Tillie Black Bear - honour and gratitude

Tillie Black Bear, healer and warrior woman, advocate for survivors of rape and domestic violence, without whom many of us would not be alive, has crossed over. She made a profound difference in my life, and in the life of so many survivors. I've posted about her before, and many of the "stopping the violence" resources I list in the sidebar would not exist without her. What I haven't spoken about as much publicly is the direct, personal impact she had on my life. She is one of the women who saved my life. Without her work, I would probably not be here.

Her compassion, her courageous stand for women and tradition in the face of patriarchal violence, her refusal to let anyone forget that violence against women is not traditional in tribal communities, and is never, ever acceptable, changed the lives of all she touched. And she touched so many.

Love and gratitude to you, Tillie. Peace and comfort to your loved ones. Know that you touched, healed, and saved so many lives. May others pick up the many burdens you shouldered and continue on in your name. Safe and sacred passage to you. I love you, will miss you, and honour you as an ancestor, because without you I would not be. Slàinte Mhath.

Photo of Tillie Black Bear, Sicangu Lakota, 

courtesy Native Women's Society of the Great Plains

Warrior Women and Wounded Knee III

About half an hour ago, Black Hawk gunships tried to land on the killing field at Wounded Knee. Autumn Two Bulls reports that when the choppers tried to land the women ran out into the field and would not let them land. The choppers are gone. Updates to come. But for now it looks like the women drove away the 7th cavalry!


Blackhawk helicopter flies a mission over Iraq

For those unfamiliar with the background of Wounded Knee, read the text here, and please sign the petition: Wounded Knee Medals of Dis Honor

The situation is still a bit unclear. But here's what we know right now.

After months of coordinated days of action, calling and writing to get the White House, or anyone, to help out with the crumbling infrastructure on the reservations in the Dakotas, the suicide epidemic, the grinding poverty and lack of jobs, there was finally a response. Sort of:

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 30, 2010

President Obama Signs North Dakota Disaster Declaration

The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of North Dakota and ordered Federal aid to supplement State and local recovery efforts in the area struck by flooding beginning on February 26, 2010, and continuing.

Federal funding is available to State and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the flooding in the counties of Barnes, Benson, Cass, Dickey, Emmons, Foster, Grand Forks, LaMoure, Logan, Mercer, Morton, Nelson, Pembina, Ramsey, Ransom, Richland, Sargent, Steele, Stutsman, Traill, Walsh, and Wells and the portions of the Spirit Lake Reservation that lie within these counties.

Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures for all counties and Tribes within the State.

W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named Justo Hernández as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.

FEMA said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the State and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: FEMA (202) 646-3272.

Then late yesterday afternoon, the relatives network led to a few Oglala people finding out about a private meeting scheduled at Pine Ridge. Word leaked that the helicopters would be coming. Allegedly the meeting was so some representatives of the military could hear the NDNs side of the Wounded Knee Massacre. Huh? Why now? Why all of a sudden, with no real notice, without the descendants being notified at all, without anyone but a few people on the tribal council even being told this would happen? The traditional way would have been for the military to ask permission to come to Pine Ridge. Then, if permission was granted, to call a community meeting, with the appropriate representatives there, and everything done respectfully and openly. But this was about as far from that as you can get.

Perhaps they wanted a photo op of a military-style wreath-laying, with no one but a few token NDNs there. Perhaps they just wanted to land as close to the cemetery as possible then get out fast, before anyone who might have a problem with this could find out.

Now, if you've read the above links, you'll know that:

1. You don't send the modern Seventh Cavalry to Wounded Knee. Not unless it's to crawl on their knees in abject apology for the actions of those whose legacy they have chosen to carry on; not unless you've come to return the medals that were given to soldiers, and are still displayed, for their massacre of unarmed women, children and elders.

2. You do not land gunships on a burial ground. You just don't. How about if we drive monster trucks loaded with armed civilians into Arlington National Cemetery? Maybe armed warriors on horseback, with the horses taking a dump on the graves? How about if a bunch of Iraqis and Afghanis drive ATV's over the graves of soldiers who died in the Gulf Wars? Maybe some Nazis having target practice on the graves of World War II dead? How about that?

So, some are saying this was some sort of attempted PR stunt. Some kind of "apology". Well... maybe they should have talked to the people first instead of rampaging in in their colonialist, militarist, macho "glory". No glory for you, dudes. You messed it up once again.

Still waiting to hear where they landed, if they landed. But all the military, and the White House, has accomplished today is scaring the crap out of a bunch of women and children, who, despite any fear, put their bodies on the line to protect their land, to protect the graves of their ancestors.

History repeats at Wounded Knee.


The mass grave at the Wounded Knee Massacre site
in South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation

Listen to the archived show with the live calls from the site as the choppers are trying to land: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/wanbli/2010/05/01/indigenous-rights-movement-radio-live-from-wounded-knee-emergency And stay tuned, I'm sure there will be another show on this later today or tomorrow.


Black Hawks equipped with M60 machine guns
near An Najaf, Iraq in May 2005

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ETA: I don't want to forget the brave men who also stood up today. Alex White Plume and other men also stood against the choppers, and like the women, are still on site dealing with this. I was just so excited about these brave young women charging out there, and that was the first report that came in, that I had to run with it :-)

ETA: 4:30pm EST - Alex White Plume is reporting that, "A large number of people from three rezzes came to defend the ground of Wounded Knee. At 11:45 am three helicopters appeared above Wounded Knee. We were all in shock. It was true: the 7th Cavalry. I seen women and children running under the killing machines to keep them from landing. One chopper landed 50 feet from the cemetery. A society leader stood his ground and so he lifted off."

ETA: 6:45pm EST - This is footage of a Blackhawk helicopter over Iraq. You can see the guns, like the ones they used on women and children in Vietnam. Be ready for loud sounds... much like those that ripped the sky open over sacred ground in NDN Country today.

Warrior Women and Winter Emergency in South Dakota

After the devastating ice storms, some of the Reservations in South Dakota have now been without heat, power, or even water for over a week.

More info on how to help on the YouTube page (Click on "more info")

Additional information and comments about this video on CNN's board

Call CNN and demand they cover the emergencies in South Dakota. The situation in Haiti is real to people, and viewers are moved to help, because news networks like CNN show the devastating footage of human suffering, in vivid detail, round the clock. Who wouldn't cry with compassion and want to get on the next plane when we see survivors pulled bleeding from the wreckage as their families cry and pray? It's human for people to care more about those they feel they know, and the media makes this connection for people. But the mainstream media ignores disasters on the reservations, and the current situation is no exception.

Yesterday activists bombarded CNN with calls, demanding coverage. CNN has promised to cover the situation on Pine Ridge, but we need to keep on them and make sure they keep their word. (CNN News Room: 404-827-2658)

For more information on how to help, Supporting SD Rez is posting frequent updates, and checking in with friends on the reservations to make sure the charities they recommend are legit.

Indigenous Rights Movement Radio is having frequent shows on the situation. Listen to the archived show with Grandma Wilma Thin Elk from the Wounded Knee District and Autumn TwoBulls. Last night's show has added momentum to the continuing discussions on increasing sustainable energy, and traditional food production on the reservations, and how these things can bring jobs and improve reservation economies. Any grantwriters out there want to lend a hand?

Autumn TwoBulls and her team, frustrated with the inaction of some of the mainstream charities and tribal councils, are working tirelessly to coordinate contact between families in need and those with the resources to help out.

You can also check out the Pine Ridge website directly, and get updates and contact info for donating to their emergency fund: http://www.oglalalakotanation.org/

This thread on NAFPS includes news stories, friends posting in with updates from Standing Rock, Pine Ridge, and Cheyenne River Reservations, and their personal and professional feedback on relief efforts.

And yes, sign of the apocalypse and all, I'm on Twitter now, and reposting things about this, as well as the usual Gaelic stuff. Twitter is weird, but it sure is a fast way of getting the word out.

Women Warriors, Protection, Healing and Justice

Tanya Lee writes in Indian Country Today:

Women warriors take on domestic violence and sexual assault

From North Dakota to Arizona, strong, talented, accomplished Native American women are taking up the challenge of protecting themselves and their sisters, their mothers and aunts, their grandmothers and granddaughters, from the devastation of domestic violence and sexual assault.
... ... ...
“Crimes against Indian women and children strike at the very heart of tribal sovereignty,” reads the 2007 Senate Indian Affairs Committee concept paper on law and order that identified domestic violence and sexual assault as one of the five critical areas in which law enforcement in Indian country was failing.

Following the release of the paper in November 2007, the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2008 was introduced in the Senate and the House July 23, 2008. The last action on the bill was Sept. 18, 2008, when the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held hearings. The bill didn’t pass and was reintroduced in the 111th Congress April 2. The Senate held a hearing on the proposed legislation June 25. Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., has scheduled another hearing for mid-September, and the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women is considering a Tribal Consultation Oct. 30 in Minneapolis.
... ... ...
But in North Dakota, Linda Thompson and her colleagues at the First Nations Women’s Alliance and its member organizations are organizing themselves to be more effective in supporting – and healing – the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault on the four North Dakota Indian reservations.

“It’s often thought that young black men are the most victimized in the U.S., but it is actually Native women,” said Thompson, paraphrasing a statement in the Justice Department report, “American Indians and Crime.”

Read the Full Article

In related news, Cangleska is experiencing some financial hardships, and has had to lay off some staff. If you can volunteer or donate time or resources, please consider them.

Embedded within each of the components of Cangleska, Inc. is the concept of sovereign women within a sovereign nation whose safety was paramount. With the Lakota principle of “we are all related” incorporated in all of the work, Cangleska, Inc. offers a comprehensive and collaborative approach on the local, state and national level.

The number of women and their children seeking shelter and other related services continues to increase. Women are now aware that there is safe space on the Pine Ridge Reservation and are using the services provided to them.

In addition to services for women and children, Cangleska also has family programs and services for men such as Ki Wicasa Wo Ohitika and a Men's Re-education Program.