Author: Matthew L.M. Fletcher – Page 430

Sarah Deer’s New Book on Confronting Sexual Violence in Native America

October 21, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Available in November!

Sarah Deer will soon publish “The Beginning and End of Rape: Confronting Sexual Violence in Native America” with the University of Minnesota Press.

From the blurb:

How to address widespread violence against Native women—practically, theoretically, and legally—from the foremost advocate for understanding and change

The Beginning and End of Rape makes available the powerful writings in which Sarah Deer, who played a crucial role in the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013, has advocated for cultural and legal reforms to protect Native women from endemic sexual violence and abuse. These essays point to the possibility of actual and positive change in a world where Native women are systematically undervalued, left unprotected, and hurt.

Bears Ears Coalition Materials

October 21, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Press Release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 15, 2015) — The Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition — an historic partnership of five sovereign Tribal Nations — today formally presented to the Obama Administrationtheir proposal for the creation of a 1.9 million acre, collaboratively managed national monument in southern Utah. A copy of the proposal was also delivered to Representatives Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz of Utah.

The Hopi, Navajo, Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Mountain Ute, and Zuni Tribes created the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition in July of this year with the mission to protect and preserve the Bears Ears region, to which they have ancestral and contemporary ties. The sovereign-led proposal is formally supported by an additional 19 Tribes as well as the National Congress of American Indians.

“This proposal originates from the heart of Indian Country,” said Eric Descheenie, Co-Chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition and advisor to Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye. “By protecting these sacred ancestral lands we can take a very important step towards healing.”

The Bears Ears National Monument proposal is named for the Bears Ears buttes – two prominent landforms at the center of a landscape rich in antiquities, with more than100,000 archaeological and cultural sites that are sacred to dozens of tribes. However, rampant looting and destruction of the region’s structures, artwork, and gravesites is ongoing, and oil, gas and potash extraction also loom as threats. “This destruction of our sacred sites—including the gravesites of our ancestors—deeply wounds us,” said Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk, Councilwoman to the Ute Mountain Ute. “Bears Ears should have been protected long ago. It has been central to our creation and migration stories since time immemorial.”

“The Antiquities Act was written to protect Native American artifacts on public lands,” said Alfred Lomahquahu, Vice Chairman to the Hopi Nation. “But this is the first time tribes have ever come together to call on the President to use the Antiquities Act.”

The collaborative management the proposal calls for—between Tribes and the federal government—would not change the ownership of the land; tribes and agency officials would be working together as equals to make joint decisions. As with any national monument, members of the public and key stakeholders will have ample opportunity to contribute to the development of plans and policies.

Prior to presenting their proposal to the Obama Administration, the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition delivered copies to Representatives Rob Bishop and Jason Chaffetz of Utah. Reps. Bishop and Chaffetz have been working on a Public Lands Initiative, which seeks to address federal land management in the Bears Ears and other regions of eastern Utah. However, as the Bears Ears proposal details, Tribes have been excluded despite their extensive effortsto have the proposal considered as part of the Public Lands Initiative.

Still, at a press conference at the National Press Club, the tribes emphasized that the proposal is an opportunity to bring people together—including Representatives Bishop and Chaffetz. “It’s not just for us to get healed,” said Willie Grayeyes, chairman of Utah Diné Bikéyah, a nonprofit that developed and built grassroots support for the proposal among tribal members. “It’s for our adversaries to be healed too. We can come out dancing together.”

The proposed monument would be open to all members of the public.

###

Contact: Natasha Hale at 505-906-8303 or BearsEarsPress@gmail.com.

The full proposal, timeline, B-roll, photos and other media resources can be accessed at: http://www.bearsearscoalition.org/media-resources/

Bears Ears Coalition site

PROPOSAL TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA FOR THE CREATION OF BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT

Washington Court of Appeals Decides Quinault Indian Nation v. City of Hoquiam

October 21, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here:

Quinault Indian Nation v. City of Hoquiam

Report on the American Lands Council and the Anti-Indian Movement

October 20, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here. From the report:

The American Lands Council and the Anti-Indian Movement

A Special Report from Native Generational Change, the Montana Human Rights Network and the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights.

The South Jordan, Utah-based American Lands Council (ALC) is known around the country for its campaigns to transfer control of federal lands to state governments. The Lands Council has drawn criticism for a plan that could cost state governments millions of dollars and open federal lands to aggressive resource extraction. However, the Lands Council has fostered a moderate public face by exempting certain lands from state takeover, including national parks, wilderness areas and Indian reservations.

On September 26 the American Lands Council’s “moderation” was thrown into question when Montana State Senator Jennifer Fielder promoted the group’s cause at a conference hosted by the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance (CERA) in Kalispell, Montana. The Wisconsin-based CERA is the most notorious organized anti-Indian group in the United States, dedicated to terminating tribal governments, abrogating treaties and turning management of tribal resources over to state government. The American Lands Council’s ties to the organized anti-Indian movement do not end with Fielder’s CERA conference appearance. The ALC has, in fact, directly promoted CERA leader Elaine Willman’s writings and policy strategies. ALC’s alliance with CERA again highlights the group’s ties to a broader far-right movement that threatens treaty rights, civil rights and environmental protection.

CERA’s conference also highlights another point – that by exposing anti-Indian bigotry, and organizing against it, Native and non-Native people can join together to turn back these threats to all of our communities. A protest organized by the Missoula-based Native Generational Change, and a series of exposes on CERA by the Montana Human Rights Network and the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, demonstrated how communities can put racist groups on the defensive and expose their weaknesses to public scrutiny.

Eleventh Circuit Briefs in Miccosukee Members’ Claims to Federal Tax Immunity

October 20, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here are the materials in Cypress v. United States:

Cypress Opening Brief

US Answer Brief

Lower court materials here:

1 Complaint

11 US Motion to Dismss

19 Opposition

22 US Reply

28 DCT Order

Ninth Circuit Audio and Video in United States v. Washington Culverts Appeal

October 19, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

Audio and video.

Opening and answer briefs.

Lower court materials here and here.

Ninth Circuit Oral Argument Audio in Oklevueha Native American Church v. Lynch

October 19, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Briefs here.

Alaska v. Organized Village of Kake Cert Petition (Roadless Rule)

October 19, 2015October 19, 2015Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here:

Alaska Cert Petition

Question presented:

The question presented is: whether the Ninth Circuit’s decision contravenes the basic administrative law principle, established by this Court’s decisions, that an executive agency may change the policies of a previous administration based on the new administration’s different values and priorities, even though the relevant facts are unchanged.

Lower court materials here and here.