Russell Means: A Look At His Journey
“Being is a spiritual proposition.” Russell Means lashes out at European “death culture” and the left.
“Don’t ever let that fire go out.” A tribute from Last Real Indians.
photo by Marcy Nightswander for AP
National Day of Mourning 2012
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Cole’s Hill – Plymouth, Massachusetts
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Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered at noon on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US thanksgiving holiday. Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers. Thanksgiving day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the relentless assault on Native culture. Participants in National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression that Native Americans continue to experience.
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Join us as we dedicate the 43rd National Day of Mourning to our brother, Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier. Add your voice to the millions world-wide who demand his freedom. Help us in our struggle to create a true awareness of Native peoples and demonstrate the unity of Indigenous peoples internationally. Help shatter the untrue glass image of the Pilgrims and the unjust system based on racism, sexism, homophobia and war.United American Indians of New England/LPSG
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Best contact method via email: info@uaine.org
http://www.uaine.org/
facebook group: United American Indians of New England
Absolutely No Drugs or Alcohol Allowed
Pot-luck Social to Follow
http://www.uaine.org/
facebook group: United American Indians of New England
Absolutely No Drugs or Alcohol Allowed
Pot-luck Social to Follow
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Basic Schedule outline with tentative times:
12 noon prayers (no photos during this time plz)
12:20pm Native speakers
2pm march with rallies by plymouth rock and the site of the Metacomet historical marker
3-5pm indoor potluck social
12 noon prayers (no photos during this time plz)
12:20pm Native speakers
2pm march with rallies by plymouth rock and the site of the Metacomet historical marker
3-5pm indoor potluck social
Onondaga Land Rights
Onondaga Chiefs discuss legal actions to reclaim stolen NYS territory
Thursday, October 11 at 7:30 pm at the American Indian Community House 134 W. 29th Street, 4th Fl.
Oral arguments & vigil about stolen Onondaga land
Friday, Oct. 12 at 9:00 am at New York Law School, 185 W Broadway New York, NY [#1 to Franklin St.; A, C, E to Canal (south exit to Lispenard & Church); R to Canal (at Broadway); #2, 3 to Chambers St.; N, Q to Canal (west exit, furthest from Bklyn, to Broadway);
Oral argument of our Land Rights case against the State of New York for the illegal appropriation by New York State of our traditional territory some 200 years ago. This case has been very long in the making and is the Courtroom is apparently limited in space and we want to be sure to prioritize space for Onondaga people who come. We may hold a vigil outside the courtroom
Post-court legal debriefing
Friday, October 12th, 12 Noon at the American Indian Community House 134 W. 29th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10001 212 598-0100; [ 134 W.29th St. btw 6th & 7th Aves.; transit: #1 train to 28 St. (at 7th); N, R to 28 St. (at Broadway); D, F, Q or weekday B or M to 34 St.-Herald Sq.; PATH to 33rd St.; #2, 3 to 34 St.-Penn Sta. (at 7th Av.); A, C, E to 34 St.-Penn Sta. (at 8th); NJ Transit or LIRR to NY Penn Sta.]Over lunch, there will be a de-briefing by legal team about what happened in court. For more information contact: Tonya Gonnella Frichner tonya@ailanyc.org
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ONONDAGA NATION LAND RIGHTS CASE AGAINST THE STATE OF NEW YORK
Onondaga Land Rights Support Actions!
The Onondaga Nation filed their historic Land Rights Action on March 11, 2005, seeking that the federal courts acknowledge the illegal taking of their land, and seeking “justice, reconciliation and healing” with their neighbors. Their case was dismissed on September 22, 2010. On February 28, leaders of the Onondaga Nation and Haudenosaunee Confederacy traveled to Washington, DC to announce the filing of the appeal of the Onondaga Land Rights Action. The Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign is an effort to take their case to the people of New York State.
The Onondaga Nation leadership and citizens will be in New York City on Thursday [and Friday], October 11 and 12, 2012 for the scheduled oral argument of our Land Rights case against the State of New York for the illegal appropriation by New York State of our traditional territory some 200 years ago. This case has been very long in the making and is the critical second step in the search for justice by the Onondaga Nation. The first step in this process was the U.S. Federal Court which ruled against our claim and the third step may be the U.S. Supreme Court. Oral argument is open to the public and will be held in downtown Manhattan at New York Law School, 185 West Broadway at 9:00am. The Onondaga Nation community and our supporters, the Syracuse Peace Council and the Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation (NOON) will be arriving by bus the morning of oral argument, Friday October 12. We welcome the New York City Native community and other supporters to attend this historical event, as well as a briefing by the Onondaga Chiefs, community and legal team at 7:30pm, Thursday October 11, the evening before oral argument as well as 12:00pm Friday October 12 after oral argument at AICH. The American Indian Community House has graciously offered their facilities and we are most grateful for their generosity and hospitality.
Please also consider:
-writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper(s) expressing (see suggested talking points)
-share this email with others
-spread word of the events on Facebook: Syracuse Vigil or New York City hearing
Thursday, October 11th, 7:30 pm at the American Indian Community House 134 W. 29th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10001 212 598-0100 Public presentation by the Onondaga Chiefs and other leaders about the Onondaga Land Rights action and their Appeal Court
Friday, Oct. 12th at 9 am at New York Law School, 185 W Broadway New York, NY
People are invited to come out in support of the Onondaga, though the courtroom is apparently limited in space and we want to be sure to prioritize space for Onondaga people who come. We may hold a vigil outside the courtroom
Friday, October 12th, 12 Noon at the American Indian Community House 134 W. 29th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10001 212 598-0100; Over lunch, there will be a de-briefing by legal team about what happened in court. For more information contact: Tonya Gonnella Frichner tonya@ailanyc.org
Whose Island Is This?
A WALK AND TALK ABOUT WHO OCCUPIED WALL STREET
BEFORE 1491 AND HOW NATIVE AMERICANS
CAME TO BE EVICTED FROM THEIR “ROCKY ISLAND”
With Evan T. Pritchard, author of Native New Yorkers, No Word For Time
and Henry Hudson and the Algonquins of New York
MONDAY, COLUMBUS DAY OCTOBER 8th, 11:00 A.M.
Join renowned author Professor Evan Pritchard (Vassar/Marist/Pace) as he explores the long and sometimes tragic history of lower Manhattan from a Native American perspective. Meeting at 477 FDR Drive (at Grand Street) at 11 AM, Columbus Day, Monday, October 8th, we will be drawn towards Corlears’ Hook as we discuss the massacre which occurred there, then traveling the Corlears’ Hook Trail we cross the famed Tulpehoken (“Turtle Island”) Trail (at Indian Overlook) and learn why it was the backbone of the Algonquin world. After a brief discussion of Algonquin whaling techniques at Fulton Street, we will speculate on whether or not the mastodons had a role in creating the Mohican Trail (now Broadway) as we walk to the place where the Dutch built a wall to keep the Kapsee Indians out of their own village, which the Dutch were occupying until the British invaded. We will learn how British subjects in 1775 captured and occupied City Hall at Wall Street (500 feet from Zuccotti Park) in protest of high taxes. Pritchard will discuss the significance of the First Peach War as we gaze upon the river landing where Hendrick Van Dyke shot a woman chief of the Munsee as she was eating a peach, starting a series of wars, the same site Henry Hudson had twice landed in 1609, 46 years earlier, now known as The World Trade Towers site. We will head back and conclude at 3 PM regardless of our location.
$25 per person, suggested donation, RSVP required.
Email evan.pritchard7@gmail.com, or kmandeville@webjogger.net.
Call Kathleen at (845)417-5430 or Evan at (845)266-9231 to register.
Indigenous Day of Remembrance – Honoring the Ancestors
“Honoring the Indigenous Ancestors”
Inter-Tribal Gathering
Sunday, October 7th 2012
12:00 noon – 3:00 p.m.
At Merchants Gate Central Park
59th Street & Central Park South
Sacred Ceremony of Unity and Peace
Guest Speakers
Indigenous Musical Performances
Activists
Please bring a chair or blanket
For more information: 646.648.9809 or iukibuel@gmail.com
http://indigenousdayofremembrance.webs.com/
A B C D or 1 Train to Columbus Circle
Public parking at Time Warner Building
New York Indian Council
New York Indian Council
Established to Serve the Needs of the American Indian Community
SERVICES
Work Experience:
– We match program participants with employers who receive subsidized training.
– Program participants will receive hands on training by employers leading to employment.
Class Training:
– Client will receive assistance determined through assessment.
Supportive Services:
– Client will receive assistance determined through assessment.
ELIGIBILITY
– Indian (Status card, tribal council letter, birth certificate, baptismal record, parent birth/death certificate, etc.)
– Birth Date Verification (Birth certificate, official document showing birth date, etc.)
– Social Security Verification (SS card or SS number on another official document)
– Income Verification (W-2, tax return, last pay stub, public assistance or unemployment letter, etc.)
– Address Verification (apartment lease, monthly bill, driver’s license, etc.)
– Selective Service Verification (U.S. and Canadian males ages 18-25)
– State issued photo (Passport, public assistance card, driver’s/non-driver’s license, school I.D., etc.)
New York Indian Council, Inc.
2024 Williamsbridge Road
Bronx, New York 10461
Serving Native Communities of New York and New Jersey
Telephone: 718.684.3993
Fax: 718.684.3994
Dine Activists at Broken Rainbow Screening at Judson
Why We Should Dis Columbus
Some believe we should celebrate Christopher Columbus’s “discovery” of America. Lost and utterly confused about where he was, Columbus thought he had landed on the South Asian subcontinent of India. Hence he called the people he saw “los indios.”
While Columbus made no real discovery, he was under immense pressure to bring back wealth. His main supporters, the Spanish royals Ferdinand and Isabella, were nearly bankrupt from recent military adventures. Backed up by the Pope’s Law of Discovery, in four successive voyages Columbus claimed all he saw in the name of the Spanish monarchy. He claimed the land, the resources and the people of the “New World.”
This colossally presumptuous act was directly followed by some of humanity’s greatest crimes. After being greeted with gifts and kindness by the welcoming Tainos/Arawaks, Columbus famously recorded in his journal, “They do not bear arms and do not know them…They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (1,2)
Columbus sought slaves. He captured 1500 Taino/Arawaks and sent 500 of the best physical specimens back to be sold as slaves in Seville. Two hundred died en route. He put the remaining captives to work as slaves in the mines and plantations established by his men. Any resistance was met with summary mass executions.
In this way Columbus initiated not only the genocide of the Indians but also the TransAtlantic slave trade which soon started a similar genocidal destruction of the African people. Untold millions of Indians were killed by European diseases and by the wanton murders of all who resisted.
Columbus’s journals reveal that he was most preoccupied with finding gold. Indians who failed to bring the amount of gold demanded had their arms cut off and were allowed to bleed to death.
This toxic brew of insatiable greed and murder marked the arrival of the modern capitalist world system on the shores of the “New World.”
Columbus’s landings began several trends that continue to poison the US to this day: the racist contempt that underlies US government behavior, both domestic and foreign. The US government incarcerates people of color at far higher rates than it does whites. (3) The so-called War on Drugs is actually a war on poor people, especially people of color. And the US government – of all political parties – typically lectures the darker nations of the world on the true meaning of democracy as it declares war on them, invades their lands and forcibly seizes their irreplaceable resources, from oil to minerals to agricultural products.
This is not a legacy we should celebrate. To change the world today we need to understand how it developed and how our current problems arose. Understanding and exposing Columbus’s legacy is a vital part of any movement for social change in America.
1. Weatherford, Jack: Examining the reputation of Christopher Columbus.
2. Zinn, Howard: A People’s History of the United States excerpt
3. Alexander, Michelle: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, New Press, 2010.
Honor the Two Row Treaty – Symbolic Enactment
Native Resistance Network is a proud sponsor of the Two Row Wampum Renewal Campaign, a partnership between the Onondaga Nation and Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation (NOON). They are developing a broad alliance between the Haudenosaunee and their allies in New York and throughout the world. Their statewide advocacy and educational campaign seeks to achieve justice by “polishing” the chain of friendship established in the first treaty between the Haudenosaunee and Dutch immigrants. Environmental cleanup and preservation is a core component of their campaign.
The Two Row Treaty (pictured above) is a belt of wampum beads. The two parallel rows of purple beads represent the courses of the Native canoe and the non-Native sailing ship. The treaty depicted an agreement that both peoples would travel together in their respective vessels as brothers in the river of friendship. We’d remain on parallel courses, meaning that neither group would attempt to steer the other’s vessel, or to make laws or set policies that would affect the lives of the other. We’d live side by side in the woodlands, without taking more than we needed. The treaty was made in 1613. It is a solemn agreement and the supreme law of the land.
2013 will mark the 400th Anniversary of this treaty. To honor this anniversary, we are being called upon to “polish the chain” of friendship and to stem the tide of damage being done to Mother Earth.
In Summer 2013, NOON and the Onondaga Nation will be staging a Symbolic Enactment of the Two Row Treaty, in which Haudenosaunee canoes and non-Native sailing ships will travel together down the Hudson River, ultimately arriving in New York City on August 9th, which is the UN’s Day of the World’s Indigenous People. In late July/early August, members of NOON and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy did a trial run of the Symbolic Enactment. Members of the Native Resistance Network, along with other Hudson Valley environmental activists, met the boats, canoes and kayaks at Kingston and Poughkeepsie, welcoming them with a pot luck supper.
We encourage you to visit the web sites of NOON and the Onondaga Nation, and to view the video “Brighten the Chain” (12 minutes) which the Onondaga put together to share information about their Land Rights Action. You can follow NOON on Twitter and like them on Facebook to receive future updates.
All photos of the Symbolic Enactment shown here are by Jeremy Schaller. See additional photos by Andrew Courtney here.
Screening of Broken Rainbow at the Brecht Forum
The Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee presented Broken Rainbow, a documentary film that presents a moving account of the forced relocation of 12,000 Navajo Native Americans from their ancestral homes in Arizona by the government. The Navajo were relocated to aid mining speculation in a process that began in the 1970s and continues to this day. The United States government claims that by moving the Navajo off the land, it is settling a long-standing dispute between the Navajo and Hopi Tribes. To the traditional Navajo and Hopi, there is no dispute.
Native Resistance Network co-sponsored the event and one of our founders, Firewolf Bizahaloni-Wong (Dine) and Jerry Greyhawk (Dine) spoke before the presentation of the film, then took questions from the audience afterwards. Firewolf is a member of Black Mesa Coalition and an advocate for Dine Water Rights.
