40th anniversary of Wounded Knee II

Gunfire, Chants Mark Wounded Knee Anniversary

By Kristi EatonA Pine Ridge Indian Reservation resident who found herself in the middle of the 1973 Wounded Knee occupation said Wednesday amid ceremonial gunfire and chants that little has changed since the fatal standoff.

Faith White Dress was on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation 40 years ago when about 200 members of the American Indian Movement and their supporters huddled in houses, some with guns, to protest alleged corruption within the tribal government. Two Native Americans were killed, an activist went missing and a federal agent was wounded.

White Dress and others gathered Wednesday to remember the fatal 71-day standoff. During gunfire to mark the anniversary of the start of the occupation, she said the Oglala Sioux Tribe is still struggling.

"Unemployment is so high and the oppression is still so bad," she said. "I don't think it's going to take violence. It's going to take a gathering to determine how to bring jobs here. We need libraries. We need more of our children to have a better future."

Hundreds of people walked from nearby villages to the site of the occupation, drumming and chanting. Once at the site, the same place where in 1890 soldiers slaughtered an estimated 300 Native American men, women and children, AIM and their supporters continued to drum and chant and fire off gunshots into the air.

This year's events include memorials for AIM's charismatic leader, Russell Means, who died in October at age 72 after batting throat cancer. This is the first anniversary of the occupation since Means' death.

About 200 people gathered at a high school on Pine Ridge for the second of four planned ceremonies to honor Means. Friends, family and colleagues recalled Means as a man who taught his people how to stand up for themselves.

"He was articulate ... a proud Lakota," said Oglala Sioux president Bryan Brewer. "Today he is a version of our modern day Crazy Horse."Ceremonial Walk Commemorates Wounded Knee Anniversary

By Derek OlsonForty years ago, the American Indian Movement took over the village of Wounded Knee. Protesters spoke out against what they called a corrupt tribal government and discriminatory federal practices. On Wednesday, a number of events marked the anniversary including a walk to the spot where it all took place.
Shortly after 9 a.m. on Wednesday, a group of people gathered in the village of Porcupine on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

"Today, we are here to commemorate the activities that occurred in 1973," AIM supporter Edgar Bear Runner said.

It's one of four groups walking to Wounded Knee. For those in Porcupine, it's an eight mile journey in a wind making it feel much colder than 30.

"Despite the cold temperatures, we walk in their honor and in their memory," Bear Runner said.Pride and heartbreak in anniversary of occupation

Why Wounded Knee II matters

AIM–Wounded Knee II, 40 years later

By Chase Iron EyesSo, AIM is not a legacy; AIM is living. AIM is because of the Native Youth Council, NYC was because of Treaty Councils, Treaty Councils were because of Warrior Societies, Warrior Societies were because of great men like Sitting Bull and Tecumseh and the Peacemaker, great men were because of great women. Since contact our spiritual movement has taken many pan-Indigenous forms and will never die. When we come together we literally shake the world. Tribal Colleges are because of AIM, Language revitalization is because of AIM, Indigenous Education is because of AIM, Ceremony is out in the open because of AIM, Native Youth Movement, HonorEarth, IEN, LRI, Owe Aku, IdleNoMore, and all the grassroots movements we rely on are because AIM fired warning shots to the world that Indigenous peoples are on the rise. All of our movements are constantly evolving into other forces.

It is clear to me that Indigenous peoples should take their place in leading and working with all of humanity. Race is of course a human construct as we are surely all indigenous meaning coming from the universe with spiritual covenants to the land and each other. We are in a state of emergency right now with the Keystone XL pipeline, the petro-backed banking system bound to collapse, drinking water being wasted and poisoned for the benefit of the greedy carbon economy. uranium mining in our territories, sacred sites facing destruction and so on. This I believe to be our role as Indigenous peoples: to share our beautiful world with that of the purported colonizer. They came here to feed an insatiable greed for riches and self but I think they were sent to learn how to respect sacred sites, the land, the water, other humans, other world views, other beings, to learn what true civilization looks like. So let’s honor today and make the most of every day. We are all seeking a spiritual revolution.Comment:  For more on AIM, see Russell Means Was a Fighter and AIM Leads March for Traversie.

Calusa reenactors for Florida's anniversary

Re-enactors tell story of Florida's lost tribe–the Calusa

By Keith MorelliAfter Ponce de Leon landed near St. Augustine 500 years ago, then sailed beneath "La Florida" and north up the Gulf Coast, he found the land of flowers was populated and defended by a tribe of Native Americans whose name, translated into English, was "Fierce People."

Members of that thriving Calusa civilization fished, hunted, traded and even had a natural remedy to keep mosquitoes from biting. They ran an empire stretching to the East Coast and south into the Keys. Charlotte Harbor was their Rome.

Today in Port Charlotte, history came to life with more than a dozen Calusa-crazy volunteers intent on showing how the lost tribe of Florida lived before Europeans consigned the indigenous people to the dust of history.

Braving a chilly breeze off Charlotte Harbor, the re-enactors hunted for fish with spears, cooked fake seafood and snakes on an open pit with imaginary fire, and even greeted emissaries from neighboring tribes in a living, interactive exhibit.

"This is as authentic as possible, of Florida's pre-history," said April Watson, an archaeological doctoral student at Florida Atlantic University. She is consulting on the exhibit, which is one of more than 100 such events planned throughout the state to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Florida's recorded history.But:People in Tampa interested in catching a glimpse of this history are out of luck, even though the Tampa Bay area played a significant role in the discovery of La Florida.

None of the 130 commemorative events, collectively known as Florida 500, takes place in Tampa. Other than the Florida State Fair, which this year has adopted a Spanish conquistador theme, and an exhibit at the Tampa Bay History Center, the region has been bypassed by organizers of the events.

Still, there is Fort De Soto State Park and DeSoto County; there is the Hernando De Soto Trial that marks the Spanish conquistador's overland trek from Manatee County north to the Mississippi River; there is Hernando County, the city of Hernando and various schools named in honor of the explorers.

But no local historical group has organized an event marking the 500th anniversary.Comment:  A conquistador theme...wow. That's just what the world needs: more celebrations of conquest and killing.

It would be better if Indians portrayed the Calusa, of course. But if the re-enactments are historically accurate, I guess non-Native participants are acceptable.

For more on Native reenactors, see War of 1812 Reenactment Omits Natives and Why Wannabes Wanna Be.

Mankato memorial says "forgive everything"

Today is the 150th anniversary of the hanging of the Mankato 38. Therefore, a posting on the subject is appropriate.

Minnesota Works on Forgiving But Not Forgetting Its Native History

By Konnie LemayOn December 26, a memorial will be dedicated in Mankato, Minnesota’s Reconciliation Park near a white limestone buffalo that marks the spot where 38 Dakota men were hanged the day after Christmas 150 years ago. On a 10-by-4 foot leather-looking scroll will be listed the names of those men next to another scroll with a poem about the hangings and encircled by the phrase “forgive everyone everything.”

“These men fought for the Dakota way of life, trying to hang onto something, to hang onto this land for the future generations of their children and grandchildren,” Vernell Wabasha, wife of hereditary chief Ernest Wabasha, who led the move for the memorial, told the Mankato Free Press.

Dedication of the $110,000 memorial, just after the ending in Mankato that day of the Dakota Wokiksuye Memorial Ride, will wrap up a year of lectures, discussions, exhibits, newspaper articles, radio broadcasts, concerts and commemorations in the state of Minnesota acknowledging the history of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.

For many in Minnesota—both Native and non-Native—the events introduced them to a dark history of their state that they had never heard.

“I don’t remember learning much about the war, certainly not the aftermath,” said Minnesota author Diane Wilson, who is Dakota. “The 38 hanged in Mankato, those were the best known facts. … The fact of the removal of the Dakota was something that was so silent, especially that forced march of the 1,700 elders, children and women.”Sounds like an appropriate and educational monument, right? Not everyone agrees:

Co-Opting the Memory of the Dakota 38+2

By WaziyatawiThe Idle No More campaign is in full-swing to the north, and Dakota people associated with the 38+2 memorial horse ride have apparently abandoned the struggle for justice for Indigenous people here with the promotion of their mantra “forgive everyone everything.” That feel-good slogan will be literally etched in stone on benches that will be placed around a new memorial in Mankato, Minnesota next summer.

This emphasis on reconciliation at the site of the largest mass hanging from one gallows in world history (yes, it used to be listed as a Guinness World Record) illuminates a deep split within the Dakota population that remains 150 years later.

Not all Dakota people are eager to offer forgiveness to the occupiers of our homeland. The crimes of genocide, ethnic cleansing and land theft are too great for time alone to heal. Furthermore, the injustices continue through the ongoing occupation of our homeland, the diaspora and exile of our people, the denial of our rights to religious freedom including access to sacred sites, the lack of access to traditional foods, the theft of our children, the mass incarceration of our population, the imposition of colonial systems and institutions on every aspect of our lives and the daily exploitation and destruction of our homeland. In 1862, Dakota warriors fought to defend our land, our people and our way of life. Thirty-eight of them were hanged in 1862 as a consequence of their resistance to occupation and two more were hanged in 1865. But the struggles remain the same today and we are still in need of warriors to achieve justice and liberation for our people.

The vision of the horse ride in honor of the 38+2 began with Jim Miller, a Lakota Vietnam veteran. He determined it was about peace, healing and reconciliation. That is, he came to Dakota people with a message about how our resistance fighters should be honored. Imagine if a Dakota person had a vision about how Crazy Horse or Sitting Bull should be honored, brought that vision to Lakota people, and then determined the honoring should be about peace and reconciliation. I hardly think such a vision would be embraced by our western relatives. Unfortunately, some Dakota people have followed his vision and the result is an absurdly extreme position (“forgive everyone everything”).

Furthermore, in all the media coverage surrounding the horse-ride memorial, it is not clear why they are honoring the 38+2. The prominence of forgiveness, healing and reconciliation in the rhetoric of the horse riders is what would better be associated with the “cut-hair,” “friendly” or Christian Indians who sided with the whites in 1862—the people who were considered traitors by Dakota standards. The message of peace and forgiveness would make sense if the riders were honoring those ancestors. It is not what one would associate with the 38 men hanged at Mankato or Wakanozanzan and Sakpe hanged at Fort Snelling. Far from being advocates of peace and reconciliation, they were Dakota men who took up arms because they believed in the righteousness of our struggleComment:  Good points by Waziyatawi. Yeah, I'm not down with the "forgive everyone everything" idea. Not in this context or any other context I can think of. A better approach is "criticize and correct," not "forgive and forget."

Of course, the monument's creators might say they believe in forgiving but not forgetting. But forgiving, like apologizing, is a useless gesture without some accompanying action. What are the creators doing to ensure Native rights and justice now?

Forgiving also aids the process of forgetting. "Remember the Mankato 38?" someone might ask. "Why should we? I thought the Indians forgave us for that back in 2012. That means it's over and done with."

The real-world choice is often forgiving and forgetting or not forgiving and not forgetting. Needless to say, I prefer the latter.

For more on the Mankato 38, see Mankato 38 Art Exhibit and Mankato Concert to Mourn Dakota War.

License plate for Plymouth's 400th anniversary

Plymouth pushing license plate commemorating town’s 400th anniversary

By Emily SweeneyPlans are underway to produce a special license plate commemorating Plymouth’s 400th anniversary.

The limited edition plate design features a light-blue image of the Mayflower ship encapsulating a solid white silhouette of a Native American man. Along the bottom of the plate reads the simple slogan: “1620 Plymouth 2020.”

The organizers of Plymouth’s 400th-birthday celebration hope to get that logo and slogan on the bumpers of 3,000 vehicles over the next two years.

They will cost $40 apiece, and $28 from each plate fee will go toward funding the town’s 400th-anniversary celebration in 2020.Comment:  It was smart of them to include an Indian in the design. Without one, there might've been a protest over a plate that seemed to celebrate colonization.

For more on the subject, see "6 Ridiculous Lies" About Indians and Thanksgiving in This Is America, Charlie Brown.

Mankato concert to mourn Dakota War

Mankato Symphony to Play Concert to Mourn Dakota War and HangingsOn December 26, 1862, 38 Dakota men were hanged in Mankato, Minnesota, in the largest mass execution in American history. The event was a gruesome coda to the Dakota War of 1862, which had ended on September 26 with the Dakotas’ surrender at Camp Release.

On November 18, the Mankato Symphony Orchestra will play a concert to mark the 150th anniversary of the tragic war and hangings. The performance will consist of two compositions, “Trail of Tears” by Michael Daugherty and “To Be Certain of the Dawn” by Stephen Paulus.

“Trail of Tears” was inspired be the well-known forced relocation of tribes from the southeastern U.S. to what was called Indian Territory—better known today as parts of eastern Oklahoma—as decreed by the Indian Removal Act of 1830. As described in a release about the concert, Daugherty’s piece is “a musical journey into how the human spirit discovers ways to deal with upheaval, adversity and adapting to a new environment.” The performance on November 18 will mark the first time it has been played in its entirety.

Stephen Paulus’s “To Be Certain of the Dawn” is a multimedia performance consisting of music, song and photographs projected on a screen above the 80-member Mankato Symphony. The piece was commissioned by Fr. Michael O’Connell and Rabbi Joseph from the Twin Cities, and inspired by photos of children from the Holocaust.Comment:  For more on Mankato, see Putting US-Dakota War in Context and Dakota Walk Commemorates War's Anniversary.

Dakota walk commemorates war's anniversary

Dakota cross border to a 150-year-old welcome home

By Curt BrownDennis Red Owl pushed his 86-year-old mother's wheelchair over a crack in the asphalt Friday where South Dakota Hwy. 34 meets Minnesota Hwy. 30 at the border.

Elder Ada Red Owl, wrapped in a shawl, bowed her head and swept the smoke of burning sage over her face. A "Welcome to Minnesota" sign stood just across the road.

Traffic was halted as drum beats and prayer chants filled the unseasonably crisp air among the cornfields. More than 300 people circled around Ada and seven other Dakota grandmothers--four on each side of the border--as they exchanged eagle feathers at a symbolic welcome-home ceremony for exiles on the 150th anniversary of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.

In the wake of the war, in which hundreds of settlers, U.S. soldiers and Dakota fighters were killed, Congress passed a law in 1863 banishing the Dakota from Minnesota. Several hundred Dakota had gone to war after broken treaties and late annuity payments left their families starving to death in a narrow reservation along the Minnesota River. Their intent was to win back their land from a wave of immigrants sweeping into early Minnesota. The federal law, although unenforced, remains on the books.Dakota remember conflict with walk

Minnesota-S.D. border ceremony marks 1862 warAs the ceremony began, 11 horses carrying riders crested a hill on South Dakota’s Highway 34 and led a procession of walkers to the border. Winona, Minn., residents Barbi Bell and Richie Swanson held a sign that read “Welcome Home,” while Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie shouted the same greeting as walkers descended the hill.

“This is long overdue,” said Pipestone County Sheriff Dan Delaney, watching the ceremony as he stood next to the “Welcome to Minnesota” sign sitting on the state’s Highway 30.

An 1863 federal law remains that bans Dakota from living in Minnesota, though it’s not enforced. Gov. Mark Dayton issued a statement asking Minnesotans to “remember that dark past,” and he repudiated the actions of Alexander Ramsey, Minnesota’s second governor, who said after the war that the Dakota should be exterminated or driven from the state.

Dayton said, “Hostile feelings do still exist between some Native Americans and their neighbors.” He offered condolences to everyone who lost family members, and ordered all state flags flown at half-staff from sunrise to sunset Friday.For more on the US-Dakota War being commemorated, here's the last of a six-part series:

Little Crow's legacy

And an essay in the New York Times:

Lincoln and the Sioux

For more on the subject, see Memorial Sought for Mankato 38 and 150th Anniversary of US-Dakota War.

War of 1812 reenactment omits Natives

First Nations Omitted From War Of 1812 Re-EnactmentActors dressed in period costumes helped bring the War of 1812 theme alive at the Tall Ships Festival in Halifax, but the re-enactment left out Canada's aboriginal allies.

Professional re-enactors hired by Parks Canada marched on the Halifax waterfront as if braced for an American attack, but no one represented the First Nations soldiers who fought for the British colony.

Thousands of First Nations soldiers helped turn the tide of the war in British and Canadian favour.

"(We) certainly would not have been able to save our territory if not for the native contribution," said site manager Rob Roe.

Parks Canada has not officially replied to CBC's query about the missing aboriginal re-enactors, but Roe said he didn't know why aboriginals were not represented in the Halifax re-enactment.Comment:  One detail missing from the article: Was this a reenactment of a particular event in Halifax? In which Natives might not have participated?

Or was it a general reenactment of the War of 1812, in which Natives were key players? In that case, the reenactment should've included them.

For more on the War of 1812, see Aboriginals Mark Canada Day 2012 and War of 1812 Documentary.

Aboriginals mark Canada Day 2012

July 1 is Canada Day, so a couple of postings on the subject:

Aboriginals Seek to Raise Awareness of Role in Country’s Formation as Canada Day Is Marked

By Elle Andra-WarnerCanada Day—that country’s equivalent of the Fourth of July, the U.S.’s Independence Day—is fraught with ambivalence for aboriginals, and perhaps even more so this year, as the country marks the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812.

Aboriginals, First Nations foremost among them, have long emphasized their role in the founding of the country. It was supposed to be a collaborative effort, the formation of this nation, and no where was that more evident than during the War of 1812, when the U.S. went to war with the British, trying to encroach on Canadian territory.

During this war between Britain and United States, more than 10,000 First Nations warriors fought as British allies to stop the American invasion of British Canada. Though these aboriginal fighters played a major role in the victory for Britain and Canada, there is hardly a mention of their contribution and sacrifice in today’s history books or monuments.

This year, with the 200th anniversary of the war’s beginning, aboriginal groups are working to change those perceptions. Forefront among them is the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), which will hold a series of public events designed to honor the warriors while educating Canadians about the significant role of First Nations in the War of 1812 and in the making of Canada.White people, here’s your one-time Canada Day special: Native people apologize back!

By Drew Hayden Taylor[S]ome in the native community feel that perhaps we are being a little lax in not issuing an apology of our own.

We are not without some culpability. In the centuries that have passed since that fateful day of contact, we ourselves have been negligent and irresponsible in not acknowledging our liability in many regretful incidents and events in the past.

So in the spirit of cooperation, I would like to offer up these apologies to the people of Canada on behalf of the NAFNIP (native/aboriginal/first nations/indigenous people):

We hereby apologize for being so inconsiderate as to occupy land that, one day, your people would want. Even though we did not have a postal system or an Internet, this was an inexcusable oversight. We hope you are enjoying it.

We apologize for having so many politically correct and incorrect names for you to call us--everything from native to aboriginal to first nations to wagon burner to status-card number 48759375876-1.Comment:  Hayden offers more "apologies" in that vein.

For more on holidays, see National Aboriginal Day 2012 and Heritage Month and Tribal Summit.

136th anniversary of Greasy Grass

Visiting South Dakota, we didn't realize the significance of the Battle of Little Bighorn anniversary. Several Plains tribes celebrate it as an official holiday.

That means the chairman of the Oglala Sioux Tribe (OST) wasn't there to greet us when we arrived in Pine Ridge. He and other tribal employees had taken the day off.

Some postings on the day's significance:

The 136th anniversary of the Battle at Little Big Horn

By Tim GiagoThe bumper stickers were born before the holiday.

They could be seen on cars coming and going from the Indian reservations in America. They read “Custer died for your sins,” or “Custer wore Arrow Shirts.” And then came the holiday in the 1970s.

The Indian holiday on June 25 marks the 136th anniversary of the thrashing of George Armstrong Custer’s Seventh Cavalry at the Little Big Horn, or Greasy Grass, as the Indians called it. On all of the Sioux Indian reservations in South Dakota it is a statewide holiday. The Cheyenne and the Arapahoe, also participants in the great victory, have also joined the celebration.

They celebrate the day their ancestors handed the United States Army one of its worst defeats in all of the so-called “Indian Wars.” The Indians called them the “White Man Wars.”The Battle of the Little Bighorn is Still Relevant

By Chase Iron EyesThe battlefield is no longer only a physical fight to steal our lands, sever our ties to protect mother earth, eradicate our dignity, kill our languages, stop our ceremonies and purposefully and perpetually keep us in a subdued state of existence. Poverty is not an accident. The battlefield has largely shifted to the arena of our own minds.

Today our enemy is the corporate west and its institutions (legal, social, political, media, educational, etc.). These institutions that attempt to teach us that we were savage, that we were primitive, that skinny and white is beautiful, that women are objects, that we should value comfort, material products, ego, and consumer culture over sacrifice and our ceremonies. These institutions that ignore us yet demand that we work for them 8-12 hours per day for 60 years or until we retire, at the expense of our families, earth, and ceremonies.

These institutions and their perpetrators, Indian and non, seek to deny the truth that we are children of creation with the blessing and the burden to protect the earth and practice divine order in our ceremonies and life patterns as compelled by our spiritual dignity. I also would be remiss if I did not recognize that our own apathy, learned helplessness, and ego are also our enemies. The theatre of war may have changed to our hearts and minds, but the same lives are at stake.

We celebrate our unconquerable spiritual dignity today with the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Lakota Alliance (Okaspe Yamni) in their country and in the homelands of Gall, Sitting Bull, Inkpa Duta, Rain in the face, Crazy Horse, American Horse, Big Road, and Black Elk to name a few of the Grandfathers that fought at the Greasy Grass and we remember all the others, including women such as Inyan He Wita (Rocky Butte) and Mary Crawler who fought as well.

We celebrate and choose to remember into the future, because that spirit is still alive and ready to meet any challenge in any battle.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Custer Flag Auctioned to Help Indians and Why No Wounded Knee National Monument?

Cherokees commemorate Emissaries of Peace

Cherokee delegation to commemorate ‘Emissaries of Peace’ London trip of 1762A Cherokee delegation will mark the 250th anniversary of the "Emissaries of Peace" journey to London in 1762 with a group tour on June 15-23, 2012, led by representatives from the Cherokee Nation, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

Together, the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes are representing their people as ambassadors of goodwill similar to the "Emissaries of Peace" trip more than 250 years ago. The Cherokee Nation delegation consists of Jack Baker, Cherokee Nation Tribal Councilor; Elizabeth Bird, United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians; and Phyllis Ashenfelter and B. Lynne Harlan, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
​
Long before the Revolutionary War, the Cherokee Nation was a valued trading partner and important political ally with Great Britain. That mutual bond was dissolved during the French and Indian War and led to a three-year conflict between the British and the Cherokees. In November 1761 the Treaty of Long Island resulted in peace between the two nations. That December, Junior Officer Ensign Henry Timberlake arrived at the Cherokee Nation capital, present-day Monroe County, Tennessee, and spent several months with the Cherokee people.

In May 1762, the "Emissaries of Peace" led by Ostenaco and including Cherokee leaders Cunne Shote and Woyi, persuaded Timberlake to escort them to London, where they met with King George III. At the meeting, Ostenaco declared his wish for peace and loyalty to the King.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Emissaries of Peace on the Road.

150th anniversary of Homestead Act

U.S. marks 150th anniversary of Homestead Act offering free landThe United States on Sunday marks the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln signing the Homestead Act, the law that gave away 270 million acres of land and transformed the vast American interior.

Representatives from 30 states will take part in a ceremony at the National Monument of America in the Nebraska town of Beatrice, representing the states where nearly 2 million people each received 160 acres of free land under the program.And:Not everyone benefited from the Homestead Act. Engler said the law accelerated the removal of Native Americans from some states, especially across the Plains. With few exceptions, they were not allowed to homestead until 1924, when Native Americans were able to become U.S. citizens.

The act was in effect for 123 years. Homesteading ended in the continental United States in 1976. It ended in Alaska in 1986. In addition to the American West, homesteading took place in the South because land confiscated from plantation owners after the Civil War was deemed public land. Texas had no homesteading because it did not have federal public land.

Engler said the Homestead Act contributed to the expansion of the U.S. economy, spurred immigration and advanced transportation and communications networks.Nothing to celebrate

The "not everyone benefited" paragraph is the only negative thing in the article about the Homestead Act. Here's a less benign view:

The Subsidy of History

History can't be done a priori.A considerable number of libertarian commentators have remarked on the sheer scale of subsidies and protections to big business, on their structural importance to the existing form of corporate capitalism, and on the close intermeshing of corporate and state interests in the present state capitalist economy. We pay less attention, however, to the role of past state coercion, in previous centuries, in laying the structural foundations of the present system. The extent to which present-day concentrations of wealth and corporate power are the legacy of past injustice, I call the subsidy of history.

The first and probably the most important subsidy of history is land theft, by which peasant majorities were deprived of their just property rights and turned into tenants forced to pay rent based on the artificial “property” titles of state-privileged elites.

Of course, all such artificial titles not founded on appropriation by individual labor are completely illegitimate.

As Ludwig von Mises pointed out in Socialism, the normal functioning of the market never results in a state of affairs in which most of the land of a country is “owned” by a tiny class of absentee landlords and the peasant majority pay rent for the land they work. Wherever it is found, it is the result of past coercion and robbery.In particular:The Homestead Act of 1862, an apparent exception to this general trend, was really just another illustration of it. The majority of land, rather than being claimed under the terms of the Homestead Act, was auctioned to the highest bidder. Even for land covered by the Act, according to Howard Zinn, the $200 fee was beyond the reach of many. As a result, much of the land was not homesteaded on Lockean principles at all, but initially went to speculators before being partitioned and resold to homesteaders. And compared to the 50 million acres covered by homestead legislation, 100 million acres were given away as railroad land grants during the Civil War—free of charge! In other words, the privileged classes got the gravy, and ordinary homesteaders got the bone.Comment:  In this case, of course, the "peasant majorities" were Indians.

Much of today's concentrated wealth began with government subsidies to railroads, ranchers, miners, and drillers. So our "free market" economy has always been a crock. The country was "built" by elitists using government power to enrich themselves at the expense of Indians and other Americans.

For more on the subject, see:

Ayn Rand, racist
Land theft in My Little Pony
Jefferson's Indian removal policy
Capitalism killed the Indians
Great Plains in Years of Dust

150th anniversary of US-Dakota War

150 years later, war's wounds still cut deep

Minnesota is divided on how best to commemorate the U.S.-Dakota War, which left hundreds dead and ended in the largest mass execution in U.S. history.

By Curt BrownA 150-year-old loop of rope, knotted into a hangman's noose, sits in a climate-controlled case in the underground archives of the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul.

Some say it should be burned, buried or returned to the hands of the Dakota people.

Others argue it should be displayed, like piles of shoes at Holocaust museums, as a powerful artifact to help people confront the grim story of the U.S.-Dakota War, which erupted in Minnesota in 1862 and ended with the largest mass execution in U.S. history.

The noose, and just what to make of it, is one sign of the historical reckoning looming this year as Minnesotans wrestle with how to mark the 150th anniversary of one its ugliest, yet often overlooked, episodes.

"This will be a very challenging year--the wounds are still deep," said Republican state Rep. Dean Urdahl, a longtime history teacher whose Grove City home is three miles from where the war broke out. His great-great-grandfather buried some of its first victims. "It was our state's greatest tragedy."

Dozens of commemorative events are planned, from a major exhibit at the Minnesota History Center to programs in classrooms across the state and cellphone tours along the Minnesota River, where the war raged for six weeks. Yet, in the shadow of it all are deep rifts over how to best observe the war's sesquicentennial.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Annual Ride for Mankato 38 and Dakota Music Tour.

25th annual ride to Wounded Knee

Annual Chief Big Foot Memorial Ride to Wounded Knee ConcludesThe story of Wounded Knee is embedded deep into the conscious and culture of American Indians from all tribes. That the story is retold so often is a testament to its lasting power over our imaginations, the lessons learned something never to be forgotten. It is, in essence, a wound that must be addressed and remembered so it won’t fester. The 25th Annual Chief Big Foot Memorial Ride, which commemorates Chief Big Foot’s band of Minneconjou Lakota and their flight from Standing Rock Reservation to Wounded Knee on December 29th, 1890, is remembrance in motion, a 191-mile journey through the badlands in the middle of winter in an effort to honor the past, and those who have walked on.

As the Wounded Knee Museum’s blog stated, the beginning ceremonies were held in McLaughlin, South Dakota, at the Standing Rock Reservation on December 14th. The riders then began their journey to Chief Sitting Bull’s camp on December 15th, the place where he was assassinated on that day in 1890. There, the riders offered prayers and remembrance as they continued their journey to Wounded Knee Creek, which ended this morning, December 29th, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where hundreds of Lakota were massacred by the 7th Cavalry.

As the Great Plains Examiner explains, the 191-mile horseback ride to Wounded Knee was first retraced by the Big Foot Memorial Riders in 1986. In 1990, a ceremony was performed at the site of the massacre and the group was renamed the Future Generation Riders. This year’s journey marks the 25th consecutive ride to Wounded Knee.Eye-Opening Wounded Knee Journey Becomes Family AffairIt has turned into a family affair for the Kuntzes—Melanie, now 22, and her sister Jamie, 20, who have both ridden the road since they were teenagers. At first their father made them do it. But one ride, and they were converts, as this stirring story in the Great Plains Examiner relates.

“I just remember being so upset that we were going,” Melanie Kuntz told the newspaper of her first trip as an unwilling 14-year-old. “But after getting down there and riding, it was like a complete 180. When I was done, I was so glad I did it.”Comment:  For more on Wounded Knee, see Why Wounded Knee Matters and The Wounded Knee Museum.

UN declaration's first anniversary

UN Declaration’s One-Year Anniversary:  ‘Much to Celebrate, Much More to Be Done’

By Gale Courey ToensingThis month marks the one-year anniversary of the United States formally reversing its opposition to the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. While some involved in the indigenous rights struggle say little has changed since then, others say there’s a lot to celebrate—mostly because indigenous people are working hard to make sure that declaration is implemented in all interactions with nation-states.What the UN declaration has done in the last year:Carmen played an important role in the international forums that developed the Declaration and over the past year she has led and participated in dozens of workshops and presentation in front of tribal governments and organizations such as the National Congress of American Indians, educating Indigenous Peoples on the Declaration and how to use it as a tool in every interaction with federal, state and local governments. “The recognition of rights is the basis for peace. The denial of rights is the cause of conflict,” Carmen said. “The interactions of the past – we can’t forget them because there’s redress and restitution, which is also included in the Declaration. But the discussion can start on a new level based on recognition, upholding and defending the rights of Indigenous Peoples in this Declaration that the U.S. is now a party to. It’s an amazing step forward.”

The implementation of the Declaration is beginning both in the international arena and the U.S. A good example of progress in the international arena took place last January during the continuing negotiations in the drafting of the American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which is being created under the auspices of the Organization of American States “When there was a challenge to the proposed language, the chair said, ‘We need to fall back on the language in the U.N. Declaration on this issue.’ That may not sound like much but it was the first time that happened. And previously the U.S. and Canada always opposed using the Declaration as the minimum standards for the discussion on the American level. But they didn’t say a word in opposition this time--they couldn’t because they support the Declaration now,” Carmen said.

The Declaration was instrumental in the U.S. in another important issue this year--the protection of a sacred shell mound at Sogorea Te in Glen Cove, California, said Mark Anquoe (Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma), IITC’s administrative and communications coordinator. “There was a 109-day spiritual encampment at the site, so it was huge and it was special because it was the first time the Bay area Indian community rallied around the Declaration,” Anquoe said.

Not everyone working in the arena of indigenous rights sees that kind of progress over the past year. Steve Newcomb, (Lenni/Lenape), a columnist for Indian Country Today Media Network, says the U.S. State Department distorted the Declaration’s meaning of Indigenous Peoples’ right to self determination and needs to rectify its error before progress can be made. Article 3 of the Declaration says, “Indigenous Peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.” Newcomb says the State Department “did not tell the truth” about Article 3 in its 15-page white paper issued December 16, 2010. “In its statement, the State Department said it was ‘pleased to support the Declaration’s call to promote the development of a new and distinct international concept of self-determination specific to indigenous Peoples. (emphasis added)

“The State Department expanded on this falsehood by saying that the ‘Declaration’s call is to promote the development of a concept of self-determination for Indigenous Peoples that is different from the existing right of self-determination in international law.” This is patently and blatantly false! This was never the understanding of the process that led to the adoption of Article 3 and its relationship to the international human right of self-determination found in the International Human Rights Covenants. By its statements of bad faith—statements it has not disavowed in the past year—the United States destroyed the very basis for implementing the key provision in the UN Declaration that Indigenous Peoples were working toward in their efforts to create positive reforms in the area of Indigenous Peoples’ human rights. This needs to be rectified as a first step in talking meaningfully about ‘implementing’ the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”

Michael Leroy Oberg, Professor of History Co-coordinator of Native American Studies at the State University of New York, Geneseo, and author of Native America: A History, said Obama’s “lending of support” to the Declaration was a “nice gesture,” but he doesn’t think it will turn out to be more than that. The problems are both in the executive branch and the judiciary, Oberg said. “The meaning of ‘self-determination’ in the Declaration, is much more literal than that which has developed in the United States over the past half-century, and much less constrained by some of the long-standing and, I would argue, colonial assumptions built into American Indian policy.”Comment:  So the UN declaration inspired some Indians to protest? And its language served as a model for another declaration? I don't consider those major accomplishments. A major accomplishment would be overturning a piece of legislation, court ruling, or government policy because it violated UNDRIP.

On the bright side, at least Obama hasn't given the US back to the Indians. The gap between what conservative lunatics expected and what actually happened is as wide as I thought it would be.

For more on the UN declaration, see Red Corn Testifies at Senate Hearing and Colbert Satirizes UN Declaration Scare.

Below:  "The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was used successfully this year as the basis for protecting what is left of the ancient ceremonial and burial site Sogorea Te, located at Glen Cove, in Vallejo, California. Indigenous Peoples from the area participated in a 109-day encampment on the site from April until July."

Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run

Today is the 147th anniversary of the Sand Creek Massacre. Here's what's happening to mark this solemn occasion:

A Different View of History

By Carol BerryChief White Antelope Way was a noted Cheyenne peace chief, one of 11 leaders who died November 29, 1864 in a camp on Sand Creek in the high plains grassland of southeastern Colorado that probably looks today much as it did then, historian David Halaas, said.

The encampment was “very much a chief’s camp,” according to Halaas, who said that 11 leaders were among those promised safety by Colorado officials—a promise that proved lethal.

The 13th Annual Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual Healing Run began from the Sand Creek Massacre National Historical Site, near Chivington, Colorado, early Thanksgiving Day to commemorate some 200 Cheyenne and Arapaho people—mostly women, children and the elderly—who were killed in a sneak attack by the 700-strong Colorado cavalry under Army Col. John Chivington.And:In Denver, prayers were offered at a medicine wheel-like sculpture by Cheyenne/Arapaho artist Edgar Heap of Birds that carries the message, “We are always returning back again.” Ceremonies were conducted at places connected to the death of Capt. Silas Soule, 1st Colorado Cavalry, who refused Chivington’s order to fire and who later was killed in Denver, apparently by a Chivington supporter.

At Colorado’s capitol, State Sen. Suzanne Williams represented Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper in proclaiming November 20–24, 2011 as Sand Creek Massacre Healing Run/Walk and Remembrance Days. Denver Mayor Michael Hancock proclaimed November 24–26 the 13th Annual Sand Creek Massacre Run/Walk Days and the Medicine Heart Singers sang an honor song for him.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Indians Left Out at National Parks and The Three Anti-Indian Amigos.

Below:  "In feathered headdress, Reginald Killsnight, Northern Cheyenne, addressed those who attended a ceremony at the capitol in Denver, Colorado at the end of the 13th annual Sand Creek Massacre Healing Run." (Carol Berry)

Tribes celebrate Arizona's centennial

Arizona centennial has Indian tribes highlighting role in state’s past, future

By Joanne IngramAmerican Indian tribes are taking part in state’s centennial celebrations to share their traditions and highlight their role in Arizona’s history and future. As part of that, 17 of the 22 tribes created a native village at the festival that began here Sept. 16-18 and later will move to Tucson and Phoenix, the other two territorial capitals.

“I think that this is an opportunity for us to tell Arizona residents and visitors that this is who we are as Indian people,” said Rory Majenty, president of the Arizona American Indian Tourism Association and member of the Hualapai Nation.The Best Fest displays include:• A traditional Hopi house is made from straw and mud, but Best Fest's replica, built in four days, was made from plywood and stucco.

• Gourd singers offer traditional chants accompanied by rattles and other aboriginal instruments.

• The Navajo Nation offers a replica of a hogan, a dwelling traditionally made of logs and earth.

• The Salt River Pima-Maricopa tribes offer a replica of a traditional round house, a dome-shaped, one-room structures made from desert materials.Comment:  For some anniversaries where Indians were left out, see War of 1812 Bicentennial Without Indians? and Bitter Over Hudson Anniversary.

Below:  "Members of the Hopi tribe perform a traditional dance." (Carie Gladding)

"Wild Man Caught"--August 29, 1911

California Museum opening exhibit on 100th anniversary of day Ishi was found

By Stephen MagagniniExactly 100 years ago, a starving Indian who spoke no recognizable language was captured near an Oroville slaughterhouse.

Here's how The Bee described the incident in its Aug. 29, 1911 edition: "Wild Man Caught In Suburbs of Oroville–Evidently Last of Savage Tribe of Deer Creek Indians."

The Indians–members of the Yahi and Yana tribes–had been massacred in 1865, 1866 and 1871. A few survivors hid out near Mill Creek east of Red Bluff.

Sheriff's deputies fed the rangy, famished native doughnuts and beans–he preferred doughnuts–and turned him over to San Francisco anthropologists T.T. Waterman and Alfred Kroeber, who called him "Ishi," meaning man in Ishi's Yahi dialect.

Today, the California Museum unveils a new exhibit honoring Ishi, California's most famous and misunderstood Indian.

The sensational headlines–and his reputation as a noble savage–made him one of the most beloved American Indians, celebrated in books, plays and film.

Kroeber, one of the fathers of modern anthropology, proclaimed Ishi "the last wild Indian of North America." His story has been taught to generations of California schoolchildren. But he wasn't the last of his tribe, and likely was not a full-blooded Yahi.

The exhibit helps unravel the mystery of Ishi, who learned some English but never revealed his real name.Speeches, receptions mark 100th anniversary of the discovery of Ishi

By Robin EpleySunday's 100th anniversary of the discovery of the last Yahi Native American known as Ishi was a day of both celebration and respectful remembrance for the town of Oroville.

A day of speeches, receptions, museum visits and gatherings marked the anniversary, hosted by the Butte County Historical Society.

Starting at 10 a.m. at Bicentennial Park, a reception with local historians, artists and researchers was held in a sort of question and answer session for the community. Many new facts have been found about Ishi in years past, and much of the legends surrounding his life before he was found in Oroville are untrue. Richard Burrill, a local author and historian, was also there to speak about his book on the subject, "Ishi's Untold Story."

Afterwards, a walking tour of Oroville as it was in 1911, and how Ishi would have seen it during his first week in modern society, was provided. A reception at the Ehmann Home, across the street from what was the Oroville Jail cell where Ishi was held, provided a chance for Oroville residents to share their memories of the man who made their town famous.Comment:  For more on Ishi, see 100th Anniversary of IShi's Emergence and Ideas for Ishi Statue.

Native Voice 1 celebrates 5th anniversary

Native Voice one celebrates fifth year

By Stan BindellNative American radio broadcasters recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of Native Voice 1 (NV1).

NV1 is a Native American programming distribution service that supplies national radio programs to radio stations throughout the nation. NV1 comes to Hopi, Navajo and other reservations through KUYI in Polacca and KGHR in Tuba City. NV1's most well-known shows include Native America Calling, Native American News and Undercurrents.

Burt Poley, who serves as network manager for NV1, said he loves his job because it allows him to work with native and non-native radio stations. Poley came on board more than five years ago when NV1 took over the reins from American Indian Radio On Satellite (AIROS).

Poley, who previously worked as operations manager at KUYI on Hopi, said NV1 has improved the billing since taking over from AIROS. He said this helps bring more money into NV1 in order to keep the programs going.Comment:  For more on Native radio, see Pala's Rez Radio and Navajo DJ on Station of the Year.

Below:  "Burt Poley getting interviewed by Hopi High School’s Otivia 'Big O' Puhuhefvaya on KUYI." (Stan Bindell)

100th anniversary of Ishi's emergence

Ishi events planned Friday, SaturdayThis year is the 100th anniversary of Ishi's emergence into the 20th century, and this week is the 10th annual Ishi Gathering and Seminar.

The Butte County Historical Society event is Friday and Saturday at a number of locations around Oroville. This year it has the theme "The Ishi Story: Myth and Meaning."

Activities begin with a panel discussion of researchers, historians and local American Indians 1-4 p.m. Friday at the Oroville Centennial Cultural Center, Arlin Rhine Drive.

They'll be discussing the different perspectives of the Ishi story, and how it continues to evolve.

Then from 5-6:30 p.m. at the Ehmann Home, 1480 Lincoln St., there'll be a reception with author Richard Burrill introducing his latest book, "Ishi's Untold Story in His First World: A Biography of one of the last Yahi Indians of North America."

Friday's events conclude with the showing of "Reel Injun," a movie on how the movie industry has portrayed American Indians for the past 100 years. That's 7-8:30 p.m. at the Ehmann Home.

Saturday a full day of activities called "A Walk in the Natives' Day" is planned, exploring local Native American culture in pre-contact California.Comment:  For more on Ishi, see Ideas for Ishi Statue and Brian Wescott, Charlie Hill, and Ishi.

Henricus was no. 2

400th commemoration continues at Henricus Historical ParkHenricus Historical Park continues its 400th commemoration with the second major event in a series called “The Year of Henricus” with “Pocahontas and the Powhatan People” Nov. 6 and 7. Pocahontas lived and met John Rolfe at the Citie of Henricus, the second permanent English settlement in North America. Leaders of Henricus developed the first English hospital, chartered the first college in North America and established tobacco as the first cash crop in Virginia. This event examines the significant impact neighboring Virginia Indians had on the English colonists and explores the life of Pocahontas at Henricus.

Set among a recreated Arrohateck Indian village and English settlement, visitors to Henricus Historical Park are encouraged to step back in time and experience life in 1611 Colonial Virginia demonstrated by period-dressed interpreters. American Indian activities will include historical recreations of daily Virginia Indian life and scheduled ceremonial dance and music demonstrations. Visitors to the English settlement can meet John Rolfe and other colonists as they discuss the upcoming marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe.Comment:  Talking about no one remembering who came in second place! I don't think I've ever heard of Henricus. Jamestown gets all the publicity and Henricus gets none.

For more on the subject, see Pocahontas Bastardizes Real People.

Below:  Jamestown, not Henricus.