Introducing Manifest Destiny News

(noon. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

I apologize for the deceptive title. My main objective in having written this last year was not to create a new blog (Native American Netroots serves as that function). My main objective was and is to encourage people to blog about the issues that are outlined in this essay, and for the reasons stated herein.  

Crossposted at Native American Netroots

Manifest Destiny News has a simple format, which is to simply select approximately 3 news related items and elaborate on them if it’s “current events affecting American Indians and Native Alaskans.” This is the only format elaborated on, for it is the least time consuming and would allow for the most authors to use the format of “Manifest Destiny News.” Next, I will offer some suggestions, some requests, and explain my justification for this being the beginning of a community effort.

I suggest that if one who feels less than confident about doing this wants or feels a need to do it; that they do it, be open to constructive criticism, and make adjustments if or when necessary. A speaker on the state capitol steps said (paraphrasing), “Those of us who are left and able have a responsibility.” My request is implicit in the suggestion and it is: that professional journalists who can’t or won’t otherwise, join in this effort. The historical justification for the request, is that the press called for the removal and extermination of the Ute for years (see Peter R Decker’s “The Utes Must Go!”) before it actually happened.

Its title drawn from a newspaper advertisement championing the removal of Utes in the Denver Tribune, “The Utes Must Go!” is a powerful true drama of a proud people who suffered from pioneer settlement and racisim, and who also experienced tragedy from misguided intentions, such as Indian Agent Nathan Meeker’s ill-fated attempt to turn Indian hunters into farmers, which brought about tragedy at Milk Creek in 1879.

That showed the enormous power of the press over a long sustained effort, obvious issues aside, to make change. That is what is needed now to turn things around, for if the amount of individuals doing “Manifest Destiny News” or something similar were to increase enough to bring the needed awareness, this time the change could be in a positive direction, instead of the negative direction of the past. And that’s a gross understatement.

New York Herald

Who slew Custer? The celebrated peace policy of General Grant, which feeds, clothes and takes care of the their noncombatant  force while men are killing our troops…the Indian Bureau with its thriving agents and favorites as Indian Traders, and its mock humanity and pretense as piety – that is what killed Custer.

Now, after that trip down memory lane, how much have things changed? In addition, who has things changed for the most, and who have things changed for the least?

Cut Bank officials to listen to Blackfeet concerns at Dec.3 meeting

BROWNING – The mayor and police chief of Cut Bank have been invited to a public meeting next Wednesday evening to listen to allegations of racial discrimination in their border town on the edge of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation.

The meeting was called by Mike Little, who filed a complaint against the city with the Montana Human Rights Bureau. The agreed upon settlement required police officers to go through nondiscrimination training.

Mayor Joni Stewart said the settlement was not an admission of guilt, adding she believes there is not any discrimination in Cut Bank’s city government.

(Bigfoot Memorial Ride begins December 14th)

287-mile ride a rite of passage By JODI RAVE

BEAR SOLDIER, S.D. – When Donaven Yellow of Wakpala, S.D., joined the Spirit Riders, he pledged to ride four years in the Big Foot Memorial Ride, a nearly 300-mile journey dedicated to the Lakota ancestors who died in one of the nation’s most horrific massacres.

On Saturday, he began the fourth journey across the South Dakota prairie with 44 riders who will spend the next two weeks on horseback en route to the Pine Ridge Reservation, picking up others along the way until they number 200.

“Riding for two weeks isn’t easy,” said the 15-year-old Donaven. “A lot of my friends made the same commitment. It gets really cold. You’ve just got to ride it out.

Good things are happening, good things that need support and attention.

New mascot for Colusa High

Colusa High School’s new mascot will be the “RedHawks” starting with the 2011-12 school year, replacing the Redskins moniker that has symbolized the school’s sports teams for eight decades.

Also, Native American journalists need support, and wouldn’t it be nice to see an American Indian as a major news anchor discussing these issues consistently?

Groundbreaking PBS series nears completion

BOSTON – After almost five years of planning and production, a groundbreaking television series depicting more than 350 years of history from an American Indian perspective is scheduled to premiere next spring.

Producers of the award-winning PBS history series “American Experience” are nearing completion of “We Shall Remain” – a five-part series of 90-minute documentary films that will air each week for five consecutive weeks beginning on April 13.

In addition to the films, “We Shall Remain” has a massive multi-media and community outreach component that includes mentoring emerging Native filmmakers, a national library initiative, and a coalition of Native organizations and tribes, historical societies, museums, schools and other groups to plan and sponsor activities that promote understanding of local Native history and contemporary life.

Lastly, wouldn’t it be refreshing to see Native American guest speakers on all those “angry left” television shows? This and all on the right of the page is a very good start to achieving that end. They have to know there’s an audience or more of an audience in order to do it, using common sense. Now back to my initial question, how much have things changed here?

That’s just not good enough, is it?

“Manifest Destiny News,” a community effort, is dedicated to reporting on: current events affecting American Indians and Native Alaskans; history of American Indians and Native Alaskans; Climate Change and solutions to the energy crisis in order to help halt the continuing land theft of American Indian’s and Native Alaskan’s homelands, sacred sites, and to protect Mother Earth; bringing awareness to how the Doctrine of Discovery is still Supreme Court law and bringing about its elimination against all odds; and, supporting the signing of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the United States of America.