cultural resources

Hogan v. Kaltag Cert Petition News

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From Indianz. The comments of Sen. Bill Wielechowsk read like a cert pool memo (and agreeably so):

“The facts in Kaltag are this,” said Sen. Bill Wielechowski (D), The Anchorage Daily News reported. “You had a Mom who was convicted of murder and was a drinker. You had a Dad who wanted nothing to do with the child. You had the Kaltag tribe that took custody of the child, adopted her to residents who lived in Huslia. All participants consented to the tribal court doing this, all were Native, no one raised any concerns about the due process provided by the tribal court. The child is 10 years old, happy and healthy with the family, and the state comes in and wants to stop this.”

Update on Arizona Snowbowl Wastewater Snow

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Arizona Daily Sun via Pechanga:

A federal agency is pressing the city of Flagstaff to offer potable water for snowmaking at Arizona Snowbowl that does not come directly from reclaimed wastewater.

In addition, Snowbowl could get government aid to cover the $11 million in higher costs for the water over 20 winters.

Arizona’s two U.S. senators are blasting the plan as a waste of taxpayer money and a violation of court decisions in favor of making snow at Snowbowl with treated effluent.

The proposal comes in response to tribal concerns that making snow with reclaimed wastewater desecrates the San Francisco Peaks, which they hold sacred.
Continue reading →

Lakota Exhibit at the Peabody Museum (Harvard)

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Crimson:

Metal arm bands are neatly arranged by a pipe bag underneath a looming five-foot portrait of its owner: Sitting Bull, the former Lakota Sioux holy war chief who famously led the Lakota and Cheyenne troops to victory in the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. Nearby, old arrows are suspended in mid-air—as if shooting out from a propped bow—under an airbrushed banner depicting “thunderbirds,” mythological messengers of thunderstorms revered by Lakota members as spiritual sources for energy in battle.

Last April, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University opened an exhibit called “Wiyohpiyata,” Lakota for “west,” which alludes to the tribe’s idea that thunderstorms originate in the west; to the cultural belief that thunderstorms fuel warfare; and to bloody Western expansion. The center of gravity for the exhibit is a ledger inscribed with the work of several Lakota artists. The ledger—which has been in the possession of Harvard’s Houghton Library since the 1930s and was only discovered to be of artistic value five years ago—contains seventy-seven color drawings of Lakota war exploits, several of which are displayed alongside ancient artifacts and contemporary art pieces.

While each of these artifacts tells a story—in the case of one drawing, the tale of a Native American warrior who rescued his friend in combat—the exhibit itself is the product of an intricate interweaving of stories and cross-cultural negotiations. The product of a 30-year friendship between Peabody Museum Associate Curator of North American Ethnography Castle McLaughlin and Lakota tribe member Butch Thunder Hawk, the Wiyohpiyata exhibit explores the tribe’s culture and traditions with genuine Lakota perspective.

“Together we wanted to come up with the key Lakota concepts that would form the backbone of the exhibits and [decide] how to best express those concepts,” McLaughlin said.

Continue reading →

Blackhorse v. Pro-Football, Inc. Challenge to Redskins Marks

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

The case is still in abeyance but now that Harjo v. Pro-Football, Inc. is dead, here are the basic materials so far:

Blackhorse Petition for Cancellation

Pro Football’s Answer

Update on New and Newer Redskins Trademark Cases

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From The BLT:

The latest effort to strip trademark protection from the name of the Washington Redskins is now before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Native Americans, represented by Philip Mause, of counsel at Drinker Biddle & Reath, filed protests Feb. 24 against six pending trademark applications for the Redskins name, some dating as far back as 1992. The trademark applications were filed by Pro Football, inc., the owner of the Redskins, and other entities including the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders in hopes of protecting the trademark for use on clothing and other souvenirs and paraphernalia.

According to Mause, the applications had been “held in abeyance” while the long-running litigation against the Redskins filed by Suzan Harjo and others was underway. As we reported here in November, the Supreme Court denied review of a lower court decision that had rejected the Harjo challenge to existing Redskins trademarks.

The new protest through the trademark office’s administrative process makes many of the same arguments that the Redskins name is disparaging and therefore not eligible for trademark protection. “The use of ‘redskins’ and other so-called Indian names and images in sports are offensive and demeaning to Native American peoples,” the protest letter states. In an interview, Mause said the letters were filed at an early stage in the examination process that was reopened after the Harjo litigation ended. As a result, Mause said the issues of laches — whether the challengers waited too long — should not come into play. Continue reading →

Cert Petition in Oglala Sioux Tribe v. U.S. Army Corps

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here: Oglala Sioux Tribe v. US Army Corps Cert Petition

Lower court materials here and here.

Questions presented:

1. Does the 5-year statute of limitations of Section 12 of the Indian Claims Commission Act of 1946 (“ICCA”), 60 Stat. 1049, 1052 (formerly codified at 25 U.S.C. § 70k (repealed)), which applies only to claims accruing no later than August 13, 1946, bar federal court jurisdiction over an Indian tribe’s claim that the Government breached its trust responsibility to consult with the tribe before taking significant actions adversely affecting the preservation and protection of the numerous items and sites of the tribe’s cultural and historic heritage located on federal lands within the tribe’s aboriginal territory, specifically before making the transfers of federal lands authorized by the Water Resources Development Act of August 17, 1999, Pub. L. 106-53, Title VI, §§ 601-609, 113 Stat. 269 (“WRDA”), where the tribe’s breach-of-duty-to-consult claim does not involve either an historical land claim for money damages or the revision of treaties, contracts or agreements between the tribe and the United States, and where the breach occurred no earlier than 2002 when the WRDA transfers began?

2. Does an Indian tribe have standing to pursue its claim that the Government breached its trust responsibility to consult with the tribe before taking significant actions adversely affecting the preservation and protection of the numerous items and sites of the tribe’s cultural and historic heritage located on lands within the tribe’s aboriginal territory, where the merit of the tribe’s non-frivolous contention, that it has a legally protected interest in the tribe’s aboriginal territory based on the Government’s trust relationship with the Indian tribes, must be assumed in assessing the tribe’s standing to sue? Continue reading →

News Coverage of Kennecott Mine Permit Change

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Interlochen Public Radio:

Kennecott Minerals wants to change the way it releases treated wastewater at its Eagle Rock Mine near Marquette. Instead of covering filtration pipes with soil, Kennecott wants to use thick Styrofoam insulation around the pipes.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment calls it a minor modification, but it may mean the company won’t need a federal permit. If pipes are covered with soil the EPA considers that an underground injection system.

A spokeswoman for the National Wildlife Federation says a federal review would give more attention to tribal issues. Indian tribes maintain that blasting an opening for the mine will degrade a traditional sacred place at Eagle Rock. The state dismissed that argument in granting Kennecott a permit. The Wildlife Federation plans to appeal that decision in Circuit Court.

Hawaii Native American Church Cannabis Claims Dismissed

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here is the opinion in Oklevueha Native Am. Church of Haw. v. Holder: Oklevueha v Holder.

Plaintiff Michael Rex “Raging Bear” Mooney and the Oklevueha Native American Church of Hawaii, Inc., seek a declaration that they be allowed to grow, use, possess, and distribute cannabis free from federal drug-crime prosecution. Plaintiffs allege that cannabis is used in their religion and assert that their right to religious freedom is being infringed on by United States drug laws, specifically 21 U.S.C. § 841.

Defendants have moved for dismissal of the Complaint, arguing that, on the face of the Complaint, the claims asserted are not ripe, that Oklevueha lacks standing to assert claims on behalf of its members, and that Plaintiffs fail to allege sufficient claims in any event. Because this court agrees that the Complaint fails to allege ripe claims on the face of it, Defendants’ motion is granted and Plaintiffs’ Complaint is dismissed with leave to amend.

Stuart Rieke on UND Fighting Sioux Nickname

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the Grand Forks Herald via Pechanga:

FARGO — As an English instructor at the Sisseton Wahpeton Tribal College in Sisseton, S.D., I collected from a young Dakota woman a paper that mused on the collective virtue of cultural humility.

She wrote: “It becomes clear to me that humility emanates from happiness.”

I find this beautiful statement to be sweetly representative of my personal experience with American Indians and also illustrative of the problems with UND’s nickname, “The Fighting Sioux.”

I would contend that the young lady’s connection between happiness and humility creates a better understanding of the “Fighting Sioux” logo issue than the old pro-logo arguments.

For me, her paper pinpoints keys to realizing some things important about American Indian people: traditionally, they want happiness, not fanfare; currently, they prefer humility to fanfare; most often, they connect humility to happiness and fanfare to unhappiness.

Even the most famous of American Indian historical figures, Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, both accomplished fighting men, are purported to have seen humility — not bragging or unwanted visibility — as keys to life and happiness, as shown in author Joseph Marshall III’s book, “The Lakota Way.”

“Humility” is the first chapter. Continue reading →

Minority Student Group Reforms at U-M

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From the Mich. Daily:

Alys Alley, external co-chair of the Native American Student Association, is on a mission to spark dialogue among students about the obstacles minorities face on campus.

Alley, an LSA sophomore who is a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, began this dialogue last Friday at an event called “Reflect, Remember, Regroup.” Alley led a discussion with about 20 University students in the multicultural lounge in South Quadrangle Residence Hall to talk about past and current cultural barriers for minority students.

Alley began the dialogue with a movie called “Fight Like Hell,” which describes the history of the controversy surrounding the campus senior society Michigamua, now officially called Order of Angell, to show the difficulties minority students and minority groups face on campus.

Order of Angell is a senior honor society formed in 1902. The society allegedly both used Native American artifacts as part of its proceedings, and members spoke in a dialect that mocked Native Americans during group meetings.

In 2007, Michigamua was renamed the Order of Angell and has since remained mostly secretive about its role on campus, though it now releases the names of its incoming members each year. Continue reading →