Race. Povertv & the A newsletter for social and environmental justice

Volume 111. Number 3 $2.00 Fall 1992

*- . Native Nations in 1992: 500 Years of Cultural Survival Lost in America Discovering by Paul Smith The title comes from the name of a funny movie A Columbus: Albert Brooks made a few years ago. It was A about a yuppie couple in Southern Califor- nia who, sick of their spiritually bank- k .e-rea.ding rupt lifestyle, cash in their expensive 1 home, life savings, cars, and the rest A the Past of their possessi&s to create a "nest egg." This will give them A L by Bill Bigelow the freedom to explore their full 1 human potential to be free, Most of my students have travel and "touch Indians." uouble with the idea that a They never make it to Indian book - especially a textbook Country, losing the nest egg in -can lie. That's why I start a Las Vegas casino. Mrs. my U.S. history class by Yuppie is reduced to working in stealing a student's purse. a fast food restaurant in Arizona. As the year opens, my (In the end Brooks goes back to rstudents may not know when the his old profession with a renewed 7 Civil War was fought or what appreciation of material success; the James Madison or Frederick movie wimps out and becomes sort of a ~American Indian Movement in the 1970s, and one still Finders, Keepers I committed to the Indian struggle, I find dialogue between So I begin class by stealing a student's purse. I announce Indian and non-Indian progressives consistently frustrated by that the purse is mine, obviously, because look who has it. % the distinctive type of racism that confronts Indians. Often the Most students are fair-minded. They saw me take the Purse 7 off the desk so they Protest: "That's not Yours*it's Nikki's. 5.. left, feminists, and other movements who should be our allies -, have sought to "touch Indians" in ways both racist and You took it. We saw you." I brush these objections aside and S destructive. reiterate that it is , too, mine and to prove it, I'll show all the >> see LOSTIN AMERICA, page 22 >* see REREADlNG THE PAST, page 24

147 Recycled Paper Paae Two Fa// 1992 Race. Poverty 1 the Environment

Native peoples emerge to shed much- Race, Poverty & the needed light on the dark past of Environment America's history. Editor'sNotes The journeys of Native people Guest Editor I through the last 500 years have been Valerie Tahan He who holds the pen controls painful and much has been lost since the 1 I history. invasions. Whole nations of our Editors How else can we explain the white- relations were wiped out in the holo- I I Carl Anthony Luke Cole washed versions of what passes as truth caust with no survivors to carry on their Contributors in this country? distinct Bffl Bigelow Suzan Shown Ha jo From the historical I In this issue of RPE, we have cultures. The Indigenous Environmental Network lies taught to collected the insightful words list of nations Winona LaDuke Jack Malotte school children to lost that Morning Star Foundation the false images of some of Native America's appears in this Phil Tajitsu Nash Marina Ortega Leonard Peltier projected by most clear and articulate think- issue mainstream media researched by Joe Sanchez Paul Smith Bffl Redwing Tayac Grace Thorpe to the tomahawk- erS - writers whose words the Morning chopping stereo- educate, anger and inspire us. Star Founda- Race, Powrty & the Environment is types absorbed tion with the published four times a year. Articles are 01992 by their authors; please and perpetuated by the masses, the truth acknowledgement that it is only a reproduce RPE by every means, and give about Native peoples and our history partial list of those no longer with us, authors credit for their work. has been colorblind and culture-blind except in spirit. Subscriptions are $2O/four issues, $50 for far too long. We remember and mourn for them in for institutions, or free for low-income persons and community groups. After years of repressive struggles, 1992, and we learn from them as'well. Articles, stories, reportbacks, re- we are finally seeing the voices of >> see EDiTORS' NOTES, page 21 sources and general information are all accepted with appreciation. Send submissions and subscription checks to In This Issue... RPE,c/o Earth Island, 300 Broadway, Suite 28, San Francisco, CA 94133. Lost in America, by Paul Smith ...... 1 RPE is a joint project of the California Rural Legal Assistance Discovering Columbus: Re-reading the Past, by Bill Bigelow...... 1 Foundation and the Earth Island Institute Urban Habitat Program. We Are Still Here: The 500 Years Celebration, by Winona LaDuke ...... 3 Editorial Policy Our Visions -- The Next 500 Years ...... 4 Race, Poverty & the Environment is a quarterly newsletter dedicated to publishing Native Lands 1492-1992...... :.. .. .5 material exploring the intersection of race. poverty and the environment The views Stuck Holding the Nation's Nuclear Waste, by Valerie Taliman...... 6 reflected in Race, Poverty & the Environment are not necessarily those of the editors. Status of MRS Grants...... 7 California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation. or Earth Island Institute. Oklahoma Tribal Response to MRS, by Grace Thorpe ...... 8 Mission Statement No Nuclear Waste on Indian Lands, an /EN Resolution...... 9 The mission of Race, Poverty & the Environment is to provide an authentic voice The Western Shoshone: Following Earth Mother's for environmental justice. RPE aims to senrice Instructions, by Joe Sanchez...... 10 its readers with news, articles, book reviews, theory, resources and notices that examine and Declaration of Quito ...... 12 provide evidence of the relationship among race, poverty. and the environment. Further, we The Off-Again, On-Again Garbage Dump, by Marina Orfega...... 13 must continue to build the bridges that have been tentatively constructed in the past few Partial listing of those Native Nations that did not survive years between mainstream envirmmentalists the invasion, 1492-1 992 ...... 14 and grassroots environmentalists, in a way which preserves the autonomy of community Struggles Unite Native Peoples: An Interview with Chief Tayac, groups. RPE presents the voices and experi- ences of a sector of society in a manner that is by Phil Tajitsu Nash...... 1 6 accessible to grassroots organizers and activists. environmental professionals, concerned Healing Global Wounds, by Valerie Taliman...... 18 citizens, and policy makers alike. Race, Poverty & the Environment Fa11 1992 Page Three We are still here The 500 Years Celebration by Winona LaDuke They are still being used in Guatemala and El Salvador, and in TO" discover" implies that Indian territory from Amazonia to Pine Ridge. The invasion set into motion a process, thus far, unabated. This has been a something is lost. Something struggle for values, religions, resources, but most importantly land. was lost .... it was Columbus. The age of "discovery" was to mark the age of colonialism, But unfortunately, he did not discover himself in the process a time when our land suddenly came to be viewed as "your of his losmess. He went on to destroy peoples, land and land." While military repression is not in the North American ecosystems in his search for material wealth and riches. vogue (at least with the exception of the Oka-Mohawk Columbus was a perpetrator of genocideresponsible for uprising in the summer of 1990), today legal doctrines uphold setting in motion the most horrendous holocaust to have that "our land" is "your land," based ostensibly on the so- occurred in the history of the world. Columbus was a slave called "doctrine of discovery." This justifies, in a so- called trader, a thief, a pirate, and most certainly not a hero. To legal system, the same dispossession of people from their land celebrate Columbus is to congratulate the process and history that is caused by outright military conquest, but today, in a of the invasion. "kinder, gentler world," it all appears more legal. The Taino, Arawak and other indigenous peoples of the The reality is that the battering has been relentless. Each Caribbean, the first "hosts of Columbus" were systematically generation more land has been taken from the indigenous destroyed. Thirteen at a time were hanged, in honor of the people~itherby force or by paper, but in no case with our Twelve Apostles and the Redeemer. Every man over 14 years consent. Today, Indian people in North America retain about of age was obliged to bring a quota of gold to the conquista- four percent of the original land baseland called reserva- dors every three months. Those who could not pay the tribute tions in the US or reserves in Canada. Those lands are facing had their hands cut off, "as a lesson." Most bled to death. The a new assault. Underlying Indian reservations is approxi- Taino argued with the conquistadors. They pleaded that mately two-thirds of uranium resources within the continental "when their thousands of people grow enough corn to feed US, and one-third of all western low sulphur coal. Other lands many of the people of Europewas that not enough of a include vast oil tracts (including that in the so-called Arctic tribute, of a payment?" The conquistadors would not accept National Wildlife Refuge-the last unexploited portion of the their tribute from the land. So the "idle" ships of the second north shore of Alaska), and final stretches of pristine water voyage of Columbus were used to transport back 500 Indians and stands of unexploited old growth timber. Similar statistics to be slaves of the markets of Seville. The repression was so exist for Canada. brutal that many of the Taino, Caribs and Arawaks, faced with What we have is still what they want: whether it is Exxon, brutality and slavery at the hands of conquistadors, chose Arco, oil companies, Rio Tinto Zinc (the British mining instead to commit mass suicide. giant), COGEMA (the French uranium company, which is Sixty years later, in 1552, the Catholic priest Bartoleme de active in Dene and Cree lands in northern Saskatchewan) or las Casas declared that within the entire western hemisphere, a lumber companies from Japan and North America. The North total of 50 million Indians had already perished, in just over a American onslaught is matched only by that in South and half century of Spanish invasion. Las Casas had been an Central America, where remaining rain forests and resource eyewitness to some of the slaughter and dispopulation caused rich lands are greedily consumed by foreign multinationals by diseases accidentally introduced by the Spanish. In his and governments. protest of his own countrymen's "abominable cruelties and The rate of exploitation is astounding. In 1975,100 detestable tyrannies," las Casas cried out that five million had percent of all federally produced uranium (in the US) came died on the Caribbean islands and that 45 million had died on from Indian reservations. Indians were the fifth largest the mainland. producers of uranium in the world. That same year, four of Although Columbus himself later returned to Europe in the ten largest coal strip mines in the US were on Indian disgrace, his methods were subsequently used in Mexico, reservations. By 1985, Dene and Cree lands in Saskatchewan Peru, the Black Hills, and at Sand Creek and Wounded Knee. >> see STlL L HERE, page 20 Page Four Fa11 1992 Race, Poverty & the Environment Our Visions - The Next 500 Years Native peoples over the next 500 years must Statement of vision toward maintain our status as distinct political and On October 14,1992 -just the next 500 years from the cultural communities. Indian Nations expect two days after so-called gatheringof Native writers, the world community to honor and enforce treaties that recognize tribal property and Columbus Day-a gathering artists and wisdom keepers at of 100 Native writers, artists sovereignty. Sovereignty is the inherent and wisdom keepers from Taos, October 14-18,1992 ... right based upon traditional systems and throughout the Americas came laws that arise from the People themselves. together in Taos, New Mexico In memory of more than 500 distinct Sovereignty includes the right of Native to consider our shared visions Native Nations and millions of our relatives Nations to freely live and develop socially, for the next 500 years. who did not survive the European invasions economically, culturally, spiritually and Organized by the Morning and with respect for those Indigenous politically. Star Foundation and supported Peoples who have survived, we make this The domestic laws of the non-Native by the Martin Foundation, the statement. countries of this hemisphere have been used gathering brought together the We, the Indigenous Peoples of this red to subjugate Native Peoples. Vindication of collective thoughts and words quarter of Mother Earth, have survived 500 our rights must be achieved through fair and of Vine Deloria, Jr., Oren years of genocide, ethnocide, ecocide, appropriate procedures, including interna- Lyons, Suzan Shown Harjo, racism, oppression, colonization and tional procedures. Thomas Banyanca, Walt christianization. These excesses of western Indigenous Nations have the right to Bresette, Joy Harjo, Tom civilization resulted from contempt for secure borders and fulfilled treaties for Porter, Emmett White, Lois Mother Earth and all our relations; contempt which we gave up vast territory and wealth. Risling, Alex White Plume, for women, elders, children and Native Native Nations have the responsibility to Susan M. Williams and scores Peoples; and contempt for a future beyond provide a safe and secure environment for of other Indian people making the present human generation. Despite this, their peoples' economic self-sufficiency, significant contributions to we are here. health and well-being. Tribal economies Native America. Since time immemorial, Native Nations work best when based on traditional At the end offive days of have lived in harmony with this land and in systems. A secure and adequate land base deliberations, we felt it was solidarity with all our relations. Our and respect for sovereignty are prerequisites important to make a statement continued survival depends on this vital for viable tribal economies. in memory of more than 500 relationship. We perpetuate this harmony Indigenous People have the right to Native Nations and millions of for our continued survival and world peace. educational and social systems that affirm our relations that did not We carry out our religious duties for the tribal cultures and values; that promote survive the European inva- good of all. Endangering us endangers us physical, spiritual and mental well-being of sions, and with respect for all. people; and that teach the care and healing those indigenous people who We call for the immediate halt of the of Mother Earth and all Her children. did survive. The following abuse, neglect and destruction of life. We We envision that in five hundred years statement was culled from call for immediate strategies and compacts Indigenous Peoples will be here, protecting lengthy group statements to halt the genocide of Native peoples and living with Mother Earth in our own focused on the spiritual, throughout the Western hemisphere. lands. We see a future of coming genera- cultural, social, political and We demand an end to all exploitation, tions of Native People who are healthy in economic aspects of Native desecration and commercialization of Indian body and spirit, who speak Native languages people's survival in the next spirituality and cultures, our sacred places daily and who are supported by traditional 500 years... and the remains of our ancestors. We extended families. -- Valerie Taliman demand an end to the violations of our right We look forward to leadership that of worship, to the disrespect of our religious encourages the religious and cultural and cultural property and to the disregard of manifestationsof our traditions, and the our very humanity. 33 see VISIONS, pge 5 Race, Poverty & the Environment Fa11 1992 Page Five

We may have been I happy with the land Native Lands that was originally reserved to us. But cc from VISIONS, page 4 continually over the reclamation and continuing use of our years more and more of traditional ceremonies, hairstyles, our land has been foods, clothes, music, personal and stolen from us by the tribal names, and medicines. Our Canadian and U.S. cultural renewal will assure the governments. In the perpetuation of natural species that are 19th Century, our land dying, and perhaps even some of those was stolen from us for thought to be extinct. economic reasons We celebrate our rich, continuing because the land was tradition of artistic excellence. The lush and fertile and works produced for tribal functions or abounded with food. within a religious or historical context We were left with what are the sole cultural property of the white society thought Native Peoples. Our strong cultural was worthless land... continuums accord great freedom of Today, what was artistic expression, which enhances the once called worthless dynamic and incorporative nature of land suddenly becomes our traditional cultures. We envision a valuable as the technol- future when our artistic gifts are ogy of white society recognized fully for their spiritual advances. White transforming power and beauty. society would now like Native Peoples are strengthened by to push us off our relations among each other at all levels reservations because of community life. Commitment, beneath the barren land integrity, patience, the ability to build lie valuable mineral consensus and respect are essential and oil resources. It is components to the flourishing of not a new development culture, friendship, strengthening of for white society to economies and the pursuit of a steal from nonwhite common peaceful world. peoples. When white All life is dependent upon moral society succeeds it's and ethical laws which protect earth, called colonialism. water, animals, plants, and tribal When white society's traditions and ceremonies. Humanity efforts to colonize has the responsibility to live in people are met with accordance with natural laws, in order resistance it's called to perpetuate all living beings for the war. But when the good of all Creation. We share a bond colonized Indians of with all the world's Peoples who North America meet to understand their relationship and stand and resist we are responsibility to all aspects of the called criminals. Creation. The first of these is to walk -Leonard Peltier through life in respectful and loving For more information on ways, caring for all life. We look Leomrd Peltier, write the Leonard Peltier Defense forward to a future of global friendship Commirtee, PO Box 583, and the integrity of diverse cultures. Luwrence, KS 660$4,913- 842-5774. You can also write Leomrd Peltier, #89637-132, PO Box 1000, Leavenworth, KS 66048. Page Six Fa11 1992 Race, Poverty 1 the Environment

contains 32 known earthquake faults, and lies only 500 feet above a major illustrated the danger of groundwater aquifer which surfaces in California's surging up underneath the subterranean Death Valley. complex thereby creating compressed The recent earthquake raised new steam within the caverns holding steel questions about suitability of the site canisters of nuclear waste. Szymanski selected by the Department of Energy and other scientists warned that the and Congress in 1987 for storing 70,000 steam could "blow the top off the metric tons of high level nuclear waste mountain" and create a nuclear holo- undergroundfor 10,000 years. caust of unimaginable proportions.

The U.S. Government Targets Reservations for LLTemporary99Storage Stuck Holding the Nation's Nuclear Waste by Valerie Taliman

n 1992, as Native Nations look The quake toward the next 500 years, an caused $1 ominous cloud looms on the million in A little known provision in horizon - the danger that the three damage to top- the law requires M?S percent of land remaining in mbal secret military recipients to waive their right hands may soon become permanent facilities on the dumping grounds for radioactive, high- Nevada Test Site f 0 sue the U=S=government in level nuclear waste. where the u.S. the event of an accident or With 16 mbes lined up for $100,000 and Great Britain grants from the U.S. Nuclear Waste have "tested" unforeseen circumstances Negotiator to study the prospect of more than 700 which prevent the nuclear "temporarily" storing nuclear waste for nuclear weapons waste from being removed at half a century, there is good cause to in underground I ~0n-y. explosions that the end of the contract period, I he storage of highly toxic, used leaked radiation nuclear fuel rods from the nation's 111 into the atmosphere in at least half of Shortly after his report was issued, commercial nuclear reactors will only the tests, according to the DOE's DOE assembled a panel of other be "temporary" if the proposed perma- records. government scientists which dismissed nent repository is built at Yucca Yet DOE officials insist that Szymanski's theory and maintained the Mountain, Nevada on land stolen from earthquakes do not disqualify the site project was safe. The public remains the Western Shoshone Nation. according to their criteria. DOE claims skeptical. Following a 5.6 magnitude earth- they will design facilities that can As opposition to the Yucca Moun- quake that rocked Yucca Mountain on withstand 6.7 to 7.0 earthquakes tain project continues to grow, it June 29, members of the scientific without releasing deadly radiation into appears unlikely that the repository will community are joining unrelenting the atmosphere. But Nevadans and ever be built. The project is already 12 public and political opposition in argu- environmental groups say those rosy years behind schedule (slated to open in ing that Yucca Mountain is unsuitable projections are unrealistic. 2010) and the $32.5 billion cost to for storing deadly nuclear waste. In late spring, DOE's chief scientist taxpayers continues to swell. The site chosen for the Yucca for the project, Jerry Szymanski, quit If the project is scrapped, then those Mountain underground storage com- his post saying that he would not be part tribes or states that have opted to plex, which will contain tunnels up to of DOE's propaganda which borders on "temporarily" store nuclear waste rods 115 miles long, shows evidence of "scientific fraud." Szymanski, a in "Monitored Retrievable Storage" earthquake and volcanic activity, geologist, authored a DOE report that >> see NUCLEAR WASTE, page 8 Race, Poverty 6 the Environment Fa11 1992 Page Seven Status of MRS Grants Phase One Grants Applicant Status 1. Mescalero Apache Tribe, Mescalero, NM Oct. 11,1991 Grant awarded Oct. 17,1991

2. Grant County, ND Nov. 18,1991 Grant awarded Nov. 25,1991 ~ Commissioners defeated in recall election, Mar. 10,1992 -Phase I studies completed. 3. Chickasaw Nation, Ada, OK Dec. 26,1991 Grant awarded Feb. 14,1992 Application withdrawn, Mar. 31,1992 -Funds deobligated.

4. Sac and Fox Nation, Stroud, OK Dec. 30,1991 Grant awarded Feb. 19,1992 Application withdrawn, Mar. 4,1992- Funds deobligated.

5. Prairie Island Indian Nation, Welch, MN Dec. 30,1991 Grant awarded Mar. 18,1992

1 6. Yakirna Indian Nation, Toppenish, WA Dec. 30,1991 Grant awarded Mar. 18,1992 1 7. Fremont County, WY Dec. 30,1991 Grant awarded Jan. 23,1992

8. Fifield Development Corp., Fifield, WI March 1991 Rejected Applicant was not an eligible unit of government. 1 9. Skull Valley Goshure, Grantsville, UT Mar. 19,1992 Grant awarded Apr. 17,1992 10. Apache County, AZ Mar. 18,1992 Under review Governor's ofice issued an objection on April 3,1992 in telephone conversation.

11. Alabama Quassarte, Eufala, OK Mar. 26,1992 Under review

12. Tetlin Village, Tok, AK Mar. 30,1992 Rejected

13. Eastern Shawnee Tribe, Ottawa County, OK Mar. 30,1992 Under review -- Request: $41,962

14. Lower Brule Sioux, Lower Brule, SD Mar. 31,1992 Under review

15. Akhiok-KaguyakIAkhiokTraditional Council, Anchorage, AK Mar. 31,1992 Rejected

16. Apache Development Authority, Anadarko, OK Mar. 31,1992 Under review

17. Absentee Shawnee, OK Mar. 31, 1992 Withdrawn Application withdrawn by letter dated June 9,1992.

18. San Juan County, UT Apr. 3,1992 Grant awarded May 4,1992

19. Ponca Tribe, Kay County, OK Apr. 6, 1992 Under review

20. Caddo Tribe, Binger, OK Apr. 17,1992 Under review

21. Ft. McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone, Humbolt Cty., NV May 27,1992 Grant awarded July 15, 1992

Phase 2 Grants 1. Mescalero Apache Tribe, Mescalero, NM Mar. 13,1992 $200,000 awarded Apr. 21,1992 Tribe has requested additional phase 2A funding of $300,000. Page Eight Fa11 1992 Race, Poverty 6 the Environment

<< from NUCLEAR WASTE, page 6 (MRS) sites will be left holding the Oklahoma Tribal Response to MRS nation's nuclear waste for lack of any other option. by Grace Thorpe A little known provision in the In January 1992, I was shocked to a meeting. The Sac and Fox tribal Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments read in the Daily Oklahoman that my officials must then call a meeting within Act, which established the MRS idea tribe, the Sac and Fox of Stroud, 30 days and a quorum of 60 members and the office of the Nuclear Waste Oklahoma, had applied for a $100,000 must be present. Negotiator, requires MRS recipients to I then attended several meetings with overn grantfrom the D~~~~~~~ of E~~~~~~~ waive their right to sue the U.S. g - Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) the McClelland group, and we agreed to ment in the event of an accident or un- place the MRS nuclear waste issue on revent program, which would study the foreseen circumstances which p placement of nuclear waste on our land. the agenda along with other complaints. the nuclear waste from being removed Such an unlikely alliance, I thought, The special meeting was set for at the end of the contract period. when I recalled that the Sac and Fox February 29,1992. In the meantime, I History reflects that the U.S. were the last tribe of Indians who spoke to tribal members at the Elder's Government's record of failing to live fought for their lands east of the meetings, the Black Hawk Health up to its "contracts" with Indian Nations Mississippi River. During the Black Clinic, tribal headquarters, Pow Wows, is both tragic and criminal. The U.S. Hawk War of 1832,250 of our men, and so on. When 1 asked what they has failed to uphold even one of more women and children died in the defense thought about involving our tribe with than 800 treaties it negotiated with of their land at Saukenuk, now Rock nuclear waste, they said they opposed it, Indian Nations in this country, 370 of Island, Illinois. Today, the spirit of just as I did. which were ratified by Congress and Chief Black Hawk must wonder if his Shortly before the meeting I asked then violated. fight and the deaths of his followers our tribal administrator, Paula Gomez, The nuclear industry, the military were in vain, I thought. about the parliamentary procedure to weapons production complex, and DOE So, after reading the newspaper follow in order to stop the application. have weak track records On public article, I started researching the nuclear All that was needed, she said, was a health and safety issues, especially waste industry so I would know what motion from the floor to withdraw the where Native Nations are concerned. our tribe was getting involved with. application. Thousands of Native people in the U.S. And I like what I was reading. So, on February 29,1992, the and Canada have died or suffered health rocess the short- and long-tem governing council (the general member- consequences from the p - health dangers involved in the storage ship) of the Sac and Fox Tribe in- ing and enriching of uranium for of nuclear waste with the monetary structed the elected officials to with- nuclear fuels and weapons. advantages, I realized that our tribe had draw from the MRS program. I made Hundreds of Indian families who lost the motion, and it was second by June uinea to withdraw its application. Also, I loved Ones who were wed as "g didn't feel that our proud Sac and Fox Stevens. The 70-5 vote was over- pigs" in the early days of uranium name should ever be associated with whelmingly in favor of withdrawl. mining have applied for compensation nuclear waste, even though no strings I am proud to write that the Sac and under the 1990 Radiation Exposure were attached to the money, they said. Fox people became the first to force Compensation Act which Congress During the time that I was studying their elected officials to withdraw from passed with an apology to radiation the nuclear waste issue, some other the MRS nuclear waste program. Other victims. In addition, millions of citizens tribal members were unhappy about Oklahoma tribes that have withdrawn have been by recent actions taken by the Sac and Fox are the Chickasaws, the Absentee and underground nuclear weapons elected tribal officials. Sandra Shawnee, and the Caddo. testing that carried radioactive particles McClelland,from Shawnee,was A long-time advocate for Indian downwind to Western states. And in circulating a petition requesting a Rights, Ms. Thorpe is 71 years old and overnment cases*the g has special meeting of the tribe. According serves as a part-time Disfrict Court for disease and to the Sac and Fox constitution, in order Judge for the Sac and Fox Nation. This death among the very citizens that the to call a meeting, 50 tribal is reprinted with the author's permis- rotect were designed p in the members must sign a petition requesting sionfrom The Workbook, Fall 1992. name of "the national defense." A prime example is the 250,000- member Alliance of Atomic Veterans clouds in early nuclear weapons tests. recently organized a Veterans Day who decry the fact that 98 percent of "The U.S. government took 250,000 memorial in the foothills of the Nevada their radiation-related medical claims atomic veterans - like they were Test Site's rugged terrain. have been denied by the Veterans sacrificial lambs - and laid them on "Over this hill is our monument, the Administration and the government that the altar of the nuclear age," said AAV example of man's inhumanity to man," sent them marching into mushroom director Anthoney Guarisco, who >> see NUCLEAR WASTE, page 9 Race, Povetiv & rhe Environment Page Nine

<< from NUCLEAR WASTE, page 8 Resolution of the Third Annual Guarisco said, noting that those Indigenous Environmental presents a threat to the process of futu~e veterans who are still alive today say Network Gathering, Celilo human existence: that "the government can't be trusted." Village, Oregon, June 6, 1992 Therefore, no Indian designated Many tribal leaders agree and have lands, including Indian Country, trust, labelled the MRS proposals "economic No Nuclear Waste ceded, contiguous, or otherwise, should blackmail" because the government is be used to store any form of toxic or offering huge economic incentives for on Indian Lands nuclear waste, now or in the future, and; the storage of deadly radioactive waste. Therefore, the people assembled "In the old days, they gave us Whereas, our land may be the most here today demand that public hearings smallpox-infested blankets," says important legacy that we leave our be required to give tribal members and Oklahoma Sac and Fox elder Grace children, and; other interested parties an opportunity Thorpe. "Today, they're giving us Whereas, we care about our land and to learn about the advantages and nuclear waste. We can't look at this for do not wish to poison it, and; disadvantages of storing nuclear waste short-term monetary gains. It's an issue Whereas, we wish to protect our on Indian lands, and; of survival for Native people." Mother Earth from just such poison as Therefore, be it resolved that nuclear DOE provides $100,000 for Phase I nuclear waste, and; waste trains and trucks will not be grants to conduct feasibility studies on Whereas, power companies make allowed to pass through Indian lands, socio-economic impacts, $200,000 for money as they generate more high-level and; Phase 11-A grants to continue the radioactive waste, and; Therefore, the people assembled process, and Phase 11-B grants of up to Whereas, there is no safe method to here today beseech and implore the 16 $3,000,000 to actually identify a site for dispose of nuclear waste, and; different tribes that applied for the MRS an MRS and enter into an agreement Whereas, the federal government has to reconsider and request that their with the Nuclear Waste Negotiator. Any stolen and ruined enough of our land, applications be withdrawn, and; state or tribe that accepts an MRS can and; Therefore, be it resolved that as a receive up to $5 million per year. Whereas, nuclear waste is deadly pre-condition for developing the While some tribes have turned back and will rake thousands of years to radioactive waste management strategy, DOE checks under pressure from tribal decay and lose its radioactivity, and; electric utilities first change their rate members (see Status of MRS Grants, Whereas, radioactivity has been design structure to reward conservation, page 7), others, including Minnesota's known to increase the risk of cancer, to not wasteful consumption of electricity; Prairie Island Indian Nation, the Skull cause leukemia in the blood cells and and second, electric utilities be required Valley Goshute of Utah and the Lower affect genetic changes which could to pay a fair rate for electricity produced Brule Sioux of South Dakota, have said cause deformities in our children and by independent producers using they applied for the funds to conduct future generations, as well as endanger renewable energy resources, and that studies that will prove that the MRS plant and animal life, and; the fair rate include appropriate avoided option is unsafe for their communities. Whereas, mbal officials are not to capital and environmental costs, and; Northwest tribes who live along the hide behind the veil of tribal sover- Therefore, be it resolved that the Columbia River -downstream from eignty in order to bypass environmental people assembled here call for an end to DOE'S Hanford Nuclear Reservation and safety regulations prepared by state uranium mining, milling, testing, that polluted the region for 40 years - and county governments, and; reprocessing, and storage and disposal warn others about living with the legacy Whereas, no amount of money can which are all currently on Indian lands, of nuclear waste that is causing muta- replace a clean environment, and; and call for an end to the production of tions in the salmon they depend on Whereas, the storage of nuclear nuclear waste, and the development of spiritually, socially and economically. waste on Indian land is too important an safe renewable energy services. "I think (the MRS strategy) is issue not to be fully understood by all And whereas the National Congress genocide aimed at Indian people," said people living on or near the affected of American Indians (NCAI) and the traditional Chief Johnny Jackson of the area, Tribal constitutions should require Council of Energy Resource Tribes Klickitat Nation. "We'll suffer the the doctrine of informed consent to (CERT) were organized to benefit consequences of poisoning our rivers, tribal members, so that major decisions Native Americans, and sponsoring MRS our traditional foods and our land with are made by an informed constituency, conferences presenting only the views nuclear waste. and; of the Department of Energy does not "Even if tribes say they just want to Whereas, tribal members have a further that goal; study it, the U.S. government intends to right to know of all the possible risks Therefore, be it resolved that we hook tribes with the money. I know and benefits that affect their lands or request that NCAI and CERT cease from experience that the government resources, and; sponsoring or funding MRS confer- never gives you money for nothing." Whereas, radioactive ionization ences. Page Ten Fa11 1992 Race, Poverty 1 the Envlmnment

Indians. The Indians possess their address the problems created by the rights by virtue of their existence as new boom of gold mines within our nations, despite the U.S.'s assertions territories, the increasing militarization that it ultimately oversees the indig- of our airspace and land, and the enous nations within its borders. This, Nevada Test Site, and underground of course leads to some very serious testing facility for nuclear weapons. conflicts between the U.S. and any To comprehend the present issues Indian nation that asserts, or merely and the strategies we are utilizing to seeks to protect, its rights. address them, the first thing that must As with other North American be understood is our view of ourselves indigenous nations, the Western within the world. We were created as Shoshone's identity, purpose, and Newah, and have always existed in our strength is based on our relationship to territory. One of the most fundamental our homeland. The whole of our land is principles of our culture is that we are known to us as "Newah Sogo Bea," or responsible for maintaining a healthy "Shoshone's Earth Mother." relationship with Newah Sogo Bea, T he Our name for ourselves is Newah since it is the basis of our life. and our history tells how we were first Secondly, our right to determine our created and placed within our particular own future, on our own terms as a We sf e rn bioregion and provided with instruc- distinct people (i.e., our sovereignty), is tions on how best to live, allowing for based on our continued habitation of W our descendants as well. A critically our defined homelands within our own Shoshone important basis of all instruction given governing, education, economic, language, and cultural/spiritual systems. Yesterday's Following Predators by From our initial Joe major contact with Sanchez non-Indians, the Earth issue of environ- or countless genera- mental destruction has been a critical ians MOth = r?$ one. In the early have inhabited the eastern half 1800s,a large of what is now known as the group of ~n&shfur Great Basin of North America. trappers seeking We are one of several hundred Instructions beaverpeltstraveled indigenous nations on the into the northcentral region North American continent that of Newah territory. Because are involved in a wide range of efforts is that for us to be able to continue as a the English foresaw their expedition as to protect the lands we have lived in for people we must pay attention to our the one and only access into the area, thousands of years. Our work to relationship to everything around us, they carried out what has been de- maintain or regain environmental animate and inanimate. Shortly after scribed as a "scorched river" procedure. quality within our homelands is a facet the Newah were created, parts of In the sweep along the Humboldt River of a wider, more complex effort to creation spoke to the Newah. Water, and its tributaries, they sought to trap all maintain our jurisdiction over our Air, Wind, and many others told us in the beavers they possibly could, territories and lives, and to protect our unequivocal terms: "Take care of us, purposefully ignoring the need to allow indigenous rights. and we will take care of you." sufficient numbers to remain to repro- As a nation, our rights are not For thousands of years we have put duce: the trappers did not foresee derived from the U.S. Constitution or conscious effort into keeping this themselves or any other British subjects granted by any treaties; they existed relationship healthy. But in more recent seeking furs in the region again. prior to the United States' creation. times several factors have been brought With the discovery of gold in Treaties - mechanisms of mutual into our world that have drastically California, in the mid-nineteenth agreement between nations -gave affected our ability to simply carry out century, more and more non-Indians rights to the U.S. as agreed to by the our original instructions. We now must >> see SHOSHONE, page 11 Race, Poverty & the Envlronment Paae Eleven

<< from SHOSHONE, page 10 and control over them. It was not view by many Americans of the land as entered Newah lands; most sought only unusual for the Euro-Americans' "useless" or "sacrificeable," we to cross it and reach the gold fields west diseases to kill up to 70 percent of a Western Shoshone face many chal- of Newah country. A major route was Newah community, or for cavalry or lenges in protecting the bioregion in established across the northern portion cowboys to attack our homes and which we were placed. of Newah Sogo Bea, creating settle- families in their effort to gain control The fur trappers of the 19th century ments, farms, and mines. Newah over our homeland's resources. Gold, are no longer around Shoshone country. became increasingly distraught. Some silver, and other minerals were discov- But their "scorched river" methodology attempted to resist the mounting ered in Newah land. is still being employed in an updated invasion by military and guerrilla More water was needed for the version by agencies of the Federal mines and the boom-towns that rapidly Government and by huge mining sprang up. Acres and acres of pinyon corporations. Water, Air, Wind pines, traditionally a major food source In recent years, in Nevada, with the for Shoshones, were cut and made into development of ore extraction methods told us: "Take charcoal to run mines' smelters. The 'that utilize cyanide and other toxic destruction of the environment directly chemicals, a new gold mining boom has care of us, and we resulted in the destabilization of Newah occurred within Newah Sogo Bea will take care of systems of economics and governance. borders. Huge open ponds containing Our people suddenly found themselves thousands of gallons of deadly chemi- you." facing problems we'd never known cals are commonplace around the before. mines. Newah, under the coordination Still, despite the invasion of Newah of the Western Shoshone National actions, thus hampering American temtory by people with a worldview Council (WSNC), have begun research- movement across Shoshone lands. that allowed and encouraged incredible ing the full extent of the impact of The outbreak of the U.S. Civil War destruction of the environment, and the mining practices on both personal in 1860 created an intensified effort by pervading impact the invaders' actions health and the environment, and are in American leaders to get the gold from had on the Newah way of life, we the initial stages of creating a commu- California, in order to finance the war. Western Shoshone have continued to nity education campaign on these The U.S. appointed military men to maintain our rights to our territory and issues. meet with Newah leaders and create a our jurisdiction over it, as based on our treaty that would ensure Americans safe original instructions and principles. Since 1963, nearly passage through Shoshone lands and Presently eight Western Shoshone grant them the right to establish communities are located within the 700 nuclear weapons settlements along the route. Finally, a 43,000 square miles of Newah Sogo treaty that called for "peace and Bea. The U.S. argues that the vast and "devices" have friendship" between the Western majority of that land was taken from the Shoshone and the Americans was Western Shoshone through "gradual been exploded under- mutually agreed upon. In contrast to encroachment," sidestepping all other treaties between the U.S. and questions regarding whether that is legal ground in Western some indigenous nations, this treaty in under American or international law, or Shoshone lands, no way conveyed ownership of the land morally justifiable. Also, since the late to the U.S.; it recognized the existence 1940s, the U.S., through the Indian within the U.S. of the Western Shoshone nation and Claims Commission and the U.S. court Shoshone rights over their lands. . or Claims, has attempted to pressure Nuclear Test Site. But the increasing movement of Western Shoshone citizens to relinquish - people from east to west, and their land title in exchange for a little over a The Departments of Energy and settlement along the way, was having a dollar an acre, the value of the land at Defense are also perpetrators of devastating impact on Shoshone 1872 prices. But in the 127 years since "scorched river" tactics. Since 1963, temtory. In forty years, food and the U.S. and the Western Shoshone nearly 700 nuclear weapons and medicine gathering sites were destroyed entered into the treaty, it has never been "devices" have been exploded under- by the invaders' newly introduced abrogated. Title to the land has never ground in southern Newah homelands, horses and cattle; access to springs and been given by the Newah to the U.S. within the U.S. Nuclear Test Site. No creeks (an absolute necessity for agreement, formal or informal, exists survival in the high, semi-arid climate Today's Perpetrators that gives the U.S. permission to of the Great Basin) was stopped as Given the size of our homelands, the detonate nuclear weapons or devices ranchers and miners assumed ownership minerals in the region, and the general >> see SHOSHONE, page 19 Page Twelve Fa11 1992 Race, Poverty d the Environment

To achieve this objective is a principal task of the Indian Peoples. However, through our struggles we have learned that our problems are not different, in many respects, from those of eclaration other popular sectors. We are convinced that we must march alongside the peasants, the workers, the marginalized sectors, together with the intellectuals committed to our cause, in order to destroy the dominant system of oppression and construct a of Quito new society, pluralistic, democratic and humane, in which peace is guaranteed. The existing nation-states of the Americas, their constitu- July 1990 tions and fundamental laws are judicial/political expressions that negate our socio-economic, cultural and political rights. From this point in our general strategy of struggle, we Indigenous Alliance of the Americas consider it to be a priority that we demand complete structural on 500 Years of Resistance change; change which recognizes the inherent right to self- determination through the Indian People's own governments The Continental Gathering" "500 Years of and through the control of our temtories. Ind.ian Resistance," with representatives Our will not be resolved through the self-serving politics of governmental entities which seek integration and from 120 Indian Nations, International ethno-development. Organizations and Fraternal Organizations, ~tis necessary to have an integral transformation at the level of the State and national society; that is to say, the meeting in Quito, Ecuador, July 17-20, creation of a new nation. 1990, declare before the world the follow- In this Gathering it has been clear that territorial rights are a ing: fundamental demand of the Indigenous Peoples of the Ameri- cas. We Indians of America have never abandoned our constant struggle against the conditions of oppression, discrimination Based on these aforementioned reflections, the and exploitation which were imposed upon us as a result of organizations united in the First Continental Gather- the European invasion of our ancestral temtories. ing of Indigenous Peoples reaffirm: Our struggle is not a mere conjunctural reflection of the 1. Our emphatic rejection of the Quincentennial celebra- memory of 500 years of oppression which the invaders, in tion, and the fm promise that we will turn that date into an complicity with the "democratic" governments of our coun- occasion to strengthen our process of continental unity and tries, want to turn into events of stru~~letowards Our jubilation and celebration. Our The struggle of our People has libeiition. Indian People, Nations and 2. Ratify our nationalities are basing our acquired a new quality in recent times. politic, project struggle on our identity, which This struggle is less isolated and more of self-determination shall lead us to true liberation. organized. We are now completely and conquestof We are responding aggres- autonomy, in the CO~SC~~USthat our total liberation can sivelv.. . and commit ourselves to framework of nation reject this "celebration." only be expressed through complete I states, under a new The struggle of our People popular order, respect- has acquired a new quality in exercise of our self-determination. I the aDoellation recent times. This struggle is which each People less isolated and more organized. We are now completely determines for their struggle and project. conscious that our total liberation can only be expressed 3. Affirm our decision to defend our culture, education, through complete exercise of our self-determination. Our and religion as fundamental to our identity as Peoples, unity is based in this fundamental right. Our self-determina- reclaiming and maintaining our own forms of spiritual life and tion is not just a simple declaration. community coexistence, in an intimate relationship with our We must guarantee the necessary conditions that permit the Mother Nature. complete exercise of our self-determination; and this in turn 4. We reject the manipulation of organizations which are must be expressed as complete autonomy for our Peoples. linked to the dominant sectors of society and have no indig- Without Indian self-government and without control of our enous representation, who usurp our name for (their own) territories there can be no autonomy. >> see QUITO, page 13 Race, Poverty & the Environment Fa11 1992 Page Thirteen

cc from QUITO, page 12 imperialist interests. At the same time we affirm our The Off-Again, choice to strengthen our own organizations, without excluding or isolating ourselves from other popular struggles. On-Again Garbage 5. We recognize the important role that the indigenous woman plays in the struggles of our Peoples. We under- Dump stand the necessity to expand women's participation in our organizations and we reaffirm that it is one struggle, men Los Coyotes Update and women together, in our liberation process, a key by Marina Ortega question in our political practices. In Southern California the battle over the Los Coyotes 6. The Indian Peoples consider it vital to defend and dump project -a proposed 1,500 acre dump on the Los conserve our natural resources, which right now are being Coyotes reservation in northern San Diego County to take attacked by the transnational corporations. We are con- much of the County's trash - is continuing on into the new vinced that this defense will be realized if it is the Indian year. Despite an initial defeat of the project in June 1991 by Peoples who administer and control the territories where the Los Coyotes Band (see RPE Summer 1991), Chambers we live, according to our own principles of organization Company of Pittsburgh, PA gained approval in February and communal life. 1992 to continue environmental studies for the dump. 7. We oppose national judicial structures which are the Chambers Company had supplied rental cars for pro- result of the process of colonization and neo-colonization. dump Band members and flew in members who reside in We seek a New Social Order that embraces our traditional other states to attend the February 1992 tribal meeting. exercise of Common Law, an expression of our culture and Promises of additional monthly payments to the Band forms of organization. We demand that we be recognized during the study period completed the package, and the as Peoples under International Law, and that this recogni- Band authorized a resolution to continue "studies only." An tion be incorporated into the respective Nation States. Authorization Agreement was drawn up by Chambers 8. We denounce the victimization of our Indian Peoples Company and signed by the tribal council members with~ut through violence and persecution, which constitutes a final approval of the Band; the agreement was approved by flagrant violation of human rights. We demand respect for the Bureau of Indian Affairs on August 18, 1992. This our right to life, to land, to free organization and expression approval came despite protests of Band members regarding of our culture. At the same time we demand the release of a Confidentiality Clause in the Agreement, which would our leaders who are held as political prisoners, an end to restrict the participation of Band members in their own repression, and restitution for the harms caused us. environmental review process. The Indian Nations and Indigenous Organizations which To date, however, no studies have been done and no have participated in the First Continental Gathering of payments have been made to the Band. A front page article Indian Peoples want to show our acknowledgement and in the Wall Street Journal on October 21 revealed why: thanks to our sister organizations of Ecuador for their Chambers Company is scrambling for cash and trying to efforts towards the success of this event. We want to sell off assets after a phony accounting scheme was express our solidarity with the struggle of the Ecuadorian disclosed and the company admitted losing $16 million in Indigenous People for liberty and democracy. 1989, $41 in 1990 and $72 million in 1991. This discovery Our actions should be geared towards strengthening our resulted in a slew of shareholder suits and an investigation grassroots organizations and towards achieving greater by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the levels of coordination and communication with all popular American Stock Exchange. Besides the questionable state sectors. of their financial stability, Chambers' ethical practices are The continental campaign for 500 years of Indigenous also in question, regarding the wining and dining of and popular Resistance should be empowered by the officials, the recruitment of local politicians to assist with participation of all Indian Nations and organizations, so permits, and the hiring of two Virginia state legislators to that we become a true alternative force. The response to lobby citizens' groups opposed to Chambers' dumps in that 1992 should be Mobilization and Unity. state. The articulation of our Campaign should be governed by Yes, folks, it looks like the Bureau of Indian Affairs is the principle of solidarity with all People's struggles for backing a real winner in this one. Meanwhile, life goes on liberation, and by realizing multilateral relations at the for the members of the Los Coyotes Band in the high international level. mountains of Southern California -Chambers Company Quito, 21 Julio de 1990. has recently informed them that they will continue environ- Reprinted with permission from BorderILines (Winter mental studies "in the Spring sometime." 1991 11 992). Page Fourteen Fall 1992 Race, Poverty & the Environment

ABANE ABISHIRA ACAXEE Partial listing of thos ACHAGUA ACOLAPISSA ADOLO AGUAPALAM did not survive the I AGUSTAYA AGUERECOTO BEOTHUK COAHUILTECO GUIRE KISKIACK AIPATSE BETOYE COLUMBIA GUZLO KITANEMUK AIRICO BITURNA CONCH0 HALCHIDHOMA IuTrEEGARYUMIUT ALSEA BOCALO CONDOR1 HATTERAS KOCHAPAMPAS AMARIZANE BORRADO CONE HAURI KOKAMA AMNIAPE CABEME CONESTOGA HABIT0 KOYUKON AMOIPIRA CACATIO CONICARI HOCHELAGAN KRADAU ANABALI CACHIBE CONOY HOUSATONIC KREM-YE ANACE ANAJA CACHOPOSTAL COSTANO HUARPE KRIKATI ANAS SAZI CAHOKIA COUROPO HUCHNOM KUJUENERI ANXAU CAHUARANO COWICHAN HUITE KUNIBA APALACHEE CAIQUETIOS CUACHICHIL ILLINOIS KAPUGMIUT APANIEEKRA CALUSA CUITA IPOTEWAT KURINA APAYS I CAMACUA CUMANAGOTO ITOG APUK KURUAYA APIAKA CAMAUIROS CUSABO JABUTI KUSTENAO APOTO CAMMURI CUMANAGOTO JABUTIFED KWNGMUIT APPAMATUCK CANAUNCACK CUSABO JAMANO Minimum Estin ARACHOMO CAPE ESPENBERG CUTrATAWOMEN JAMUNOLA (as a referenm, during th, European natlom r ARAPARABA ESKIMO DIMKUTCHIN JANAMBRE-PISON ARAW CAPE NOME EASTERN PUEBLO JAN0 Western 1492: 112.554, ARAWAK ESKIMO EHWAE JACOME 1980: 28,264,l ARAWINE CAPOSEPOCK ERIE JOVA Cent1 ARENDARONON CAPUENI ESOPUS JUANCA 1519: 30,000,l AREQUENA CARACA ESPINHOS JUCA 1620: 1.600.0 ARAIKEN CARIGUANO ESSELEN JUMANO North 1492: 18.W0,I ARRETU CARIJO EYAK KABIXIANA 1980: 2.000.0 ARROHATECK CARW FISH RIVER KALAPUYA Yana Nati ARUA CATAWISHI ESKIMO KAMBIWA 1492: ARUAN CAlTACHIPTI- GAMELLA KAMIA 1910 1929 ASSATEAGUE COCAUYA GARAYA KANGIGMruT 1973

ATABACA CHAIMA GEYER KARANKAS From Robert Venables. ATACAMAS CHAKCHIUMA GINGASKINS KARANKAWA There a Holocaust?" ATAXAL CHARCAS GO1A KARANKAWAS KUYANAWA ATNUK CHAWANOKE GUACEU KARITIANA KWALHIOQUA ATSAHUACA CHAYOPIN GUALACHI KATAWIAU LAGUNERO ATSUGEMI CHEMAKUM GUAMAR KATIANA LARICAJAS ATTIGNEENONG- CHESAPEAKE GUAM0 KAUWERAK LASSIK NALIAC CHIBCHA GUAMONTE KAXARAI LAYANA AVVAGMruT CHICHAS GUANANO KAYUIXANA LITTLE DIOMEDE AYANARE CHICHIMECS GUANARE KECOUGHTAN LOLACA AZURE CHILULA GUANARENA KEPKIRIWAT LORETTE HURON BACIROA CHIMALAKWE GUANECO KHIONONTA- LUCALIA BAENA CHIMARIKO GUARATEGAJA TERONON LUCAYAN BAENAN CHINAPA GUASSAVE PETUN MUCHAPUNGA B AKAIRI CHINIPAS GUATO KIBOKOK MACOYAHUI B AMINGUO CHOLON GUAYKERI KICHTAWANK MAFILITO BARRAGUA CHOPTANK GUAZAPAR KIGIRKTARUGMIUT MAIBA BARRIA CLATSKANIE GUENGUEU KILLACAS MANAU BEAR RIVER COACA GUICURU KIRIKINAQ MANIC0 Race, Poverty & the Environment Fa11 1992 Page Fiffeen

TOBAJAN TOBOSO e Native Nations that TORA TSETSAUT TSUVA TUBAR nvasion I 492-1992. TUBATULABAL TUCUJU MANITENERI NEGRITO P ArnNT SANAQUE TUCUYO MANITS AWA NEUSIOK PATZAU S ANPOLI TUNXIS MANOA NEUTRAL PAUDACOTO SARACUAM TUTELO MANS0 NISEMAM PAUSANE SECACAWONI TWANA MARAGUA NOMLAKI PAUXI SEDGE ISLAND TXAKAMEKRA MARAKANA NONGATL PAUXIANA SEMONAN UMASWOS MARAWA NOTTOWAY PAVIOTSO SHAMAPENT UMIRAJ ARA MARICHE NUATAAGMUIT PAYANKATANK SHISHMAREF URuMI MASSACHUSET NLJVORUGMIUT PAYAYA SIAGUAN UTUGGAGMnrr MASS APEGUA NLJVORUGMIUT PYAGUAN SIC ASICAS WAIL AKA MATANAWI OCANA PENACOOK SINKYONE WALAKI MATCHOTIC OFAIE PIRATININGA SINSINK WALNUMA MATINECOCK OMURANO PIRITU SIQUIPIL WAITACA MEHERRIN OPISCOPANK PISSASEC SOKOKI WALES ESKIMO ORAPAKS PITAGMUIT SONAYAN WAPPINGER OTI PITAHAY STADACONAN WAPPO OTOMACO PITALAC SULUJAM WARAICU ame period, the population of PAAC PMI SUMA WARRASKOYACK liplied five- to ten-fold.) PAACHIQUI POCOMOKE SUSQUEHANNOCK WAYORO emisphere PACAJA POCUMTUCK TACAME WEANOCK I American lndians American Indians PACAJIS PORT CLARENCE TACAYUMA WEAPEMEOC PACAO ESKIMO TECUNYAPE WENRO Mexico American lndians PACHAL POTAUNK TAG ARE WEROWOCOMOCO Amertcan Indians PACHAQUE POTCHAYICK TAKELMA WHILKUT Mexico PACIA POTEESKEIT TAKUATEP WICHIYELA American lndians PACPUL POTIGWAR TAMANACO WICOCOMOCO Amrican lndians PACUACHE POTOMAC TAMORO WIECHQUAE- (California) PAJALAT PTOPACO 30 people TAPARITA SKECKS 3 people PALENQUE POTUARA TAPE WYACHTONOK !people people PALMELAS PUIJUITENE TAPGAAMISJT XPAYA PAMAREKE le Cost of Columbus: Was PULACUAM TAPWCU XIXIME PAMAYA PUROKOTO TARUMA YAH1 I from Border/Lines. PAME PURUPURU TATAVIAM YAMAS SEE PAMLICO QAVVIARAGMIUT TAUXENENT YAMEO MIALAT PAMPAS QUACOHAMAOCK TEHUECO YANA MICHOACAN PAMPOPA QUAQUA TEMISKAMING YANYUME MIRANIA PANAMINT QUEM TEMORE YBANOMA MOBILE PAPANA QUIRIGUIRE TEPACUACHE YORICA MOLALA PAPANAC QUTYONGHCO- TEPAHUE YOUGHTANUND MONACAN PARACONOSKO HANNOCK TEPEHUAN YUBERI MONDE PARAWA RAMA-RAMA TEQUE YUKI MORATICO PARECA ROANOKE THOMPSON YUMA MORCOTE PARIAS ROT1 TIKIGAGMIUT YUNCAS MOSOPELEA PASPAHEGH S ACUACHE TILIJAS - YURAS MUCURI PASTALOCA SAINT LAWRENCE TILLAMOOK YURI NANSATICO PASTIA SAKUYA TILPACOPAL ZACATEC NANSEMOND PATACAL S AMAMPAC TIMUCUA ZAPARO NARAVUTE PATAGUO SAMPANAL TISEPMA ZURINA NATCHEZ PATUMACO S ANAMAIKA Compiled by the Morning Star Foundation Page Sixteen Fall 1992 Race, Poverty & the Environment uranium, and timber. Families like the Hearsts in California made a fortune by Spanish or Portuguese, Indians are all taking gold out of there, but the people one people stretching from the tip of still living there are among the poorest The following is from an interview North America to the tip of South in the United States. with chief ill Redwing Tayac of the America. This is where the massacre of Indian Piscataway people, conducted by Phil The dominant society has divided us, people known as Wounded Knee took Tajitsu Nash. In it, Chief Tayac stresses cutting up our land into slices they call place 100 years ago, and where the the unity of native peoples throughout countries. But we are still a people. American Indian Movement made a the Americas and outlines some of their And not a small group of people. There stand in 1973 that helpedto spark the many struggles, in particular the fight are tens of millions of Indian people in modem Indian movement for dignity to maintain their land. the Western Hemisphere. With modem and self-government. Struggles Unite Native Peoples An Interview with Chief Tayac

My name is Billy Redwing Tayac. I technology we can be in instant This reminds me of an important am the hereditary chief of the communication with our relatives in El lesson I have learned over the years Piscataway people, who are indigenous Salvador, in the Brazilian rainforest. about the use of terminology. When the to Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Nazis occupied France during World northern Virginia. Our present ceremo- Europeans Tried to Destroy Us War II, those who opposed them were nial ground and spiritual and political The Europeans invaded all our land, called "freedom fighters." When Indian center is located in what is called Port not just the United States, Panama, or people have fought back against the Tobacco, in Maryland. Over the years, Brazil. They invaded an entire hemi- taking of our land, we have been called I have worked for the reclamation of sphere and tried their best to destroy a "hostiles" or "communists." Likewise, Indian people. We have so many race of people and their cultures and when Sioux warriors defeated United people who have lost their way, who religions. It is a holocaust that cannot States warriors at Little Big Horn in don't know anything about their be compared to anything else in the 1876, the popular press called it a traditions or religion. This work history of humanity. Even today, in the "massacre." However, when the United involves "de-Angloization," or bringing 20th Century, Indian people are not States cavalry machine-gunned un- oui people back to the earth, back to considered a part of mankind. An armed men, women and children at being Indian people. It is hard to be an example of this is that in the United Wounded Knee in 1890, it was called a Indian in any city because we are Nations, all other races of people - "battle" by the popular press. It took separated from the earth by concrete. black, white and yellow - are repre- over 70 years for the record to be set We can'? feel the power of the earth, the sented. Red people have no voice. If straight and for the events to be referred wind, the trees. atrocities occur against us, we as Indian to by the names they deserve: the Battle All people, regardless of color, were people have to go to the oppressor of Little Big Horn and The Massacre at at one time tied to the earth. Even the government, whether Brazil, El Salva- Wounded Knee. Europeans had tribes tied to the earth. dor or the United States, to voice our There are Indian Wars continuing The earth is everything.toeverybody. concerns. This parallel would be like a today - yes, today - in Guatemala My father, Chief Turkey Tayac, was Jew going to Hitler to express his and El Salvador. The slaughter of a traditional chief, but I was much more concerns about the horrible extermina- Indian people by a dominant European interested in joining with other Indians tion policies directed towards his people society continues. For example, in groups such as the American Indian in the 1940s. Guatemala is a country with 85% Indian Movement. Through AIM, I came to One of the major areas where Indian people, but the Indian people don't rule realize that to be an Indian today, one people are fighting back is in the Black Guatemala The standing army rules. must transcend tribalism. We are a race Hills area of South Dakota. The Lakota of people. In the terminology of the and other people consider this sacred Mestizos are Really Indians movement, we are "Many Nations, One ground. But it is also one of the richest Governments don't like to classify People." Whether we speak English, 100 square miles on earth, with gold, >> see CHIEF TAYACpage 17 Race, Poverty & the Envlronmenf Fall 1992 Page Seventeen

<< from CHIEF TAYAC, page 16 world that Indian people were still alive told, and the government sold the lands these people as Indians. What some in our stand at Wounded Knee in 1973. to whites. call mestizos, Hispanics or Chicanos are I had the fortune in the early 1970s really Indians. They are not classified of meeting a survivor of the 1890 Indian Wars Continue that way because of paper genocide. Wounded Knee massacre. It seemed so In Canada last summer, the Indian They would prefer to kill them, as with impossible that it could have occurred, Wars continued. The Canadian the 38,000 killed in the 1930s in El until you think about the My Lai government brought tanks to Indian Salvador. Everyone who looked a massacre and the other horrible inci- reservations and held a siege at Oka. certain way or who wore certain dents in Vietnam. Many Indians, like Less than 150 Mohawks protesting the clothing was shot and killed indiscrimi- AIM leader Bill Means, served in proposed use of an ancestral burial nately. Mexicans today with dark Vietnam, and recognized that,.as ground for a golf course were sur- complexions and black hair will deny soldiers, they were oppressors. Then at rounded by 5,000 federal troops. they are Indians. They will say, "I am a Wounded Knee in 1973, he was being These Indian Wars will never be Mexican." They have been brain- shot at by the same soldiers he had over until the Indian people get their washed, because the lowest people on served with. The important lesson is land back. Would the Jews accept the ladder are the Indians. Who wants that the Indians serving in Vietnam felt money for the Wailing Wall? The Pope to be part of that group? a kinship with the Vietnamese. accept money for the Vatican? Would a The rise of the American Indian Moslem accept money for the sale of Movement in the late 1960s helped to We Are a Sovereign Peoples Mecca? No, we can never accept the restore a sense of pride. People were no This feeling of being outside the loss, the theft of ancestral lands. And longer ashamed to be Indian. They American government has its roots in because Indian people are all one demanded that treaties be upheld. They the fact that we are sovereign people people, we can never forget Wounded demanded to be treated as human who were here thousands of years Knee, just like the Japanese American beings. AIM brought back the tradi- before Columbus. However, despite people can never forget the internment tions, customs and religions to thou- referendums in 1920 and 1922 where their people suffered [during World sands, maybe millions, of Indian we said we did not want to be made war 111. people. United States citizens, we were forced Even today in the United States, When someone committed a murder [to be citizens] by the American Indian there are Native American political of an Indian person anywhere around Citizenship Act of 1924. Then, prisoners such as Leonard Peltier, who the country, AIM people went there to compounding our problems was the has served 15 years of two consecutive ask why that murder resulted in only a Wheeler-Howard Act of 1934, which lifetime sentences for murders he did manslaughter charge if the defendant set up mbal corporations on Indian not commit. was European American and the dead lands. Some sell-out Indian person We all need to band together today man was an Indian. When Indian would be made chairman of the local to save Mother Earth. We should be people were med by all-white juries, branch of this federal agency, and then making food so that no one is hungry. they were more often than not found he could sign away our rights to land or Every person should have shelter and guilty. Despite being only half of one minerals. These tribal chairmen also health care. There should be no percent of the United States population, tried to take power away from our dominant class based on color of skin or we have the highest rate of imprison- traditional chiefs, using the lure of gender. There should be no dominant ment of any group. federal education or housing benefits. country because of the amount of I would like it if every American Fortunately, many of the Indian people money they have or the power they would take a history book and look at did not fall for this trap. wield. All human beings should come the picture of Chief Big Foot frozen in There are other issues in Indian together for the good of the earth. his grave at Wounded Knee. These country. At Big Mountain in the The elders once told me that the people were only seeking food to exist, Southwest, the Hopi and Navajo are Indian people were spared so that we and the United States exerted military being relocated because minerals were can be the driving force to save Mother might against them. Today, this found under the land. Once people are Earth. The ashes of our ancestors have military might still exists on the Indian relocated and given a small settlement, been intermingled with the earth on this reservations. They use their "legal they have no skills for living in a town. continent for millennia. In this 500th bullets," the FBI and BIA (Bureau of Six months later, they are broke, anniversary of the coming together with Indian Affairs) to come onto reserva- homeless, and wanting to go home Europeans, it is a good time to remem- tions and investigate and imprison the again. ber this. Indian people. We stood up and In Western Minnesota, thousands of Reprinted from Rethinking Colum- exposed the BIA's corruption in our acres of land have been taken at the bus, Rethinking Schools Special occupation of BIA headquarters in White Earth Reservation. Indian people Edition. 1972, and stood up and showed the who had legitimate claims were not Paae Twentv Fall 1992 Race. Povertv & the Environment

<> see STILL HERE, page 21 Race, Povefly & the Environment Fall 1992 Page Twenty-one cc from NO CELEBRATION, page 28 cc from STILL HERE, page 21 <

<< from REREADING THE PAST, page 1 describe what Columbus did. Students them refusing anything he [sic] may things I have inside. start with phrases they used to describe possess when he is asked for it, but, on I unzip the bag and remove a brush what I did to Nikki's purse: He stole it; the contrary, inviting us to ask them. or a comb, maybe a pair of dark glasses. he took it; he ripped it off. And others: They also give objects of great value for A tube of lipstick works best. "This is He invaded it; he conquered it. trifles, and content themselves with very my lipstick," I say. "There, that proves I want students to see that the word little or nothing in return... I did not it is my purse." They don't buy it and, "discovery" is loaded. The word itself find, as some of us had expected, any in fact, are mildly outraged that I would carries a perspective; a bias. "Discov- cannibals among them, but, on the pry into someone's possessions with ery" is the phrase of the supposed contrary, men of great deference and such utter disregard for her privacy. discoverers. It's the invaders masking kindness. ' (I've alerted the student to the demon- their theft. And when the word gets But, on an ominous note, Columbus stration before the class, but no one else repeated in textbooks, those textbooks writes in his log, "...should your knows that.) become, in the phrase of one historian, Majesties command it, all the inhabit- It's time to move on: "OK, if it's "the propaganda of the winners." ants could be taken away to Castile Nikki's purse, how do you know? Why [Spain],or made slaves on the island. are you all so positive it's not my With 50 men we could subjugate them purse?" Different answers: We saw CCDiscovery"is the all and make them do whatever we you take it; that's her lipstick, we know phrase of the sup= want." you don't wear lipstick; there is stuff in I ask students if they remember from there with her name on it. To get the posed discoverers. elementary school days what Columbus point across, I even offer to help in their It3 the invaders brought back from the New World. effort to prove Nikki's possession: "If masking their theft, Students recall that he returned with we had a test on the contents of the parrots, plants, some gold, and a few of purse, who would do better, Nikki or And when the word the people Columbus had taken to I?" "Whose labor earned the money that gets repeated in calling "Indians." This was bought the things in the purse, mine or Columbus's first expedition and it is Nikki's?" Obvious questions, obvious textbooks, those also where most school textbook answers. textbooks become accounts of Columbus end - conve I make one last hy to keep Nikki's "the propaganda of niently. What about his second voyage? purse: "What if I said I discovered this I read to them a passage from Hans purse, then would it be mine?" A little the winners," Koning's fine book, Columbus: His laughter is my reward, but I don't get Enterprise: any takers; they still think the purse is To prepare students to examine We are now in February 1495. Time rightfully Nikki's. textbooks critically, we begin with was short for sending back a good "So," I ask, "Why do we say that alternative, and rather un-sentimental, 'dividend' on the supply ships getting Columbus discovered America?" explorations of Columbus's "enter- ready for the return to Spain. Colum- prise," as he called it. The Admiral-to- bus therefore turned to a massive slave Was it Discovery? be was not sailing for mere adventure raid as a means for filling up these Now they begin to see what I've and to prove the world was round, as I ships. The [Columbus] brothers been leading up to. I ask a series of learned in fourth grade, but to secure rounded up 1,500 Arawakr - men, questions which implicitly link Nikki's the tremendous profits that were to be women, and children- and imprisoned purse and the Indians' land: Were there made by reaching the Indies. them in pens in Isabela, guarded by people on the land before Columbus Mostly I want the class to think men and dogs. The ships had room for arrived? Who had been on the land about the human beings Columbus was no more than five hundred, and thus longer, Columbus or the Indians? Who to "discover" - and then destroy. I only the best specimens were loaded knew the land better? Who put their read from a letter Columbus wrote to aboard. The Admiral then told the labor into making the land produce? Lord Raphael Sanchez, treasurer of Spaniards they could help themselves The students see where I'm going - it Aragbn, and one of his patrons, dated from the remainder to as many slaves as would be hard not to. "And yet," I March 14, 1493, following his return they wanted. Those whom no one chose continue, "What is the first thing that from the first voyage. He reports being were simply kicked out of their pens. Columbus did when he arrived in the enormously impressed by the indig- Such had been the terror of these New World?' Right: he took posses- enous people: prisoners that (in the description by sion of it. After all, he had discovered As soon... as they see that they are Michele de Cuneo, one of the colonists) the place. safe and have laid aside all fear, they 'they rushed in all directions like We talk about phrases other than are very simple and honest and exceed- lunatics, women dropping and aban- "discovery" that textbooks could use to ingly liberal with all they have; none of >> see REREADING THE PAST, page 25 Race. Poverty & the Environment Page Twenty-Five

cc from REREADING THE PAST, page 24 Spaniards used... hawks' bells... Every from one hundred and twenty-jive doning infants in the rush, running for three months, every Indian had to bring thousand to one-halfrnilli~n.~ miles without stopping, fleeing across to one of the forts a hawks' bellfilled The goal is not to titillate or stun, but mountains and rivers.' with gold dust. The chiefs had to bring to force the question: Why wasn't I Of the 500 slaves, 300 arrived alive in about ten times that amount. In the told this before? in Spain, where they were put up for other provinces of Hispaniola, twenty sale in Seville by Don Juan de Fonseca, five pounds of spun cotton took the Re-examining Basic Truths the archdeacon of the town. 'As naked place of gold. I ask students to find a textbook, as the day they were born,' the report of Copper tokens were manufactured, preferably one they used in elementary this excellent churchman says, 'but with and when an Indian had brought his or school, and critique the book's treat- no more embarrassment than animals ...' her tribute to an annedpost, he or she ment of Columbus and the Indians. I This slave trade immediately turned received such a token, stamped with the distribute the following handout and out to be 'unproj?table, for the slaves month, to be hung around the neck. review the questions aloud. I don't mostly died.' Columbus decided to With that they were safe for another want them to merely answer the concentrate on gold, although he writes, questions, but to consider them as 'Let us in the name of the Holy Trinity guidelines. go on sending all the slaves that can be Certainly How factually accurate was the sold.' ' (Emphasis in Koning) Columbus's fame account? Certainly Columbus's fame should What was omitted - left out - not be limited to the discovery of should not be that in your judgment would be impor- America: he also deserves credit for limited to the tant for a full understanding of Colum- initiating the trans-Atlantic slave trade, discovery of bus? (for example, his treatment of the albeit in the opposite direction than Indians; slave taking; his method of we're used to thinking of it. America: he also getting gold; the overall effect on the deserves credit for Indians.) Looking Through initiating the trans= What motives does the book give Different Eyes to Columbus? Compare those with his Students and I role play a scene from Atlantic slave real motives. Columbus's second voyage. Slavery is trade, albeit in the Who does the book get you to root not producing the profits Columbus is for, and how do they accomplish that? seeking. He believes there is gold in opposite direction (for example, are the books homfied at them thar hills and the Indians are than we're used to the treatment of Indians or thrilled that selfishly holding out on him. thinking of it. Columbus makes it to the New World?) Students play Columbus; I play the How do the publishers use illustra- Indians: "Chris, we don't have any tions? What do they communicate about gold, honest. Can we go back to living three months while collecting more Columbus and his "enterprise"? our lives now and you can go back to gold. In your opinion, why does the book wherever you came from?" Whoever was caught without a token portray the Columbus/Indian encounter I call on several students to respond was killed by having his or her hands the way it does? to the Indians' plea. Columbus thinks cut of.... Can you think of any groups in our the Indians are lying. Student responses There were no goldfields, and thus, society who might have an interest in range from sympathetic to ruthless: once the Indians had handed in what- people having an inaccurate view of OK, we'll go home; please bring us ever they still had in gold ornaments, history? your gold; we'll lock you up in prison if their only hope was to work all day in I tell students that this last question you don't bring us your gold; we'll the streams, washing out gold dust from is tough but crucial. Is the continual torture you if you don't fork it over, etc. the pebbles. It was an impossible task, distortion of Columbus simply an After I've pleaded for awhile and the but those Indians who tried to flee into accident, or are there social groups who students-as-Columbus have threatened, the mountains were systematically benefit from children developing a false I read aloud another passage from hunted down with dogs and killed, to set or limited understanding of the past? Koning's book describing Columbus's an example for the others to keep The assignment's subtext is to teach system for extracting gold from the trying... students that text material, indeed all Indians: During those two years of the written material, should be read Every man and woman, every boy or administration of the brothers Colum- skeptically. I want students to explore girl of fourteen or older, in the province bus, an estimated one half of the entire the politics of print - that perspectives of Cibao... had to collect goldfor the population of Hispaniola was killed or on history and social reality underlie the Spaniards. As their measure, the killed themselves. The estimates run >> see REREADING THE PAST, page 26 Page Twenty-Six Race, Poverty 8 the Environment cc froM REREADING THE PAST, page 25 about textbook treatments of Colum- readers learn from this about today's written word, and that to read is both to bus? Here are some excerpts: world? That might - or wealth - comprehend what is written, but also to Matthew wrote: makes right? That it's justified to take question why it is written. My intention As people read their evaluations the people's land if you are more "civi- is not to encourage an 'I-don't-believe- same situations in these textbooks came lized" or have a "better" religion? anything' cynicism? but rather to equip out. Things were conveniently left out Whatever the answers, the textbooks students to analyze a writer's assump- so that you sided with Columbus's quest. condition students to accept inequality; tions and determine what is and isn't to 'boldly go where no man has gone nowhere do they suggest that the useful in any particular work. before' ... None of the harsh violent Indians were sovereign peoples with a For practice, we look at excerpts reality is confronted in these so called right to control their own lands. And, if from a California textbook that be- true accounts. Columbus's motives are mystified or longed to my brother in the fourth Gina tried to explain why the books ignored, then students are less apt to grade, The Story of American Freedom, were so consistently rosy: question U.S. involvements in say, published by Macmillan in 1964. We It seemed to me as if the publishers Central America or the Middle East. As read aloud and analyze several para- had just printed up some 'glory story' Bobby, approaching his registration day graphs. The arrival of Columbus and that was supposed to make us feel more for the military draft, pointed out in crew is especially revealing -and patriotic about our country. In our class: "If people thought they were obnoxious. As is true in every book on group, we talked about the possibility of going off to war to fight for profits, the "discovery" that I've ever encoun- the government trying to protect young maybe they wouldn't fight as well, or tered, the reader watches events from students from such violence. We soon maybe they wouldn't go." the Spaniard's point of view. We are decided that that was probably one of It's important to note that some told how Columbus and his men "fell the farthest things from their minds. students are troubled by these myth- upon their knees and gave thanks to They want us to look at our country as popping discussions. One student wrote God," a passage included in virtually all great, and powerful, and forever right. that she was "left not knowing who to elementary school accounts of Colum- They want us to believe Columbus was believe." Josh was the most articulate in bus. "He then took possession of it [the a real hero. We're being fed lies. We his skepticism. He had begun to "read" island] in the name of King Ferdinand don't question the facts, we just absorb our class from the same critical distance and Queen Isabella of S~ain."~No information that is handed to us from which we hoped students would question is raised of Columbus's right because we trust the role models that approach textbooks: to assume control over a land which are handing them out. I still wonder..# we can't believe was already occupied. The account is Rebecca's collective text reflected what ourfirst grade teachers told us, so respectful of the Admiral that the general tone of disillusion with the why should we believe you? IF they students can't help but sense it approves textbooks: lied to us, why wouldn't you? If one of what is, quite simply, an act of naked Of course, the writers of the books book is wrong, why isn't another? imperialism. probably think it's harmless enough - What is your purpose in telling us about The book keeps us close to God and what does it matter who discovered how awful Chris was? What interest do the Church throughout its narrative. America, really; and besides, it makes you have in telling us the truth? What Upon returning from the New World, them feel good about America. But the is it you want from us? Columbus shows off his parrots and thought that I have been lied to all my They were wonderful questions. Indians. Immediately following the life about this, and who knows what Linda and I responded by reading them show, "the king and queen lead the way else, really makes me angry. (anonymously) to the entire class. We to a near-by church. There a song of asked students to take a few minutes to praise and thanksgiving is sung."7 Why Do We Do This? write additional questions and com- Intended or not, linking church and The reflections on the collective text ments on the Columbus activities or to Columbus removes him still further became the basis for a class discussion. imagine our response as teachers - from criticism. Repeatedly, students blasted their what was the point of our lessons? textbooks for giving readers inadequate, We hoped students would see that Students' Conclusions and ultimately untruthful, understand- the intent was to present a new way of I give students a week before I ask ings. While we didn't press to arrive at reading, and ultimately, of experiencing them to bring in their written critiques. definitive explanations for the omis- the world. Textbooks fill students with Students share their papers with one sions and distortions, we tried to information masquerading as final truth another in small groups. They take underscore the contemporary abuses of and then ask students to parrot back the notes towards what my co-teacher, historical ignorance. If the books wax information in end of chapter "check- Linda Christensen, and I call the romantic about Columbus planting the ups." The Brazilian educator Paulo "collective text": What themes recur in flag on island beaches and taking Freire calls it the "banking method": the papers and what important differ- possession of land occupied by naked students are treated as empty vessels ences emerge? What did they discover red-skinned Indians, what do young >> see REREADING THE PAST, page 27 Race, Povefly & the Environment Fall 1992 Page Twenty-Seven cc from REREADING THE PAST, page 26 Periodicals waiting for deposits of wisdom from 0 Res ur c e s Indieenow- Woman. a ~ublicationof the textbooks and teachers? We wanted to Indieenous" Women's Network. Comes with $15 tell students that they shouldn't neces- Publications voting membership or $25 supporting membership sarily trust the "authorities," but instead in the IWN. Write IWN. PO Box 174. Lake Elmo, MN Oren R. Lyons. John C. Mohawk. Vine 55042; 612fl77-3629. need to participate in their learning, Deloria. Jr. and others, Exiled in the Land of probing for unstated assumptions and the Free: Democracy, Indian Nations and the Newsfrom Indian Country, a twice-monthly unasked questions. U.S. Constitulion, 1992. Available fmm Clear newspaper of national Indian news. $24/year. Route Light Publishers. 823 Don Diego. Santa Fe. 2, Box 2900-A, Hayward, WI 54843. 7151634-5226. Josh asked what our "interest" was NM 87501. 505/989-9590. in this approach. It's a vital question. Native Peoples, a quarterly dedicated to the Linda and I see teaching as political Three excellent publication are available sensitive portrayal of the arts and lifeways of native action: we want to equip students to from the American Indian Program, Comell peoples of the Americas. $18/year. Order from Media University. 300 Caldwell Hall, Ithaca, NY build a truly democratic society. As Concepts Group, P.O. Box 36820. Phoenix, AZ 14583. 850676820,602/252-2236. Freire writes, to be an actor for social The Indian Roots of American Democracy, change one must "read the word and the an examination of the Iroquis' influence on the NACE Newsfrom the Grossroots, published by ~orld."~We hope that if a student development of American democracy, Special Native Americans for a Clean Environment $6/year. Constitution Bicentennial Edition. 1988. NACE. PO Box 1671, Tahlequah, OK 74465. maintains a critical distance from the View From the Shore. American Indian written word, then it's possible to perspectives on the Quincentenary, Columbus Soufhand Meso American Indian Information maintain that same distance from one's Quincentenary Edition, 1990. Center Newsletter, brings extensive news of indig- society: to stand back, look hard and Northern Indian Qunrterly,a magazine enous struggles in Central and South America. dedicated to the proposition that "there exists ask, "Why is it like this? How can I Published 2-4 timeslyear, $15 from SAIIC, PO Box an American Indian World." The quarterly 28703, Oakland, CA 94604; 5101834-4263. make it better?" seeks to promote a beuer understanding of Bill Bigelow teaches at Jefferson Native communities. California Indian Barketweavers Association High School in Portland, Oregon. This Newsletter, monitors environmental issues that touch Soldiers Falling Into Camp, written by piece is reprinted from Rethinking on basketweaving, such as herbicide use in forestry. Native authors and historians who documented 16894 China Flats Road. Nevada City, CA 95959. Columbus, a special edition of Rethink- the Crow and Lakota oral traditions of the ing Schools, available for $6 from 1001 Battle of Little Big Horn. Published in 1992 by Native American News, a publication of the Citizen E. Keefe Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53212. Affiliated Writers of America, W Box 343. Alert Native American Program. Major focus on Encampment. WY 82325. nuclear issues. W Box 5391. Reno, NV 89513; 7021 827-4200. Notes Andrew Maier. "Beating the MRS." A step- 'The Annals of America, Volume 1: 1493- by-step how-to manual on stopping Monitored Groups Retreivable Storage nuclear waste sites in your 1754, Discovering a New World, Encyclope- Indigenous Environmental Network. A national or reservation. Mountaineer Policy dia Britannica, 1968, pp. 2,4. coalition of Indigenous groups that provides support ZQuoted in Hans Koning, Columbus: His Institute, 264 High St, Morgantown, WV 26505. 304-296-8611. and expertise in local struggles. IEN, 19 Ellicott Enterprise, Monthly Review Press, 1976, Boulevard. Tonawonda. NY 14150. Midwest Region,

53-54. As Box 4851 Bemi(%. MN 56601. pp. Koning points out, none of Slop Radiating Native Lo&: End 500 Years the information included in his book is new. of lnj&tice, ~eal&Global Wounds Partici- It is available in Columbus's own journals pants Handbook published by the Westem Native Americans for a Clean Environment. and letters and the writings of the Spanish Shoshone Nation and the Global Anti-Nuclear Provides technical assistance and support in Native Alliance. An excellent and informative environmental struggles nationwide. NACE, PO Box priest, BartolomB de las Casas. 1671, Tahlequah, OK 74465; 91 81458-4322. 3Koning, pp. 84-85. resource on nuclear waste and Indian lands. Healing Global Wounds, Box 4082, Las Vegas, Koning, pp. 85-87. California Indians for Cultural and Environ- NV 89127. 702/386-8696. Sit's useful to keep in mind the distinc- mental Protection. Provide technical assistance in local struggles throughout Southern California and the tion between cynicism and skepticism. As Rethinking Colwnbus, a issue of Norman Diamond writes. "In an important Rethinking Schools focusing on education. Southwest. PO Box 324, Wamer Springs. CA 92086; respect, the two are not even commensu- offers 96 pages of resources and teaching ideas 619fl82-3703. rable. Skepticism says, 'you'll have to show for kindergarden through college. Available for . Alaska Indigenous Council for the Environment. me, otherwise I'm dubious'; it is open to s6from 1001 E. Keefe Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53212; 414/964-9646. An organizationof grassmts indigenous people who engagement and persuasion... Cynicism is a are concerned about protecting Alaska Native removed perspective, a renunciation of any lndigenowEnvironme, A environment *laski ICE. F'6 BOX 100454, Anchor- responsibility." See Norman Diamond, age North America Primer. A discussion and series * AK 99510' "Against Cynicism in Politics and Culture," of case studies of North American Indigenous Seventh Generation Fund. A national Native in Monthly Review, v. 28, June 1976, p. 40. environmental issues. 56 pp. Available for $6 Edna McCuire, The Story of American from the Indigenous Wornens Network, PO American intermediate granhnaking foundation Freedom, Macmillan Co, 1964, p. 24. dedicated to maintaining and promoting the uniqueness Box 174' Lake Elmo'MN 55042; 612fln- of Native people and nations. P.O. Box 2550, 3629. 7McCuire, p.26. McKinleyville, CA 95521; 7071839-1178. 8SeePaulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Bradley Angel, The Toxic Threcz to Indian Oppressed, Continuum, New York, 1970. International Indian Treaty Council. Advocates A Greenpeace Report (199 ). Details Paulo Freire and Donaldo Macedo. the toxic assault on Native America. Available for before the United and other Literacy: Reading the Word and the World, from Greenpeace, 139 Townsend, San intemaiional tribunals. 7 10 Clayton Street #1, San Bergin and Gamey, 1987. Francisco, CA 94109. Francisco, CA 94 117. Page Twenty-Eight Fa11 1992 Race, Poverty & the Environment

People." Perhaps then we can begin to tell our own stories outside the context I Didn't Celebrate of confrontation - begin to celebrate the miracle of survival of those remain- ing Native people, religions, cultures, Columbus Day languages, legal systems, medicine and by Suzan Shown Harjo For Native people, it is values. In the meantime, it should be time for 500 years of understood that, even in polite society, voices will be raised just to be heard at Columbus Day, never on Native suffering to come to an America's list of favorite holidays, all over the din of the celebrators. became somewhat tolerable as its end. In 199 1, Native people marked the significance diminished to little more The pressure is on for Native people 500th anniversary of 149 1, the good old than a good shopping day. But this to be window dressing for the days in our old countries. There was long year of Columbus hoopla will be Quincentennial events, to celebrate the life here before 1492 - although that tough to take amid the spending sprees evangelization of the Americas and to period of our history is called "pre- and horn blowing to tout a five-century denounce the "Columbus-bashers." We history" in the European and American feeding frenzy that has left Native will be asked to buy into the thinking educational systems - and there is life people and this red quarter of Mother that we cannot change history, and that after 1992. Earth in a state of emergency. For genocide and ecocide are offset by the We would like to turn our attention Native people, this half millennium of benefits of horses, cut-glass beads, pick- to making the next 500 years different land grabs and one-cent treaty sales has up trucks and microwave ovens. from the past ones; to enter into a time been no bargain. The participation of some Native of grace and healing. In order to do so, An obscene amount of money will people will be its own best evidence of we must first involve ourselves in be lavished this year on parades, the effectiveness of 500 years of educating the colonizing nations, which statutes and festivals. The Christopher colonization, and should surprise no are investing a lot not only in silly plans Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee one. But at the same time, neither but in serious efforts to further revise Commission planned to spend should anyone be surprised by Native history, to justify the bloodshed and megabucks to stage what it delicately people who mark the occasion by destruction, to deny that genocide was called "maritime activities" in Boston, splashing blood-red paint on a Colum- committed here and to revive failed San Francisco and other cities with no bus statute here or there. Columbus policies of assimilation as the answer to connection to the original rub-a-dub- will be hanged in effigy as a symbol of progress. dub lurch across the sea in search of the European invasion, and tried in These societies must come to grips India and gold. Funny hats will be tribunals. with the past, acknowledge responsibil- worn and new myths born. Little kids It would be great to fast-forward to ity for the present and do something will be told big lies in the name of 1993, which the United Nations has about the future. It does no good to education. declared the "Year of the Indigenous >> see NO CELEBRATION, page 21

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