Great NEWS MY VIRAL Load HAS GONE FROM 4,800,000 down to 1,600,00 YEA TEAM

I TOLD YOU THAT i WAS GOING TO SLAY THE DRAGON……

gregor

Will start updating soon, Please come back shortly

Hiroshima & Nagasaki-Original 1945 Documentary

Scroll Down Please

Due to illness able to update now & then, getting over a liver biopsy and having PTSD. The constant drain of Hep-C (which the US NAVY me, upon enrollment) makes daily life exhausting !!!

Scroll down to see latest information, please.

gregor

Tip of the Hat Refers to Article Origin

When you see this image

it mean that the article was written by some one other than the web team. URL or persons name following tip of the hat image is the actual author or location where the story was found. I always give credit, when credit is due. This blog makes extensive use of many news sources to bring the latest on primarily nuclear and indigenous issues. Thanks, gregor

5 new articles today- October 7th, 2009

Hi Constant readers,

Read more on our web site at http://shundahai.org/ on Nuclear and Indigenous issues.

I  WILL ONLY BE UPDATING , AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE EACH WEEK  DUE TO MY CURRENT WORKLOAD/ HEALTH CONDITION.  Blog will normally be updated later than usual, due to my heath

Contact information for Infringing on TOS

IF THERE ARE ANY AUTHOR OR NEWSPAPERS THAT FEEL THAT I AM INFRINGING ON THEIR TERMS OF SERVICE PLEASE EMAIL ME HERE, IMMEDIATELY. SO I CAN FIX THE ISSUE, IMMEDIATELY

Sorry if I made a mistake, but letting me know makes it much easier to fix, that trying to guess which articles, I screwed up on. I contact many bloggers for blanket permission as long as I give original author and the blog/newspaper article location, all has been right in the past.

Blogging again

Am blogging again, Sorry for the illness delay

gregor

Last May2009 Shundahai Co-founder Mateo was able to meet with President Obama. He discussed the CTBT and presented the president with the late Corbin Harney’s first book “One Air, One Water, One Mother Earth”

Johnny Cash: Foe of hypocrisy

The bitter tears of Johnny Cash
The untold story of Johnny Cash, protest singer and Native American activist, and his feud with the music industry
By Antonino D’Ambrosio
(Photo Johnny Cash with Bob Dylan)

(excerpt)
President Nixon to Johnny Cash: “Johnny, would you be willing to play a few songs for us,” Nixon asked Cash. “I like Merle Haggard’s ‘Okie From Muskogee’ and Guy Drake’s ‘Welfare Cadillac.’” The architect of the GOP’s Southern strategy was asking for two famous expressions of white working-class resentment.

“I don’t know those songs,” replied Cash, “but I got a few of my own I can play for you.” Dressed in his trademark black suit, his jet-black hair a little longer than usual, Cash draped the strap of his Martin guitar over his right shoulder and played three songs, all of them decidedly to the left of “Okie From Muskogee.” With the nation still mired in Vietnam, Cash had far more than prison reform on his mind. Nixon listened with a frozen smile to the singer’s rendition of the explicitly antiwar “What Is Truth?” and “Man in Black” (“Each week we lose a hundred fine young men”) and to a folk protest song about the plight of Native Americans called “The Ballad of Ira Hayes.” It was a daring confrontation with a president who was popular with Cash’s fans and about to sweep to a crushing reelection victory, but a glimpse of how Cash saw himself — a foe of hypocrisy, an ally of the downtrodden. An American protest singer, in short, as much as a country music legend.
Read article at Salon:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/11/08/johnny_cash/index.html

Action Alert: Nevada Test Site Environmental Impact Statement

For all of my friends who are peace activists, this is an important call to action. Nevada Desert Experience has created a form email that needs to be signed by as many people as possible by Friday, October 16. Please follow the link at the bottom and take action!

The government is once again considering expanding the use of the Nevada Test Site which currently remains prepared to resume full nuclear weapons testing by presidential order. It is managed by the National Nuclear Safety Administration. This Site Wide Environmental Impact Study will determin the direction of the NTS for the next 10 years. 2 main points are:

1. The scope of the SWEIS needs to include the possibility of closing the NTS in its entirety. Closing the Test Site would be a concrete, confidence-building sign to the world that the United States will not enlarge or re-shape its nuclear stockpile and is sincere in working for nuclear disarmament.

2. The Nevada Test Site land rightfully belongs to the Western Shoshone Nation, and their wishes should be paramount. The Treaty of Ruby Valley (1863) grants their Nation the NTS land and more. They should have the final say regarding any of the work mentioned in this message or the SWEIS.

http://nvactionnetwork.org/eletters/sign.php?eid=24#form

Join The Caravan In Support Of Big Mountain Resistance Communities of Black Mesa, AZ.

Join The Caravan In Support Of Big Mountain Resistance Communities of Black Mesa, AZ.

November 21-28, 2009

from BMIS

Greetings from Black Mesa Indigenous Support,

We are excited to inform you that a caravan of work crews will once again be converging from across the country in support of residents of the Big Mountain regions of Black Mesa. On behalf of their peoples, their sacred ancestral lands and future generations, these communities continue to carry out a staunch resistance to the efforts of the US Government, which is acting in the interests of the Peabody Coal Company, to devastate whole communities and ecosystems and greatly de-stabilize our planet’s climate for the profit of an elite few.

By assisting with direct, on-land projects you are helping families stay on their ancestral homelands in resistance to an illegal occupation and working for climate justice. These communities serve as the very blockade to coal mining! More than 14,000 Dine’ people have been forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands due to spin created by the U.S government & Peabody Coal, under the guise of the so-called “Navajo-Hopi Land Dispute.” Families are now in their THIRD DECADE resisting this travesty and, as you can imagine, many residents are very elderly and winters can be rough. With their guidance, the aim of this caravan is to honor the elders and to generate support in the form of direct, on-land support: chopping and hauling firewood, doing minor repair work, offering holistic health care, and sheep-herding before the approaching cold winter months arrive.

“The Big Mountain matriarchal leaders always believed that resisting forced relocation will eventually benefit all ecological systems, including the human race,” says Bahe Keediniihii, Dineh organizer and translator. “Continued residency by families throughout the Big Mountain region has a significant role in the intervention of Peabody’s future plan for Black Mesa coal to be the major source of unsustainable energy, the growing dependency on fossil fuel, and escalating green house gas emissions. We will continue to fight to defend our homelands.”

Peabody Coal’s Disastrous Coal Mining Operations on Black Mesa: At this moment, decision makers in Washington D.C. are planning ways to continue their occupation of tribal lands under the guise of extracting “clean coal,” which does not exist. In 30 years of disastrous operation, Dine’ and Hopi communities in Arizona have been ravaged by Peabody’s coal mining, which has taken land from and forcibly relocated thousands of families, has drained 2.5 million gallons of water daily from the only community water supply, and has left a toxic legacy along an abandoned 273-mile coal slurry pipeline. Peabody’s Black Mesa mine has been the source of an estimated 325 million tons of CO2 that have been discharged into the atmosphere. Coal from the Black Mesa Mine could contribute an additional 290 million tons of CO2 to the global warming crisis!* Ignoring protests from Dineh and Hopi communities and their allies, the U.S. Government (Office of Surface Mining) has permitted Peabody Energy to extend it’s massive strip-mining operations until 2026 or until the coal is gone. Peabody Coal Co. plans to seize another 19,000 acres of sacred land beyond the 67,000 acres already in Peabody’s grasp at Black Mesa. Peabody Energy, previously Peabody Coal Company, is the world’s largest private-sector coal company, operating mines throughout North America, South America, and Australia and is the twelfth largest coal exporter. In addition Peabody is proposing new coal-fired power plants in several states. Peabody’s coal mining will exacerbate already devastating environmental and cultural impacts on local communities and significantly add fuel to the fire of the current global climate chaos!

We are at a critical juncture and must take a stand in support of communities on the front lines of resistance now! Indigenous and land-based peoples have maintained the understanding that our collective survival is deeply dependent on our relationship to Mother Earth. Victory in protecting and reclaiming the Earth will require a broad movement that can help bridge cultures, issues and nations.

BMIS wishes for this caravan to be an important opportunity for people of all backgrounds to listen and work with the families of Black Mesa to generate more awareness that relocation laws & coal mining need to be stopped, that these communities deserve to be free on their ancestral homelands, and to come together to strengthen our solidarity and find ways to work together to protect Black Mesa & our Mother Earth for all life.

Ways you can support:

Join the Caravan & Be Self-Sufficient! By joining one of the volunteer work crews, you are expected to be adequately prepared and self-sufficient prior to your visit on Black Mesa, which is a very remote area in a high desert terrain. There is no electricity, no central heating, and no running water. You must come prepared, and bring everything you will need. There could be extreme weather, and it will be cold especially at night! Each participant will need to bring food, water, outdoor camping gear (although we will likely be staying inside with families), very warm clothing, and appropriate attire for hands-on manual work. Coming equipped with chainsaws, trucks, shovels, axes & mauls dramatically increases your effectiveness as a work crew!

Read and sign the Cultural Sensitivity & Preparedness Guide: All direct, on-land supporters of Black Mesa are required to thoroughly read over and sign the Cultural Sensitivity & Preparedness Guide. This document is an in-depth guide that contains important information that you will need prior to and during your visit with a host family on Black Mesa. This guide gives you crucial information about what to expect, what to bring, how to be adequately prepared, background and current his/herstory, safety and legal issues, cultural sensitivity, code of conduct, and a suggested list of what to bring with you. We want to ensure that each person is informed about the agreements & basic requests by these communities, that each person is safe and accounted for, and that we have your contact and emergency contact info should an emergency arise. It is of the utmost importance that each caravan participant understand and respect the ways of the communities that we will be visiting. Please print out & bring this guidebook with you during your visit to Black Mesa http://blackmesais.org/tag/cultural-sensitivity/
Pre-register: To help us estimate how many people to expect as well as to help us make necessary accommodations for all.
Host or attend regional organizational meetings in your area: We strongly urge participants to attend or organize regional meetings. Caravan coordinators are located in Prescott, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Colorado, Ithaca, NY, and the San Francisco’s Bay Area. The meeting locations and dates will be posted at the BMIS website as coordinators set them up. This caravan will be collaborating with the annual Clan Dyken Fall Food & Supply Run on Black Mesa.

Raise Awareness about Black Mesa and the caravan. You can obtain literature from BMIS.

Organize fundraisers: At the weeks prior to every caravan, grassroots supporters from all over throw benefits to raise the much-needed funds, for such things as supplies, wood, and direct, on-land people-support. Please contact BMIS for guidelines prior to any fund-raising in the name of Big Mountain and Black Mesa.
Collect supplies: Chainsaws, axes, mauls, axe handles, tools of all kinds, organic food, warm blankets, and especially trucks –either to donate to families or to use for the week of the caravan–are greatly needed on the land to make this caravan work! Check back on the BMIS website for an ongoing list of specific requests from the land.

Donate: We are not receiving nor relying on any institutional funding for these support efforts, but are instead counting on each person’s ingenuity, creativity, and hard work to make it all come together. We are hoping to raise enough money through our community connections for gas, specifically for collecting wood and food for host families, and for work projects.
Stay with a family on Black Mesa: Families living in resistance to coal mining and relocation laws are requesting self-sufficient guests who are willing to give three or more weeks of their time, especially in the winter. Since it is crucial to have good help out there and not create more work for the families, all supporters are required to read and sign the Cultural Sensitivity Preparedness Guide. Contact BMIS in advance so that we can make arrangements prior to your stay, to answer any questions that you may have, and so we can help put you in touch with a family.

We can’t wait to see you in November!Give Back To Mother Earth! Give To Future Generations!

Black Mesa Indigenous Support

Black Mesa Indigenous Support (BMIS) is a grassroots, all-volunteer organization dedicated to working with and supporting the indigenous peoples of Black Mesa in their Struggle for Life and Land who are targeted by & resisting unjust large-scale coal mining operations and forced relocation policies of the US government.
Black Mesa Indigenous Support
P.O. Box 23501, Flagstaff, Arizona 86002
Message Voice Mail: 928.773.8086
Email: blackmesais@gmail.com
Web: www.blackmesais.org

A Dirty New Low for Peabody Coal

This was originally posted by Brenda Norrell at http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Takeover in Hopiland

A Dirty New Low for Peabody Coal

By BRENDA NORRELL

Former chairmen of the Hopi Nation have revealed that the Hopi Tribal Council has been taken over by a pro-Peabody Coal faction. Further, Hopi reveal that the tribe’s attorney and the media are being used to carry out Peabody Coal’s agenda.

Peabody Coal used the same tactic originally to seize Black Mesa for coal mining and bring about Navajo relocation for coal mining, by way of attorney John Boyden, who worked for Peabody and the Hopi Tribe. The media was also coopted in the original seizure of Black Mesa by Peabody Coal, with the media cheerleading and proclaiming the so-called Navajo Hopi land dispute.

When the Hopi Tribal Council banned “environmentalists,” and Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr., agreed last week, Navajos and Hopis defending the land were shocked and appalled.

Vernon Masayesva, executive director of Black Mesa Trust and former Hopi Chairman, points out that Hopi are true stewards and the Hopi Tribal Council has been taken over by a pro-Peabody Coal faction. Masayesva, in a letter to Arizona Republic, also points out that the newspaper is printing only one-side of the story at Hopi, press releases written by a former employee of the newspaper.

Tina May, former senior editor of Arizona Republic, is now the Hopi Tribal Council’s press officer. Masayesva said the Arizona Republic’s coverage is biased.

“Arizona Republic has been carrying news releases by Tina May, public relations officer for the Hopi Tribal Council. She is reporting only one side of the story. We understand she is a former employee of the Arizona Republic,” he said.

“The real story on Hopiland, that is yet to be revealed, is the take-over of the government by pro-Peabody legislators with the support of their legal counsel, Scott Canty, and the ensuing corruption and abuse of power by an illegally constituted Council,” Masayesva said.

Referring to the ban, Masayesva said, “To be a Hopi is to be a conservationist, a caretaker and a steward of planet earth. So, by implication, the Council has banned all Hopi people from their land.”

Masayesva said the Grand Canyon Trust came to Hopiland to install photovoltaic panels on homes that have no electricity. “It is likely the project will now be suspended, thanks to our Hopi Tribal Council.”

Further, Masayesva said forty individual Hopis have filed a challenge to the U.S. Office of Surface Mining’s decision to issue a Life-of-Mine permit to Peabody. The permit would allow Peabody to continue the destructive surface mining for an additional 15 years after 2011.

“Of special concern to the Hopi is the continuing drawdown of N-aquifer groundwater and the accidental and deliberate destruction of archaeological sites, burial sites, petroglyphs and other cultural resources.”

Klee Benally, Navajo, points out that the US puppet tribal governments are continuing to appease the United States and corporations. Benally responded to Navajo President Joe Shirley, Jr.’s comments, stating that environmentalists are not welcome on Navajoland.

Benally said, “I would expect this type of declaration from totalitarian government dictators, not those who are democratically elected leaders of Tribal Nations. Considering the history of colonization and BIA established puppet governments on Native American lands, Shirley’s statement is not surprising.

“Attempting to silence the voice and limit the rights of Dine’ people to protect their life, land and liberty is not sovereignty, it is in the direction of totalitarianism.”

Benally points out that Shirley uses the catch word “sovereignty” to defend his stance against anything Shirley disagrees with. Benally said, “Does sovereignty really mean being dependent on non-renewable energy that destroys Mother Earth, pollutes drinking water and air and compromises our holy covenant with nature? Does it mean being dependent on casinos and outside corporate interests?’

Benally also reminds Shirley of Benally’s grandmother, the late Roberta Blackgoat resisting relocation, who defended the land until her end on this earth.

“My grandmother Roberta Blackgoat once said, ‘I know each tree, each plant that grows right there. And they know me. The children, grandchildren, great grandchildren need to be right there. We need them to get back to the land and live on our ancestors’ land.’ She said that the ‘relocatees’ die of ‘worriness,’ ‘missing their traditional food and not knowing where to go to pray.’ Blackgoat said, ‘As long as I live, I’m not going to sign’ and continued to demand ‘(Peabody) stop destroying the Mother Earth’s liver and blood; the coal and the water.’”

“Until her passing she resisted relocation, still abandoned by the Navajo Nation government, ‘unwelcome’ by the Hopi Tribal government, and as a testimony to the injustices of US law.

“Would she still be unwelcome in her homeland Mr. Shirley — as an environmentalist, that is a woman who loved her Earth?”

In response to the Hopi Tribal Council ban, Alph Secakuku, Hopi council representative of Sipaulovi (Second Mesa), spoke of the sacred foundation and destiny of the Hopi people.

“We made a sacred covenant with Maasaw, our Supreme Being, to be good stewards of the Fourth World we live in today. We, as people, all have the responsibility of being Caretakers of Mother Earth. You care for it and take from it only what you need, and it will provide for you.

“I never thought I would see the day when being ‘Hopi’ meant being anti-environment, pro-big corporate energy, and actually promoting pollution and global warming in favor of dollars/money.”

Secakuku said the ban was the result of the current political coup in the council.

“It is a sad day for Hopi/Tewa people, and I am disappointed. We, the Hopi/Tewa people, have worked closely for many years with our allies from the environmental community to protect sacred lands from development and to stop uranium mining from poisoning our water. Water is life, therefore, it is sacred. We will continue to work together – tribal communities and other clean energy jobs advocates – to bring green economic development to our lands that respects our air and water.”

Former Hopi Chairman Ben Nuvamsa also points out the illegality, absurdity and indignity of the Hopi Tribal Council’s ban.

“For the record, Indian tribes have no jurisdiction over non-Indians on reservation lands (see Oliphant v. Suquamish). On the Hopi Reservation, only the Tribal Chairman has the authority to sign an exclusion order under Tribal Ordinance 46. So without a Tribal Chairman, no one can sign such an order. Without meeting these requirements, the resolution passed by this group is nothing more than a mean-spirited statement.

“Our teachings as Hopi and Tewa people dictate that we should welcome everyone. It is not Hopi to exclude anyone. As Hopi and Tewa people, we are raised to be good stewards of our lands so we are all ‘environmentalists’ by our cultural teachings and practices.

“The ‘environmentalists’ have stood by the Hopi Tribe when we opposed the making of artificial snow on our sacred Nuvatukyaovi (San Francisco Peaks). They assisted in our opposition to the proposed uranium mining near the Grand Canyon. They assisted in securing protections for the American Bald Eagle. So why the opposition to ‘environmentalists’ now? Could it be financial and corporate greed? Absolutely,” he said in a statement.

Nuvamsa points out that it the elected tribal leaders compromising sovereignty.

“Some say the ‘environmentalists’ are compromising our tribal sovereignty. I disagree. It is our own ‘tribal leaders’ that are the worst violators of compromising our sovereignty.”

Navajos at Black Mesa Water Coalition, creating green jobs on Navajoland, also responded.

“We believe that President Shirley is misinformed as to the benefits of coal mining and coal-fired power plants and out of touch with the kind of economy the Navajo people want,” said Wahleah Johns, also a Navajo citizen and Co-Director of Black Mesa Water Coalition.

“Our organization has been working to support the traditional lifeways of weavers, ranchers, artisans and a new clean energy economy. After over 30 years of coal development on the Navajo reservation, most of our people still live below the national poverty line, and now there are increasing health problems due to fossil fuel development pollution and global warming.”

Black Mesa Water Coalition said that in July of 2009, the Navajo Nation 21st Council officially adopted the Navajo Green Economy Commission and Fund to begin a process of diversifying the Navajo economy and building thousands of well-paying Navajo jobs that do not pollute.

“The Black Mesa Water Coalition formed the Navajo Green Economy Coalition, consisting of both Native and non-native organizations and individuals. This Coalition’s partnership with the Navajo Nation’s Speaker of the Council, Lawrence T. Morgan, was a large contributor to the successful establishment of a Navajo Green Economy plan and is a model for how tribal governments and tribal citizen’s groups can work together.”

Calvin Johnson, Navajo in Leupp, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation, fighting the poisoning of the water, air and land by coal mines and power plants, said he was appalled by Shirley’s statement. Johnson told Shirley that blaming and disrespecting traditional grassroots people is not the answer.

Johnson said, “We are suppose to protect our people and mother earth from harmful contaminants that cause numerous health diseases, destroy sacred sites and deplete and contaminate precious water resources.”

Johnson said the Navajo Nation has been providing misinformation about the proposed Desert Rock power plant. There is no such thing as a clean coal fired power plant. He said no machine can remove 100 percent of the sulfur, mercury and other pollutants from coal and burn it free of emissions.

The Sierra Club said it is an honor to work with Hopis and Navajos.

“The Sierra Club is honored to work with our tribal partners in transitioning to a clean energy future, including the Black Mesa Water Coalition, Dooda Desert Rock, Hopis Organized for Political Initiatives (H.O.P.I.), the Navajo Green Economy Coalition, To’ Nizhoni Ani, C-Aquifer for the Diné, and other community organizations,” the Sierra Club said in a statement.

While the mainstream media, including Associated Press, continues to distort and censor the voices of the Navajo and Hopi people, the full statements are online at Censored News:

http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

Brenda Norrell has been a news reporter covering Indian country and Mexico for 27 years, serving as a staff reporter for Navajo Times, Lakota Journal and Indian Country Today. She served as a stringer for AP for five years and USA Today for seven years, covering the Navajo Nation and federal courts. She was censored and terminated by Indian Country Today in 2006 and created Censored News. She is a contributor to CounterPunch.

TWO IRANIAN NUCLEAR SCIENTISTS MAY HAVE DEFECTED

Please read article, cited after the quote. Articles open in a new window.

Two Iranian nuclear scientists disappeared over the past weeks and allegedly defected to the West, the London-based pan-Arabic daily Asharq al-Awsat reported.

According to the report, the first defector is Sharam Amiri, a scientist in Iran’s nuclear program who was likely tied to the recently discovered secret uranium enrichment plant near the holy city of Qom.

Amiri disappeared in Saudi Arabia in July while he was on the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Defection speculations have been gaining popularity in light of an announcement made by Iran’s foreign ministry that it had asked Saudi officials to help locate Amiri. This announcement is unusual because many Iranians go missing during the annual hajj pilgrimage, and in those cases, not only is there no foreign ministry announcement, usually there is no effort made to locate them, despite their families’ pleas.

http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=45082

CIA Knew About Iran’s Secret Nuclear Plant Long Before Disclosure

Please read article, cited after the quote. Articles open in a new window.

By Bobby Ghosh / Washington Wednesday, Oct. 07, 2009

//

This summer, as the Obama Administration prepared to confront Iran with proof of its undisclosed uranium-enrichment plant in Qum, CIA Director Leon Panetta ordered his staff to work with European intelligence agencies to compile a comprehensive presentation about the facility. Although the Iranians had taken great pains to keep the facility a secret, building it into a mountain 100 miles southwest from Tehran, the CIA had known about it for three years.

Panetta was told about Qum during the White House transition period in January. “This was presented at that time as something nobody knew about, a secret facility,” he told TIME in an exclusive interview. “It was built into a mountain; obviously that raised question marks.” Panetta said that after he was confirmed as the agency’s director, “we spent the next months trying to get better intel about what was going on there … and conducting covert operations into that area.” (See pictures of the world’s worst nuclear disasters.)

As part of that effort, the CIA worked with British and French intelligence, which had also been on the lookout for the secret plant. They knew there had to be one; once Iran’s primary enrichment plan in Natanz was revealed, in 2002, it was assumed that the Iranians would build a second one somewhere.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1929088,00.html

The Saturday Word: Nuclear Fallout

Please read article, cited after the quote. Articles open in a new window.

World leaders head back home this morning after an unusually dramatic Group of 20 summit that included sharp warnings to Iran after the disclosure that the nation is building a secret underground plant to manufacture nuclear fuel.

The Times’s Mark Mazzetti, David Sanger and William J. Broad detail the events leading to President Obama’s announcement and the international response in two front page stories this morning. Publicizing the program, which intelligence officials said they discovered years ago, proved a long-sought leverage against Tehran allowing Mr. Obama to demand Wednesday that the country permit highly intrusive international inspections.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/saturday-word/

Denver American Indian Commission: Transform Columbus Day

This was originally posted by Brenda Norrell at http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

From the Denver American Indian Commission:

The Denver American Indian Commission believes the city’s rich community of diverse tribes deserves a proactive change most of us can agree on — that rapidly approaching Columbus Day could be transformed into a day to honor our all of cultures and values. Only in recent years and in some places has the holiday become a tribute to Indian America, but the DAIC believes our Denver community could join the growing chorus of tribal nations and other Native and non-Native entities that choose to honor the continent’s original residents and its vital, pre-1492 history. We feel this is an opportunity we can’t take lightly.
Our present and future generations view their culture and themselves as being directly affected by how we celebrate our history. As it stands, the holiday reinforces the inaccurate notion that North America came into being in 1492, when “uncivilized” Native inhabitants appeared only to play a short-lived role in the founding myth, and soon vanished into history.
With growing, abundant evidence of complex pre-Columbian cultures in North as well as South America, we want to restore our ancestral tribal nations to the dignity they deserve. Therefore, the DAIC is joining a growing number of tribes and nations, like the sentiment of the 10,000-member Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians that this year voted unanimously to replace recognition of Columbus Day with a day to commemorate the cultural and religious center of Choctaw life.
“For Native Americans, Columbus Day should not be a day of celebration,” said Mississippi Band Chief (Miko) Beasley Denson. “His arrival on our shores marked the beginning of centuries of exploitation of our people and our land. Much better that we should celebrate our rich culture and our traditions.”The following have eliminated, replaced or changed Columbus Day, according to media and internet information: Navajo Nation, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Tohono O’odham Nation, Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, Jicarilla Apache Tribe, and Gila River Indian Community; Cities of Berkeley, Portland, and Duluth; the states of Alaska, South Dakota, Hawaii, Nevada, and Alabama, and several colleges and universities, including Brown University, Rhode Island.
Although Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) nations’ tribal offices remain open on the holiday, the Osage Nation and United Keetoowah Band’s tribal offices close and the tribes refer to the day as Osage Day and Native American Day, respectively. As an organization, the Native American Rights Fund does not observe Columbus Day as a holiday. The 350-member Gathering of Indigenous People in the Americas since 1992 has referred to the day as the International Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People.
The DAIC supports and joins the Episcopal Church in repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery, an inadequate excuse offered by the early Christian Church for the brutal Colombian invasion and theft of Native homelands. The Doctrine is also the basis for subsequent laws and policies that damage Native North America today.
Let us join the many tribes and nations that have already made positive changes in their communities.