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12 women picked for Va. monument

Dec 7, 2013.

There have been so many great women in Virginia’s 400-plus-year history that it would seem nearly impossible to settle on 12 to immortalize in bronze for a monument in Capitol Square.

That was the task for the Women of Virginia Commemorative Commission, which made its final selections last week — and not without some disagreement.

Some picked for the list — compiled at the commission’s request by a panel of historians and narrowed by an executive committee to a dozen names — may be unknown to many Virginians, while others who did not make the cut are household names.

Martha Washington is in, but Dolley Madison is out.

Maggie Walker is in, but Ella Fitzgerald is out.

Cockacoeske is in, but Pocahontas is out.

Cockacoeske?

The niece of Powhatan, Cockacoeske is believed to be the first female chief of the Pamunkey Indian tribe, who joined a number of Virginia’s tribes to sign the Treaty of Middle Plantation in 1677, establishing peace between the tribes and English settlers.

Pocahontas, of course, was credited with saving the life of Jamestown settler John Smith in 1607. She married tobacco planter John Rolfe in 1614, and the marriage was considered beneficial to peace between Native Americans and the settlers.

Her name also appears on a state park, a parkway and public schools throughout the commonwealth, not to mention numerous book titles and an animated Disney movie.

The omission of Pocahontas prompted one member of the commission, Mary Abel Smith, to take out a full-page ad in the Thanksgiving edition of the Richmond Times-Dispatch urging readers to appeal to board members for her inclusion in the monument.

“Pocahontas spent her life in support of the peaceful merging of cultures,” the ad states. “She deserves a prominent place in the history of accomplished women in Virginia.”

According to commission members familiar with the process, the 18-member panel was provided a list of about three dozen names to consider. An executive committee of roughly half of the commission narrowed the list to 12 names and decided that a Native American addition should be considered by the full commission.

At its full meeting Nov. 25, the commission agreed to add Cockacoeske to the list and remove one name. Two members present thought Pocahontas should be added, but they were the only two who voted to support her inclusion, so Cockacoeske was added.

Abel-Smith, who phoned in to the meeting and could not vote, hopes that people appeal to the commission to rethink their decision.

“I think (Pocahontas) is one of the most important persons in Virginia,” she said. “She saved the first colony of settlers.” Abel-Smith said she was “horrified” to learn at the meeting that Pocahontas would not be included.

“The tradition of Virginia has to be promoted, and Pocahontas is one of the great ones.”

Lisa Hicks-Thomas, Gov. Bob McDonnell’s secretary of administration and chairwoman of the commission, said that “there was no way we were going to be able to come up with a list that everybody was happy about.”

She noted that famous entertainers from Virginia such as Fitzgerald, Pearl Bailey and Patsy Cline were among those who will not be cast in bronze, but said many, including Pocahontas, will be memorialized on a glass panel that will ring the monument space.

“We have a lot of people that should have been on there but we can only get 12,” Hicks-Thomas said. “(Pocahontas) didn’t make the vote. There is nothing we can do about that.

“One of the points of the monument is to educate the public about some of the contributions of the women of Virginia that people aren’t aware of,” she said. “It’s not about who the most famous people are — it’s about accomplishments, and Cockacoeske is very accomplished. I think it’s going to be a teaching moment for all of us.”

The commission has selected an artist and design for the monument. Now the panel must raise money for the monument, which is expected to cost $3 million and is targeted for completion in March 2015.

“I think Virginians will be very proud of this monument,” said commission member Mary Margaret Whipple, a former state senator from Arlington County. She predicted young women in particular would be inspired by the monument, which will feature 12 female figures cast in bronze milling about an open circular space located northwest of the steps of the Capitol.

A separate monument honoring Virginia’s Indian tribes is in the planning stages but will feature no specific individual.

Who’s on the list

17th century

Ann Burras Laydon of Jamestown (circa 1595 to circa 1637) — first married female settler

Cockacoeske of James City County (died circa 1686) — chief of Pamunkey Tribe

18th century

Clementina Rind of Williamsburg (1740-1774) — publisher of the Virginia Gazette

Martha Washington of Fairfax County (1731-1802) — first lady

Mary Draper Ingles of Southwest Virginia (1729-1813) — frontierswoman who was abducted by Shawnee Indians, escaped and traveled 600 miles to get home

19th century

Sally Louisa Tompkins of Mathews County (1833-1916) — Confederate hospital administrator

Elizabeth Keckley of Dinwiddie County (1818-1907) — former slave, seamstress, confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln

Sarah G. Boyd Jones of Richmond (1867-1905) — African-American physician who earned a medical degree at Howard University, returned to Richmond and became the first Virginia woman to pass the state’s medical board examinations

20th century

Virginia Estelle Randolph of Henrico County (1875-1958) — educator

Laura Lu Copenhaver of Smyth County (1868-1940) — entrepreneur

Maggie L. Walker of Richmond (1867-1934) — first black woman to charter a bank in the United States

Adele Goodman Clark of Richmond (1882-1983) — suffragist

Cockacoeske is in, Pocahontas is out

jnolan@timesdispatch.com

(804) 649-6061

Twitter: @RTDNolan

Idle No More founders honoured by U.S. magazine

Derrick on December 10^th 2013 WC Native News

What started in Saskatoon one year ago with a small teach-in grew into a global movement whose founders were recently named by Foreign Policy magazine to its top 100 global thinkers list.

The founders — Jessica Gordon, Sylvia McAdam, Sheelah McLean, and Nina Wilson — are on the list with other notables such as NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden, U.S. secretary of state John Kerry, Pope Francis, teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The group’s entry on the list explains how the global movement started when the four women started emailing each other about concerns with proposed federal legislation affecting land management, water management and several other issues related to First Nations, Metis and Inuit people. They started a Facebook page called “Idle No More” to coordinate local meetings and events.

“Before long, #IdleNoMore was trending on Twitter, and protests under the same name spread across Canada. Solidarity demonstrations also occurred in the United States, Europe, and Australia,” the entry states. “The protests in particular targeted Canada’s extractive industries, asserting that new pipelines and other projects would destroy land and disrupt ecosystems. One protest delayed exploratory drilling in British Columbia.”

This is the fifth year the magazine has put out the list.

“This (is a) remarkable list of people who, over the past year, have made a measurable difference in politics, business, technology, the arts, the sciences, and more,” the magazine states on its website.

Link: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/2013_global_thinkers/public/

These American Families Live Without Running Water

12/06/2013

George McGraw The Huffington post

When most people think of dirty water, they think of places like rural Africa. But water poverty affects hundreds-of-thousands of Americans too.

One shocking example? Nearly 40 percent of the 173,000 Navajo in the U.S. don’t have a tap or a toilet at home. (For non-Native Americans, that number is just .6 percent).

Water poverty affects everything: health, education, personal security, economic growth. 44 percent of Navajo children live below the poverty line, twice the national average, held there by issues like water insecurity. But poverty isn’t the only problem here. Since these communities are just hours from major cities like Los Angeles and Albuquerque, poverty is linked to crime, depression and substance abuse.

Life without water in the U.S. doesn’t look very different from life in rural South Sudan. Every morning, thousands of Navajo men, women and children set out to find water. Many make the trip by car, which can be costly. Some can’t drive, forcing them to walk miles to livestock troughs contaminated with bacteria and even uranium.

Lindsey Johnson is one of the many Navajo elders facing water poverty. She lives with ten of her family members in a small trailer without electricity or running water in Smith Lake, New Mexico. Since she was a child, Mrs. Johnson has relied on neighbors’ taps, local ponds… even snow for every drop of water she uses. Now nearly 80 years old, her struggle to find clean water hasn’t changed much since she was a child.

Today, Mrs. Johnson and 250 other families within a 70-mile radius receive some water by truck. The lone water truck in Smith Lake is operated by St. Bonaventure — a Catholic mission — and it can’t reach every home. By the middle of the month, most families are forced to collect extra water from other (often unsafe) sources. The water that arrives is stored in buckets or barrels outside, prone to contamination in the summer and freezing in the winter.

This holiday season, DIGDEEP Water is partnering with St. Bonaventure to bring reliable clean water access to over 250 homes through the Navajo Water Project.

The community-led project includes a new 2000 ft. well and storage facility. For the first time ever, families will benefit from free, trucked water delivery in an amount that meets international human rights standards. The project will also provide emergency access to water on site.

When finished, the Navajo Water Project will provide every home with an elevated water tank and solar heating element, using gravity to feed sinks and toilets all year long. As with every DIGDEEP system, the project is community-led and unique to the people it serves. The active participation of families, Navajo Chapters and regulators will ensure its long-term sustainability.

DIGDEEP is the only international water organization operating here in the US, and the Navajo Access Project is just the first of its kind. We’re proud to empower communities like Mrs. Johnson’s to defend their human right to water. It’s a stark reminder to Americans everywhere that water poverty isn’t as far away as you think.

Visit navajowaterproject.org to join the fight for clean water here at home.

Hard Rock Energy Drinks Debut in South Florida

Seminole Tribe of Florida launches new product in its convenience stores, other venues

December 12th, 2013

Published in CSP Daily News

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Hard Rock Energy drinks are making their debut in South Florida. This test market is the first step in rolling out the new product by the Seminole Tribe of Florida Inc., the tribe’s business development arm, which is jumping into the $20 billion-and-growing energy drink market. Three flavors of Hard Rock Energy drinks will soon be available for purchase on convenience store shelves and at select restaurants and bars.

The flavors are Original, Paradise Punch and Sugar Free.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida purchased Orlando, Fla.-based Hard Rock International Inc. in 2007 and has supported its strategic expansion to include more cafes, hotels, casinos and other new business ventures. The tribe’s business development arm has obtained a license to use the brand on Hard Rock Energy drinks.

A new venture, Enterprise Beverage Group LLC, has been established to produce, distribute and market the Hard Rock Energy drinks. The Seminole Tribe of Florida Inc. is the majority owner of Enterprise Beverage Group, which is based in Hollywood, Fla.

Tony Sanchez Jr., president of the Seminole Tribe of Florida Inc., said Hard Rock Energy drinks present the perfect opportunity to make the Hard Rock brand part of the growth of the tribe’s business development program.

“Hard Rock Energy drinks are a logical extension of our growing line of beverage products, including citrus juices sold under the Seminole Pride brand,” said Sanchez.

Enterprise Beverage Group is headed by CEO David Drow, whose track record in the beverage industry includes launching Hair of the Dawg drink mixes. Drow’s background is finance; he previously was a vice president at GMAC.

“The Hard Rock brand is perfect for a new energy drink,” said Drow. “Hard Rock is about high energy music and entertainment. It’s about fun.”

John Galloway, chief marketing officer and vice president of marketing for Hard Rock International, said, “True to the Hard Rock brand, this energy drink has the power to help people rock harder. It’s a great product and we couldn’t be more excited to put our stamp on this market. It’s an exciting new step for Hard Rock.”

Hard Rock Energy drinks are sold in slim, 16-oz. aluminum cans of two servings per can. They contain 100 milligrams of caffeine per serving. Hard Rock Energy Original flavor is aqua blue in color and comes in a black can. The Sugar-Free version is clear and is packaged in a white can, while the Paradise Punch flavor is light red and comes in a red can. All of the cans are emblazoned with the Hard Rock brand and retro electric guitar graphics.

Hard Rock Energy drinks are on sale at all c-stores operated by the Seminole Tribe of Florida Inc., including the Hollywood Trading Post. Distribution is already underway to additional retailers, restaurants, bars, hotels and other food service operators. The test market will expand to the Chicago area in 2014, with a potential national rollout slated for 2015.

Marketing for Hard Rock Energy drinks will have a strong focus on social media and grassroots marketing tactics to reach the prime demographic of males between the ages of 18 to 24. Enterprise Beverage Co. will deploy an official Hard Rock Energy Street Team, which will be present at concerts and community events to offer free product samples. In addition, the company will look for local “CEOs” (chief energy officers) who want to engage in fun, social media activities and be eligible to win prizes. A strategic marketing partnership with Dean Guitars, represented on the Hard Rock Energy drink cans, will add to the marketing firepower, the company said.

The Seminole Tribe of Florida Inc. manages various businesses enterprises in agriculture, cattle ranching and beef production, citrus juices, spring water, c-stores and more. It is managed by an elected five-member board. Hard Rock International has a total of 174 venues in 55 countries, including 136 cafes, 19 hotels and seven casinos, It also owns, licenses or manages hotel and casino properties worldwide.

Native Author Gyasi Ross Talks Cultural Preservation

by Aura Bogado, Color Lines

Gyasi Ross is a member of the Blackfeet Nation and his family also comes from the Suquamish Nation of the Port Madison Indian Reservation where he resides. Aside from being a father, lawyer and a filmmaker, the ever-busy Ross has found time to write two books. His latest, “How to Say I Love You in Indian” (Cut Bank Creek Press) comes out today. Here, he talks about real love, feminism via bell hooks and fatherhood.

The title of your book, “How to Say I Love You in Indian,” might confuse people. What do you mean by it?
Well, there are a lot of fluent speakers of the Blackfoot language in my family, and my grandparents or really most people in my family will say they’re speaking in Indian. That’s just the way old folks speak, and that’s who I was raised by, by grandparents and great aunties and uncles.

What about the love part of the title?
Poor people have different ways of communication, different kinds of love that are not part of materialistic culture. Expressing love isn’t about a Hallmark card. … It’s not about convenience. It’s not always about being vocal and poetic about love, it’s about taking care of each other—like cooking. One of the stories in the book is about stew and how it’s representative of love for a lot of poor people, and Indian people specifically. We always had the worst cuts of meat and the worst ingredients, but through those ingredients, time, love and secret sauce, it turned into a beautiful stew. That’s what the title of the book is all about: physical manifestations of love and the symbols of our love within Native culture.

So it sounds like it’s less about saying “I love you,” and more about how you express it.
Right, it’s about the action. A lot of the work that I do and the writing that I do is about fatherhood and mentorship. And because I’m a dad, I remind myself that I can say “I love you” all I want, but if my actions aren’t commiserate with that, then it doesn’t matter.

I noticed that you thanked bell hooks and you also have quote from her in the book. She’s written a lot about love, and I’m curious about how she’s influenced your work.
I think that bell hooks made feminism approachable to me. I was raised by a single mom and two older sisters, and by my grandmas, who are both amazing women. Just today, I was speaking with my auntie Wilma Faye and she’s also provided a lot of structure for me. I tend to put women on a pedestal, and Native women especially because they were the ones who ensured that I was safe and always doted on me—to a fault, maybe. It was bell hooks who helped me to look more critically at the relationships that women have with men, and with young boys and sons specifically. And that was important for my intellectual development and my emotional honesty.

You’re a father, a lawyer and a lot more. When did you find the time to write this book?
I don’t sleep much, and that’s tongue-in-cheek, but it’s also true. I come from a home with a single mother, and so I take fatherhood and being an uncle very seriously. I try to work on that first and foremost, before any other those other titles—lawyer, writer, anything else—I’m a dad. And I’m also an uncle; I’ve been one since I was 12 years old. For me, what that means is that I have to figure out a way to negotiate everything else around those two things. I work entirely for myself, and when my son’s at school, that’s game time and I can work. But when he’s home from 3 o’clock to 9 o’clock, that’s his time. He can’t just see me on my computer working. He needs to see me hanging out with him and being active as a way to teach him a healthy lifestyle. No paid work is getting done at that time. Whether it’s writing, lawyering or consulting, that happens from 9 o’clock in the evening until it gets done.

You write in the book that the last 500 years don’t define us as indigenous peoples—that the future will. What does that future look like for you?
There’s a lot of controversy about how long Natives in both North and South America have been here, somewhere between 20,000 and 50,000 years. Five hundred years is absolutely nothing compared to how long we’ve been here. The United States empire is already showing incredible signs of decay, it’s already falling apart. And most Natives can understand that this has been an experiment gone terribly wrong and that we shouldn’t buy into it. Some Native people are trying to dis-enroll other tribal members over casino money—and that’s the culpability that bell hooks writes about—and some of us are buying into this failed experiment. That’s a subset of Native people don’t understand that this is just a drop in the bucket.

What about the long-term future?
One of my mentors, Darrell Kipp passed [very recently]. He’s a member of the Blackfoot Tribe who started immersion school on our reservation. He was someone who dedicated his life to the survival of a way of life: speaking our languages, keeping our customs alive, and understanding that those ways of being are going to have relevance and pertinence again. It’s worth sustaining, it’s worth helping those things to survive. Right now, there are enough Natives who get it, that this is a very temporary, illusory American way of life, and we can’t get caught up in the glamour and glitz of it.

And what about the short-term future?
In the short term, it’s about letting go of the exclusivity—we’ve always been about inclusiveness. Tribal enrollment is a legalistic mechanism that isn’t even based in traditional notion because we had communities that you were either a part of or you weren’t. If you came to our communities in good faith, you were put to work. The more we buy into that exclusivity model that somehow being an Indian, being a Native, or being a tribal member has more value than simply being responsible, that worse off we are. But if we recognize that being a Native person is all about responsibility and continuing a way of life, then I think our outlook is good.

Temporary Victory for Mi’kmaq! SWN Abandons Fracking Until 2015 elsiroundancefire

$Canada_fracking_victory$

from APTN National News

A Houston-based energy company that has faced ferocious resistance from a Mi’kmaq-led coalition is ending its shale gas exploration work for the year, says Elsipogtog War Chief John Levi.

Levi said Friday that the RCMP informed him that SWN Resources Canada is ending its exploration work, but will return in 2015.

Levi said SWN and its contractors would be picking up geophones from the side of the highway today. Geophones interact with thumper trucks to create imaging of shale gas deposits underground.

“They are just going to be picking up their gear today,” said Levi. “At least people can take a break for Christmas.”

Demonstrations against the company escalated this week. Demonstrators twice burned tires on Hwy 11 which was the area where SWN was conducting its shale gas exploration.

SWN could not be reached for comment.

SWN obtained an extension to an injunction against the demonstrators Monday after arguing it needed two more weeks to finish its work. In its court filing, SWN claimed it needed about 25 km left to explore.

Levi said the Mi’kmaq community, which sits about 80 km north of Moncton, will be there again in 2015 to oppose the company. Levi said SWN will be returning to conduct exploratory drilling.

“We can’t allow any drilling, we didn’t allow them to do the testing from the beginning,” said Levi.

Levi said word that SWN is leaving is no cause for celebration just yet.

“We went through a lot,” he said. “We need some time for this to sink in and think about everything, think about what we went through…People did a lot of sacrificing.”

Chanel’s Native American Headdress On Runway Raises Eyebrows

The Huffington Post | By Rebecca Adams

Chanel hit Dallas yesterday, staging a Texas-centric fashion show for its pre-fall collection — which included Native American headdresses to accompany the “cowboys and Indians” theme. Cue the controversy.

While Karl Lagerfeld has yet to face a full-on backlash, Twitter has already begun to buzz with commentary about Chanel’s controversial decision to send the headdress down the runway. “Can’t wait for the think pieces on that Chanel Native American headdress,” one user noted.

The preemptive tweet is certainly not off base. Karlie Kloss’ Native American-style headdress in the 2012 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show caused the lingerie brand to issue an apology and pull the look from the show’s broadcast. H&M was also forced to pull a feathered headdress after offending shoppers earlier this year. Then, of course, there was that ill-advised Native American-themed “Dream Catchin” party Paul Frank put on before controversy broke.

Now, as the skeptical reactions to Chanel’s headdresses on Twitter suggest, the industry is conditioned to anticipate this kind of fashion misstep. But the backlash thus far against Chanel seems to pale in comparison to previous instances — perhaps there are those fashion fans who believe that, in this case, showcasing a Native American-inspired headdress is acceptable. What’s your take on the catwalk homage?

Dori: Political correctness to blame for Seattle City Light fake Native American scam

Three men are charged with theft for stealing $125,000 worth of copper wire from Seattle City Light by posing as native American charity workers. (AP file)

By Josh Kerns, mynorthwest.com

Totally gullible, ridiculously politically correct or some combination of the two? When it comes to Seattle City Light, KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson argues both in a scam involving some supposed Native American charity workers and the theft of 21 tons of scrap copper.

King County Prosecutors have now charged three men for the brazen theft. And it’s not just what they took but the way they got it that has Dori and a lot of other people scratching their heads.

Charging papers say two of the men showed up at City Hall in April clad in full Indian garb, claiming to be “Chief Little Bear” and “Joe Wolf” – tribal members they said were running an arts and crafts program for disabled Cherokee kids, the Seattle P-I reports.

The men – whose actual names are Michael George and Jim Costa – managed to talk their way into a meeting with City Light Superintendent Jorge Carrasco.

The suspects displayed copper bracelets, necklaces and other trinkets, and asked Carrasco to donate copper to their charity.

A police report says when asked for a business card, the men instead claimed they had a bus full of disabled children circling the block and needed the wire right away. So rather than vetting them further, Carrasco approved a donation and another City Light executive met them at an Industrial District storage lot and pointed out 100 pounds of copper wire they could take.

The men returned later on with a couple of rented trucks and loaded them up with far more than just 100 pounds of wire. The scammers managed to take off with 42,500 pounds of scrap wire worth $120,000.

City Light spokesman Scott Thomsen tells the P-I all the stolen wire was ultimately recovered in Fort Worth, Texas, where it had been shipped.

“Unfortunately, we were victimized by these con artists,” Thomsen says. “These guys are professional at this.”

Needless to say, Dori has no sympathy for City Light.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You fell for this and you’re assigning the blame to the fact that these guys were professional con artists?” Dori says.

“We can’t even get politicians on our air to talk to me, and because we have a culture at city hall, and everybody is so politically correct down there, they start falling all over themselves.”

Producer Jake couldn’t agree more – once he stopped laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

“This isn’t an Ocean’s 11 scenario. They just walked in with a headdress and a fake name and got them to give them everything.”

While City Light recovered the wire, Jones and Costa remain at large. Officials say they’ve pulled off similar scams around the state.

“This is what political correctness does to you. It makes you into boobs and ninnies,” says Dori. “You’re so afraid to offend that you don’t even do the slightest amount of vetting before you take people down to your secure facility because you are so desperate to help out the Native Americans and the disabled kids that you don’t even check them out?”

Tribal Fishery Opposes Washington Coal Terminal

Tribal treaty fishing rights give Washington tribes the opportunity to weigh in on, and even block, projects that could impact their fishing grounds.(Ashley Ahearn/KUOW Photo)

December 11, 2013 Here&Now

About a quarter of all the coal the U.S. exports goes to Asian markets. To meet the demand, there are plans to build what would be the largest coal terminal in North America at a place called Cherry Point in the far northwestern corner of Washington state.

But there’s a hitch. The waters surrounding Cherry Point support a fishing industry worth millions of dollars. It’s also a sacred place for the Lummi tribe, whose reservation is nearby. And thanks to a landmark legal decision in the 1970s, tribes have the right to weigh in on — and even stop — projects that could affect their fishing grounds.

From the Here & Now Contributors Network, Ashley Ahearn of KUOW reports.

Northwest Tribe Opposes Coal Terminal, But How Hard Will They Fight It?

Coal Exporter Disturbed Native American Burial Site Near Bellingham

Reporter

Ashley Ahearn, environment reporter for KUOW and part of the regional multimedia collaborative project EarthFix.

Follow link to listen to Transcript

JEREMY HOBSON, HOST:

It’s HERE AND NOW.

Coal prices are at the highest levels in months thanks to strong demand from Asian markets like China. And to help meet that demand, there are plans to build a huge new coal terminal in Washington State, at a place called Cherry Point. But the waters surrounding Cherry Point support a fishing industry that’s worth millions of dollars, and it’s a sacred place for the Lummi tribe, which has the right to weigh in on or put a stop to projects that could affect their fishing grounds.

From the HERE AND NOW Contributors Network, KUOW’s Ashley Ahearn reports.

ASHLEY AHEARN, BYLINE: Jay Julius and his crew pull crab pots up out of the deep blue waters near Cherry Point. From massive buckets on deck comes the clack and rustle of delicious Dungeness crabs in futile attempts at escape. We’re about 15 miles south of the Canadian border.

JAY JULIUS COUNCILMEMBER, LUMMI TRIBAL COUNCIL: That’s not bad.

AHEARN: Jay Julius is a member of the Lummi tribal council. His ancestors have fished these waters, just like he does now, for thousands of years. One out of every 10 Lummi tribal members has a fishing license, and the Lummi tribal fishery is worth $15 million annually.

COUNCIL: So now we’re entering the proposed area for the coal port. As you can see, the buoys start.

AHEARN: Dozens upon dozens of crab pots buoys dot the waters around us, like a brightly colored obstacle course as we approach Cherry Point.

COUNCIL: We see buoys up there.

AHEARN: If the Gateway Pacific Terminal is built, it could draw more than 450 ships per year to take the coal to Asia. Those ships would travel through this area of Cherry Point. The tribe is worried that its shellfish, salmon and halibut fishery will suffer.

COUNCIL: What does that mean to our treaty right to fish? This will be no more.

AHEARN: That treaty right to fish could play a major role in the review process for the Gateway Pacific Terminal and the two other coal terminals under consideration in the Northwest. In the mid-1800s, tribes in this region signed treaties with the federal government, seeding millions of acres of their land. But the tribal leaders of the time did a very smart thing, says Tim Brewer. He’s a lawyer with the Tulalip tribe.

TIM BREWER: What they insisted on was reserving the right to continue to fish in their usual and accustomed fishing areas. Extremely important part of the treaty.

AHEARN: Those treaty rights weren’t enforced in Washington until a momentous court decision in 1970s known as the Boldt Decision. It forced the state to follow up on the treaty promise of fishing rights that were made to the tribes more than a century before. Brewer says the phrase, usual and accustomed fishing areas, has implications for development projects, like coal terminals.

BREWER: If a project is going to impair access to a fishing ground and that impairment is significant, that project cannot move forward without violating the treaty right.

AHEARN: And in recent decades, tribes have flexed to those treaty muscles. The Lummi stopped a fish farm that was planned for the water’s off of Lummi island in the mid-’90s. The tribe argued that constructing the floating net pens would block tribal access to their usual and accustomed fishing grounds.

BREWER: And in that case, the Corps of Engineers denied that permit on that basis. There was no agreement that was bled to be worked out there.

AHEARN: But in other situations, agreements had been made.

DWIGHT JONES: My name is Dwight Jones. We’re at L.A. Bay Marina.

AHEARN: Jones is the general manager of the marina. Behind where he’s standing, Seattle’s Space Needle pierces the downtown skyline in the distance.

JONES: L.A. Bay Marina is the largest privately owned and operated marina on the West Coast. We have about 1,250 slips.

AHEARN: The marina was built in 1991 after a decade of environmental review and haggling with the Muckleshoot tribe. The marina is within the tribe’s treaty fishing area.

JONES: It was contentious, I guess, would be the right word.

AHEARN: Could they have stopped this project from being built?

JONES: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely they could’ve stopped it.

AHEARN: But they didn’t. Instead, the tribe negotiated a settlement. The owners of L.A. Bay Marina paid the Muckleshoot more than a million dollars upfront. And for the next hundred years, they will give the tribe eight percent of their gross annual revenue.

JONES: Anybody in business can tell you that eight percent of your gross revenue is a huge number. It really affects your viability as a business, so…

AHEARN: What would you say to companies that are trying to build a coal terminal?

(LAUGHTER)

JONES: I’d say good luck. It’s a long road, and there will be a lot of cost and the chances are, the tribes will make it – will probably negotiate a settlement that works well for them and will be – not be cheap.

AHEARN: SSA Marine and Pacific International Terminals, the companies that want to build the terminal at Cherry Point, have lawyers and staff members trying to negotiate a deal with the Lummi. But Jay Julias, a Lummi councilmember, laughs when I asked him how he feels about the company’s efforts to make inroads with the tribe.

COUNCIL: I say they’re funny, but I think they’re quite disgusting. The way they’re trying to infiltrate our nation, contaminate it, use people – it’s nothing new.

AHEARN: SSA Marine declined repeated requests to be interviewed for this story. But they emailed a statement. It says: We sincerely respect the Lummi way of life and the importance of fishing to the tribe. We continue to believe we can come to an understanding with the Lummi nation regarding the Gateway Pacific Terminal project. For HERE AND NOW, I’m Ashley Ahearn in Seattle. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

House passes Mullin bill for Native American veterans memorial at DC museum

By Chris Casteel NewsOK.com

December 11, 2013

The House on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill by Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Westville, to authorize construction of a memorial to Native Americans on the grounds of the National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall in Washington.

“I have heard from people I represent and from outside our district that the construction of this memorial means a great deal to Native Americans who served this nation and to their families,” Mullin said. “It is important that we properly honor these brave soldiers and tell their stories for generations to come.”

Mullin’s bill allows the Smithsonian museum to raise money for the memorial; no taxpayer funding will be used.

“With the recent presentation of the Congressional gold medals to tribal code talkers, it is an appropriate time for a renewed focus and gratitude toward Native Americans who served America in our war efforts and protected our freedoms,” said S. Joe Crittenden, Deputy Chief of the Cherokee Nation and a U.S. Navy veteran from the Vietnam War. “We applaud Congress for taking the necessary steps to truly honor our warriors and the sacrifices Native families have made to defend this great country of ours.”

Mullin, a Cherokee, is one of only two Native Americans. The other is Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, a Chickasaw.

“Throughout my life, I have always been proud of my Native American heritage,” Cole said. “I am very pleased that the legislation brought to the floor by Congressman Mullin will help facilitate construction of a memorial honoring Native Americans who served our country on the battlefield. It is only right to recognize and remember the significant contributions of those Native American warriors who served our country on the battlefield with great skill and bravery, and there is no better place than the National Museum of the American Indian.”

Tribal leaders praised the passage of H.R. 2319 and its significance to Native Americans.

“We take great pride in the long history of Native American service in the armed forces of the United States,” said Chickasaw Governor Bill Anoatubby. “We owe all these brave men and women a debt of gratitude for what they have done to protect our freedom and our way of life. This memorial is one way we can express our appreciation for their service and sacrifice.”

“Congressman Mullin understands how we as Native People revere our warriors,” said John L. Berrey, Chairman of the Quapaw Tribe. “His dedication to Native Americans is truly from the heart. As the Chairman of the Quapaw Tribe we are honored to have Mullin as our representative.”

“The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma applauds the passage of Representative Mullin’s bill, honoring the dedication and sacrifice of Native veterans,” said Choctaw Chief Gregory E. Pyle. “H.R. 2319 authorizes the Native American Veterans Memorial for tribal veterans from all tribes and all wars. Some of these warriors were fighting for our country before they were even recognized as American citizens. I am very pleased with the passage of this bill and very proud of all the Choctaw veterans and the many other Native soldiers who will be represented by this memorial.”