Shafts of sunlight stream through the windows and illuminate the four sixth-graders gathered around the table with Kerri Wood.
April 28, 2009
Layoffs at Sherman Indian High School?
Students who come to Sherman Indian High School get a mix of academic classes and instruction in native languages and traditions that many couldn’t get in their schools at home on reservations or in cities. But the strength of that education could be in jeopardy, with the layoffs of 34 teachers, dorm staffers and other employees this school year because of a funding shortfall. Read More
Stimulus money to help upgrade reservation
An ongoing effort to remove mercury- and arsenic-laden soils from a Lake County Indian reservation has received up to $5 million in federal stimulus funds, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency reported Wednesday.
The cleanup project is linked to a larger effort to remove and control contamination at the Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine, a federal Superfund site located along the Clear Lake shoreline adjacent to the Elem Indian Colony. Read More
Native American Women honored
Amnesty International statistics say Native American women are nearly three times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than any other group of women in the nation.
Montana legislators kept those statistics in mind last week when supporting a joint resolution honoring Montana’s Native American women by trying to stop the violence against them. The joint resolution from the state Senate and the House of Representatives passed by large margins in both chambers.
as the law sees us….
Corporations, churches and even canasta clubs have more rights under U.S. law than American Indian tribes, and respect for human rights and basic fairness demand this must change, says a veteran Indian lawyer and rights advocate.
“All we want is ordinary justice,” Tim Coulter, a Potawatomi Indian and director of the Indian Law Resource Center in Helena, said Friday.
Residential school survivors to meet Pope Benedict
The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations will lead a delegation of residential school survivors to the Vatican later this month for an audience with Pope Benedict.
Phil Fontaine said he’s hoping the Pope will apologize for the abuse that aboriginal children suffered in the residential schools, most of which were run by the Roman Catholic Church under the supervision of the federal government.
Emery: Native sovereigns, treaties and the constitution
The source of the sovereignty of Native nations is found in the spirit of our people, stretching back to the dawn of time, when our nations were founded as the original governments of America. Our Native nations are based upon traditions of respect and caring for the people, men and women, elders and children, and a vision for our future generations. We are the first democracies.
The United States, from its earliest days, recognized that Indian nations are sovereigns in our own right, with a prior and treaty-protected right to our lands and a guarantee of tribal self-government. This historic acknowledgment of Native nations and our human rights as tribal citizens find expression in the Constitution and treaties ratified in pursuance thereof.
Tribes and university renew agreement
Warm Springs tribes, OSU sign new agreement
In 1957, after Celilo Falls near The Dalles was dammed, the federal government compensated several American Indian tribes for the loss of their fishing rights. Many tribes gave the money away to members on a per capita basis.
But the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs used some of its funding for an economic development study from Oregon State College, and that led to a tribal comprehensive plan and enterprises such as the popular Kah Nee Tah resort.
“Our recent government is based on that Oregon State study, and we’re still living by that today,” said Tribal Council Chairman Ron Suppah.
On Monday, leaders of the Warm Springs tribes came to Corvallis to celebrate 50 years of partnership with Oregon State University and to sign a new memorandum of understanding with OSU that could help guide the tribes to success in the future.
Goodbye Squaw
Nearly a decade after waging a successful campaign to remove “squaw” from Maine place names, members of the state’s American Indian tribes want the law tweaked to address what they say are derogatory variations on the word.
But lawmakers considering the proposal will face linguistic challenges as they attempt to address the potentially offensive words without forcing changes to many harmless names.
Rep. Wayne Mitchell, who represents the Penobscot Nation, has introduced a bill that would prohibit use of “squaw” or “squa” as part of another word. Legislation enacted in 2000 already bans the words by themselves on grounds that “squaw” is a derogatory term for Indian women.
April 21, 2009
NY Seneca plan to start their own school
Unhappy with the education received by their children in traditional public schools, the Seneca Indian Nation plans to start its own independent school in fall 2010.
They also intend to seek state and federal aid for the new school, and the diversion of those funds worries public school administrators.
Planning for the new school, which would be known as the Seneca Academy and have campuses on the two main Seneca Nation territories, is being done with help from experts at Buffalo’s prestigious Nichols School.
Seneca leaders complain that their children aren’t learning enough about Seneca traditions, culture, language and history in the public schools. A constant issue with young native Americans of any tribe who are injected into mainstream public education.
We are in an environment where the government has tried to erase us through genocide, poverty, kidnapping, and education. The Seneca are taking the matter into their own hands and planning for the future continuance of their long cultural heritage.
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