Live Free and Soar - Patricia Nelson Limerick

A week ago, at the conference of the Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) meeting at the Morongo Casino Resort, the evening banquet opened with a ceremony that begins most formal Indian gatherings. Several Indian men, often military veterans, march in with flags and place them on the stage. The American flag leads the procession. Last week, the Ute Mountain Ute Indian leader Ernest House carried in the Star-Spangled Banner, and then stood and faced it, as if reunited with a treasured comrade. After the others had left the stage, he gave the flag an intense salute and parted from its company.

Non-Indians familiar with the history of the invasion and conquest of North America might be puzzled or even troubled by this ceremony. No residents of this country have better reasons for anger at the imperial powers of this nation than do Indian people; no American citizens have a better-grounded historical reason to put the American flag at the end of the procession, or to refuse to carry it.

And yet, most native people are loyal and committed patriots. The American flag appears at ceremonies and rituals; stars and stripes are woven into beadwork and incorporated into powwow clothing.

Bureaucrats and Indians

CROW AGENCY, Mont.

The Crow Indians rode with Custer at Little Bighorn, but they have since reconsidered. On the anniversary of the battle Saturday, they cheered during a re-enactment when Indians drove a stake through his fringed jacket and carved out the heart of the soldier going by the name of Yellow-Hair in Blue Coat Who Kills Babies, Old Men and Old Women.

Their revised opinion is understandable considering what has happened to them since that battle to get their valley back from rival tribes. Today it's a Crow reservation with enough land and mineral resources to make each tribe member a millionaire, yet nearly a third live below the poverty level, and the unemployment rate has reached 85 percent.

Casino Interest in Land Bid Divides Tribe in Hamptons

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y., June 21 - The Shinnecock tribe likes to refer to itself as one big family. Now, like all big families, the tribe is having its brawls.

On June 15, the Shinnecocks, who occupy an 800-acre reservation here on the South Fork of Long Island, sued New York State, Suffolk County, Southampton and others in federal court, laying claim to 3,600 acres of local land, including the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, a site of the United States Open. A second suit, to follow, is likely to include the entire town of Southampton, whose property owners and taxpayers Gov. George E. Pataki has vowed to protect.

But the land claim and the reasons behind it have also created sharp divisions within the tribe, as well as with the people of Southampton. Critics, including tribal members, contend that the real issue is a bid to build a casino that was stopped by a court order in 2003.

Worship, Dark and Steamy, for Murderers and Rapists

SUFFIELD, Conn. - Two dozen murderers, rapists and other felons sat unclothed save for shorts in the pitch darkness of a tent made of sticks and wool blankets that had been set up in the prison yard.

In the middle of the dirt floor, a pit had been dug and filled with rocks left in fire so long that any cracks glowed red. Cedar chips were thrown on the rocks, giving off a fragrance, and then lavender, sage and sweet grass.

When a bucket of water hit the rocks with a gasp, the tent, already nearly unbearably hot, filled with a weighty steam. Some of the inmates sat in meditative quiet; others were lighthearted, with one jokingly asking if anyone happened to have an Evian.

Papers: Lobbyist, Partner Bilked Tribes

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jack Abramoff and a lobbying partner used tax-exempt groups and phony invoices to bilk tribal clients out of millions of dollars, using a scheme they called ''gimme five'' to divert proceeds to themselves and their pet causes, newly released documents show.

At a hearing Wednesday on Abramoff's activities, Senate Indian Affairs Committee Chairman John McCain urged the Justice Department to take a close look at Abramoff's tribal billings and his movement of the money, suggesting the lobbyist may have committed mail and wire fraud.

''Today's hearing is about more than contempt, even more than greed. It is simply and sadly a tale of betrayal,'' said McCain, R-Ariz.

Correspondence between Abramoff and others, released by the committee, outlines a plan Abramoff and lobbying partner Michael Scanlon referred to as ''gimme five'' and used to maximize tribal payments while skimming off a share of the proceeds for themselves.

Maori Golfer Campbell Survives Late Charge From Woods to Win the U.S. Open

PINEHURST, N.C., June 19 - Before Michael Campbell paced the final green to tap his golf ball two more times, he lifted his glance toward the twilight sky at Pinehurst No. 2.

Campbell, born in the shadow of New Zealand's Mount Taranaki, sank a short putt for bogey and his eyes clouded over, for he had just triumphed in a back-nine battle to claim the United States Open championship by two strokes over Tiger Woods.

When Campbell, who is of Maori heritage, turned professional in 1993, he quickly became a big name on the Australian Tour and, later, the European Tour, where he has six victories, the last in 2003. The Open is his first victory on the PGA Tour, and it earned him $1.17 million.

For a Tribe in Texas, an Era of Prosperity Undone by Politics

EL PASO - There are no customers at the Speaking Rock Casino now. Inside the adobe building, built by the Tigua Indians to look like a large pueblo-style home, it is eerily silent and dark, no clinking coins, no 24-hour-a-day bright lights.

The 1,500 slot machines that attracted 100,000 visitors a month to the casino, earning the small Tigua tribe $60 million a year, are gone, taken away after the State of Texas won a federal lawsuit three years ago declaring that the tribe did not have the right to run a casino here on their ancestral land, the oldest settlement in Texas.

The Tiguas' efforts to get their casino reopened and their dealings with Washington insiders promising access and influence got them caught up in the spreading investigations involving the lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Republican political figures, including the House majority leader, Tom DeLay, and Ralph Reed, the former director of the Christian Coalition who is running for lieutenant governor in Georgia.

Northern Plains Writers' Retreat

The Northern Plains Writers' Retreat will be held in Pierre, SD on June 17 & 18. Delphine Red Shirt and Dawn Wink are coordinating the retreat. A concert by Kevin Locke and Joe Fire Crow will be included. You may read about the retreat and register in advance online.

New iTunes tracks and new artists

The iTunes shop has again been updated.
New artists added include Primeaux & Mike, Wayne Lavallee, Qua' Ti' Si', The Boyz, Eagle & Hawk, Eyabay Singers, & the Mandaree Singers. Artists with updated listings include Carlos Nakai, Keely Smith, Mildred Bailey, Ulali, Rita Coolidge,
Jim Boyd, Burning Sky and Glen Bonham.

Community building at Pine Ridge: A 30-year project comes of age

by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today

Involvement in community grassroots movements requires work with all kinds of families from which emerge leaders who will encourage and help guide the people toward common goals over the long term.

To build upon a community culture that can focus on behalf of the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who will inherit the Earth and the responsibilities of the nations: this is the task of community organizers of the highest order.

Such is the track record of the Pine Ridge Homesteads Initiative, long known as the ''Slim Buttes Agriculture and Development Project.'' This project involved a long-term commitment by a core group of families and working people based in the Slim Buttes community in western Pine Ridge Reservation, but with practical extension work with approximately 500 families across the reservation. The project assists in building grassroots facilities and living conditions for Oglala-Lakota families long destitute in remote lands and reservation districts.

Navajo Head Vetoes Gay Marriage Measure

WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) -- The president of the Navajo Nation vetoed a measure Sunday that would have banned same-sex marriage on the Indian reservation.

The Tribal Council voted unanimously last month to pass legislation that restricts a recognized union to a relationship between a man and a woman, and prohibits plural marriages as well as marriages between close relatives.

Supporters said the goal was to promote Navajo family values and preserve the sanctity of marriage.

President Joe Shirley Jr. said in a statement released Sunday that he strongly supports family stability but the proposed measure said nothing about domestic violence, sexual assault and gangs on the Navajo Nation -- problems that are rampant.

''Same-sex marriage is a non-issue on Navajoland,'' he said. ''So why waste time and resources on it? We have more important issues to address.'

Colombia War Spills Into Indians' Peaceful World

TACUEYó, Colombia, April 28 - The Nasa Indians appear to live well on their lush reservation here in southern Colombia, a swath of mountains and valleys where sweet fruit grows, trout teem in fast-flowing creeks and colorful birds dart about.

They live in tidy, well-kept homes, growing coffee, bananas and beans. Emphasizing economic independence, they run a successful fish farm and are trying to strike up a marble mine.

The one major threat to their existence is Colombia's unrelenting civil conflict, which has ground on for 41 years. But the Nasa, an Indian nation that numbers about 100,000 in this region, has used a pacific civil resistance campaign to stay out of the drug-fueled war, which pits the army and right-wing paramilitaries against Marxist rebels intent on toppling the state.

For four years, the Nasa's stern-faced but unarmed Indigenous Guards - now a force of 7,000 men and women - have simply driven away the fighters who venture into these fog-shrouded mountains in Cauca Province. They confront rebel and soldier alike with ceremonial three-foot batons decorated with tassels in the colors of the Nasa flag, green and red, and persuade the outsiders to leave.

Their success has earned the acclaim of the United Nations and the foreign governments that pay for Nasa development programs.

Bill Supporting Indian Casinos Is Held Back

Albany, April 15 - Gov. George E. Pataki withdrew pending legislation on Friday that would have allowed five Indian-run casinos to be built in the Catskills and settled tribal land claims. A spokesman said the settlements need to be renegotiated in light of a recent federal court ruling that would make it harder to win passage of Mr. Pataki's bill.

The governor continued to support the state-brokered settlements with each of the five tribes, a spokesman said, as well as the plans in those settlements to build the five Las Vegas-style casinos in the Catskills, which Mr. Pataki has championed as an economic stimulus for the mountain resort region.

Mr. Pataki plans to reopen negotiations with the tribes shortly in hopes of revising the settlement pacts and clearing the path for the casinos.

The undoing of the settlement legislation, which took years to negotiate, stemmed from the March 29 ruling by the Supreme Court, which held that the New York Oneida tribe could not purchase property to expand its tax-exempt holdings and assert Indian jurisdiction when that land had been outside its reservation for decades.

3 Weeks After Shootings, Students Return

RED LAKE, Minn., April 11 (AP) - Students returned to Red Lake High School on Monday for the first time since a teenage gunman killed five fellow students, a teacher, a security guard and himself there three weeks ago.

A healing ceremony was held outside the school, on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, before students and parents entered.

Inside, students cleared out their lockers, which are all in the newer section of the school, where the shootings occurred. That section will be closed for renovations, while high school classes are to resume on Tuesday in an older part of the school that had been scheduled to be demolished.

Students will also begin using a different school entrance, away from the main doors, which the gunman walked through.

Reporters were kept out of sight of the healing ceremony and were not allowed in the school.

Indians' Wish List: Big-City Sites for Casinos

Denver, April 1 - The Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians have not had land in Colorado since many of their women and children were massacred in their sleep by soldiers at Sand Creek in 1864. Driven out of the state, they live today in poor rural areas scattered around Oklahoma.

But the tribes are now offering Colorado a gift of $1 billion and are willing to give up their ancestral claims to nearly half of the state, all in exchange for a 500-acre piece of land near Denver on which they hope to build one of the world's largest casinos, complete with a five-star hotel, a golf course, a mall and an Indian cultural center.

"This would be more than a casino for us," said Clara Bushyhead, a spokeswoman for the tribes. "It is the dream of our elders to complete our life cycle, to come back to our homeland in Colorado from which we were driven. Oklahoma was never our home."

Crisis of Indian Children Intensifies as Families Fail

Lummi Indian Reservation, Wash., March 29 - The very full house on Gumel Place was steeped in the usual loud weekend chaos when 14-year-old Cecilia Morris burst through the door.

'Hey,' she said. 'Is Mom in jail?'

No, said her uncle, Jasper Cladoosby, but her mother had gone back into drug treatment. Her father is the one in prison.

Mr. Cladoosby, 27, who is raising four of his own children along with Cecilia and two of her sisters, is one of possibly hundreds of uncles, aunts, grandparents and others caring for children whose parents are unable to raise them because of dire poverty, alcoholism and epidemic drug abuse on this reservation on Bellingham Bay in Northwest Washington. Cecilia's four remaining siblings are being cared for by other relatives."

Red Lake Memorial Fund

Please contribute to the Red Lake Memorial Fund to help the families who were affected by the shooting on the reservation on March 21, 2005. 

Jim Thorpe and a Ticket to Serendipity

When Anthony Barone Jr. went to a local book auction with his sister Lee early this month, they came across a book from the 1920's, 'Jesse James and His Greatest Hauls,' a Wild West adventure of daring holdups.

Unimpressed by the condition of the book's cover, Anthony was not interested in purchasing it. But when the bidding crested at $6, Lee looked at her brother. 'What's six bucks?' she said. Anthony and Lee took the book home and ignored it for a week. They contemplated putting it back up for auction the next week, when Anthony decided he would at least flip through it.'I started leafing through the pages, and out dropped this big red ticket,' said Barone, a 44-year-old purchasing manager from Jamestown, N.Y. 'It literally fell into my lap.'

The ticket, six inches long, in good condition and with its stub still attached, was for an exhibition basketball game featuring Jim Thorpe and 'His World Famous Indians' on March 1, 1927. It did not indicate where the game was being played, other than at a Y.M.C.A. gym. Other teams listed on the ticket - 'Clothes Shop,' 'New Process' and 'Bankers' - were mysteries."

University Changes Its Focus in Investigation of Professor

DENVER, March 25 - Prof. Ward L. Churchill cannot be fired from his job at the University of Colorado for controversial opinions like his comparison of some victims of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack to Nazi technocrats, the university said in a report released late Thursday.

But the professor could be fired if accusations of academic misconduct, including plagiarism, are borne out, the report said.

The report, by the university's interim chancellor, Philip P. DiStefano, is a fork in the divisive debate over Professor Churchill, whose name has become a rallying cry across the political spectrum in the past few months, ever since an essay he wrote shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks became widely known.

Days After Killings, a Tribe Seeks a Cloak of Privacy for Its Grief

RED LAKE, Minn., March 23 - The Chippewa Indians of the Red Lake Reservation have always set themselves firmly apart.

They have their own license plates, which bow to Minnesota statehood but feature the tribe's name on top. For a time in the 1980's, non-Indians even needed a tribal passport to do business here or to drive across the reservation. Most American Indian tribes allow people to own plots of land - in Red Lake, the traditional ways of communal property still adhere.

But the grief and shock unleashed when a troubled 16-year-old went on a shooting rampage here on Monday have shaken the walls of that cultural separation and raised questions about what holding the world at arm's length means, and what it costs.