Ancient Pueblo Peoples: Leave These Southwest Ruins Alone.

Op-Ed Contributor

Leave These Southwest Ruins Alone

Wren McDonald

By DAVID ROBERTS

Published: December 22, 2013

It has been called the best preserved ruin in the Southwest. 
Built in the 13th century by Ancient Pueblo peoples (Anasazi*), its 20-odd rooms splendidly fill an oval sandstone alcove in an obscure canyon on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. 

Nowadays, many people are not obeying the prohibition against entering the site nor obtaining the permit needed to hike the canyon — that of the Navajo Nation itself. 

The ruins and rock art left behind by the Ancient Ones all over the Southwest constitute, arguably, our country’s richest archaeological heritage. And they stand as mute testimony to a profound mystery — the sudden abandonment by the Ancestral Pueblo peoples of the whole of the Colorado Plateau in the years just before the beginning of the 14th century. 

Many of the places where the Anasazi once flourished are not only uninhabited today; they are so remote that it can take several days of backpacking through trail-less, tortuous canyons to reach them. 

Scattered about these ruins still lie broken pieces of painted pottery, chert flakes from which stone tools were made and corncobs filling granaries where the last dwellers left them. Under the dirt sleep the dead who made this world cohere. 

Yet no prehistoric sites in the U. S. are more fragile and vulnerable.  

A century and a half of looting and vandalism has severely damaged such monumental villages as Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde and the cave dwellings of Bandelier National Monument. 

By now, all that saves the still-pristine sites such as the one on the Navajo reservation is their obscurity and the difficulty of getting to them. 

With my fellow aficionados of the canyon country, I adhere to a rigid ethic: When you visit the ruins and rock art, disturb nothing, and if you write about them, be deliberately vague about where they are. 

The most ominous new trend is the proliferation of websites giving the GPS coordinates of those prehistoric ruins and rock art panels. Armed with those numbers, the most casual curiosity seeker need not even read a map: One can simply home in on the place with device in hand. 

And it is those folks, I believe, who are most likely to take home pots or arrowheads as souvenirs, or to damage the stone-and-adobe rooms as they clamber through them.

Can anything be done to reverse this trend? Americans are as fond of gizmos like the GPS as they are of guns. The Navajo Nation cannot be expected to post a year-round guard at that matchless ruin in the obscure canyon or at others in the remote reaches of the reservation. And government agencies cannot police the thousands of sites on federal land all over the Southwest. 

Educating the public may be the only hope. We can take heart in the virtual disappearance of some of the more rapacious crimes against Southwestern prehistory. In the early decades of the 20th century, for instance, ranchers and locals made a sport of using the petroglyphs for target practice. Their bullet scars are as indelible as the surreal humanoids carved so long ago into the sandstone.

David Roberts is the author of books about adventure and Western history, including “In Search of the Old Ones.”

A version of this op-ed appears in print on December 23, 2013, on page A29 of the New York edition with the headline:

 Leave These Southwest Ruins Alone.

 *The word Anaasází is Navajo for "Ancient Ones" or "Ancient Enemy".

 

For Op-Ed, follow @nytopinion and to hear from the editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, follow @andyrNYT.

Read more @ Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/23/opinion/leave-these-southwest-ruins-alone.html?nl=opinion&emc=edit_ty_20131223&_r=0

 

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Ancient Pueblo Peoples

Ancient Pueblo peoples or Ancestral Pueblo peoples were an ancient Native American culture centered on the present-day Four Corners area of the United States, comprising southern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado.

 

 

 Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde

 

 

"T" shaped doorway at Balcony House. 

Emmett Harryson, a Navajo, in doorway,1929

 

Doorways, Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico

They lived in a range of structures, including pit houses, pueblos, and cliff dwellings designed so that they could lift entry ladders during enemy attacks, which provided security. 

 
 Prehistoric roads and great houses in the San Juan Basin

Archaeologists still debate when this distinct culture emerged. The current consensus, based on terminology defined by the Pecos Classification, suggests their emergence around the 12th century BCE, during the archaeologically designated Early Basketmaker II Era. Beginning with the earliest explorations and excavations, researchers wrote that the Ancient Puebloans are ancestors of contemporary Pueblo peoples.

Archaeologists referred to one of these cultural groups as the Anasazi, although the term is not preferred by contemporary Pueblo peoples.  The word Anaasází is Navajo for "Ancient Ones" or "Ancient Enemy".  

Ancient Pueblo peoples Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Pueblo_Peoples

National Park Service

http://www.nps.gov/chcu/photosmultimedia/photogallery.htm

http://www.nps.gov/hfc/

George A. Grant photographer for National Park Service

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_A._Grant

Secret Bids Guide Hopi Indians’ Spirits Home

Joel Saget/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Alain Leroy, owner of an auction company in Paris, surrounded by sacred Hopi spirit masks.

By TOM MASHBERG

Published: December 16, 2013


The auction in Paris was set to move briskly, at about two items a minute; the room was hot and crowded, buzzing with reporters.

More than 100 American Indian artifacts were about to go on sale at the Drouot auction house, including 24 pieces, resembling masks, that are held sacred by the Hopi of Arizona. The tribe, United States officials and others had tried unsuccessfully to block the sale in a French court, arguing that the items were religious objects that had been stolen many years ago.

Now the Annenberg Foundation decided to get involved from its offices in Los Angeles. It hoped to buy all of the Hopi artifacts, plus three more sought by the San Carlos Apaches, at the Dec. 9 sale and return them to the tribes. To prevent prices from rising, the foundation kept its plan a secret, even from the Hopis, in part to protect the tribe from potential disappointment. Given the nine-hour time difference, the foundation put together a team that could work well into the night, bidding by phone in the auction in France.

The foundation had never done something like this before — a repatriation effort — and the logistics were tricky, to say the least.

Two staff members in Los Angeles, one a French speaker, were assigned to the job. The foundation also quietly arranged for a Paris lawyer, Pierre Servan-Schreiber, who had represented the Hopi pro bono in the court proceeding, to serve as lookout in the auction room.

He stood in the back, on the phone to the foundation. Whispering updates to him was Philip J. Breeden, a cultural attaché from the United States Embassy.

“It was intense, like a movie,” Mr. Servan-Schreiber said.

But camouflaging the role of the foundation was crucial.

“I knew nothing good would come out of it if the house knew there were people out to get the whole thing,” he said. “I was sure that would jack up the prices.”

The sale had been assembled by the auction house EVE with pieces from a variety of American tribes that were held by a number of French collectors, all of whom said they had owned the items for many years and had good title to them. Several collectors said they had been impressed by prices realized at an April auction of 70 Hopi artifacts.

The tribe had been angered by the earlier sale as well, which like this auction featured vibrantly decorated Hopi headdresses, known as Katsinam. The tribe, which had gone to court to block both sales, believes the items are not simply religious, but living entities with divine spirits.

Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, vice president and director of the foundation who lives in Paris, had followed the legal battle in the French news media. After the Hopi lost in court on Dec. 6, he went to the auction house to preview the artifacts, all of which are more than a century old.

“These are not trophies to have on one’s mantel,” Mr. Weingarten would say later. “They are truly sacred works for the Native Americans. They do not belong in auction houses or private collections.”

Mr. Weingarten had his California staff tally the presale estimates from the auction catalog and confirm that the objects were authentic. The staff members also became familiar with the Hopi belief system and built a database that would allow them to follow online the bidding on the objects they wanted. Mr. Weingarten approved a budget of $500,000 to $1 million to buy all 27 disputed Native American lots — the 24 masklike Hopi artifacts and three items of divine significance to the San Carlos Apache, also in Arizona. To do so he tapped into a discretionary fund set aside for individual projects.

“It was a leap-of-faith kind of moment for us,” said Leonard J. Aube, executive director of the foundation, which was founded by Walter H. Annenberg, the publisher, philanthropist and diplomat. “Not a lot of foundations are geared up for this kind of clandestine, late-night activity.”

At one point, the owner of the EVE auction house, Alain Leroy, said he had noticed that one phone bidder was grabbing up the disputed Hopi objects and told an employee to check into it. Reassured that the buyer had wired money ahead of time and was legitimate, he says he nonetheless grew frustrated and even muttered aloud that he hoped the secret bidder would “leave some for the others.”

Members of the Hopi tribe were also watching the sale online from Arizona. Unaware of the forces at work on their behalf, they said they became dispirited as item after item sold. Sam Tenakhongva, a cultural director for the Hopi, said when he turned off his lights at 2 a.m., he felt he was saying goodbye to the spirits embodied in the headdresses.

The foundation, however, had enjoyed marked success in the bidding. By the end of the auction, it had spent $530,695 and bought all but three of the 24 Hopi objects and the three other Apache artifacts that the foundation had sought.

And one of the three, a Hopi headdress featuring antelope antlers, had been bought by Mr. Servan-Schreiber on behalf of a couple, Marshall W. Parke, of the private equity firm Lexington Partners, and his wife, Véronique, who had instructed him to obtain what he could as a gift to the Hopis.

Mr. Servan-Schreiber said when it was his turn to bid, he took care to inform the foundation people, “so we wouldn’t start bidding against each other.”

The foundation lost out on only two items, both times, participants said, because of miscommunication. But they secured the auction’s priciest lot, a Hopi Crow Mother headdress that sold for $130,000. The event, which was over in a quick hour, generated $1.6 million in sales.

“It’s a good outcome for the Hopi but not the collectors, I suppose,” Mr. Leroy, the auction house owner, said of the foundation’s tally. The Hopi did not learn of their tribe’s good fortune until several hours later when the foundation sent an email alerting them to its clandestine purchases. Mr. Aube said the Annenberg Foundation, which focuses on civic and community projects, is consulting with the Hopi on how best to return the Katsinam.

The objects, surreal faces made from wood, leather, horsehair and feathers and painted in vivid reds, blues, yellows and oranges, cannot be encased in Bubble Wrap, for example, because it would be seen as suffocating the divine spirits. The Hopi have not identified their plans for these artifacts on their return, but they are not viewed as art objects or housed in museums. Typically, Katsinam are still used in spiritual ceremonies or are retired and left to disintegrate naturally.

For Mr. Tenakhongva, the fact that the Katsinam had to be bought and paid for, even by benefactors, was a bittersweet nod to the reality that some American Indian artifacts have become highly sought, expensive commodities.

“No one should have to buy back their sacred property,” he said. “But now at least they will be at home with us and they will go to rest.” 





Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/17/arts/design/secret-bids-guide-hopi-indians-spirits-home.html?pagewanted=2&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20131217

CBC Top Stories

 

Private eyes to look for alleged residential school abusers

The federal government is hiring private investigators to track down people accused of abusing students in Indian residential schools. 

 

The investigators will be deployed across Canada to find those who have been accused by former residential school students of abusing them, according to officials.

Those identified as alleged abusers and who are then found will be invited to participate in court hearings where they can defend themselves and promote reconciliation.

The search for alleged abusers is part of the federal government's Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, which has an Independent Assessment Process (IAP) that provides compensation to former students who claim serious sexual, physical or any form of abuse that caused psychological damage.

Read More:

Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/private-eyes-to-look-for-alleged-residential-school-abusers-1.2446143 

Black Elk quotes

“The first peace, which is the most important, is that which comes within the souls of people when they realize their relationship, their oneness with the universe and all its powers, and when they realize at the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit, and that its center is really everywhere, it is within each of us.”
― Black Elk


“The Holy Land is everywhere”
― Black Elk



“Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of all things. That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that one.”
― Black Elk, Black Elk Speaks


“Grown men can learn from very little children for the hearts of the little children are pure. Therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.”
― Black Elk



“Behold this day. It is yours to make.”
― Black Elk



“Any man who is attached to things of this world is one who lives in ignorance and is being consumed by the snakes of his own passions”
― Black Elk



“You have noticed that the truth comes into this world with two faces. One is sad with suffering, and the other laughs; but it is the same face, laughing or weeping. When people are already in despair, maybe the laughing face is better for them; and when they feel too good and are too sure of being safe, maybe the weeping face is better for them to see.”
― Black Elk



“All over the sky a sacred voice is calling your name.”
― Black Elk



“It is in the darkness of their eyes that men get lost”
― Black Elk


“There can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which... is within the souls of men.”
― Black Elk



“Peace will come to the hearts of men when they realize their oneness with the universe, It is every where.”
― Black Elk




“I did not see anything [New York 1886] to help my people. I could see that the Wasichus [white man] did not care for each other the way our people did before the nation's hoop was broken. They would take everything from each other if they could, and so there were some who had more of everything than they could use, while crowds of people had nothing at all and maybe were starving. This could not be better than the old ways of my people.”
― Black Elk



“While I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw;
For I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being....And I saw that it was holy”
― Black Elk


“Know the Power that is Peace.”
― Black Elk




“I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream...”
― Black Elk




“It is hard to follow one great vision in this world of darkness and of many changing shadows. Among those men get lost.”
― Black Elk, Black Elk Speaks



“When a vision comes from the thunder beings of the west, it comes with terror like a thunder storm; but when the storm of vision has passed, the world is greenier and happier; for wherever the truth of vision comes upon the world, it is like a rain. The world, you see, is happier after the terror of the storm.”
― Black Elk


“Every little thing is sent for something, and in that thing there should be happiness and the power to make happy. Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus we should do, for this was the wish of the
Grandfathers of the World.”
― Black Elk


“there can be no power in a square”
― Black Elk



“I knew that the real was yonder and that the darkened dream of it was here.”
― Black Elk


“And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream.”
― Black Elk


“At the center of the universe dwells the Great Spirit. And that center is really everywhere. It is within each of us.”
― Black Elk



“This they tell, and whether it happened so or not I do not know, but if you think about it, you can see that it is true.”
― Black Elk


“Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus we should do, for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World.”
― Black Elk




“The world, you see, is happier after the terror of the storm.”
― Black Elk






Black Elk Speaks


Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux
by John G. Neihardt



“Crazy Horse dreamed and went into the world where there is nothing but the spirits of all things. That is the real world that is behind this one, and everything we see here is something like a shadow from that one.”
― Black Elk


“You have noticed that the truth comes into this world with two faces. One is sad with suffering, and the other laughs; but it is the same face, laughing or weeping. When people are already in despair, maybe the laughing face is better for them; and when they feel too good and are too sure of being safe, maybe the weeping face is better for them to see.”
― Black Elk

“It is in the darkness of their eyes that men get lost”
― Black Elk


“I did not see anything [New York 1886] to help my people. I could see that the Wasichus [white man] did not care for each other the way our people did before the nation's hoop was broken. They would take everything from each other if they could, and so there were some who had more of everything than they could use, while crowds of people had nothing at all and maybe were starving. This could not be better than the old ways of my people.”
― Black Elk



“It is hard to follow one great vision in this world of darkness and of many changing shadows. Among those men get lost.”
― Black Elk



“When a vision comes from the thunder beings of the west, it comes with terror like a thunder storm; but when the storm of vision has passed, the world is greenier and happier; for wherever the truth of vision comes upon the world, it is like a rain. The world, you see, is happier after the terror of the storm.”
― Black Elk


“Every little thing is sent for something, and in that thing there should be happiness and the power to make happy. Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus we should do, for this was the wish of the
Grandfathers of the World.”
― Black Elk


“I knew that the real was yonder and that the darkened dream of it was here.”
― Black Elk


“And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream.”
― Black Elk, Black Elk Speaks: Being the Life Story of a Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux





Find quotes
Quotes By John G. Neihardt


LINK:
http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/3813941-black-elk-speaks

DEPP'S INTEREST IN WOUNDED KNEE CAUSES A STIRn

FILE - This file publicity image released by Disney shows Johnny Depp, right, as Tonto, in a scene from "The Lone Ranger." For months, questions have swirled about whether developers, activists or tribes would be willing to plunk down millions to buy the Wounded Knee National Landmark. Now there’s a new potential buyer in the mix: Johnny Depp. (AP Photo/Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Jerry Bruckheimer Inc., Peter Mountain, File)



SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) —
For months, questions have swirled about whether developers, activists or tribes would be willing to plunk down millions to buy a portion of the Wounded Knee National Historic Landmark. Now there's a new potential buyer in the mix: Johnny Depp.

But is the star of "The Lone Ranger" really preparing to be the one who buys the property where hundreds of Native Americans were killed? Or is it just the latest rumor in the contentious debate over the landmark's future?

Depp touched off the story when he told London's Daily Mail newspaper that he is working to buy a piece of the landmark on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation to give back to the tribe because it's important to their culture.
The site is where 300 Native American men, women and children were killed by the 7th Cavalry in 1890.

"I am doing my best to make that happen," he told the newspaper of a possible purchase.
"It's land they were pushed on to and then they were massacred there. It really saddens me."

Landowner James Czywczynski, whose family has owned the property since 1968, is trying to sell the 40-acre fraction of the historic landmark and another 40-acre parcel for $4.9 million. The two parcels of land have been assessed for $14,000. The sale has sparked outrage among tribal members who feel Czywczynski is trying to profit from the killing of their ancestors.

Since the interview was published last week, Depp's been quiet, and there's been no record of an offer made for the land. Depp's publicist did not respond to repeated calls and emails seeking comment, while Czywczynski, who has said his goal has always been to get the land back to the tribe, did not return calls.

Oglala Sioux President Bryan Brewer, whose tribe lives on Pine Ridge, said he has not been contacted by anyone in Depp's camp and was first notified of the actor's interest when someone from England called him for reaction. Brewer said he and a group of descendants of Wounded Knee survivors are hoping to meet with Czywczynski soon.

The possibility of the celebrity purchase is generating debate in Native American communities. Some question Depp's motives due to the timing of "The Lone Ranger" release, which debuted with a dismal $19.5 million in ticket sales on its opening weekend in early July. Depp, who plays the part of the Native American character Tonto in the film, has been accused of playing into stereotypes and misappropriating Native American culture. Tonto speaks broken English, wears a stuffed crow on his head and has a face painted with white and black stripes. Some Native Americans view the character as a parody.

Depp's also been criticized for saying that he does have Native American ancestry, but he's unsure if it's Cherokee or Creek.

"People I've talked to think he's in it for redemption because he's gotten bad reviews," said Oglala Sioux tribal member Dawn Moves Camp, 30.

Besides its proximity to the burial grounds, the land includes the site of a former trading post burned down during the 1973 Wounded Knee uprising, in which hundreds of American Indian Movement protesters occupied the town built at the massacre site. The 71-day standoff that left two tribal members dead and a federal agent seriously wounded is credited with raising awareness about Native American struggles and giving rise to a wider protest movement.

Depp's purchase of the land would be an easy answer for the tribe, Moves Camp said, but it would also be dehumanizing.

"It's also buying into the idea that our ancestry and history have a price tag on them," she said, later adding: "We have pride too. We'd rather it be done in an honorable way. I hope our tribe finds some way to buy the land back without outside help."

For some descendants of those killed in the massacre, how the tribe gets the land doesn't matter. What does is that the tribe gets it back, said Joseph Brings Plenty, a former chairman of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe who had several ancestors killed in the 1890 massacre.

Although the land sits on the Pine Ridge reservation, many of the descendants of the massacre victims and survivors are members of several different Lakota tribes.

"Honestly, I don't think it would be a bad thing if Johnny Depp would purchase it with the cooperation of the tribes," he said. What's most important, he said, is that the land is preserved and an accurate account of what happened is shared with visitors through a monument.

Tribal members have disagreed over the years about how to commemorate the lives lost at Wounded Knee. While there is a small monument listing some of the names of those killed in 1890, some tribal members think a larger statue or structure is needed to educate the public.

Sonny Skyhawk, a Sicangu Lakota actor and founder of American Indians in Film and Television, said although he was not a fan of Depp playing Tonto in "The Lone Ranger," purchasing the land would be a "great opportunity" for Depp to step forward and do something for Native Americans.

"If it's from the heart, we accept it. If it's not from the heart, we'll accept it anyways because it's such a meaningful undertaking when you look at the significance of what the sacred ground next to it is," he said.

___

Associated Press reporters Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Ariz., and Susan Montoya Bryan Albuquerque, N.M., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Kristi Eaton on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kristieaton

 Source:  http://bigstory.ap.org/article/depp-interest-wounded-knee-causes-stir

Cutbacks on 'The Rez'

Editors' Picks BUSINESS  VIDEO: Cutbacks on 'The Rez' At Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, one of the poorest parts of the United States, the budget cuts known as sequestration have slashed millions of federal dollars in funding.  Related Article Link: http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2013/07/13/todaysheadlines/index.html

Cutbacks on ‘The Rez’: At Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, one of the poorest parts of the United States, the budget cuts known as sequestration have slashed millions of federal dollars in funding.

By ANNIE LOWREY

Published: July 12, 2013


Multimedia
Slide Show

Native American Reservations and Sequestration





Pain on the Reservation
By ANNIE LOWREY



PINE RIDGE, S.D. — The Red Cloud-Bissonette family needs a new trailer. Frank, who is disabled, and Norma, his wife, are members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe who live on the sprawling grasslands of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. 

Despite their constant efforts to patch the seams of one of their trailers that was hauled here in 1988, rot and mold continue to climb up the walls.

The Red Cloud-Bissonettes are one of about 1,500 families on a waiting list at a local housing improvement program that was recently told that it is being shut down. 

“These are real, real low-income people,” said Andre Janis, the housing program’s director.

“If we go away, a lot of people are going to be without these services completely.”

And it is just one of dozens of cuts the tribe is stomaching, many of them caused by the mandatory federal budget reductions known as sequestration. 

When Congress approved legislation for the budget cuts, which went into effect on March 1, they specifically exempted many programs that benefit low-income Americans, including Medicaid, tax credits for working families and food stamps. 

But virtually none of the programs aiding American Indians — including money spent through the departments of interior, education, health and human services and agriculture — were included on that list.

As a result, the cuts are starting to deliver yet another blow to hundreds of the United States’ most deeply impoverished communities.

“More people sick; fewer people educated; fewer people getting general assistance; more domestic violence; more alcoholism,” said Richard L. Zephier, the executive director of the Oglala Sioux tribe. “That’s all correlated to the cuts from sequestration.”

On the Pine Ridge reservation, home to around 40,000 members of the tribe, the unemployment rate is estimated at as much as 85 percent. 

Shannon County, home to the town of Pine Ridge, has a per-capita income of less than $8,000. The local economy is not just reliant on transfers from the federal government; it in no small part consists of them.

Over all, the tribe’s budget is about $80 million a year, of which $70 million comes from federal sources, said Mason Big Crow, the tribe’s treasurer. The tribe still did not know how much money it would lose, waiting on word from Washington, he said, but the number would be in the millions.

The tribe is cutting the size of a program that delivers meals to the elderly, many of whom are housebound. The school budget, Head Start program and health service are shrinking, too. The tribe has no choice but to cut everywhere, Mr. Big Crow said.

Despite the reservation’s extraordinary problems with crime — alcohol and methamphetamine abuse are rampant, many of the tribe’s youth are involved in gangs — its police force is absorbing more than a million dollars in cuts.

“We’re cut to the bone,” Ron Duke, the police chief, said. “Right now, we’re being reactive to things.

It’s really hard to be proactive when you don’t have enough staff. 

We’re just constantly answering calls.”

The force has already absorbed a cut of more than 6 percent, he said. This autumn, it will cut another 8 percent. Chief Duke has let 14 staff members go. 

He said that at any given time, the reservation had only nine patrol cars on duty to cover an area the size of Connecticut, exhausting his officers as they chased down calls.

With the cuts, the poverty trap that has plagued the reservation for generations looks certain to worsen, with yet more families mired in deprivation, reservation officials and residents said.

“Imagine how people feel who can’t help themselves,” said Robert Brave Heart Sr., the executive vice president of the Red Cloud Indian School on the reservation. “It’s a condition that a lot of people believe is the result of the federal government putting them in that position, a lot of people are set up for failure. 

People have no hope and no ability whatsoever to change their fate in life. You take resources that they have, that are taken away, it just adds to the misery.”

While the effect of sequestration on the overall economy has been diffuse, with the largest impact falling on the military and companies dependent on Pentagon spending, nowhere has the sting been felt more severely than on American Indian reservations.

There was a time when the Bureau of Indian Affairs was “a bunch of federal employees providing direct services to tribes,” said Kevin Washburn, the assistant secretary of the interior in charge of the bureau. 

“Now, a big part of the way we provide services to Indian tribes is that we contract with tribal governments, so they’re providing the services to citizens.”

The bureau, he said, had no choice but to pass the cuts directly to the tribes. “Tragic consequences are occurring,” Mr. Washburn said.

The tribes contend that the federal government does not just disburse money to them through federal programs. It meets its nation-to-nation treaty obligation to provide certain services to American Indians.

Viewed in that light, a cut is not just a cut but a broken legal promise, and one in a long line of them.

“The tribes in this country, the federally recognized American Indians and Alaska Natives, have the world’s first prepaid health plan,” said Stacy Bohlen, the executive director of the National Indian Health Board, an advocacy organization based in Washington that has argued vocally against the cuts to Indian health programs.

“They paid for it with their lives, and their land, and their culture, and the forced abrogation of their future.”

But on the reservations, a sense of resignation has set in.

“It’s one more reminder that our relationship with the federal government is a series of broken promises,” said the Rev. George Winzenburg, the Catholic priest who serves as president of the Red Cloud Indian School.

“It’s a series of underfunded projects and initiatives that we were told would be funded to allow us to live at the quality of life that other Americans do.”

Read More:

Link:  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/13/business/economy/us-budget-cuts-fall-heavily-on-american-indians.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130713

American Indian children are the country's most at-risk population,

OPINION | OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Broken Promises By BYRON L. DORGAN I believe that American Indian children are the country's most at-risk population, and sequestration is hurting them even more.

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/indexes/2013/07/11/todaysheadlines/index.html

Bill Reid

CARVED BY BILL REID
UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY


Link: http://ravenlifebycarmenmandel.blogspot.ca/2011/02/mythology.html

Native Art

Link:

http://nativeamericanencyclopedia.com/george-catlin-and-his-indian-gallery/

http://nativeamericanencyclopedia.com/george-catlin-and-his-indian-gallery/

Pray to the morning sun.

Long ago, when all people and animals spoke the same tongue, there was only one tobacco plant in all the world. From far and wide, did they come for their tobacco. All was well, until the greedy Dagul’ku geese stole the plant and flew far to the south with it. 

Read more the Legend of Hummingbird brings back Tobacco http://bit.ly/14y7i31 ‪#‎NativeLegends‬

Trixter

Source: https://www.facebook.com/native.encyclopedia

BE MINDFUL NOW

LOST

Stand still.
The trees ahead and the bushes beside you Are not lost.
Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you,
If you leave it you may come back again, saying Here.

No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still.
The forest knows Where you are.
You must let it find you.

An old Native American elder story rendered into modern English by David Wagoner, in The Heart Aroused - Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America by David Whyte, Currency Doubleday, New York, 1996.

Johnny Cash - Apache Tears

Uploaded May 15, 2008


from "Bitter Tears"

Hoof prints and foot prints deep ruts the wagons made
The victor and the loser came by here
No head stones but these bones bring Mascalero death moans
See the smooth black nuggets by the thousands laying here
Petrified but justified are these Apache tears
Dead grass dry roots hunger crying in the night
Ghost of broken hearts and laws are here
And who saw the young squaw they judged by their whiskey law
Tortured till she died of pain and fear
Where the soldiers lay her back are the black Apache tears
The young men the old men the guilty and the innocent
Bled red blood and chilled alike with fears
The red men the white men no fight ever took this land
So don't raise the dust when you pass here
They're sleeping and in my keeping are these Apache tears

lyrics written by Peter LaFarge
(son of Oliver LaFarge, familiar to us now for "Laughing Boy")

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_La...
...I could keep adding link after link for background and references, but here's an example of tech being a wonderful thing: you can too :)


Category - Music

License - Standard YouTube License


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4StneDiV30

Paul Revere & The Raiders - Indian Reservation (Cherokee People)

"Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall

Uploaded on Oct 27, 2009


Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: 

Why does my foot hurt? 

In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world's greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.

Isolated by the most savage terrain in North America, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico's deadly Copper Canyons are custodians of a lost art. For centuries they have practiced techniques that allow them to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner while enjoying every mile of it. 

Their superhuman talent is matched by uncanny health and serenity, leaving the Tarahumara immune to the diseases and strife that plague modern existence. 

With the help of Caballo Blanco, a mysterious loner who lives among the tribe, the author was able not only to uncover the secrets of the Tarahumara but also to find his own inner ultra-athlete, as he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country pitting the tribe against an odd band of Americans, including a star ultramarathoner, a beautiful young surfer, and a barefoot wonder. 

With a sharp wit and wild exuberance, McDougall takes us from the high-tech science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultrarunners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to the climactic race in the Copper Canyons. 

Born to Run is that rare book that will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that the secret to happiness is right at your feet, and that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.

Christopher McDougall visits Google's Mountain View, CA headquarters to speak as part of the Authors@Google series.


Category - People & Blogs

License - Standard YouTube License







Authors@Google: Christopher McDougall

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_usxrvKvus

Insight into the Tarahumaras life, Mexico

Published on Jul 24, 2012


The text at the start is how a priest in 1600 descripted the Tarahumaras.

The Indians "Tarahumara" live at great distance, separated from each other and scattered. They prefer to live in ravines and canyons and in cold, inhospitable mountains where they have dwellings.
Lupe and Miguel raised five childern (three boys, two girls) in their cave dwelling with a wide open view of the Batopilas valley.
Now in their 50's, they occupy their time with daily chores and keeping the fire of the cooking stove burning to prepare food for the frequent visits of their childern who live scattered among the mountains.

Here is a good link:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/200...


Category
Travel & Events

License
Standard YouTube License

Link: http://youtu.be/67WuBLHBd8g

The Tarahumara Indians - A Hidden Tribe of Superathletes Born to Run

Uploaded on Jun 4, 2010

Nestled in northern Mexico and the canyons of the Sierra Madre Occidental is a small tribe of indigenous people known as the Tarahumara. They call themselves Rarámuri, loosely translated as "running people," "foot-runner," "swift of foot," or "he who walks well." They are known for evading the Spanish conquerors in the sixteenth century and keeping their cave-dwelling culture alive and secluded. They are also known for their long distance running and their superior health, not displaying the common health issues of "modern" societies.

A recent National Geographic study (Nov. 2008) states: "When it comes to the top 10 health risks facing American men, the Tarahumara are practically immortal: Their incidence rate is at or near zero in just about every category, including diabetes, vascular disease, and colorectal cancer...Plus, their supernatural invulnerability isn't just limited to their bodies; the Tarahumara have mastered the secret of happiness as well, living as benignly as bodhisattvas in a world free of theft, murder, suicide, and cruelty."

So what is the Tarahumara story and what can we learn from them? How can we use their history as an example for our own primal living? For some they may not be an example of what is considered primal, but they are one of the closest we can find in today's world.

http://liveprimal.com/2009/07/tarahum...


Category- Education

License - Standard YouTube License




Link: http://youtu.be/FnwIKZhrdt4

Lakota National Anthem

Uploaded on Sep 13, 2010

From The Stronghold

Cante Tenza Okolakiciye also known as the Strong Heart Warrior Society of the Lakota Nation is an ancient Lakota warrior society as well as a broad-based civil rights movement that works to protect, enforce and restore treaty rights, civil rights, and sovereignty of Native people and their communities across Turtle Island. In addition to activist efforts to protect the land and people, each year Cante Tenza collects and freely distributes shoes, winter coats, school supplies, food, and other support to Oglala Lakota elders, children and families.

• Category

  People & Blogs

• License

  Standard YouTube License

Native Americans (Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee)

Dec 29, 2009

Native Americans - Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee - Speech & Soundtrack --- The Video Images Are Rightfully Belongs to HBO

• Category

  Music

• License

  Standard YouTube License

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

• Artist

AMAZING GRACE IN CHEROKEE - NATIVE AMERICAN

Amazing Grace

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear

The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,

I have already come;

'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,

And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promised good to me,

His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be,

As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,

And mortal life shall cease,

I shall possess, within the veil,

A life of joy and peace.

The world shall soon dissolve like snow,

The sun refuse to shine;

But God, who called me here below,

Shall be forever mine.

When we've been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We've no less days to sing God's praise

Than when we'd first begun.

Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/110608#ixzz2UMLOGyYY