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NEWS AND NOTES FROM INDIAN COUNTRY April 7, 2006 Susan Bates

U.S. FOUND IN VIOLATION OF ANTI-RACISM TREATY According to an article published by One World, the United Nations has declared that the U.S. has violated Native American land rights. The independent Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination found ''credible information alleging that the Western Shoshone indigenous people are being denied their traditional rights to land' and asked federal authorities to cease all activities on tribal land, including efforts to set up commercial mining operations." The Committee accused U.S. authorities of using arrests, hunting and fishing restrictions, grazing fees, and other measures to intimidate tribe members. The Western Shoshone have suffered from more nuclear testing than any other People in the world. Underground testing is still going on while Yucca Mountain, Sacred to the Western Shoshone People, is being hollowed out to accommodate nuclear waste. We will see if anything comes of this ruling. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> MINING DEFEATED ON COLVILLE RESERVATION The People took a stand for Mother Earth with a vote of 1254 to 847 against mining on their sacred land. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> JACKSON'S HOME NAMED HISTORIC SITE According to an AP article, the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson's plantation home in Nashville, has been named an official site along the Trail Of Tears. In 1830, Jackson issued the order that culminated in the removal of the Cherokee from their homes in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia. Thousands died on the forced march. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ANCIENT CITY OF ULIBAHALI TO BE DOZED The city of Oxford, Alabama, plans to build a sports complex on 360 acres of land which was once known as Ulibahali, a village mentioned at least 5 times by Hernando de Soto and other Spanish explorers who traveled through the valley in 1540 and 1560. Ulibahali is home to an ancient burial mound and excavations have yielded prehistoric corn, spear points, pots, storage vessels and an entire house dating back to the 12th or 13th century. Since no federal money will be used for this project, the site will not be protected. My source asks all interested parties phone Mayor Leon Smith at 256-831-7510 and voice your opposition to this destruction, or write him at 145 Hamric Dr., Oxford, Al. 36203. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> UNITED KEETOOWAH BAND SEEKS CASINO The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians will ask the Bureau of Indian Affairs to put its former reservation land in Arkansas in trust so the tribe and a Fort Smith developer can construct a casino. Plans also include a 250-room hotel, two eight-story office towers, a mall, restaurant, residential condominiums and a U. S. marshal's museum. There is a possibility that a baseball field and other sporting fields may be included. Representatives of the United Keetoowah say this development could bring an estimated 1, 300 jobs to the community. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Send me your news and events. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

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