BROUGHT TO YOU BY SNOWWOWL.COM A NON-COMMERCIAL NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATIONAL WEBSITE NEWS AND NOTES FROM INDIAN COUNTRY
October 12, 2005
Susan BatesARKANSAS SCHOOLS MAY HAVE TO REPAY GRANT MONEY
The federal government is questioning grants totaling $1,089,745 that 24 Arkansas school districts have received due to an explosion in the number of students who claim Native American blood.
According to an article written by Leslie Newell Peacock which appeared in The Arkansas Times, officials with the Federal Office of Indian Education believe that the increase in Native American students attending Arkansas schools is not due to an
influx of Indian children moving into the state, but rather from misinformation spread by the Lost Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and
Missouri as to who is eligible to claim to be Native American.
It is alleged that the leaders of the Lost Cherokee Nation told school officials they could get federal dollars based on the word of students filling out "so-called" 506 forms. Administrators were told the students only had to trace their Indian heritage to an ancestor several generations back and didn't have to be enrolled in federally recognized tribes.
The Lost Cherokee Nation of Arkansas and Missouri claims to have over 3,000 members and is actively seeking both state and federal recognition. Leaders say the tribe once owned a 4.2 million acre reservation which, along with federal status, was lost
in 1828.
The awarding of grant money through the "No Child Left Behind" Program has angered many Indians, including Kathleen Wesho-Bauer (Menominee and Potawatomi) of Little Rock, a volunteer with the American Indian Heritage Support Center who said, "We have treaty rights, and have fought for these treaty rights and carried the burden in order to get treaty rights. For someone who has lived in the mainstream and has had benefits of being white all their lives to get in on what we have for our own children isn't right."
So far five school districts have withdrawn their applications for grants through the No Child Left Behind Law. They include Russellville ($162,000), Cotter ($29,161), Jessieville ($35,347), Mammoth Spring ($24,036) and Westside ($28,631).
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
VENEZUELAN LEADER OFFERS CHEAP GAS TO NATIVE AMERICANS
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, leader of the revolution for indigenous rights, has announced that Venezuelan owned
CITGO Petroleum has set aside up to 10% of its refined oil products to be sold directly to poor communities and institutions in the United States.
According to Brenda Norrell who writes for Indian Country Today, CITGO has already sent hundreds of thousands of barrels
of oil to the Gulf coast region hit hard by Hurricane Katrina.
On August 9, Chavez presented land titles to six Venezuelan indigenous groups in an effort to reverse centuries of discrimination. During his speech, he gave a thumbs - up signal to an activist who was holding a "Free Leonard Peltier" sign. Part of Chavez's message included replacing Columbus Day with an "Indigenous Resistance Day." This has not gone over well with the US government.
The reverend Pat Robertson recently voiced his opinion that the US Government should assassinate Chavez. Robertson reportedly works for the Prince Of Peace.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
"O What may man within him hide, though angel on the outward side!"
-------------- (William Shakespeare)
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
NATIVE AMERICAN CHURCH NEWS
Jerry Peace Bear Mitchell, an ordained minister of the Native American Christian Church, would like anyone who is interested in starting a church in this area to please write or call him. His address is 3641 Co Rd 3190, Mtn. View, MO 65548 or phone him at 417 - 934 - 0042.
<><><><><><><<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
"There is nothing which would be more gratifying to the people of this state, and certainly there is, on my part, no desire affecting the Indians more sincere, than to see the remnants of the Indian tribes forsake entirely the manners and customs of their forefathers and adopt those of civilized life." - Francis A. Walker. Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. 1873.
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
Sadly, this seems to be the case....
---------------Susan
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>RETURN TO SUSAN BATES PAGE
