Tag: Native Americans

John McCain was out of the torturous grip of the North Vietnamese for approximately one year when Congress passed Public Law 93-531 in 1974. Public Law 93-531 was called the Relocation Act, and was falsely justified by what “Peabody Coal Company’s public relations and lobbying firms” falsely constructed  as the “Hopi-Navajo land dispute.” This “range war” was not true. What was true, was lawyer John Boyden with the assimilated Hopi Tribal Council.

Source

Boyden formed a Hopi Tribal Council that consisted of several First Mesa Hopi who had been converted to Mormonism, based on an election in which about 10 percent of the Hopis on the reservation voted. The newly elected Tribal Council then hired Boyden as their lawyer.

John Boyden with his assimilated Hopi Tribal Council wanted Peabody Coal to strip mine Black Mesa after the natural resources had been discovered. More than 10,000 Navajo and 100 Hopi did not want Black Mesa stripped.  

In 1974 the U.S. Government legally endorsed genocide when Congress passed Public Law 93-531, which enabled Peabody Coal Company to strip mine Black Mesa by ripping the traditional Navajo and Hopi peoples from the land.

While a lot of attention is being focused on Texas, SE Louisiana–particularly bayou communities–which are still recovering from Gustav are being affected by Ike already.  This is almost a repeat of Katrina-Rita, and again, they are being ignored.  Please see the bottom of this diary for ways to help.

Cross posting from Kos again…

Why hasn’t something been done sooner to protect our community? Is it because the Island is a poor Indian community so it doesn’t matter what happens to us? Brenda Dardar Robichaux, tribal leader of the United Houma Nation

Things are pretty grim in the region–literally a place and a people that America has forgotten–flood and wind damage has devastated many areas that had survived previous storms.  The anger in the tribal leaders’ words can be seen below.

See my previous diaries here, here and here.

First off, according to the Houma newspapers, power is slowly being restored to the hospitals and main services.  Many areas remain without and are running on generators if they have them.  These come with dangers as the Terrebonne Courthouse experienced a fire from a malfunctioning unit.  The region is still under a boil water order.  Most of the major roads are cleared, but many side roads are untouched.  No streetlights work.  Some grocery stores are open, but relief supplies are still being distributed at points around the region.   A lot of the schools will remain closed due to electricity and roof damage.  Looks like they are hoping to reopen sometime late next week.

At approximately 10:12 p.m. last Tuesday MSNBC covered Native American issues after the presidential debate. “It’s high time we started covering these critical concerns affecting American Indians that are in our own back yard at least as much as we cover what happens across the ocean in other countries,” one MSNBC commentator said. I couldn’t believe my ears as to what they said next.

If link is still down see here

The Consolidated Indigenous Shadow Report mentions “Racially Discriminatory Constitutional Foundations” and  “The Denial of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in the Political, Economic, Social, Cultural, or any Other Field of Public Life.” I have found a couple videos that I think will clarify those two things in order. The first is from a clip from a movie entitled “Broken Treaties,” and the second is a movie trailer entitled “Broken Promises: Indian Trust.”

…human rights violations and an institutionalized racism against indigenous peoples is alive and thriving in the United States…

Consolidated Indigenous Shadow Report

III. Indian Reservation Apartheid

“Apartheid” is certainly a strong word. And certainly, there are recognized tribes in the U.S. that are now achieving certain levels of relative prosperity primarily due to federal law allowing them to operate casinos, But the data contained in this section as well as others in this report (see, e.g., Violence Against Women, The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health) reflect what only can be described as a system of Apartheid on many Indian Reservations, where Indigenous people are warehoused in poverty and neglect. By purpose or effect, their only option is forced assimilation, the abandonment of their land, families, language and cultures in search of a better life.

I posted this before, but now that there are two candidates left to chose from and I vote Tuesday; I wanted to acquire as much additional information as I could before voting.

Garcia pushes for IHCIA in State of Indian Nations

National Congress of American Indians President Joe Garcia on Thursday called on Congress to pass the long-overdue Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

– snip –

The last time the Senate considered the bill, it was derailed by last-minute objections from the Department of Justice. A “white paper” that outlined constitutional issues was used by Republicans to delay passage in September 2006.

I feel less than optimistic about Native American concerns. The recent year has been very difficult and heartbreaking. Since it’s a long list, I will summarize what I am aware of by saying that vital Native American concerns failing within the courts and within congress are far outweighing Native American concerns succeeding within the courts and within congress. So, I will be direct in what I want.

I want to update everyone who has been involved in the Pretty Bird Woman House fundraiser on the situation with the house purchase.

After you read this you might also ask: Why isn’t anything easy in Indian Country?

While we were running this fundraiser, the City Council of McLaughlin, which exists as a separate entity within the boundaries of the Standing Rock Reservation, passed an ordinance requiring that any nonprofit wishing to establish a boardinghouse or shelter in a residential area get the approval of the City Council first.

This means that  even though Pretty Bird Woman House could have closed on the house on January 4th, they had to wait for a Council meeting on January 7th.

Everyone was certain that after hearing about the shelter, the City Council would just say “of course you can.”

Not so.