Native Village News Articles for
Grandmother Margaret Behan
[Below are several articles
selected from Native Village News publications housed in our archives. The
Grandmothers say that in the Spirit World, all time exists at once. To remind us
of this, each article's publication date is omitted.]
For more
information about these and other news articles, please visit:
News Archives.]
Project teaches Native culture
Montana:
The Big Sky Science Partnership is a National Science Foundation program aimed
at integrating science with an understanding of Native people. Big Sky unites
K-8 schools and science education leaders at Salish Kootenai College, the
University of Montana and Montana State University. Equally involved are tribal
consultants from the Flathead, Northern Cheyenne and Crow reservations and the
Montana State Office of Public Instruction. Iris Pretty Paint from UM served as
an adviser to the project. She is helping teachers, tribal members and
professors establish relationships and find ways to integrate culture into their
classrooms. “It's not easy to talk about culture,” said Pretty Paint, a citizen
of the Blackfeet Nation. “But they have to understand we are a people of a
place. We all have our places and that makes us unique. You can't take one
tribe's place and teach about science and think that will apply to everybody.
You have to have that context of their community, their history. If you are
going to deal with the Blackfeet, you have to know their treaties, about their
sovereignty, what kind of relationships they with the state. How do they view
science? What's the translation?” Pretty Paint posed this question to teachers
who will soon be returning to their classrooms: “If you don't ever learn other
learning styles, whose problem is it that they're not getting science?”
The Big Sky partnership:
http://www.umt.edu/bssp/\
'Wolf'
is a labor of love for local filmmakers
The
latest venture by filmmakers Michael Rosen and Sharon Howard is "Wolf: An
Ancient Spirit Returns" Both hope the documentary will air around the country.
"We're not expecting to get our money back," Howard admits. "We've just been
wanting to do a wolf show for 20 years." Filming took them to Wyoming, Utah,
Minnesota and Yellowstone National Park, where gray wolves were reintroduced in
1995. The park is now home to 14 packs, and a recent study shows they actually
provide food for the park's other animals. Still, the wolf remains one of the
most mysterious, romanticized and misunderstood creatures. "If we couldn't have
restored wolves to Yellowstone, as one of the wealthiest nations in the world,
what kind of message would that have sent to other nations who struggle with
their economies, and at the same time, struggle with their wildlife issues?"
said Doug Smith, Yellowstone's wolf recovery leader. "Wolf" also calls upon
Arapaho medicine man Mark Soldier Wolf and his son Annin to explain what the
creatures mean to Native American culture.
Sundance
Film Festival to feature 11 works by Native filmmakers
The
Sundance Film Festival has announced the 11 Native American and indigenous films
to be featured in this year's Festival program, including seven world premieres
and one North American premiere. The Festival takes place January 20-30, 2005
Screening in the U.S. Documentary Competition is:
TRUDELL / U.S.A
(Director: Heather Rae - Western Cherokee; Screenwriter: B. Russell Friedenberg)—
A chronicle of legendary Native American poet/activist John Trudell's travels,
spoken word performances and politics. World Premiere.
Screening in World Documentary Competition is:
DHAKIYARR VS. THE KING /
Australia (Directors: Allan Collins and Tom Murray - Willi Willi Nation)—
Seventy years after his controversial murder trial and subsequent disappearance,
an Australian Aboriginal's descendants seek to restore what was denied him: his
honor. North American Premiere.
Screening in American Spectrum is:
5TH WORLD / U.S.A.
(Director: BlackHorse Lowe - Dine; Screenwriter: BlackHorse Lowe)—
Two young Navajos hitchhike through their ancestral lands on a journey home.
World Premiere.
Screening in the Shorts Competition are:
FROM CHERRY ENGLISH /
Canada (Director: Jeff Barnaby - Mi'gMaq)—
A surrealist allegory about the loss of language and identity to the anonymity
of an urban wasteland.
GOODNIGHT IRENE / U.S.A.
(Director: Sterlin Harjo - Creek/Seminole Nations)—
Three Seminole patients share some laughs and poignant truths as they wait for
treatment at the local Indian hospital. World Premiere.
NATCHILIAGNIAQTUGUK AAPAGALU – SEAL HUNTING WITH DAD / U.S.A.
(Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean - Inupiaq)—
An Inuit father teaches his son to hunt seals on the frozen Arctic Ocean off the
northern coast of Alaska. World Premiere.
PLAINS EMPTY /
Australia (Director: Beck Cole - Warramungu Nation)—
A woman adjusts to life in a deserted mining camp all alone…or is she? World
Premiere.
PURA LENGUA (ALL TONGUE) /
U.S.A. (Director: Aurora Guerrero - Xicana)—
Reina is a young urban Xicana searching for ways to heal from cold deceptions of
the heart and stolen dreams.
TAMA TU
/
New Zealand (Director: Taika Waititi - Te Whanau a Apanui)—
A battalion of WWII Maori soldiers impatiently wait for gunfire to cease while
in a bombed out building.
Screening in the Special Screenings are:
A THOUSAND ROADS /
U.S.A.
(Director: Chris Eyre - Cheyenne/Arapaho Tribes)—
The signature film for the National Museum of the American Indian features
portraits of four indigenous people living their lives in the far flung lands of
Alaska, Navajo Nation, Manhattan and Peru. World Premiere.
GREEN BUSH /
Australia (Director: Warwick Thornton - Kaytetye Nation)—
An Australian Aboriginal DJ realizes that his job at the country radio station
is about more than just playing music. World Premiere.
Bambi
in Arapaho
Bambi
in Arapaho is the result of an effort between The Walt Disney company and the
Arapaho Nation to preserve the endangered Arapaho language. The film was
recorded in Arapaho to help teach Arapaho youngsters their tribal language.
(Currently, the youngest Arapaho fluent in the language is 45 years old.) The
voices are provided by 20 children and 10 adults from the small Arapaho
community of Ethete, Wyoming. Never before has a feature-length children's
animated movie been dubbed into an Indian language.
Bambi in Arapaho: http://www.uwyo.edu/wch/bambi.htm
Clutching
to a culture: Arapaho reinvigorate tribe
Wyoming:
Arapaho tribal leaders, are working to return traditional knowledge to their
people:
The tribe is considering immersion programs for 3- and 4-year-olds, the fastest
language learners. This will give them a solid language base during the rest of
their academic career;
Arapaho language is part of the curriculum at Wyoming Indian elementary, junior
high and high schools;
This fall, Arapaho Charter High School opened. It's designed to combat high
dropout rates among reservation students. The school will focus on Arapaho
language, culture and values and will use more hands-on and individual teaching
styles to keep teens interested in education;
The Arapaho Council of Elders works to educate tribal members about traditional
skills, from daily radio broadcasts of
Arapaho language lessons to subsidized courses in language and nearly lost
skills such as meat cutting;
Wind River Tribal University hosts immersion language camps for adults. Included
are elements of religion and culture;
The Wind River Indian Reservation has several programs to combat its social
troubles, including the Indian Health Service Center, Bureau of Indian Affairs
Social Services and an Intergenerational Family Resource Help Center.
Innovators
of Our Time
Every
genius, said Danish writer Isak Dinesen, is doomed. She meant that geniuses, or
those touched with a spark of it, had very little choice in life. Each one, she
said, was powerless "in the face of his own powers," compelled to follow a
certain path and to do a particular thing with instinctive flair and
originality. The Smithsonian Magazine recently chose 35 innovators who make a
difference, a contribution, and inspire. Included on that list are:
Jane Mt. Pleasant:
Among the six nations of the Iroquois, corn, beans and squash have been known as
the Three Sisters—gifts from the Creator that grew well together and provided
nutritional sustenance. For more than 30 years, Jane Mt. Pleasant has
revitalized interest in the ancient Iroquois tradition of growing food through
polyculture, a system where plants grow and florish together. She has used it to
help farmers protect their soil. She has also rescued extinction several
varieties of corn from extinction--the same corn that sustained Northeast and
Canada natives for centuries. Mt. Pleasant's blend of Native knowledge and
Western science gives Native Americans a strong presence in sustainability
science.
Maya Lin:
Artist and architect Maya Lin is best known for her Vietnam Memorial. That
accomplishment alone gave her a ticket for fame and a career of designing
monuments with high price tags. Instead, she followed her heart. "People ask,
'If you’d never won the Vietnam Memorial award, where would you be?'" she says.
"I reply that I'd be making things, same as I am now." Currently, Lin is working
on the Confluence Project—a series of artworks that honor the timeline and
explorations of the Lewis and Clark journey. But the monuments' text will not
say: "Then the great explorers passed through the wilds of what is now Idaho."
Instead, she will name the Native American tribes who lived in the places the
explorers passed: Nez Percé, Chinook, Shoshone, Sioux, Cheyenne, Mandan and
others. She reminds us of a forgotten truth: this land was not unexplored. It
was their land. At her monument along the Washington shoreline, Lin describes a
visitor's point of view—that of a fisherman. "You're not coming here to see what
I've done," she says. "You're coming here because you've always come here.
You're coming here because you've just caught a king salmon that's two and a
half feet long and you're going to cut your fish here. And then, maybe, you're
going to start reading this and you’re going to say, 'What is going on here?'
And maybe you'll get a hint that this was the sacred grounds of the Chinook
tribe."
Cheyenne-Arapaho
Latest to Open Tribal College
Oklahoma:
The Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes hopes to operate a tribal college on the campus of
Southwestern Oklahoma State University. "This will be a service to the
Cheyenne-Arapaho and American Indian community cultures in general," said Radwan
Al-Jarrah, a dean at SOSU. "It will help revive culture, language and
history." Tribal Colleges educate people about tribal history, heritage,
language, accomplishments, and other topics. If approved, this will be the
fourth tribal college in the state.
The Associated Press
TRail
honors Arapaho, Cheyenne ancestors killed in massacre
Colorado:
Arapaho and Cheyenne tribal members are celebrating the creation of the Sand
Creek Massacre Trail to remember their ancestors murdered by the U.S. soldiers.
On the morning of Nov. 29, 1864, members of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes
camping along Big Sandy Creek were attacked by Col. John Chivington and his 800
militia troops. Most Indian men were away hunting and had left their women,
children and the elderly in the camp. An estimated 150 Arapaho and Cheyenne
were killed, and less than a dozen soldiers died. A later investigation
concluded that the Indians were "surprised and murdered, in cold blood," but
neither Chivington nor his men were ever punished. Gail Ridgley is a Northern
Arapaho whose ancestor, Lame Man, survived the Sand Creek Massacre. "This
[trail] is about historical and educational awareness and about the spiritual
healing of the Cheyenne and Arapaho people," she said. " This is to memorialize
and remember those who fell innocently at Sand Creek to memorialize because
they're still there, and the trauma is still there."
Arapaho elders learn to teach
Wyoming:
Seventeen Northern Arapaho elders have received teaching certificates during an
eight-week course at Wind River Tribal College. The elders, all fluent in the
Arapaho language, are eager to teach their language to youth. "We need this
language in our ceremonies," said Eugene Ridgely Jr. "We've had elders say
without this language we don't have a culture - we'll just be like everybody
else, but just with different-colored skin. In a sense, you lose your
identity." The WRTC classes focused on instruction skills the elders need to
help elementary and high schools students learn how to speak and read the
Arapaho language. Ridgely, who is the bilingual education director for WRTC,
says bringing the language into the schools is not nearly enough. He also
envisions a "Master Apprentice Program" in which nearly all Arapaho children
would get one-on-one instruction with a tribal elder for several hours a week.
The college is currently working on the program.
Fewer young people speak Crow, Cheyenne
A
Harvard University study shares that about
54%
of
11,500
Crow tribal members are active or passive speakers of Crow. However, the numbers
are declining:
Crow still is among the top five strongest American Indian languages, but the
only one whose numbers are declining in the percentage of speakers;
In
1968, 84%
of all Crow people were active Crow speakers;
Only
10%
of people
36
years old and younger speak Crow;
Only
1%
of people
15
years old and younger are Crow speakers.
The Crow language is being taught at Montana State University-Bozeman, Montana
State University-Billings and Little Big Horn College at Crow Agency.
A decline in the number of Northern Cheyenne speaking their language also is
raising concerns:
A few years ago,
70% - 80%
of Northern Cheyenne
50
years and older spoke their native language;
A very low percentage of tribal members
30
years and younger speak Cheyenne.
Northern Cheyenne is taught on a limited basis in some schools attended by
Cheyenne children. Northern Cheyenne and an advanced class in written Cheyenne
is taught at Chief Dull Knife College.
Active speakers are those who are fluent in both speaking and understanding the
language. Passive speakers are those who can understand a language, but may not
be able to speak it fluently.
Native educators struggle to fund
language programs
Montana:
From her office at Dull Knife Community College, Verda King is using satellite
technology to teach the Cheyenne language to elementary students. “This class
has done a marvelous job,” said King. “We've translated nursery rhymes, like
Humpty Dumpty. And it's been fun. We've learned Cheyenne songs and I'm
learning my own language.” Like other native teachers, King is committed to
preserving her tribe's language. But K-12 curricula and a lack of state support
prevent many students from receiving language lessons. The most effective
method of teaching a language is through immersion schools, which most tribes
can't afford to start. Recently, the Montana legislature defeated a bill to
help fund three existing language immersion schools for the Gros Ventre, Salish
and Blackfeet. Lynn Hinch, the bilingual specialist for the state Office of
Public Instruction, is frustrated. “We're doing very little because we don't
have any money dedicated to language programs,” she said. “We need a K-12
program. Teachers here talked about teaching three times a week for 15 minutes.
You can't teach a language in 15 minutes. Spanish teachers wouldn't put up with
that. English teachers wouldn't put up with that. Math teachers wouldn't put
up with that.” Language preservation is at a critical level because most fluent
speakers are elders. An example is the Flathead reservation, where most living
speakers are over age 70.
Comments:
“Those that came to live with us were steeped in their own cultural world views
and wanted everyone else to be like them, to the way we were educated to the way
we're supposed to think. In order to accomplish that, they sought to destroy to
Native languages. You still have this tendency to want to change us, to
homogenize us. It hasn't changed.” Dr. Henrietta Mann, Cheyenne, University of
Montana
“We could lose 30 or 40 speakers in a matter of two or three years.” Tachini
Pete, executive director of Nkwusm, a Salish revitalization school.
“I think it's a threat to [others]. They feel they can't understand us and they
want us all to be equal in their sense of equal, not in ours. They want us all
to be in this melting pot of all races. They had a hard time getting us to
learn English and now we want to turn around and learn our Native language.”
Minerva Allen, 69, a tribal elder and cultural coordinator on the Fort Belknap
Reservation
“We got to teach the young adults and teachers to teach the language before the
elders are gone. That's why I'm always telling everybody, ‘Hurry, I only have a
few years to live.' ” Minerva Allen, 69, Assinibone
Richard Little Bear, president of the Dull Knife Community College believes many
don't realize that bilingual speakers have an easier time absorbing knowledge
and abstract concepts because they can view and participate in life from
multiple vantage points.
Northern Cheyenne honor student lives
with humility
Montana:
Michael Running Wolf, a Northern Cheyenne graduate
student in computer science, is the state's only recipient of a Gates Millennium
Scholarship. "Mike's very accomplished," says Jim Burns, adviser for Montana
State University's American Indian Club. "For me, the leadership skills that
Mike brings to our organization are crucial. He has the skill base and ability
to make things happen. And he's very articulate. He's the man you want on your
side in a difficult meeting. He's a mover and shaker behind the scenes. I have a
lot of respect for him." Running Wolf credits Burns, the "close network" of the
computer-science department, and a large support group -- especially his
parents, Michael and Florence Running Wolf - for his success. "Education is
important in my family" Running Wolf said. His father, Michael Running Wolf,
Sr., was an outspoken leader during his days at the University of
Colorado-Denver, where there is a scholarship named in his honor. Running Wolf's
mother has served on the Northern Cheyenne tribal
council and founded a children's charity on the Northern
Cheyenne Reservation. The prestigious Gates Millennium Scholarship will
provide Wolf with an academic full-ride through the doctorate level.
http://www.billingsgazette.com/
Oglala youth's science project takes top honors in New Mexico
Montana:
Kyla Two Bulls is an 8th grader at St. Labre Indian School on the Northern
Cheyenne Reservation. Recently, Kyla won national
recognition with her first place award in the 2006 National American Indian
Science and Engineering Fair. Her project was titled "Blood Sugar Chemistry:
Determining the enzyme conversion rate of complex carbohydrates into blood sugar
for a comprehensive understanding of the effect of food and exercise on the
blood sugar levels of horses.'' Horses, like humans, acquire type 2 diabetes
from lack of exercise and improper diet, she wrote. She posed the question of
what factors affected starch digestion, then set down the hypothesis and laid
out in detail the procedure for determining her theories. Kyla learned about
horses from her stepfather, Philip Whiteman Jr., who is a horse trainer. Kyla
has ridden a lot and uses Whiteman's ''Medicine Wheel Theory" as a method of
training her horses every day. ' ''Cheyenne believe
that horses are a mirror of their owner..." Kyla said. "The horses show me how
to deal with myself. It's like having a mirror. If you are calm or mad the
horse will react the same way you do. That taught me to check my emotions. It
taught me responsibility.''
american_indians_news_source_tulanappes_list
BIA
taking over tribe's child welfare program
The
Bureau of Indian Affairs plans to take over the Northern
Cheyenne Tribe's child welfare program. The BIA claims the
Cheyenne are unable to provide adequate services.
U.S. District Judge Richard Cebull denied the tribe's request to stop the BIA
from moving forward with the takeover. The Northern
Cheyenne were ordered to hand over records to the BIA.
Indianz.Com
Indian graduates receive encouragement, opportunities
As
graduation season rolls by, tribal leaders across the country are trying to let
students know that getting an education is extremely worthwhile.
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Chairman Harold Frazier
advised students to combat negativity by becoming more active in sports and keep
busy while setting examples for their peers. He told the adults.
"The kids don't ask for much-just to have people work
with them, listen to them and encourage them and all of us must do this."
Leonard Chee, Chairman of the Education Committee of the Navajo Nation Council:
"Receiving your degree reflects a new beginning in your
life – a life blessed with happiness, a strong intellect, self-discipline and
many riches. I know about the unique challenges a Navajo college student must
face when in school, such as homesickness, lack of money or strenuous academic
competition. During your graduation ceremony, reflect back on the personal
struggles you and your family have overcome to get to where you are today and
the strength you are blessed with to overcome future endeavors. Remember your
parents, relatives and friends who encouraged and supported you with their
prayers. Remember and thank your role models and those who positively influenced
your life. Listen and think about your elders' teachings that being blessed
with richness is not based on your salary or how many vehicles you own." He also
warned against "breaking the law, drinking alcohol or drinking and driving."
http://www.nativetimes.com/index.asp?action=displayarticle&article_id=6446
Experts say public schools need education reform
Michigan:
A recent forum at Central Michigan University explored the impact of public
schools on American Indians, and what education American Indians can share with
society. Among the comments from the forum, called "Indigenous Survival:
Education for the 21st Century:"
"We want to greet you in a good way. Part of our belief is
to always say thank you for the world around us," said Sonny Smart, a native
court judge who opened the conference;
"People are absent from the pages of history. There is
much that we can incorporate into the traditional disciplines. As a grandmother,
I would say, 'slow down.' I would also remind you to be kind. You are the
ancestors of those who are yet to come," said Henrietta Mann, a
Cheyenne-Arapaho and endowed chair in Native
American studies at Montana State University
"Our children are being impacted by the curriculum of
public schools. We're living in a diverse society. What is the cultural
competency of our teachers?" asked attorney Donna Budnick, member of the Little
Traverse Bay Band of Ottawa Indians "Bias in the curriculum is causing
stereotypes, discrimination and leads to racism. It also breaks down
communication between groups. "
"Students really come out and say, 'No one every told me
about these things in history books. People do things to other people and they
don't want to talk about it. It's the same thing with history." [Smart]
"When you marginalize culture, you're marginalizing (its
people.) I don't see a whole lot of big change occurring. Culture, for me, is
defined at home." [Smart]
"Native American history is important to each
and every one of us. Why? Because we're in North America. It's important that
we get to know and respect and honor. There is much wisdom for you to gain."
said Michael Rao, President, Central Michigan University.
http://www.cm-life.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/10/28/4361ad7d108e2
Educational center to help Indian pupils
The
National American Indian, Alaskan & Hawaiian Educational Development Center has
opened in Sheridan, Wyoming. The center provides a network that trains and
recruits teachers to help young Indian students excel in reading and writing,
two areas where they often struggle to keep up. "The concept of the center is to
be a forever thing. We're always engaged in working with their teachers, always
engaged in working with their parents and making sure it's a community process,"
said Craig Dougherty, executive director of the center. Stanford University
provides research and evaluation services. California State University and
Southern Cross University of New South Wales, Australia, will provide
professional development programs. Vanderbilt University in Tennessee will
develop a math program. Pilot programs on the Northern
Cheyenne, Crow and Wind River Indian reservations already have improved
literacy rates for second-graders from 19% to 100%.
http://www.billingsgazette.com/
Kids Cafe set to feed lunch to
Indian kids
Montana:
The Kids Cafe has begun serving after school meals to 50-70 children on the
Northern
Cheyenne
reservation.
Sponsored by ConAgra Foods, Kids Cafe is one of the nation's largest programs
aimed at feeding low-income children. More than 93% of children in Lame Deer
are eligible for free or reduced-price meals at school. "We are grateful that
we are able to offer nutritious meals to our community's children because we
have a demonstrated need for this program," said Rick Robinson from the Boys &
Girls Club of the Northern
Cheyenne
Nation. The program will also host some evening meals intended for children and
their families. About 1,300 Kids Cafes exist around the country. To help with
funding, ConAgra provides $20,000 the first year, $10,000 to second and $5,000
the third year. Hopefully by then, local officials will provide funding so it
can continue. Organizers hope to start similar programs at other reservations in
Montana.
Yellowtail tabbed as MSU endowed
chair in Native American Studies
Montana:
Montana State University has named Bill Yellowtail as the new holder of the Katz
Endowed Chair in Native American Studies. Yellowtail, a Crow Indian, plans to
develop curriculum and leadership activities that center upon the future of
Native peoples in the West and on "personal Indian sovereignty." Yellowtail
says individual sovereignty differs from tribal sovereignty. "... individual
sovereignty has to do with a mindset and point of view of building your own
world, charting your own destiny, being in charge of your own self, your family
and your future." Yellowtail is the second occupant of the MSU endowed chair in
Native American Studies. The first was Henrietta Mann, chair emeritus, an world
recognized Indian educator and member of the Southern
Cheyenne Tribe. Mann is currently a special assistant to MSU President
Geoff Gamble.
MSU News
Holding on to history: Project
preserving Crow oral histories
Montana:
The Battle of Pryor Creek, called Ashkoota's Binnaxchihkuua, or Where The Entire
Camp Was Under Siege, may have been the biggest intertribal fight on the
Northern Plains. An alliance of warriors from the Sioux,
Cheyenne
and Arapaho tribes invaded Crow Country to destroy their traditional enemy and
take possession of the Crow's bountiful hunting grounds. Ashkoota's
Binnaxchihkuua looms large in the history and lore of the Crow Tribe. Now,
thanks to a $45,485 grant from the Frontier Heritage Alliance, researchers will
visit each tribes' reservations to record their oral histories of the early
1860's battle. Among those stories will be one shared by Elias Goes Ahead, Crow
historian. "They came to annihilate us that day,'' he said "They thought our
land would be their land at the end of the day.'' The alliance was so confident
of victory that women and old men had established cheering sections above the
battleground to sing victory songs. "They were watching the battle like a
football game,'' Goes Ahead said. Vastly outnumbered -- he estimated 20 to 1 -
Crow war leaders asked their women to arm themselves with knives to kill their
children and commit suicide if the enemy prevailed. If the battle had been lost,
there would be no Crow Tribe today.
http://billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2004/10/03/build/state/30-holding-on-to-history.inc
Arapaho elders learn to teach
Wyoming:
Seventeen Northern Arapaho elders have received
teaching certificates during an eight-week course at Wind RiverTribal College.
The elders, all fluent in the Arapaho language, are
eager to teach their language to youth. "We need this language in our
ceremonies," said Eugene Ridgely Jr. "We've had elders say without this
language we don't have a culture - we'll just be like everybody else, but just
with different-colored skin. In a sense, you lose your identity." The WRTC
classes focused on instruction skills the elders need to help elementary and
high schools students learn how to speak and read the
Arapaho language. Ridgely, who is the bilingual education director for WRTC,
says bringing the language into the schools is not nearly enough. He also
envisions a "Master Apprentice Program" in which nearly all
Arapaho children would get one-on-one instruction
with a tribal elder for several hours a week. The college is currently working
on the program.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2006/07/19/news/wyoming/50-arapaho.txt
Grant awarded to help tribe combat
infant mortality rate
Wyoming:
The Northern Arapaho Tribe will receive a $2,000,000
grant to fight high infant mortality rates on the Wind River Indian
Reservation. Wind River has about 17 deaths per 1,000 live births. That is 55%
higher than the overall American Indian rate and 138% higher than the U.S. rate.
The money will be used to help educate pregnant women and new mothers about ways
to improve the health of infants through diet and other means
http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Global/story.asp?S=7260377&nav=menu227_2
Back to Back
Wyoming:
Wyoming Indian High is located on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Last year
the Lady Chiefs of Wyoming Indian High School won the State 2-A Basketball
Championship title for the first time. This past March, they did it again and
now have back-to-back titles. “It felt good, because the boys always got the
attention, even though we have made it to state every year except for three
years over the past 15 years,” said head coach Aleta Moss. “The girls work just
as hard as the boys, and they deserve to win, too.” The school’s boys team,
the Chiefs, gained national attention when a highly acclaimed 2002 documentary,
“Chiefs,” focused on the players during the season they won their seventh state
championship. Now the Lady Chiefs finally have the respect they, too, deserve.
The girls team’s success has resonated across the reservation, which is made up
of the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes.
Player Diana Soundingsides sees the positive effects on the children of the
community. “All the kids see us and want to be like us, and they look up to us,”
Soundingsides said.
http://www.reznetnews.org/sports/041004_ladychiefs/
Teaming Up
Wyoming:
The NAACP [The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People] has
spent 97 years fighting for African-American civil rights. Now they are
reaching out to Native American tribes. 11,400 Shoshone and
Arapaho from the state's Wind River Reservation will
soon become members. "This is the first time the NAACP has ever done anything
like this and it is going to be a very big story," said Jim Simmons, local
NAACP president. "We have spoken with our Native American brothers, and they
understand that to fight the big dog, you must be a big dog yourself. We (the
NAACP) are a big dog and we have a big bark." Eastern Shoshone chairman Ivan
Posey said major Native American issues such as poverty, unemployment and
housing could "work up well" as part of the NAACP. However, issues of
sovereignty over traditional lands and reservations would remain internal tribal
matters.
IndigenousNewsNetwork@topica.com
A Rare and Unusual Harvest
Texas:
In the mid-1970s, 27 people were licensed to distribute
peyote, a small, round
plant that grows wild only in fourTexas counties and the northern Mexico desert.
Now, only 4 peyoteros remain to supply the plant to the Native American church,
which uses it as the main sacrament in their religious ceremonies. Some ranch
owners have stopped leasing land to peyoteros; others have plowed under
peyote, and still others
have never opened their land. Conservationists are concerned about
over-harvesting immature plants as the Native American population and demand for
the cactus grow. "Will there be
peyote for my children
and my children's children?" asked Adam Nez, 35. Efforts are being made to
legalize the importation of
peyote from Mexico and creating legal cultivation centers in the United
States. Peyote, also know
as Lophophora williamsii cactus, is classified as a narcotic and outlawed by
federal and state governments.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/17/AR2005091701219.html