Our previous post is here.
And here is the Mother Earth Walk poster.
cultural resources
Ninth Circuit Affirms Constitutionality of Bald Eagle Protection Act
In consolidated cases, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the constitutionality of prosecuting American Indians under the Bald and Golden Eagles Protection Act, rejecting a challenge under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. A similar case is under review by the Tenth Circuit (United States v. Friday).
The Ninth Circuit applied a 2003 precedent, United States v. Antoine, upholding the law under similar facts. Here are the materials.
Nokomis Center Spring Feast
Sorry to break up the discussions with a shameless plug, but the Nokomis Center in Okemos will be hosting its first annual “Spring Feast” this Sunday, April 13th, from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Guests will get to indulge in buffalo meat, as well as hear special musical guests. Tickets are $25 per family, $10 per adult, $5 per child (10 & under), and $5 per elder (55 & older). Proceeds go to the Nokomis Center, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving Native culture. The Nokomis Center is located next to the Meridian Mall in Okemos, at 5153 Marsh Rd. Please join us if you can, as the Nokomis Center needs all of the financial support our community can provide.
Two Makah Whalers Convicted in Federal Court
From Indianz:
A federal magistrate convicted two members of the Makah Nation of Washington for hunting a gray whale without federal approval.
Wayne Johnson and Andy Noel were convicted of conspiracy to violate the Marine Mammal Protection Act and unlawfully taking a marine mammal. They waived the right to a jury trial but plan to take their case to the >9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Johnson and Noel face up to one year in prison Three other tribal members who participated in the hunt pleaded guilty in exchange for no prison time.
Federal Court Makah Whaling Trial Set for Next Week
From the AP:
Trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday in federal court in Tacoma for two Makah tribal members accused of killing a gray whale without a federal permit.
Andy Noel and Wayne Johnson face up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine if convicted of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The two turned down a plea deal accepted last month by three other whalers. All five still face prosecution in tribal court in Neah Bay. They harpooned and shot a whale Sept. 8 in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
On a pretrial motion, Magistrate J. Kelley Arnold ruled that the defendants could not argue the whaling was a religious or cultural exercise. Defense lawyer Jack Fiander says that may be appealed.
New Book: “Buffalo Inc.” by Sebastian Braun (UND)
From the University of Oklahoma Press:
Buffalo Inc.
American Indians and Economic Development
By Sebastian Felix Braun
<!–By Sebastian Felix Braun
–>
Buffalo as a business on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation
Some American Indian tribes on the Great Plains have turned to bison ranching in recent years as a culturally and ecologically sustainable economic development program. This book focuses on one enterprise on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation to determine whether such projects have fulfilled expectations and how they fit with traditional and contemporary Lakota values.
NPR: Makah Views Whalers as Heroes and Nuisances
From NPR:
All Things Considered, March 12, 2008 · Five Makah Indians are due in federal court next month to face charges of illegally killing a gray whale in the waters off Washington state. The men say they did it out of frustration: Their tribe has a recognized treaty right to hunt the whales, but it has been waiting years for a government permit.
The hunters’ actions have had more than just legal consequences. The rest of the tribe has come to see them as both troublemakers and heroes.
Wayne Johnson, one of the men, says he’s afraid to go back to the Makah reservation and face the leaders of his tribe. His troubles started on a sunny day last September, when he decided he was no longer going to wait for a government permit to go whaling.
Black Ash Basketry Conference — May 16, 2008
From Kelly Church:
Emerald Ash Borer/ Black Ash Basketry Conference 2008
Since the discovery of the Emerald Ash Borer(EAB) in 2002, Michigan has lost over 20 million ash trees, and the numbers continue to rise. The entire lower peninsula of Michigan is under a “no ash movement” quarantine, and the EAB continues to spread and infect entire ash lots, eventually killing off once healthy, thriving ash trees.
For hundreds of years Native Americans of Michigan (Anishnabe) and Natives from all over the North Eastern United States have been using Black Ash trees for basketweaving. These baskets have been used for centuries for utilitarian purposes such as Market baskets, berry picking baskets, fishing creels, baby baskets, laundry baskets, and sewing baskets. Today they are still used in a variety of ways, and are also collectible baskets as pieces of art.
NYTs: “Running from Despair” — Profile of Wings of America
From the NYTs:
SANTA FE, N.M. — On a cold Saturday morning last month, 16-year-old Chantel Hunt ran across a highway onto a gravel road where the snow under her shoes packed into washboard ripples. She ran around a towering red rock butte, past two old mattresses dumped on the roadside, and into the shadow of a mesa she sometimes runs on top of.
Hunt, a high school junior and a resident of the Navajo Nation, was on a short training run for the national cross-country championships being held Saturday in San Diego. Her team, Wings of America, has risen to prominence with an unlikely collection of athletes. It is a group of American Indians from reservations around the country, and a Wings team has won a boys or a girls national title 20 times since first attending a championship meet in 1988.
Pokagon Lawyer Becomes Director of Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
|Tribune reporter
- February 4, 2008
A tribal lawyer turned academic is to take over this week as executive director of the Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, marking the first time in the Evanston institution’s 30-year-history that it will be led by a Native American.
John Low, 51, of Park Ridge, is familiar with the Mitchell, having been a curatorial assistant there a few years ago. He said he hopes to use that knowledge and his contacts in the Native American community to build on the museum’s strengths.
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