Vol. 3, Issue 22 June 1, 2016

Table of Contents

FEATURED East Meets Southwest As tensions rise, a Tibetan monk visits Bears Ears Soulful Nourishment The Scope Of Native Violence

Bringing Back The Deer

A Letter from the Publisher Headlines, Letters, Events

Commentary Cartoon, Alerts

News How Did I Miss That?

Classifieds Pow Wows

Week in Photos Big Picture

A Letter from the Publisher

Shekóli. This Week From Indian Country Today reflects the variety and pageantry of contemporary Indians’ time here on Turtle Island. As a publication curated from an even more expansive array of stories posted each day online, it presents a selection of material encompassing profiles and politics, entertainment and hard news. Among other features, in this week’s issue we see Oklahoma tribes collaborating to help save Monarch butterfly habitats; challenges to proposed pipelines and coal terminals on Native territory; the reintroduction of deer to the Sierra Madre; analysis of yet another discovery that discredits the Bering Strait Theory; and an opinion piece on Bernie Sanders by LaDonna Harris.

Forgive me, then, for drawing the reader’s eye to a story on the news pages that may not generate a catchy headline, but is nonetheless as vital as anything else on these pages. To wit: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced a June 14 deadline for applications requesting a piece of the $56.6 million in its community development program. As part of its Indian Community Development Block Grant, the agency will disburse up to 75 awards ranging in amounts from $500,000 up to $5.5 million, depending on the size and location of the tribal nations. The funds are meant to create new housing and improve the environment of existing low-income areas.

Even though the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs is a lead agency in the government-to-government relations between our tribal nations and the U.S., it behooves Native government staffers, leaders and citizens to follow closely the policies of such federal agencies as HUD, Agriculture and Transportation. Points of tension and disagreement must be resolved, and sources of revenue identified. Heightened awareness results in news we can use. Creative headlines aside, isn’t this what the information age is all about?

NΛ Ki wa, Ray Halbritter Commentary

Put The Brakes On Disenrollment

Washington State Senator John McCoy (Tulalip) rejects the current disenrollment trend for cultural and traditional reasons:

I oppose disenrollment because our heritage is our heritage. Our lineage is our lineage. Our heritage and lineage define us as Indians.

There are reliable modern tools to establish tribal citizenship criteria, like DNA testing. There are also culture-based ways to establish it: Tribal citizenship law and policy is one of the most important aspects of being a tribal sovereign. These alternatives to blood quantum may prove challenging to implement, but nothing important to tribes comes easy.

Blood quantum, by contrast, originated as one of many federal Indian policies designed to control, assimilate and ultimately extinguish us. Blood quantum is the dominant society’s method for measuring who is Indian and how Indian we are. It is not our way.

I am Tulalip. I get asked all the time, “How much Indian are you? What’s your blood quantum?” I tell people, “I am Tulalip.” That’s it. I refuse to self-identify by my degree of blood.

Disenrollment, unfortunately, is becoming the way that too many tribal councils determine who belongs—meaning, by determining who does not belong. I fully respect each tribe’s right to determine its own citizenship criteria. But I cannot accept disenrollment, especially when it involves blood quantum, residential requirements, U.S. Indian rolls or censuses, or other federal ways toward Indian assimilation and tribal termination. Disenrollment is fueled by greed—pure and simple. It is no coincidence that we have seen a spike in disenrollment along with the rise of Indian gaming and the tribal political power and dollars that tribal casinos generate. We know better. We must instead honor our heritage and lineage—to ensure our future. http://bit.ly/1WOOTsE

Why I’m Feeling The Bern

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is Natives’ best hope for the White House, says the legendary Comanche activist LaDonna Harris:

Bernie Sanders’ campaign was the first to issue an Indian Policy Statement and hire Native Americans in this election cycle. He has met with tribal government officials and Native activists at every opportunity. And Bernie, unlike any other candidate, actually mentions our community in his basic stump speech. He intends to take federal Indian policy to a whole new level.

Sen. Sanders takes Native voters seriously, realizing that they are often the swing vote in many of the remaining primary states. Bernie knows that when Indians vote, Democrats win.

My brother Bernie also cherishes his relationship with nature and has been an outstanding leader in environmental protection. He recognizes the devastating effects that fracking has on our sacred lands and hallowed waterways. Bernie is our champion against the powerful extractive industry that seeks wealth over our health.

I support Sen. Sanders because he values people and nature and cares for our relatives as much as I do. Bernie and I are ashamed that one percent of the richest of the rich own almost all of the Earth’s wealth and resources. Our shared worldview is that corporations are not people and that everybody deserves an education and access to opportunity. Greed should not be the value by which people operate.

Generosity is a guiding principle of the Comanche, and I embrace Sen. Sanders’ practical plan to take the rich off welfare and to directly address the root causes of inequity, like our broken criminal justice system and the lack of quality education for all Americans.

I proudly support Sen. Bernie Sanders for President of the United States. http://bit.ly/1TYX8wd

Keeping The Conversation Going

When Adrian Jawort (Northern Cheyenne) helped organize a “Native American Race Relations & Healing Symposium” in Billings, Montana, there were both immediate and delayed results: In the morning we had guest speakers (including myself) who talked about the importance of not whitewashing U.S. history—because prejudice stems from ignorance and education is the first step in combating it. That afternoon featured professors, politicians, teachers and activists.

One Crow women told of how, when she grew up outside of Montana as an Air Force “brat,” her unique Native American heritage always garnered a mixture of curiosity and respect. When she moved to Montana as a young teen, however, she found a note on her locker on her first day of school telling her to “Go back to the rez!” She had never lived on a reservation before.

We also had an informative discussion about the history and importance of tribal sovereignty. We acknowledged how corrupt tribal governments in Montana helped keep Natives from becoming truly self-sufficient. And how they were seemingly more concerned with maintaining nepotism than implementing genuine progressive steps that would benefit the tribe.

A local Native professor discussed education, including ongoing propositions to make Native American languages accredited courses. A Native Australian and dedicated high school teacher named Glenda McCarthy detailed how she and other Native teachers and tutors were working hard to implement Montana’s Indian Education For All act.

We knew this conversation would have to keep going. There were hard truths and problems among Natives beyond “blaming the white man” that only we had the tools to fix. And so the symposium has become the Native American Healing and Race Relations Association. It offers monthly meetings dealing with singular subjects chosen for in-depth discussion. http://bit.ly/1szk3aV

ICT News

Native Leaders Criticize Washington Post’s ‘Redskins’ Poll

By SIMON MOYA­SMITH Several Native leaders and activists have called a Washington Post report claiming that most Native Americans do not find the name of the Washington Redskins NFL franchise offensive “flawed” and otherwise uninformed.

On May 19, the Post reported that a poll of 504 “ordinary Indians” found that “more than 7 in 10 said they did not feel the word ‘Redskin’ was disrespectful” and that 80 percent “said they would not be offended if a non-native called them that name.”

However, critics are pointing out that self-identification of Native status may be based on rumor or family lore. Last June, the Pew Research Center found that half of all adults in the U.S. who claim to be multiracial self-identify as both white and American Indian.

“The self-identification standard is flawed,” the activist and leader Suzan Shown Harjo (Cheyenne and

Hodulgee Muscogee) told ICTMN. “The Post is substituting its ill-informed judgment for the lifelong experience and sound judgment of actual Native peoples who are in positions of trust and who reflect the will of Native people they represent.”

Other critics say the study does not account for research that has found that words like “redskin” and “savage” harm the mental well being of Native American youth. Moreover, they note, various dictionaries define “redskin” as “disparaging” and “offensive.” “Social science research and first-hand experience has told us that this kind of denigration has both visible and unseen consequences for Native Americans in this country,” wrote Oneida Nation Representative Ray Halbritter and National Congress of American Indians National Director Jackie Pata, leaders of Change the Mascot, in a joint statement. http://bit.ly/1OSAPfh

Dakota Access Pipeline Construction Begins Despite Tribal Objections

By CHELSEY LUGER Despite opposition by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and its allies to prevent construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, the company Dakota Access LLC has begun construction of the 1,150-mile project, which will carry crude oil from western North Dakota to Illinois.

Construction has begun in North Dakota, South Dakota and Illinois, but not yet in Iowa, where regulators have so far declined to allow construction. In consideration of the environmental impact of the project and other safety concerns, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has not yet issued permits for the project to cross the Missouri River—Standing Rock’s main water source—or the Mississippi.

Standing Rock Tribal Chairman Dave Archambault insists that the fight to stop the pipeline has not come to an end. He also vows that the Corps and other parties associated with the project will consider the health and well being of the citizens of the Great Sioux Nation.

“The start of construction by Dakota Access will not deter us,” Archambault said. “To the contrary, the Tribe will continue to press forward, to demonstrate that the Corps has not adequately consulted with the Tribe regarding cultural resource issues, and has not adequately addressed the risk of an oil spill that would harm the Tribe’s waters.

“The Tribe is dedicated to the protection of our Treaty rights, our Reservation lands, and our people— and we will ensure that the federal government upholds its trust responsibility when it makes its decision regarding the Dakota Access pipeline.” http://bit.ly/1Ts2hCw

New Research Casts More Doubt On Bering Strait Land Bridge Theory

By ALEX EWEN A new study appears to have further weakened prevailing scientific wisdom that Asians who crossed the Bering Strait into Alaska populated the Americas.

Published in Science Advances Journal on May 13, “Pre-Clovis Occupation 14,550 Years Ago at the Page-Ladson Site, Florida” discusses stone tools and mastodon bones found together in the Aucilla River near Tallahassee. Their proximity suggests that “people butchered or scavenged a mastodon … at least 1,500 years earlier than previously suspected.”

This timing places ancient Indians in Florida before passage to the Americas from Asia over the Bering Land Bridge was ice-free.

Among the artifacts found at the site by co-author James Dunbar of the Aucilla Research Institute, in a layer more than 14,000 years old, were stone tools including a biface, used for cutting and butchering animals. The research team also excavated a mastodon tusk that bore cut marks on an area that would have been inside the animal’s skull, suggesting that humans had extracted it.

Daniel C. Fisher, a paleontologist at the University of Michigan, confirmed that the marks were made exactly where humans would have cut through a tough ligament to remove the tusk: “These grooves are clearly the result of human activity and, together with new radiocarbon dates, they indicate that humans were processing a mastodon carcass in what is now the southeastern U.S. much earlier than was generally accepted.”

“Florida is about as far from the Bering Strait as you can get in North America,” said the archaeologist Dr. James Adovasio. “If you’ve got people in Florida 14,500 years ago, at the same time they are in so many parts of the Americas, the simplistic notion of a colonization by rapidly moving, late-arriving population is simply false.” http://bit.ly/1XNvcBb

ICT News

Oklahoma Tribes Collaborate To Protect Monarch Butterflies

Seven Oklahoma tribes have joined two other groups to create and enhance monarch butterfly habitats, with an eye toward preserving the species. The plan, reported Native Times, is to plant 5,000 milkweed plants, on which monarch caterpillars feed, on tribal lands over the next two years.

The Chickasaw Nation, Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Eastern Shawnee Nation, Miami Nation, Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Osage Nation and Seminole Tribe announced the collaboration in early May. Some of the nations have been planting milkweed and other monarch-friendly plants for years.

Now they are working with the University of Kansas-based Monarch Watch program and the Euchee Butterfly Farm in Oklahoma on a collaboration funded by a $248,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Donors have matched the grant for a total of $527,154.

“If you look at a tribal jurisdiction map of Oklahoma you can see that nearly all of the monarch’s migration in critical condition falls within tribal boundaries,” said Euchee Butterfly Farm Jane Breckenridge.

Monarchs migrate annually as many as 3,000 miles between north and south Turtle Island. Along the way they rest, breed and eat. However, the milkweed on which they normally deposit eggs—and upon which their larvae feed—have been decimated by herbicides. As a result, monarchs’ numbers have plummeted from one billion to fewer than 60 million.

“The project will provide the training needed to plant donated milkweed plugs, to collect, process, store, and propagate seeds of milkweeds and native forbs,” said the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in announcing the grant, “and will include the establishment of seed production plots, creation of demonstration plots and the development of conservation plans.” http://bit.ly/1WksiEq

Coal Terminal Proponent ‘Looking At Options’ After Permit Is Denied

By RICHARD WALKER The company that would have handled a coal-shipping terminal in the Lummi Nation’s historical territory at Cherry Point in Washington State is now “looking at all its options” and “will decide shortly how we plan to proceed,” a representative has told ICTMN.

SSA Marine Vice President and Director-Business Development Bob Watters wrote that a recent decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to deny his company a permit is “a political decision rather than a regulatory decision.”

The Lummi had asked the Corps in 2015 to deny the permit, based on the terminal’s possible effects on treaty-reserved fishing rights and areas. SSA Marine, however, wanted the Corps’ permit decision to be made based on a full environmental impact study. On May 9, the Corps announced that the potential effects of the terminal could not be mitigated.

“The Corps has never made a permit determination such as this prior to having a completed [Environmental Impact Study] where all the facts and science are made available to the public prior to the decision,” Watters wrote to ICTMN.

He also quoted a letter by Darrin Old Coyote, chairman of the Crow Nation, whose coal would have been shipped from the terminal: “I am deeply disappointed that the Army Corps of Engineers disregarded the treaty rights and the trust resources of the Crow Tribe and refused to engage in meaningful consultation.”

By contrast, after the Corps announced its decision, Lummi Nation Chairman Tim Ballew said, “This decision is a win for the treaty and protects our sacred site. Our ancient ones at Xwe’chieXen, Cherry Point, will rest protected.” http://bit.ly/1XwWYl1 Deadline For Tribal Community Development Funds Applications Approaches

By MARK FOGARTY Tribes have until June 14 to apply for part of $56.6 million in community development money administered through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which will make available some 75 awards from its Indian Community Development Block Grant (ICDBG).

The money will go toward suitable living environments and housing, and economic development opportunities for low- and moderate-income applicants. Tribes can also apply for imminent threat grants. Four million dollars of a total of $60 million in ICDBG money has been set aside for these grants, leaving over $56 million for competitive awards, including some carryover funds. The actual amount may be more, the department said, if it recaptures unused money or more funds become available.

The grant ceilings for tribes vary among the six Office of Native American Program divisions. They range from $500,000 in the Northwest office to $5.5 million for tribes with a population of more than 50,000 in the Southwest area.

The area offices will receive differing allocations. There will be $7 million for Alaska, $4.6 million for the Eastern Woodlands, $8.5 million for the Northern Plains, $13.4 million for the Southern Plains, $3 million for the Northwest, and $19.8 million for the Southwest.

There are also varying limits for how much HUD will fund housing rehabilitation efforts (although tribes can exceed that amount if they use funding from other sources). These limits are $75,000 for Alaska, $35,000 for the Eastern Woodlands, $50,000 for the Northern Plains, $50,000 for the Northwest, $35,000 for the Southern Plains and $65,000 for the Southwest. http://bit.ly/25hLKGR

The Scope Of Native Violence A national survey reveals widespread damage By TANYA H. LEE Bottom Line: The extent of domestic aggression against American Indians and Alaska Natives is staggering—and we may not yet know the whole truth. Almost every AIAN woman and man surveyed experienced sexual violence by someone not of their race. iStock

More than 80 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives have experienced sexual violence, stalking, and psychological aggression or physical violence by intimate partners.

This and other findings were conveyed in “Violence Against American Indian and Alaska Native Women and Men: 2010 Findings from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey,” a study issued by the National Institute of Justice, an arm of the Justice Department.

The report found that more than half (56.1 percent) of the women surveyed have experienced sexual violence. It also found that almost all of them (96 percent) have experienced sexual violence perpetrated by someone not of their own race.

Among American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) men, one in four has experienced sexual violence. And, as was the case with the women who were surveyed, almost all (89 percent) have experienced sexual violence committed by a person not of their race.

The report is based on the 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is a large, nationwide survey, as opposed to much smaller, local surveys.

Information was collected from 2,473 adult (over 18) women and 1,505 adult men who identified themselves as American Indian or Alaska Native, alone or in combination with another racial group. Fifty-four percent of the respondents lived within reservation boundaries or in Alaska Native villages.

The report also compares violence experienced by the AIAN population with violence experienced by non-Hispanic whites. It was found that AIAN women are 1.7 times as likely to experience sexual violence with penetration than are non-Hispanic white women.

However, there is not a statistically significant difference between the percentage of AIAN women (56.1 percent) who have been victimized by sexual violence and the percentage of non-Hispanic white women (49.7 percent) who have been so victimized.

Despite the scope of the report, it may underestimate violence in Indian country. Although the survey was conducted by telephone in English and Spanish, those who did not have telephones, or who were not allowed to answer the telephone or respond to the survey questions, could not participate. Nor could those who spoke only an indigenous language.

Furthermore, no information was collected regarding online enticement or human trafficking. Other forms of violence, such as mugging, robbery or carjacking, were not included.

“We can’t say for sure [that these estimates are low], but I think that’s a reasonable hypothesis,” said the author of the report, André B. Rosay, the director of the University of Alaska Anchorage Justice Center.

And the report noted that in Indian country, violence is particularly hard to assess because of jurisdictional complexities and inadequate law enforcement resources.

“Despite having high rates of interracial victimizations, Indian tribes had no authority to criminally prosecute non-Indian offenders, even for crimes committed in Indian country,” the report states. “This created a jurisdictional gap that provided immunity to non-Indian offenders and compromised the safety of Indian women and men.”

To partially correct this problem, the report pointed out, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 “provided special domestic violence criminal jurisdiction to Indian tribes.”

The Tribal Law and Order Act (TLOA) of 2010 also returned to tribes some of their inherent authority to police their own communities. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, recently introduced legislation to reauthorize and enhance the TLOA.

Finally, as the report noted, the National Institute of Justice has implemented the “Tribal Study of Public Safety and Public Health Issues Facing American Indian and Alaska Native Women.” Referred to as the “National Baseline Study” in tribal communities in the lower 48 states and Alaska, it is expected to conclude next year, with results to be presented in 2018. http://bit.ly/1WQ2dwS East Meets Southwest As tensions rise, a Tibetan monk visits Bears Ears By ANNE MINARD Bottom Line: As politicians in Salt Lake City opposed the creation of a National Monument, a unique cultural gathering 400 miles away disagreed.

The proposed Bears Ears National Monument would comprise 1.9 million acres. Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP

In a room filled with song, two great spiritual traditions came together to celebrate sacred ground.

In late May, tribal leaders who support the creation of a Bears Ears National Monument hosted a special guest. It was the Tibetan monk His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang, the highest leader of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism and U.N. Ambassador for Mountain People of the world. Along with the tribal leaders, he visited Bears Ears—a pair of sacred buttes that rise above the iconic southeastern Utah landscape—to pray and appreciate the land they hope to protect.

“I think this environmental partnership is very important,” Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang told about 100 residents assembled at the Monument Valley Welcome Center. Calling Bears Ears a “special place,” he said that protecting such landmarks is a global imperative: “You have a special duty.”

Yet even as these spiritual traditions were uniting, the Utah legislature was meeting in a special session to formally oppose a request for a National Monument designation from President Obama. The juxtaposition of the events showcased both sides of a movement that is gaining attention as the time for a designation draws near.

The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, comprising leaders from the Ute Mountain ‘You have a special duty,’ His Holiness Drikung Ute, Uintah and Ouray Ute and Hopi tribes, Kyabgön Chetsang told the assembled. the Pueblo of Zuni, and the Navajo Nation, Anne Minard formally proposed last fall that Obama use his powers under the Antiquities Act to designate 1.9 million acres of the Bears Ears area as a National Monument. Under the proposal, federal and tribal governments would jointly manage the site to protect significant cultural resources, in part to counter mining and grave looting.

“We have old hogans up there, sweat lodges,” said Albert Holiday, vice chairman of the Navajo Nation’s Oljato Chapter and a board member of the grassroots conservation group Utah Diné Bikéyah. “There are petroglyphs. We have herbs. We have to protect that.”

Other attendees last week testified to their personal connections. “I haul wood up there,” said Marlene Allen (Navajo), “and I collect herbs up there.”

Overall, a quiet spirituality underscored the afternoon’s events. Resplendent in maroon robes, followed by an entourage of smiling fellow monks, Drikung Kyabgön Chetsang made his way to the middle of the Welcome Center after an hour-long, mud-induced delay coming down from the twin sacred buttes.

Traditionally, Navajo pray before eating. But on this occasion, Holiday led the room in celebratory song, joined by some of the attendees, including Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation employees on staff at the Welcome Center. Afterward, residents served up traditional fare, including mutton stew in bowls, fry bread and corn mush.

Meanwhile, about 400 miles away, an estimated 250 people were gathered in Salt Lake City, sporting “Support Bears Ears” t-shirts and banners, for a more raucous rally in favor of the designation that coincided with a special legislative session. After an hour of discussion, Utah’s House of Representatives voted 64–10 in favor of an anti-designation resolution; the Senate passed it by a vote of 22–5. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert signed the resolution on May 19.

The document sets out many details of the state’s opposition. Herbert personally stated that another monument designation in Utah would “inflame passion, spur divisiveness, and ensure perpetual opposition.” He suggested that the Antiquities Act allows for “improper unilateral national monument designations” without state input.

Since Congress passed the Antiquities Act in 1906, presidents of both parties have used it to designate nearly 150 monuments. Utah politicians have historically opposed the creation of federal lands in their state, a feeling that intensified after the Clinton-era Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996. About 250 supporters of the monument proposal rallied at the Utah State Capitol Two of Utah’s representatives in Congress, Building in Salt Lake City. Rob Bishop (R) and Jason Chaffetz (R), Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP have proposed a plan called a Public Lands Initiative that would set aside significantly less acreage and leave the door open for energy development, which Bears Ears supporters oppose.

Bears Ears National Monument, by contrast, would prioritize land and cultural resource protection across the 1.9 million acres that include all or part of the Manti La Sal National Forest, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Natural Bridges National Monument. Besides protecting cultural antiquities, the designation would protect the ecologically and hydrologically contiguous Canyonlands Basin.

Proponents of Bears Ears have further requested that traditional Native land uses, including wood gathering and herb collection, be expressly allowed to continue.

Twenty-four pueblos and tribes have passed resolutions supporting Bears Ears. In a letter of support to President Obama on April 16, the Navajo Nation wrote, “[Y]our action will be one that will be remembered amongst our people for centuries as protecting our sacred resources, our history and our memories while preserving what we consider a place of healing and spirituality.”

Those who attended the Monument Valley gathering steadfastly backed that sentiment. “The Navajo Nation president supports it,” said Navajo Nation Council delegate Herman Daniels, Jr. “The Navajo Nation Council supports it. We’ve been using that land for centuries. So I am in support.”

And Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-tribal Coalition and head councilwoman of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, remained upbeat despite the legislative opposition. “Our grandparents taught us to take things in stride,” she said, “and be patient.” http://bit.ly/1sxy7lb Bringing Back The Deer Sacred animals are returned to Mexico By STEVE RUSSELL Bottom Line: For the Huichol Indians, totemic deer may yet again be part of their landscape.

Some deer were scooped up in nets from a helicopter . . . Ismael Trujillo, Courtesy Blue Deer Productions

Twenty-eight years ago, Luis Guerra had a dream.

He was up in the Sierra Madre in the Mexican state of Jalisco, 300 miles from his Mexican home in Real de Catorce. He was visiting the Huichol Indians during one of their most significant times: the Festival of the Drum, the Corn and the Squash.

Guerra had been invited by Huichol whom he had met during their annual pilgrimage to their ancestral lands in San Luis Potosi—a place they call Wirikuta—to witness the birth of the sun. Huichol oral tradition teaches that Wirikuta was the site of the first deer hunt.

During the festival, Guerra learned that deer had largely disappeared from the Huichol areas of the Sierra Madre because of settler encroachment and poaching.

And because deer are central to the Huichol cosmology and ceremonial cycle, Guerra dreamed of bringing them back.

Guerra is a visual artist, writer, and regular storyteller on National Public Radio’s Latino USA. He is also a political activist. Born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, and raised in Laredo, Texas, he has since 1985 divided his time between Austin and Real de Catorce—and learned a great deal about the Huichol.

As Guerra’s Huichol friendships expanded, his dream of restoring the deer remained. At the 50th high school reunion of St. Joseph’s Academy in Laredo, he mentioned it to his classmate Abraham Garcia.

Since St. Joseph’s, Garcia has owned a successful deer-hunting ranch, La Palma, near Nuevo Laredo. He offered to donate the seed of a new deer herd on Huichol lands in Jalisco and thus gave birth to the Huichol Deer Repopulation Project.

Moving wild animals is a task that is barely begun when the animals are located; it requires expertise and attention to legalities. Garcia helped with both: During the . . . and all were ultimately moved by truck. roundup, Guerra called one of the skilled Ismael Trujillo, Courtesy Blue Deer Productions ranch hands at La Palma, Chano Mares —“the indispensable deer whisperer.”

Guerra took on fundraising, which effectively meant explaining the purpose of the project. As the project gained momentum it came to the attention of Sharon Greenhill, a documentary producer who formed Blue Deer Productions to film a new documentary, Restoring the Sacred Deer, to feature the project. The plan is to use the drama of restoring the deer to highlight modern threats to Huichol culture.

Ultimately a dozen deer were captured, one at a time, with tranquilizer darts. The rest were gathered in a two-day period with net guns deployed from a helicopter—which Cathy and Kevin Reed of Dragonfly Aviation deployed at a discount once they understood the purpose.

Garcia paid for a veterinarian, assigned ranch hands (including the indispensable deer whisperer) to help, provided accommodations for the crews from Dragonfly and Blue Deer Productions, and secured permits to transport deer across state lines. The deer were moved from the state of Tamaulipas to the state of Jalisco by truck. Guerra found the transfer somewhat unsettling.

“It seemed to me that these noble creatures felt, while not scared, a bit helpless,” he said. “I asked them to forgive us for the indignity that we were causing them, and promised them that they would like their new home.” The experts advised that the trauma of capture and 17 hours in a truck might kill 10 percent of the deer.

On January 22, 30 does and three bucks were released into a holding corral built for them in Jalisco. There they were fed, watered and watched over by a Huichol family that camped next to the corral. One doe died soon after arrival, but all the others were released in good condition on February 23.

The Huichol elders, the neighboring Tepehuano people and the nearest Mexican government of Villa Guerrero all agree that there will be no hunting of deer for four years, and then only of older deer. The indigenous communities and the closest settler communities are all embracing the project.

The coordinator at the Jalisco end is Mateo Borghi, a respected traditional healer; he intends to visit all the nearby villages to keep the elders informed. The ecologist for Villa Guerrero, Servando Ramirez, is working to educate the teachers to educate the children to educate the parents that no deer may be taken for four years.

Borghi told Guerra that his Huichol wife, Pati, had a vivid dream of happy deer returned to Huichol lands. “I knew then,” Guerra said, “that this project would be successful.” http://bit.ly/1WjVjQC Soulful Nourishment Native youth program combines literacy and nutrition By LEE ALLEN Bottom Line: A unique learning experience allows Native children to enrich both mind and body. In the Read It and Eat program, Native parents bond with their children over books and food. Courtesy Susan Levy/Native Health Call it literacy with lunch.

In Phoenix, Arizona, a new program called “Read It and Eat” combines childhood literacy and cooking classes that are designed to address obesity, diabetes and other health concerns facing Native American youth.

Read It and Eat is run by the Native American Community Health Center (a.k.a. Native Health), a provider of holistic health care and ancillary services to off-reservation urban dwellers in Maricopa County.

“We’ve combined a literacy program offered through the City of Phoenix Libraries,” said Susan Levy of Native Health. “We help mothers learn how to read interactively with their children, along with a proven cooking curriculum designed to be relevant to the served population.”

The literacy portion of the initiative involves movement, dancing, and storytelling. This leads to a discussion of healthy foods like seasonal fruits and vegetables and preparing them with an eye toward nutrition.

“Someone from the Phoenix Public Library will read the children an educational book and have the youngsters pronounce the words and explore the concepts,” said Bea Salazar, Native Health’s Director of Community Health and Wellness. “The reader will model how to respond to a child in the learning process and will coach and mentor families on how to answer a youngster’s questions.

“Then the class moves into the cooking portion with some easy-to-make edibles involving fresh and healthy ingredients. After they cook, they eat and then we hand out tote bags of farmers market produce to be taken home.”

The monthly program—whose cooking curriculum is provided by the Maricopa County Department of Public Health—began in January. Attendance may vary by class but generally involves from 10 to 25 mothers, a few fathers and some always-hungry kids. So far, the program appears to be a success.

“It teaches me how to bond with my daughter more as I now read her a story at bedtime,” wrote one father of a four-year-old girl. “And since I cook at home, my daughter now helps me prepare the food from the ideas we have learned in the class. We both now make better choices to eat healthier.”

“I always learn good things when I attend class,” said another satisfied parent. “It motivates me and sets reminders about what me and my family are eating. As a result, I serve more fresh fruit and vegetables as side dishes instead of cooking not-so-healthy foods. My picky three-year-old has actually been eating the new recipes and that makes me happy to see her eating fresh produce.”

“Being here,” said a third parent, “is an amazing experience and helps me enjoy the moments with my child even more.”

Word-of-mouth has spurred community buzz and greater involvement from those who want to help.

“Southwest Human Development has donated a children’s library collection that allows families to take a book home with them,” said Child Health Program Manager Samantha Highsmith. “Health Net Access has provided funding for food that needs to be purchased, and Sprouts Farmers Market sells classroom foodstuffs at cost as well as preparing the tote bags to be given to families.”

Read It and Eat is one of many programs that service the off-reservation indigenous community in urban Phoenix. Native Health CEO Walter Murillo (Choctaw, Oklahoma), who is also Regional Director of the National Council of Urban Indian Health, is pleased with its progress.

“Watching a parent and child working together is heartwarming as they learn healthier ways to cook,” he said. They learn about healthy food ingredients before they actually cook them, then sit down and enjoy a meal while reading a book together. It’s another good example of discovering a need and responding creatively to it.” http://bit.ly/1WO3Lr7

Headlines from the Web

Paris Auction House Defends Divisive Sale Of Tribal Items

Mohawks Travel To Cuba For Cutting-Edge Diabetes Treatment

Miccousukees To Pay $4m To Former Lawyers Over Frivolous Lawsuits

Palm Springs Tribe Growing Software Development Company

Judge Dismisses Menominee Tribe’s Lawsuit Over Hemp Raid

Fort Peck Tribe Mirrors Transgender Bathroom Policy After North Carolina Law

Upcoming Events

June 6­7: Dene (Athabaskan) Languages Conference The conference will bring together linguists, educators, language learners and language activists from all parts of Denendeh and beyond. This year’s theme is “Language and History”; a special session will be held on “Standardization and Variation.” Sponsors are Canadian North Airlines and the government of the Northwest Territories, Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Location: Explorer Hotel, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

June 6­7: Stabilizing Indigenous Languages Symposium The 23rd annual SILS will feature keynote addresses, research presentations, paper submissions, workshops, forums and advocacy training. A special tour of the Little Bighorn Battlefield will also be conducted. Host organizations are the National Alliance to Save Native Languages and Chief Dull Knife College, with the three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota as the presenting sponsor. Location: Raddison Hotel Billings, Billings, Montana June 7­9: Native American Indian Housing Council Grant Writing This NAIHC event will enable participants to learn how to prepare proposals designed for affordable housing projects or programs, such as housing construction/rehabilitation, program capacity building, community project/facilities, and infrastructure. Through a hands-on project development approach, course materials will cover maximizing benefits through leveraging, matching project goals to funder’s goals, and preparing a statement of need, project description, implementation schedule, financial feasibility analysis, and project sustainability plan. Participants will be required to write key components of a grant and analyze an actual grant application. Location: SWONAP Training Room, Phoenix, Arizona

June 7­8: The Business of Indian Agriculture The conference is designed to help farmers and ranchers succeed in managing their businesses by covering topics as such business plans, bookkeeping systems, agribusiness economics and marketing, and land use and management. It also covers such topics as risk management, personal financial management, and using credit wisely. The third, optional day, “Food Sovereignty Assessment,” will emphasize food sovereignty by examining diet, history, consumption practices, the value of food products and food sources in a community context. Location: Raddison Hotel & Conference Center, Green Bay, Wisconsin

June 9: Food Sovereignty Assessment Training This is a third, optional day of the above conference. Participants will learn to begin the process of telling the food story of a community through a community-driven and participative process of data collection. Diet, history, consumption practices, value of food products and food sources will be examined through the use of the Food Sovereignty Assessment Tool (FAST). This information can be used to understand community food supply chains, agricultural and food profiles, and community economic and health considerations. It may also be used to improve and strengthen a given community’s food sovereignty. Conducted by the First Nations Development Institute. Location: Raddison Hotel & Conference Center, Green Bay, Wisconsin

Letters to the Editor

I can identify with the Peruvian activist Maxima Acuña de Chaupe about her efforts to keep her land unmolested (May 9)

We are having a similar problem in Oklahoma and Arkansas. A company called Plains & Clean Line is trying to take a 200-foot strip of land across both states to run a high voltage line to sell Oklahoma-produced wind energy to the east.

Taking 200 feet out of small acreages ruins small pieces for building and so forth. It is also a health issue. —Mary Adair Sallisaw, Oklahoma

Re David Lewis’s “American History Means White History” (May 18):

A few months ago I met with a Venice, Florida high school principal whose school has a stereotypical “Indian” mascot. I asked why it didn’t have a mascot more representative of actual Indians who live in Florida. The principal responded that it was not a requirement.

Which lets me know that this Venice, Florida high school and probably every school in America will not teach the truth about American Indians.

—Sal White Horse Serbin Sarasota, Florida

TOP NEWS ALERTS

NEW CHIEF FOR UNITED KEETOOWAH BAND One day after removing Chief George Wickliffe from office on May 24, the tribal council of the United Keetoowah Band (UKB) of Cherokee of Oklahoma installed Assistant Chief Joe H. Bunch as its new leader. Wickliffe was removed by an 8-3 vote following three articles of impeachment filed by treasurer Ella Mae Worley; she had charged that Wickliffe had impeded her work and violated the tribe’s constitution by misusing funds.

NATIVE WIN IN OREGON PRIMARY Tawna Sanchez (Shoshone-Bannock, Ute and Carrizo descent) won the May 17 Democratic primary for House District 43 in the Oregon legislature. If elected, she would represent northeast Portland. A co-founder of the Native American Youth and Family Center, Sanchez has been active in state policymaking, serving on the Oregon Family Services Review Commission and the Oregon Child Welfare Advisory Commission. Among her honors is the Midori Hamilton Award from the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

SANDERS TAPS NATIVE PLATFORM CONTRIBUTOR Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has named Native American activist Deborah Parker to the committee that will write his party’s election platform. A past legislative policy analyst in the Office of Governmental Affairs for the Tulalip Tribes, and a former council member of the tribe, Parker was a tireless advocate for the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. She also participated at the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Paris last year and, in 2013, was honored as a White House Open Government Champion For Change.

NEW IAIA STUDENT AMBASSADOR Julia Wall of the Jemez Pueblo will serve as the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) 2016-2017 student ambassador, representing the institute by creating and strengthening positive relationships with the greater community through educational and service activities. Wall, a third-year Indigenous Liberal Studies major, is a President’s and Dean’s List scholar who plans to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Victoria upon concluding her studies at the IAIA.

‘CHARLOTTE’S WEB’ IN NATIVE TRANSLATION E.B. White’s classic children’s tale Charlotte’s Web has been translated into Tsalagi and Cherokee syllabery. The translator, Myrtle Driver Johnson, is a Beloved Woman of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee who grew up on a farm in North Carolina’s Big Cove Community not unlike the farm that White owned in Maine. The book will be limited to a run of 201 copies; one will go to the White estate and the other 200 will be used by students at the New Kituwah Academy. How Did I Miss That? Unicorn sightings, a headache about aspirin and Willie Nelson’s favorite congressional candidate BY STEVE RUSSELL

Retired teacher Mary Lou Bruner lost the runoff for election to the Texas State Board of Education. Going in, she led with 48 percent of the vote after posting on Facebook claims that climate change is a hoax concocted by Karl Marx, that President Obama was a gay prostitute, and that his healthcare overhaul was an orchestrated plot to wipe 200 million people from the U.S. population.

She also wrote that Noah’s flood was what destroyed the dinosaurs.

“I get it,” Cousin Ray snickered. “They went the way of the unicorns.”

* * * Great Big Story reported on the most numerous herd of surviving black rhinos in Kruger National Park, in South Africa. The park lost 1200 rhinos to poachers in 2014 but cut losses to 1175 last year. Ten poachers a day enter the park and they take no meat—just the horns, which are considered a “status symbol” to some alleged human beings.

Seventy percent of the horns become status markers for rich people and 30 percent go to quack medicine. The horns sell for $95,000 per kilogram. The black rhino is one of five surviving subspecies and one of three that are critically endangered.

Cousin Ray noticed that the scientific name of another critically endangered subspecies—the Greater One-Horned rhino, found in India—is Rhinoceros unicornis.

“So,” he said, “some of the unicorns did make it to Noah’s ark!”

* * *

The New York Times reported that some 20 veterans and military organizations sent a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs demanding a crackdown on for-profit colleges and trade schools— many of which deliver no educational value but could not exist without the GI Bill.

It’s not that the government doesn’t know about the rip-offs. A Senate report in 2014 found that seven of the eight for-profit schools that received the greatest amount of GI Bill money were under state or federal investigation for misleading students. Problems include poorly credentialed faculty, lack of meaningful admission requirements, low graduation rates, and overstating the numbers of graduates who found work.

“There is no truth to the rumor,” Cousin Ray said, “that Donald Trump thinks he is in the best position to crack down on these rip-offs because of his relevant experience with Trump University.”

* * *

Bayer AG, which made a fortune by patenting and trademarking a traditional healing substance from willow bark, has made a tender offer to acquire Monsanto. Bayer invented a method to synthesize the healing substance rather than extracting it from plants. They also coined the name that they still have trademarked in a few jurisdictions: Aspirin.

The behemoth seed company was known among family farmers in Indiana when I taught there as “the outfit that turns farmers into sharecroppers.” That’s because of Monsanto’s tactic of suing farmers downwind of fields using Monsanto seed for patent infringement. Not many farmers can afford to litigate with Monsanto.

“Bayer or Monsanto?” Cousin Ray was undecided. “I’ll get back to you after I figure out whether Trump or Clinton is worse for the U.S. We all know which one is an Indian fighter.”

* * *

Ray, a Republican, smiled when I remembered out loud that Richard Nixon was horrible for the country but pretty good for Indians.

* * * CNN Money reported that the boycott of North Carolina begun by Bruce Springsteen over the anti- transgender law has cost the state about $200,000 in ticket sales alone. The Potty Purity law has also cost hundreds of part time jobs for workers at the aborted concerts and hundreds of full-time jobs that just are not going to happen.

* * *

Flo Matheson, 77, is running for Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District, a seat that is currently held by Republican Diane Black. The Democratic challenger’s uphill slog got harder when police served a search warrant at Matheson’s home and seized more than 180 marijuana plants.

While she claimed the growing operation belonged to a tenant, she also said, “I smoke marijuana . . . two or three times a week.” Matheson said of marijuana prohibition, “I don’t feel that bad about breaking a bad law.”

“Sounds like she sewed up Willie Nelson’s support,” Cousin Ray said with a smile. http://bit.ly/1P5e1sM Upcoming Pow Wows

Saa gii ba gaa Pow Wow 6/3/16 5344 Lakeshore Drive Nett Lake, MN 218-757-3261, ext. 202 [email protected] BoisForte.com

Fredericksburg American Indian Pow-Wow 6/3/16—6/5/16 Fredericksburg Agricultural Fairgrounds, 2200 Airport Road Fredericksburg, VA 252-532-0821 [email protected]

Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas 48th Annual Pow Wow 6/3/16—6/4/16 571 State Park Road 56 Livingston, TX [email protected] Alabama-Coushatta.com

Yuba-Sutter 35th Annual Pow Wow 6/4/16—6/5/16 Beckwourth River Park, Feather River Pavillion, Biz Johnson Drive Marysville, CA 530-749-6196 [email protected]

Worcester Intertribal Indian Center Pow Wow 6/4/16—6/5/16 394 Pleasantdale Road Rutland, MA 774-578-5385 WIICCenter.com/powwow.html

Wolf Run Festival and Native American Pow Wow 6/4/16—6/6/16 Lycoming Creek Road Trout Run, PA 570-995-5177 or 570-928-9044

Sycamore Shoals Native American Festival 6/4/16—6/5/16 1651 West Elk Avenue Elizabethtown, TN SycamoreShoalsTN.org

Riverbank Traditional 14th Annual Pow Wow 6/4/16—6/5/16 300 N Grand Avenue Lansing, MI 517-721-1502 [email protected]

Miami Nation of Indiana 10th Annual All Nations Gathering 6/4/16—6/5/16 11515 E US Highway 36 Rockville, IN 765-210-7670 [email protected] www.miamiindians.org

Metis of Maine Gathering and 12th Annual Pow Wow 6/4/16—6/5/16 105 Gould Road Dayton, ME 207-793-4801 MetisofMaine.org

Hidden Valley 4th Annual Pow Wow 6/4/16—6/5/16 81 Damren Road Derry, NH 508-880-6887

Delaware River Bears Circle Inter-Tribal Festival Pow Wow 6/4/16—6/5/16 36 Bridge Street Margaretville, NY 607-746-6833 [email protected]

Aboriginal 21st Annual Gathering 6/4/16—6/5/16 Agricultural Grounds T8S 1H8 Peace River, Alberta, Canada United States Minor Outlying Islands PeaceRiverAIC.com Intertribal 16th Annual Gathering 6/9/16—6/11/16 3200 US Hwy 20 Crawford, NE 308-632-1311 Panhandlercd.com

Al-Anon Desert Pow Wow 6/9/16—6/12/16 44400 Indian Wells Ln Indian Wells, CA DesertPowWow.com

Table Mountain Rancheria 16th Annual Pow Wow 6/10/16—6/12/16 Grounds West of the Casino 8184 Table Mountain Road Friant, CA 559-822-2587

Red Earth Native American 30th Annual Cultural Festival 6/10/16—6/12/16 Cox Convention Center, 1 Myriad Gardens Oklahoma City, OK 405-427-5228 [email protected] RedEarth.org/red-earth- festival/

Prairie Band Potawatomi Pow Wow 6/10/16—6/12/16 12305 150th Road Mayetta, KS PBPIndianTribe.com

Coushatta Pow Wow 6/10/16—6/11/16 777 Coushatta Drive Kinder, LA 337-584-1545 or 337-584-1603 [email protected] or [email protected] CoushattaPowWow.com Wollomonuppoag Indian Council Annual Pow Wow 6/11/16—6/12/16 Route 118 Attleboro, MA 508-680-6354

University of Calgary Graduation Banquet Pow Wow 6/11/16 1833 Crowchild Trail Northwest T2N 1N4 Calgary United States Minor Outlying Islands UCalgary.ca/nativecentre/community/pow-wow

Shawnee Tribe Intertribal Children’s Pow Wow 6/11/16 11400 613 Road Miami, OK 918-325-0159 or 918-533-4886 [email protected] Facebook.com/events/1678722825718916/

Occaneechi Band of Saponi Nation “Good Medicine” Annual Pow Wow 6/11/16—6/12/16 4902 Dailey Store Rd. Burlington, NC 336-421-1317 [email protected] OBSN.org

Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Indian Pow Wow 6/11/16—6/12/16 Salem County Fairground 735 Harding Highway Woodstown, NJ 856-455-6910 [email protected] Nanticoke-LenapeTribalNation.org

Intertribal 20th Annual San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians Pow Wow 6/11/16—6/12/16 4050 Mission Avenue Oceanside, CA 760-727-0595 or 760-724-8505 [email protected] or [email protected] SLMiissionIndians.org

Great Lakes Nations 13th Annual Gathering 6/11/16—6/12/16 Tri-State Antique Gas Engine Association Grounds 1010 Morton Street Portland, IN 765-426-3022 [email protected] ncglnac.org

Drums Along the Hudson Native American Festival and Multicultural Celebration 6/12/16 218th Street and Indian Road New York, NY 212-627-1076, ext 10 [email protected] DrumsAlongTheHudson.org