A Letter from the Publisher

Vol. 1, Issue 48 June 18, 2014 1 IndIan Country today A Letter from the Publisher Shekóli. Although it is impossible to sum up a life in a few Code Talker. They followed The Way, and they endured. words, the passing of Navajo hero Chester Nez compels us to try. In a wonderful retelling of this famous World War “They didn’t do it for the glory,” said the grandson of an- II Code Talker’s experiences, longtime Indian Country To- other Code Talker. “They did it to protect their home- day correspondent Richard Walker writes of the enduring land—not just the United States, but the Navajo Nation.” spirit that helped this man rise to every challenge. In fact, Nez’s relationship with the U.S. was fraught with issues familiar to most Natives. He had been sent to a Chester Nez was one of the 29 original Navajo Code Talk- boarding school as a child, and was forbidden to speak ers of World War II who were enlisted by the government his language. Upon his return from the war, a bureaucrat to develop a code based on Navajo that would stymie en- hassled him for being Indian when he sought a civilian emy attempts to crack it. Eventually, the Code Talkers who ID. For decades he never spoke of what he did during the fought in the war would number 421. Nez was the last of war, as the Code Talker program was a secret until 1968. the original group to walk on. As our story relates, Nez and However, the recent recognition bestowed upon the Code his Marine brethren were on a grueling schedule, racing from battle Talkers allowed him to travel and meet many people who were in to battle in the South Pacific to aid the Marines as they battled the awe of his service. Through it all, he remained humble, a model of Japanese. They were role models of stoicism, reservation-hardened, what it means to serve one’s community selflessly. With this week’s and took comfort in the fact that their families and communities story, we pay tribute to an elder whom we will never forget. were praying for them. They had participated in ceremonies before leaving home; their uniforms had been blessed; they carried pouches NΛ ki� wa, with arrowheads and corn pollen. They prayed every day. When his family back in Chichiltah burned sage and fanned the smoke, Nez Ray Halbritter could sometimes hear their prayers on the battlefield in the form of sheep bells. “Their prayers were carried across the miles as the pure, bright chime of the bells,” Nez would later write in his biography, hy P Photogra Table of Contents 2 commentary 12 tradewInds classIfIeds nderson a n 4 News 13 web, events, letters I ev k 7 t ale of a code talker as/ 15 cartoon, news alerts ans k In connectIcut, A of 9 ty recognItIon showdown 18 uPcomIng Pow wows I vers I n 11 11 week In Photos 19 the bIg PIcture u courtesy IndianCountryTodayMediaNetwork.com June 18, 2014 2 commentary In Praise of Morgan James Peters cause of the historic beatings we took from the federal and state governments Anthropologist Julianne Jennings (Not- ognized: the Mashpee and the Aquinnah. about being mixed heritage,” Mwalim toway) offers an appreciation of the According to scholars, the losses from said. “But curiously, mainstream Amer- Wampanoag musician and media artist two epidemics (in 1616 and1619) made ica is more accepting of the concept of a Morgan James Peters, known as “Mwalim it possible for the English colonists to get ‘mixed Native heritage’ then many Native DaPhunkee Professor”, who at the ninth a foothold in creating the Massachusetts people are.” annual New England Urban Music Bay Colony. Later, King Philip’s War (1675- When I asked him “Why?” he said, “A Awards won the “Best Male Jazz Art- 1676) erupted against the English colonists, parallel would be my experiences in the ist” prize for his album “Awakened By A killing 40 percent of the nation. Many sur- Bronx with folks whose family came from Noon Day Sun”: vivors were sold into slavery in the West Sicily or the Latin Caribbean and hated “I grew up going to school in New Indies. Wampanoag people began granting black folks, while they looked like light- York and spending the rest of the time asylum to self-emancipated Africans. Some skinned black people... When I learned in Mashpee,” Mwalim said, “so I was im- intermingled with Wampanoag people, as about Hannibal’s trip from Africa into Ita- mersed in my Wampanoag culture and well as with the many Wampanoags who ly and Sicily, and the African slave trade in community.” had been enslaved in New England. the Spanish Caribbean, it all became clear. Two of the several remaining tribes of “Our folks in the east are particularly The dislike factor was actually a form of the Wampanoag Nation are federally rec- sensitive and evasive of the concept be- self-hatred.” http://bit.ly/1q1pOdy 0 “Good Governance” or “Domination”? tice is testimony to the subtlety of the semantic issues we face on a daily basis. The recently concluded 13th Session of the manization) to precisely name and iden- Semantic self-determination is a criti- U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous tify the problem that needs to be solved. cal part of what the right of self-determi- Issues stressed “Principles of Good Gover- Then, and only then, is it possible to ask nation is all about for originally free and nance.” But Steven Newcomb (Shawnee, the critical question, “How do we end or independent nations and peoples now Lenape), co-founder and co-director of abolish the domination of our nations called “Indigenous.” Originally free, we the Indigenous Law Institute, argues that and peoples?” need to take control of the semantic field that phrase should be identified by an When domination is euphemistically and no longer allow dominating societ- uglier name: framed as “good governance” by those ies to continue to dominate our existence We have a choice. We can allow the who have a vested interest in maintain- by naming their systems of domination dominating societies to go unchallenged ing the domination of our existence, it is “good governance.” The U.N. Declara- in their use of euphemistic terminology our responsibility to call them on their tion on the Rights of Dominated Peoples to characterize what they have been do- manipulative use of language. The fact is designed to reinforce rather than abol- ing for centuries to dominate our nations that patterns of domination can be called ish the state domination of our existence and peoples. Or we can use the word “good governance” in the United Nations as originally free nations. http://bit. domination” (and the resulting dehu- without our people seeming to even no- ly/1nwP4W2 0 Why Fallin Must Listen the Indian agent by translator, “No sir, I have never filed upon any land. I am Activist Jennie Stockle (Cherokee and Land Runs” and so do the adults. opposed to the allotment of land among Muscoge Creek), who during a protest Native American children are taught the Indians.” on May 19 presented an 8,000-signature to “claim their land” like the other stu- Unlike the land-run settlers who petition to Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin dents. The truth is, Native Americans came to Oklahoma in 1889, my ances- in support of Native educational and were already here in Oklahoma. The tor had already been born in Georgia cultural initiatives, cites some of the back- land they inhabit to this very day was and died in Indian Territory, later Okla- ground that prompted her action: not free. Our nations and ancestors homa, during the course of the Civil Our Tribal Nations are leading by had been forced to give up everything War. When Oklahomans start the his- example when they donate millions of and come to Oklahoma. The only thing tory here by their standards alone and dollars to education and other com- that was kept in some cases, besides the ignore these people who are my family, munity projects that benefit every- clothes on their back, was their tribal it is discrimination. Oklahomans who one, both Native and non-Native. In citizenship. The trust land we have to- claim it is equal and fair here are ignor- contrast, the state mostly teaches day we protect for our children, just ing the “salient” members of Oklahoma the history of the white settlers. like our ancestors did for us. My Creek- society who act otherwise. http://bit. Oklahoma public schools re-enact “Free Cherokee ancestor “Old” Beaver told ly/1ird6x7 0 IndianCountryTodayMediaNetwork.com June 18, 2014 4 IndIan Country today Treasury and IRS Clarify Needs and Challenges of Tribal Governments ‘Pregnant Buffalo’ Rock Art at Nine Mile Canyon Defaced The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service A vandal carved the ini- remoteness,” Dennis Willis, a on June 3 issued final guidance specifying that a wide range tials “JMN” and the date former Bureau of Land Man- of benefits and services provided by Indian tribal governments “5/25/14” into the dark pati- agement [BLM] staff mem- qualify for the general welfare exclusion from income. These ex- na next to the carving known ber and board member of the emptions include programs for housing, education, cultural and as “Pregnant Buffalo”, which Nine Mile Canyon Coalition, religious purposes, and the elderly and disabled, among others. is more than 1,000 years old, told The Salt Lake Tribune. “Today’s guidance provides important clarity for Indian at Nine Mile Canyon in Utah “What used to be a two-hour tribes that certain member benefits and services are exempt on May 25.

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