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WOTANGING IKCHE- NATIVE AMERICAN NEWS
VOLUME 15, ISSUE 047
Distributed by Gary Night Owl

EDITORIAL
CONTENTS LIST
ELDER QUOTE OF THE WEEK
EDITORIAL
By: Gary Smith
 

O'siyo Brothers and Sister!

Over 50% of this issue is comprised of a series of articles in the "Native Justice" section. There's a very good reason. The Denver Post ran a superb series on the problems with Native Justice that should be a "must read" for anyone who cares about the failure of Indian Justice; and that should be not just anyone in Indian Country, but everyone in North America. You are encouraged to go read the complete articles in the Denver Post and view the full graphics and video clips; and listen to the audio clips that accompanied the series.

The root cause of law enforcement problems on US reservations is the dismissive, paternalistic view the dominant society takes of Indian culture, and the rights it assumes over Indian communities. The more obvious symptom of this attitude is the Indian Affairs system of managing Indian lands (which has resulted in a massive theft of Indian resources).

The robbery of the right to justice was more insidious. Both the theft of property and the theft of justice started with the attitude that the savages can't adequately protect themselves, so the "superior white government" must take their right to control their communities away and manage them from afar.

The "superior government" has done such a poor job of helping that the culture that had sustained Native communities for hundreds of years foundered within a generation. The children have grown up poorly prepared to thrive in any society, and without control from their own people (because the community is forbidden to control them). The dominant society won't control them because they have more important priorities. Small wonder that the result is a core in many Native communities of real savages that the self-righteous dominant society can point to as the reason they sustain their version of management.

And thus an ugly, and deadly circle emerges that Indians are expected to accept. On the few occasions when Native communities have tried to assume self-determination, the dominant government subdued them by force or subterfuge. And so we have communities riddled with violence and fear, arrogant federal officials who don't have time for something so trivial, and local officials paralyzed by policies that forbid them to take effective action. Young children are being victimized, raped and killed. There's an epidemic of violence against women. Substance abuse runs rampant from grandparent, to parent, to child.

Shouldn't those of us in Indian Countries (in the US and Canada) support the women, elders and warriors who DARE to say "We ARE a nation. We were here before you. How dare you say our laws do not work when it is clear that yours do not either?"

Dohiyi Ani Oginalii

Gary Smith (*,*) wotanging@bellsouth.net
P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org
Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w=== http://www.nanews.org
 
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CONTENTS LIST OF ARTICLES IN VOLUME 15, ISSUE 047
FOR ARTICLES GOT TO WOTANGING IKCHE-Native American News

Editorial Section: . Indian Country, Indian Law
- After Seven Years, Virginia Tribes Still Waiting
- CNO Chief Rallies Support Among Tribal Leaders
- Meetings Slated on Blackfeet Water Settlement
- Udall: Navajo `Cancer-Free' Before Uranium
- Navajo Communications Director: Media Accuracy
- Civil Rights Panel Learns About Border Town Racism
- Zuni Want Answers From School Board
- Navajo Veterans March In Washington, DC
- Mormons, Mayans And Mystery
- Planet Heading To Low-Water Mark
- Tim Giago In S.D. Newspaper Hall Of Fame
- Jodi Rave: Scientific Heritage
- Ganienkeh! Wake Up Smell The Swamp Elms
- Tohono O'odham Complicit In Border Oppression
- Prosecutor: Tribes Need Local Control
- Native Justice-- 1885 Law At Root Of Jurisdictional Jumble
-- Promises, Justice Broken
-- Inaction's Fatal Price
-- Principles, Politics Collide
-- Which Way To Turn?
- Rustywire: Tahzii
- Lee Goins Poem: Autumn In Cherokee
- Upcoming Events
FOR ARTICLES GO TO WOTANGING IKCHE-Native American News
 
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"Hate crime against Native Americans is so widespread as to be considered normative by community members."
"In spite of the extensiveness of racial victimization, fewer than 5 percent of victims report incidents to police."
--- Duane "Chili" Yazzie, Navajo - Shiprock Chapter President

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As historian Patricia Nelson Limerick summarized in "The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West...
"Set the blood quantum at one-quarter, hold to it as a rigid definition of Indians, let intermarriage proceed as it had for centuries, and eventually Indians will be defined out of existence. When that happens, the federal government will be freed of its persistent 'Indian problem.'"

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Once a language is lost, it is gone forever. Of the 300 original Native languages in North America, only 175 exist today. * 125 of these are no longer learned by children. * 55 are spoken by 1 to 6 elders; when they die, their language will disappear. * Without action, only 20 languages will survive the next 50 years. Source: Indigenous Language Institute

 

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CONTACT: Please send all submissions, subscription requests, questions or comments for this newsletter to Gary Night Owl at gars@nanews.org .

Website: Wotanging Ikche-Native American News
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