There is no "self"-destructive behavior.
It touches everyone.
11/29/07
Demonstrations in Oklahoma for the Truth of Oklahoma History
From: "First Peoples Human Rights Coalition"
Date: November 28, 2007 5:48:56 PM PST
Native people from Oklahoma demonstrate, exercising their human right to the truth of their own history. Their actions also guard “against the development of revisionist” versions of what actually happened.
From the article below: “The state needs to hear some of our views – the treaties, the deceit, the lies told by the people who created the state,” Les Williston, Choctaw, said. “There is a serious lack of memory when it comes to the true history of the state.”
Two general principles in international law of the right to know are:
PRINCIPLE 2. THE INALIENABLE RIGHT TO THE TRUTH
Every people [including Indigenous peoples] has the inalienable right to know the truth about past events concerning the perpetration of heinous crimes and about the circumstances and reasons that led, through massive or systematic violations, to the perpetration of those crimes. Full and effective exercise of the right to the truth provides a vital safeguard against the recurrence of violations.
PRINCIPLE 3. THE DUTY TO PRESERVE MEMORY
A people’s knowledge of the history of its oppression is part of its heritage and, as such, must be ensured by appropriate measures in fulfilment of the State’s [the federal government’s] duty to preserve archives and other evidence concerning violations of human rights and humanitarian law and to facilitate knowledge of those violations. Such measures shall be aimed at preserving the collective memory from extinction and, in particular, at guarding against the development of revisionist and negationist arguments.
At:http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G05/109/00/PDF/G0510900.pdf?OpenElement
Hundreds oppose centennial celebration at Capitol
At: http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/News/News.aspx?StoryID=2659
More than 500 Native Americans march near the state Capitol for the Oklahoma Indians Survival Walk to remember the sacrifices of their ancestors. (Photo by Sherniec Scraper)
By JoKay Dowell
Cherokee Phoenix staff writer
OKLAHOMA CITY – Saying it was a time to remind and remember that statehood was not a celebratory event for all, more than 500 Native Americans rallied at the State Capitol with dancing, singing and calls for an end to land run re-enactments inOklahoma schools.
Native Americans, some wearing traditional cultural clothing, and their supporters began to gather four blocks south of Oklahoma’s Capitol building with banners, signs, drums and bullhorns while police looked on from their vehicles.
Within an hour the crowd of nearly 200 adults, elders and children began moving north toward the Capitol shouting in unison and carrying signs reading, “This Land is Our Land,” “The Land Run was Illegal Immigration,” and “Stop Racial and Cultural Inequality.” At the front of the procession several people bore a banner that read, “Why celebrate 100 years of theft?”
Muscogee Creek Nation citizen Brenda Golden, an organizer of the Oklahoma Indians Survival Walk and Remembrance Ceremony, said she wanted to make a statement that not all Oklahoma Indians feel like celebrating what they see as an affront to the true history of how Oklahomawas legislatively stolen from the people to whom it was promised.
We want to remember where our ancestors came from and what they sacrificed,” she said. “When our ancestors were moved here, they were told this was going to be Indian Territory forever.”
Oklahoma became the 46th state on Nov. 16, 1907. Governor Brad Henry and the legislature celebrated Friday with a parade and re-enactments of the original statehood announcement in Guthrie, the state’s first capital. Organizers of the Survival Walk intended to have their event coincide with those in Guthrie.
On reaching the south Capitol steps, the crowd grew to more than 500. Welcoming speeches were made before a Creek elder sang a traditional Muscogee song. Then another, described as being from the American Indian Movement, was sung before the group proceeded to a small park in front of the Capitol. Tribal elders recalled stories of hardships endured by their parents and grandparents when they were marched by the thousands to what was then Indian Territory more than a century ago.
“It was hard in those days. We were separated from our families and sent off to boarding schools,” said 84 year-old Delaware elder Marvene Watkins. “We were punished for speaking our own language.”
Some speakers related past history to present concerns.
Casey Camp-Horinek, a Ponca from Marland, Okla., cited the Ponca Tribe’s lawsuit against Continental Carbon Company for polluting Ponca tribal lands as an example of how Native communities in Oklahoma still deal with contemporary issues related to colonialism like industrial defilement of Indian lands.
“Our people continue to deal with racism,” she said. “In our part of this state it includes environmental racism.”
A host of speakers representing several Oklahoma Indian nations addressed many areas of concern. Illegal immigration was related to both groups of state founders, the “Boomers,” early advocates of settlement in the “unassigned lands” who began what is referred to as the “Boomer movement,” and the “Sooners” or those who entered illegally to lay claim to lands before the designated entry time.
Speakers pointed to education and how history is taught in Oklahomaschools. Many participants said they are offended by the land run celebrations in elementary school settings.
“For starters those who develop Oklahoma history curriculum should remove re-enactments of the land runs that opened Indian lands for white settlement,” she said. “It’s demeaning to American Indians for that to be re-enacted annually in the schools. I just tell my children go sit in the middle of the lawn and let the other kids run over you because that’s what happened to our ancestors.”
Many who attended wanted to ensure that the untold story leading to statehood was remembered.
“The state needs to hear some of our views – the treaties, the deceit, the lies told by the people who created the state,” Les Williston, Choctaw, said. “There is a serious lack of memory when it comes to the true history of the state.”
Non-Indian participants understood why the event is important.
“We’re all in this thing together. We shouldn’t deny the truth of what really happened,” said Nathaniel Batchelder, director of the Oklahoma City Peace House. “It is stolen land. And it continues around the world today.”
Most, like Dwain Camp, a Ponca from White Eagle, said he was never interested in participating in the state’s celebration and vowed to remain a constant reminder to the official version of history.
“We’re not going to do-si-do with the white man today,” Camp said. “We’re going to do this as long as they celebrate stealing our land.”
Copyright © 2006-2007 Cherokee Phoenix All Rights Reserved
Date: November 28, 2007 5:48:56 PM PST
Native people from Oklahoma demonstrate, exercising their human right to the truth of their own history. Their actions also guard “against the development of revisionist” versions of what actually happened.
From the article below: “The state needs to hear some of our views – the treaties, the deceit, the lies told by the people who created the state,” Les Williston, Choctaw, said. “There is a serious lack of memory when it comes to the true history of the state.”
Two general principles in international law of the right to know are:
PRINCIPLE 2. THE INALIENABLE RIGHT TO THE TRUTH
Every people [including Indigenous peoples] has the inalienable right to know the truth about past events concerning the perpetration of heinous crimes and about the circumstances and reasons that led, through massive or systematic violations, to the perpetration of those crimes. Full and effective exercise of the right to the truth provides a vital safeguard against the recurrence of violations.
PRINCIPLE 3. THE DUTY TO PRESERVE MEMORY
A people’s knowledge of the history of its oppression is part of its heritage and, as such, must be ensured by appropriate measures in fulfilment of the State’s [the federal government’s] duty to preserve archives and other evidence concerning violations of human rights and humanitarian law and to facilitate knowledge of those violations. Such measures shall be aimed at preserving the collective memory from extinction and, in particular, at guarding against the development of revisionist and negationist arguments.
At:http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G05/109/00/PDF/G0510900.pdf?OpenElement
Hundreds oppose centennial celebration at Capitol
At: http://www.cherokeephoenix.org/News/News.aspx?StoryID=2659
More than 500 Native Americans march near the state Capitol for the Oklahoma Indians Survival Walk to remember the sacrifices of their ancestors. (Photo by Sherniec Scraper)
By JoKay Dowell
Cherokee Phoenix staff writer
OKLAHOMA CITY – Saying it was a time to remind and remember that statehood was not a celebratory event for all, more than 500 Native Americans rallied at the State Capitol with dancing, singing and calls for an end to land run re-enactments inOklahoma schools.
Native Americans, some wearing traditional cultural clothing, and their supporters began to gather four blocks south of Oklahoma’s Capitol building with banners, signs, drums and bullhorns while police looked on from their vehicles.
Within an hour the crowd of nearly 200 adults, elders and children began moving north toward the Capitol shouting in unison and carrying signs reading, “This Land is Our Land,” “The Land Run was Illegal Immigration,” and “Stop Racial and Cultural Inequality.” At the front of the procession several people bore a banner that read, “Why celebrate 100 years of theft?”
Muscogee Creek Nation citizen Brenda Golden, an organizer of the Oklahoma Indians Survival Walk and Remembrance Ceremony, said she wanted to make a statement that not all Oklahoma Indians feel like celebrating what they see as an affront to the true history of how Oklahomawas legislatively stolen from the people to whom it was promised.
We want to remember where our ancestors came from and what they sacrificed,” she said. “When our ancestors were moved here, they were told this was going to be Indian Territory forever.”
Oklahoma became the 46th state on Nov. 16, 1907. Governor Brad Henry and the legislature celebrated Friday with a parade and re-enactments of the original statehood announcement in Guthrie, the state’s first capital. Organizers of the Survival Walk intended to have their event coincide with those in Guthrie.
On reaching the south Capitol steps, the crowd grew to more than 500. Welcoming speeches were made before a Creek elder sang a traditional Muscogee song. Then another, described as being from the American Indian Movement, was sung before the group proceeded to a small park in front of the Capitol. Tribal elders recalled stories of hardships endured by their parents and grandparents when they were marched by the thousands to what was then Indian Territory more than a century ago.
“It was hard in those days. We were separated from our families and sent off to boarding schools,” said 84 year-old Delaware elder Marvene Watkins. “We were punished for speaking our own language.”
Some speakers related past history to present concerns.
Casey Camp-Horinek, a Ponca from Marland, Okla., cited the Ponca Tribe’s lawsuit against Continental Carbon Company for polluting Ponca tribal lands as an example of how Native communities in Oklahoma still deal with contemporary issues related to colonialism like industrial defilement of Indian lands.
“Our people continue to deal with racism,” she said. “In our part of this state it includes environmental racism.”
A host of speakers representing several Oklahoma Indian nations addressed many areas of concern. Illegal immigration was related to both groups of state founders, the “Boomers,” early advocates of settlement in the “unassigned lands” who began what is referred to as the “Boomer movement,” and the “Sooners” or those who entered illegally to lay claim to lands before the designated entry time.
Speakers pointed to education and how history is taught in Oklahomaschools. Many participants said they are offended by the land run celebrations in elementary school settings.
“For starters those who develop Oklahoma history curriculum should remove re-enactments of the land runs that opened Indian lands for white settlement,” she said. “It’s demeaning to American Indians for that to be re-enacted annually in the schools. I just tell my children go sit in the middle of the lawn and let the other kids run over you because that’s what happened to our ancestors.”
Many who attended wanted to ensure that the untold story leading to statehood was remembered.
“The state needs to hear some of our views – the treaties, the deceit, the lies told by the people who created the state,” Les Williston, Choctaw, said. “There is a serious lack of memory when it comes to the true history of the state.”
Non-Indian participants understood why the event is important.
“We’re all in this thing together. We shouldn’t deny the truth of what really happened,” said Nathaniel Batchelder, director of the Oklahoma City Peace House. “It is stolen land. And it continues around the world today.”
Most, like Dwain Camp, a Ponca from White Eagle, said he was never interested in participating in the state’s celebration and vowed to remain a constant reminder to the official version of history.
“We’re not going to do-si-do with the white man today,” Camp said. “We’re going to do this as long as they celebrate stealing our land.”
Copyright © 2006-2007 Cherokee Phoenix All Rights Reserved
11/26/07
A Blue Star in our Solar System Bigger than the Sun. Does this relate to prophecy?
The following was sent to me--I haven't had a chance to look into it (or should I say, up at it). But when I read that scientists are breeding mentally ill mice, using schizophrenia genes from a family in Scotland, that you can buy designer water for $55 a bottle, and see that medicine seems to be more about selling drugs than healing....then we know something's up.
I welcome any comments.
I welcome any comments.
Ancient Hopi prophecy states, "When the Blue Star makes its appearance in the heavens, the Fifth World will emerge"
A spectacular explosion caused comet 17P/Holmes to increase in size and brightness on October 24. The comet is now a half a million times brighter than before the eruption began. It continues to expand and is now the largest single object in the Solar system, being bigger than the Sun. The eruption continues at a steady 0.5 km/sec (1100 mph) rate. Holmes is still visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy star anytime after dark, high in the northeast sky. It is faintly visible from cities, and from dark country locations is truly remarkable.
http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/faculty/jewitt/holmes.html
This is an astounding story. When an object suddenly, unexpectedly, appears in our solar system THAT IS BIGGER THAN THE SUN, and can be seen with the naked eye, and is BLUE, it could be one of those heavenly events like the Star of Bethlehem that foretell coming events. I would also call your attention to the seven seals in Revelations (I'll write more about that when I have time.)
From the Hopi:
"The return of the Blue Star (also known as Nan ga sohu Katchina) will be the alarm clock that tells us of the new day and new way of life, a new world that is coming. This is where the changes will begin. They will start as fires that burn within us, and we will burn up with desires and conflict if we do not remember the original teachings, and return to the peaceful way of life.
"Not far behind the twins will come the Purifier the Red Katchina, who will bring the Day of Purification. On this day the Earth, her creatures and all life as we know it will change forever. There will be messengers that will precede this coming of the Purifier. They will leave messages to those on Earth who remember the old ways.
" The messages will be found written in the living stone, through the sacred grains, and even the waters. (these could be the crop circles which have been found even in ice) From the Purifier will issue forth a great Red Light. All things will change in their manner of being. Every living thing will be offered the opportunity to change from the largest to the smallest thing."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What follows are two longer expositions of Hopi prophecy. Note that the events listed below were predicted many centuries ago and have been passed down. They were also all carved into Prophecy Rock at Hopi many, many years ago:
The Nine Signs of Hopi Prophecy
From White Feather, Bear Clan, Hopi Tribe
"These are the Signs that great destruction is here: The world shall rock to and fro. The white man will battle people in other lands -- those who possessed the first light of wisdom. There will be many columns of smoke and fire such as the white man has made in the deserts not far from here. Those who stay and live in the places of the Hopi shall be safe. Then there will be much to rebuild. And soon, very soon afterward, Pahana will return. He shall bring with him the dawn of the Fifth World. He shall plant the seeds of his wisdom in our hearts. Even now the seeds are being planted. These shall smooth the way to the Emergence into the Fifth World."
The Fourth World shall end soon, and the Fifth World will begin. This the elders everywhere know. The Signs over many years have been fulfilled, and so few are left.
First Sign: We were told of the coming of the white-skinned men, like Pahana, but not living like Pahana -- men who took the land that was not theirs and who struck their enemies with thunder. (Guns)
Second Sign: Our lands will see the coming of spinning wheels filled with voices. (Covered wagons)
Third Sign: A strange beast like a buffalo but with great long horns, will overrun the land in large numbers. (Longhorn cattle)
Fourth Sign: The land will be crossed by snakes of iron. (Railroad tracks)
Fifth Sign: The land shall be cris-crossed by a giant spider's web. (Power and telephone lines)
Sixth Sign: The land shall be cris-crossed with rivers of stone that make pictures in the sun. (Concrete roads and their mirage-producing effects.)
Seventh Sign: You will hear of the sea turning black, and many living things dying because of it. (Oil spills)
Eighth Sign: You will see many youth, who wear their hair long like our people, come and join the tribal nations, to learn our ways and wisdom. (Hippies)
Ninth and Last Sign: You will hear of a dwelling-place in the heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a blue star. Very soon after this, the ceremonies of the Hopi people will cease.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is an excerpt from LAST CRY Native American Prophecies & Tales of the End Times, by Dr. Robert Ghost Wolf © 1994-2004:
"The story of the Blue Kachina is a very old story, very old. I have been aware of the story of the Blue Kachina since I was very young. Frank Waters also wrote about Saquasohuh, the Blue Star Kachina in The Book of the Hopi, The story came from Grandfather Dan, Oldest Hopi.
"It was told to me that first the Blue Kachina would start to be seen at the dances, and would make his appearance known to the children in the plaza during the night dance. This event would tell us that the end times are very near. Then the Blue Star Kachina would physically appear in our heavens which would mean that we were in the end times.
"In the Final days we will look up in our heavens and we will witness the return of the two brothers who helped create this world in the birthing time. Poganghoya is the guardian of our North Pole and his Brother Palongawhoya is the guardian of the South pole. In the final days the Blue Star Katchina will come to be with his nephews and they will return the Earth to its natural rotation which is counter clock wise.
"This fact is evidenced in many petraglyphs that speak of the Zodiac, and within the Mayan and Egyptian pyramids. The rotation of the Earth has been manipulated by not so benevolent Star beings. The twins will be seen in our North Western skies. They will come and visit to see who still remembered the original teachings flying in their Patuwvotas, or flying shields. They will bring many of their star family with them in the final days.
"The return of the Blue Star Katchina who is also known as Nan ga sohu will be the alarm clock that tells us of the new day and new way of life, a new world that is coming. This is where the changes will begin. They will start as fires that burn within us, and we will burn up with desires and conflict if we do not remember the original teachings, and return to the peaceful way of life.
" Not far behind the twins will come the Purifier The Red Katchina, who will bring the Day of Purification. On this day the Earth, her creatures and all life as we know it will change forever. There will be messengers that will precede this coming of the Purifier. They will leave messages to those on Earth who remember the old ways.
11/13/07
Thanksgiving Or Thanksgiving
The following is some useful info to consider for the upcoming national holiday of Thanksgiving. The images of Indians and stories of the first Thanksgiving that proliferate around the holiday are mostly constructions of rumor, lie, and fairy tale. For those who teach, please read the following before sending students home with construction paper war bonnets. Your intent might be a tribute, but what you are doing is reinforcing stereotypes that have nothing to do with Indians at all. There is often a tremendous gulf between real Indians and the images of Indians. Would you like to have people think of Daffy Duck or Bugs Bunny when they think of your cultural or racial group? That is how disparate the distance between image and human in Indian country.
My first singing performance in school for in kindergarten when we had to perform for our parents. Because I was Indian I had to sing a Pueblo corn grinding song and pretend to grind corn on my knees. The Pueblos weren't anywhere near the Pilgrims. I still remember that song.
My thanks to Gary Hopkins,writer and Andre Cramblit (fellow Mvskoke, and Karuk) for the following:
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:08:43 +0000
From: andre cramblit
Subject: The First Feast (holidaze)
The first feast was held in 1621 to which Massasoit and 90 Indians came
with food (see first two links below), however the last link is about
the proclamation of 1676 which includes: "The Holy God having by a long
and Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the
present Warr with the Heathen Natives of this land, ... It certainly
bespeaks our positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies are in any measure
disappointed or destroyed..."
http://members.aol.com/calebj/thanksgiving.html
http://www.plimoth.org/Library/Thanksgiving/firstT.htm
http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/thanksgiv.html
Are You Teaching the Real Story of the "First Thanksgiving"?
Are you teaching the true Thanksgiving story or is the version you're
passing on to your students a blend of fact and myth? Ready to set the
record straight?
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr040.shtml
"I propose that there may be a good deal that many of us do not know
about our Thanksgiving holiday and also about the 'First Thanksgiving'
story," says Chuck Larsen in the introduction to Teaching About
Thanksgiving. "I also propose that what most of us have learned about
the Pilgrims and the Indians who were at the first Thanksgiving at
Plymouth Plantation is only part of the truth."
"When you build a lesson on only half of the information, then you are
not teaching the whole truth," Larsen adds.
Larsen seems to know of what he speaks. As a public school teacher, a
historian, and an American of Indian heritage, Larsen has always had a
difficult time teaching about the Thanksgiving holiday.
"Every year I have been faced with the professional and moral dilemma of
just how to be honest and informative with my children at Thanksgiving
without passing on historical distortions, and racial and cultural
stereotypes," Larsen says in his introduction.
"The problem is that part of what you and I learned in our childhood
about the 'Pilgrims' and 'Squanto' and the 'First Thanksgiving' is a
mixture of both history and myth," Larsen continues. "But the theme of
Thanksgiving has truth and integrity far above and beyond what we and
our forebearers have made of it. Thanksgiving is a bigger concept than
just the story of the founding of Plymouth Plantation."
Larsen goes on to try to sort out the myth from the true history in his
introduction to "Teaching About Thanksgiving," a project of The Fourth
World Documentation Project of The Center for World Indigenous Studies.
The project includes an accurate telling of "The Plymouth Thanksgiving
Story" along with study and discussion questions, ideas for enrichment,
art projects, and authentic recipes -- all intended to enable teachers
to accurately portray the events surrounding the first Thanksgiving.
In closing his introduction, Larsen provokes with a question: "What
started as an inspirational bit of New England folklore soon grew into
the full-fledged American Thanksgiving we now know... But was [that
'First Thanksgiving'] really our first Thanksgiving?"
"There really was a true Thanksgiving story of Plymouth Plantation,"
Larsen says. "But I strongly suggest that there has always been a
Thanksgiving story of some kind or other for as long as there have been
human beings. There was also a 'First' Thanksgiving in America, but it
was celebrated thirty thousand years ago
Every last Thursday in November
we now partake in one of the oldest and most universal of human
celebrations, and there are many Thanksgiving stories to tell."
STEREOTYPES, FOR EXAMPLE
"Teaching About Thanksgiving" offers a handful of the "old stereotypes"
that are often reinforced in classrooms across the United States.
According to the article, "If you enact the story of the first
thanksgiving as a pageant or drama in your classroom, here are some
things to consider:
"Indians should wear appropriate clothing. NO WARBONNETS! A blanket
draped over one shoulder is accurate for a simple outfit.
"Squanto and Samoset spoke excellent English. Other Indians would have
said things in the Algonkian language.
"These people were noted for their formal speaking style.
"Indians in the Woodlands area did not have tipis or horses, so these
should not be part of any scenery or backdrop.
"Any food served should be authentic. The following would be
appropriate: corn soup, succotash, white fish, red meat, various fowl
(turkey, partridge, duck), berries (including whole cranberries), maple
sugar candies, corn starch candy (believe it or not, candy corn is
almost authentic except for the colored dyes), watercress, any kind of
bean (red, black, green, pinto), squash."
Larsen has detractors...
Caleb Johnson, creator of the MayflowerHistory.com Web pages, claims
that Larsen's "Teaching About Thanksgiving" contains many factual
errors. (See A Factual Rebuttal to a Popular Thanksgiving Lesson Plan.)
Among the facts above disputed by Johnson is the idea that "Squanto and
Samoset spoke excellent English." They spoke broken English at best,
Johnson writes.
In Thanksgiving on the Net: Roast Bull with Cranberry Sauce, Jeremy
Bangs makes an effort to sift through the "more than two hundred
websites that 'correct' our assumptions about Thanksgiving" and set the
record straight. "Setting people straight about Thanksgiving myths has
become as much a part of the annual holiday as turkey, cranberry sauce,
and pumpkin pie," he writes.
THE NATIVE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE
"Young children's conceptions of Native Americans often develop out of
media portrayals and classroom role playing of the events of the First
Thanksgiving. That conception of Native Americans gained from such early
exposure is both inaccurate and potentially damaging to others," says
Debbie Reese in "Teaching Young Children About Native Americans," an
ERIC Digest (May 1996).
For example, a visitor to a child care center heard a four-year-old
saying, "Indians aren't people. They're all dead." "This child," Reese
says, "had already acquired an inaccurate view of Native Americans, even
though her classmates were children of many cultures, including a Native
American child."
"By failing to challenge existing biases we allow children to adopt
attitudes based on inaccuracies," Reese continues.
"Most of the commercially prepared teaching materials available present
a generalized image of Native American people with little or no regard
for differences that exist from tribe to tribe," Reese adds. "Many
popular children's authors unwittingly perpetuate stereotypes. Richard
Scarry's books frequently contain illustrations of animals dressed in
buckskin and feathers, while Mercer Mayer's alphabet book includes an
alligator dressed as an Indian."
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS: POSITIVE STRATEGIES
A number of positive strategies can be used in classrooms, writes Reese.
• "Provide knowledge about contemporary Native Americans to balance
historical information. Teaching about Native Americans exclusively from
a historical perspective may perpetuate the idea that they exist only in
the past.
• "Prepare units about specific tribes rather than units about "Native
Americans." For example, develop a unit about the people of Nambe
Pueblo, the Turtle Mountain Chippewa, the Potawotami. Ideally, choose a
tribe with a historical or contemporary role in the local community.
Such a unit will provide children with culturally specific knowledge
(pertaining to a single group) rather than overgeneralized stereotypes.
• "Locate and use books that show contemporary children of all colors
engaged in their usual, daily activities (for example, playing
basketball or riding bicycles) as well as traditional activities. Make
the books easily accessible to children throughout the school year.
Three excellent titles on the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico are Pueblo
Storyteller by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith; Pueblo Boy: Growing Up In Two
Worlds by Marcia Keegan; and Children of Clay by Rina Swentzell.
• "Cook ethnic foods but be careful not to imply that all members of a
particular group eat a specific food.
• "Be specific about which tribes use particular items, when discussing
cultural artifacts (such as clothing or housing) and traditional foods.
The Plains tribes use feathered headdresses, for example, but not all
other tribes use them.
• "Critique a Thanksgiving poster depicting the tradtitional,
stereotyped Pilgrim and Indian figures, especially when teaching older
elementary school children. Take care to select a picture that most
children are familiar with, such as those shown on grocery bags or
holiday greeting cards. Critically analyze the poster, noting the many
tribes the artist has combined into one general image that fails to
provide accurate information about any single tribe.
• "At Thanksgiving, shift the focus away from reenacting the 'First
Thanksgiving.' Instead, focus on items children can be thankful for in
their own lives, and on their families' celebrations of Thanksgiving at
home."
"Besides using these strategies in their classrooms, teachers need to
educate themselves," Reese continues. "Stereotyping is not always
obvious to people surrounded by mainstream culture. Numerous guidelines
have been prepared to aid in the selection of materials that work
against stereotypes."
"Much remains to be done to counter stereotypes of Native Americans
learned by young children in our society," writes Reese in the
conclusion to her ERIC Digest. "Teachers must provide accurate
instruction not only about history but also about the contemporary lives
of Native Americans."
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For activities and a long list of Web sites related to the Pilgrims,
Native Americans, and the "First Thanksgiving" be sure to see this
week's Education World LESSON PLANNING articles:
Classroom Activities for Exploring Native Americans?Blast stereotypes
with across the curriculum activities for students of all ages.
The "First Thanksgiving" -- A Feast of Activities?Looking to cook up a
feast of across-the-curriculum fun? The table is set with a plentiful
selection of ideas. Dig in!
It's Turkey Time! "Gobble, gobble, gobble...."?Increase your students'
knowledge and skills when you use TURKEYS as a teaching theme.
Article by Gary Hopkins?Education World ® Editor-in-Chief?Copyright © 2006 Education World
Originally published 11/24/1997
Last updated 10/04/2006
My first singing performance in school for in kindergarten when we had to perform for our parents. Because I was Indian I had to sing a Pueblo corn grinding song and pretend to grind corn on my knees. The Pueblos weren't anywhere near the Pilgrims. I still remember that song.
My thanks to Gary Hopkins,writer and Andre Cramblit (fellow Mvskoke, and Karuk) for the following:
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:08:43 +0000
From: andre cramblit
Subject: The First Feast (holidaze)
The first feast was held in 1621 to which Massasoit and 90 Indians came
with food (see first two links below), however the last link is about
the proclamation of 1676 which includes: "The Holy God having by a long
and Continual Series of his Afflictive dispensations in and by the
present Warr with the Heathen Natives of this land, ... It certainly
bespeaks our positive Thankfulness, when our Enemies are in any measure
disappointed or destroyed..."
http://members.aol.com/calebj/thanksgiving.html
http://www.plimoth.org/Library/Thanksgiving/firstT.htm
http://www.law.ou.edu/hist/thanksgiv.html
Are You Teaching the Real Story of the "First Thanksgiving"?
Are you teaching the true Thanksgiving story or is the version you're
passing on to your students a blend of fact and myth? Ready to set the
record straight?
http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/curr040.shtml
"I propose that there may be a good deal that many of us do not know
about our Thanksgiving holiday and also about the 'First Thanksgiving'
story," says Chuck Larsen in the introduction to Teaching About
Thanksgiving. "I also propose that what most of us have learned about
the Pilgrims and the Indians who were at the first Thanksgiving at
Plymouth Plantation is only part of the truth."
"When you build a lesson on only half of the information, then you are
not teaching the whole truth," Larsen adds.
Larsen seems to know of what he speaks. As a public school teacher, a
historian, and an American of Indian heritage, Larsen has always had a
difficult time teaching about the Thanksgiving holiday.
"Every year I have been faced with the professional and moral dilemma of
just how to be honest and informative with my children at Thanksgiving
without passing on historical distortions, and racial and cultural
stereotypes," Larsen says in his introduction.
"The problem is that part of what you and I learned in our childhood
about the 'Pilgrims' and 'Squanto' and the 'First Thanksgiving' is a
mixture of both history and myth," Larsen continues. "But the theme of
Thanksgiving has truth and integrity far above and beyond what we and
our forebearers have made of it. Thanksgiving is a bigger concept than
just the story of the founding of Plymouth Plantation."
Larsen goes on to try to sort out the myth from the true history in his
introduction to "Teaching About Thanksgiving," a project of The Fourth
World Documentation Project of The Center for World Indigenous Studies.
The project includes an accurate telling of "The Plymouth Thanksgiving
Story" along with study and discussion questions, ideas for enrichment,
art projects, and authentic recipes -- all intended to enable teachers
to accurately portray the events surrounding the first Thanksgiving.
In closing his introduction, Larsen provokes with a question: "What
started as an inspirational bit of New England folklore soon grew into
the full-fledged American Thanksgiving we now know... But was [that
'First Thanksgiving'] really our first Thanksgiving?"
"There really was a true Thanksgiving story of Plymouth Plantation,"
Larsen says. "But I strongly suggest that there has always been a
Thanksgiving story of some kind or other for as long as there have been
human beings. There was also a 'First' Thanksgiving in America, but it
was celebrated thirty thousand years ago
Every last Thursday in November
we now partake in one of the oldest and most universal of human
celebrations, and there are many Thanksgiving stories to tell."
STEREOTYPES, FOR EXAMPLE
"Teaching About Thanksgiving" offers a handful of the "old stereotypes"
that are often reinforced in classrooms across the United States.
According to the article, "If you enact the story of the first
thanksgiving as a pageant or drama in your classroom, here are some
things to consider:
"Indians should wear appropriate clothing. NO WARBONNETS! A blanket
draped over one shoulder is accurate for a simple outfit.
"Squanto and Samoset spoke excellent English. Other Indians would have
said things in the Algonkian language.
"These people were noted for their formal speaking style.
"Indians in the Woodlands area did not have tipis or horses, so these
should not be part of any scenery or backdrop.
"Any food served should be authentic. The following would be
appropriate: corn soup, succotash, white fish, red meat, various fowl
(turkey, partridge, duck), berries (including whole cranberries), maple
sugar candies, corn starch candy (believe it or not, candy corn is
almost authentic except for the colored dyes), watercress, any kind of
bean (red, black, green, pinto), squash."
Larsen has detractors...
Caleb Johnson, creator of the MayflowerHistory.com Web pages, claims
that Larsen's "Teaching About Thanksgiving" contains many factual
errors. (See A Factual Rebuttal to a Popular Thanksgiving Lesson Plan.)
Among the facts above disputed by Johnson is the idea that "Squanto and
Samoset spoke excellent English." They spoke broken English at best,
Johnson writes.
In Thanksgiving on the Net: Roast Bull with Cranberry Sauce, Jeremy
Bangs makes an effort to sift through the "more than two hundred
websites that 'correct' our assumptions about Thanksgiving" and set the
record straight. "Setting people straight about Thanksgiving myths has
become as much a part of the annual holiday as turkey, cranberry sauce,
and pumpkin pie," he writes.
THE NATIVE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE
"Young children's conceptions of Native Americans often develop out of
media portrayals and classroom role playing of the events of the First
Thanksgiving. That conception of Native Americans gained from such early
exposure is both inaccurate and potentially damaging to others," says
Debbie Reese in "Teaching Young Children About Native Americans," an
ERIC Digest (May 1996).
For example, a visitor to a child care center heard a four-year-old
saying, "Indians aren't people. They're all dead." "This child," Reese
says, "had already acquired an inaccurate view of Native Americans, even
though her classmates were children of many cultures, including a Native
American child."
"By failing to challenge existing biases we allow children to adopt
attitudes based on inaccuracies," Reese continues.
"Most of the commercially prepared teaching materials available present
a generalized image of Native American people with little or no regard
for differences that exist from tribe to tribe," Reese adds. "Many
popular children's authors unwittingly perpetuate stereotypes. Richard
Scarry's books frequently contain illustrations of animals dressed in
buckskin and feathers, while Mercer Mayer's alphabet book includes an
alligator dressed as an Indian."
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS: POSITIVE STRATEGIES
A number of positive strategies can be used in classrooms, writes Reese.
• "Provide knowledge about contemporary Native Americans to balance
historical information. Teaching about Native Americans exclusively from
a historical perspective may perpetuate the idea that they exist only in
the past.
• "Prepare units about specific tribes rather than units about "Native
Americans." For example, develop a unit about the people of Nambe
Pueblo, the Turtle Mountain Chippewa, the Potawotami. Ideally, choose a
tribe with a historical or contemporary role in the local community.
Such a unit will provide children with culturally specific knowledge
(pertaining to a single group) rather than overgeneralized stereotypes.
• "Locate and use books that show contemporary children of all colors
engaged in their usual, daily activities (for example, playing
basketball or riding bicycles) as well as traditional activities. Make
the books easily accessible to children throughout the school year.
Three excellent titles on the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico are Pueblo
Storyteller by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith; Pueblo Boy: Growing Up In Two
Worlds by Marcia Keegan; and Children of Clay by Rina Swentzell.
• "Cook ethnic foods but be careful not to imply that all members of a
particular group eat a specific food.
• "Be specific about which tribes use particular items, when discussing
cultural artifacts (such as clothing or housing) and traditional foods.
The Plains tribes use feathered headdresses, for example, but not all
other tribes use them.
• "Critique a Thanksgiving poster depicting the tradtitional,
stereotyped Pilgrim and Indian figures, especially when teaching older
elementary school children. Take care to select a picture that most
children are familiar with, such as those shown on grocery bags or
holiday greeting cards. Critically analyze the poster, noting the many
tribes the artist has combined into one general image that fails to
provide accurate information about any single tribe.
• "At Thanksgiving, shift the focus away from reenacting the 'First
Thanksgiving.' Instead, focus on items children can be thankful for in
their own lives, and on their families' celebrations of Thanksgiving at
home."
"Besides using these strategies in their classrooms, teachers need to
educate themselves," Reese continues. "Stereotyping is not always
obvious to people surrounded by mainstream culture. Numerous guidelines
have been prepared to aid in the selection of materials that work
against stereotypes."
"Much remains to be done to counter stereotypes of Native Americans
learned by young children in our society," writes Reese in the
conclusion to her ERIC Digest. "Teachers must provide accurate
instruction not only about history but also about the contemporary lives
of Native Americans."
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
For activities and a long list of Web sites related to the Pilgrims,
Native Americans, and the "First Thanksgiving" be sure to see this
week's Education World LESSON PLANNING articles:
Classroom Activities for Exploring Native Americans?Blast stereotypes
with across the curriculum activities for students of all ages.
The "First Thanksgiving" -- A Feast of Activities?Looking to cook up a
feast of across-the-curriculum fun? The table is set with a plentiful
selection of ideas. Dig in!
It's Turkey Time! "Gobble, gobble, gobble...."?Increase your students'
knowledge and skills when you use TURKEYS as a teaching theme.
Article by Gary Hopkins?Education World ® Editor-in-Chief?Copyright © 2006 Education World
Originally published 11/24/1997
Last updated 10/04/2006
Naming the Days, and the Rainbow Trail
I have been giving every day a name. A name reveals itself either early on or after a long tribulation. One day last week after we feel ill from a meal at a local Mexican restaurant and discovered our tongues were black was called: The Black Tongue Stomach Disaster Day.
Sunday morning under a blue sky and strangely warm November weather I walked with three others: E.W., D.W. and J.C.from the hotel in downtown Denver to the Denver Art Museum for a meeting on the formation of the Native Arts and Culture Fund(working title). They helped with my bags as I was heading out directly after the meeting. We had a surprise. Bunky Echohawk and his arty-cultural crew were there, including Sterlin Harjo,Walter Echohawk's family members including an elder of the Palouse, Carrie Schuster. We had quite an opening with introductions which became an inspirational meeting. When Carrie Schuster spoke I heard the voices of the ancestors--we all felt and knew in that moment there was a direct link. I felt as if she were speaking to my soul and she answered all the questions I had been wrestling with the night before in the hotel room as I attempted to write past my failures. Then Walter sang two songs, with his son and acquired sons. One for the Pawnee items that still carried spirit and memory who were housed in the museum, and one for the veterans. That day is now known as the Mvto Carrie Schuster and Her People Who Carry Forth Knowing Day.
Another day last week started out at the Plains Indian Museum in Cody, Wyoming with a generous tour by Emma H____, a Pawnee woman from Oklahoma. She felt like home. Then shopping and walking about the main drag with my guitar player Larry Mitchell, and our guides Robert Stothart and Linda ____. Larry, Robert and I landed at the Irma Hotel and sat at the rosewood bar for lunch that Buffalo Bill had carted in piece by piece and reassembled in the hotel. We talked with a feisty blonde waitress about the ghost who hung out at the bar. Then drove to Powell to Northwest College. On the way we stopped to acknowledge those who were kept during World War II at the Japanese internment camp, Heart Mountain. It was one of the largest camps. A heavy sadness there that the constant winds could not blow away. Then to Northwest College for the Buffalo Feast and our gig. Robert and his colleagues treated us very well. They made a welcoming place. We were welcomed by a most impressive music department and listened to some young, talented singers perform in the jazz vocal class. By the time we played our show we were full of good will. We wound up jamming, singing, and speaking for over an hour and a half. Robert drove us back under a dark new moon sky full of stars. His wife Margot had seen a bear running across a field, a pheasant, and a deer on her way over to the college earlier. That day I call the: Even Though We Have Buffalo Bill to Blame for the Prevailing Indian Stereotype, Indians Break through the Image with Saxophones and Guitars. We Find Goodwill On the Road and Can Still See the Stars in Night Sky and Will Not Forget Those Japanese Interned at Heart Mountain.
And a gift from Andre Cramblit's list this morning:
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:05:23 +0000
From: andre cramblit
Subject: Rainbow Trail (musings)
"Walk on a rainbow trail, walk on a trail of song, and all about you
will be beauty. There is a way out of every dark mist, over a rainbow
trail."
-Navajo Song
Sunday morning under a blue sky and strangely warm November weather I walked with three others: E.W., D.W. and J.C.from the hotel in downtown Denver to the Denver Art Museum for a meeting on the formation of the Native Arts and Culture Fund(working title). They helped with my bags as I was heading out directly after the meeting. We had a surprise. Bunky Echohawk and his arty-cultural crew were there, including Sterlin Harjo,Walter Echohawk's family members including an elder of the Palouse, Carrie Schuster. We had quite an opening with introductions which became an inspirational meeting. When Carrie Schuster spoke I heard the voices of the ancestors--we all felt and knew in that moment there was a direct link. I felt as if she were speaking to my soul and she answered all the questions I had been wrestling with the night before in the hotel room as I attempted to write past my failures. Then Walter sang two songs, with his son and acquired sons. One for the Pawnee items that still carried spirit and memory who were housed in the museum, and one for the veterans. That day is now known as the Mvto Carrie Schuster and Her People Who Carry Forth Knowing Day.
Another day last week started out at the Plains Indian Museum in Cody, Wyoming with a generous tour by Emma H____, a Pawnee woman from Oklahoma. She felt like home. Then shopping and walking about the main drag with my guitar player Larry Mitchell, and our guides Robert Stothart and Linda ____. Larry, Robert and I landed at the Irma Hotel and sat at the rosewood bar for lunch that Buffalo Bill had carted in piece by piece and reassembled in the hotel. We talked with a feisty blonde waitress about the ghost who hung out at the bar. Then drove to Powell to Northwest College. On the way we stopped to acknowledge those who were kept during World War II at the Japanese internment camp, Heart Mountain. It was one of the largest camps. A heavy sadness there that the constant winds could not blow away. Then to Northwest College for the Buffalo Feast and our gig. Robert and his colleagues treated us very well. They made a welcoming place. We were welcomed by a most impressive music department and listened to some young, talented singers perform in the jazz vocal class. By the time we played our show we were full of good will. We wound up jamming, singing, and speaking for over an hour and a half. Robert drove us back under a dark new moon sky full of stars. His wife Margot had seen a bear running across a field, a pheasant, and a deer on her way over to the college earlier. That day I call the: Even Though We Have Buffalo Bill to Blame for the Prevailing Indian Stereotype, Indians Break through the Image with Saxophones and Guitars. We Find Goodwill On the Road and Can Still See the Stars in Night Sky and Will Not Forget Those Japanese Interned at Heart Mountain.
And a gift from Andre Cramblit's list this morning:
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2007 17:05:23 +0000
From: andre cramblit
Subject: Rainbow Trail (musings)
"Walk on a rainbow trail, walk on a trail of song, and all about you
will be beauty. There is a way out of every dark mist, over a rainbow
trail."
-Navajo Song
11/4/07
Oklahoma Indians Survival Walk and Protest
Date: November 16, 2007
Place: Oklahoma State Capitol
Oklahoma City , Oklahoma
Time: 9 am to 12 pm
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oklahoma City , 11/4/07 – The Oklahoma Indians Survival Walk and Protest is scheduled for 9:00 am on November 16, 2007 .
This activity will counter the Oklahoma Centennial Celebrations because we, as Oklahoma American Indians, do not want our people to forget what happened to our ancestors nor can we let others across the nation lose sight of the real history of Oklahoma Indians and Indian Territory . We cannot sit quietly while the only mention or acknowledgement of the victimization of Indians is a re-enacted Land Run and Mock Wedding Ceremony.
“Our part of the story, the part where our lands are invaded and stripped away from us, and the part where our cultures are attacked, the part where our peoples' lives are trampled and forever altered by this encroachment of land hungry invaders is always conveniently neglected or overshadowed,” says Gerald D. Tieyah (Comanche).
Glenda Deer (Kickapoo), co-organizer of the protest says, “I think it's important for our children and grandchildren to understand how Oklahoma was really acquired...it's important for them to know the truth....”
“I remember a story a Sac and Fox elder told me some years ago. She said that her grandfather told her the Sac and Fox people had to remove the bodies of white people from the Deep Fork River before they could use the water, people killed by the ‘settling’ of Oklahoma” recounts Dr. Johnny P. Flynn, Department of Religious Studies, IUPU, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Earlier this year, Richard Ray Whitman (Euchee), an Oklahoma City artist, actor and activist, said, "Native Americans know the importance of celebration, but renewing the vows of Indian Territory and Oklahoma territory, what does that entail? Have they met? I think we've been in sort of an abusive marriage up to this point - not the ideal relationship. It's like the dominant husband and the submissive wife. We need to examine those things and say....what's the role of this today?"
Visit www.myspace.com/mvskoke_lady or www.myspace.com/thunderclanwoman for further details, or contact Brenda Golden at (405) 570-7752 e-mail musccreekgrl@msn.com, Glenda Deer in the evenings at (405) 275 4059 e-mail of thunderclanwmn@yahoo.com, or Cornell Tahdooahnippah at (405) 701-1823 e-mail of chieftain8@hotmail.com.
Place: Oklahoma State Capitol
Oklahoma City , Oklahoma
Time: 9 am to 12 pm
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oklahoma City , 11/4/07 – The Oklahoma Indians Survival Walk and Protest is scheduled for 9:00 am on November 16, 2007 .
This activity will counter the Oklahoma Centennial Celebrations because we, as Oklahoma American Indians, do not want our people to forget what happened to our ancestors nor can we let others across the nation lose sight of the real history of Oklahoma Indians and Indian Territory . We cannot sit quietly while the only mention or acknowledgement of the victimization of Indians is a re-enacted Land Run and Mock Wedding Ceremony.
“Our part of the story, the part where our lands are invaded and stripped away from us, and the part where our cultures are attacked, the part where our peoples' lives are trampled and forever altered by this encroachment of land hungry invaders is always conveniently neglected or overshadowed,” says Gerald D. Tieyah (Comanche).
Glenda Deer (Kickapoo), co-organizer of the protest says, “I think it's important for our children and grandchildren to understand how Oklahoma was really acquired...it's important for them to know the truth....”
“I remember a story a Sac and Fox elder told me some years ago. She said that her grandfather told her the Sac and Fox people had to remove the bodies of white people from the Deep Fork River before they could use the water, people killed by the ‘settling’ of Oklahoma” recounts Dr. Johnny P. Flynn, Department of Religious Studies, IUPU, Indianapolis, Indiana.
Earlier this year, Richard Ray Whitman (Euchee), an Oklahoma City artist, actor and activist, said, "Native Americans know the importance of celebration, but renewing the vows of Indian Territory and Oklahoma territory, what does that entail? Have they met? I think we've been in sort of an abusive marriage up to this point - not the ideal relationship. It's like the dominant husband and the submissive wife. We need to examine those things and say....what's the role of this today?"
Visit www.myspace.com/mvskoke_lady or www.myspace.com/thunderclanwoman for further details, or contact Brenda Golden at (405) 570-7752 e-mail musccreekgrl@msn.com, Glenda Deer in the evenings at (405) 275 4059 e-mail of thunderclanwmn@yahoo.com, or Cornell Tahdooahnippah at (405) 701-1823 e-mail of chieftain8@hotmail.com.
11/3/07
Appearing Thursday and Friday, November 8 & 9
Thursday, November 9 Northwest College, Powell Wyoming
Joy Harjo and Larry Mitchell will be performing at Northwest College's Annual Native American Heritage Month Celebration and Feast. The activities begin at 10 a.m. on Nov. 8, and includes a library display presentation by Harjo. Harjo and Mitchell will have lunch with the Writing and Literary Guild (a student club), and then visit selected classes on the NWC campus. At 5 p.m. the Buffalo Feast dinner takes place in the DeWitt Student Center Lounge. Harjo, the guest speaker will discuss the significance of Native American Heritage Month and the Buffalo Feast. 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. is the writer's series presentation in the NPA Auditorium, where Harjo will read poetry, followed by Harjo and Mitchell giving a musical performance. Following this performance, Harjo and Mitchell will be signing books and their cd and will have one-on-one discussions.
Friday, November 9 at 7 p.m.
Native American Student & Community Center, Portland State University, 710 SW Jackson St., Portland OR
Celebrating the anthology-- We Begin Here features
Joy Harjo, Kathy Engel, Alexis DeVeaux, Elmaz Abinader.
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