Thursday, March 31, 2011

VIDEO Long Walk 3: Tar Sands, a prayer on Lolo Pass


Article by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

LOLO PASS, Idaho -- On the Longest Walk 3 northern route, walker Lisa Peake, Ojibwe/Pomo, offers a prayer for the earth and the people, when walkers arrive at the oversized equipment for Conoco Phillips tar sands refinery, which is snowbound on the pass.
Long walker Paul Owns the Sabre, Cheyenne River Lakota elder, pointed out that Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce led his people over Lolo Pass.
Down the route, Carol Marsh, 69, was among the protesters that temporarily blocked the megaloads on March 10, 2010, in Missoula, Montana. The enormous equipment was entroute to the ConocoPhillips tar sands oil refinery in Billings.
“These megaloads are serving refineries that process oil from the Alberta tar sands, the worst ecological disaster the planet has ever faced. The tar sands undermine any effort to stop global warming. I did this because I want there to be a world for my granddaughter to grow up in,” Marsh said.

Indigenous fighting tar sands trail of cancer and destruction
First Nations in Canada, and the Indigenous Environmental Network, have a global campaign underway to halt the tar sands environmental destruction. Indigenous environmental activists rallied to halt the tar sands oil industry, with actions in London and at the climate summits in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Cancun, Mexico, in 2010.
Clayton Thomas-Muller, Mathais Colomb Cree Nation also known as Pukatawagan in Northern Manitoba, Canada, has led a campaign to halt the tar sands at IEN.
The tar sands mining is stripping crude oil from the Alberta tar sands and leaving behind toxic heavy metals and carcinogens that pollute nearby native lands.
Thomas-Muller told Yes! magazine, "The five First Nations in the region of the tar sands rely on traditional food sources, like moose, fish, beaver, and muskrat, all of which have become contaminated by mining pollution.
"We’re talking about a community of just 1,200 that’s seen more than 100 deaths in the last decade from rare cancers and autoimmune diseases. The tar sands leases also violate aboriginal treaty rights; they were sold by the provincial government without the prior informed consent of local communities."

Long Walkers: Certitude and perseverance
Peake, among the Native youths walking to raise awareness of diabetes, is on her second walk across America. Owns the Sabre was on the original 1978 Longest Walk, Longest Walk 2 in 2008 and other walks for Indian rights and the protection of Mother Earth.
On Thursday, March 31, 2011, the Long Walk 3 northern route is on Pine Ridge in South Dakota. The southern route is scheduled to arrive in Hammond, Oklahoma, walking from Amarillo, Texas.
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Long Walk 3 Contacts: Northern Route Chris Francisco, (503) 515-6239 indigenouswalkabout@yahoo.com and Goodie Cloud, National Coordinator, on southern route (218) 209-0232 ndn_queen_bee@yahoo.com
References:
Yes! magazine: Climate Hero Clayton Thomas-Muller
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/climate-action/climate-hero-clayton-thomas-muller
Read more about the environmental nightmare of mining the tar sands:
http://www.ienearth.org/docs/Tar-Sands-profiles-from-the-front-lines.pdf
Montana Citizens Temporarily Block Tar Sands Refining Shipments
http://www.risingtidenorthamerica.org/wordpress/2011/03/11/montana-citizens-temporarily-block-tar-sands-refining-shipments/
Video by Longest Walk 3 northern route.

VIDEO: Long Walk 3 on Nez Perce land



Long Walk 3 northern route in Lapwai, Idaho, with the Nez Perce. Video by Long Walk 3 northern route.

Porcupine District calls for removal of occupiers Friday at elderly center

Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

PORCUPINE, S.D. -- The occupation of the elderly center at Porcupine remains underway. Duane Martin, Sr., of the Strongheart Warrior Society, who led the occupation remains in jail.
Meanwhile, the Porcupine District Council passed a resolution for the removal of occupiers for Friday, April 1, 2011.
In related news, the Oglala Sioux Tribe suspended council representative Deborah Rooks-Cook on Tuesday, for 20 days without pay, following allegations of elderly abuse.
The alleged abuse by Rooks-Cook was one of the incidents that led up to the occupation of the elderly center. The council voted 10-7 to suspend Rooks-Cook following an impeachment complaint filed by Darlis Morrison-Crow.
The Rapid City Journal reports that he council voted 10-7 to suspend Rooks-Cook following an impeachment complaint filed by Darlis Morrison-Crow. The complaint alleges that Rooks-Cook's behavior was verbally and physically abusive to Lakota elders outside of tribal headquarters, following an executive committee meeting on Jan. 25. Those voting against suspending Rooks-Cook were: Elaine Martinez, Toby Big Boy, Paul Little, Robin Tapio, Jim Meeks, Beverly Tuttle and Kevin Yellow Bird Steele.
Today, the Lakota Oyate said that elders from the occupation will attend an Oglala Tribal Council session. The Lakota Oyate stated that Duane Martin is being imprisoned illegally on false charges.
The Porcupine District Council, however, does not support the occupation of the elderly center.
The resolution, calling for removal of the occupiers, states that on Friday, March 4, 2011 "a small group of elders and non residents illegally occupied the Porcupine Elderly meals center building, and in the process, disrupted much needed services to the majority of elders in the district." The resolution makes allegations against those occupying the elderly center.
The occupiers, however, continue to deny the allegations and have initiated investigations into unsanitary conditions, spoiled food and corruption at the elderly center.
When the occupation began, the Strongheart Warrior Society said, "The elders and warrior societies are demanding the removal of all current center staff, the construction of a new, sanitary building, restoration of healthy meals, expansion of elderly meals to those homebound, and investigation into the graft and corruption in the program no matter where it leads. The occupation will continue until these demands are met."
Read more:
Porcupine resolution seeks removal of occupiers on Friday:
http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2011/03/porcupine-resolution-seeks-removeal-of.html
Rapid City Journal: Rooks-Cook's removal
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/article_f45521ee-5af0-11e0-9b2b-001cc4c002e0.html Statements from the Strongheart Warrior Society
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/03/lakota-occupation-tribal-officials-no.html
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Also in the news today from South Dakota Indian country:
Native Sun News: Radiation levels high on South Dakota Indian lands
Read the article by Talli Nauman, and the results of water samples by Defenders of the Black Hills:
"A U.S. Forest Service Draft Environmental Impact Statement showing 89 abandoned uranium mines in extreme northwest South Dakota alerted Defenders of the Black Hills to the potential for radioactive contamination of water supplies downstream, according to the report."
http://64.38.12.138/News/2011/000987.asp
Related: South Dakota eases uranium mining laws:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/16/us-uranium-southdakota-idUSTRE72F0CX20110316

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Top Stories at Censored News, Monday, March 30, 2011


Today's top stories at Censored News
Monday, March 30, 2011

Photo: Northern Cheyenne youths with Long Walk 3 northern route in Lame Deer, Montana /Photo Chris Francisco LW3

Welcome to Cameroon! The 198th country to visit
Censored News in the past six months. Along with the US and Canada, the majority of this week's readers were in United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia, Netherlands, Australia, Iran and Japan, according to the country counter.

Most accessed articles today:
*Arizona Border Agents, Weapons and Oil, by Brenda Norrell, Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/03/arizona-border-agents-weapons-and-oil.html
*Rapid City March Long Walk 3 Photos, photos by Chris Francisco
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/03/rapid-city-march-long-walk-3-photos.html
*Long Walk 3 South Dakota north and south enroute to Amarillo, Texas (This week the northern route is on Pine Ridge in South Dakota and the southern route, now in Amarillo, Texas, heads to Oklahoma.)
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/03/long-walk-3-south-dakota-north-and.html
*Loving the crash and burn of mainstream media, by Brenda Norrell, Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/03/loving-crash-and-burn-of-us-mainstream.html
*Arizona approves uranium mining permits in the Grand Canyon, Havasupai warned of upsetting the balance here which affects the climate of the world, by Brenda Norrell, Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/03/arizona-approves-uranium-mining-permits.html

This week's top story:
Hopi call for prayer to restore balance, statement from Hopi:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/03/hopi-call-for-prayer-to-restore-balance.html

Top story for the past six months:
Wikileaks: Canada's unauthorized wiretaps of Mohawks, by Brenda Norrell, Censored News
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/08/wikileaks-canadas-unauthorized-wiretaps.html

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Mentoring Michelle Obama

Mentoring Michelle Obama
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/


First Lady Michelle Obama has selected women mentors for young girls in celebration of Women's History Month. While Native American novelist Louise Erdrich is on the list, the group is still top heavy with actresses and entertainers -- which makes its own statement about US women and their heroes.

There are also some troubling mentors selected by the First Lady, like Ambassador Nancy Brinker. Brinker boasts this credential: Former U.S. Chief of Protocol for President George W. Bush.

Now, would anyone really want to admit this, or be recognized for it?

If the First Lady wants to choose a mentor from the US military, instead of the Airforce selectee she chose, she could have selected Col. Ann Wright, who spoke out against the US invasion of Iraq, exposed US torture in Abu Ghraib, and was on a Gaza Free aid ship in the deadly flotilla.

Since First Lady Obama is searching for activists to inspire heroism, here's a few women I would recommend: Ofelia Rivas, O'odham; Louise Benally, Navajo relocation resister Big Mountain; Debra White Plume, Lakota fighting uranium mining and Kahentinetha Horn, Mohawk publisher of Mohawk Nation News, a grandmother who suffered a heart attack in a border agent stresshold.

Further, I would also recommend Sarah James, Gwich'in elder protecting caribou calving grounds in the Arctic; Casey Camp, Ponca Indian rights activist; Twa-le-Abrahamson, Spokane youth speaking out to protect Mother Earth with climate radio activism; and Long Walker Lisa Peake, Ojibwe/Pomo youth walking across America for the second time. Also topping the list are the Tewa Pueblo women fighting the nuclear industry and Los Alamos Labs in New Mexico.

There are too many Native women to name, but on this recommended list are the numerous Navajo, Hopi, Pueblo and other Native American environmental activists fighting toxic polluters, the US government, and at times their own US-controlled councils. There is another long list of Native women mentors, those struggling to halt violence against women.

Now, if you were asked to mentor First Lady Michelle Obama, what would be your advice to the First Lady?

The First Lady could organize a project to provide backpacks, school supplies and shoes to children who don't have any. Michelle Obama could organize food programs and housing for homeless children in America. She could organize summer food and activity programs for children and teens. She could ensure more domestic violence shelters for women and children.

She could leave the confines of the privileged, and walk down the backroads of the south and walk out across Indian land. She could find another America, one far from the mirage and glitter of Hollywood, and the stain and deception of politics and DC. The First Lady could make a new fashion statement, one that would endear her in history.

Rather than modeling the behavior of actresses, or encouraging aspirations in the US military and the killing of fellow human beings in wars for politics and profit, the First Lady could place before the youths of America real heroes who are winning in their own grassroots communities.
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Chicago Sun-Times: Michelle Obama books stars to mentor, includes list of mentors:
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Brenda Norrell, publisher of Censored News, brendanorrell@gmail.com

Arizona Border Agents, Weapons and Oil

US Deadly Games: Arizona border agents, weapons and oil

By Brenda Norrell
Photo: Mannie Garcia/Greenpeace
The deadly games of the United States are being exposed. Wikileaks reveals the Arizona National Guard in oil-rich Asia and the Center for Public Integrity exposes the ATF's flow of weapons to drug cartels across the US/Mexico border.

The US says it is taking the lead in exploiting Kazakhstan's rich oil reserves, according to a diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks. The US even has the Arizona National Guard over there keeping them safe by way of Centcom. Arizona got a chunk of money to keep things safe and tidy for ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips in Kazakhstan.

Meanwhile, the Center for Public Integrity exposes the fact that ATF allowed weapons to cross the border into Mexico. Two of those weapons were found at the murder scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, near Nogales, Arizona.

The ATF now admits that it allowed thousands of weapons across the border in a sting operation, "Fast and Furious," targeting narco traffickers.

A whistleblower told the Center for Public Integrity that some ATF agents opposed the operation because they knew what would happen when AK 47s were in the hands of drug runners.

“The decision -- part of a Phoenix-based operation code named 'Fast and Furious'-- was met by strong objections from some front-line agents who feared they were allowing weapons like AK-47s to ‘walk’ into the hands of drug lords and gun runners, internal agency memos show,” according to the Center’s article by John Solomon and David Heath and Gordon Witkin.

A second federal agent was murdered with a gun being tracked by ATF agents from north Texas in February. ICE agent Jaime Zapata was murdered in Mexico with a weapon smuggled into Mexico that ATF was following, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Senator Grassley presses for answers

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley of the Senate Judiciary Committee is pressing for answers as to why weapons were allowed to pass through the border and why those weapons were found at the scene of Border Agent Brian Terry’s murder, north of Nogales, Arizona, on Dec. 14, 2010.

Sen. Grassley also questions a weapons smuggling operation that involved the mayor and chief of police in Columbus, New Mexico. Weapons sezied in Columbus have been linked to eight murders in Ciudad Juarez and Palomas. Palomas is across the border from Columbus, N.M.

In his March 24 statement, the senator asked Customs and Border Protection for information about reportedly stopping Blas Gutierrez and Miguel Carrillo near the Mexican border.

“The two were recently indicted as part of a gun trafficking operation involving the mayor of Columbus, New Mexico. Additionally, Grassley is asking about allegations that Customs and Border Protection stopped Jaime Avila, who was recently indicted as the straw purchaser of weapons found at the scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder. In both instances, Border Patrol agents allegedly found the gun runners to be in possession of multiple weapons, but let the suspects proceed for unknown reasons.”

On March 16, Sen. Grassley wrote, “CBP officials allegedly stopped Jaime Avila near the border in the spring or summer of 2010. He allegedly had the two WASR-10 rifles in his possession that were later found at the scene of Agent Brian Terry’s murder, along with over thirty additional weapons.”

US soldiers eager to smuggle cocaine in southern Arizona

The exposure that the US allows weapons to cross the border into Mexico, follows sting operations exposing the role of US soldiers in drug running at the border.

The FBI halted a sting operation, Operation Lively Green, in 2006, because so many US soldiers in the Army, Marines and Airforce, wanted to smuggle cocaine from the border at Nogales to Phoenix. The nearly 100 people arrested included high school military recruiters in Tucson, a Nogales police officer and a prison guard. A similar sting operation found US soldiers stationed in Oklahoma ready and willing to smuggle cocaine from the US/Mexico border.

Arizona National Guard involved in Kazakhstan border security

Back in Kazakhstan, the US continues its paternal and corporate role.

US Ambassador Richard Hoagland wrote this cable in February of 2010 that is marked "secret."

"U.S. and Kazakhstani strategic interests are largely aligned on the development of Kazakhstan's vast energy resources. Both sides agree that U.S. and other Western companies must continue playing a lead role in Kazakhstan's energy exploration and production projects, and that diversification of transport routes will bolster Kazakhstan's sovereignty and enable it to capture the maximum benefits of its energy and wealth."

"Kazakhstan produced 88 million tons of oil in 2009 (approximately 1.5 million barrels per day), and is expected to become one of the world's top ten crude exporters soon after 2015. While the country also has significant gas reserves (1.5 trillion cubic meters is a low-end estimate), current gas exports are very limited for now, in part because gas is being reinjected to maximize crude output. U.S. companies (ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips) have significant ownership stakes in Kazakhstan's three major hydrocarbon projects, including Kashagan, the world,s largest oil field discovery since Alaska's North Slope," the cable states.

Arizona received $200,000 in funds for participation in the Kazakhstan border and security training partnership.

"This included exchange visits in Arizona and Kazakhstan of firefighting and 911 operations," the cable states.

References:
Center for Public Integrity: ATF allowed weapons allowed into Mexico:
http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2976
Tucson Citizen: Brian Terry's murder:
Senator Charles Grassley presses for answers:
Wikileaks: Arizona National Guard in Kazakhstan:
http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2010/02/10ASTANA251.html

Cheyenne River Lakota ICE agent, suicide or murder in Arizona?
Some stories, some lives do not go away. The life of Thomas DeRouchey, Cheyenne River Lakota, is one of those. Thomas was interim director of the ICE office in Phoenix. The official story is that he shot himself in the head and committed suicide while driving 80 miles an hour to a press conference in Tucson in 2004. It happened on the Interstate in Marana, just north of Tucson. (Marana was exposed by former CIA agents as a haven for black operations.) The question remains, was he shot or did he commit suicide, and why. Was he going to expose something about the border and immigration at that press conference in Tucson? -- Censored News

Monday, March 28, 2011

Rapid City march: Long Walk 3 photos


Long Walk 3 northern route in Rapid City, South Dakota, March 28, 2010. Photos by Chris Francisco, coordinator LW3 northern route.
Pine Ridge to Wanblee Agenda

March 31st - April 4th, 2011
-- March 31st 2011 8AM: Pine Ridge Indian Reservation ENTRANCE @ Red Shirt, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, Turtle Island
-- Welcoming & Words of Encouragementt by OST Vice President: Tom Poor Bear
-- Prayer by TBA
--PRHS Cross Country & Track Team to RELIEVE them and RELAY LW3NR walkers and runners into Pine Ridge (Waiting on confirmation from other schools).
--March 31st 2011 1 PM: Oglala, South Dakota, Turtle Island
--****LUNCH**** (provided by TBA)
--Mary Weasel Bear Tiwahe to RELIEVE them and RELAY into Pine Ridge.
--March 31st 2011 6 PM: Billy Mills Hall, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Turtle Island
--Eyapaha: Russell Blacksmith
--****DINNER**** (provided by White Cow Killer Tiyospaye)
--Encouragement Songs by CRAZY HORSE SINGERS, Presentations, Socializing, Networking
--March 31st 2011 10 PM: Pine Ridge Retreat Center, Pine Ridge, South Dakota, Turtle Island
--LW3NR will be staying at Pine Ridge Retreat Center

The Longest Walk north is in South Dakota, and the southern route is in Hereford, Texas today, Tuesday, enroute to Amarillo, Texas.
More photos and Pine Ridge schedule of events, including a horseback ride, at: http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/03/long-walk-3-south-dakota-north-and.html
Congratulations to our friend Marsh Rice from the Longest Walk in 2008 and wife Manna, happy parents of a new baby girl born in Tokyo. "Aurora Makena entered this world at 9:30pm Tokyo time," Marsh said on Monday.

US allowed weapons across border, found at Border Agent's murder in Arizona

Whistleblower: US allowed weapons across border
Censored News
Also see:
'Arizona Border Agents, Weapons and Oil' at Censored News:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/03/arizona-border-agents-weapons-and-oil.html

The US Deadly Games: Arizona border agents, weapons and oil The US says it is taking the lead in exploiting Kazakhstan's rich oil reserves. The US even has the Arizona National Guard over there keeping them safe by way of Centcom. Arizona got a chunk of money to keep things safe and tidy for ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips in Kazakhstan, according to a US cable released by Wikileaks: http://www.wikileaks.ch/cable/2010/02/10ASTANA251.html

In Arizona, the US allowed weapons to cross the border into Mexico. Two of those weapons were found at the murder scene of a Border Patrol agent near Nogales, Arizona. The ATF now says that it allowed at least 1,700 weapons into Mexico. The ATF says it was a sting operation targeting narco traffickers. The Center for Public Integrity exposes the fact that ATF allowed weapons to cross the border into Mexico. The Tucson Citizen exposes the fact that two of those weapons were found recently at the scene of the murder of a Border Patrol agent near Nogales, Arizona.

ATF let hundreds of U.S. weapons fall into hands of suspected Mexican gunrunners
Whistleblower Says Agents Strongly Objected to Risky Strategy By John Solomon and David Heath and Gordon Witkin March 03, 2011
Center for Public Integrity
 Hoping to score a major prosecution of Mexican drug lords, federal prosecutors and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives permitted hundreds of guns to be purchased and retained by suspected straw buyers with the expectation they might cross the border and even be used in crimes while the case was being built, according to documents and interviews. The decision — part of a Phoenix-based operation code named “Fast and Furious” — was met by strong objections from some front-line agents who feared they were allowing weapons like AK-47s to “walk” into the hands of drug lords and gun runners, internal agency memos show. Indeed, scores of the weapons came back quickly traced to criminal activity. Read more ... http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2976 Updated: 3/22/2011, 3:06 pm: The head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Thursday night ordered an outside evaluation of his agency's efforts to combat Mexican gun trafficking following a Center for Public Integrity report that ATF supervisors allowed more than 1,700 guns to flow to straw buyers with the expectation the weapons might cross the border and even be used in crimes. Read more ... http://www.publicintegrity.org/blog/entry/2977/?utm_source=publicintegrity&utm_medium=related_heds&utm_campaign=side_v1

ATF gunwalker scandal … did US Customs and Border Protection look the other way when the guns were headed south?
by Hugh Holub on Mar. 25, 2011 Tucson Citizen

The ATF “gunwalker” scandal … where federal ATF agents allowed hundreds of guns to “walk” from US gun shops across the border into the hands of the Mexican drug cartel as part of some dubious investigation into gunrunning gets even more outrageous. Two of the ATF “walked” guns ended up at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry near Rio Rico.
Read more ... http://tucsoncitizen.com/view-from-baja-arizona/2011/03/25/atf-gunwalker-scandal-did-us-customs-and-border-protection-look-the-other-way-when-the-guns-were-headed-south

Long Walk 3: South Dakota north and enroute to Amarillo south



Photos 1 and 2: Paul Owns the Sabre on the Long Walk northern route with Northern Cheyenne youths in Lame Deer, Montana. Photo by Long Walk northern route. Photo 3: Long walkers prayed for the buffalo in Gardiner, Montana. Photo by Carl Bad Bear Sampson.

Long Walk northern route in South Dakota, southern route heads for Amarillo, Texas

By Censored News


Northern Route: Monday, March 28, 2011

Update Sunday night, "Had a good sweat near the Badlands SD. Thank you Autumn Two Bulls for inviting us and praying with us. Special thanks to the Heyoka medicine man that prayed for the LWNR3. Bringing harmony back to our spirits. Tomorrow we walk into Rapid City. We'll keep you posted. Chris Francisco."

OGLALA TERRITORY hosts The Longest Walk 3 Northern Route 2011! REVERSING DIABETES March 31st through April 2nd 2011
http://earthbornproductions.com/LWNR3__Events.html
Events are Tentative and Subject to Change, but here is what we are planning! March 31st 2011 Enter at Red Shirt Rez & State Line (time to be determined as they draw closer) PRHS Cross Country & Track Team to RELIEVE them. They will run them into Pine Ridge by RELAY (other schools to participate upon confirmation) ESCORT : OST DPS March 31st 2011 (continued) Share a meal together at Billy Mills hall (time to be determined as they draw closer). Longest Walk 3 Northern Route Walkers will stay at PR RETREAT CENTER April 1, 2011 10AM Circle Up at 4-Way in Pine Ridge for PRAYER and Words of Encouragement by TBA 10:30AM ~ Sobriety Walk & Ride against DIABETES to White Clay, NE in honor of Longest Walk 3 Northern Route Walkers ESCORT : OST DPS LUNCH – between 12 ~ 1PM – LUNCH (will be served at Billy Mills Hall) Activities to proceed throughout the day at SACRED HEART (Diabetes Screening, Diabetes Education, Diabetes Prevention, Songs, Dance, Healthy Food, Socializing)

April 2, 2011 8AM Riders and Walkers Circle up at 4 – Way for Prayer and Words of Encouragement by TBA 8:30AM ~ Longest Walk 3 Northern Route Walkers will begin their HORSE RIDE! (Oglala Horse Owners will RELIEVE them by horseback as they trek EAST to the next NATION: Sicangu) ******ALL RIDERS ENCOURAGED TO COME AND RIDE ALONG***** ~ LUNCH~ SERVED @ BATESLAND ~ DINNER~ SERVED @ MARTIN OST DPS will be providing an ESCORT

Long Walk 3 southern route:

Update from Goodie: Walkers spent the night of March 25 in a little school in a railroad town called Vaughn, New Mexico, population of 539. On March 26 the Longest Walkers walked to Summer Lake State park where they will spend the night and also take a rest day on March 27. On Monday, March 28, they will head out toward Amarillo, Texas, and may make one stop enroute. When they arrive in Amarillo, Texas, the walkers plan to stay the the Kwahadi Museum http://www.kwahadi.com/ near the Amarillo Airport for two days -- Tuesday, March 29 and Wednesday, March 30. Next stops after that will be March 31 and April 1 in Hammond Oklahoma, then on to Canton, Oklahoma. --Goodie
Monday, March 28: South Route Longest Walkers will spend the night in Hereford, Texas, and on Tuesday March 29, will precede on to the Kwahadi Museum in Amarillo, Texas where they will stay through Wednesday March 30.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Long Walk 3 photos: South Dakota border


Long Walk 3 northern route for reversal of diabetes, was briefly in Wyoming, and then at the South Dakota border. Earlier, Northern Cheyenne youths from Lame Deer, Montana, ran with them to Ashland, Montana.
On Saturday, March 26, 2011, northern route coordinator Chris Francisco said, "We are in Rapid City now and the Cheyenne people were great. Especially the kids. They ran from the Little Big Horn Battle Field to Lame Deer."
Photo 1: Long Walk 3 in Lodge Grass, Montana, near Crow Nation: Manny Jim, Carl Bad Bear Sampson, Lisa Peake and Paul Owns the Sabre. Thank you Carl Bad Bear Sampson, Western Shoshone, for the cellphone photos to Censored News!
The Long Walk 3 southern route left Mountaineer, New Mexico, for Vaughn, N.M., on Friday.
Best to all the walkers from Censored News.

United Native Americans protest Hearst and theft of Black Hills



Also on YouTube: The illegal theft by the Hearst Corporation of the Black Hills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZrdXlIJSPg

UNITED NATIVE AMERICANS DEMAND REPARATIONS AND ACCOUNTABILITY From the Hearst Corporation for CONTINUING VIOLATIONS OF THE FORT LARAMIE TREATY'S OF 1851 AND 1868
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE :
RALLY TO DEMAND REPARATIONS AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE
ILLEGAL THEFT OF THE BLACK HILLS AND THE HOMESTAKE GOLD MINE
FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 2011 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM, PRESS CONFERENCE 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
SATURDAY, MARCH 26, 2011 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM
SPEAKERS AT HEARST CASTLE - 750 HEARST CASTLE ROAD, SAN SIMEON, CA. 93452
SPONSORED BY: UNITED NATIVE AMERICANS INC. (U.N.A.)
United Native Americans invites members of the press and community to join us, to both attend and participate in our rally to demand Justice for The Lakota Nation.
In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, U.N.A. is demanding the Hearst Corporation contribute to the struggling Lakota Nation whom they have stolen land and precious natural resources from. Professor Lehman Brightman states that the Hearst Corporation “has never tried to make amends to the Lakota Sioux Nation.” The heir to the Hearst fortune, William Randolph Hearst III. has“not given one red cent to the Sioux Indians. They could easily afford to set up a scholarship program or improve dilapidated housing on Sioux Territory.” Nearly 97% of the Sioux Nation’s population lives below Federal poverty levels.
The United States government and the Hearst Corporation can be prosecuted for violation of International Law. Article VI. of the United States Constitution states “ All treaties made, or which shall be made ... Shall be the Supreme Law of the Land.
U.N.A. believes it is time that punitive damages be paid to the Lakota Sioux Nation for direct violation of the Fort Laramie Treaty’s of both 1851 and 1868.
Reparations need to happen to heal the wounds that capitalism has inflicted upon the people the mainstream media indicates are the least important: indigenous communities, people of color, children, people in poverty, disabled people, migrants, elders, and mothers. Daily newspapers are the media through which we consume ideas about what to do and who to be, and tell stories to make us understand where we come from. These newspapers, like the Hearst-owned SF Examiner,
tell us stories about what sort of ideal human we should all strive to be. The problem is, most media in wide circulation has been taken over by corporate interests, and ignores atrocities against folks who need their land back, like the Lakota people of the Black Hills, because indigenous folks, we are told, are not the ideal humans we all want to be.
“Very few people know about these facts,” says Quanah Brightman, a Lakota/Sioux leader of the U.N.A.
Manipulations of the media is a strategy that individualizes, like the Hearsts have used throughout history, and now indigenous people are turning the tables with their own people-led media at the Hearst Castle this weekend.
Please join U.N.A. for our educational and peaceful protest to demand Justice for the Lakota Sioux Nation at the gates of the Hearst Castle on Friday, March 25th and Saturday, March 26th, from 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM.
750 Hearst Castle Rd. San Simeon, CA 93452
For more information find us on Facebook.com

Photo: Long Walk 3 northern route Cheyenne youth runners

Photo: Native youths from the Northern Cheyenne Nation in Lame Deer, Montana, ran with the Long Walk 3 northern route to Ashland, Montana. Photo by Carl Bad Bear Sampson, Western Shoshone.

The Long Walk 3 southern route left Mountainaire, New Mexico enroute to Vaughn, New Mexico, today, Friday, March 25, 2011.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Native American Artists for Japan

Native American Artists for Japan
Photo: Turquoise and silver bracelet by Jacob Morgan, son of the late Harry Morgan, donated.
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A Community of Givers
Native American Artists for Japan is dedicated in leading fellow artisans in a monetary relief for victims/survivors of the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan through an organize effort to auction hand-made Native American art. All money will be donated to the Red Cross.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to unite and inspire fellow Native Artists to give back to our brothers and sisters abroad. Because Japan has been a big supporter of Native American arts, providing income to artists, it is out of our hearts as artists to raise funds for water, food, and basic necessities.
Online Auction Benefit April 5, 2011
Our 1st auction on eBay will start on April 5, 2011 and will include as many 15 pieces of art. This auction will last for 7 days, then NAAJ will post more art the following week.
If you plan to donate art, we need to have all art pieces in as soon as possible. Thank you for all your efforts!
Watch Video Messages on website: Artists speak about NAAJ: Raymond Yazzie; Darryl Dean Begay; Lyndon Tsosie; Monty Claw; Stewart Billie and Tony Abeyta http://www.nativeamericanartistsforjapan.com/

Original Medicine Games in Akwesasne May 27-30, 3011



MEDICINE GAMES at Akwesasne, May 27 -- 30, 2011
Posted at Censored News with permission from Neddie Thompson and Lando Nez. Art work by Nez, Dine'.
"The original medicine games played in Akwesasne and the year is 2011, but we will be still playing in 3011."
The original medicine games are being played in Akwesasne for healing.
Please double click on image to enlarge.

Hopi Call for Prayer to Restore Balance


Hopi call for Prayer to Restore Balance

March 17,2011
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The Hopi are praying for the people of Japan and for the people around the world as we face crisis in our world out of balance.
We are in a time of great change upon mother earth. These events have been foretold by our Elders. Through our Prophecies and our Ceremonies the sacred land of this earth is now crying. And our children are looking to Hopi to balance life for their future.
Our Elders have given us guidance for how to move through these changes. Humanity is now choosing the path upon which
all life will follow and we have known this time would come.

As Hopi, we ask you to join us in prayer to balance mother earth and all life.

We believe that, through our prayers and that if we pray with good hearts as told by our Elders, we can lesson the impact of
these events.

As Hopi, we join our prayers with those of the Dalai Lama along with people from around the world to send healing to Japan,
the earth and all life. In this time of change, we ask all the people of the world return to a more balanced way of life.

Hopi say there is a path to follow that allows for us to move through this time of change:

Walk gently upon our earth with respect for her and all life.

Connect your heart with the heart of the path to the future.

Plant gardens, respect our Sacred life giving waters and all of life for future generations of our children.

Kwak wha , Lolmani (Thank you, may there be good things in the future.)

Lee Wayne Loamayestewa
Kikmongwi, Chief of Shungopavi Village
SONGOOBAVE
HOPI MOMNGWIDU
Kikmongwi/Ja'agmongw
Lee Wayne
Loraayestewa
Soyalmongwi
Marcus Lomayestewa
Cajinmongwi
Lawrence
Keevama
Dawmongwi
Joseph Laban
Gwanmongwi
Albert
Susunkewa
Adlmongwi
Antone Secakuku
Wirojfanmongwi
Moody
Lomayaktewa
Sagwalenmongwi
Pascal Nuvumsa
Masilenmongwi
Patrick
Lomawaima
Joftnongwi
Floyd Lomaguy vaya
Ju'monngwi
Qaleedaqmongwi
Radford Quamahongnewa
LAVAY AY AMU
Radford
Quamahongnewa

Friday, March 18, 2011

PHOTOS: Long Walk 3 northern route Montana




Photos by Longest Walk northern route. Thank you!
Carl Bad Bear, Western Shoshone, on LW 3 northern route, Thurs. night: "A nice day, Yellowstone National Park, Montana." After walking into Gardiner, Bad Bear said, "We prayed for the buffalo, while the runners made it five miles from Billings."
On Monday, March 21, Long Walker Lisa Peake, Ojibwe/Pomo, said, " How about welcoming in our new walker/runners Mark Blue of Morton, Minn., who ran in the 2006 walk/run and 2maro T-Hawk of United Nationz productionz dot com (lol) from the land of Mohawk and Tonga islands. T-Hawk is a award winning native artist of west coast music awards and also an active member of DQ UNITY representive. YAY! more spiritual warriorz!"

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Acoma Pueblo Maurus Chino Anti-War Statement: From Conquistador Butchers to ROTC


Greed, violence and entitlement have scarred this sacred land

Statement by Maurus Chino, for the March 19, 2011 rally commemorating the Iraqi War, Albuquerque, NM

(Moment of silence for the brave ones alive and dead who stand and stood for the People in the face of oppression throughout the world)

Guwaatsi! Gai d’awa hauba? Wa shinum’e Kaaimaisiwa d’aagashi, D’yaami Hanu suda. Uusraatra Hanu waashdi suda etyu. Ak’ume suda.
Greetings! Are you all well? My Acoma name is Kaaimaisiwa. My American name is Maurus Chino. I belong to the Eagle Clan, and am a child of the Sun Clan. I belong to the Acoma People.
Acoma, a beautiful and wondrous place to the west of here, is for us the center of the universe. I may live in other places, as I do now, here in Albuquerque, but Ak’u, beloved Ak’u is a strong force that draws those of us who were born for Acoma and those who will be born for Acoma, always back to its center.
Ak’u is the word for the actual rock upon which the old village sits. Ak’ume translates as, “a person from Ak’u”. From the word Ak’ume, comes the word Acoma.

‘War and Terrorism’. We’ve heard these words a lot lately, but here in New Mexico beginning four hundred years ago, they have been much more than buzz words about lands far away. Here it has been actuality.
In October 1598, My Acoma People in defense of the Land and the People saw the first violent contact with the so-called Spanish conquistador. In that initial conflict thirteen Spanish soldiers were killed and as a result, in January 1599 a war ensued at Acoma that nearly destroyed the village. The epic war left hundreds some say thousands dead and butchered. Juan de Onate ordered the right foot of all warriors chopped off and the young girls and women between the ages of 12 to 25 enslaved for 25 years.
I say the ‘so-called conquistador’ because in spite of the horrific events my people endured, we were never conquered. We still practice the ancient beliefs that have sustained the people for thousands of years. The sacred songs, rituals, and prayers are much the same as they have been for millennia. We were never a Spanish speaking people. Against all odds, even in the face of genocide, we are still here.
I speak of this because it is important to understand the mindset of violent greed and colonialism. It is why we are gathered here today. We are beset on a worldwide level, and in our hometown communities with social ills directly related to this mindset of greed, violence, and entitlement. In this sacred Land right where you are right now; four hundred years ago; and nearly one hundred years earlier in Central and South America a violent invasion crashed upon the People. And it happened for much the same reasons that war in Iraq happened: for greed, empire, and in the name of Judeo-Chirstian dominion. In the Middle East it started for oil and here in the southwest it was for gold and human souls.
In the Albuquerque Journal, Feb 25, there was a picture. The title read: “A living History Lesson.” It was about Spanish conquistador re-enactors, who visited Madison Middle School to attend a history exhibition of student work. The picture implied the event was lighthearted; a good time to be had by all. Conquistador re-enactors smile as they encourage the children. Of course nothing was ever mentioned of land thefts, genocide, streets running red with blood, babies smashed to the ground at Acoma, the exact same way the civilian deaths in the Middle East are never mentioned. And how can they be? It doesn’t jibe with the rhetoric of freedom and democracy.
When we allow the children to learn a history that is false and one-sided, we allow ignorance and bigotry to perpetuate. It’s true when we hear that if we don’t learn from our history then we are doomed to repeat it. In the years to come, as these young impressionable students become the leaders of our communities, do not be surprised when they are confronted with the same social ills that trouble us now. These beautiful young minds poisoned in the schools today become what we will stand against tomorrow.
The so-called conquistador Juan de Onate, mass murderer deified, throughout much of New Mexico, and into west Texas still enjoys a misguided reverence, even as we wallow in the violence and death that he represents. We have schools, streets, town plazas, and public buildings, from Taos to El Paso, Texas named after him. You can see Onate today in front of the Albuquerque Museum, a gruesome smile on his face; a clumsy and incompetent attempt by the sculptor to bring lightness to the subject of bloodthirsty colonization. And just outside Alcade, NM, another bronze homage to Onate, this version as mediocre as our own here in Albuquerque, appears to have Onate rising from the low; dripping mud or blood. Sloppy though the work may be, it may be eerily accurate and perhaps a poetic justice. And in El Paso, Texas a 2 1/2 million dollar statue, 41/2 stories high, adorns what one magazine called the fifth ugliest airport in the nation.
Shamefully, New Mexico alone has spent millions to honor a butcher when these millions of dollars could have been spent better fixing the social ills that have plagued us and will continue to plague us if we do nothing, namely: drug and alcohol abuse, violence in the streets, jobs, education, and healthcare.
As you know, the heroes we choose to celebrate reveal much of who we are as a people. Read the news stories and sooner or later you will see New Mexico prominently fixed on one ruinous list or other. We are the most ignorant, the most violent and as shown from the news stories that keep on coming; the most politically corrupt. We should not be bewildered when we read the stories of drug and alcohol related crimes and violence. That we are one of the most violent states in the union shouldn’t surprise us, and it should not surprise us because we have in a way let it continue. When we stay quiet, when we do nothing even as we see the world crumble around us; we become part of the problem.
In 2004, I along with other Indigenous activists drove down through Mexico, down to the Mexican State of Chiapas, to San Cristobal de las Casas. We went down to help the Zapatistas celebrate the 1994 uprise against oppression. We drove for three days down, and three days coming back. We drove through desert, mountains, jungle, small towns and large cities. We spoke to Mayan community leaders in mountain villages, yet we never saw any monuments to the Spanish conquistador. Some would think that if there were a place for conquistador monuments, Mexico would be that place, but no. Only here in the American southwest do you see such a pitiful hanging on to a misrepresented and violent past.
New Mexico’s love, dependence and obsession with violence used to perplex me, until I realized that what I was seeing around me was a mindset, a mindset locked in stone long before drugs and immigration across our borders. What started with a glorification of a violent past continues to this day when we see our people so independently proud, yet so dependent upon the military industrial complex for our economic survival. Once a year in our lone Albuquerque newspaper, we read a story insidiously implying pride to be the birth place, of one of the most evil inventions ever to be conceived by humankind: the atomic bomb. I’ve heard many people refer to retired New Mexico Senator, Pete Dominici as “Saint Pete”. St. Pete of course championed our continuing nuclear arms research at Los Alamos National Laboratories. Every August, the morbid Santa Fe Fiesta is held. It celebrates the so-called ‘bloodless re-conquest of New Mexico’, which in fact was not bloodless at all.
When people love and obsess over violence then the communities and values become bedeviled by that same obsession. In a collective mindset, obsession with violence manifests violence.
When I was a young man, back in that booze-haze of a different time, I used to drink with this Acoma man. He is gone now. Beloved, he has returned back to the source. His name was Paul. He was a Marine and had just come back from the Viet Nam War. We would talk me and him, about all manner of things, but somehow it seemed our conversations would many times turn back to the good ol’ days, (those good ol’ days we all know).
And once he told me something that startled me because I knew exactly what he was talking about. I was taken aback because I thought I was the only person who knew this trivial, seemingly unimportant piece of my life. He said, “when I was I was in high school, I joined football just because the football team ate good on game days”.
That was me exactly. I was on the cross country team. I loved running, the nervous anticipation, the adrenaline coursing through my body, and the thrill of the competition. But man, how I looked forward the meals at those greasy spoon restaurants. It was my best meal of the week. Paul and I you see knew poverty in our homes.
It’s much the same even now with many of our youth and I speak of our Indian youth; our young women and men. Though not many if any, experience the same poverty Paul and I knew, the sad fact is that many experience the same lack of opportunity, the same lack of quality education in a school system filled with poorly paid teachers. Some of our young people feel that there isn’t much choice other than the military.
Many young people beloved, from Acoma, and our neighbors our indigenous relatives, the Din’e, Apache, Southern Ute, Cheyenne, Comanche, Hopi, Zuni, K’awaik’me, T’amayam’e , K’ewam’e, Ohkay Owingeh, Zia, Cochiti, Lakota, Kiowa, Taos, O’odham, on and on, have been to the endless wars: World War ll, Iwo Jima, Korean War, Cambodia, the Viet Nam War, and now the Middle East. They return and it is hard for them to get back to the values of these two most important things: the Land and the People. “Amuu haatsi e amuu hanu, the beloved land and the beloved People”. Beloved, they come back changed if they come at all. Without exception, we all know this to be true.
But remember this too People: that though the wars are unjust we must always, always respect our women and men who serve.
I praise all of you here today. By this act of being present you are doing something that the overwhelming majority of the people will simply not do; and that is to take action. It is not easy to take action I know. I have been doing my work as an activist for many years and I would have stopped a long time ago if I thought I was not making any difference.
I’ll tell you something that I heard years ago that helps me to continue. I was planning an event with a Mexican man, an older man and activist of many years. “We know, he said, that we are going to lose the battle, but we do it anyway. We continue to do it because it is the right thing to do”. That is why I continue. It is the right thing to do.
I try to make my way in these uncertain times as an artist. I pour myself into my work just like you. We all have much the same issues in different forms as we try to make our way. No one has it easy. It’s hard to devote time for social justice, but we must if we are to remake our communities. We belong to the community, and so we have a responsibility. Should we not be looking out for each other?
We see much unrest around the world today, Egypt, Libya and recently here in the U.S., Wisconsin. We see a mighty struggle for social justice, and it can be heartbreaking to such struggles against overwhelming odds. Yet, it is heartening to see that the People truly can possess power. We can make a difference if we speak in unity, and if our purpose is worthwhile. It starts here. The madness in the whole wide world can be remedied right here.
Write letters to the city council speak up when you see monies misspent; speak out against the ROTC programs in the schools. Denounce the glorification of conquistador celebrations. Vote and make sure you know the values of those people who propose to help you. Do something any big or small worthwhile thing. Our actions create a butterfly effect. Our positive actions can and do have an effect on everything else.
Thank you all for being here. I want to wish you all the blessings.
D’awa’e hauba, baa Druuwishatsi. Thank you everyone, may you fare well.
Maurus Chino, Acoma Tribe, Founder Southwest Indigenous Alliance
mauruschino@yahoo.com
About Maurus Chino:
Maurus Chino, Ka aimaisiwa of the Acoma, Eagle clan/Sun Child, creates pottery, animal figures, canteens, oil paintings, pastels, graphics and murals. Born in 1954 in Albuquerque, Maurus attended Grants High School, NM and received a B.F.A. from New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, 1980. He is the grandson of Mamie Torivio Ortiz and Joe L. Ortiz; son of Myrna Antonio Chino and Elmer Chino; brother of Larry, Debbie, Keith, Paul and Darlene. Maurus has been a forest firefighter, underground mine worker, illustrator, art consultant, potter, silversmith and full-time painter since 1992. His many awards include those from the Indian Market in Santa Fe and Carl Gorman Memorial Award. His works are in exhibits at the Heard Museum in Phoenix; Acoma Museum; University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and other museums and institutes.
Maurus Chino said, “In a world of uncertainty, critical issues of art, cultural identity, and history become even more clouded and misrepresented in the hands of those who wield political power. Indigenous history and Indigenous voice has been and will become secondary; if we allow it to be so. But we have a choice. We have an obligation to the Mothers and Fathers who gave everything for our continuance, even in the face of overwhelming odds. The People's continuance and resistance though born from the attempted genocide of the people, has beauty. As an artist/activist I present the Indigenous view and give voice to the people.”
Supporters of Albuquerque's Anti War Rally on Saturday: Albuquerque Chapter Vets for Peace; Albuquerque War Tax Alternative Fund; A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition NM; BDS-NM; Calming Four Swing Dance Group; Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel; GetEqual; Gray Panthers; Healthcare is a Right Campaign; La Raza Unida, NM; Las Vegas Committee for Peace and Justice; March Forward; Military Families Speak Out; National Committee to Free the Cuban Five (NM Chapter); Pax Christi – NM; Raging Grannies; Santa Fe Chapter Veterans for Peace; Southwest Indigenous Alliance Southwest Organizing Project; Stop the War Machine; Students Against Empire
Students Organizing Action for Peace (SOAP); Trinity House Catholic Worker
UNM Peace Studies; Young Americans for Liberty; Youth in Transition Inc.
Please Contact with Concerns:
Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat
703 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
800-443-8658; 202-224-5521 To send an email go to this website:
http://bingaman.senate.gov/contact/types/email-issue.cfm
Senator Tom Udall, Democrat
110 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
800-443-8658; 202-224-6621 Tto send an email go to this website:
http://udall.senate.gov/contact/types/email-issue.cfm
Governor Susana Martinez
505-76-2200 To email the Governor go to this website:
http://www.governor.state.nm.us/Contact_the_Governor.aspx
Richard J Berry, Mayor of Albuquerque
505-768-3000
mayorberry@cabq.gov
Albuquerque City Councilors email and contact information, go to this website:
http://www.cabq.gov/council/councilors/albuquerque-city-councilors
New Mexico Depart. Of Cultural Affairs
Veronica Gonzales, Secretary-designate 505-827-6364
National Hispanic Cultural Center
Executive Director – Estevan Rael-Galvez
505-246-2261
Estevan.rael-Galvez@state.nm.us

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Smithsonian's racist collection of Indian skulls


The history of the Smithsonian Institution, like the history taught in US classrooms, is largely one of deception and fiction
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Photo: Trees at Sand Creek massacre. Photo Brenda Norrell.

The Smithsonian's dark history includes the collecting of American Indian brains for a racist experiment which claimed to reveal the relationship between race and intelligence. Brains were collected for bounty. One of the massacres where this sinister collection of brains was carried out was at Sand Creek in Colorado, a brutal massacre where fleeing Cheyenne and Arapaho women and children were murdered in 1864. The following article is republished, so the facts will not be forgotten, with a special thank you to Pawnee professor James Riding In who provided much of the information. After publication of this article, I wrote the Smithsonian and asked if it was true that more than 10,000 Indian skulls remained at the Smithsonian. There was no response. --Brenda Norrell
Smithsonian harbored Ishi's brain
by Brenda Norrell
(March 19, 1999)

The Smithsonian Institution admits, after a probe and nearly a century
of secrecy, that it housed the brain of Ishi, a Yahi Indian who
walked into Oroville, Calif., in 1911.

But the admission comes only after American Indians demanded a
beffiting burial and University of California researchers probed the
whereabouts of Ishi's remains, that the Smithsonian admits that Ishi's
brain was in a warehouse at the National Museum of Natural History.

Pointing to scientific racism, James Riding In, Pawnee professor at
Arizona State University, said American Indian skulls at the
Smithsonian are part of the U.S. Army's research intended to show that
whites were superior based on the size of their skulls.

Riding In said the Smithsonian has been less than forthcoming about
the American Indian remains in its possession, as mandated by the
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

Riding In said Smithsonian Institution curators previously acquired
18,500 bodies and most of the skulls were collected by the Army
Medical Museum in the 1800s. While most of the crania gather dust at
the Smithsonian today, others have been destroyed by carbon 14 dating
analysis.

Riding In's research is now included in law seminar course material at
Arizona State University, "Symposium
on Land, Culture, and Community: Contemporary Issues in Cultural
Resources Protection."

The research shows that Samuel G. Morton, in the early 1830s, worked
in craniology and phrenology, to devise tests on skulls, in relation
to intelligence and crania size. He poured mustard seeds into human
skulls to determine size and volume in his research.

In the process, Morton assembled a large collection of American Indian
skulls.

"He never questioned the morality of stealing Indian crania from
graves," Riding In said.

Morton paid soldiers, settlers, and others for Indian skulls. With
bounty offered, American Indian skulls became sought after in what
Riding In describes as a cottage industry.

The United States Army established a program during the 1860s for
studying Indian crania. Among those massacred, beheaded and their
crania taken, were a group of friendly Cheyenne, Kiowa and Arapaho
near Sand Creek, Colo.

The final chapter in the legacy of Ishi, whose biography became a
documentary film, is included in this dark, untold chapter of American
history.

Although Ishi made a final request that there be no autoposy, the
anthropologists who supposedly befriended him, removed his brain
during an autoposy in 1916. The removal and transfer to the
Smithsonian were kept secret until recently.

"It was not uncommon to study brains in the early 20th century," said
anthropologist Orin Starn, who led the Smithsonian to admit the
location of Ishi's brain. "Some people thought that different races
had different brain sizes."

Starn said Ishi was "really was a victim of a holocaust."

The investigation was spearheaded by Nancy Rockafellar, a research
historian at the University of California in San Francisco in the
History of Health Science Department, and Starn, a Duke University
anthropologist.

Rockafellar said that before his death in 1916 from tuberculosis, two
persons appeared to befriend Ishi, anthropologist Thomas Waterman and
museum curator Alfred Kroeber. Rockafellar determined that after the
autoposy, Kroeber sent Ishi's brain to the Smithsonian for study in
1917.

Native Americans in California plan to carry out a proper burial at
Ishi's homeland at Mount Lassen.
(A proper burial of Ishi did follow.)
Additional reference to the US collection of American Indian skulls: "In 1862, during the Civil War, the Surgeon General established the United States Army Medical Museum (AMM; now the National Museum of Health and Medicine of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology)."
Photographs of American Indian skulls at this museum: "Tribes or races represented are Apache, Arapaho, Arikara, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Comanche, Dakota, Eskimo, Hawaiian, Negro, Paiute, Ponca, San Miguel and San Nicholas islands (California), White, and Wichita." Read more:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/p/reference-smithsonians-collection-of.html
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RESISTANCE FILM 'Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai'i'

NOHO HEWA: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai’i
Censored News
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Censored News congratulates Native Hawaiian filmmaker Anne Keala Kelly for her documentary, NOHO HEWA: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai'i, exposing the United States' illegal occupation, colonization and ethnic cleansing on this island homeland of Native Hawaiians.
The film captured Best Documentary Award at the Hawaii International Film Festival, 2008 and is the winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Festival International du Film Documentaire de Oceanien, Tahiti, 2010.

Joleen Oshiro of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin said, "It conveys knowledge that resonates in the heart as well as the mind."
Albert Wendt, Maori artist and author of Sons for the Return Home, also praised the film. “NOHO HEWA is a brilliant, incisive, and complex exposé of colonialism (American and other) and its devastating effects on Kanaka Maoli, the indigenous people of Hawaii, and their land," Wendt said.
"After you see this film you will never again believe the lies and myths perpetuated about Hawaii by successive American governments, non-Hawaiian historians, writers, filmmakers, the tourism industry, and others.”

'Noho Hewa' is the first Native Hawaiian produced film of the 21st century to document the Hawaiian resistance to the U.S. occupation of their country. Produced and directed by independent journalist and filmmaker, Anne Keala Kelly, it looks at desecration of sacred sites and burials, and how the U.S. policies, via the military, the GMO industry and tourism use desecration as a colonial tool of ethnic cleansing.
Keala's work focuses on Hawaiian political and cultural issues, indigenous peoples and the environment. In 2008, she co-produced “The Other Hawai’i,” for Al Jazeera English’s “Inside USA,” and she was a Ted Scripps Environmental Journalism Fellow at the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2006 - 2007. Keala has filed stories from her home in Hawai’i, as well as Kathmandu and Geneva, and her articles, editorials and essays have been published in the Honolulu Advertiser, The Nation, American Indian Quarterly, the Honolulu Weekly and other journals. She has produced features and documentaries for the Pacifica Network’s Free Speech Radio News and NPR’s The Environment Report.
Go to http://www.nohohewa.com/ to purchase a copy of the DVD and support the film’s distribution. In Hawaiian language, the word HEWA means wrong, in the world of film and media, NOHO HEWA tells the truth about what is happening to the Hawaiian people and their homeland.

If you would like to arrange a public screening for your community or campus please send inquiries to nohohewa@ gmail.com
Filmmaker Anne Keala Kelly has kindly offered to donate 10 percent of sales to Censored News, if you mention you read about it here. Thank you.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Arizona approves uranium mining permits in Grand Canyon 2011

Sacred place of prayer for the well-being of the world approved for uranium mining in Arizona -- as disaster reveals danger of nuclear power in JapanArticle and photo by Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Arizona issues uranium mining permits to Canadian company to endanger water supply in Southwest SUPAI TERRITORY (Grand Canyon) -- When the Supai opposed uranium mining here -- which Arizona just approved last week -- Supai said it is a place for prayer for the well-being of the world. Now in Japan, the truth of the danger of nuclear power is revealed.
Gathered at sacred Red Butte in the Grand Canyon to oppose uranium mining here in 2009, Supai said this is a sacred place where they go to offer prayers for the protection of the earth.
Speaking of the Supai responsibility to protect the land, water, and air here from the poisons of mining, Supai Waters said, "If we do let this happen, we would be the murderers of the world. We cannot let that happen."
Supai Waters said that protection of the Grand Canyon also affects the weather patterns and climate of the earth.
"My people have lived in the canyon since time immemorial. The canyons contain power points and vortexes. If there is tampering or pillaging, the earth will not be the same. There are places where we guard. These sacred places have to do with the weather, the wind, the sun, the celestial movements. That is why we are here protecting it," Supai Waters said.
Matthew Putesoy, vice chairman of the Havasupai Nation, said the Grand Canyon is a national treasure, inviting 5 million people every year to explore and be inspired by its beauty. "To the Havasuw 'Baaja, who have lived in the region for many hundreds of years, it is sacred. As the 'guardians of the Grand Canyon,' we strenuously object to mining for uranium here. It is a threat to the health of our environment and tribe, our tourism-based economy, and our religion."
American Indian Nations joined local residents to oppose this threat to their water and air.
However, Arizona regulators caved in to the pressure from the corporation -- Denison Mines based in Toronto, Canada -- and the coopted US government.
"Ignoring widespread public opposition, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality today issued three air- and one aquifer-pollution permits for three uranium mines located on public lands within Grand Canyon National Park’s immediate watershed," said the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and Grand Canyon Trust. Read more: http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2011/03/arizona-issues-uranium-mine-permits-for.html
The press statement was issued on March 10, 2011. The earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11.
The Havasupai territory in the Grand Canyon is targeted by this new uranium mining from Denison Mines based in Toronto, Canada. At the same time, Navajo communities and the aquifer that provides their drinking water are threatened by new uranium mining along the borders of their lands in New Mexico. Already, the same area of Church Rock, N.M., was the site of one of the United States worst radioactive spills.
Between Albuquerque and Grants, where Navajos and Pueblos live, there are even more new uranium mining permits by the state of New Mexico: http://www.cibolabeacon.com/articles/2011/03/04/news/doc4d70271827536314023640.txt
Japan’s earthquake shifted balance of the planetAP reports that last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan has actually moved the island closer to the United States and shifted the planet's axis.
"The quake caused a rift 15 miles below the sea floor that stretched 186 miles long and 93 miles wide, according to the AP. The areas closest to the epicenter of the quake jumped a full 13 feet closer to the United States, geophysicist Ross Stein at the United States Geological Survey told The New York Times."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110314/ts_yblog_thelookout/japans-earthquake-shifted-balance-of-the-planet

Listen to Supai at Earthcycles. Supai, other Native Americans and local residents speak out against this uranium mining at the summit in July of 2009. Recorded live by Earthcycles and Censored News. Scroll down the list for 93 audio recordings from the summit at Red Butte:
http://www.earthcycles.net/nts/
There will also be a benefit concert to Stop Uranium Mining at the Grand Canyon on March 26th in Flagstaff at the Orpheum Theater.From: http://www.stopuraniummining.org/ Facebook: www.facebook.com/stopuraniummining

Subcomandante Marcos letter Jan/Feb. 2011

Subcomandante Marcos letter Jan/Feb 2011

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Photos Long Walk 3 northern route Helena Montana Capitol




Photos by Chris Francisco, coordinator, Long Walk 3 Northern Route, rally at Montana Capitol in Helena, March 11, 2011. The walkers are now in Bozeman and headed toward Billings, Montana.
Owns the Sabre Long Walk 3: These seven are doing the impossible
By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Paul Owns the Sabre, Cheyenne River Lakota, said, "It is a high honor to be with these young people. They are doing the impossible."
Owns the Sabre said the seven Native Americans walking and running across America do not even know themselves how important each one is.
Owns the Sabre said the four walkers and three runners have few funds, and very little national support, and are relying on community support in the towns they pass through.
Owns the Sabre was also on the Long Walk 1978 and 30 years later on the Long Walk 2 in 2008. Owns the Sabre said it is an honor to again be with three of the Native youths who were on the Long Walk 2 northern route, and are now crossing America for the second time.
Craig Luther, Navajo, from Sanders, Arizona, is now on Long Walk 3 with his father, Chris. Carl "Bad Bear" Sampson is Western Shoshone from Nevada. Lisa Peake, Ojibwe/Pomo, is one of the few young Native American women to walk across America on these Long Walks for the second time.
Owns the Sabre, speaking from Bozeman, Montana, recalled the journey of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce who led his people across Lobo Pass, a pass that the Long Walk 3 northern route crossed, after Long Walk 3 walked and ran through heavy snow in the mountains of Oregon.
Owns the Sabre said the walkers of the Long Walk 3 are making this journey for those who cannot. He added that both he and the coordinator, Navajo Chris Francisco, from Shiprock, N.M., have diabetes.
"These walkers and runners have no idea the importance of what they are doing," Owns the Sabre said.
Lisa Peake, Ojibwe/Pomo, is in the top photo, on the far left. Carl Bad Bear Sampson, Western Shoshone, is in photo 2 on the far left. Long walker Manny is in photo 3. Navajos Craig and his father Chris are in photo 4. Owns the Sabre, Cheyenne River Lakota, is photographed in the last photo, on the lower left, along with long walker Ellyn Carlson, on the steps of the Montana Capitol. Not photographed is long walker and runner Chris Francisco, Navajo coordinator, who took these photos. Thanks to all of you!

Please support these seven who made it through the snows of Oregon and mountains of Montana with so little. Please especially send your support to the Native youths. It is really a walk for survival, sending a message to other Native youths of the indomitable human spirit. -- Brenda Norrell, Censored News