‘Don’t Let the Corporation Steal Our Land!’ Tlingit Elder Opposes Alaska Native Landless Bill

Lingit Latseen

Frank Hopper’s article on opposition to the Alaska Native Lands Bill is a must read. Cited is public testimony given by Keiheenouk’, John Martin, Sr. of Hoonah, AK. The article is an excellent entry into the story of Alaska Natives’ long struggle with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) and its far reaching consequences. Below is an excerpt.

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ICTMN
by Frank Hopper

For much of the year the jet stream brings one rain system after another to Southeast Alaska, feeding the largest temperate rainforest in the world, the Tongass, ancestral home of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian Nations. Sitka Spruce trees shoot up 300 feet like skyscrapers above a diverse ecosystem of plant and animal life. For thousands of years the Native people lived in harmony with the forest, honoring and respecting it.

Then one day the Natives began mowing it down. During the 1980s the Natives clear-cut…

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LaVoy Finicum’s message to Native Americans

Lingit Latseen

In a video released the evening of his death, LaVoy Finicum, the man who was shot and killed on Tuesday in Harney County, addresses some concerns voiced by Natives regarding the occupation. In the video he voices his support for the establishment of independent, sovereign tribal nations. Finicum was a part of the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

“It is time to throw off the BIA, and become a completely sovereign independent nation without the overseer-ship of the BIA,” Finicum says. “It is time for them to stand up and throw off the federal government out of their nations.”

The occupation has been met with little local support, though a number of Harney County residents have voiced their own frustration with the federal government’s handling of land use in area. The Paiute Tribe has deeply criticized the occupation for claiming federal land that once belonged to the…

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First Nation’s clay kills antibiotic-resistant bacteria in lab tests

CBC News

Clay from Kisameet Bay, B.C., used by B.C. First Nations for centuries for its healing properties could be a new weapon in the fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, says new research from the University of British Columbia.

The research, published today in the American Society for Microbiology’s mBio journal, recommends the rare mineral clay be studied as a treatment for serious infections caused by the so-called ESKAPE pathogens — Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus (also known as MRSA when it becomes resistant to antibiotics), Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species — which cause the majority of U.S. hospital infections and “escape” the effects of antibacterial drugs.

“Infections caused by ESKAPE bacteria are essentially untreatable and contribute to increasing mortality in hospitals,” said co-author Julian Davies in a written statement.

“After 50 years of overusing and misusing antibiotics, ancient medicinals and other natural mineral-based agents may provide new weapons in the battle against multi drug-resistant pathogens.”

The 400 million kilogram clay deposit is on Heiltsuk First Nation traditional territory near Bella Bella on B.C.’s Central Coast.

UBC says the clay has been used to treat conditions like ulcerative colitis, duodenal ulcer, arthritis, neuritis, phlebitis, skin irritation and burns.

When suspended in water, the clay killed 16 strains of ESKAPE bacteria samples from nearby hospitals and waste treatment facilities.

The next stage in clinical evaluation involves detailed clinical studies and toxicity testing.

Reading Through An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States: Multiculturalism

Lingit Latseen

An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States. Photo: Vince Rinehart

I’ve finally picked up Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s book, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States. The book is an attack on the legitimizing ideology and narrative of the United States’s subjugation of the indigenous people of North America. Though I have only just begun reading it, I am familiar with indigenous decolonization efforts and thought. Even in the little I’ve read so far, I am more than impressed with Dunbar-Ortiz’s critique of the founding myths of the US, which attempt to erase the deep and rich history of this continent and the Native peoples who have lived on it for millennia.

As I read through I will be recording some of my thoughts and highlights from the book, both as a way to remember and to analyze what I’ve read. Maybe you’ll find this useful, or maybe it will…

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Menominee Tribe’s Hemp Crop Destroyed by DEA Agents

By Christie Green, CBS News, Oct 24, 2015 Federal Agents destroyed Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin’s industrial hemp crop on Friday, October 24, according to a statement by the Tribe. In May 2015, tribe had legalized the growing of low THC non-psychotropic industrial hemp by Tribal licenses on its land. In 2014 Congress had passed […]

https://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/menominee-tribes-hemp-crop-destroyed-by-dea-agents/

8th Annual Abolish Columbus Day March – Seattle Washington

Lingit Latseen

From the event page on Facebook:

Sunday, October 11 at 12:00pm
Westlake Park, Seattle, WA

The state of Washington, and several other areas across the so called “United States” still celebrate the man who helped to initiate the worlds worst cultural genocide and slave trade.

Join an all star list of powerful presenters and leaders as we take it to the streets until the state of Washington, and Federal level governments recognize that Columbus was no hero!

Everyone is welcome! We need your support to raise the awareness and motivation of the general public and shift the atmosphere of the world we live in for a better tomorrow

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KSM Mine vs. Ancestral Tribal Lands

Lingit Latseen

United Transboundary Mining Work Group is a coalition of tribal governments working to protect ancestral lands and waters in Southeast Alaska/British Columbia. They have published the following map showing the location of the proposed KSM Mine and significant places to which a number of Tlingit clans trace their earliest migrations into Tlingit Aaní. Many of my friends and relatives trace their lineage back to this region and the clans named, including my own. Gunalchéesh to those who are doing this important work. Follow United Tribal Transboundary Mining Workgroup on Facebook for more information.

Jookák – Dreaming – Unuk River from United Tribal Transboundary Mining Workgroup

As Tlingit and Haida peoples, land and culture are inseparable components of who we are. Acknowledging historic connections between clans and geographic origins is essential to our cultural heritage and identity. This map is an illustrative snapshot (which is far from comprehensive) of our connection…

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Potraits of New Zealand’s Mighty Mongrel Mob

Gangs are the tribes of 21st centurty nation states. A bureaucratic tribal government is no more a tribe than a county or state government.

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Vice
Photos by JONO ROTMAN

Bung-Eye Notorious, 2008. C-Type Photograph, 1.9M x 1.5M
JONO ROTMAN

I explained that I wasn’t trying to “tell their story,” expose them, or some shit like that. Instead I told them I wanted to take martial portraits. And you know, regardless of where the Mob are viewed in the social hierarchy, these men have committed to a creed and fought battles, sometimes to the death. Basically the more they thought it was honest, the more they understood I wanted to produce something more complex than a cultural postcard. Then once there was go-ahead from the top, the guys down the bottom were happy to cooperate. These guys are hierarchical.

If that’s not a description of a warrior than I don’t know what is.

See the rest of the potraits.

How the Civil War Became the Indian Wars

This article is required reading. United States imperialism began with forts in Indian Country. The wars in the Middle East are an expansion of 19th century Indian policy. Pacification of our people is complete when we salute the flag and send our young men to the other side of the globe to fight for the empire that destroyed our tribes.

Crazy Horse and his band of Indians on their way from Camp Sheridan to surrender at Red Cloud Agency, 1877.Credit Library of Congress

By BOYD COTHRAN and ARI KELMAN
New York Times

Excerpt:

One hundred and fifty years after the Civil War, collective memory casts that conflict as a war of liberation, entirely distinct from the Indian wars. President Lincoln died, schoolchildren throughout the United States learn, so that the nation might live again, resurrected and redeemed for having freed the South’s slaves. And though Reconstruction is typically recalled in the popular imagination as both more convoluted and contested – whether thwarted by intransigent Southerners, doomed to fail by incompetent and overweening federal officials, or perhaps some combination of the two – it was well intended nevertheless, an effort to make good on the nation’s commitment to freedom and equality.

But this is only part of the story. The Civil War emerged out of struggles between the North and South over how best to settle the West – struggles, in short, over who would shape an emerging American empire. Reconstruction in the West then devolved into a series of conflicts with Native Americans. And so, while the Civil War and its aftermath boasted moments of redemption and days of jubilee, the era also featured episodes of subjugation and dispossession, patterns that would repeat themselves in the coming years. When Chief Joseph surrendered, the United States secured its empire in the West. The Indian wars were over, but an era of American imperialism was just beginning.

Read the whole article at New York Times

B.C. First Nations leaders’ new book calls for native self-determination

CBC News – British Columbia

Two B.C. First Nations leaders have just written a book that outlines the challenges Indigenous people face and offers solutions that they believe could benefit their people and the rest of the country.

It’s called Unsettling Canada: A National Wake-Up Call.

“I think it is important for not only Indigenous people, but Canadians to understand the struggle,” said author Arthur Manuel, who is also the former chief of the Neskonlith Indian Band.

“When you add up all the Indian reserves in Canada, the land we got is 0.2 per cent and we are expected to make a living off of that. The rest of the land 99.8 per cent is under federal, provincial jurisdiction and that’s one of the reasons why indigenous communities are mostly poor.”

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