25 November 2008
Bureau of Brady Braves Announcement ...
heya, brady braves ... as has been apparent lately, bloggin' from the bbb (i.e., bureau of brady braves) staff is rather slow and looks to be that way through december ... but very good news is that the bureau proudly welcomes a new 8-lb-9-oz brady bravin' baby boy ... take good care, (and appreciate the sleep you're receiving) ...
06 November 2008
Todd Palin to Blame ...
Bobby NewBuffalo here with psychoanlaytical spin ... heya, bloggers and bloggees and blogospherans ... a few random highlights, or lowlights, to report from our staff's election night channel surfing (amid the limited dozen channels on the bureau of brady braves' basic cable):
kudos to CSPAN2 for carrying canadian broadcasting corporation's election coverage ... (notice how important u.s. prez election is worldwide but how insignificant other nations' and countries' changes of leadership are in the u.s.? americans asking, "who's stephen harper?")
kudos to CSPAN for enduring call-in comments like those from a female in Florida who said, "I'm White, but this [election] ain't about race" (yes, she said this with seriousness) and who gave props "to the Blacks" for Obama's win but then advised African Americans thus: "don't run with the ball" (i.e., don't go get a swelled head of hubris) ... and so, it's as if Whites "gave" this Obama victory to Blacks but that they better recognize that ... talking of inferior/superiority complexes?
Brian Williams of NBC news gushing over Obama-as-prez-elect, adding on air that Obama is "astonishing" ... Meredith Viera of NBC Today gushing as well ...
kudos to CSPAN for enduring a call from Pennsylvanian who says she voted for "Governor McCain" (governor?!) and that she thinks Obama supporters are "insane" for voting in a "Muslim" and a friend of "terrorists" ... (i didn't realize Obama and Prez Bush are friends ... new news ...)
Williams and Viera still gushing ... Williams says, "astonishing" again ...
i'm questioning why the CSPAN host didn't question the New York caller who identified as a democrat and said he and his family voted for McCain because a democract prez AND a democrat congress is too much power for one party to have! (or maybe a non-White prez is too much non-White for those New Yorkers?)
no new news about Williams and Viera other than their faces freezing with giddiness ...
hey, Obama mentioned "Native Americans" in his victory speech ...
award for most bizarre phrase of the night: to Tom Brokaw who called Obama the first "postmodern president" ... any pomo theorists having a field day with that one?
as to the question of why the Republican party lost, folks from NBC to WGN to CSPAN and beyond have their theories ... but no one's pointing out the obvious: if, as this brady bravin' blog claims, all the world's a cherokee, then blame todd palin for being of yup'ik heritage (or does he actually say he is yup'ik?) ... we all know bill clinton has went on cherokee charades and look where it got him: the white house ... ergo, if palin had claimed cherokee-ness, he'd have pushed mccain and gov palin onto victory with the strong support of a world of cherokees* ...
*theoretical exception: Obama became Crowbama after being adopted into Crow Nation ... all the world ain't a crow, yet Obama is prez-elect ... strange occurrence ... so strange, in fact, that perhaps he is a postmodern president ...
kudos to CSPAN2 for carrying canadian broadcasting corporation's election coverage ... (notice how important u.s. prez election is worldwide but how insignificant other nations' and countries' changes of leadership are in the u.s.? americans asking, "who's stephen harper?")
kudos to CSPAN for enduring call-in comments like those from a female in Florida who said, "I'm White, but this [election] ain't about race" (yes, she said this with seriousness) and who gave props "to the Blacks" for Obama's win but then advised African Americans thus: "don't run with the ball" (i.e., don't go get a swelled head of hubris) ... and so, it's as if Whites "gave" this Obama victory to Blacks but that they better recognize that ... talking of inferior/superiority complexes?
Brian Williams of NBC news gushing over Obama-as-prez-elect, adding on air that Obama is "astonishing" ... Meredith Viera of NBC Today gushing as well ...
kudos to CSPAN for enduring a call from Pennsylvanian who says she voted for "Governor McCain" (governor?!) and that she thinks Obama supporters are "insane" for voting in a "Muslim" and a friend of "terrorists" ... (i didn't realize Obama and Prez Bush are friends ... new news ...)
Williams and Viera still gushing ... Williams says, "astonishing" again ...
i'm questioning why the CSPAN host didn't question the New York caller who identified as a democrat and said he and his family voted for McCain because a democract prez AND a democrat congress is too much power for one party to have! (or maybe a non-White prez is too much non-White for those New Yorkers?)
no new news about Williams and Viera other than their faces freezing with giddiness ...
hey, Obama mentioned "Native Americans" in his victory speech ...
award for most bizarre phrase of the night: to Tom Brokaw who called Obama the first "postmodern president" ... any pomo theorists having a field day with that one?
as to the question of why the Republican party lost, folks from NBC to WGN to CSPAN and beyond have their theories ... but no one's pointing out the obvious: if, as this brady bravin' blog claims, all the world's a cherokee, then blame todd palin for being of yup'ik heritage (or does he actually say he is yup'ik?) ... we all know bill clinton has went on cherokee charades and look where it got him: the white house ... ergo, if palin had claimed cherokee-ness, he'd have pushed mccain and gov palin onto victory with the strong support of a world of cherokees* ...
*theoretical exception: Obama became Crowbama after being adopted into Crow Nation ... all the world ain't a crow, yet Obama is prez-elect ... strange occurrence ... so strange, in fact, that perhaps he is a postmodern president ...
28 October 2008
attn: Comanches in Bronte, Texas
on this day in 1852: Fort Chadbourne became official in western Texas "to protect the local settlers and the Butterfield Stage from the local Comanche" ... near present-day Bronte, 'bout 30 miles from San Angelo and 1/2 mile from the nearest out-of-business Dairy Queen ... according to 2000 census, 0.19% of Bronte's 1,076 citizens is Native ... so, 
a special brady bravin' "heya" to that partial person and his dog ... perhaps a Comanche and his sarii/dog who didn't get the memo 'bout heading north? ...
and for those in Bronte and elsewhere with internet access, you gotta check out the new pro-Obama Ron Howard video, starring Opie, Andy, Richie the C, and The Fonz, at http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d ...
a special brady bravin' "heya" to that partial person and his dog ... perhaps a Comanche and his sarii/dog who didn't get the memo 'bout heading north? ...and for those in Bronte and elsewhere with internet access, you gotta check out the new pro-Obama Ron Howard video, starring Opie, Andy, Richie the C, and The Fonz, at http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d ...
10 October 2008
Sailing with 1492 Sales at Old Navy
heya, brady braves ... here at the bureau, we have recently discovered a place that sells clothes and clothing accessories--it's something called "old navy," but we can change that (as goes with colonizer naming) ... for since we have discovered it, we lay claim to it in the name of patriarchal leader mike "big eagle of large nest" brady ... hence forth, we proudly take ownership as allowed to us through the doctrine of discovery*
*special thanks to christopher columbus, the american discoverer, who helped to facilitate this colonizing takeover ... his name was recently evoked in an old navy promotion for celebrating columbus day and 1492 (aka columbus' inaugural year for soon-to-be enslaving and killing) by choosing from 1,492 items under $14.92! old navy celebrated a bit prematurely as the sale was last weekend, even though Stolen Land Day, er, Columbus Day ain't until october 13 this year ...
btw, Glamour.com's daily style blog promoted the sale in its story "Party Like its 1492 at Old Navy this [past] Weekend" ... the blog is called "Slaves to Fashion," but you'd think the author Tracey Lomrantz could have gotten more creative by briefly calling it "Slaves to Columbus" ... unlike Ms. Lomrantz, some Indigenous Peoples can probably relate to this "1492 party" ...
*special thanks to christopher columbus, the american discoverer, who helped to facilitate this colonizing takeover ... his name was recently evoked in an old navy promotion for celebrating columbus day and 1492 (aka columbus' inaugural year for soon-to-be enslaving and killing) by choosing from 1,492 items under $14.92! old navy celebrated a bit prematurely as the sale was last weekend, even though Stolen Land Day, er, Columbus Day ain't until october 13 this year ...
btw, Glamour.com's daily style blog promoted the sale in its story "Party Like its 1492 at Old Navy this [past] Weekend" ... the blog is called "Slaves to Fashion," but you'd think the author Tracey Lomrantz could have gotten more creative by briefly calling it "Slaves to Columbus" ... unlike Ms. Lomrantz, some Indigenous Peoples can probably relate to this "1492 party" ...
25 September 2008
Heya Silver: It's Tonto Scissorhands ...
heya, brady braves ... reports coming in that johnny depp, one of the bureau's favs in hollywood, is set to play jack sparrow again in pirates 4 and the mad hatter in a tim burton version of alice in wonderland ... but check this out, courtesy of MTV in the UK:
"Mr. Depp has signed up for a big screen adaptation of The Lone Ranger that will be produced by Pirates producer Jerry
Bruckheimer. Alas, 
Johnny won’t be rocking a white cowboy hat, he’s set for the role of trusty sidekick Tonto. Depp’s grandmother was a full blooded Cherokee and Johnny’s embraced his native American roots before in his self directed movie The Brave."
besides offering us further support for our theory (that all the world's, indeed, a cherokee), the report reminds us of one of the much stronger films in the '90s: jim jarmusch's dead man (surely, you weren't thinking dances with wolves), starring depp as white character William Blake and Cayuga actor gary farmer as the indigenous Nobody ... perhaps farmer will re-appear as a pseudo-lone ranger in whitefaced disguise and take out the subservient tonto once and for all? or perhaps this big-screen take, which i hear may be an origin story [as solid as the origin story in batman begins?], will re-envision the lone ranger-tonto relationship through a decolonial framework? oh wait ... nevermind--it's being overseen by Walt Disney Studios ...
"Mr. Depp has signed up for a big screen adaptation of The Lone Ranger that will be produced by Pirates producer Jerry
Bruckheimer. Alas, 
Johnny won’t be rocking a white cowboy hat, he’s set for the role of trusty sidekick Tonto. Depp’s grandmother was a full blooded Cherokee and Johnny’s embraced his native American roots before in his self directed movie The Brave."besides offering us further support for our theory (that all the world's, indeed, a cherokee), the report reminds us of one of the much stronger films in the '90s: jim jarmusch's dead man (surely, you weren't thinking dances with wolves), starring depp as white character William Blake and Cayuga actor gary farmer as the indigenous Nobody ... perhaps farmer will re-appear as a pseudo-lone ranger in whitefaced disguise and take out the subservient tonto once and for all? or perhaps this big-screen take, which i hear may be an origin story [as solid as the origin story in batman begins?], will re-envision the lone ranger-tonto relationship through a decolonial framework? oh wait ... nevermind--it's being overseen by Walt Disney Studios ...
23 September 2008
Ura, Judge DeGiusti
heya, brady braves ... following up from a previous posting ... here's good news from comanche country: "A federal judge today sided with the Comanche Nation and ordered the U.S. Army to stop construction near a sacred site in Oklahoma." the article at http://indianz.com/News/2008/010989.asp continues:
"In a 34-page decision [which can be accessed here, Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti said the tribe demonstrated that it will be harmed by a $7.3 million warehouse at the foot of Medicine Bluffs in Fort Sill. He said the U.S. Army failed to consider alternatives that would not obstruct ceremonies at the site, a place of immense healing and spiritual medicine for the Comanche people.
"The construction of a permanent structure on a site considered sacred by the Comanche people, and the substantial burden the presence of the structure would impose on their traditional religious practices as detailed ... would constitute irreparable harm," DeGiusti wrote.
The permanent injunction, which can be appealed, will stay in place until the case is resolved. The tribe alleges violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.
DeGiusti said the tribe demonstrated a "substantial likelihood of success" on the merits of the case, so the injunction represents a big victory. Tribal leaders say they weren't properly consulted by the U.S. Army about the construction.
"As a Comanche man, Medicine Bluffs is the spiritual center of my religious beliefs and the heart of the current Comanche Nation," Jimmy Arterberry, a tribal member, said in a court declaration. "The Medicine Bluffs site is an extremely important sacred place to me as a Comanche man."
Arterberry told the court that the warehouse, if constructed, would prevent him from viewing Medicine Bluffs as he prays and conducts ceremonies. DeGiusti noted that the construction site is the last remaining place with an "unobstructed view" of Medicine Bluffs.
The U.S. Army calls the warehouse "essential" to the future at Fort Sill, which will be seeing an influx of activity in the coming years. Due to base closures across the nation, Fort Sill will be training more and more soldiers for military operations around the world.
"The United States is now at war," the Department of Justice said in court papers. "Training is the top priority of the Army. It is the cornerstone of combat readiness. Training is what Fort Sill does."
But DeGiusti said the record, so far, is "utterly devoid" of evidence that the U.S. Army considered a different location for the warehouse that would be less intrusive on the tribe. He noted that the timing of decisions affecting construction indicated the tribe's objections were never considered.
The 94,000-acre Fort Sill was built during the Indian wars of the late 1800s. It is a National Historic Landmark and Medicine Bluffs was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974."
"In a 34-page decision [which can be accessed here, Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti said the tribe demonstrated that it will be harmed by a $7.3 million warehouse at the foot of Medicine Bluffs in Fort Sill. He said the U.S. Army failed to consider alternatives that would not obstruct ceremonies at the site, a place of immense healing and spiritual medicine for the Comanche people.
"The construction of a permanent structure on a site considered sacred by the Comanche people, and the substantial burden the presence of the structure would impose on their traditional religious practices as detailed ... would constitute irreparable harm," DeGiusti wrote.
The permanent injunction, which can be appealed, will stay in place until the case is resolved. The tribe alleges violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the National Historic Preservation Act.
DeGiusti said the tribe demonstrated a "substantial likelihood of success" on the merits of the case, so the injunction represents a big victory. Tribal leaders say they weren't properly consulted by the U.S. Army about the construction.
"As a Comanche man, Medicine Bluffs is the spiritual center of my religious beliefs and the heart of the current Comanche Nation," Jimmy Arterberry, a tribal member, said in a court declaration. "The Medicine Bluffs site is an extremely important sacred place to me as a Comanche man."
Arterberry told the court that the warehouse, if constructed, would prevent him from viewing Medicine Bluffs as he prays and conducts ceremonies. DeGiusti noted that the construction site is the last remaining place with an "unobstructed view" of Medicine Bluffs.
The U.S. Army calls the warehouse "essential" to the future at Fort Sill, which will be seeing an influx of activity in the coming years. Due to base closures across the nation, Fort Sill will be training more and more soldiers for military operations around the world.
"The United States is now at war," the Department of Justice said in court papers. "Training is the top priority of the Army. It is the cornerstone of combat readiness. Training is what Fort Sill does."
But DeGiusti said the record, so far, is "utterly devoid" of evidence that the U.S. Army considered a different location for the warehouse that would be less intrusive on the tribe. He noted that the timing of decisions affecting construction indicated the tribe's objections were never considered.
The 94,000-acre Fort Sill was built during the Indian wars of the late 1800s. It is a National Historic Landmark and Medicine Bluffs was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974."
12 September 2008
Brady Bravin' on Book TV
for those of you brady braves who can’t make it to the comanche nation casino for tonight’s fights, you’re still in for mighty fine TV treats on CSPAN2 this weekend …
if'n you're having difficulty with any writing projects, then sounds like you need your BookTV ... this saturday night: ultra-conservative Pat “Build-a-Wall-Then-Build-it-Bigger” Buchanan--your close pro-Indian Country friend and mine--will share what cspan calls "insightful" thoughts about his "writing methods" … if this don't help writer's block, what will? ... and if that weren’t enough, why, buchanan’s talk will be followed by a tour of his library (only on cspan, ennit?) ... no doubt Ruth Beebe Hill and Carlos Castaneda and Chief Red Fox and Ian Frazier books will be featured …
and here’s another eye-catching talk for this weekend's Book TV: "Leslie Sanchez, Los Republicanos: Why Hispanics and Republicans Need Each Other" (Sunday 1:15 PM ET) ... "need" is such a strong word, ennit? But where’s the Indian-ized version of this talk: "Redfaced Republicans: Why More Indians than just Charles Curtis Should Assimilate and Destroy Indigenous Sovereignties" ...
if'n you're having difficulty with any writing projects, then sounds like you need your BookTV ... this saturday night: ultra-conservative Pat “Build-a-Wall-Then-Build-it-Bigger” Buchanan--your close pro-Indian Country friend and mine--will share what cspan calls "insightful" thoughts about his "writing methods" … if this don't help writer's block, what will? ... and if that weren’t enough, why, buchanan’s talk will be followed by a tour of his library (only on cspan, ennit?) ... no doubt Ruth Beebe Hill and Carlos Castaneda and Chief Red Fox and Ian Frazier books will be featured …
and here’s another eye-catching talk for this weekend's Book TV: "Leslie Sanchez, Los Republicanos: Why Hispanics and Republicans Need Each Other" (Sunday 1:15 PM ET) ... "need" is such a strong word, ennit? But where’s the Indian-ized version of this talk: "Redfaced Republicans: Why More Indians than just Charles Curtis Should Assimilate and Destroy Indigenous Sovereignties" ...
Boxing Tonight: Comanche Boy
heya to brady braves across ind'n country, especially there in lawton, where you can watch george "comanche boy" tahdooahnippah (13-0-1) in action against jonathan "the native sensation" corn (47-19-2) for the native american boxing council's super middleweight title at the comanche nation casino ... [update: congrats to Comanche Boy on becoming the NABC Super Middleweight champ!]
10 September 2008
attn: pseudo-Indian actors named "Sammy"
heya, brady braves ... google "native american sitcom" right now and here are your Top 5 hits:
5) a definition of "sitcom," along with a supposed Seneca "Native American" proverb thrown in down the page: "He who would do great things should not attempt them all alone."
4) a casting call for an indy sitcom pilot in ny with "[p]ossible pay and future roles if the pilot goes to series" ... besides looking for a "Mr Falafel: A Pakistani character destined to become the breakout star," the company's searching for a Native character: "Sammy: Sammy is a Native American chain smoker, ex-heavy drinker with a stuttering problem. Sammy enjoys chain-smoking, reminiscing about drinking red wine in unconventional manners, and stuttering" ... uplifting and inspirational, ennit? so, move over John Redcorn--here comes Sammy the Indian who "enjoys ... stuttering" and sharing stories of ("unconventional") alcoholism while smoking off-brand Marlboros? based on "Indians"-in-comedic-TV history, look for CBS to pick this one up ...
3) bronze medal goes to a 2008 article in the journal American Indian Quarterly by one of the brady bravin' leaders of this site ...
2 and 1) sherman alexie's entertainingly critical "sit-com american" interview with npr, an excerpt of which is included at the start of the aforementioned AIQ article ...
5) a definition of "sitcom," along with a supposed Seneca "Native American" proverb thrown in down the page: "He who would do great things should not attempt them all alone."
4) a casting call for an indy sitcom pilot in ny with "[p]ossible pay and future roles if the pilot goes to series" ... besides looking for a "Mr Falafel: A Pakistani character destined to become the breakout star," the company's searching for a Native character: "Sammy: Sammy is a Native American chain smoker, ex-heavy drinker with a stuttering problem. Sammy enjoys chain-smoking, reminiscing about drinking red wine in unconventional manners, and stuttering" ... uplifting and inspirational, ennit? so, move over John Redcorn--here comes Sammy the Indian who "enjoys ... stuttering" and sharing stories of ("unconventional") alcoholism while smoking off-brand Marlboros? based on "Indians"-in-comedic-TV history, look for CBS to pick this one up ...
3) bronze medal goes to a 2008 article in the journal American Indian Quarterly by one of the brady bravin' leaders of this site ...
2 and 1) sherman alexie's entertainingly critical "sit-com american" interview with npr, an excerpt of which is included at the start of the aforementioned AIQ article ...
03 September 2008
Indian + Vegan = Indivegan?
straight from the bbb inbox, courtesy of a brady brave at nc a&t university: "On the Fox Sunday gas bag show they said that Palin's parents have a bumper sticker on their truck: Vegetarian = Old Indian Word for Bad Hunter." (apparently, 18th-century pundit andy rooney once said this with "lousy" instead of "bad.") man, i feel for those non-bumper-sticker-applicable Indians who don't even eat meat ... as for Indians as "bad hunters," guess they weren't as lucky as the Settlers ... buffalo, for example, were too busy--as Stephen Colbert's character said in the "Trail of Tears" episode of Strangers with Candy--getting in the way of the White Man's bullets ... but on a brighter note, i wonder if Palin's parents drive a jeep "cherokee" or a "pontiac" firebird? perhaps she'll address this tonight at the RNC ...
update: the closest Palin's rhetoric got to Indians was a very quick post-occupation, post-union, post-hobby reference to her husband's "ancestry": "Todd is a story all by himself. He's a lifelong commercial fisherman ... a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska's North Slope ... a proud member of the United Steel Workers' Union ... and world champion snow machine racer. Throw in his Yup'ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package." with that "throw-in," sounds like a borderline exoticized "package" or recipe: "add in two drops of 'Eskimo' and voila: you, too, can build a fire from snow" ... and how about "ancestry"? like "heritage" (i.e., "yeah, i got a story or two about great-great-great Eskimo grandmothers")? additional reading on Palin and Indigenous Peoples: "Todd Plain No Poster Boy for Yup'ik ..."
28 August 2008
one Flo to go, please
heya ... brady here ... in a rush 'cause i'm [ironically] waiting in e-line for my washington redskins flo card ... what's the "flo," you ask? ... why, it's the latest must-have for us supporters of our redskins ... it'll get us through lines at 'skins' ball games at least 30 seconds faster (guaranteed!) ... and if half-a-minute closer to my $349 seat can happen with prompt payment of just $100/yearly, then that's a bundle of buffalo nickels well spent ...
and it makes sense that such an important and valuable card for getting me through redskins' gameday lines 30 seconds faster would require the following: "It is MANDATORY for enrollment [into flocard] t
hat TWO forms of identification documentation are brought to the enrollment." no problem there--i got xeroxed copies of my "Whirling Rainbow" fan club member card and--thanks to my well-spent $600 to Grand Chief Thunderbird IV--my "Kaweah Indian Nation" citizenship card. (attn: naysayers--i'm confident that the illegalities and disputes of my Kaweah-ness will be overturned anyday now, and then i'm in like flynn and on the go with my flo) ...
meanwhile, nba coach phil jackson is speaking on university of north dakota's "fighting sioux" mascot and logo ... as reported by usa today earlier this week, "Jackson did not specifically say UND should do away with the nickname, but he asked officials to ponder what could be gained by keeping it. Jackson said he had been asked by his Lakota friends to speak out against the nickname. He said UND has a chance to embrace change." what a slap from jackson to his alma mater during und's honoring of him ... it's like you just can't "honor" anyone nowadays without them speaking out against your indian mascots ...
ya ever see that 1999 outside the lines episode on "THE native american sports experience"? (THE one experience as shared by millions of native peoples, ennit? yes, that's THE one) ... it discussed jackson's "lakota teachings": "Phil Jackson, the former Bulls' and current Lakers' coach, uses teachings of the Lakota Sioux in his coaching. He would burn sage to cleanse the team of negative energy and show game film intercut with clips from a movie about a Sioux warrior. [val kilmer in thunderheart?] Jackson says he decorated the Bulls' team room at the Berto Center with Native American artifacts to reinforce in the players' minds that their journey together each season was a sacred quest."
and it makes sense that such an important and valuable card for getting me through redskins' gameday lines 30 seconds faster would require the following: "It is MANDATORY for enrollment [into flocard] t
hat TWO forms of identification documentation are brought to the enrollment." no problem there--i got xeroxed copies of my "Whirling Rainbow" fan club member card and--thanks to my well-spent $600 to Grand Chief Thunderbird IV--my "Kaweah Indian Nation" citizenship card. (attn: naysayers--i'm confident that the illegalities and disputes of my Kaweah-ness will be overturned anyday now, and then i'm in like flynn and on the go with my flo) ...meanwhile, nba coach phil jackson is speaking on university of north dakota's "fighting sioux" mascot and logo ... as reported by usa today earlier this week, "Jackson did not specifically say UND should do away with the nickname, but he asked officials to ponder what could be gained by keeping it. Jackson said he had been asked by his Lakota friends to speak out against the nickname. He said UND has a chance to embrace change." what a slap from jackson to his alma mater during und's honoring of him ... it's like you just can't "honor" anyone nowadays without them speaking out against your indian mascots ...
ya ever see that 1999 outside the lines episode on "THE native american sports experience"? (THE one experience as shared by millions of native peoples, ennit? yes, that's THE one) ... it discussed jackson's "lakota teachings": "Phil Jackson, the former Bulls' and current Lakers' coach, uses teachings of the Lakota Sioux in his coaching. He would burn sage to cleanse the team of negative energy and show game film intercut with clips from a movie about a Sioux warrior. [val kilmer in thunderheart?] Jackson says he decorated the Bulls' team room at the Berto Center with Native American artifacts to reinforce in the players' minds that their journey together each season was a sacred quest."
26 August 2008
Medicine Bluff
heya, brady braves ... as reported last week, "A federal judge has blocked the U.S. Army from starting a construction project at Fort Sill in Oklahoma out of concern for the religious rights of the Comanche Nation. The tribe says it wasn't consulted about the development of a training service center near the foot of Medicine Bluffs, a sacred site at Fort Sill. Work was scheduled to begin on Monday until Judge Timothy D. DeGiusti issued a temporary restraining order. 'The court finds that, given the nature of the interests which plaintiffs in this case seek to protect, irreparable harm will result if the construction project commences,' DeGiusti wrote in the five-page order." that order can be read in its entirety via a link near the bottom of the page at http://indianz.com/News/2008/010446.asp.
in light of this critical situation, we--the staff of the bureau of brady braves--share with you an excerpt from wallace and hoebel's 1952 book the comanches: lords of the south plains (205-206):
"Medicine Bluff is another place commemorated in name and held in great reverence by the Comanches as being the abode of a powerful, benevolent spirit. It is located in Comancheria at the confluence of Cache and Medicine Bluff creeks. The two creeks empty into Red River [Pia Pasiwuhunu] and are overlooked by a precipitous bluff--Medicine Bluff. It is a mile in length, forming a perfect crescent, rising at once from the bed of Medicine Bluff creek, which flows at the base of the perpendicular scarp, to the height of 310 feet. The surface of the face of the bluff is perfectly regular and smooth. Moss covers the sides with a garb of pale green. The greater portion of the face is perfectly bare, though at some places a few stunted cedars have found lodgment in the crevices. From the rear the bluff presents three knolls, the center one being the highest. Mount Scott, about eight miles distant, stands forth with its pyramidal outline like a sentinel guarding the eastern gate of the Wichita Mountains.
There, from the bluff, according to a Comanche legend recounted by Thomas Battey, a powerful spirit looked over and cared for his people, saw that game was abundant and that his children were prosperous and happy. Comanche medicine men erected a cairn about six feet in height upon the summit of the principal knoll. Here the sick repaired or were brought by their relatvies or friends, and here they were left to its invisible and subtle power. Especially those who were past the cure of the medicine men were deposited on the altar and left to be disposed of by the spirit. If the sick had not offended the supernatural powers, they were suddenly healed and returned to their kindred. Sometimes they were transported bodily to the after world. But if they were notoriously bad, they were allowed to die, and the ravens descended from the air, and the wolf came up from the valley and devoured the body, and the bones were gathered up by the Evil Spirit and deposited in the land of terrors. At times the vicinity of the bluff became suddenly lighted up as by a great fire. The dews of night, the rain, and the wind circled about the spot of the altar at the very summit, but none of these agencies of nature trespassed, and the patient was thus left sheltered better than in his own tipi.
To the spirit was attributed the power of resurrection. Once an old warrior, who had long lived among the women of the village, having ceased to hunt or go on the warpath and having been turned out to wait his time to join his fathers, had struggled to the top of the bluff to die and be borne away to the after world. Each night after his departure, when darkness covered the face of nature, the awe-stricken people of the village below observed a great blaze, as if a fire had been built to alarm them. On the morning after the third night, a young man equipped as a warrior was seen descending the bluff, along the trail to the village. He approached the chief's lodge and sat by the fire. The warriors gathered around, but no one recongized him and so remained silent, waiting for him to speak. Lighting his pipe, decorated with beads and feathers of strange birds, the stranger, after all had made the ceremonial smoke, began his story.
When he had reached the top of the hill, he could see the village and hear the laughter of children, the mourning of his kindred, and the barking of the dogs. He could see the buffalo and deer in the distance, and the young warriors in all their pride and strength. Then he asked himself, 'Why do I live any longer? My fires have gone out. I must follow my fathers. The world is beautiful to the young, but to the old it has no pelasures. Far away to the setting suns are the hunting grounds of my people. I will go there.' After these words, he had mustered all he could of his failing strength and leaped into the air from the giddy height before him. He knew no more of the woes of life. He was caught up in midair and transported into a smiling country where there was no rain and no wind, where the great chiefs of all the Comanches were assembled. They were all young and chased the buffalo and feasted. There was no darkness. The Great Spirit was everywhere and everybody was happy.
The story capitvated the minds and imagination of the listeners, and the strange young warrior became at once an oracle and a big medicine man in the tribe. His counsel was all-powerful, and his abilities to cure were considered infallible. Reverence for the bluff was enhanced; and in the years that followed no Comanche would ascend to the summit of the hill except for a most sacred purpose. When white soldiers fired shots at the cliff to hear the echoes, the Comanche guide, Blue Leggings, was horror stricken, and he refused to scale the peak with the soldiers.
At times a young man, eager to take the warpath for the first time, ascended to the sacred spot in quest of his vision. Having provided himself with a shield, in accordance with ceremonial instructions the youth proceeded to the highest point of the bluff, reminaing for three successive days. A part of the cerremony included preenting the face of the shield to the rising sun each morning, as if warding off an arrow or a spear. The sacred surroundings of the place and the Sun, the emblem of the Great Spirit, casting its rays upon the shield were supposed to endow it with supernatural protective powers."
may those "protective powers" intervene now in preventing fort sill from disturbing Medicine Bluff.
in light of this critical situation, we--the staff of the bureau of brady braves--share with you an excerpt from wallace and hoebel's 1952 book the comanches: lords of the south plains (205-206):
"Medicine Bluff is another place commemorated in name and held in great reverence by the Comanches as being the abode of a powerful, benevolent spirit. It is located in Comancheria at the confluence of Cache and Medicine Bluff creeks. The two creeks empty into Red River [Pia Pasiwuhunu] and are overlooked by a precipitous bluff--Medicine Bluff. It is a mile in length, forming a perfect crescent, rising at once from the bed of Medicine Bluff creek, which flows at the base of the perpendicular scarp, to the height of 310 feet. The surface of the face of the bluff is perfectly regular and smooth. Moss covers the sides with a garb of pale green. The greater portion of the face is perfectly bare, though at some places a few stunted cedars have found lodgment in the crevices. From the rear the bluff presents three knolls, the center one being the highest. Mount Scott, about eight miles distant, stands forth with its pyramidal outline like a sentinel guarding the eastern gate of the Wichita Mountains.
There, from the bluff, according to a Comanche legend recounted by Thomas Battey, a powerful spirit looked over and cared for his people, saw that game was abundant and that his children were prosperous and happy. Comanche medicine men erected a cairn about six feet in height upon the summit of the principal knoll. Here the sick repaired or were brought by their relatvies or friends, and here they were left to its invisible and subtle power. Especially those who were past the cure of the medicine men were deposited on the altar and left to be disposed of by the spirit. If the sick had not offended the supernatural powers, they were suddenly healed and returned to their kindred. Sometimes they were transported bodily to the after world. But if they were notoriously bad, they were allowed to die, and the ravens descended from the air, and the wolf came up from the valley and devoured the body, and the bones were gathered up by the Evil Spirit and deposited in the land of terrors. At times the vicinity of the bluff became suddenly lighted up as by a great fire. The dews of night, the rain, and the wind circled about the spot of the altar at the very summit, but none of these agencies of nature trespassed, and the patient was thus left sheltered better than in his own tipi.
To the spirit was attributed the power of resurrection. Once an old warrior, who had long lived among the women of the village, having ceased to hunt or go on the warpath and having been turned out to wait his time to join his fathers, had struggled to the top of the bluff to die and be borne away to the after world. Each night after his departure, when darkness covered the face of nature, the awe-stricken people of the village below observed a great blaze, as if a fire had been built to alarm them. On the morning after the third night, a young man equipped as a warrior was seen descending the bluff, along the trail to the village. He approached the chief's lodge and sat by the fire. The warriors gathered around, but no one recongized him and so remained silent, waiting for him to speak. Lighting his pipe, decorated with beads and feathers of strange birds, the stranger, after all had made the ceremonial smoke, began his story.
When he had reached the top of the hill, he could see the village and hear the laughter of children, the mourning of his kindred, and the barking of the dogs. He could see the buffalo and deer in the distance, and the young warriors in all their pride and strength. Then he asked himself, 'Why do I live any longer? My fires have gone out. I must follow my fathers. The world is beautiful to the young, but to the old it has no pelasures. Far away to the setting suns are the hunting grounds of my people. I will go there.' After these words, he had mustered all he could of his failing strength and leaped into the air from the giddy height before him. He knew no more of the woes of life. He was caught up in midair and transported into a smiling country where there was no rain and no wind, where the great chiefs of all the Comanches were assembled. They were all young and chased the buffalo and feasted. There was no darkness. The Great Spirit was everywhere and everybody was happy.
The story capitvated the minds and imagination of the listeners, and the strange young warrior became at once an oracle and a big medicine man in the tribe. His counsel was all-powerful, and his abilities to cure were considered infallible. Reverence for the bluff was enhanced; and in the years that followed no Comanche would ascend to the summit of the hill except for a most sacred purpose. When white soldiers fired shots at the cliff to hear the echoes, the Comanche guide, Blue Leggings, was horror stricken, and he refused to scale the peak with the soldiers.
At times a young man, eager to take the warpath for the first time, ascended to the sacred spot in quest of his vision. Having provided himself with a shield, in accordance with ceremonial instructions the youth proceeded to the highest point of the bluff, reminaing for three successive days. A part of the cerremony included preenting the face of the shield to the rising sun each morning, as if warding off an arrow or a spear. The sacred surroundings of the place and the Sun, the emblem of the Great Spirit, casting its rays upon the shield were supposed to endow it with supernatural protective powers."
may those "protective powers" intervene now in preventing fort sill from disturbing Medicine Bluff.
18 August 2008
Crowbama's Chosen 10
revealed today are brief bios of the 10 individuals who will join Sen.
[Cr]O[w]bama backstage at the upcoming DNC in Denver ... among them is an Indigene: Holly Miowak Stebing of Anchorage, Alaska ...
"Holly, a 20-year-old Alaska Native Inupiaq, is spending her summer break from Stanford University at the First Alaskans Organization interviewing native elders about their experiences with segregation. Holly is passionate about improving healthcare access for Native Americans, and protecting Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling. The 2008 presidential election is Holly's first as a voter. She says: "This was the first campaign I felt I needed to support. I don't have a lot of money, but I donate what I can because I believe in [Barack]." She will attend the convention with her mother who is the first Native American woman to pass the Alaska bar." (this info courtesy of a personal email from Barack to me ... and a few other thousands ... and thousands ...)
[Cr]O[w]bama backstage at the upcoming DNC in Denver ... among them is an Indigene: Holly Miowak Stebing of Anchorage, Alaska ...
"Holly, a 20-year-old Alaska Native Inupiaq, is spending her summer break from Stanford University at the First Alaskans Organization interviewing native elders about their experiences with segregation. Holly is passionate about improving healthcare access for Native Americans, and protecting Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling. The 2008 presidential election is Holly's first as a voter. She says: "This was the first campaign I felt I needed to support. I don't have a lot of money, but I donate what I can because I believe in [Barack]." She will attend the convention with her mother who is the first Native American woman to pass the Alaska bar." (this info courtesy of a personal email from Barack to me ... and a few other thousands ... and thousands ...)
14 August 2008
what's the word? grand chief thunderbird!
heya, brady braves ... long time, no blog ... into fightin' illini country now ... no "chief illiniwek"-rezurrected spottings thus far (other than seeing pro-"chief" bumper stickers and "we love OUR chief" t-shirts and pro-"chief" yard signs and "chief before charmin" TP and ...) ... gotta love those folks who love their indians (over real indigenous folks) ...
heya, remember stephen colbert claiming 1/13 chickasaw-ness before winona laduke on the colbert report? now check out the colbert retort authored by j.d. colbert, a real chickasaw ... in case the link doesn't work later down the road, it's called "indian is as indian does" ...
as you faithful brady braves know by now, we here at the bureau like frauds; for without them, we'd have lesser material with which to work ... and dangit if we don't find it an outrage that one of 'em's in legal troubles right now in kansas ... as noted today at indianz.com ("leader of fake tribe guilty in immigration scam"), "A federal jury found a Kansas man who claims he is the leader of a tribe guilty for scamming immigrants with promises of U.S. citizenship. Malcolm Webber calls himself the Grand Chief Thunderbird IV of the Kaweah Indian Nation. Prosecutors said he sold $600 'tribal membership' cards to immigrants and told them it would help them cross the border and win U.S. citizenship."
well, sounds like the jury is anti-Family Guy ... so what if webber confused his "grand chief"
moniker with peter griffin's great-grandfather's name "chief grand cherokee" (whom peter initially called "jeep grand cherokee") in the first-season episode "the son also draws" ... and sounds like the jury is anti-thunderbird wine, too ... ol' school'ers--you know what's the word: it's [grand chief] thunderbird [iv] ... and how's it sold? ... good and cold ... but apparently, the jury ain't hearing that ...
perhaps it'd do the kaweah indians good to sit-in on an upcoming panel at the Cherokee Nation's State of Sequoyah Conference ... the session's titled “Stealing Sovereignty: Fraudulent ‘Tribes’ and ‘Individuals’” ... heck, the kaweahs could even be the subtitle's guests of honor, ya know? ... but if all the world's a cherokee and if all the cherokees attend, then there just might be a whole lotta stealin' going on ... still, with whirling rainbows and big chief thunderbirds in attendance, wouldn't seeing the name tags alone be reason enough to attend?
heya, remember stephen colbert claiming 1/13 chickasaw-ness before winona laduke on the colbert report? now check out the colbert retort authored by j.d. colbert, a real chickasaw ... in case the link doesn't work later down the road, it's called "indian is as indian does" ...
as you faithful brady braves know by now, we here at the bureau like frauds; for without them, we'd have lesser material with which to work ... and dangit if we don't find it an outrage that one of 'em's in legal troubles right now in kansas ... as noted today at indianz.com ("leader of fake tribe guilty in immigration scam"), "A federal jury found a Kansas man who claims he is the leader of a tribe guilty for scamming immigrants with promises of U.S. citizenship. Malcolm Webber calls himself the Grand Chief Thunderbird IV of the Kaweah Indian Nation. Prosecutors said he sold $600 'tribal membership' cards to immigrants and told them it would help them cross the border and win U.S. citizenship."
well, sounds like the jury is anti-Family Guy ... so what if webber confused his "grand chief"
moniker with peter griffin's great-grandfather's name "chief grand cherokee" (whom peter initially called "jeep grand cherokee") in the first-season episode "the son also draws" ... and sounds like the jury is anti-thunderbird wine, too ... ol' school'ers--you know what's the word: it's [grand chief] thunderbird [iv] ... and how's it sold? ... good and cold ... but apparently, the jury ain't hearing that ...perhaps it'd do the kaweah indians good to sit-in on an upcoming panel at the Cherokee Nation's State of Sequoyah Conference ... the session's titled “Stealing Sovereignty: Fraudulent ‘Tribes’ and ‘Individuals’” ... heck, the kaweahs could even be the subtitle's guests of honor, ya know? ... but if all the world's a cherokee and if all the cherokees attend, then there just might be a whole lotta stealin' going on ... still, with whirling rainbows and big chief thunderbirds in attendance, wouldn't seeing the name tags alone be reason enough to attend?
28 July 2008
Matt Lauer spotted at IHOP on Mars ...
hey, Lauer-loving Brady Braves ... on this morning's today show, mr. "where in the world is matt lauer?" previewed what was coming up post-commercial break: "You, too, can conquer the space frontier if you have enough money" ... [cue Lauer smile]just alter-spin "space" to "[wherever-Indigenous-Peoples-were/are]," add "guns" and "greed" after "money," and you've got yourself, today show fans, an historical global formula--from "australia" to the "americas"--tried-and-true ... as for the segment's topic? sir richard branson's virgin atlantic globalflyer ... for just $200,000, you can sign up for travelling to space, the new "colonization-awaits" vacation destination ... sweet ...
speaking of sweet, what was the first commercial after the segment on space travel? IHOP's "Discover America Pancakes" ad, of course ... yeah, IHOP's only about 516 years behind on that one ... we all know Mr. Ohio State Capital discovered america ... don't listen to those sources that tell ya Native folks were here pre-1492 ... those are the same sources that'll try to brainwash you into believing that Ind'ns, not IHOP, discovered pancakes ...
so, let us envision IHOP, the space-colonization, today show promoting pancake house, on Mars [sorry, Pluto--you don't count] ... and let us start a campaign for Lauer to appear in the soon-to-be ad campaign "IHOP Discovers Space Pancakes [and then profits from the Indigenous beings of outer space]" ... so sweet again ...
speaking of travels, the bureau of brady braves is relocating (again) this week ... something about ind'ns and relocation, ennit? ... once settled in like a 1907 sooner settler, we'll be back to the blogosphere ... take care ...
25 July 2008
Medicine Bluff: Sacred
dear brady braves ... what follows is an urgent July 24 letter from William Voelker, Chairman of Comanche Nation NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act):
"Dear Friends:
Medicine Bluff, located at Fort Sill, Oklahoma has been a place of immense spiritual importance to Native Peoples since time immemorial. To the Numunuh (Comanche People) Medicine Bluff is a Sacred site and one of the last places of "tubitsi Puha" (True Medicine) that remains in close proximity to the main resident body of the People. The U. S. Army plans to desecrate the lee side of Medicine Bluff with the construction of a Training Service Center. There have been objections to the proposed building for over one year. The site is
located north of Randolph Road directly across the road from the site of an unearthed burial which had to be exhumed only nine years ago. It stands to reason if a burial was disturbed south of Randolph Road the area North of Randolph and closer to the Bluff is even more sensitive. The decision to build in this particular site is totally arbitrary. There are many other suitable places on the base that could accommodate the building of the Training Service Center. We call on all those who still believe in keeping our Sacred Sites safe. In this eleventh hour, only public outcry will turn the tide. If you stand with us in this battle, please send your appeal to:
Major General Peter Vangjel, c/o Chief of Staff COL. Sam White at "sam.white@us.army.mil
Indications are that Friday, July 25, 2008 may be the last day we can appeal this plan that will forever impact this hallowed ground.
Udah! (Thank You!)Wahathuweeka a.k.a. William Voelker"
for video footage on this critical issue from the july CBC (Comanche Business Committee) meeting, see www.campcrier.net/comanche_news.htm.
"Dear Friends:
Medicine Bluff, located at Fort Sill, Oklahoma has been a place of immense spiritual importance to Native Peoples since time immemorial. To the Numunuh (Comanche People) Medicine Bluff is a Sacred site and one of the last places of "tubitsi Puha" (True Medicine) that remains in close proximity to the main resident body of the People. The U. S. Army plans to desecrate the lee side of Medicine Bluff with the construction of a Training Service Center. There have been objections to the proposed building for over one year. The site is
located north of Randolph Road directly across the road from the site of an unearthed burial which had to be exhumed only nine years ago. It stands to reason if a burial was disturbed south of Randolph Road the area North of Randolph and closer to the Bluff is even more sensitive. The decision to build in this particular site is totally arbitrary. There are many other suitable places on the base that could accommodate the building of the Training Service Center. We call on all those who still believe in keeping our Sacred Sites safe. In this eleventh hour, only public outcry will turn the tide. If you stand with us in this battle, please send your appeal to:Major General Peter Vangjel, c/o Chief of Staff COL. Sam White at "sam.white@us.army.mil
Indications are that Friday, July 25, 2008 may be the last day we can appeal this plan that will forever impact this hallowed ground.
Udah! (Thank You!)Wahathuweeka a.k.a. William Voelker"
for video footage on this critical issue from the july CBC (Comanche Business Committee) meeting, see www.campcrier.net/comanche_news.htm.
24 July 2008
another knockout ...
update: congrats to Tahdooahnippah on his 2nd round KO tuesday night ... fight footage currently available, courtesy of the good folks at CampCrier.net, at http://www.campcrier.net/comanche_news.htm.
22 July 2008
Comanche Boy in Action Tonight
the bureau of brady braves sends good thoughts to Comanche Boy (12-0-1) and his opponent tonight. headlining at Remington Park this evening, George "Comanche Boy" Tahdooahnippah making Numunuu proud ... and good to see this morning's following coverage by Robert Przybylo in NewsOK.com:"By day, Lawton's George Tahdooahnippah tries to protect the environment. Working as an environmentalist for his Comanche tribe, he said he's a certified tree-hugger. By night, it's his opponents who need protection. The 29-year-old super middleweight enters tonight with a 12-0-1 record with 11 wins coming by knockout. Tahdooahnippah, the "Comanche Boy,” highlights tonight's main event at Remington Park presented by CatBOX Entertainment.
He's taken the road less traveled to reach this point, but he wouldn't change a thing. A standout wrestler at Lawton Eisenhower, Tahdooahnippah attended the University of Delaware. In his second year there, he started to feel homesick. And that's when he found his calling. Tahdooahnippah, with a background in kickboxing, took a stab at a Toughman Contest. He reached the finals, and suddenly, the wrestler was turned into a boxer. "I've always had the speed and the movement, so it wasn't that tough a transition,” Tahdooahnippah said. "My grandfather used to participate in Golden Gloves tournaments, so fighting runs in the family.”
And with huge support from the Comanche tribe, Tahdooahnippah brings to each fight a distinct fan advantage. It starts with the entrance. A drum beats, native dancers walk out, and Tahdooahnippah enters the ring to rap from more native people. "I like to utilize everyone,” he said. "It's important to get the crowd on your side and bring that energy.”
Tahdooahnippah does his part, too. After each KO, he does his own victory dance. But with two boys, Nacona, 4, and George Jr., 1, and a fiancé, Mia, Tahdooahnippah knows it's time to step up the competition. When training for a fight, Tahdooahnippah wakes up at 6 a.m. to go on a morning run. From there, he goes to his environmentalist job. After work, it's to the gym for more training. So far, it's been working. Tahdooahnippah fought at Remington in April, winning via first-round knockout and is 3-0-1 this year.
With little amateur experience, each fight presents something new for Tahdooahnippah. "I'm still learning the game and all the little nuances that come with it,” he said. "But I'm very dedicated and really want to represent my people well.” Tahdooahnippah trains in a tiny gym in Elgin. He said he hopes his success spurs others into joining the sport and into giving back to the community.
Success in Lawton is nothing new. Grady Brewer won The Contender Tournament two years ago and grew up with Tahdooahnippah. "It's great to have someone like Grady for kids to look up to,” Tahdooahnippah said. "We want to show the kids that they can become something.”All of Tahdooahnippah's knockouts have occurred within the first three rounds. He's only fought 23 rounds in 13 fights. "I'm a crowd-pleaser,” he said. "I'm looking to get him out of there as soon as possible. That's what the people come to see.'"
16 July 2008
the "r-word" chronicles ...
First, belated happy 108th b-day wishes to Martha Berryhill, Muscogee/Creek.
Next, a brady [johnny] bravo [yes, a brady bravo is a good thing] to Ian Thomsen, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, who recently wrote advice to Seattle's NBA franchise owner as he, an Okie, moves the club to Indian Territory/Oklahoma. On what not to call the new team, Thomsen says, "And don't get me started on how wrong it is to call a team the 'Redskins.'" Good to hear from someone at such a recognized sports news source.
Less recognized is something called BleacherReport.com. Robert Johnson, a writer over there, posted one of those articles yesterday, you know, the kind that's replete with the same pro-"Redskins"-as-mascot arguments. Our response, posted at the same site, reads as follows:
"Mr. Johnson: We ran across your article via http://www.indianz.com/. You wrote, "Our story begins nearly 20 years ago. During the early '90s a new fad was born. The phrase 'Politically Correct' entered the lexicon. [...] The 'Native Americans' began to find other places where they felt slighted: sports teams."
OUR STORIES (i.e., Indigenous Peoples' stories) began long before this one, on lands known dominantly today as "America." As for saying that "Indian"-related mascots did not become an issue until "the early '90s" for "Native Americans" (i.e., a non-Native-constructed term), you have thus ignored the work of preceding decades. Since the 1960s, over 3,000 schools (from elementary to college) have dropped "Indian"-related monikers. Folks, including non-Natives, are starting to understand.
Your perspective, Mr. Johnson, is arguably part of a shrinking collective of mindsets that supports "Redskins" and Wahoos as mascots and logos. You seemingly do not know what it means to be Ind'n, to be Indigenous, in the 21st-century. You're a newcomer to these lands, yet this is how you speak to Ind'ns? How can you tell folks, especially Indigenous youth, what should or should not offend them? It's not about being politically correct; it's about being humanly respectful (and respectfully human). Although you show little respect to Native Peoples in your trite, flawed writing, we still wish you well and hope that your research will lead you towards learning in good ways from your elders.
Respectfully,
Brady, http://www.bradybraves.blogspot.com/
UPDATE:
here's Robert Johnson's "starting-to-'get-it'-but-still-far-from-'it'" response to readers (and notice the apology to the if-offended, also known as an "apologizing-but-i-don't-know-why-i-am-apologizing" apology):
"So many responses, so many valid points. When I initially wrote this article, my intent was not to offend, but to point out how crazy this "politically correct" world has become.
It was never my intent to offend any of the surviving relatives of the indigenous people of what is now North America. If any were so offended, then I sincerely apologize.
Many have been quick to label me a racist based on my views. That's fine, you have that right.
I have never had anyone refer to me as a Redskin in anger or disgust. So my niavete I guess would be in the fact that I would never think to refer to anyone in that manner as the team
name has a positive-feeling attachment for me...not a negative one. I'm not alone in this. The Washington Redksns have a huge fan-base. Hundreds of thousands of fans who all probably feel pretty much the same way. The images of a bounty on the head of every "red-skin" is not what I associated with the term, it was my team. I still feel that way. I will be honest and say that until it was brought up, and all of this fuss was created, I never would have known that word would have such power over anyone as to hurt them or cause anger.
This isn't a retraction, and it doesn't mean that my opinion has changed. To be honest, the only thing that would change my opinion would be if the team did change it's name because then all that would be left for me with that specific term would be an out-dated racial slur."
Next, a brady [johnny] bravo [yes, a brady bravo is a good thing] to Ian Thomsen, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, who recently wrote advice to Seattle's NBA franchise owner as he, an Okie, moves the club to Indian Territory/Oklahoma. On what not to call the new team, Thomsen says, "And don't get me started on how wrong it is to call a team the 'Redskins.'" Good to hear from someone at such a recognized sports news source.
Less recognized is something called BleacherReport.com. Robert Johnson, a writer over there, posted one of those articles yesterday, you know, the kind that's replete with the same pro-"Redskins"-as-mascot arguments. Our response, posted at the same site, reads as follows:
"Mr. Johnson: We ran across your article via http://www.indianz.com/. You wrote, "Our story begins nearly 20 years ago. During the early '90s a new fad was born. The phrase 'Politically Correct' entered the lexicon. [...] The 'Native Americans' began to find other places where they felt slighted: sports teams."
OUR STORIES (i.e., Indigenous Peoples' stories) began long before this one, on lands known dominantly today as "America." As for saying that "Indian"-related mascots did not become an issue until "the early '90s" for "Native Americans" (i.e., a non-Native-constructed term), you have thus ignored the work of preceding decades. Since the 1960s, over 3,000 schools (from elementary to college) have dropped "Indian"-related monikers. Folks, including non-Natives, are starting to understand.
Your perspective, Mr. Johnson, is arguably part of a shrinking collective of mindsets that supports "Redskins" and Wahoos as mascots and logos. You seemingly do not know what it means to be Ind'n, to be Indigenous, in the 21st-century. You're a newcomer to these lands, yet this is how you speak to Ind'ns? How can you tell folks, especially Indigenous youth, what should or should not offend them? It's not about being politically correct; it's about being humanly respectful (and respectfully human). Although you show little respect to Native Peoples in your trite, flawed writing, we still wish you well and hope that your research will lead you towards learning in good ways from your elders.
Respectfully,
Brady, http://www.bradybraves.blogspot.com/
UPDATE:
here's Robert Johnson's "starting-to-'get-it'-but-still-far-from-'it'" response to readers (and notice the apology to the if-offended, also known as an "apologizing-but-i-don't-know-why-i-am-apologizing" apology):
"So many responses, so many valid points. When I initially wrote this article, my intent was not to offend, but to point out how crazy this "politically correct" world has become.
It was never my intent to offend any of the surviving relatives of the indigenous people of what is now North America. If any were so offended, then I sincerely apologize.
Many have been quick to label me a racist based on my views. That's fine, you have that right.
I have never had anyone refer to me as a Redskin in anger or disgust. So my niavete I guess would be in the fact that I would never think to refer to anyone in that manner as the team
name has a positive-feeling attachment for me...not a negative one. I'm not alone in this. The Washington Redksns have a huge fan-base. Hundreds of thousands of fans who all probably feel pretty much the same way. The images of a bounty on the head of every "red-skin" is not what I associated with the term, it was my team. I still feel that way. I will be honest and say that until it was brought up, and all of this fuss was created, I never would have known that word would have such power over anyone as to hurt them or cause anger.This isn't a retraction, and it doesn't mean that my opinion has changed. To be honest, the only thing that would change my opinion would be if the team did change it's name because then all that would be left for me with that specific term would be an out-dated racial slur."
14 July 2008
attn: arizona voters and music fans across the lands ...
for an example of someone not playing indian, not masquerading in redface, check out this July 11 story ("Titla: The audacity of inclusion") at Indian Country Today. Mary Kim Titla (San Carlos Apache) is running for the congressional District 1 seat in Arizona. If elected, Titla will be the first Native woman in Congress. You can read her inspiring story here. The Bureau of Brady Braves encourages all brady bravers to check out www.gomarykim.com.speaking of Titlas, another San Carlos Apache for y'all to check out is Boe Titla, a country singer-songwriter. his CD Native American Balladeer is available at cdbaby.com/cd/titlaboe. and
anthropologist David Samuels, in his very impressive 2005 book Putting a Song on Top of It: Expression and Identity on the San Carlos Apache Reservation talks at length about Titla's musical expressions. the book’s title, which derives from what a young Apache said after she won a local pageant by performing Plains Sign Talk to Mariah Carey’s song “Hero,” refers to Apaches putting influences from inside and outside of their local communal spaces on top of each other. as discussed in chapter five, “Boe Titla’s Idiosyncratic Authenticity,” Titla—a self-described “Apache ballad singer and writer” whose influences include Apache relatives and country music performed by George Jones and Merle Haggard—fuses his singing of Apache-themed lyrics with his playing of country-western music.speaking of relationships between Indigenous Peoples and country music, we look forward to reading more on the topic in the forthcoming (2010, says the publisher) Songs Out of Place: Country Musics of the World, edited by Aaron Fox and Christine Yano, from Duke University Press. hmmm ... wonder if Duke would also be interested in the intersecting stories of a lovely lady (who was bringing up three very lovely girls) and of a man named Brady (who was busy with three boys of his own), all six kids of whom would one day form--for 1 episode, ennit?--The Brady Six, that singing sensation behind the Greg Brady-penned classic tune "We can make the world a whole lot brighter." and then they met Indians in the grand canyon. THE END.
11 July 2008
These Lands of Ours-Yours-Theirs
To the Brady Braves in Comanche Country, you know our Nation’s Homecoming (54th Annual Pow-Wow) is coming up July 18-20 in the usual locale: Sultan Park in Walters, OK, with usual temps, so says Weather.com, of 100, 99, and 98, respectively. Good thoughts to all the dancers, including the Comanche Little Ponies. And don't forget, as stated on the flyer, "Committee not responsible for accidents, theft or divorces." Ayyyy--snaggers beware ...
To Brady Braves in Westerville, OH, with time-travelling abilities, you can
check out “Otterbein College Summer Theater” as they perform A. R. Gurney's Indian Blood (June 26-29). Thanks to a fellow brady brave who brought this news to the bbb’s attention. This play focuses on a Buffalo (the city, not the animal or that big dude from Houston in an early episode of Conan O'Brien) family in the 1940s, though our informant was hoping for a “postmodern, revisionst take on Buffalo Bill's Wild West.” As a NY Times reviewer says with the following “Indian” eye-catcher [not to be confused with an “Indian” dream-catcher at your local dollar store]:"Eddie ascribes his penchant for the milder forms of troublemaking to a drop or two of Indian blood [that he received from another character—his grandfather] in his veins." Wha? No great, great, great Indian Princess grandmamma responsible? And no “greats” before the grand? A revolution to the evolution of determining 1/1032 Indian blood descendants, ennit? Naw, just another piece of non-Native writing playing with Indianness through a character that associates the mild wild with savagery. ("Eddie, a student at the private Nichols School, uses his historical Indian bloodline as an excuse for a lewd drawing he made in class.")*
*Incidentally, the preceding portion of this blog post has been nonsensically sponsored by http://www.dnatribes.com/, which eerily popped up as a banner ad in the email we received informing us of the Indian Blood play. Perhaps the DNA folks, then, can assist Eddie. Or he can just claim Cherokee—most everyone else does, not counting that handful of pseudo-Wampanoags in Utah.)
To Brady Bravin’ fans of Barbra Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed comes her new book This Land is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation. (June 23 footage of Ehrenreich on Chickasaw-in’ Colbert Report here.) “Their” as in “Native Peoples,” ennit? And associating Ind’ns with the present through the verb “is”?! (unlike Wendell Hunt’s book This Land WAS Theirs: A Study of Native North Americans. [capitalization added]) Hold up, though—turns out her new book contains, as Publishers Weekly states, “62 previously published essays that show the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer.” Where're the Ind'ns?
A play off of Woody Guthrie’s classic 3-chordin' “This Land is Your Land,” Ehrenreich’s book title—like Guthrie’s song title—refers to Americans without addressing who’s been on these lands far longer than Italian immigrants and Swedish settlers combined, without addressing whose creation stories talk of originating here, without addressing the ambiguities of “your land” and “my land” and wondering who’s being included/excluded in the process and who’s being strongly urged to “share.”
Commendably, however, Ehrenreich uses “Their” to refer to that elite corporate America 1%
who bring in more $$ than almost all the rest of Americans together. And so, Ehrenreich’s “Their” as the mighty, mighty monetarily rich—not Native Peoples—does evoke a joke from Vine Deloria, Jr.’s, Custer Died for Your Sins: when a White person asked an Indian “What did you call this land before [certain land-hungry, power-wielding, pre-"corporate America"] Europeans arrived?” the Ind’n simply replied, “Ours.” But "This Land is Ours Land" would be grammatically awkward; thus, in brady bravin' logic, we now understand.
06 July 2008
here come the "indians" [again]
1 year ago today, fellow brady braves, the guardian printed yuval taylor's article "Native American reservations" on representations of "indians" in pop music ... interesting examples and far too rare of work being reported on--so, "brady bravin' luck" to ya if'n trying to locate sources on this topic ... here's taylor's work:
"Perhaps OutKast will be straight on the internet this morning, trying to be the first to get tickets for the 2007 Native American Music Awards ceremony, which go on sale today. The hip-hop duo have a record of embracing Native American culture, after a fashion. During the 2004 Grammy Awards, a teepee descended from outer space and out popped OutKast, dressed in fake American Indian outfits, performing their hit Hey Ya! in the most outrageous example of contemporary minstrelsy I've seen.
But there was nothing that new about it. Pop songs have been both ridiculing and venerating
Native Americans for well over a century now, doing everything but portraying them as real human beings. (OutKast's particular trope - Indians appearing from outer space in order to rescue a dying earth - had already shown up in places as diverse as Caetano Veloso's Um Indio in 1977 and Kansas's album Monolith in 1979.) [see Monolith cover to the right.]
There were plenty of songs about Native Americans in the 19th century, but the earliest 20th-century example I've found is Navajo, from 1903, whose chorus runs, "Nava, Nava, my Navajo/ I have a love for you that will grow." Making love to Indians was a popular fantasy: it's the subject of old folk songs such as Little Mohee and Shenandoah; Tin Pan Alley numbers including Mineola (or the Wedding of the Indian and the Coon) and Arrah Wanna (An Indian Irish Matrimonial Venture), and Yiddish comedienne Fanny Brice's 1921 I'm an Indian, a fantasy about marrying one. But it didn't stop when most other racial attitudes from that era became unacceptable. Even that most bleeding-heart of songwriters, Neil Young, sang: "I would give a thousand pelts to sleep with Pocahontas"; and Slick Rick devoted not one, but two jaw-droppingly explicit songs to sex with squaws.
There's an opposing tradition: the Indian as martyr. Again, you find this in old cowboy, Tin Pan Alley and country songs, but it became much more common in the 1960s and 70s, when we were treated to Johnny Horton's The Vanishing Race, the Raiders' No 1 Indian Reservation, Elton John's overblown Indian Sunset, Cher's No 1 Half Breed, and, of course, at least four Neil Young songs. The protagonists of these songs aren't fierce warriors: they're all Christ-like. A typical example is Joe Ely's much-covered Indian Cowboy, who saves the circus from burning down but dies in the process. The death doesn't seem necessary - why couldn't he have been a living hero? I guess things don't work out that way for Indians.
Brits liked their Native Americans fiercer. In the early 1980s they gave us Siouxsie and the Banshees; Adam and the Ants' stirring Kings of the Wild Frontier; the Cult, who devoted their career to the idea of the martyred savage; and Iron Maiden's galvanic Run to the Hills, the angriest Indian massacre song of all.
What about real Native Americans? Plenty of them have made music, from appalling acts such as the southern rock band Blackfoot to terrific performers such as Link Wray and Buffy Sainte-Marie, but none of them had hits with Indian-themed songs. The one exception was an intensely charismatic rodeo cowboy named Peter LaFarge, who wrote more than half of Johnny Cash's astonishing and gut-wrenching hit album Bitter Tears (1964) and made four records of Indian protest songs before his death in 1965, at the age of 34, most likely from a mixture of booze and pills. LaFarge wrote the only hit song about American Indian life that avoids romanticisation, ridicule, and hyperbole - Cash's The Ballad of Ira Hayes. Moreover, he was an Indian himself, who had been adopted at the age of nine by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Oliver LaFarge, president of the Association on American Indian Affairs.
At least, that's what people think. In fact, I've ascertained that the greatest advocate for American Indians in pop music history was only pretending to be an Indian: he was actually LaFarge's natural son, with at best less than one percent Indian blood.
But in order to get his message across, didn't Peter LaFarge have to pretend to be an Indian? After all, in the pop-music world, real Native Americans don't exist. Which is why you won't be seeing the winners of the Native American Music Awards crashing the charts any day soon."
taylor elaborates on this discussion in a four-part series of posts at his co-authored (with hugh barker) blog http://www.fakingit.typepad.com/ (in reference to their 2007 book Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music) ... "Here Comes the Indians, Part One" available at http://fakingit.typepad.com/fakingit/2007/05/here_come_the_i.html ...
"Perhaps OutKast will be straight on the internet this morning, trying to be the first to get tickets for the 2007 Native American Music Awards ceremony, which go on sale today. The hip-hop duo have a record of embracing Native American culture, after a fashion. During the 2004 Grammy Awards, a teepee descended from outer space and out popped OutKast, dressed in fake American Indian outfits, performing their hit Hey Ya! in the most outrageous example of contemporary minstrelsy I've seen.
But there was nothing that new about it. Pop songs have been both ridiculing and venerating
Native Americans for well over a century now, doing everything but portraying them as real human beings. (OutKast's particular trope - Indians appearing from outer space in order to rescue a dying earth - had already shown up in places as diverse as Caetano Veloso's Um Indio in 1977 and Kansas's album Monolith in 1979.) [see Monolith cover to the right.]There were plenty of songs about Native Americans in the 19th century, but the earliest 20th-century example I've found is Navajo, from 1903, whose chorus runs, "Nava, Nava, my Navajo/ I have a love for you that will grow." Making love to Indians was a popular fantasy: it's the subject of old folk songs such as Little Mohee and Shenandoah; Tin Pan Alley numbers including Mineola (or the Wedding of the Indian and the Coon) and Arrah Wanna (An Indian Irish Matrimonial Venture), and Yiddish comedienne Fanny Brice's 1921 I'm an Indian, a fantasy about marrying one. But it didn't stop when most other racial attitudes from that era became unacceptable. Even that most bleeding-heart of songwriters, Neil Young, sang: "I would give a thousand pelts to sleep with Pocahontas"; and Slick Rick devoted not one, but two jaw-droppingly explicit songs to sex with squaws.
There's an opposing tradition: the Indian as martyr. Again, you find this in old cowboy, Tin Pan Alley and country songs, but it became much more common in the 1960s and 70s, when we were treated to Johnny Horton's The Vanishing Race, the Raiders' No 1 Indian Reservation, Elton John's overblown Indian Sunset, Cher's No 1 Half Breed, and, of course, at least four Neil Young songs. The protagonists of these songs aren't fierce warriors: they're all Christ-like. A typical example is Joe Ely's much-covered Indian Cowboy, who saves the circus from burning down but dies in the process. The death doesn't seem necessary - why couldn't he have been a living hero? I guess things don't work out that way for Indians.
Brits liked their Native Americans fiercer. In the early 1980s they gave us Siouxsie and the Banshees; Adam and the Ants' stirring Kings of the Wild Frontier; the Cult, who devoted their career to the idea of the martyred savage; and Iron Maiden's galvanic Run to the Hills, the angriest Indian massacre song of all.
What about real Native Americans? Plenty of them have made music, from appalling acts such as the southern rock band Blackfoot to terrific performers such as Link Wray and Buffy Sainte-Marie, but none of them had hits with Indian-themed songs. The one exception was an intensely charismatic rodeo cowboy named Peter LaFarge, who wrote more than half of Johnny Cash's astonishing and gut-wrenching hit album Bitter Tears (1964) and made four records of Indian protest songs before his death in 1965, at the age of 34, most likely from a mixture of booze and pills. LaFarge wrote the only hit song about American Indian life that avoids romanticisation, ridicule, and hyperbole - Cash's The Ballad of Ira Hayes. Moreover, he was an Indian himself, who had been adopted at the age of nine by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Oliver LaFarge, president of the Association on American Indian Affairs.
At least, that's what people think. In fact, I've ascertained that the greatest advocate for American Indians in pop music history was only pretending to be an Indian: he was actually LaFarge's natural son, with at best less than one percent Indian blood.
But in order to get his message across, didn't Peter LaFarge have to pretend to be an Indian? After all, in the pop-music world, real Native Americans don't exist. Which is why you won't be seeing the winners of the Native American Music Awards crashing the charts any day soon."
taylor elaborates on this discussion in a four-part series of posts at his co-authored (with hugh barker) blog http://www.fakingit.typepad.com/ (in reference to their 2007 book Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music) ... "Here Comes the Indians, Part One" available at http://fakingit.typepad.com/fakingit/2007/05/here_come_the_i.html ...
01 July 2008
attn: Pseudo-Cherokees
hey'all, brady braves ... from the Joint Council of The Cherokee Nation and The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, here is their adopted, as of 4/9/08, "A RESOLUTION OPPOSED TO FABRICATED CHEROKEE "TRIBES" AND "INDIANS":
WHEREAS, the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians since time immemorial have exercised the sovereign rights of self-government on behalf of the Cherokee people; and
WHEREAS, the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are federallyrecognized Indian Nations with a historic and continual government to government relationship with the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, the Joint Council unites the Legislative Branches of government of the CherokeeNation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, representing approximately 294,000 Cherokee people throughout the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, the two Cherokee Tribal governments share a common history prior to forcedremoval in 1838, and then separate histories to the present, yet our common language, culture, and traditions have made the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians distinct and unique Native people from other Indian Tribes and other people, as was declared by the Joint Council in Resolution No. 3-92, adopted on August 11, 1992 in Cherokee, North Carolina; and
WHEREAS, the Cherokee Nation has been aware of a growing number of non-Indian groupsclaiming to be Cherokee tribes or bands and that these groups have been organizing and attempting to gain federal recognition, this problem being acknowledged by the Joint Council in Resolution No. 008, adopted on October 3, 1988 in Cherokee, North Carolina; and
WHEREAS, the Department of the Interior through the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Branch ofAcknowledgment and Research maintains the responsibility for addressing specific applications for federal recognition and the Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians fully support the federal recognition process; and
WHEREAS, the history of the Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is well documented and no other tribes or bands of Cherokee Indians exist aside from those already federally recognized, which includes the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma; and
WHEREAS, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation in Joint Councilassembled in Resolution No. 4-96, adopted on October 4, 1996 have previously expressedopposition to the "state recognition" process by the State of Georgia or other states in the United States who may seek to recognize a group of 'Cherokee' that do not already have federal recognition; and
WHEREAS, public funding by pseudo-Cherokee Tribes is of epidemic proportions and ofteninvolves membership fees; misleading presentations to school children and interference in a multitude of government functions including child welfare cases; and
WHEREAS, the sovereignty and reputation of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band ofCherokee Indians, as well as members the general public continue to be in jeopardy due to the acts of individuals who organize and administer fabricated Cherokee tribes; and
WHEREAS, untold millions of federal dollars that are appropriated for the benefit of tribalpeople are being diverted from their intended purpose, including money distributed by federal agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Native Americans, the Department of Labor, Department of Education, Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Joint Council of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians do hereby support the federal recognition process of the Department of the Interior as administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Branch of acknowledgment and Research, and endorse the criteria used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as appropriate; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians denounce the state or federal recognition of any further 'Cherokee' tribes or bands, aside from the those already federally recognized, and commit to exposing and assisting state and federal authorities in eradicating any group which attempts or claims to operate as a government of the Cherokee people; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that no public funding from any federal or state government should be expended on behalf of non-federally recognized 'Cherokee' tribes or bands or the individual members thereof; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians shall call for a full accounting of all federal monies given to state recognized, unrecognized or 501(c)(3) charitable organizations that claim any Cherokee affiliation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the federal and state governments should stringently apply a federal defInition of "Indian" that includes only citizens of federally recognized Indian tribes, to prevent non-Indians from selling membership in 'Cherokee' tribes for the purpose of exploiting the Indian Arts and Crafts Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that no 501(c)(3) organization, state recognized or unrecognized groups shall be acknowledged as Cherokee unless they are given written permission from a Federally-recognized Cherokee tribe; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any individual who is not a member of a federally recognized Cherokee tribe, in academia or otherwise, is hereby discouraged from claiming to speak as a Cherokee, or on behalf of Cherokee citizens, or using claims of Cherokee heritage to advance his or her career or credentials; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this Resolution shall be the policy of the Joint Council of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.
[editor's note: thanks to our friend, a Real Cherokee Nation Citizen in Tahlequah, for sharing this resolution with us.]
WHEREAS, the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians since time immemorial have exercised the sovereign rights of self-government on behalf of the Cherokee people; and
WHEREAS, the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians are federallyrecognized Indian Nations with a historic and continual government to government relationship with the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, the Joint Council unites the Legislative Branches of government of the CherokeeNation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, representing approximately 294,000 Cherokee people throughout the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, the two Cherokee Tribal governments share a common history prior to forcedremoval in 1838, and then separate histories to the present, yet our common language, culture, and traditions have made the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians distinct and unique Native people from other Indian Tribes and other people, as was declared by the Joint Council in Resolution No. 3-92, adopted on August 11, 1992 in Cherokee, North Carolina; and
WHEREAS, the Cherokee Nation has been aware of a growing number of non-Indian groupsclaiming to be Cherokee tribes or bands and that these groups have been organizing and attempting to gain federal recognition, this problem being acknowledged by the Joint Council in Resolution No. 008, adopted on October 3, 1988 in Cherokee, North Carolina; and
WHEREAS, the Department of the Interior through the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Branch ofAcknowledgment and Research maintains the responsibility for addressing specific applications for federal recognition and the Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians fully support the federal recognition process; and
WHEREAS, the history of the Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is well documented and no other tribes or bands of Cherokee Indians exist aside from those already federally recognized, which includes the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma; and
WHEREAS, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation in Joint Councilassembled in Resolution No. 4-96, adopted on October 4, 1996 have previously expressedopposition to the "state recognition" process by the State of Georgia or other states in the United States who may seek to recognize a group of 'Cherokee' that do not already have federal recognition; and
WHEREAS, public funding by pseudo-Cherokee Tribes is of epidemic proportions and ofteninvolves membership fees; misleading presentations to school children and interference in a multitude of government functions including child welfare cases; and
WHEREAS, the sovereignty and reputation of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band ofCherokee Indians, as well as members the general public continue to be in jeopardy due to the acts of individuals who organize and administer fabricated Cherokee tribes; and
WHEREAS, untold millions of federal dollars that are appropriated for the benefit of tribalpeople are being diverted from their intended purpose, including money distributed by federal agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Native Americans, the Department of Labor, Department of Education, Department of Agriculture and other federal agencies.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Joint Council of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians do hereby support the federal recognition process of the Department of the Interior as administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs Branch of acknowledgment and Research, and endorse the criteria used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs as appropriate; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians denounce the state or federal recognition of any further 'Cherokee' tribes or bands, aside from the those already federally recognized, and commit to exposing and assisting state and federal authorities in eradicating any group which attempts or claims to operate as a government of the Cherokee people; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that no public funding from any federal or state government should be expended on behalf of non-federally recognized 'Cherokee' tribes or bands or the individual members thereof; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Cherokee Nation and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians shall call for a full accounting of all federal monies given to state recognized, unrecognized or 501(c)(3) charitable organizations that claim any Cherokee affiliation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the federal and state governments should stringently apply a federal defInition of "Indian" that includes only citizens of federally recognized Indian tribes, to prevent non-Indians from selling membership in 'Cherokee' tribes for the purpose of exploiting the Indian Arts and Crafts Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that no 501(c)(3) organization, state recognized or unrecognized groups shall be acknowledged as Cherokee unless they are given written permission from a Federally-recognized Cherokee tribe; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that any individual who is not a member of a federally recognized Cherokee tribe, in academia or otherwise, is hereby discouraged from claiming to speak as a Cherokee, or on behalf of Cherokee citizens, or using claims of Cherokee heritage to advance his or her career or credentials; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this Resolution shall be the policy of the Joint Council of the Cherokee Nation and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.
[editor's note: thanks to our friend, a Real Cherokee Nation Citizen in Tahlequah, for sharing this resolution with us.]
26 June 2008
Custerology: far more than the study of "Custer"
hey, brady braves ... michael elliot's l.a. times op-ed "the patriots who killed custer" (6/25/08) can be read at http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-elliott25-2008jun25%2C0%2C3134423.story ... recommended reading is elliot's new book custerology: the enduring legacy of the indian wars and george armstrong custer ... as the author states in the intro, "my focus is on the continuing production of knowledge of Custer and the nineteenth-century Indian Wars in which he fought. Custerology therefore includes not only those who seek to honor the memory of Custer and his Seventh Cavalry but also those who celebrate the indigenous resistance that defeated him—and believe that by doing so they are providing historical redress for the injustices suffered by American Indians” (2)
working as a presentist (i.e., one who looks at how history matters today), elliot later writes what we see as one of the strongest past-present-future connecting passages in Custerology: “The secret to the historical power of the Battle of the Little Bighorn is that the defeat of the Seventh Cavalry means that twentieth-century and now twenty-first-century whites can commemorate the violent work of Western expansion without having to feel entirely guilty about the fate of the American Indians whom the United States attempted to conquer. Custer’s loss so sharply resists the tides of history, as commonly understood, that it has seemed to one generation after another as though it were the outcome of some unknowable, preternatural force. The spectacle of defeat explains why generations of Custerologists have pored over the arcane details of this one conflict in the Indian Wars when so many others remain relatively neglected; why Custer continues to exert power as a romantic hero even when the larger public sympathizes with his foes; and how a historic event can be transformed into an object whose aesthetic appeal rivals that or artistic masterpieces” (187)
and for those wes anderson fans in the brady bravispheres: any book willing to open, as elliot does in his book's first sentence, with reference to eli cash (owen wilson's
character in the royal tenenbaums movie) has gotta receive a look ... not to be confused with the neglected (by elliot) johnny cash who sang the peter-lafarge-penned tune "custer" (on the bitter tears album) criticizing the general ("to some he was a hero, but to me his score was zero, and the general he don't ride well anymore") ... eli cash is an "indian" playin' character who writes a book about custer, saying, "Well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is ... maybe he didn't?" and so, Custerology continues for the next generation and the next and ...
working as a presentist (i.e., one who looks at how history matters today), elliot later writes what we see as one of the strongest past-present-future connecting passages in Custerology: “The secret to the historical power of the Battle of the Little Bighorn is that the defeat of the Seventh Cavalry means that twentieth-century and now twenty-first-century whites can commemorate the violent work of Western expansion without having to feel entirely guilty about the fate of the American Indians whom the United States attempted to conquer. Custer’s loss so sharply resists the tides of history, as commonly understood, that it has seemed to one generation after another as though it were the outcome of some unknowable, preternatural force. The spectacle of defeat explains why generations of Custerologists have pored over the arcane details of this one conflict in the Indian Wars when so many others remain relatively neglected; why Custer continues to exert power as a romantic hero even when the larger public sympathizes with his foes; and how a historic event can be transformed into an object whose aesthetic appeal rivals that or artistic masterpieces” (187)and for those wes anderson fans in the brady bravispheres: any book willing to open, as elliot does in his book's first sentence, with reference to eli cash (owen wilson's
character in the royal tenenbaums movie) has gotta receive a look ... not to be confused with the neglected (by elliot) johnny cash who sang the peter-lafarge-penned tune "custer" (on the bitter tears album) criticizing the general ("to some he was a hero, but to me his score was zero, and the general he don't ride well anymore") ... eli cash is an "indian" playin' character who writes a book about custer, saying, "Well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is ... maybe he didn't?" and so, Custerology continues for the next generation and the next and ...
18 June 2008
Stephen Colbert: "1/13 Chickasaw" yet not enrolled to be the Biggest Loser
brady bravers ... if ya didn't catch Winona LaDuke last week on The Colbert Report, check it out at http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?videoId=173622 ... you can see that the self-identifying "1/13th Chickasaw" Stephen Colbert received a fitting Ojibwe nickname from LaDuke: "giboodiyez," translated into English as "smarty pants." [our brady bravin' spelling is likely incorrect, though we did attempt to locate the term in our handy copy of A Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe. closest word we saw was giboodiyegwaazon, or pants.]
Colbert (who, incidentally, played an anti-Indian teacher in a "playing Indian" episode of Strangers with Candy a few years back) closed the segment with satirically calling the Indigenous-activist-Harvard-educated LaDuke an "oppressed elitist" ... (looks like Colbert got elitism confused with those intellectual Harvard Class of '08 snobs/graduates who recently de-intellectually snubbed their commencement speaker J.K. Rowling) ... perhaps LaDuke, who was momentarily at a loss for words, could have chimed back with Harvard's initial founding as being an educational institution for Indians? ... or just simply remind him that he's a "giboodiyez."
speaking of pants, did ya hear about the current recruitment efforts for a "Native American" to be dropping pant sizes on the next season of the TV show Biggest Loser? (and you compained about lack of representations of Ind'ns on American television?! shame ...) man, of all the shows out there, we're talking Biggest Loser? don't sound like much competition for John Redcorn or Adam Beach's character on Law and Order: SVU ...
speaking of Beach, he was on Ellen last year ... an interview in which not one direct mention of Beach's Indigenous-ness was included, even during his discussion of his role as Ira Hayes in Flags of our Fathers ... yet Colbert repeatedly focused on LaDuke's Ind'nness, attempting to have her be a spokesperson for all Ind'ns ... interesting dichotomy of interview approaches there ...
Colbert (who, incidentally, played an anti-Indian teacher in a "playing Indian" episode of Strangers with Candy a few years back) closed the segment with satirically calling the Indigenous-activist-Harvard-educated LaDuke an "oppressed elitist" ... (looks like Colbert got elitism confused with those intellectual Harvard Class of '08 snobs/graduates who recently de-intellectually snubbed their commencement speaker J.K. Rowling) ... perhaps LaDuke, who was momentarily at a loss for words, could have chimed back with Harvard's initial founding as being an educational institution for Indians? ... or just simply remind him that he's a "giboodiyez."
speaking of pants, did ya hear about the current recruitment efforts for a "Native American" to be dropping pant sizes on the next season of the TV show Biggest Loser? (and you compained about lack of representations of Ind'ns on American television?! shame ...) man, of all the shows out there, we're talking Biggest Loser? don't sound like much competition for John Redcorn or Adam Beach's character on Law and Order: SVU ...
speaking of Beach, he was on Ellen last year ... an interview in which not one direct mention of Beach's Indigenous-ness was included, even during his discussion of his role as Ira Hayes in Flags of our Fathers ... yet Colbert repeatedly focused on LaDuke's Ind'nness, attempting to have her be a spokesperson for all Ind'ns ... interesting dichotomy of interview approaches there ...
11 June 2008
givers to indians ...
Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabeg) is scheduled to be on Colbert Report (Comedy Central) thursday night at 10:30 Oklahoma time.
National Native News reported june 11 that an organization is donating $1.22 million to 209 tribal libraries for resource enhancement. good to hear of building up resources to reach Native Peoples. but following the mathematics smarts of mike brady [all brady braves know mike's an architect when he's not being an expert on "indians" in the grand canyon], that's around $5,834 for each library, barely enough for the complete brady bravin' DVD collection, a Whirling Rainbow gathering, day-old frybread, and a box of Red Men Club ballpoint pens, ennit? (had to mention the pens as one of our brady bravers apparently used one with "Red Men Club" printed on it to sign a restuarant receipt yesterday.)
will any of those libraries purchase CDs by the Turtle Island Quartet in hopes of hearing Native-authored classical sounds? as stated on the Quartet's site, "Its [group's] name derived from creation mythology found in Native American Folklore, the Turtle Island Quartet, since its inception in 1985, has been a singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music for strings." but the main "Native" thing happening here is found through appropriation of the name "Turtle Island." (looks like Turtle Island Foods enjoys playing with "Indian" names, too.)
for Indigenous classical, the Bureau of Brady Braves highly recommends instead Brent Michael Davids (Mohican).
National Native News reported june 11 that an organization is donating $1.22 million to 209 tribal libraries for resource enhancement. good to hear of building up resources to reach Native Peoples. but following the mathematics smarts of mike brady [all brady braves know mike's an architect when he's not being an expert on "indians" in the grand canyon], that's around $5,834 for each library, barely enough for the complete brady bravin' DVD collection, a Whirling Rainbow gathering, day-old frybread, and a box of Red Men Club ballpoint pens, ennit? (had to mention the pens as one of our brady bravers apparently used one with "Red Men Club" printed on it to sign a restuarant receipt yesterday.)
will any of those libraries purchase CDs by the Turtle Island Quartet in hopes of hearing Native-authored classical sounds? as stated on the Quartet's site, "Its [group's] name derived from creation mythology found in Native American Folklore, the Turtle Island Quartet, since its inception in 1985, has been a singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music for strings." but the main "Native" thing happening here is found through appropriation of the name "Turtle Island." (looks like Turtle Island Foods enjoys playing with "Indian" names, too.)
for Indigenous classical, the Bureau of Brady Braves highly recommends instead Brent Michael Davids (Mohican).
02 June 2008
quote of the day: john wayne and indians ...
"I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land,
and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves"
~John Wayne (quoted in Roberts/Olson's 1995 biography John Wayne)
30 May 2008
Whirling Rainbows, Twirling Frauds
calling all brady braves ... a new brady bravin' leader has arrived: White Eagle Woman aka the less colorful-animalistic-gendered Rachel Holwarth (a self-proclaiming Seneca. too bad the real Senecas don't recognize her, ennit?) ... according to http://whirlingrainbow.com/whiteeagle.htm, Rachel, er, White "is the director and drum keeper of the International GrandMother Drum Peace Project. She is an international shamanic healer, seer and performance artist." and for the low, low cost of $3, 665 and a 100 cents, you can whirl with the rainbows from Loveland, Colorado, to Vancouver Island, Canada, for a "transformational journey with all venues, weekends and healing sessions of our five month tour." (bbb editor's note: unlike the whirling rainbow site, we don't place three 6's next to each other.) oh, but that cost was pre-february 8. however, you can check White out at different tour stops. ("white-out" to describe a self-proclaiming Seneca? like the picture below, that's brady bravin' clever and revealing, ennit?)
now, it's time for the bradylicious ethnic fraud test. Angela Gonzales, Hopi, defines ethnic fraud as “the deliberate falsification or changing of ethnic identities in an attempt to achieve personal advantage or gain.” White Eagle falsifying? White Eagle changing ethnic identities (we hear she's claimed to be Jewish instead of Seneca, too, to fit a gig's situation)? White Eagle charging $$ for "spirituality"? ergo, White Eagle = Ethnic Fraud. (yes, sometimes tests can be as groovy as watching Greg Brady morph into and out of the Johnny Bravo persona.)
now, it's time for the bradylicious ethnic fraud test. Angela Gonzales, Hopi, defines ethnic fraud as “the deliberate falsification or changing of ethnic identities in an attempt to achieve personal advantage or gain.” White Eagle falsifying? White Eagle changing ethnic identities (we hear she's claimed to be Jewish instead of Seneca, too, to fit a gig's situation)? White Eagle charging $$ for "spirituality"? ergo, White Eagle = Ethnic Fraud. (yes, sometimes tests can be as groovy as watching Greg Brady morph into and out of the Johnny Bravo persona.)22 May 2008
doodle 4 google
here's the 2008 winning entry by Grace Moon for "Doodle 4 Google," featured today at google.com: 
19 May 2008
Crowbama for Prez!
breaking brady brave news: according to National Native News, Sen. Barack Obama is scheduled to become an adoptee of the Crow Nation this afternoon ... his soon-to-be Crow name means One who helps people throughout the land. more info to follow ... may 20 update: "The Native Voice: On the trail with Sen. Obama" at http://indianz.com/News/2008/008844.asp ... http://www.native-voice.com/ ...
08 May 2008
indians and duct tape
of interest 
to brady braves, columnist Ron Morris wrote on Newberry College's (South Carolina) decision to stop calling itself the "indians." (thanks to a Real Cherokee Nation Citizen friend of the bbb for the link to the article "A change in name only".) Chuck Wendt, VP of Institutional Advancement (not to be confused with George Wendt of Cheers fame), says, "Absolutely not" when asked if the "Indians" team name is racist. (if you'd like to educate Chuck, pictured on the left, about intercultural relations advancement, then chuck.wendt@newberry.edu) the name change is due not to any recognition of racism but rather, in compliance with NCAA's ruling for getting "indians" and indian-related team names OUT--wendt ignorantly says the ruling is "ridiculous" and "political correctness gone amok." somehow, the bureau of brady braves gets the feeling that Wendt ain't Ind'n ...
for newberry, they wanna host NCAA post-season play, i.e., make more
money ... and, oh yeah, be fair to the student-athletes. Wendt: "In the final decision, the board centered [on] what is right for the kids. That’s the important thing, the student-athletes. It wouldn’t be fair to them not to allow them to be able to host playoff games, or they would have to cover up their ‘Indian’ name with duct tape if they went some place to play.” besides the nice possessive use here of their Indian (yes, it is their imagined Indian), is there anything that duct tape can't do? (image from http://www.ducktapeclub.com/.)
but here's another kicker: Newberry's bringing in Citizens of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation (North Carolina) to their (their = Newberry) campus or, dare we am-brady-biguously say, their (their = Cherokees) land? Newberry's hoping to get permission to call themselves the Cherokees. ayyyyy! that's a good one ... what? oh, they're serious? well, then why not be the Newberry Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation of N.C. in S.C.? or, for t-shirt, toilet paper, and other marketing purposes, just go with the easy-to-remember acronym N.E.B.O.T.C.N.O.N.C.I.S.C. ... why not? ... well, because that would make about as much sense as Seminoles in Florida approving a university to call themselves the Seminoles. oh, wait a second ...
to brady braves, columnist Ron Morris wrote on Newberry College's (South Carolina) decision to stop calling itself the "indians." (thanks to a Real Cherokee Nation Citizen friend of the bbb for the link to the article "A change in name only".) Chuck Wendt, VP of Institutional Advancement (not to be confused with George Wendt of Cheers fame), says, "Absolutely not" when asked if the "Indians" team name is racist. (if you'd like to educate Chuck, pictured on the left, about intercultural relations advancement, then chuck.wendt@newberry.edu) the name change is due not to any recognition of racism but rather, in compliance with NCAA's ruling for getting "indians" and indian-related team names OUT--wendt ignorantly says the ruling is "ridiculous" and "political correctness gone amok." somehow, the bureau of brady braves gets the feeling that Wendt ain't Ind'n ...for newberry, they wanna host NCAA post-season play, i.e., make more
money ... and, oh yeah, be fair to the student-athletes. Wendt: "In the final decision, the board centered [on] what is right for the kids. That’s the important thing, the student-athletes. It wouldn’t be fair to them not to allow them to be able to host playoff games, or they would have to cover up their ‘Indian’ name with duct tape if they went some place to play.” besides the nice possessive use here of their Indian (yes, it is their imagined Indian), is there anything that duct tape can't do? (image from http://www.ducktapeclub.com/.)but here's another kicker: Newberry's bringing in Citizens of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation (North Carolina) to their (their = Newberry) campus or, dare we am-brady-biguously say, their (their = Cherokees) land? Newberry's hoping to get permission to call themselves the Cherokees. ayyyyy! that's a good one ... what? oh, they're serious? well, then why not be the Newberry Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation of N.C. in S.C.? or, for t-shirt, toilet paper, and other marketing purposes, just go with the easy-to-remember acronym N.E.B.O.T.C.N.O.N.C.I.S.C. ... why not? ... well, because that would make about as much sense as Seminoles in Florida approving a university to call themselves the Seminoles. oh, wait a second ...
06 May 2008
Googlin' Indians?
in article "Judge calls Indian 'tribe' bogus" from today's edition of The Seattle Times, AP writer Paul Foy reports, "A federal judge has ordered a $63,000 civil judgment against four people who claim to be chiefs of an American Indian tribe [Wampanoags] in eastern Utah." playing indian for profit? ... again? as Gayle Andrews, Mashpee Wampanoag spokeswoman, says, "A lot of white people are like, `I'm Wampanoag.' But you can't just Google yourself into membership. It's not doable." however, these four pseudo-Wampanoags don't even have to apply for membership into the Brady Brave Hall of Shame--they're IN! ... welcome, wannabes, welcome ...
01 May 2008
Woody and Wilcox Return
okay, a very short hiatus since posting yesterday, but here's a quick follow-up to the Anchorage DJs story: "Two Alaska radio DJs apologized repeatedly on Wednesday for making derogatory remarks about Alaska Native women. Woody and Wilcox from KBFX 100.5 were back on the air after being suspended for the remarks on their April 9 show." check this Anchorage Daily News article for more elaborate discussion.
may those hurt by their earlier sickening comments be healed, may these DJs learn, and may listeners who still don't get what the fuss is about finally understand what the "fuss"is about ... like Joe Garcia, NCAI Prez, said recently, "As is the case when comments like these are made, someone will inevitably come to the defense of those who made them asking where our sense of humor has gone. I have yet to hear from an American Indian or Alaska Native who sees humor in these insulting and derogatory remarks."
may those hurt by their earlier sickening comments be healed, may these DJs learn, and may listeners who still don't get what the fuss is about finally understand what the "fuss"is about ... like Joe Garcia, NCAI Prez, said recently, "As is the case when comments like these are made, someone will inevitably come to the defense of those who made them asking where our sense of humor has gone. I have yet to hear from an American Indian or Alaska Native who sees humor in these insulting and derogatory remarks."
30 April 2008
hi-ya-tus ...
brady bravin' faithful: on another short trip away from the brady braves blogosphere ... wrapping up another semester over the next several days ... meanwhile, remember the wise words of mr. dale gribble, as spoken to john redcorn in king of the hill:"On behalf of the white man, I would like to formally apologize for everything my people have done to your people."
be brave, be good, be brady bravin' good ...
17 April 2008
g105 update ...
as reported today in The Fayetteville Observer, "The N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs on Wednesday accepted an apology from Raleigh radio station G105 for derogatory and racially charged comments made during a broadcast of the 'Bob and the Showgram' program.
The Commission of Indian Affairs also agreed to partner with Clear Channel Communications, which owns and operates WDCG. The collaboration, according to a commission news release, would be “on future efforts to promote and support issues of importance to North Carolina’s American Indian population.”
Dick Harlow, vice president and general manager of WDCG, agreed to “no more negative discussion on G105 and the ‘Showgram’ about American Indians,” said Greg Richardson, the executive director of the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs. Harlow met with four American Indian officials for a couple of hours Wednesday in Raleigh. The meeting included Jimmy Goins, the Lumbee tribal leader, and Ed Brooks, a lawyer for the Robeson County-based tribe. Goins, who had demanded that Clear Channel pay $50,000 toward American Indian education, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
“Showgram” host Bob Dumas and his morning radio crew have been the target of criticism since they made on-air remarks April1 about Lumbees and other American Indians. American Indians were called lazy, and members of the Lumbee tribe were said to be inbred. “I really don’t think Mr. Harlow realized how deep the wounds were for the message they sent out on their airwaves about American Indians,” Richardson said. Harlow provided the commission with an audio copy of the on-air apologies that Dumas and Harlow had given that will be made available online to people who were offended.
Richardson called the compromise historic in scope. “We settled on a historic agreement between a major corporation in the United States and Indian tribes,” he said. “Are we completely happy with the agreement? No. Do we feel all American Indians will be happy with the agreement we made today? No. The healing process is going to go on for some time.” Richardson said the meeting was positive, adding that Harlow apologized throughout. Harlow described the meeting as productive. “We’ll be doing a lot of things with these folks in the weeks and months ahead,” he said. “Everybody in this meeting wanted this to be fair to all. We apologized. We were sincere with our apology, and they felt it.”
The Commission of Indian Affairs also agreed to partner with Clear Channel Communications, which owns and operates WDCG. The collaboration, according to a commission news release, would be “on future efforts to promote and support issues of importance to North Carolina’s American Indian population.”
Dick Harlow, vice president and general manager of WDCG, agreed to “no more negative discussion on G105 and the ‘Showgram’ about American Indians,” said Greg Richardson, the executive director of the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs. Harlow met with four American Indian officials for a couple of hours Wednesday in Raleigh. The meeting included Jimmy Goins, the Lumbee tribal leader, and Ed Brooks, a lawyer for the Robeson County-based tribe. Goins, who had demanded that Clear Channel pay $50,000 toward American Indian education, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
“Showgram” host Bob Dumas and his morning radio crew have been the target of criticism since they made on-air remarks April1 about Lumbees and other American Indians. American Indians were called lazy, and members of the Lumbee tribe were said to be inbred. “I really don’t think Mr. Harlow realized how deep the wounds were for the message they sent out on their airwaves about American Indians,” Richardson said. Harlow provided the commission with an audio copy of the on-air apologies that Dumas and Harlow had given that will be made available online to people who were offended.
Richardson called the compromise historic in scope. “We settled on a historic agreement between a major corporation in the United States and Indian tribes,” he said. “Are we completely happy with the agreement? No. Do we feel all American Indians will be happy with the agreement we made today? No. The healing process is going to go on for some time.” Richardson said the meeting was positive, adding that Harlow apologized throughout. Harlow described the meeting as productive. “We’ll be doing a lot of things with these folks in the weeks and months ahead,” he said. “Everybody in this meeting wanted this to be fair to all. We apologized. We were sincere with our apology, and they felt it.”
16 April 2008
more on-air venom ...
as reported at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24144141/, "A radio station suspended two disc jockeys Tuesday over a derogatory remark about Alaska Native women made on their show.
The Anchorage DJs, known as Woody and Wilcox, were joking about what makes someone a real Alaskan, when one of them said it is somebody who makes love to the Yukon River and urinates in a Native woman. It is a twist on an old saying _ also offensive to many _ that real Alaskans have urinated in the Yukon River and made love to an Alaska Native woman."
sick, twisted rhetoric and imagery ... would woody or wilcox speak such venom directly to Indigenous women? ... would any brady bravers want to hear such comments directed at their Grammas, their Aunties, any of their beautiful female ancestors and relatives? (yes, we know "beautiful female" is redundant) ...
as listener Michelle Davis, Tlingit, said in response, "I was horrified, It was a very ugly image." that sounds like real emotion to us ... and no one can tell Ms. Davis that she should not be horrified
; no one can tell any Indigenous Peoples how to feel. critics can say that the djs were just attempting to be funny, that they meant no harm, yet they did harm ... they harmed through words--which are far more than just words--Ms. Davis and we imagine many other listeners ... unlike G105, this Anchorage station took quick action ... but do the djs, whose race(s) the msnbc article did not mention (and yet "Alaska Native" was highlighted) understand why they're being suspended? ... their picture, which appears below a woman in a bikini on the 100.5 FM home page, says, "clueless" ... wonder if the "sensitivity training" will help? ...
The Anchorage DJs, known as Woody and Wilcox, were joking about what makes someone a real Alaskan, when one of them said it is somebody who makes love to the Yukon River and urinates in a Native woman. It is a twist on an old saying _ also offensive to many _ that real Alaskans have urinated in the Yukon River and made love to an Alaska Native woman."
sick, twisted rhetoric and imagery ... would woody or wilcox speak such venom directly to Indigenous women? ... would any brady bravers want to hear such comments directed at their Grammas, their Aunties, any of their beautiful female ancestors and relatives? (yes, we know "beautiful female" is redundant) ...
as listener Michelle Davis, Tlingit, said in response, "I was horrified, It was a very ugly image." that sounds like real emotion to us ... and no one can tell Ms. Davis that she should not be horrified
; no one can tell any Indigenous Peoples how to feel. critics can say that the djs were just attempting to be funny, that they meant no harm, yet they did harm ... they harmed through words--which are far more than just words--Ms. Davis and we imagine many other listeners ... unlike G105, this Anchorage station took quick action ... but do the djs, whose race(s) the msnbc article did not mention (and yet "Alaska Native" was highlighted) understand why they're being suspended? ... their picture, which appears below a woman in a bikini on the 100.5 FM home page, says, "clueless" ... wonder if the "sensitivity training" will help? ...
15 April 2008
what you talking about, ... Oswegos?
brady braves: set your tivos, dvrs, vhs, and 8-trax ... just read on tvguide.com that BET will air the Diff'rent Strokes episode "burial ground" (originally aired 1/7/82) at 8am and 2pm central time on wed, april 16 ... (of course, air dates/times may vary from place to place) ... how many brady braves have been awaiting this one? an episode in which, as tvguide.com says it, "Arnold goes on a hunger strike to protest construction on one of Drummond's sites, which may be a Native American burial ground" ... guest starring ned romero (as "chief of the oswego indians"), who can be seen as a cool old ind'n in rick stevenson's Expiration Date movie ... couple this Strokes episode with Barney Miller's 4/29/82 episode "Bones" (a museum presses charges when an Indian retrieves his tribe's ancestral bones from an exhibit), and you've got an early '80s "indians in hollywood" brady bravin' bash ...
april 16 update: the bureau staff watched "burial ground" this morning ... it's like brady bunch's grand canyon episodes revisited new york style with white guy (mr. drummond instead of mr. brady this time) as the problem solver ... whole lotta stereotypes, including several enacted by the "chief," and sad attempts at educatin' ...
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