Native Village
Youth and Education News
April 1, 2007 Issue 177 Volume 4
"A
vision without execution is nothing but a hallucination."
Kim Krokodilo, Elk Valley
Rancheria
Study of young American Indians found hypertension raised risk for enlarged
heart
Recently,
American Indians took part in the Strong Heart Study, which investigated heart
disease and risk factors in 13 American Indian communities. The study included
1,944 American Indians whose average age was 26.5. Of the participants, 294
(15%) had hypertension and 675 (34%) had prehypertension. "The frequency of
heart abnormalities in these younger participants is similar to that found in
the middle-age or adult population of hypertensives who are at risk for adverse
events," said Dr. Richard Devereux from Cornell University. "The findings are a
wake-up call for increased preventive measures and to head off heart disease
with lifestyle modifications, such as reducing caloric intake and increasing
physical activity in this population."
Find your heart with an animated stethoscope:
http://www.smm.org/heart/heart/steth.htm
http://www.cbc.ca/
Marysville students get a dose of
prevention
Washington:
Diabetes, which has no cure, is the fifth-deadliest disease in the United
States. Almost 75% of the 5th grade students in a Quil Ceda Elementary School
classroom know someone with diabetes. One student, who has eight cousins with
diabetes, also has a grandmother who struggles with the disease. "I'm really
scared," the student said. "I don't want that to happen to me." Two retired
educators, Irene and Carl Takeshita, recently spoke about diabetes prevention
to the school's students. They led the children in drills that had them name the
risk factors for diabetes, such as:
Being overweight;
Not getting enough exercise;
Eating too much fatty food;
Not eating enough fruits and vegetables.
"You're so important to us," Irene Takeshita told the students. "We want to
make sure you stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible." The
Takeshitas first developed their diabetes-prevention program in their native
Hawaii. Since launching the program in 1999, the Takeshitas have presented their
diabetes-fighting message to 3,000 students and 2,000 parents. Their aim is to
reach elementary school students, where they feel they can have the biggest
impact on changing kids' behaviors.
http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/07/02/27/100loc_a1health001.cfm
Youth Custody Rate High Among
Aboriginals,
Saskatchewan: Saskatchewan youths are spending less time in custody -- except
for aboriginal offenders. Statistics Canada's latest report (2004-05) found that
aboriginal teens made up only 19% of the province's youth, but made up about 75%
of all youth in custody of the youth corrections system. Hirsch Greenberg,
professor at the University of Regina, said the report showed alternative
methods of helping youth appear to work overall, especially on First Nations
youth. One of the mandates of the Youth Criminal Justice Act is to decrease
reliance on incarceration and move towards more community-based tactics for
dealing with crime.
H-Amindian Listserve
URBAN INDIANS DENIED HEALTH CARE
California:
The Indian Health Service oversees 33 nationwide clinics that provide free or
discounted medical services to city-dwelling Indians. Federal law requires
these clinics to serve all patients of Indian ancestry; however, many clinics
are now refusing to serve Native patients who can't document their federal
tribal status. Once clinic in Santa Barbara has refused about 200 patients.
Clinic chairman, Martin Young, said a
2006 BIA letter told the clinic
to stop offering free health services to patients without bureau identification
card or who come from unrecognized tribes. While the BIA denied telling Santa
Barbara to withhold services, clinic managers in Tucson, Wichita, and Boston
received similar orders. ''IHS is suddenly saying that you can't serve this
Indian even though he looks Indian, and his family says he's Indian and has all
of this history of being Indian, but he doesn't have this piece of paper,'' said
Susette Schwartz, director of the Hunter Health Clinic in Wichita. ''We need
some consistency.'' Senator Byron Dorgan, chairman of the Senate Committee on
Indian Affairs, said tribal members who lack federal documentation should still
be treated at urban clinics. ''We shouldn't be having people turned away from
these health clinics because they don't have a piece of paper,'' said Dorgan.
''I'm very frustrated with what's going on. This is a matter of life or death
for American Indians, particularly children and the elderly.''
american_indians_news_source_tulanappes_list@yahoogroups.com
Wealthy Japanese man gives mansions to
Hawaiian homeless
Genshiro
Kawamoto, a Japanese real estate mogul, has handed over 8 of his 22
multimillion-dollar homes to low-income Native Hawaiian families. One of those
families is Doris-Ann Kahales and her five daughters. Kahale became homeless
two years ago when her landlord raised her rent from $800 to $1,200. Her salary
as a customer service representative did not cover the extra expense, so the
Kahales moved out to stay with family before moving to a homeless shelter. "What
we need to do is appreciate," Kahale said. "As fast as we got it, it could
disappear." Kahale's new house is worth nearly $5,000,000. Her family can live
in the home up to ten years.
http://www.kare11.com/news/national/national_article.aspx?storyid=247936
Potato Chips
New
York: As a world food, potatoes are second in human consumption only to rice.
And as thin, salted, crisp chips, they are America's favorite snack food.
Potato chips were created in 1853 by Native American chef, George Crum, at an
elegant resort in New York. Crum was irritated with a customer who returned two
plates of French fries because they were "too thick" Crum decided to rile the
guest by producing French fries too thin and crisp to skewer with a fork. The
plan backfired: the guest was ecstatic over the browned, paper-thin potatoes.
Other diners began requesting Crum's potato chips, and soon the dish became
known as Saratoga Chips, a house specialty. In 1860 George opened his own
restaurant near Saratoga Lake. Within a few years, he was catering to wealthy
clients including William Vanderbilt, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, and Henry
Hilton. Crum died in 1914 at the age of 92.
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/potatochips.htm
Family lines keep an ancient skill alive
Alaska: In
Yup'ik, they're called a mingquetuli -- "skin sewer," one who makes clothing
from animal pelts. It's a skill passed in Native Alaskan families from mother to
daughter, usually during childhood. One skilled mingquetuli is Carrie Anvil-Kiana,
who listened when her mother said: "You must learn to make mukluks and
parkas for your family. " Carrie, now 76, made parkas, hats, mittens, and mulkuks for her six children using furs harvested in Alaska as well as calfskin
and the pelts of nutria, rabbit and squirrel. Seam quality is
the true measure of a mingquetuli, Anvil-Kiana said, showing off a parka's neat,
fur-free seams. "If there's hair caught in these seams, we say she's a kelugpak,"
meaning an inexpert skin sewer. Carrie also said that people were known by
their parkas. Each region had a specific style or decoration no other family
could copy. Customs aren't as strong now; people generally incorporate what
they like in their parkas, although the green and red tassels Anvil uses are Yup'ik colors. "Red for blood and green for life," Anvil said. "But for kids,
you can use whatever colors. " Anvil and other Yup'ik women are passing on
their skin sewing, crafts and beading in weekly classes for young women.
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/story/8686167p-8583054c.html
2007 Fellowship SAIA Awards
The
Southwestern Association for Indian Arts has announced the recipients of its
2007 Fellowship awards for Native American artists. The recipients are:
Roger Amerman
(Choctaw
Nation of Oklahoma) for beadwork/diverse arts.
Diane Douglas-Willard
(Haida) for
weaving (basketry).
Ira Lujan
(Taos Pueblo) for sculpture (glass).
Beverly Rose Moran/Bear King
(Standing Rock Sioux) for beadwork/diverse arts;
Penny Singer
(Dine) for diverse arts (clothing design).
http://www.swaia.org/cnewsd.php?id=157
Jennifer Redbird's New Movie to Screen
at Delray Beach Film Festival
Florida:
MORNING SONG WAY, a powerful action/drama, has won 11 film festival awards
including Best Drama, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, and Best Actress. The story
is about Katy Sage, a young girl who witnesses a murder, then hides in the
mountains with her great Uncle, an old time medicine man. She learns the
traditions and wants to help her people, but the murderers, drug dealers, and
the government stand in her way. Actress Jennifer Redbird, who plays 10-year-old
Katy, won the Rising Star Award in Columbia. Jennifer has become an icon among
tweenies and elementary school children. She is most popular among Native
Americans. Tanya Busytail, 13, is a Cherokee and says its probably because
Redbird is a real person "that people can identify with, particularly Indians,
and who isn't about fashion, glitz, parties, and things that really don't mean
anything in the long run like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton and Brittany Spears
appear to be." Redbird who walked over twenty miles per day during filming,
lives in a rural mountain area and still goes to public school.
http://www.standardnewswire.com/news/28244748.html
SAMPSON SUPPORT
Indiana:
Kelvin Sampson, a Lumbee tribal member, is head coach for the Indiana Hoosiers
men's basketball team. When the Hoosiers played in the 2007 NCAA playoffs,
Sampson’s father, Ned Sampson, traveled with his son to the Sacramento regionals.
Ned, who coached Kelvin in high school in Pembroke, N.C., became famous in 1958
for fighting the Ku Klux Klan in a North Carolina field. Ned Sampson was
ambushing the Klan along with a hundred of Lumbee Indians, the Native American
tribe that his family belonged to. “He is a man that stood up for what he
believed in,” Kelvin said. “My father (is) not only a better coach than I’ll
ever be, but a better man.”
http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/2007/mar/16/white_could_be_problem_bruins/
NATIVE AMERICAN PROSPECTS HOLD KEY
BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT
Less than 50
Native Americans have competed in the Major Leagues since 1897. At long last,
the drought of notable Native American hopefuls in MLB may be over. One current
player is Joba Chamberlain, Winnebago, a starting pitcher for a New York Yankees
minor league team. Another is Jacoby Ellsbury, whose mother is full Navajo and
member of the Colorado River tribe. Ellsbury is in the Boston Red Sox minor
league organization. And a recent former major leaguer, Bobby Madritsch, is of
Lakota Sioux heritage. He pitched for the Seattle Mariners in 2004 - 2005
before being traded to Kansas City. Many believe the lack of college and
professional Native American athletes is because Native culture encourages group
participation more than individual achievement. Also, many coaches or
professional scouts have been told Native athletes can't assimilate on the
college or professional level. Moreover, coaches worry about academic
eligibility of these prospective students. Both Chamberlain and Ellsbury find
themselves in unique positions to help foster a new dialog between scouts,
coaches, MLB and the Native American community. Ron Volesky, a Lakota Sioux,
Harvard graduate, and SD State representative agrees. “I think coaches might
find out that the reservations contain some extraordinary athletes," he said.
Facts:
The
first Native American player was James Madison Toy, of partial Indian ancestry,
who played in the American Association League in 1897.
Toy preceded Louis Sockalexis, the first officially acknowledged American Indian
who competed for the Cleveland Spiders from 1897-1899.
Charles Albert “Chief” Bender is the sole Native American elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame, although Jim Thorpe was perhaps the best-known Native
American player of the 20th century as he excelled in multiple sports.
Many well-known Hall of Famers have part Native American ancestry such as Johnny
Bench, Willie Stargell and Early Wynn.
http://www.amhersttimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4509&Itemid=27
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