Ani, nhorseherder@gmail.com
Jihan Gearon, Black Mesa Water Coalition, jihan.gearon@gmail.com
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Photo: Diné CARE educating community members residing in Forest Lake, Navajo Nation, Arizona. Percy Deal presenting in native language of Navajo of possible impacts on; 1.) drinking water for human, live stock, vegetation and wild life. 2.) immediate & future health & environmental impacts. 3.) retraining current work force. 4.) create new job opportunities. 5.) create community revenue. 6.) clean up of company & plant waste. 7.) implement renewable resources. 8.) investigate future of life.
Navajo grassroots groups demand seat at Navajo Generating Station negotiating table
Letter to Department of Interior officials says after three decades of fighting injustice, Navajo voices deserve to be included in discussions about the power plant’s future
Navajo Nation can not afford another abandonment of resource mining or development like uranium mining and milling
Nicole Horseherder, Tó Nizhoni Ani
Jihan Gearon, Black Mesa Water Coalition
Censored News
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Navajo public interest groups are demanding a seat at the table after not being invited to a series of meetings that the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation began hosting with stakeholders regarding the future of Navajo Generating Station and Peabody Mine.
In a letter sent to Acting Interior Department Secretary James Cason and Deputy Commissioner David Palumbo, Navajo leaders stressed how the exclusion of Navajo voices repeats a troubling pattern all-too-familiar when it comes to dealing with the Navajo Generating Station.
Participation in a previous DOI work group to develop EPA’s regional haze implementation plan dealing with local pollutants was through “invitation-only,” a tactic used intentionally to exclude vital local voices such as the Hopi tribe and Navajo grassroots groups. During oral argument before the Ninth Circuit on EPA’s Federal Implementation Plan on haze, the court expressed how troubled it was by the government’s exclusion of key stakeholders from the technical working group process.
“We urge the Bureau of Reclamation to not repeat the mistakes of the past in shutting out Navajo and Hopi voices from the current stakeholder process addressing the future of NGS and Kayenta mine,” said Percy Deal, who signed the letter on behalf of Diné CARE and whose family has lived in the shadow of the coal mine for generations.
“Our futures depend a transition that addresses cleanup, securing rights to Navajo water, job and economic development assistance and mapping out a future built on clean energy,” he said. “And the only way that will happen is if we are given the a seat at table where decisions are being made.”
Navajo and Hopi groups have outlined key factors to ensure a successful transition:
Remediate and cleanup the plant and return land and water that have been impacted by more than four decades of coal burning to the Navajo and Hopi in healthy condition;
Work with the plant’s utility owners and the federal government to develop the vast renewable energy potential of the region as a replacement for power from NGS;
Invest in job training and economic development assistance for the workers and communities that will be affected most by the closure;
Secure rights to the 50,000 acre-feet of water that are currently tied to the operation of the plant and the associated coal mine, and to transmission capacity that will connect wind and solar projects
developed on tribal lands to Western energy markets.
CONTACTS:
Percy Deal, Diné CARE, deal.percy@gmail.com
Nicole Horseherder, Tó Nizhoni Ani, nhorseherder@gmail.com
Jihan Gearon, Black Mesa Water Coalition, jihan.gearon@gmail.com
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Cruelty and Hate: Dynamics of Border Wall in the Trump Era of White Supremacy
Photos Screenshots of Hidden Video from Unicorn Riot's video 'Crisis: Borderlands'
U.S. Border Patrol Agents Kick and Destroy Life Saving Water for Migrants
Photos -- U.S. Border Patrol agent kicking and destroying life saving water for migrants at the Arizona border, as shown in hidden video footage. "Water is Life," here on the border and everywhere. The same militarization and abuse of the unarmed, and the most vulnerable, at Standing Rock, is the U.S. government's mandate at the borders. 
Militarization, excessive force and denial of entry magnified at borders, as Trump era White Supremacy violates international laws and human rights
Article by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Unicorn Riot has produced a new video from the U.S. Mexico border, revealing the hatred and profiteering at the root of Trump's proposed border wall. The cruelty and hate of the U.S. government at the border is now magnified in the Trump era of white supremacy.
The images tell the true story of how U.S. Border Agents destroy life saving water left for migrants, and show Tucson police pepper spraying supporters rallying for migrant rights.
This is the true story of how the U.S. provides weapons to the cartels in Mexico to fuel the drug war, and the U.S. involvement in drug running.
Follow the money, and the path of wealthy white supremacists in America. The United States fills private prisons with migrants for dollars, imprisoning migrant children in violation of international law.
Watch "Crisis Borderlands" video at Unicorn Riot:
At Censored News, many of our most censored, original news articles over the past decade have come from the Arizona border. This includes the fact that a Congressional hearing exposed the arrests of hundreds of U.S. Border Patrol agents and ICE agents for running drugs, and serving as "spotters" for the cartels, to bring their loads across the border. Since that time, the arrests of border agents for running drugs has continued.
Another article that was highly censored was the brochure of the assault weapons provided to the cartels. The ATF's assault weapons to cartels began on the Texas border with the Bush administration and continued, with Operation Wide Receiver, and Fast and Furious in Tucson.
Recently, the most censored issue is the the U.S. government's border security contract to Elbit Systems, the Israeli firm responsible for Apartheid security in Palestine. This was during the Obama administration.
Elbit's spy towers now target traditional O'odham communities on the Tohono O'odham Nation. The Tohono O'odham's Gu-Vo District is battling to protect burial places from the construction of these US Israeli spy towers. The militarization of O'odham lands continues with U.S. Border Patrol abuses of O'odham.
Also see:
National Public Radio reports three music bands were denied entry into the U.S for the music festival in Austin, Texas, including a First Nations bassist, who was told by a border agent -- in violation of federal law -- that he would need a blood test to enter the U.S.
First Nations Band Member Denied Entry into U.S.: Massive Scar Era Halted at Border
Censored News
Three more bands have announced that they would not be performing at this year's South by Southwest [SXSW] music festival in Austin, Texas, because their members have been prevented from entering the United States, National Public Radio reports.
Massive Scar Era was one of these and denied a First Nation's band member entry.
National Public Radio reports:
According to Massive Scar Era, a Customs and Border Protection [CBP] official also questioned the band's bassist, Dylan Pieter Wijdenes-Charles, about proving his ethnic identity.
In the video, Amr recounts a purported exchange between the immigration officer and Wijdenes-Charles. "Dylan is a First Nation," she exclaims. "He's allowed to go to the States whenever he wants to, work whenever he wants to, because he's First Nation ... He [the CBP officer] looked at him and he's like, 'Next time when you come, you have to show a blood test that you're First Nation.'" The band says that Wijdenes-Charles was carrying an official card identifying him as a First Nation member.
More at NPR:
Three More SXSW-Bound Bands Denied Entry Into The U.S.
http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/03/13/520010920/three-more-sxsw-bound-bands-denied-entry-into-the-u-s
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