When Ruth Ross married sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski in 1950, her husband's vow also became hers: to honor American Indians by carving the likeness of Sioux warrior Crazy Horse into a granite mountain in the southern Black Hills. That promise is why Ruth Ziolkowski, who turns 80 on Monday, is now in charge of the world's largest mountain carving -- one that is still being carved out after more than half a century.
She didn't set out to run a multimillion-dollar operation that spans a 1,000-acre complex, draws more than a million visitors a year and employs 176 -- including seven of the couple's 10 children and several grandchildren. But after her husband's death in 1982, Ziolkowski felt she had to carry through on his commitment.
''It's not a one-person deal. I'm the one that gets all of the accolades and all of the glory and it doesn't need to be that way,'' Ziolkowski said. ''This is a team effort. It wouldn't be here if we didn't have a lot of great people.''
Sunday marked the 130th anniversary of the battle that made Crazy Horse famous. On June 25, 1876, the Oglala Sioux war chief led the attack by hundreds of Sioux and Cheyenne warriors against Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry, killing Custer and more than 200 of his troopers at the Battle of Little Bighorn.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Friday, June 16, 2006
Mayan Treasures at the Met: Passing Strange Communications From the Beyond - New York Times
TREASURES OF SACRED MAYA KINGS," at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, gets a big gold "A" for truth in advertising, at least as far as its treasures go. They are plentiful, rare and splendid, and I'll start by pointing out two.
A carved wooden figure of a kneeling shaman, arms extended, time-scoured face entranced, is one of the greatest sculptures currently on view in the museum. Donatello and Tilman Riemenschneider would have loved it. And wait till you see the painted ceramic vessel known as the Dazzler Vase. With its red and green patterns like jade on fire, you'll know in a flash how it got its name.
A carved wooden figure of a kneeling shaman, arms extended, time-scoured face entranced, is one of the greatest sculptures currently on view in the museum. Donatello and Tilman Riemenschneider would have loved it. And wait till you see the painted ceramic vessel known as the Dazzler Vase. With its red and green patterns like jade on fire, you'll know in a flash how it got its name.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Honoring Warriors From Both the Past and the Present - New York Times
"Where are your lands?" a trader once taunted Crazy Horse.
"My lands are where my dead lie buried," the Sioux chief responded.
About 200 people crossed that rolling prairie on horseback last week, riding from Nebraska to South Dakota in a four-day tribute to honor all military veterans and the revered Crazy Horse.
"It was a way to say thank you to our warrior culture," said Charles Brewer, 40, of Pine Ridge, S.D., who organized the ninth annual Crazy Horse Ride.
Most of the riders were children and teenagers from the Pine Ridge Reservation, home of the Oglala Sioux tribe. Others came from Chicago, New York and Germany to take part.
Mr. Brewer, a mechanic who also raises buffalo and horses, said he wanted to pay tribute to war veterans, including three of his uncles, who reflect Crazy Horse's courage and strength.
For Gilbert Mesteth, 51, of Slim Butte, S.D., this year's ride took on a special significance. He was riding alongside his daughter, Jennifer Deon, 26, of Rapid City, S.D., who served in Iraq for six months in 2003. "That's a very big sense of pride for me," Mr. Mesteth said.
The ride began Monday at Fort Robinson, Neb., where Crazy Horse was killed in 1877.
Riders camped near Hay Springs, Neb., where the chief's body was placed in a tree for his wake. His burial site remains hidden, as elusive as the great chief himself.
"My lands are where my dead lie buried," the Sioux chief responded.
About 200 people crossed that rolling prairie on horseback last week, riding from Nebraska to South Dakota in a four-day tribute to honor all military veterans and the revered Crazy Horse.
"It was a way to say thank you to our warrior culture," said Charles Brewer, 40, of Pine Ridge, S.D., who organized the ninth annual Crazy Horse Ride.
Most of the riders were children and teenagers from the Pine Ridge Reservation, home of the Oglala Sioux tribe. Others came from Chicago, New York and Germany to take part.
Mr. Brewer, a mechanic who also raises buffalo and horses, said he wanted to pay tribute to war veterans, including three of his uncles, who reflect Crazy Horse's courage and strength.
For Gilbert Mesteth, 51, of Slim Butte, S.D., this year's ride took on a special significance. He was riding alongside his daughter, Jennifer Deon, 26, of Rapid City, S.D., who served in Iraq for six months in 2003. "That's a very big sense of pride for me," Mr. Mesteth said.
The ride began Monday at Fort Robinson, Neb., where Crazy Horse was killed in 1877.
Riders camped near Hay Springs, Neb., where the chief's body was placed in a tree for his wake. His burial site remains hidden, as elusive as the great chief himself.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Anglos once were the immigrants
By DAVID HOUSE
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Whether illegal immigration issues stir brilliant debates or cries of fear and intolerance, one historical fact is always overlooked: America's own holocaust, carried out by (guess who?) illegal immigrants from (guess where?) Europe -- uninvited foreigners who came to these shores and took everything they could.
That's not getting much mainstream attention. I'm taking off my reader advocate hat to offer some personal thoughts about this matter out of love for my mixed Cherokee/Scots-Irish heritage.
Somehow the deaths of a guesstimated 11 million Native Americans at the hands of attacking, manipulative immigrants during a 400-year span seems worth bearing in mind as Americans respond to alarms about porous borders, jeopardized healthcare and threats to justice and quality of life posed by "illegals."
Americans can say, surely not with pride, that our country knows from centuries of personal experience how unchecked immigration devastates life and why it's an issue that deserves the best of our thinking and empathy.
Our history brims over with examples -- brutal, bloody instances of inhuman immigrant actions that are far removed from the basic aspirations so often associated these days with "illegals."
Most "illegals" might dream of a better life, but it's doubtful that, like the earlier immigrants and the perpetual forces they set into motion, they're plotting to seize others' property, kill babies and earn bounties based on body parts brought back from raids.
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Whether illegal immigration issues stir brilliant debates or cries of fear and intolerance, one historical fact is always overlooked: America's own holocaust, carried out by (guess who?) illegal immigrants from (guess where?) Europe -- uninvited foreigners who came to these shores and took everything they could.
That's not getting much mainstream attention. I'm taking off my reader advocate hat to offer some personal thoughts about this matter out of love for my mixed Cherokee/Scots-Irish heritage.
Somehow the deaths of a guesstimated 11 million Native Americans at the hands of attacking, manipulative immigrants during a 400-year span seems worth bearing in mind as Americans respond to alarms about porous borders, jeopardized healthcare and threats to justice and quality of life posed by "illegals."
Americans can say, surely not with pride, that our country knows from centuries of personal experience how unchecked immigration devastates life and why it's an issue that deserves the best of our thinking and empathy.
Our history brims over with examples -- brutal, bloody instances of inhuman immigrant actions that are far removed from the basic aspirations so often associated these days with "illegals."
Most "illegals" might dream of a better life, but it's doubtful that, like the earlier immigrants and the perpetual forces they set into motion, they're plotting to seize others' property, kill babies and earn bounties based on body parts brought back from raids.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
In the Desert, Ancient Signs
ON the northern border of a vast desert preserve, halfway up a dusty hillside and overlooking a great forest of Joshua trees, David Nichols knelt to brush off a flat gray stone.
"Yep, this is one right here," he said, motioning toward a sheet of exposed bedrock. A group of small, closely spaced stones, like tiny turrets in the sand, formed a vague ring at his feet. "These supposedly kept the rodents out."
Mr. Nichols, one of two full-time research archaeologists employed at Mojave National Preserve, was showing off a recent discovery. On a nondescript hill, a quarter-mile off a four-wheel-drive dirt track, the remnants of a prehistoric way of life lay scattered in the sand.
Throughout Mojave National Preserve, a 1.6 million-acre park about 140 miles northeast of Los Angeles, the subtle traces of a bygone civilization are all around. Pictographs painted on cave walls, dart tips in the sand, shelters, fire rings and pottery shards are common in the area, where generations of prehistoric people lived and died. Indeed, Mojave National Preserve is an amateur archaeologist's dream, with undocumented sites open year-round for visitors to explore in the empty, undeveloped park.
The Drying Pallet Site, as Mr. Nichols has come to call his new hillside finding, features 21 limestone slabs encircled with rocks that were carefully placed hundreds of years ago. The indigenous people, Mr. Nichols told his small tour group, used the sunny protected rock platforms to prepare Joshua tree blossoms.
"It was dried like beef jerky," he said of the white blossoms, which each spring still daub the land below in one of the world's largest and densest forests of Joshua trees. "Food in the desert was dried for preservation; it was the only way."
"Yep, this is one right here," he said, motioning toward a sheet of exposed bedrock. A group of small, closely spaced stones, like tiny turrets in the sand, formed a vague ring at his feet. "These supposedly kept the rodents out."
Mr. Nichols, one of two full-time research archaeologists employed at Mojave National Preserve, was showing off a recent discovery. On a nondescript hill, a quarter-mile off a four-wheel-drive dirt track, the remnants of a prehistoric way of life lay scattered in the sand.
Throughout Mojave National Preserve, a 1.6 million-acre park about 140 miles northeast of Los Angeles, the subtle traces of a bygone civilization are all around. Pictographs painted on cave walls, dart tips in the sand, shelters, fire rings and pottery shards are common in the area, where generations of prehistoric people lived and died. Indeed, Mojave National Preserve is an amateur archaeologist's dream, with undocumented sites open year-round for visitors to explore in the empty, undeveloped park.
The Drying Pallet Site, as Mr. Nichols has come to call his new hillside finding, features 21 limestone slabs encircled with rocks that were carefully placed hundreds of years ago. The indigenous people, Mr. Nichols told his small tour group, used the sunny protected rock platforms to prepare Joshua tree blossoms.
"It was dried like beef jerky," he said of the white blossoms, which each spring still daub the land below in one of the world's largest and densest forests of Joshua trees. "Food in the desert was dried for preservation; it was the only way."
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Feds Restore Some Navajo Head Start Funds
WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. (AP) -- Federal officials partially restored funding for the Navajo Nation's Head Start program, which was suspended after the tribe was accused of failing to do employee background checks.
The decision frees up $9.2 million dollars for the Early Head Start program, which has a summer session scheduled to start Wednesday.
The Administration for Children and Families told tribal officials earlier this month that they were prohibited from using money earmarked for its Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Authorities said the tribe failed to perform background checks and that an investigation turned up dozens of employees with criminal records.
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said the partial lift demonstrates the federal government is recognizing the steps the tribe is taking ''to correct a big problem.''
The remaining funding for the Head Start program will be suspended until the Navajo Nation implements its corrective action plan, which Shirley submitted to the federal government May 8.
The decision frees up $9.2 million dollars for the Early Head Start program, which has a summer session scheduled to start Wednesday.
The Administration for Children and Families told tribal officials earlier this month that they were prohibited from using money earmarked for its Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Authorities said the tribe failed to perform background checks and that an investigation turned up dozens of employees with criminal records.
Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. said the partial lift demonstrates the federal government is recognizing the steps the tribe is taking ''to correct a big problem.''
The remaining funding for the Head Start program will be suspended until the Navajo Nation implements its corrective action plan, which Shirley submitted to the federal government May 8.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Canada is a colonial country
It's actually surprising there are so few native blockades, considering the violence that's been done to First Nations communities
Andrew Orkin, Citizen Special
Published: Wednesday, May 10, 2006
This time the Indians are occupying a new non-native subdivision on land they say is theirs in Caledonia, Ont. A court injunction issued by a non-native judge is being defied. Citing signs of Warrior involvement or the influx of Indians from other communities, the OPP raided the occupation and arrested the occupiers "without violence." Many more Indians then barricaded Highway 6.
Six Nations Band Council says the occupiers are renegades and there is no recognized land claim involved. The Haudenosaunee blockaders have allegiance only to their ancient Six Nations confederacy traditional government. They are demanding nation-to-nation discussions with the federal Crown.
Frustration grows among local non-natives. Some are claiming that Caledonia is theirs by virtue of "conquest." Ministers and the provincial and federal governments say the occupiers are "illegals" because the Indians "sold or surrendered" their land in the 1800s and now have only a reserve. At the same time, these ministers call repeatedly for a peaceful outcome.
Ironically, a judicial inquiry into the shooting death of Dudley George at Ipperwash a decade ago grinds on in Forest, dissecting that Indian land occupation and its own ex parte (only one side appeared in court) injunction, renegades, police raid, arrests, ministerial pronouncements of illegality, and the state use of force.
It may be beneficial, and maybe even save some lives, if we explore the meaning of some of the key terms here.
Andrew Orkin, Citizen Special
Published: Wednesday, May 10, 2006
This time the Indians are occupying a new non-native subdivision on land they say is theirs in Caledonia, Ont. A court injunction issued by a non-native judge is being defied. Citing signs of Warrior involvement or the influx of Indians from other communities, the OPP raided the occupation and arrested the occupiers "without violence." Many more Indians then barricaded Highway 6.
Six Nations Band Council says the occupiers are renegades and there is no recognized land claim involved. The Haudenosaunee blockaders have allegiance only to their ancient Six Nations confederacy traditional government. They are demanding nation-to-nation discussions with the federal Crown.
Frustration grows among local non-natives. Some are claiming that Caledonia is theirs by virtue of "conquest." Ministers and the provincial and federal governments say the occupiers are "illegals" because the Indians "sold or surrendered" their land in the 1800s and now have only a reserve. At the same time, these ministers call repeatedly for a peaceful outcome.
Ironically, a judicial inquiry into the shooting death of Dudley George at Ipperwash a decade ago grinds on in Forest, dissecting that Indian land occupation and its own ex parte (only one side appeared in court) injunction, renegades, police raid, arrests, ministerial pronouncements of illegality, and the state use of force.
It may be beneficial, and maybe even save some lives, if we explore the meaning of some of the key terms here.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Leaving the Wild, and Rather Liking the Change
SAN JOSÉ DEL GUAVIARE, Colombia — Since time immemorial the Nukak-Makú have lived a Stone Age life, roaming across hundreds of miles of isolated and pristine Amazon jungle, killing monkeys with blowguns and scouring the forest floor for berries.
But recently, and rather mysteriously, a group of nearly 80 wandered out of the wilderness, half-naked, a gaggle of children and pet monkeys in tow, and declared themselves ready to join the modern world.
"We do not want to go back," explained one man, who uses the sole name Ma-be, and who arrived with the others at this outpost in southern Colombia in March. "We want to stay near town. We can plant our own food. In the meantime the town can help us."
While it is not known for sure why they left the jungle, what is abundantly clear is that the Nukak's experience as nomads and hunter-gatherers has left them wholly unprepared for the world they have just entered.
The Nukak have no concept of money, of property, of the role of government, or even of the existence of a country called Colombia. They ask whether the planes that fly overhead are moving on some sort of invisible road.
They have no government identification cards, making them nonentities to Colombia's bureaucracy.
"The Nukak don't know what they've gotten themselves into," said Dr. Javier Maldonado, 27, a physician who has been working with them.
But recently, and rather mysteriously, a group of nearly 80 wandered out of the wilderness, half-naked, a gaggle of children and pet monkeys in tow, and declared themselves ready to join the modern world.
"We do not want to go back," explained one man, who uses the sole name Ma-be, and who arrived with the others at this outpost in southern Colombia in March. "We want to stay near town. We can plant our own food. In the meantime the town can help us."
While it is not known for sure why they left the jungle, what is abundantly clear is that the Nukak's experience as nomads and hunter-gatherers has left them wholly unprepared for the world they have just entered.
The Nukak have no concept of money, of property, of the role of government, or even of the existence of a country called Colombia. They ask whether the planes that fly overhead are moving on some sort of invisible road.
They have no government identification cards, making them nonentities to Colombia's bureaucracy.
"The Nukak don't know what they've gotten themselves into," said Dr. Javier Maldonado, 27, a physician who has been working with them.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Yale Historian Finds Geronimo Clue - New York Times
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- A Yale University historian has uncovered a 1918 letter that seems to lend validity to the lore that Yale University's ultra-secret Skull and Bones society swiped the skull of American Indian leader Geronimo.
The letter, written by one member of Skull and Bones to another, purports that the skull and some of the Indian leader's remains were spirited from his burial plot in Fort Sill, Okla., to a stone tomb in New Haven that serves as the club's headquarters.
According to Skull and Bones legend, members -- including President Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush -- dug up Geronimo's grave when a group of Army volunteers from Yale were stationed at the fort during World War I. Geronimo died in 1909.
''The skull of the worthy Geronimo the Terrible, exhumed from its tomb at Fort Sill by your club... is now safe inside the (Tomb) together with his well worn femurs, bit & saddle horn,'' according to the letter, written by Winter Mead.
The letter, written by one member of Skull and Bones to another, purports that the skull and some of the Indian leader's remains were spirited from his burial plot in Fort Sill, Okla., to a stone tomb in New Haven that serves as the club's headquarters.
According to Skull and Bones legend, members -- including President Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush -- dug up Geronimo's grave when a group of Army volunteers from Yale were stationed at the fort during World War I. Geronimo died in 1909.
''The skull of the worthy Geronimo the Terrible, exhumed from its tomb at Fort Sill by your club... is now safe inside the (Tomb) together with his well worn femurs, bit & saddle horn,'' according to the letter, written by Winter Mead.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
80,000 Native Canadians to Be Compensated for School Abuse - New York Times
TORONTO, April 26 — In a long delayed conclusion to a dark chapter of Canadian history, negotiators have reached an agreement to compensate 80,000 Native Canadians who attended a government-financed school system where many suffered physical and sexual abuse.
The widespread incidence of alcoholism, family violence and incest in many Native Canadian communities has long been linked to the experiences of generations who attended the so-called residential schools, which were dedicated to forced assimilation and operated for more than a century, until the 1980's.
Typically, government agents forced Inuit, Cree and other children to leave their parents and attend the schools, where they were harshly punished for speaking their own languages or practicing their religions.
Negotiators representing the government, native peoples and several churches that administered the schools agreed that nearly $2 billion would be paid out in damages. Payments are set to begin next year, but will possibly be accelerated for the elderly and the sick.
The accord, which negotiators called one of the largest damage settlements in Canada's history, needs cabinet and court approval, but that is considered a formality.
Jim Prentice, the Indian affairs and northern development minister, announced the agreement without fanfare on the floor of the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon. There was no official apology, although the federal government had already admitted that sexual and physical abuse in the schools was widespread.
The widespread incidence of alcoholism, family violence and incest in many Native Canadian communities has long been linked to the experiences of generations who attended the so-called residential schools, which were dedicated to forced assimilation and operated for more than a century, until the 1980's.
Typically, government agents forced Inuit, Cree and other children to leave their parents and attend the schools, where they were harshly punished for speaking their own languages or practicing their religions.
Negotiators representing the government, native peoples and several churches that administered the schools agreed that nearly $2 billion would be paid out in damages. Payments are set to begin next year, but will possibly be accelerated for the elderly and the sick.
The accord, which negotiators called one of the largest damage settlements in Canada's history, needs cabinet and court approval, but that is considered a formality.
Jim Prentice, the Indian affairs and northern development minister, announced the agreement without fanfare on the floor of the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon. There was no official apology, although the federal government had already admitted that sexual and physical abuse in the schools was widespread.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Three Schools Lose Appeals on Indian Mascots
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Despite a letter from one tribal leader in support of the Fighting Sioux nickname, North Dakota lost its appeal to the NCAA on Friday while Illinois and Indiana University of Pennsylvania didn't fare any better.
The governing body's executive committee rejected appeals from all three schools that would have allowed them to use Indian nicknames or images without penalty. Bradley, the fourth school with an appeal, became the nation's first to appear on a five-year watch list.
The NCAA's message was clear: It would not retreat from its policy banning the use of ''hostile'' and ''abusive'' Indian nicknames, mascots and imagery at championship events.
''The NCAA has a responsibility to make sure its events are treated with respect for all and making sure that the environment is fully respectful,'' NCAA president Myles Brand said during a conference call.
The governing body's executive committee rejected appeals from all three schools that would have allowed them to use Indian nicknames or images without penalty. Bradley, the fourth school with an appeal, became the nation's first to appear on a five-year watch list.
The NCAA's message was clear: It would not retreat from its policy banning the use of ''hostile'' and ''abusive'' Indian nicknames, mascots and imagery at championship events.
''The NCAA has a responsibility to make sure its events are treated with respect for all and making sure that the environment is fully respectful,'' NCAA president Myles Brand said during a conference call.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Mohawks and Others Block Trains in Ontario to Protest Land Use
TORONTO, April 21 — Native Canadian protests spread across southern Ontario on Friday over a land dispute dating back to the Revolution, with Mohawks stopping at least a dozen freight trains and interrupting passenger train service between Montreal and Toronto.
There were no reported arrests or injuries.
CN Rail won a court injunction ordering the removal of demonstrators should protests continue. Via Rail, the national passenger line, announced it could no longer take weekend reservations on trains linking Toronto with Ottawa and Montreal, the nation's busiest routes, and was obliged to charter buses to honor existing reservations.
The demonstrations began at the end of February, when Mohawks of the Six Nations, a confederacy of Native groups, occupied a road outside Caledonia, an Ontario farming town, contending that a developer was building a housing project on Native land nearby.
The protests received little attention until the Ontario provincial police raided the group and arrested 16 people before dawn on Thursday. A scuffle left three officers injured, including one who was hit on the head by a bag of rocks and needed stitches. A few protesters said they had been hurt by police Taser guns.
The police action seemed only to feed the protests, as about 200 people returned to the site to build makeshift barricades, heap piles of gravel and burn tires and an abandoned van on the road.
Native protesters wearing camouflage pants and bandanas manned the barricades on the same road through Friday, but the police said they had no immediate plans to remove them again.
"We obviously prefer to have peaceful resolutions," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "But we gather there has been some attempt at that, and the situation is quite complex on the ground."
Leaders from the Six Nations reserve are meeting with officials from the federal and provincial governments to try to settle the matter.
The dispute, involving a 100-acre plot, has its roots in a 1784 agreement in which Britain granted a large strip of land in what is today southwestern Ontario to Natives in gratitude for their support against the American colonial rebels. The Six Nations surrendered the land in 1841, but Native activists filed a lawsuit in 1995 claiming that the agreement was made under duress, and that in any case the authorities had failed to meet their commitments.
Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, a professor of aboriginal studies at the University of Toronto, said the Caledonia land dispute "could become a symbol of the broader dissatisfaction with how the government has dealt with land claims."
On Friday, Mohawks from the Tyendinaga reserve, near Belleville, set fires beside a CN Rail track and used two school buses to block traffic on a nearby road.
Natives of the Akwesasne reserve, near Cornwall, picketed a road near a busy American border crossing, and a group of Mohawks blocked the Mercier bridge near Montreal for nearly half an hour, interrupting commuter traffic.
There were no reported arrests or injuries.
CN Rail won a court injunction ordering the removal of demonstrators should protests continue. Via Rail, the national passenger line, announced it could no longer take weekend reservations on trains linking Toronto with Ottawa and Montreal, the nation's busiest routes, and was obliged to charter buses to honor existing reservations.
The demonstrations began at the end of February, when Mohawks of the Six Nations, a confederacy of Native groups, occupied a road outside Caledonia, an Ontario farming town, contending that a developer was building a housing project on Native land nearby.
The protests received little attention until the Ontario provincial police raided the group and arrested 16 people before dawn on Thursday. A scuffle left three officers injured, including one who was hit on the head by a bag of rocks and needed stitches. A few protesters said they had been hurt by police Taser guns.
The police action seemed only to feed the protests, as about 200 people returned to the site to build makeshift barricades, heap piles of gravel and burn tires and an abandoned van on the road.
Native protesters wearing camouflage pants and bandanas manned the barricades on the same road through Friday, but the police said they had no immediate plans to remove them again.
"We obviously prefer to have peaceful resolutions," said Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "But we gather there has been some attempt at that, and the situation is quite complex on the ground."
Leaders from the Six Nations reserve are meeting with officials from the federal and provincial governments to try to settle the matter.
The dispute, involving a 100-acre plot, has its roots in a 1784 agreement in which Britain granted a large strip of land in what is today southwestern Ontario to Natives in gratitude for their support against the American colonial rebels. The Six Nations surrendered the land in 1841, but Native activists filed a lawsuit in 1995 claiming that the agreement was made under duress, and that in any case the authorities had failed to meet their commitments.
Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, a professor of aboriginal studies at the University of Toronto, said the Caledonia land dispute "could become a symbol of the broader dissatisfaction with how the government has dealt with land claims."
On Friday, Mohawks from the Tyendinaga reserve, near Belleville, set fires beside a CN Rail track and used two school buses to block traffic on a nearby road.
Natives of the Akwesasne reserve, near Cornwall, picketed a road near a busy American border crossing, and a group of Mohawks blocked the Mercier bridge near Montreal for nearly half an hour, interrupting commuter traffic.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Idaho Murals of Lynching Cause Debate
BOISE, Idaho, April 15 (AP) — For 66 years, two murals depicting the lynching of an Indian have been attached to a staircase wall in an abandoned county courthouse here.
The Idaho Legislature plans to move into the old courthouse in 2008 while the state Capitol is renovated.
Lawmakers, historians and Indian leaders disagree over whether the murals should be preserved as history or removed or covered up as disturbing and offensive.
"They should be painted over," said Claudeo Broncho of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, whose traditional territory included Ada County, where Boise is.
Others want to keep the murals as reminders of injustices committed against Indians. "The shame is not on those who painted the picture, but on those who refuse to acknowledge our history for what it is," said Ted Howard, cultural resources director for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes.
The Idaho Legislature plans to move into the old courthouse in 2008 while the state Capitol is renovated.
Lawmakers, historians and Indian leaders disagree over whether the murals should be preserved as history or removed or covered up as disturbing and offensive.
"They should be painted over," said Claudeo Broncho of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, whose traditional territory included Ada County, where Boise is.
Others want to keep the murals as reminders of injustices committed against Indians. "The shame is not on those who painted the picture, but on those who refuse to acknowledge our history for what it is," said Ted Howard, cultural resources director for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Teeing Off in Indian Country
IN the late 60's, Wendell Chino, the innovative and autocratic president of the Mescalero Apache Nation in southeastern New Mexico, surveyed some fallow fields of oats on his poor, mountainous reservation and declared the land ideal for one of his entrepreneurial brainstorms.
Mr. Chino, who died in 1998, championed economic development projects like sawmills, ski runs and legalized gambling. But before roulette wheels ever arrived, when the poorest Mescaleros still lived in canvas tents and tepees, he stunned his tribe by proposing a 250-room hotel and championship golf course, the first destination golf resort in New Mexico.
"It was completely beyond the minds of any of us here," said Freddie Peso, 67, a Mescalero sculptor and longtime tribal council member. "I knew nothing about golf or resorts. No one here played golf. And neither did Wendell Chino."
In 1975, Mr. Chino's dream was realized as the humble, all-wood Inn of the Mountain Gods, and its 7,000-foot-elevation golf course became what is believed to be the first tribal-owned course in the nation. It was an immediate hit, and it pioneered a once-unthinkable cultural curiosity: thousands of upscale duffers finding golf nirvana in remote Indian country.
Today, there are more than 50 tribal-owned courses in some 17 states, with several more under construction. From the San Carlos Apache tribe's Apache Stronghold Golf Club in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona to the Mohicans' Pine Hills Golf and Supper Club in the Wisconsin woods, tribal courses have changed Indian country's physical and cultural landscape, helped diversify the tribes' casino-dependent economies and given American golf some of its finest new playgrounds.
Mr. Chino, who died in 1998, championed economic development projects like sawmills, ski runs and legalized gambling. But before roulette wheels ever arrived, when the poorest Mescaleros still lived in canvas tents and tepees, he stunned his tribe by proposing a 250-room hotel and championship golf course, the first destination golf resort in New Mexico.
"It was completely beyond the minds of any of us here," said Freddie Peso, 67, a Mescalero sculptor and longtime tribal council member. "I knew nothing about golf or resorts. No one here played golf. And neither did Wendell Chino."
In 1975, Mr. Chino's dream was realized as the humble, all-wood Inn of the Mountain Gods, and its 7,000-foot-elevation golf course became what is believed to be the first tribal-owned course in the nation. It was an immediate hit, and it pioneered a once-unthinkable cultural curiosity: thousands of upscale duffers finding golf nirvana in remote Indian country.
Today, there are more than 50 tribal-owned courses in some 17 states, with several more under construction. From the San Carlos Apache tribe's Apache Stronghold Golf Club in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona to the Mohicans' Pine Hills Golf and Supper Club in the Wisconsin woods, tribal courses have changed Indian country's physical and cultural landscape, helped diversify the tribes' casino-dependent economies and given American golf some of its finest new playgrounds.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
$25,000 to Lobby Group Is Tied to Access to Bush
WASHINGTON, March 9 — The chief of an Indian tribe represented by the lobbyist Jack Abramoff was admitted to a meeting with President Bush in 2001 days after the tribe paid a prominent conservative lobbying group $25,000 at Mr. Abramoff's direction, according to documents and interviews.
The payment was made to Americans for Tax Reform, a group run by Grover G. Norquist, one of the Republican Party's most influential policy strategists. Mr. Norquist was a friend and longtime associate of Mr. Abramoff.
The meeting with Mr. Bush took place on May 9, 2001, at a reception organized by Mr. Norquist to marshal support for the president's 2001 tax cuts, which were pending before Congress. About two dozen state legislators attended the session in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House grounds. The meeting was called to thank legislators for support of the tax-cut plan, an issue on which the tribal leader had no direct involvement.
Mr. Norquist attended the meeting, along with Mr. Abramoff and the tribal leader, Raul Garza of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas. It is not clear what role, if any, Mr. Norquist played in getting Chief Garza into the meeting, and there is no suggestion that the White House was aware of the $25,000 payment.
But the transaction adds new details to what is known about how Mr. Abramoff used his links to well-connected conservatives to establish himself among his lobbying clients as having access to the highest levels of power in Washington. Mr. Abramoff has pleaded guilty to conspiring to corrupt public officials and is cooperating with the Justice Department investigation.
The payment was made to Americans for Tax Reform, a group run by Grover G. Norquist, one of the Republican Party's most influential policy strategists. Mr. Norquist was a friend and longtime associate of Mr. Abramoff.
The meeting with Mr. Bush took place on May 9, 2001, at a reception organized by Mr. Norquist to marshal support for the president's 2001 tax cuts, which were pending before Congress. About two dozen state legislators attended the session in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House grounds. The meeting was called to thank legislators for support of the tax-cut plan, an issue on which the tribal leader had no direct involvement.
Mr. Norquist attended the meeting, along with Mr. Abramoff and the tribal leader, Raul Garza of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas. It is not clear what role, if any, Mr. Norquist played in getting Chief Garza into the meeting, and there is no suggestion that the White House was aware of the $25,000 payment.
But the transaction adds new details to what is known about how Mr. Abramoff used his links to well-connected conservatives to establish himself among his lobbying clients as having access to the highest levels of power in Washington. Mr. Abramoff has pleaded guilty to conspiring to corrupt public officials and is cooperating with the Justice Department investigation.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Linguists Find the Words, and Pocahontas Speaks Again
In the new movie about Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in 1607, the paramount Indian chief Powhatan asks Capt. John Smith where his people came from. The sky?
Responding to the question, translated by an Indian whose smattering of English probably came indirectly from the earlier failed Roanoke colony in North Carolina, Smith replies: "The sky? No. We come from England, an island on the other side of the sea."
The dialogue continues as the interpreter puts Smith's reply in Powhatan's own words, Virginia Algonquian, a language not spoken for more than two centuries. Like most of the 800 or more indigenous languages of North America when Europeans first arrived, Powhatan's became extinct as Indians declined in number, dispersed and lost their cultural identity.
But a small yet growing number of linguists and anthropologists has been busy in recent years recreating such dead or dying Indian speech. Their field is language revitalization, the science of reconstructing lost languages. One byproduct of the scholarship is the dialogue in Virginia Algonquian for the movie "The New World."
Responding to the question, translated by an Indian whose smattering of English probably came indirectly from the earlier failed Roanoke colony in North Carolina, Smith replies: "The sky? No. We come from England, an island on the other side of the sea."
The dialogue continues as the interpreter puts Smith's reply in Powhatan's own words, Virginia Algonquian, a language not spoken for more than two centuries. Like most of the 800 or more indigenous languages of North America when Europeans first arrived, Powhatan's became extinct as Indians declined in number, dispersed and lost their cultural identity.
But a small yet growing number of linguists and anthropologists has been busy in recent years recreating such dead or dying Indian speech. Their field is language revitalization, the science of reconstructing lost languages. One byproduct of the scholarship is the dialogue in Virginia Algonquian for the movie "The New World."
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Dizzying Rise and Abrupt Fall for a Reservation Drug Dealer
LUMMI INDIAN RESERVATION, Wash. — For a time, Room 246 at the Scottish Lodge Motel, 13 miles south of the Canadian border, was a Shangri-La for Eugenia Phair.
With its stained carpets, its stench of vomit and stale cigarette smoke, its bathroom sink smudged with burn marks from the crack-cocaine cooks who had used the room before, Room 246 was where her drug smuggling operation began to take off, she said, the first headquarters of what would become a well-organized and lucrative drug ring on and around this reservation.
Over the next few years, Ms. Phair, 26, a Lummi Indian, and her family grew flush and dizzy with drug money, as she rocketed to the top in the ripe and cutthroat world of Indian drug trafficking, selling painkillers, she said, to everyone including tribal officials and jobless strung-out addicts.
"It was almost an answer to your prayers," said Ms. Phair, who was released on Feb. 6 after serving 20 months in state prison. "If you came from rags and then you had a chance at riches, wouldn't you choose riches? If you lived your whole life in poverty and then you had a chance to be rich, what would you do? It's almost impossible. I never had anything ever, no new clothes, no school-clothes shopping, no nothing at all. Then you're able to have your kids go to a good school and look nice and fit in. I never fit in."
With its stained carpets, its stench of vomit and stale cigarette smoke, its bathroom sink smudged with burn marks from the crack-cocaine cooks who had used the room before, Room 246 was where her drug smuggling operation began to take off, she said, the first headquarters of what would become a well-organized and lucrative drug ring on and around this reservation.
Over the next few years, Ms. Phair, 26, a Lummi Indian, and her family grew flush and dizzy with drug money, as she rocketed to the top in the ripe and cutthroat world of Indian drug trafficking, selling painkillers, she said, to everyone including tribal officials and jobless strung-out addicts.
"It was almost an answer to your prayers," said Ms. Phair, who was released on Feb. 6 after serving 20 months in state prison. "If you came from rags and then you had a chance at riches, wouldn't you choose riches? If you lived your whole life in poverty and then you had a chance to be rich, what would you do? It's almost impossible. I never had anything ever, no new clothes, no school-clothes shopping, no nothing at all. Then you're able to have your kids go to a good school and look nice and fit in. I never fit in."
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Drug Traffickers Find Haven in Shadows of Indian Country
ST. REGIS MOHAWK RESERVATION, N.Y. — He had eluded the authorities for years. Witnesses against him had mysteriously disappeared. Shots were fired from his highly secured compound here last year when the state police tried to close in.
The man, John V. Oakes, like a fast-rising number of American Indian drug traffickers across the country, saw himself as "untouchable," as one senior investigator put it, protected by armed enforcers and a code of silence that ruled the reservation.
After he was finally arrested last May, Mr. Oakes was recorded from jail talking on the phone with his estranged wife. "I can't believe people let this happen to me," he said, according to Derek Champagne, the Franklin County district attorney who listened to the recorded call. "You can't touch me. I'm on the reservation, and I do what I want."
Investigators described Mr. Oakes as an intimidating trafficker who concentrated on stealing drugs and cash from a prosperous and growing cluster of criminals who, like Mr. Oakes, have built sprawling mansions near worn-down trailers on this reservation straddling the Canadian border.
The man, John V. Oakes, like a fast-rising number of American Indian drug traffickers across the country, saw himself as "untouchable," as one senior investigator put it, protected by armed enforcers and a code of silence that ruled the reservation.
After he was finally arrested last May, Mr. Oakes was recorded from jail talking on the phone with his estranged wife. "I can't believe people let this happen to me," he said, according to Derek Champagne, the Franklin County district attorney who listened to the recorded call. "You can't touch me. I'm on the reservation, and I do what I want."
Investigators described Mr. Oakes as an intimidating trafficker who concentrated on stealing drugs and cash from a prosperous and growing cluster of criminals who, like Mr. Oakes, have built sprawling mansions near worn-down trailers on this reservation straddling the Canadian border.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
As Tribal Leaders, Women Still Fight Old Views
PINE RIDGE, S.D.— Political life has been tense for Cecelia Fire Thunder since a little over a year ago, when she defeated Russell Means to become the top leader of the Oglala Sioux tribe, often remembered for its male leaders of long ago, men like Crazy Horse and Red Cloud.
Mr. Means, an American Indian activist and actor, challenged Ms. Fire Thunder's election in a federal lawsuit. Months later came the calls from some tribe members for her impeachment, amid complaints she had unilaterally made questionable financial choices and ignored the wishes of respected elders.
The Tribal Council voted in December to drop the impeachment complaint and keep Ms. Fire Thunder, but by then she and many of her supporters had come to believe that her sex was really at the root of so much turmoil. Though some disagree with Ms. Fire Thunder's assertion of bias, she stands as an illustration of the shifting role American Indian women are playing in tribal governments.
Ms. Fire Thunder is the first woman to be elected president here on Pine Ridge, the country's second largest reservation in land area, and one of a growing group of women Indian leaders. Since 1999, at least 11 leaders, including Ms. Fire Thunder, have become the first women elected to the top post on their tribes' governing councils.
Mr. Means, an American Indian activist and actor, challenged Ms. Fire Thunder's election in a federal lawsuit. Months later came the calls from some tribe members for her impeachment, amid complaints she had unilaterally made questionable financial choices and ignored the wishes of respected elders.
The Tribal Council voted in December to drop the impeachment complaint and keep Ms. Fire Thunder, but by then she and many of her supporters had come to believe that her sex was really at the root of so much turmoil. Though some disagree with Ms. Fire Thunder's assertion of bias, she stands as an illustration of the shifting role American Indian women are playing in tribal governments.
Ms. Fire Thunder is the first woman to be elected president here on Pine Ridge, the country's second largest reservation in land area, and one of a growing group of women Indian leaders. Since 1999, at least 11 leaders, including Ms. Fire Thunder, have become the first women elected to the top post on their tribes' governing councils.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Inca Show Pits Yale Against Peru
NEW HAVEN, Jan. 26 — By any conventional measure, Yale's exhibition about Machu Picchu would seem a windfall for Peru. As one of the most ambitious shows about the Inca ever presented in the United States, drawing over a million visitors while traveling to half a dozen cities and back again, it has riveted eyes on Peru's leading tourist attraction.
Peru has asked for the return of many of the artifacts in "Machu Picchu," an exhibition now back at the Peabody Museum at Yale University. More Photos >
Yet instead of cementing an international partnership, the exhibition, which returned to the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale in September, has brought a low ebb in the university's relations with Peru. At issue are a large group of artifacts that form the core of the show, excavated at Machu Picchu in a historic dig by a Yale explorer in 1912. The government of Peru wants all of those objects back.
Peru contends that it essentially lent the Machu Picchu objects to the university nearly a century ago and that the university has failed to return them. Yale has staunchly rebuffed Peru's claim, stating that it returned all borrowed objects in the 1920's and has retained only those to which it has full title.
Peru has asked for the return of many of the artifacts in "Machu Picchu," an exhibition now back at the Peabody Museum at Yale University. More Photos >
Yet instead of cementing an international partnership, the exhibition, which returned to the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale in September, has brought a low ebb in the university's relations with Peru. At issue are a large group of artifacts that form the core of the show, excavated at Machu Picchu in a historic dig by a Yale explorer in 1912. The government of Peru wants all of those objects back.
Peru contends that it essentially lent the Machu Picchu objects to the university nearly a century ago and that the university has failed to return them. Yale has staunchly rebuffed Peru's claim, stating that it returned all borrowed objects in the 1920's and has retained only those to which it has full title.
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