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apology to native peoples of the united statesSec. 8113. (a) Acknowledgment and Apology- The United States, acting through Congress-- (1) recognizes the special legal and political relationship Indian tribes have with the United States and the solemn covenant with the land we share; (2) commends and honors Native Peoples for the thousands of years that they have stewarded and protected this land; (3) recognizes that there have been years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies, and the breaking of covenants by the Federal Government regarding Indian tribes; (4) apologizes on behalf of the people of the United States to all Native...

There is a battle brewing in California, should we count only those who are citizens, or should we count everyone that resides inside of the Glden State. So ponder this. When we take the census in 2010 should we be counting everybody or just U.S. citizens? There are non-citizens and illegal aliens in this country. What have we done in the past and why is it important? First of all just in California if we excluded counting non-citizens we would lose 5 House seats in Congress. Exclude counting illegal immigrants we would lose an additional 2 seats. In 1990 California...

Sen. David Vitter's bid to require the 2010 Census to ask all respondents about their citizenship was killed today when the Senate voted to invoke cloture and end debate on the Commerce spending bill without having to consider the Louisiana Republican's amendment. The Democratic leadership, which had been trying to block the Vitter amendment since early October, eked out a victory with the bare number of votes needed to invoke cloture, prevailing 60 to 39. Vitter's Democratic colleague, Sen. Mary Landrieu, who had been caustic in her criticism of Vitter's measure, voted with the majority. Vitter intended the citizenship count...

Twenty years ago today in Mormon history . . . . . Elder George P. Lee, the first American Indian General Authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was excommunicated. In 1975, after Lee served as a mission president in Arizona, he became a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, one of the presiding bodies of the LDS church. Lee was 32. His autobiography proved to be popular. "Silent Courage: An Indian Story: The Autobiography of George P. Lee, a Navajo" went through nine printings. Lee felt a kinship president of the church Spencer W....

But 'gardeners' escape; pot-grow cooking fire blamed for S. Calif. wildfire From KTVZ.COM news sources Days after tribal police and federal agents seized 1,630 marijuana plants worth an estimated $5 million from a remote area of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, authorities in California said Sunday a more than 85,000-acre wildfire in Santa Barbara County had been traced to a cooking fire at an illegal marijuana grow. Friday's Warm Springs raid marked the fourth time in just over two years that police have busted a major pot grow on the reservation, tied to Mexican drug gangs. The total seized -...

Congratulations to the Navajo Code Talkers for a Job Well Done ,On this National Code Talkers Day, From What I understand there are only a Few Left Surviving

Hey Nancy, You say I am un-American. My name is Nelson Lee. I am the 9th Great Grandson of Col Richard Lee the 1st who came to this country in 1639. I am also the 9th Great Grandson of Commissioner William Farrar who sailed from London on the “Neptune” with Lord Delaware and landed in Virginia in 1618. He was later married in Jamestown to the widow of Samuel Jordan. I am the 10th Great Grandson of George Cottingham who came to this country in 1635 as an endentured servant. I am the 11th Great Grandson of Gentleman Thomas Prater...

AUGUST 9, 2009 Our Unconstitutional Census California could get nine House seats it doesn’t deserve because illegal aliens will be counted in 2010. By JOHN S. BAKER AND ELLIOTT STONECIPHER Next year’s census will determine the apportionment of House members and Electoral College votes for each state. To accomplish these vital constitutional purposes, the enumeration should count only citizens and persons who are legal, permanent residents. But it won’t. Instead, the U.S. Census Bureau is set to count all persons physically present in the country—including large numbers who are here illegally. The result will unconstitutionally increase the number of representatives...

Most people know not to give out personal information to unsolicited phone callers or visitors. However, the Census process is an exception to the rule, because representatives do collect information by visiting households. Unfortunately, people may also be contacted by scammers who are using this as an opportunity to impersonate Census workers in order to gain access to sensitive financial information such as Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers. Although law enforcement in several states have issued warnings that scammers are posing as Census Bureau representatives, your BBB encourages caution. The big question is - how do you...

If you’re a young Lakota woman with a big heart, an even bigger smile, but an immune system compromised to its brink by lupus—you know who the enemy is. If you’re a tribal chairman receiving a phone call in the middle of the night that another one of your tribal members has taken their own life—you know who the enemy is....

BLESSED KATERI TEKAKWITHA "STAR OF THE NATIVES" 1656-1680     Kateri Tekakwitha, born in 1656 of an Algonquian Indian mother who was a devout Christian and a Mohawk chief who remained a pagan was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II. In accord with the matrilineal traditions of her people Kateri belonged to the Algonquin nation Although she was brought up in the anti-Christian surroundings of the Mohawk community in Ossernenon, in what is now Auriesville, N Y , Kateri held fast to the faith of her mother Both her parents and her brother died in a plague...

Outspoken Republican Representative Michele Bachmann says she's so worried that information from next year's national census will be abused that she will not fill out anything more than the number of people in her household.

Alexander Pope decried the American Indian’s “untutor’d mind” that “Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind.” But Pope never encountered the Indian Health Service, which delivers what it is pleased to call health care to two million American Indians living on reservations in thirty-five states. “Don’t get sick after June” is the standard advice, for by then the money allocated by Congress has mostly run out.

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary __________________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 15, 2009 President Obama Announces Kimberly Teehee as Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs WASHINGTON – Today, in taped remarks to the 2009 National Congress of American Indians Mid-Year Conference, President Barack Obama announced the appointment of Kimberly Teehee as Senior Policy Advisor for Native American Affairs. As a member of the Domestic Policy Council, Teehee will advise the President on issues impacting Indian Country. President Obama also announced that the White House will hold a Tribal Nations Conference later this fall. "Kim Teehee will be...

Nebraska’s Mexican American Commission is trying to blunt the momentum of a Hispanic evangelical group that wants to boycott the 2010 census to create leverage for national immigration reform. The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders is organizing a nationwide prayer rally for noon Friday that is also meant to call attention to the plight of undocumented workers and a lack of action on immigration policy at the federal level. Angel Freytez, acting director of the Mexican American Commission in Lincoln, doesn’t see failure to cooperate with census takers next year as a proper strategy. “We are partners...

If you see the federal government as a benign force that seeks only to make your life better, then the questions in the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey may not bother you. But if you have a smidgen of doubt, or if you value your privacy, you probably aren't going to like some of Uncle Sam's invasive queries. Like: What is your race? Your personal ancestry or ethnic origin? How many rooms are in your home? Is anyone at home deaf or hard of hearing? Does anyone at home "because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition" have "serious...

Oakland, California's American Indian Public Charter Schools are quickly gaining a reputation. Well, two reputations, actually. One reputation is for being aggressively anti-union, and weeding out teachers who try to peddle New-Agey education philosophies. The other reputation is for delivering the best education in California... ranking in the top 4 in the state, and the only top California school serving inner-city kids

School administrators take pride in their record of frequently firing teachers they consider to be underperforming. Unions are embraced with the same warmth accorded "self-esteem experts, panhandlers, drug dealers and those snapping turtles who refuse to put forth their best effort," to quote the school's website.

Navajo Code Talker dies Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., offers condolences to family WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., today conveyed his condolences to the family of the late Navajo Code Talker and Navajo Tribal Councilman John Brown, Jr., of Crystal, N.M., who died this morning at home. He was 88. “Today, with sadness, we heard of the passing of Mr. John Brown, Jr., one of the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers and one of the Navajo Nation’s great warriors,” President Shirley said. “For so long, these brave men were the true unsung heroes of...

SANTA CRUZ -- More than 100 students and staff from UC Santa Cruz gathered at the foot of campus Tuesday to launch a hunger strike aimed at urging administrators to reverse course on budget cuts that opponents say disproportionately affect students of color. About two dozen people, some attending the noon rally organized by the nascent Students of Color Collective, pledged not to take nourishment until a long list of demands is met. The demands include blocking cuts to the Community Studies and Latin American and Latino Studies departments, as well as hiring full-time directors for the American Indian Resource...

Written by . Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., offers condolences to family WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. – Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., today conveyed his condolences to the family of the late Navajo Code Talker and Navajo Tribal Councilman John Brown, Jr., of Crystal, N.M., who died this morning at home. He was 88. “Today, with sadness, we heard of the passing of Mr. John Brown, Jr., one of the original 29 Navajo Code Talkers and one of the Navajo Nation’s great warriors,” President Shirley said. “For so long, these brave men were the true unsung heroes of World...

TONALEA, Ariz. – Talk at the community center in this small Navajo town isn't as focused on the economy as it is in many places off the reservation. That's because the people living on the largest American Indian reservation have been largely unscathed by the recession. Most Navajos own their own homes, tend not to invest in the stock market and have long had difficulties borrowing money, distinguishing them from millions of other Americans who've suffered from rising mortgage payments, sinking 401(k) retirement accounts and stricter terms from lenders. And with half of the Navajo Nation's work force unemployed long...

WASHINGTON – The Washington Redskins won another legal victory Friday in a 17-year fight with a group of American Indians who argue the football team's trademark is racially offensive. The decision issued Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington doesn't address the main question of racism at the center of the case. Instead, it upholds the lower court's decision in favor of the football team on a legal technicality. The court agreed that the seven Native Americans waited too long to challenge the trademark first issued in 1967. They initially won — the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office...

The reason the federal government wants to know a person's race is precisely because they intend to discriminate based upon race. That's immoral and unconstitutional. But what exactly is "race?" Is there a gene for "black?" You're not lying on a government document if the multiple-choices of answers for "race" are subjective. If you say you're "black," how could the government possibly prove otherwise in an objective manner? They can't. I just decided that I'm filling out the census as a black man. Come and get me, Coppers.

Earlier this year, Obama announced that he was relieving the U.S. Commerce Department of its responsibility for conducting the census and moving that responsibility into the White House under the control of his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, one of the most corrupt Chicago machine politicians of all time. However, that decision proved so unpopular that Obama was forced to reconsider. Instead, he has nominated Univ. of Michigan professor Robert Groves as director of the census. Groves is a fervent advocate of statistical sampling, a technique that uses “educated guesses” to determine population instead of actually counting heads. It is...

Officials at the University of California are moving to give two of the oldest-known skeletons in North America to a local Native American tribe, against the recommendation of university scientists who say the bones should be retained for study. Under federal law, bones are returned to a tribe that can prove 'cultural affiliation' through artefacts or other analyses. At nearly 10,000 years old, the skeletons in question — unearthed in 1976 at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) — are so ancient that they are not culturally linked to any tribe...But last month, University of California president Mark Yudof...

The census is one of the most important functions performed by the federal government because the integrity our representative democracy depends on it. Because both parties understand its importance, the census has always been insulated from political corruption. That is why news of the Obama Administration’s plan to take the 2010 census away from the Commerce Department and run it out of the White House is disturbing. This action will have enormous implications on the balance of political power in the country. When I was co-chairman of the U.S. Census Monitoring Board, the left fought unsuccessfully to introduce “statistical sampling”...

Gov. David Paterson is heading near Indian Country to sign a bill that would call for the state to collect taxes on sales by Indian retailers. Despite urgings by the Seneca Nation for the governor to veto the measure, he is traveling to Oneida County to sign the legislation in Utica on Monday

Claremont parents clash over kindergarten Thanksgiving costumes Some say having students dress up as pilgrims and Native Americans is 'demeaning.' Their opponents say they are elitists injecting politics into a simple children's celebration. By Seema Mehta November 25, 2008 For decades, Claremont kindergartners have celebrated Thanksgiving by dressing up as pilgrims and Native Americans and sharing a feast. But on Tuesday, when the youngsters meet for their turkey and songs, they won't be wearing their hand-made bonnets, headdresses and fringed vests. Parents in this quiet university town are sharply divided over what these construction-paper symbols represent: A simple child's depiction...

"We'll have to wait and see how this all pans out. For now, it's a stunning, exciting choice on the part of ol' John McCain. In a way, it is a perfect choice, from all angles. The ol' soldier is still full of surprises. This is one of the more pleasant ones."

RIVERSIDE Two recent shootouts between law officers and several members of the Soboba Indian tribe have prompted the Riverside County Sheriff's Deputies Association to warn the public that it considers the tribe's casino to be unsafe, it was reported on Saturday. The 3,700-member union considers the tribal reservation to be "unstable" as a result of "recent violence against Riverside County deputy sheriffs," the Los Angeles Times and Riverside Press-Enterprise reported. Tribal leaders shot back that the deputies union has brought the shootouts into the poitical arena, and said in an e-mail that "the recent tragic events were unrelated to the...

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - An American Indian who shot a bald eagle for use in a tribal religious ceremony must stand trial, a federal appeals court has ruled. A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Thursday reversed a 2006 lower court ruling that dismissed a criminal charge against Winslow Friday, a Northern Arapaho Indian who has acknowledged shooting a bald eagle in 2005 during the tribe's Sun Dance. In dismissing the charge, U.S. District Judge William Downes of Wyoming said the federal government has shown "callous indifference" to American Indian religious beliefs. Eagle feathers are...

We have had a fairly mixed year. Both good stories and bad were bountiful, and sometimes good and bad news came together to neutralize mega-stories. Take Pakistan, where Pervez Musharraf’s lifting of both his military uniform and his country’s State of Emergency was closely followed by the untimely assassination of Benazir Bhutto. Nobody quite knows what the net effect of these events will be.

Expert on American Indian culture teaches class at Ramstein High RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — A blond German isn’t exactly who you would expect to be the guest speaker for Ramstein High School’s Native American Heritage Month. But on Wednesday, Peter “Forest Wolf” Heiser, a German who owns a moving company in Idar-Oberstein, spoke to three history classes on American Indian heritage and culture.Bryan Sanchez, who describes himself as belonging to the Zuni tribe in New Mexico, had asked Heiser to speak to the classes. Sanchez, coordinator of the school’s internship program, says he believed Heiser had a better feel...

WICHITA, Kan. --A man who called himself "Chief Thunderbird IV" was charged in federal court here Friday with devising a fraudulent scheme to obtain U.S. citizenship papers for illegal aliens by having them claim to be members of a so-called Indian tribe. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal and local agencies are investigating this case. Malcolm L. Webber, 69, Wichita, Kan., was scheduled to appear in federal district court in Wichita Friday on one count of attempting to defraud the federal government, one count of harboring aliens who were illegally in the United States, and one count...

Ward Churchhill Fired From University Boulder - The University of Colorado Board of Regents voted to fire Ward Churchill on Tuesday evening, prompting the promise of a lawsuit from the embattled professor. The move came after committees found in 2006 that Churchill was guilty of academic misconduct, fabricating and falsifying research, plagiarizing the work of others, and pretending to be an Indian, when in fact he's just a goofy-looking white guy with high cheek bones and greasy hair. After the meeting, Churchill and his supporters participated in a Native American ceremony outside the building, setting up card tables and hawking...

Virginia's General Assembly has adopted a resolution, expressing "profound regret" for the role the US state played in slavery. The resolution was passed by a 96-0 vote in the House and also unanimously backed in the 40-member Senate. Although non-binding, the resolution sent an important symbolic message, its sponsors said. Lawmakers also expressed regret for "the exploitation of Native Americans" in Virginia. Saturday's resolution was passed as the state was preparing to mark the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, where the first Africans arrived in 1619. It said that government-sanctioned slavery "ranks as the most horrendous of all depredations of...

"Prez on the Rez"— the first presidential candidate forum to take place on reservation land— will not be coming to Sandia Pueblo. Sandia, which is just north of Albuquerque, was a finalist to host the historic event for Democratic White House hopefuls to gather with tribal leaders to share their views on Indian Country. But the event will instead take place Aug. 23 at the Morongo band of Mission Indians reservation outside Palm Springs, Calif., according to organizer Kalyn Free. Free is founder and president of INDN's List, an Oklahoma-based organization dedicated to getting Native Americans elected to political office....

Anthropologists Back Native American Claims The case of Kennewick Man – or the Ancient One – as Native Americans refer to him, dragged through the courts for years before Judge John Jelderks found that he could not be defined Native American under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. A recent case regarding repatriation of even older remains and artifacts from Spirit Cave, Nev., suggests that the Kennewick Man case should be used as a legal precedent and that the remains of Spirit Cave Man are not Native American. Four University of New Mexico anthropologists have written an article...

DMV - Oregon accepts documents from foreigners but will not accept proof from out-of-state tribes It's easier for illegal immigrants to get a driver's license in Oregon than it is for Native Americans who show up at DMV counters with identification from out-of-state tribes. About half the states in the nation allow some form of tribal documentation to secure a driver's license or identification card. Some want federal proof, some require tribal proof and some will accept either. Of those 28 states, two -- Oregon and New York -- restrict that to documents from in-state tribes only, according to information...

I was wondering if anybody knows of a good reputable source of pre-european native america population figures. My textbook says that there were appx. 18 million, but to me that seems a bit high. According to the text after Americas first census there were only 600,000 left they dwindled down drastically, another 50% and then recovered at the turn of the century. That would mean over 95% of Native Americans where killed by disease prior to Americas founding. With such a disperse population it seems abit unfathonable that disease had such a drastic effect on such a widespread population base.

PORCUPINE, S.D. - The first woman elected to lead the Oglala Sioux tribe was removed from office with five months remaining in her first term. Cecelia Fire Thunder, former president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, met the anti-abortion movement and lost. At a hearing on June 29, Tribal Councilman Will Peters, architect of the complaints against her, said at the outset that abortion was the issue. ''We are here today because of the abortion. We will plan for and fight for all Lakota, including the unborn,'' Peters said. Fire Thunder opened the floodgates of criticism when she suggested opening a...

DURANT, OKLA. - Alan Reese took about an hour to drive from his home in Dallas' northern suburbs to the blackjack tables of the new Choctaw Casino and Resort here, 10 miles north of the Red River. "It's not even two counties away, straight up (U.S.) Highway 75," said Reese, 58, who also has visited the nearby Winstar Casino, run by the Chickasaw Nation, just past the state line on Interstate 35. "Makes you wonder how long Texas will take to see what's going on up here." ADVERTISEMENT North Texans such as Reese are fueling a gambling boom in southern...

The Lincoln County School District's Indian Education Program is honoring graduating Indian seniors with an eagle feather at 6:30 p.m. Monday, June 12 at the Siletz Tribal Community Center on Government Hill in Siletz. The feathers are obtained legally from the U.S. Department of Wildlife, through the Siletz Tribal representative, Mike Darcy. Only students registered with the Indian Education Program (now Title VII) and graduating from a Lincoln County school are eligible to receive an eagle feather. The public is invited to the ceremony, no tickets or reservations are necessary.

How much do you know about the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846? http://www.mysanantonio.com/salife/stories/MYSA051606.01P.mxwar.1162a2d9.html http://tinyurl.com/jywhy Web Posted: 05/16/2006 12:00 AM CDT Elaine Ayala Express-News Staff Writer For many, knowledge about the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-1848 runs from nonexistent to sparse. Funny, given that without that major U.S. conquest, we might be living in Mexico, not Texas. Americans' knowledge of that crucial period may be limited to the U.S. takeover or purchase (depending on your perspective) of what today is the Southwestern United States ranging from Texas to California. But like many historical events, things were a lot more complicated than that. The...

Native American teenagers in South Dakota will be leading the way on Tuesday as tens of thousands of pro-life teens across the nation wear their pro-life t-shirts to school. The Indian teens will be sending a strong message to their tribal leader that they don't favor her idea to built an abortion facility on their reservation. "Native American teens in South Dakota are showing their support for the pro-life movement by participating in this year's National Pro-life T-shirt Day," says Erik Whittington, who heads up the national project. The national day tomorrow is a chance for teens in the Oglala...

O Great Spirit, whose breath gives life to the world, And whose voice is heard in the soft breeze: We need your strength and wisdom. Cause us to walk in beauty. Give us eyes ever to behold the red and purple sunset. Make us wise so that we may understand what you have taught us. Help us learn the lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. Make us always ready to come to you with clean hands and steady eyes, So when life fades, like the fading sunset, our spirits may come to you without shame. Amen. ((United...

More than 100 students, faculty and community members - about 20 of them protesters - attended controversial academic and activist Ward Churchill’s lecture in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. last night, both to listen and, for some, to attempt debate. Churchill, a professor of ethnic studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder,...some questioned his credentials, viewpoints, and claim to Native American heritage. Advocates “any means possible” ... “Any means” can include the use of violence, ... “Some People Push Back: On the Justice of Roosting Chickens,” in which he referred to victims of the 9/11 attacks on the...

LUKACHUKAI, Ariz. – The coalmines on the Navajo Nation should have never been opened. Instead, the Navajo people could have implemented other, more original types of economic development not so dependent on foreign businesses. This is how the head of the Navajo medicine men’s association sees it. “They will have a real negative impact on the earth system,” said Anthony Lee Sr., president of the 300-member Diné Hatááli Association, which represents the reservation’s traditional medicine practitioners. “From a medicine man’s perspective, we have to ask, why did it open in the first place?” Now that the tribe is coming face...

WAYS THINGS WOULD BE DIFFERENT IF SANTA WERE AMERICAN INDIAN At bed time, kids would leave RC Cola and frybread for the big guy. He would wear a red turtleneck to hide his hickeys. Santa's new moccasins would be made out of Dasher. There would be a bingo packer under every tree. His elves would never show up for work on Friday's and sometimes Monday's too. He would be able to navigate his sleigh by pointing his lips. His sleigh would need a boost every other state or province. His outfit would consist of a red flannel ribbon shirt, with...