Grandma Regina Among 47 Arrested at Oceti Sakowin Camp at Standing Rock: "This is a Fight for Survival."

by Levi Rickert /

1973 Wounded Knee veteran Regina Brave arrested yesterday standing up for Standing Rock

Published February 24, 2017



CANNON BALL, NORTH DAKOTA – Regina Brave, affectionately known to many as “Grandma Regina,” was among those arrested on Thursday as the militarized police swept the Oceti Sakowin
encampment of occupants. Since the 2pm evacuation deadline on Wednesday, there have been 47 arrests made according to the Morton County Sheriff Department.

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South Dakota again? ACLU Fight for #ICWA

Stephen Pevar: “In South Dakota, Officials Defied a Federal Judge and Took Indian Kids Away From Their Parents in Rigged Proceedings”

 

Posted on February 22, 2017 by Matthew L.M. Fletcher | Turtle Talk

 

Here, from ACLU’s Speak Freely blog.

"We will not stand idly by" #ICWA

Petition Granted: Gila River Indian Community Will Argue before Arizona Supreme Court to Protect Indian Children

by Native News Online Staff / Currents / 21 Feb 2017

Gila River Governor Stephen R. Lewis

SACATON, ARIZONA – The Arizona Supreme Court has granted the petition for review filed by attorneys for the Gila River Indian Community, giving the Community the opportunity to argue before the state’s highest court in a controversial case involving the future of a Native American child at risk of being permanently removed from her Community.

The case will be the first of its kind argued before the Arizona Supreme Court focused on the transfer provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act. At its heart are determinations regarding the permanent custody of a Native American child, A.D., a 2-year-old born to a Gila River Indian Community mother who lived on the Gila River Indian Reservation for most of her life. After A.D.’s off-Reservation birth, she was placed into the State of Arizona foster care system. The Community sought transfer of the state court case to its Children’s Court under the Indian Child Welfare Act, but its motion was denied and the Community appealed.

In their petition to the state Supreme Court, attorneys for the Community argue that A.D.’s case is significant to Arizona’s Indian tribes and tribal families and that the Arizona Court of Appeals’ decision was contrary to the plain language of the Indian Child Welfare Act and would lead to “absurd and inconsistent results.”

“The Gila River Indian Community will do everything in our power to protect our Community members and their families, every Indian child and every Indian family,” said Gila River Governor. Stephen R. Lewis. “We will not stand idly by when our children are at risk of losing their tribal roots, their culture and their families, and when the Indian Child Welfare Act is at risk.”

“Since 1978, ICWA and the tribal court system have worked as intended to keep Indian families together. This landmark law should not be stripped of its key role in protecting our people.”
Attorneys for the Community and the State have 20 days to file supplemental briefs with the state Supreme Court, then the matter will be set for oral arguments.

Beauty Without Boundaries

Posted by Native Hope on Feb 16, 2017 

We are all examples of true beauty, yet we live in a culture that tells us differently. The society of today does everything it can to put us in a box, doing its best to contort us into its shallow definition of "ideal beauty." These unrealistic standards are completely one-dimensional, and they fail to encompass the wide variety of beauty that abounds in the human race.


Living in two worlds
American Indians often discuss the struggle of trying to live and thrive in two worlds: the world of their culture and ancestors and the one of a modern day civilization that is a melting pot of ideals, customs, and beliefs. When Indigenous people embrace their physical beauty and inner uniqueness, the conflict between these two worlds becomes even more apparent.

In a recent article titled "She's So Pale" that was posted on Native Appropriations, Adrienne Keene, a member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, discusses the stereotypes that so often bombard Native Americans. She explains how so many people “think that Native identity is tied to looking like something off the side of a football helmet...they want to be able to categorize and move on. But Native identity isn’t just a racialized identity. Native identity is political. We are citizens of tribal nations. So we can’t just talk about our identities purely in racial terminology. There’s also a deep power issue here—who has the 'right,' especially as an outsider, to determine someone’s identity for them?”
Adrienne’s pale complexion has caused many to cast judgment and challenge her Native heritage. This fact alone exemplifies the danger of trusting our eyes to be the only valid source of truth. She is determined to make a difference and expose these obvious misconceptions, stating “instead of feeling ashamed, I’m trying now to turn the tables and think that I, instead, am the colonizer’s worst nightmare. Because history has tried to eradicate my people by violence and force, enacted every assimilating and acculturating policy against my ancestors, let me grow up in white suburbia, and erased all the visual vestiges of heritage from my face–but still tsi tsalagi (I am Cherokee)....fighting back against misrepresentations, through a keyboard and the internet.” 

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Giving Voice to Adoptees

Dear Adoption, Do You Still Think You Own Me? I am the faceless girl—the head-banger from crib 22, biting her own wrists for hours on end, as she sat in a diaper overloaded with day-old shit. “Fail…
READ: Dear Adoption, Do You Still Think You Own Me?


Dear Adoption, You Aren’t Always Right Growing up, my adoption issues lived mostly in the confines of my own head. I was adopted domestically so most people had no clue my parents, siblings a…
READ: Dear Adoption, You Aren’t Always Right




Why does it take us adoptees years to see the injustice of this? What medically happens when we are taken from our mothers at birth – what cruelty is this for a newborn – how is it ever acceptable to do this to another human being? I do know. I was adopted.  ...Trace, Blog Editor

Stolen Generations: Cultural impact of the Indian Adoption Project still felt today

Politics MPR News Staff · Feb 13, 2017

1. Listen The stolen childhoods of post-WWII Native children

   Feb 9, 2017
   51min 1sec

Kip Moon as a child Courtesy of Kip Moon

In 1958 the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) created the Indian Adoption Project. Its clear goal was to take Native kids away from their biological parents.

That's according to Melissa Olson, a legal advocate for Native children.

"This was not an accident of history, it was a government program designed to save the government money and dismantle tribes. All under the guise of integrating Native children more fully into American society," Olson said in a documentary she produced exploring the cultural and historical impacts of forced adoption, titled "Stolen Childhoods."

When the BIA started the project it enlisted social workers to visit reservations and convince parents to sign away their parental rights. It was a way to assimilate these children into "civilization," Olson said. The government believed adoption was the best option for dealing with the Native children "problem."

"When you removed a child and put them in a non-Indian family, they wouldn't be getting to know other Indian people as they would in a boarding school, they would hopefully be raised in a middle-class family. And so the idea was that they would be fully assimilated, and at no cost to the government," said Margaret Jacobs, author of "A Generation Removed," a book on forced adoption.

The adoption project sold their idea to white families using advertisements asserting that to not adopt would be choosing to leave children with no chance of survival — as in their own families would not be able to provide and care for them so it was up to these white families to help, Jacobs said.

By the 1960s about one in four Native children were living apart from their families. During this era, social workers found more dubious ways of taking children from their mothers.

"One of the things I found that really shocked me was a form that the Bureau of Indian Affairs developed. It was called 'authorization for discharge of an infant,' something like to a person who's not a family member. So it doesn't say authorization to adopt, or anything like that. It says nothing about losing one's child, or giving up rights to one's child, or putting a child up for adoption," Jacobs said. "It's all this sort of legalistic language that I didn't understand either when I was reading it."

Many of these adopted children, now adults, struggle with memories from traumatic childhoods in abusive homes, while trying to figure out where they fit in as Natives in white communities. Olson followed a few of these people's stories in "Stolen Childhoods."

The documentary was produced at KFAI by Melissa Olson and Ryan Katz and edited by Todd Melby.
To listen to the documentary, click the link above.

When tribes step up, good things happen

Akwesasne Community Social Services Division Earns Top Ranking for Child Placement in State of New York by Native News Online Staff

The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Social Services Division has successfully placed all children under their custody into homes in the Akwesasne in 2015 thanks to the efforts of their Preventive/Foster Care Unit that includes: (front row, from left) Renee Massaro, Home Finder; Ella Fuller, Program Manager; and Heath Kuhn, Caseworker; (back row, from left) Shari Adams, Administrative Assistant; Jade White, Commissioner; Chloe Cebek, Caseworker; Stacee Loran, Caseworker; and Krystal Phillips, Caseworker

Published February 15, 2017

AKWESASNE — The community of Akwesasne has long been known for taking care of its own; whether it be supporting our elders, helping a family recover from a tragedy, dealing with the loss of a beloved one, or providing a welcoming home for a young child. Akwesasne is certainly one of the most caring and giving communities and figures released by the New York State’s Office of Children and Family Services for 2015 can back up that claim— the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Social Services Division exceeded statewide rates for placing children in least restrictive home environments.

“This is a tremendous accomplishment that our community can take immense pride in serving the best interests of our children,” said Social Services Commissioner Jade White. “The unconditional willingness to open their doors to welcome a child in need into their home is true testament to our Relative and Certified Foster Parent’s noble decisions to be involved with our child welfare system. We recognize that this honor would not have been made possible without the cooperation of our Preventive/Foster Care Unity and Foster Parents and we look forward to future collaborations.”

In a statewide-ranking of 60 county and tribal social services departments, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe ranked first in placing 100 percent of children into Relative Foster Care or Home-Based Care. The state average for placement in 2015 was 68.8 percent for Home-Based Care and a 28.08 percent for Relative Foster Care. Every child that was placed into the custody of the Tribe’s Social Services Division was welcomed into a safe, healthy and stable home environment in Akwesasne.

This is the first time in Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe’s Social Services Division history that they have achieved the top ranking for placing children in Relative Foster Care or Home-Based Care. Much of the success in finding homes is due to the outreach they undertake throughout the year, which includes an Annual Foster Parent Recruitment Event in May during National Foster Care Awareness Month. They also participate in local events, such as the Annual Wellness Day that is attended by hundreds of community members where they encourage individuals to “Be a Super Hero” by choosing to be a foster parent to a deserving child.

“Foster parents and relatives play an essential role in providing temporary, safe, and nurturing homes to children when their parents are unable to care for them,” shared Preventive Foster Care Program Manager Ella Fuller. “The safety of the child is always a priority and considerable thought is given to finding the most suitable home environment, whether it be with other family members or foster parents who are looking to adopt. Our goal is to help bring families together.”

If you want to learn more or are interesting in becoming a part of the Foster Care Program, please call the Social Services Division at (518) 358-2728.

Meet Kelly Ironstand

Teaching Early Years from a First Nations Perspective

February 13, 2017

Reclaiming language and culture is reclaiming the spirit of First Nations.

Kelly Ironstand – Early Years Teacher

Kelly Ironstand, nursery and kindergarten teacher, strongly believes in this maxim.

A visit to her classroom at the Chief Clifford Lynxleg Anishinabe School, in the Tootinaowaziibeeng First Nation, reveals various aspects of First Nations language and culture.

From her hand made rabbit traps, life-size teepee and furniture, to her collection of animal bones used for hunting, Kelly’s students are learning the traditional way of life; and they love it.

Even at this age level, the students are taught how to make animal traps so that they can develop an appreciation and respect for the land, in keeping with First Nations practices. You might even find them making bannock and rabbit stew for lunch, on any given day.

“The children need to get a good grasp of their culture at this level, because they need to know who they are,” says Ironstand.

As someone who attended residential school as a child,  she understands the personal conflicts that many First Nations people deal with when they lose that connection to their culture.

“I don’t want them to feel like how I did as an adult,” she explains. “I don’t want them to feel lost. I want them to know who they are and where they came from.”

Ironstand also believes in developing strong relationships within the community. Because of the busy schedules of some parents, it’s sometimes difficult for them to attend meetings at the school. On Report Card day, Ironstand gives parents the option of scheduling home visits to discuss their children’s progress.

She appreciates the the services offered by Early Learning facilitators at the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre (MFNERC) especially opportunities for professional development like the recently concluded Early Learning conference.

Kelly Ironstand is just one of many amazing teachers helping students to develop a First Nations identity. MFNERC is pleased to be working along with these educators.

Learn more about Kelly Ironstand in this video. 

Still #Adoption Warriors

Archive photo

By Trace Hentz  (Blog Editor)

Hi everyone. Huge thanks for visiting this blog and reading this blog.  In case you don't know, I started this blog back in Dec. 2009.  I didn't know what I was doing but I had the notion to find more adoptees like me. Well, well, well... it worked.

Even in 2005 when I was writing and doing research for my memoir ONE SMALL SACRIFICE, I had no idea how many adoptees there are or were... not exactly easy to find out. There could be up to 7 million in the US right now, maybe even more.  That's not counting our relatives in Canada.

Along the way I found others who were blogging their experiences, like Von Coates in Australia. She educated me, and helped me become a better adoptee-activist-blogger.  We became friends and Von and I emailed, and both of us contributed our writing to the LOST DAUGHTERS blog.

Read this latest update from Von HERE  (she started this blog in 2012)

From her blog:
In the world of adoption, there are many phrases and words for describing adoption, the process of adoption or parts of it, adoptees and other characters appearing with regularity. So called experts write books about acceptable adoption language and there are regularly arguments in various venues around social medias sites on correct useage, offensiveness, unacceptability and who is right/wrong/indifferent....

Von had her blogger blog that was taken down. Someone complained about her posts and Google shut her down.  But she is a warrior and didn't stop. She moved her writing over to Wordpress.

After time and so much experience, the activism and blogging changed us.  We may not write as often.  We see the same battles, the same ignorance and we see the same propaganda.  We see over and over how the billion dollar adoption industry silences the adoptee.  In many ways we are seen as the commodity - the one they made their money on... today adoptees are still in the SILENT MAJORITY.

In many states in the United States, adoptees still cannot request their original birth certificate (OBC) or their sealed adoption files. See what states have access in 2016 HERE.

For the past 7+ years doing this blog, I saw that other adoptee blogs were firing up fighting this, as more and more adoptees found their voice. 

And they voiced their anger.  And their disappointment.

And they told their stories of reunions with their first families, or if they were not able to meet their mom or dad, because they were too late, because their parent had already died.

Why?  These adoption laws are archaic and ridiculous. They were written to protect the people who adopted us.

I have talked to adoptees about the anguish of not knowing who they are. And some tell me about reunions that started great and went silent.  (If you don't live close to your relatives, travel and jobs can make reunions very difficult to keep going.)

Adoptees know we have two families to find, our mother and our father's people. We may find one side and go into reunion, after we open our adoption records. The other side of our family might wait years to be found.

I was telling my friend Maggie yesterday that I have not met my two half-sisters on my mother's side.

So I am still an adoption warrior but not as vocal as I had been when I started this blog.  It's time for others to FIND THEIR VOICE and write their truths and BLOG too.

If you are an adoptee and you have a blog and you are writing about adoption, please leave a comment here (below.) Tell us the blog address so we can read you and support you.

We have a long way to go... The Indian Adoption Projects took thousands of us... and many adoptees still need to find our way home.

FREE REPORT #60sScoop

Intergenerational Trauma: Understanding Natives’ Inherited Pain

Download our free report, Intergenerational Trauma: Understanding Natives’ Inherited Pain, to understand this fascinating concept.
Download Today!

Adoptees Seeking Redress: Canada Confronts #60sScoop

Many of the now-grown, 20,000 indigenous children ripped from their families during the Canadian government's Sixties Scoop want redress for their loss of cultural identity.

READ: Adoptees Seeking Redress: Canada Confronts the Sixties Scoop - Indian Country Media Network

IN THE VEINS | Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects Book Series Vol. 4 #NoDAPL

Blue Hand Books,

442 Main St. #1061

Greenfield, MA 01301

bluehandcollective@outlook.com

(413) 258-0115

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Indigenous Native Poetry collection IN THE VEINS gives power to words

Greenfield, Massachusetts [2017]  --  “These poet’s words jumped off the page and made their way under my skin, into the chambers of my heart,”  said Editor Patricia Busbee (Cherokee) who has edited the new Native prose and poetry book, IN THE VEINS  (Vol. 4,  ISBN: 978-0692832646, Publisher: Blue Hand Books, Massachusetts). 

“It’s a transformative collection of poetry, truly Medicine for the Soul,” Busbee said, who has contributed poetry and prose to this collection and is Poetry Editor for Blue Hand Books.  “I thought about the iron infused blood that flows thru our veins and how our bones, blood and skeletal systems house our history, our stories and our ancestors.”

“Reading these poems I recognized how poetry affects all generations and how it bypasses our cautious minds and relates to us on an intimate soul level. Poetry is a vehicle that transports us from the outer world to the inner,” Busbee said.  Twenty-eight poets from across Turtle Island contributed, including First Nations poet David Groulx (Anishinabe Elliott Lake), Assiniboine playwright William Yellow Robe, Ojibwe scholar Dr. Carol A. Hand who wrote an introduction, notable poet MariJo Moore (Cherokee), and many more.

“These poets come to us from across Turtle Island.  Some are very well-known, even famous, and many will be in the future,” Busbee said.  “Their poetry offers exquisite interpretation of life and story, personal perceptions, and their views on issues of historical trauma, land-taking, loss of identity and culture, and child theft/adoption projects in the name of Manifest Destiny in North America.” 

This highly-anticipated collection is part of a history-making book series Lost Children of the Indian Adoption Projects.  This series includes TWO WORLDS (Vol. 1), CALLED HOME: The Road Map (Vol. 2), and STOLEN GENERATIONS: Survivors of the Indian Adoption Projects and 60s Scoop (Vol. 3).  IN THE VEINS (Vol. 4) will share part of its proceeds with Standing Rock Water Protectors.  All books were published by the Blue Hand Books in Massachusetts, a collective of Native American authors.

Blue Hand Books founder Trace Lara Hentz, Busbee’s friend and co-editor on the book series, has also contributed to this collection. “These word warriors take us with them to the outer reaches of Indian identity and history.  Reading could not be more powerful,”  Hentz said, adding that she recommends the entire book series and hopes to reach new readers, both Indian and non-Indian.  

“These poems do make clear that words do have power, word by word by word… With the current political climate, we need good thoughts as we all are standing with the Standing Rock Water Protectors to end the Black Snake and Dakota Access Pipe Line.” [www.bluehandbooks.org]

ABOUT THE EDITOR:

Patricia Busbee is a writer, author, editor, devotee of outsider art and poetry. She is also a soup maker and bread baker. She believes that nourishment is found not only in food but in stories. Patricia is a strong believer in blood memory. She can be found in her kitchen cooking for her family—both the living and the deceased or in her too small office that is over-run with geriatric cats and hand crafted altars, writing about family dynamics, multiculturalism, adoption, ancestry or whatever else is clamoring for her attention. Most likely she is scrolling thru her Twitter feed pretending to be busy. She enjoys adding poetry, proverbs, folklore, recipes and snippets of conversations to her work. Her heart's desire is to write a magical realism novel in 2017.  She is the co-editor of Two Worlds, Called Home: The RoadMap and editor of IN THE VEINS.  Her noir-fiction “Remedies” was published in 2013. Her website: singingthemoon.me

IN THE VEINS contributors and their poems:

Reflections about Veins by Dr. Carol A. Hand (Introduction)

Red by Tanajsia Slaughter

Dance of the Soul | Indian on the Milk-Box | Somewhere by Janelle Black Owl

Tante by Jen Edwards

She Speaks with Crows by Evelyn Red Lodge (Tipi Luta Win)

Go Child by Rez Chick

god’s river by Billy-Ray Belcourt

Residential School Orphans by David Groulx

After Sneaky | SENDING WORDS | Whiteness makes me more....by William S. Yellow Robe, Jr.

You, Seeing Me See You | We Walk Our Way by Dr. Raeschelle Potter-Deimel

When a trickle… becomes a river…then a flood | find home | sum of our ancestors by Trace L. Hentz (Winyan Ohmanisa Waste LaKe)

River In The Blood | Women's Work by Terra Trevor

Open-Heart Breeze, Then Rock by Anecia Tretikoff (Alutiiq)

Everyone Needs Someone by MariJo Moore

The Shallow Place | The Red-Headed-Bastard At The Family Reunion | A Visual Prophesy by Patricia Busbee

Rebellious Child | With You | When I found Ophelia by Crystal Dawn Draffen

Untitled 1 | Untitled 2 | Memorial Service by Andi Hill

Mother of Nations | The Penance of Genocide | NO EUCHARIST FOR GENOCIDE by Dr. Dawn Karima

Final Score | Perfect Son | SplitFeathers by Drew RedBear Rutledge

Ties That Bind | Living Apart | Here I Lay by Samantha Franklin

Josie and Mickey 1928 by Suzannne Z. Murphy

Truth | Our People by Sharon Euleen Bankhead Lammers

Who's Face Do I Carry | My Story by Tara Dawn

Reserve by Lance Guilbault

Who granted you this power? By Karen Belanger

Anxiety Dreams by Jagade

Haiku by Elizabeth Miyu Blake

Come Home by Judi Armbruster

###

ISBN: 978-0692832646 (Blue Hand Books)

Paperback $9.99   Kindle ebook $3.96

IN THE VEINS: Poetry (Book 4)

###

Blue Hand Books Collective is a small Native American-owned publishing company based in western New England.  Website: www.bluehandcollective.com or  www.bluehandbooks.org

Media Contact: Trace Hentz, Greenfield, Massachusetts, bluehandcollective@outlook.com

see book preview in sidebar on this blog

CLICK: Blue Hand Books Collective

2017 National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network Gathering #60sScoop

2017 National Indigenous Survivors of Child Welfare Network Gathering

Save the dates!! Mark your calendars!!

When: September 28, 29, 30 and Oct 1st, 2017

Where: Waupoos Farm, Ottawa ON

Four days of  ceremony, cultural teachings, learning, sharing, support and friendship in a fun, safe, supportive environment.

For ’60s scoop’ Indigenous adoptees , foster care survivors and their families

 More information to come soon!!!

New: ICWA Guide for Tribal Governments and Leaders

SOURCE

February 1, 2017

New from the Capacity Building Center for Tribes: ICWA Guide for Tribal Governments and Leaders. Available here

Our Children, Our Sovereignty, Our Culture, Our Choice
A word from the authors: Our tribes are threatened by the removal of our youngest and most vulnerable members, our children. As leaders we want to make informed decisions to protect the future of our tribe, our culture, our children and families. Historically, we have seen state and federal programs compromise our dignity and culture by breaking up our families and tribes. Even today we hear of unwarranted removal of our Indian children and the attempts to keep them separated from their culture and tribal identity. The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), when complied with, can help prevent these unwarranted removals and ensure Indian children are kept safe while remaining with their families. The purpose of this Guide is to recommend actions that tribal leadership can take towards ensuring compliance with ICWA.
The recommendations that appear in this guide were made by Tribal Court judges, Tribal attorneys, Tribal educators who train on ICWA, Tribal legislators, a former Tribal Governor/Social Services Director, Counsel for the County (who was also a Tribal member), and Directors of Social Services for Tribal child welfare programs. It is important to note that these are recommendations, not mandates, made by individuals who work in various arenas in child welfare.

Indian Child Welfare Court in Duluth aims for better outcomes for Native American families

READ: Indian Child Welfare Court in Duluth aims for better outcomes for Native American families | Duluth News Tribune

‘Share Your OCS Story’ | First Meeting held in Wasilla #ICWA

• BY MARY LOCKMAN
• Jan 27, 2017

WASILLA — The first of a handful of “Share Your OCS Story” meetings hosted by Alaska House Representative Tammie Wilson, of North Pole, was held at the Mat-Su Legislative Offices in Wasilla on Saturday.

Wilson said the six meetings, which are being held throughout the state, are a way of documenting people’s experiences with the Alaska Office of Children’s Services (OCS) for the Alaska State Legislature and the Governor’s office.

Wilson said the meetings are follow-ups on previous work her office has done in trying to address what some see as systemic problems with OCS. She said her office had previously documented more than 100 cases with gaps in proper documentation that occurred during family reunification efforts.

“I started this panel, I figure the best way to go is I ask parents if they want a public setting to be able to share their stories,” Wilson said, “That way we could then share with the legislature and governor and anyone else who could help us get this straightened out.”

Wilson said she’s concerned that family reunification efforts fall short, especially when compared to foster and adoption efforts, once children are in the system.

Twenty-two people showed up at the Saturday meeting, and shared stories of following case plans and doing everything necessary to get their kids back, only to have items indefinitely added to their case plans before they could see their children again. Others said they were shuttled through a revolving door of high-turnover caseworkers, who missed doing their part to provide needed pieces for reunification.

Former state legislator Lynn Gattis of Wasilla also testified at the meeting.

“I as a legislator, I got call after call after call,” Gattis said. “They don’t’ know where else to go. They call us. They cry. Many times I’ve had grandparents who wanted to be involved, where they weren’t being challenged. And no one called them back.”

Wilson said she understands it can be difficult for people to come forward and talk about their experiences with OCS; some might be afraid that speaking out could affect their own cases, and for others, it may just be difficult to speak about something painful in a public forum.

But she hopes the meetings across the state will shed some light on the experiences that Alaskans have had with the office, and that documenting what works and what doesn’t might lead to solutions.

One of those solutions may already be forthcoming.

Currently, Alaska Native children have stronger protections in place that prevent them from being adopted out to non-family members when a safe home with a relative is available. Those laws also require consultation with tribes.

That’s because they have federal protections under the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Wilson said she thinks all Alaskan families should have more the more stringent protections required by ICWA, with family members such as grandparents having to be consulted before a child is fostered or adopted outside of the family.

To that end, she said, she’s co-sponsored House Bill 10, short title, “Child In Need of Aid/Protection; Duties.”

Gabrielle LeDoux of Anchorage and George Rauscher of Sutton are co-sponsors on the bill.

“What it does, is change everything to the ICWA standard,” Wilson said. “They have to have active participation, make sure the parents do have the resources necessary to get children back, and a higher standard making sure the family is contacted in putting them in a home with the family.”

The Office of Children’s Services did not immediately return comment for this story.

A “Share Your OCS Story” meeting was held in Juneau on Thursday, and another is scheduled to be held in Kenai on Saturday. For more information about the meetings, call Rep. Wilson’s office at 907-465-4797.

Fletcher Commentaries on “The New Trail of Tears”

For Rep. Bishop: Repost of Fletcher Commentaries on “The New Trail of Tears”

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

• The first commentary, “Framed by a Friend,” is here.
• The second commentary, “Turning Indian History against Indians,” is here.
• The third commentary, “Indians are Saudi Arabia, Not Israel (Oh, and Crying Toddlers)” is here.
• The fourth commentary, “”Indians as Unmotivated, Dependent Victims” is here.
• Monte Mills’ guest commentary is here.
• The fifth commentary: “Tearing Down American Indian Educators and Parents” is here.
• Commentary on NSR’s DAPL column is here.
• The final commentary: “Repeating the Mistakes of the Past in ‘The New Trail of Tears,’” published in the LA Review of Books, is here.

Don’t forget Kelli Mosteller’s response to NSR in the Atlantic.

Native Americans expect nothing good from Trump...read more at blog https://t.co/PPShGrS0pp pic.twitter.com/yzNMOSp8XB

— http:LaraTraceHentz (@Trace15) January 27, 2017

America First? How About First Americans First? - Native News Online https://t.co/KmmRpsINq7

— http:LaraTraceHentz (@Trace15) January 29, 2017

Voice from the Margins

Reflections about Roots and Resistance

The goal that inspires me to act is the possibility of building bridges of understanding and healing rather than reifying walls of conflict and division. This path, demonstrated by Ogema’s example, has enabled the Ojibwe people and many other oppressed groups to survive despite the power of destructive storms.


PLEASE READ: Reflections about Roots and Resistance | Voices from the Margins

Dr. Carol A. Hand (Ojibwe) is a friend and an elder. Please read her wise words... Trace

American Psychological Association Weighs in on Trump’s Memorandum on DAPL

Yankton Sioux Tribe Chairman Asks President Trump to Release All Correspondence Relating to… https://t.co/DuJBblybAS pic.twitter.com/GeSWZ5HyER

— NativeNewsOnline (@Native_NewsNet) January 27, 2017




by Levi Rickert / Currents / 28 Jan 2017

Published January 29, 2017

WASHINGTON — Longtime activist Winona LaDuke says the actions to ignore the wishes of water protectors at Standing Rock in North Dakota seek to dehumanize American Indians.

The American Psychological Association weighed in this past week after President Trump’s issuance of a presidential memorandum regarding construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline with this statement:

“The American Psychological Association is concerned by President Trump’s apparent attempt to clear the way for the Dakota Access Pipeline to move forward as originally planned, which threatens the welfare of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

“Native Americans have been historically marginalized and mistreated by the United States. Research has linked historical trauma to health disparities, including increased likelihood of early death due to substance abuse, unintentional injuries, assault, homicide and suicide.

“APA urges the Army Corps of Engineers to continue to search for alternative routes for the oil pipeline that do not endanger the water supply, sacred burial grounds and treaty rights of the Standing Rock Sioux. It is critical for the corps to consult with the tribe in this process, as stipulated in the December 16 memorandum by the assistant secretary of the Army for civil works that halted construction on the pipeline project pending further review.

“This pipeline affects not only Native American citizens but millions of American citizens downstream, who are at risk of suffering the effects of possible exposure to toxic oil spills and dealing with harm to the environment. 

“Given our skills as psychologists, we stand ready to participate in constructive problem resolution, as well as provide support for those who were and remain in harm’s way — physically, psychologically and spiritually.

“We ask that the new administration not repeat the mistakes of the past, and that it respect the sovereignty, welfare and culture of our native peoples.”

Indigenous Women Rise: Women’s March on Washington https://t.co/SLzOa0qLeV pic.twitter.com/3FnSLGH6uK

— NativeNewsOnline (@Native_NewsNet) January 24, 2017

Genocide of the American Indians was the worst ethnic cleansing in history

By John Robles

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An elder with the Mi'kmaq Nation, Dr. Daniel Paul, spoke with the VoR and revealed some of the true yet hidden history of the American Indian people, few of whom remain after the worst genocide in the history of all mankind. The Indians of the Americas practiced Democracy for centuries before the Europeans invaded and even the US Constitution was written based on Indian principles. The Indian people were a peaceful people who lived lives based on honor, mutual respect and reverence for the land.

In the third and final part of an interview with Indian Historian and Mik’maq elder Dr. Daniel Paul, the discussion continues regarding the genocide of the American indigenous peoples. Dr. Paul discusses the disingenuous “apology” (in 2012) by the US Government which was attached to a Defense Bill, the continued suppression of the real history of North America in the school systems of the continent and the continued institutionalized racism Native Americans face.

PART 1: Democracy existed in the Americas long before the Europeans invaded – Mi’kmaq Elder
PART 2: Indians were classified as wild animals – exclusive interview

Could a society that was based and started in that way, ever be called democratic or free or fair?
All these societies in Americas, with very few exceptions, were built on genocide. A lot of the indigenous people were wiped out. Some people with the estimate for the Caribbean Taíno people, for instance, as being somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-10 million when Columbus landed. Within 50 years they were practically extinct. When you look at the overall total, it is almost unbelievable, and they talk about barbarism and people don’t discuss it too often but the Spaniards used human flesh to feed dogs. And scalp proclamations were one of the favorite things of the English here in the Americas, putting a price on the heads of men, women and children. And then the spreading the smallpox was another thing they used quite liberally in trying to eliminate populations. And then simple starvation, after they destroyed most of the food sources of the indigenous people and trading patterns, the people lived in a state of malnutrition and many were starving to death, and when you get to that state, even a common cold can be fatal to you. So, our population in the Americas was reduced, I would say, almost by 90% by time it was all over. And even in this day and age the Nigma, for instance, in Nova Scotia were down to 1,400 in 1850 and that stayed around the same until the 1940s, and then the Canadian government began to get a little bit of a conscience, or what have you, and started improving health services and food rations and so forth and so on. And today our population is up to about 25,000 now. We’re slowly mature in making the comeback.

How are the other tribes ferrying in Canada and up to the United States?
The United States has owned up to the atrocities that went on there, there’s an apology I believe, that was issued by the Congress in 2010 but as what I call a silent apology. It was never broadcast around the world or anything like that and it was part of a defense Procurement Bill that went through the Congress. But when you are looking at the overall thing, that is not what we need to be done in these countries. What we have to see is they change curriculums and began to place in those school curriculums, the real history of the peoples that were here before the Europeans invaded. And I don’t call it discovery, I call it invasion. It was an invasion by people that were superiorly armed and they brought their wars to the Americas. The French and British were fighting almost constantly on this side of the water, at the same time fighting constantly on the European soil. So, they didn’t bring peace and prosperity to the indigenous people in the Americas – we already had that. And we all had good standards of living and some people like to believe that all our ancestors were standing along the shores of the Americas, cheering on the Europeans for coming over and saving them and civilizing them and so forth and so on, which is a pile of bull.

You mentioned the Taíno people, I’m part Taíno Indian myself, why are groups such as Taíno listed as being extinct when actually some peoples exist?
What’s happened here is, there are probably even some people with Sundiata blood in them. But when you can’t find a member of a tribe that is full-blooded, that is the point where you would call that tribe extinct in the sense that they are no longer with us in that sense, the Biatok’s were wiped out. I believe there may be a few people around with some Biatok blood in them but they didn’t live in the traditional way or what have you.

Can you describe a little bit the present state of the tribes in Canada and the United States?
We live under the state of systemic racism. In the United States and Canada you can’t have open discrimination against us anymore such as they had 30-40 years ago but we are still not viewed as equals in these societies and we are not treated as equals, and we are still seen by the vast majority of the people here, because of lack the lack of education, as people that came from barbarous tribes, savage tribes and not as people who came from civilized a community. So, until we can overcome that kind of perception and like I said before change curriculums in schools and begin to teach the truth, we still got a long way to go before we are treated as people who have come from civilization that had every right to continue to exist and prosper in this world, and stop demeaning our people in the sense that we were never a civilized people, where in fact, we were. And how to get that information out? It is slowly happening, it is going to take a long time and at the rate we’re going, I think we’ll be at it for a couple of centuries before we really make that final step. And one of the biggest steps has to be acceptance by Europeans that the genocide of the American Indians, the indigenous people of the Americas was probably one of the worst mass ethnic cleansings that this world has ever known and begin to make that part of history lessons, so forth and so on. There were great civilizations on this side of the water, there were rural civilizations, hunter-gather civilizations, there were city dwellers and what have you, and all these. And how many people in Americas or around the world know that fact? Very few. And the reason that they don’t know is because it’s not taught.

By the ancestors of the people who committed genocide on them.
Thank you very much. I really appreciate you speaking with me.

Losing Ellowyn

By Trace Hentz (Blog Editor)

Back in December I lost Oglala relative Ellowyn Locke, age 68.  Lost in the way that I can't go visit her in Porcupine on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota or call her on the phone.  I can only visit her in dreams.  I can reread her letters.  Her artist brother Merle told me I can bring a red rose to her grave then I will feel better.

I am not doing well at all, grieving the most important friend I ever had.

Yes, I have memories, her teaching me, teasing me, photos and all the stories. I also have many gifts she made me.  My ONE SMALL SACRIFICE book cover has the family beadwork Ellowyn sewed on the doll she gifted me.

Years ago, I bought a hand bag that had Hopi dancers on a bright turquoise fabric to give to Ellowyn.  I made the mistake of taking the purse when we went to visit Sara Thunder Hawk.  Of course Sara really admired the purse and I knew I should give it to her, but I already planned to give to Ellowyn. I felt so horrible I couldn't give it to Sara.  I had brought gifts for Sara but I knew that purse was what she wanted.  I prayed and prayed Sara would forgive me!  That was my learning experience.  Imagine the most precious thing you own - like a ring.  Could you give it up?  If a Lakota elder likes it, you give it to them.  That is what we do... Material objects are never as important as giving.  I could never refuse a gift either, like when Ellowyn gave me moccasins, even though they were too big.  It would hurt her deeply if I refused them.  I learned to bring a load of gifts every time I went to see my relatives and my car would be full when I left to go back home.

In 2015, I couldn't reach her by phone and panicked. Ellowyn had been taken to a rehab facility after breaking her ankle.  By 2016, she was the longest living dialysis patient on their rez - over 10 long years.  I have photos of her on dialysis in Wounded Knee from an earlier trip (top photo).  My relative had the will to live but her body was getting weak.  She said repeatedly she would accept a new kidney if the donor was living but that wasn't likely to happen.  That call never came.

On the phone in 2016, I told her I was not ready for her to die. That was selfish of me, I know.  I felt bad when I said it.  Like a big sister, she talked to me about all the fun we had... all the years and stories.. so she comforted me!

Here's a story I wrote about her life in 2007... here

I call Ellowyn Strong Walking Woman, Winyan Washaka Mani.  She is very strong and cares deeply for her family, her relatives and her tribe.

Ellowyn taught me the most important thing I know, which is Mitakuye Oyasin, which translates to we are all related, and relatives.

Pilamaye, thank you for letting me speak about family. I thank my relative Ellowyn for naming me and for making me her relative.

I thank you all for reading this blog American Indian Adoptees. AHO!

ICWA WATCH: Minnesota

Minnesota pledges $400K to reduce number of Native American kids in foster care

By Brandon Stahl, Minneapolis Star Tribune Today

With the number of Native American children in Minnesota foster care reaching "unacceptable" levels, the state pledged this week to spend $400,000 over the next three years to reduce those numbers.

The announcement comes after a Star Tribune report found that Minnesota has more Native American children in foster care than any other state, including those with significantly larger Native American populations. Less than 2 percent of children in Minnesota are Native American, but they make up nearly a quarter of the state's foster care population — a disparity that is more than double the next-highest state.

"This disparity in outcomes for Minnesota children is unacceptable," Minnesota Department of Human Services Commissioner Emily Johnson Piper said in a statement Thursday.

Once taken from their families, Native American children generally fare worse than other children, according to a Star Tribune analysis. They stay longer in foster care, move among more homes and cycle more often between foster care and their birth families. Children who turn 18 while in foster care and "age out" of the system are less likely to graduate from college and find a job. One in four will suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. One in five will become homeless.

DHS and the University of Minnesota Duluth teamed up to create a pilot project that in the first year will research the causes of why so many Native American children are being removed from their homes in St. Louis County, said Jim Koppel, assistant commissioner for Children and Family Services for DHS.

Using those lessons, the second year will see the university and DHS implement training for child protection workers to better respond to Native American families, and the third year will be spent measuring those results.

Koppel said a similar program implemented from 2000-2010 saw a significant reduction in the percentage of black children placed into foster care.

Last month the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded a five-year grant to UMD worth more than $2 million to create a better delivery system for the Indian Child Welfare Act, a federal law meant to keep Native American kids with Native American families.

UMD's Center for Regional and Tribal Welfare at UMD will lead the work and partner with Duluth's 6th Judicial District, St. Louis County Public Health and Human Services, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Leech Lake Tribal Court and both the Fond du Lac and Grand Portage bands of Lake Superior Chippewa.

The Duluth News Tribune contributed to this report.

[[[Editor's note: When I was doing research for my book One Small Sacrifice, the people who brought testimony to Congress recited similar figures. Little has changed. Minnesota is where I was born... and I still have no original birth certificate... Trace]]]