Salish speakers gather: Tribes hope to save disappearing dialects

Coyote’s Salmon (Sanpoil)

As retold by Nicole Kidder

The daily life of the bands that make up the Colville Tribe is closely tied to the cycles of nature. The Colville largely believed that thousands of moons ago, when the Great Chief Above made the world, he also created the Animal People. When the Creator returned after twelve moons, Coyote was appointed leader of all Creatures. As a result, Coyote often plays a central role in the Tribe’s tales. While Coyote is always given great powers, sometimes he handles them responsibly and other times he doesn’t, depending on the moral of the tale…

A long time ago, an old man and an old woman of the Sanpoil Tribe lived along the shores of the Sanpoil River with their beautiful granddaughter. One day during his travels, Coyote came upon the family and immediately decided he must marry the young girl.

He knew he must get to know the family first, so he spent the afternoon talking to Old Man and Old Woman. The elderly couple was impressed with Coyote’s neatly braided hair and carefully combed forelocks. Taking notice of his height and strength, they wondered if he might be a Chief.

After some time had passed, Coyote pointed to the river and asked Old Man what he had floating out there.

“Why, that is my fish trap!” Old Man said proudly. “I catch bullheads and sunfish for my family to eat. They are not much, but what else can we do?”

About an hour before sunset, Coyote decided to take a walk. When he came to the top of a hill, he spotted grouse roosting in a tree. Quietly, he picked up a handful of stones and pitched them into the tree, killing five of the birds for supper. To Old Man, his wife, and his beautiful granddaughter, it seemed like a feast.

“You must tell me, my friend, how did you get this?” Old Man asked. “Is this the kind of food you eat every day?

“Well, sometimes I eat berries and roots and other times I catch fish as long as your arm,” Coyote replied.

Later that evening, Coyote decided to announce his true intentions. “Old Man and Old Woman, I would like to stay here a while if you will have me. I would like to marry your granddaughter.”

Coyote went for a walk to give the old couple time to talk. Turning to his wife, Old Man asked, “What do you think? If he marries our granddaughter, maybe he will bring good food for our supper every evening! Yes, he seems to be a fine fellow.”

When Coyote returned, Old Man was waiting outside. Holding up his pipe, he said, “I wish had some tobacco. Mine ran out a while ago.”

“Here,” Coyote offered gladly as he reached into his jacket. “Have some of mine.”

After a while, Old Man spoke again. “My wife and I have talked over your proposal and you have our permission to marry our granddaughter and live here with us. But, you must promise that if you leave, you will take her with you.” Coyote eagerly agreed.

Later that evening, Coyote took another walk down to the stream where Old Man kept his fish trap. He adjusted the rocks to guide the fish into a basket trap that he made, then he told the salmon that he wanted one male and one female to be in the trap in the morning.

The next morning, Coyote awoke and asked Old Man to walk with him down to the fish trap. When they arrived, Old Man found two big fish. “Those are salmon Old Man, chief among all fish!” Coyote exclaimed. “Let us take them over to that flat place and I will show you what to do with them.”

Coyote sent Old Man in search of sunflower stems and leaves. When he brought them back, Coyote explained that the herbs were salmon plants. “Salmon must always be laid on sunflower stems and leaves,” Coyote told Old Man reverently. “Place them upon the ground, then lay the salmon upon them. Put a stick in the salmon’s mouth and bend it back to break off the head. Place long sharp poles inside the salmon lengthwise to hold for roasting over the fire.”

“You must remove the salmon from the trap every day. When preparing it for supper, never use your knife to cut it and always roast the fish over the fire on sticks the way I have shown you. Do not boil it during the first week. When the salmon is roasted, carefully open it and remove the backbone without breaking it. The backbone and the head must be saved for the sacred bundle, which you must place in a tree where it will not be bothered. It must never be eaten. If you follow these instructions, you will have salmon in your trap every day. If you do not, either a big storm will drown your family or you will be bitten by a rattlesnake and die.”

“I am passing on these sacred secrets to you because someday I will die. I love your granddaughter and I want you and your tribe to know the best way to care for and use your salmon. Have your men place their traps along the river. The man whose trap is first will be known as Chief of the Salmon and the others will obey the rules that he sets.”

“After the first week of the salmon season, you can boil the meat or cook it any way you wish. But, remember to always wrap the bones in the sacred bundle, as I have taught you to do, and never leave them in a place where they can be stepped upon or stepped over. If you do this, you will find twice as many salmon in your trap than you found the day before.” Then Coyote showed Old Man how to dry the fish and prepare the meat for winter. Before long, an entire scaffold was covered with drying fish.

As the people of the Sanpoil Tribe noticed how well Old Man and Old Woman were doing, they returned to their hogans to tell their families about the big, red fish called salmon that was as big as an arm. The old couple showed the tribe how to trap the salmon and dry them for winter food.

To this day, the Sanpoils harvest their salmon in exactly the same way that Coyote taught their ancestors long, long ago.

Environmental group pulls out of Klamath talks

Environmental group pulls out of Klamath talks

by Matthew Preusch, The Oregonian

Thursday April 23, 2009, 1:30 PM

Associated PressA dry irrigation ditch in the Klamath Basin in 2001.

A prominent environmental group has backed out of negotiations over a deal meant to help fish, farmers, tribes and others in the Klamath Basin.

The California-based Northcoast Environmental Center said the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement would threaten salmon and other fish and the basin and won’t speed the removal of four dams on the Klamath River, which the center supports.

The agreement, they said, doesn’t do enough to ensure flows for fish runs while guaranteeing water deliveries to farms that rely on irrigation water diverted from the river.

“We understand and sympathize with the plight of upriver farmers, who need water for their
crops,” said Greg King, the NEC’s Klamath campaign coordinator. “The farmers require
water to avoid dry fields. But the salmon need that same water to avoid extinction.”

Two other environmental groups, Oregon Wild and WaterWatch, have already come out against the agreement, as has the Hoopa Valley Tribe in California and some upper basin irrigators.

The settlement was crafted over three years by a coalition of 26 groups representing government, farming, fishing, tribal and conservation interests. It was released in draft form last year, hailed as a way to end long-running disputes over water and resources in the basin that straddles the Oregon and California border.

But it would require enough political support to wring nearly $1 billion in funding from Congress to move forward, so any dissolution of the negotiation group threatens its success.

– Matthew Preusch; mattpreusch@news.oregonian.com

Support Justice For The Winnemem Wintu Tribe

We, the undersigned, support the Winnemem Wintu struggle for justice. The California Legislature passed AJR 39, a joint resolution memorializing Congress to restore recognition to the Winnemem Wintu Tribe. The next step to correct an historic wrong now goes to the Federal level. We ask that you, as Senators representing California, sponsor and support a bill for the restoration of the Winnemem Wintu tribe. Change the message relayed in 1852 which refused to honor the treaty this tribe signed, in peace and friendship, by restoring the basic human rights they have been fighting for over the past 156 years.

Please sign our Petition.

Comments:
The importance of caring for and praying for the earth, the spirits of the land and the spirits of the earth’s water cannot be overstated. Humans are not any more separate from mother earth, than are the waters, the fish, the wildlife or the plants. There are those who understand this in the very core of their being and there are those who live out this knowledge in their daily thoughts and actions. These are the true caretakers of our planet earth.

Who can better care for and preserve the Mt Shasta lands and waters than those who trace their very existence to it? Centuries of ancestry have reached into the present through the Winnemem Wintu people. Winnemem people are still here doing the work the Creator set forth for them, despite the fact that their ancestors have been murdered and their ancestral lands have been robbed. Their sacred sites and their ancestral burial sites have been flooded, relocated and then stolen again.

In the 1980’s their very identity and existence was conveniently discounted. How can it be that these non-existent people signed treaties with the Federal government? Why is it that as recently as the 1970’s, they received the rights and restitution afforded to all American Indians if they did not exist, if they were not a tribe? How is it logical that individual Winnemem families received their rightful health care and education benefits and yet their own descendants no longer “qualify” for these rights because the entire tribe has been “accidentally” left off “the list?”

How can the disgrace of this error of non-recognition be allowed?

It is incomprehensible to me that this travesty continues to be perpetrated against these stewards of the land and water.

The United States government cannot in good conscience, do anything less than restore recognition to the Winnemem Wintu tribe of California. This omission MUST be addressed, and it must be addressed now. Our failure to rectify this wrong destroys the honor of all who consider themselves to be part of the United States of America.
Mary Favero

Student's long hair can stay for now

METRO – Somerset High School student Jesus Figueroa, 17, walks to his hearing at the U.S. Courthouse for his First Amendment lawsuit concerning his right to have long hair due to his Native American heritage on Friday, March 27, 2009. LISA KRANTZ/lkrantz@express-news.net

Like a character from the Bible, 17-year-old Jesus Figueroa draws strength from his shoulder-length hair.

It is spiritual, and the honors student at Somerset High School said he considers his locks part of his Native American heritage, which he has been discovering as he matures.

But, according to a federal lawsuit he filed, his hair doesn’t sit well with the rules of the Somerset Independent School District. The district bars male students from having hair that touches the shirt collar.

Figueroa had to serve two in-school suspensions last year until he cut his hair. After he refused to trim it a third time earlier this year, he was suspended again until he filed the lawsuit and got a judge to order the district to allow him back into his regular classes. By then, he had served a month of the latest suspension.

On Friday, Figueroa tried to make his case that the district’s actions trample on his Constitutional right to religious expression. Native Americans don’t cut their hair unless they’re in mourning, he argues.

He wants to be able to graduate in May taking his regular courses, and the district seems inflexible and indifferent, he argues. He’s already has a scholarship to attend Our Lady of the Lake University.

U.S. District Judge Fred Biery gave him a partial victory, at least until a school board meeting April 13.

“This is a learning experience, but I wish I didn’t have to go through this,” Figueroa said of his battle with the district. “To me it shows they are not receptive to diversity.”

According to the district’s lawyers, Figueroa only recently — on Jan. 29 — made the claim that his hair is important to his Native American ancestry. They agree the district has granted religious exemptions to students in the past, but school lawyer Craig WoodÖ said Figueroa did not go completely through the administrative process before taking his case to court.

Figueroa said school and district officials were taking too long to hear his intra-district appeals. Rather than formally put his issue on the school board’s agenda, he filed suit. He said, however, that he spoke informally before the board in the past about the hair issue.

Court documents submitted by Figueroa’s lawyer, St. Mary’s Law School professor Amy Kastely, said the district wants him to submit proof he is Native American. School officials asked Figueroa for a card verifying his tribe is recognized by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, for instance.

There are 562 federally recognized American Indian tribes and Alaska Natives in the United States, the BIA’s Web site says. The BIA has been repeatedly criticized for not recognizing those who claim affiliation with smaller or dying tribes. It does not recognize those from tribes outside the U.S.

Figueroa is originally from Michoacan, a central state in Mexico, and his family says they are P’urhépecha Indians. He has lived in the U.S. since he was 3 years old, and moved to Texas in March 2007 from California. But he embraces his roots. He is a member of Danza Azteca and the Native American Church.

A small group of members from various tribes protested the school district’s actions outside federal court Friday. They held placards that read: “We demand respect for Native People” “God Bless our Native Students” and “Justice for Native Peoples.”

“They’ve taken everything away from us, and now they want to take our hair too?” said Ray Rios, who is Yanaguana. Figueroa’s choice not to cut his hair “is not something he’s doing to rebel or be dirty. It’s a source of pride. …I think they sometimes don’t know there’s a native presence here.”

After hearing arguments for an hour later Friday, Biery ordered that the matter be taken before the school board at its regular meeting April 13, but he instructed the district to keep him in his regular classes until then.

In the meantime, Figueroa’s hair stays.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Court_approves_students_long_hair.html

Native American high school student banned for hair length

By Nikki Weingartner.

Somerset High senior Jesus Figueroa. — Photo: mmdelarosa

Is the Texas Education System opposed to Native Americans? In the second case this year, a Native American student has been punished for hair length and for a second time, won the right to wear his hair long by federal court.

Dress codes are often a bone of contention for those who believe students should be able to freely express themselves through hot pink hair spikes and multiple facial piercings. But when freedoms are taken away due to deep-seeded roots and students punished for their heritage, is it safe to blindly defend those zero-tolerance “codes?”

A high school senior named Jesus Figueroa who just happens to be Native American was placed in on-campus suspension because his hair violated a district policy that “bans males’ hair from touching the collar.” After a battle that included federal court proceedings, the student has been allowed to keep his hair and return to class, as explained by a San Antonio news report.

Read more

Winnemem Wintu "A Long Journey To Justice"

The Winnemem have been fighting for years to sustain their culture and address generations of broken promises by the federal government. 

War Dance, March and press conference from Sacramento River to the State Capitol.

Winnemem war dancers and tribal leaders will perform a traditional ceremonial War Dance next to the Sacramento River and will then march to the State Capitol building. The March and War Dance initiate the federal lawsuit the Tribe is filing, asking for compensation for damages done by federal land management policies, including the construction of the Shasta Dam.

Schedule of events:

Sunday, April 19th: War Dance begins in the evening on the Sacramento River

Location: West Sacramento TBA.

Monday, April 20th: Ceremony and address by Tribal leaders

West Sacramento. Exact location and time TBA

March from Sacramento River to State Capitol

ROUTE AND TIME FOR MARCH TBA

Press Conference with Tribal leaders and community members

12:00 Noon to 1 PM State Capitol Location 27 West side of capitol building

More Information

The Winnemem Wintu Tribe is filing a lawsuit against Department of The Interior; Department of Agriculture; United States Forest Service; Bureau of Reclamation; Bureau of Indian Affairs; Bureau of Land Management; Ken Salazar, Secretary of The Interior; Assistant Secretary for Water and Science; Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks in The Department of Agriculture; and Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture asking for redress for decades of injustices and harm related to federal land management policies which have destroyed Winnemem cultural practices and sacred places.

The Winnemem began a journey to justice in 2004 with a War Dance at Shasta Dam. Today we continue that journey with another War Dance and this lawsuit. Our people are a traditional people, steeped in our culture and traditional lifeways, who have continued our cultural practices throughout the written history of the state of California. With this lawsuit and War Dance, we continue our journey to ensure our basic quality of life and freedom to maintain our traditions and culture.

Winnemem Wintu Tribe
14840 bear mountain road • Redding, CA • 96003
Phone: 530-275-2737 • Fax: 530-275-4193
http://www.winnememwintu.us

Winnemem Wintu Search for Justice

Little Steven – “Leonard Peltier”

“Where is the Justice for Leonard Peltier”

Leonard Peltier sleeps in a prison tonight
For 400 years he’s lived with justice washed white
His crime was tradition spoken with pride

And the evidence that put him there
Was deliberately falsified
And the government spends a lot of money
To keep the red man quiet

He should say what he wants to say
And it’s time we listened
He should pray where he wants to pray
Without asking permission

Leonard Peltier
Where is the justice for Leonard Peltier?

June ‘75 Pine Ridge Reservation
Two FBI trespass Lakota Nation
Looking for trouble their army waiting outside

And trouble they brought some
They were pawns in the big game
For stolen minerals and tourists
They were sacrificed in profit’s name

And what would you do?
As you stare into the face of
The genocide of your people
Put yourself in the place of

Leonard Peltier
Where is the justice for Leonard Peltier?

Somebody ask the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Somebody ask the Bureau of Indian Affairs
Somebody ask the Bureau of Land Management
Somebody ask the Environmental Protection Agency

Ask them about Raymond Yellowthunder
Wesley Badheart Bull
Joe Killsright Stuntz
Tina Trudell
Annie May Aquash
Pedro Bissonnette
Delphine Eagledeer
Byron Deserta
Buddy Lamont

Leonard Peltier
Where is the justice for Leonard Peltier?

We Shall Remain "Previews"

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