The Murder of Little Mary Phagan

Phagan-Kean, Mary

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by Ann Hendon

WITH OVER 500 pages, more than twice the length of the first (1987) edition, the newly-revised and expanded second edition of The Murder of Little Mary Phagan is now available for purchase.

The author, Mary Phagan-Kean, states: “This book is the great work of my lifetime, a compelling personal journey, a tale of the shocking sex murder and abuse of my great-aunt, 13-year-old Mary Phagan — and it’s the story that the ADL and other shadowy forces don’t want you to read.”

This is the book that finally and definitively brings the truth about the murder of Mary Phagan by her killer, sweatshop boss and B’nai B’rith official Leo Frank, to light. It’s available now! Click the link or scan the QR code to get your copy at a discount price today.

Co-written by Bayard Johnson (author of “Damned Right”), “Clouds” takes the reader on a journey into the intriguing and little-understood belief system and world view shared by many American Indians and other indigenous people around the world.

The American Indian way of living has almost nothing in common with the patriarchal philosophies and religions of Europe and Asia, and this book helps explain the violent clash of cultures that continues to erupt between indigenous and industrial societies whenever they come into contact anywhere in the world.

Few Lakota are still living who heard the true account of their people’s beliefs directly from Elders who were born free, whose earliest memories pre-dated the fencing of the Plains and the imprisonment of the Lakota people and culture. Russell Means is one of these.

As a young leader of the American Indian Movement, which helped resuscitate Indian nations throughout the hemisphere, Russell had the privilege of learning traditional Lakota ways and knowledge from Elders who were steeped in these ancient teachings. It is now Russell’s turn to pass on this timeless and timely wisdom to a world starved for balance and truth.

Look for “If You’ve Forgotten The Names Of The Clouds, You’ve Lost Your Way: An Introduction to American Indian Thought and Philosophy” on Amazon, Barnes&Noble.com, and wherever ebooks are sold.

For your Kindle edition go to this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Youve-Forgotten-Names-Clouds-ebook/dp/B007V91ENK/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1337714994&sr=1-1

For your Nook edition go to this link:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/if-youve-forgotten-the-names-of-the-clouds-youve-lost-your-way-russell-means/1110184604?ean=9781620952979

by Lawrence Neal (pictured)

THE MOST ESSENTIAL QUESTION confronting me is the psychological and physical survival of the Black man in America. I believe that it is impossible for me to separate myself from the collective survival of my people. Most of our problems, whether we wish to accept this or not, are group problems. Further, they are basically the results of centuries of a unique kind of oppression. The only salvation for us, therefore, is to translate our individual problems into group problems; and then as a group proceed to eliminate them. We must survive as a people, not as a collection of assimilated freaks — rootless and faceless.

As a writer and social activist, I believe it is necessary, therefore, to address my art, ideas, and actions to the collective needs of my people. It is my duty to transform the oppressive objective conditions which our people face into something more compatible with our physical and spiritual needs. It is my duty also to help my people destroy the slave mentality which affects us all. It is my duty to listen to the voice of my people to learn from them; and to dedicate my life to total liberation of us all. It is my duty to protect myself and my people from the enemy within as well as without. I feel that there is no higher duty that a Black man can perform in this society, considering the condition his people find themselves in.

We must seek the total liberation of Black people from all aspects of their oppression. We must remember that our current ideas are the products of a particular kind of history. A history which began when my forefathers were sold into slavery. That our lives have been influenced by people like Malcolm X, the writings of Garvey, Du Bois, Monroe Trotter, Claude McKay, and Frederick Douglass. I would like to believe that I am an extension of these forces, that I am motivated by the spirit of the Nat Turners, the Denmark Veseys, and a friend named Herbie Johnson who died from an OD (overdose of narcotics) when he was seventeen; and by millions upon millions of unknown Black people who slaved to survive like my parents did, so that one day their sons and daughters would rise up, take control, and reclaim their manhood.

Currently, I am greatly motivated by the ideas of writers and thinkers like Frantz Fanon, Charles Fuller, Bill Davis, Rolland Snellings, and the theoretical writings of Harold Cruse and Max Stanford. Le Roi Jones’ writings on music and his play Black Mass have recently provided meaningful insights into the spiritual nature of Black people.

There are so many excellent and relevant Black writers and creative artists. There is a writer in Philly named James Stewart who, under better social conditions, would be recognized as a writer of great depth and intensity. Of course, there are also colleagues like Dan Watts, editor of Liberator, and social activists and writers like Ted Wilson and Eddie Ellis.

All of these writers have one thing in common: And that is a consummate desire to see Black people liberated by any means necessary. They are willing to sacrifice everything they have to accomplish these ends. And this is finally — it must be — more important than any single creative or artistic trait that they may have. For, finally, our art will be judged in terms of its relevance to the age that produced us, and the degree to which we were willing to extend it into reality. In the end, nothing else will matter — whether it was aesthetically perfect, or artful, or if it lacked craft. Others after us will ask: Did it help liberate us?

What are the crucial issues of our times? For us, as I have already stated, it is survival and the nature of that survival. Further, can we survive as long as the White man dominates the world with his idea of what the world should be? I believe we can not. Therefore we must understand that in order for us to survive we must come together as a people, organize to confront the Western White man on all levels of conflict. We must look at this struggle from the perspective of what Fanon calls the “Third World.” That is, internationally, in terms of the developing nations of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

We must see ourselves as the extension of that Third World situated in the bosom of the beast. In doing this, we must assign ourselves the task of developing a “new humanism,” so that we may ultimately create a synthesis of the best that mankind has to offer, and thereby move to alter the existing power relationships. Then, and then only, is there hope for our children. Then, and then only, will we understand what manhood is. It is not about what Moynihan and other White sociologists say it is. It is not about assimilating into a dying society, totally lacking in spiritual substance. It must be about something much deeper, something much more pertinent to the overall needs of Black people.

And if blood must flow so that our Black Spirit can prevail, then damn it, let it flow. Otherwise, look forward to a bland existence m the wilderness of White America. Look forward to the pervasive mediocrity of Western society inundating us and the entire non-White world. These are harsh realities. They are not intended to soothe but to create conflict — meaningful conflict — among a people who have, generally, been in a semi-hypnotic state.

Currently the question of Black Power occupies the center of our lives. It must continue to do so. Everything that I have spoken about must ultimately be dealt with in terms of power — physical, psychological, and spiritual. Black people are being asked very concrete questions about the political structure of America. It is becoming clear that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans offer any meaningful solutions to our problems. Black people must have their own political structure in which to determine their own destiny.

The future of peoples of African descent living in America is dependent upon the degree to which these and other salient realities are understood and accepted. We must give our total selves to the struggle to achieve our human rights; and, finally, it is in struggle that we will learn who we are.

From Negro Digest, October 1966

*  *  *

Lawrence P. Neal, a graduate of Lincoln University, was arts editor of Liberator magazine. Neal (1937-1981) worked as a critic, poet, folklorist, playwright, filmmaker, editor, teacher, and administrator. He was a founder of the Black Arts movement, which saw his people’s art as unique and race-based.

IN ANSWER to today’s United States Government and its Colonial Corporation, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Govenment’s press conference, we stated: “We the Lakotah People, do not want our massacred dead bodies of men, women and children at the mass grave at Wounded Knee used for publicity by the United States Government nor their colonial corporation, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Government.”

On May 1, 2010, two young men, the Camp brothers, counted coup on the first 7th Cavalry helicopter; and Debbie White Plume, an elder and grandmother who charged the second helicopter preventing it from landing. By running under the blades and touching them without harming the enemy and getting away is how the Lakotah counted coup on this eventful day.

May 2, 2010 at 9:35am
Dakota. To the Original Peoples of the Fourth World and all International Press Services:

AT HIGH NOON today US Army helicopters of the US Seventh Cavalry air division attempted to land their Blackhawk aircraft upon Lakota Sacred Burial grounds in South Dakota. The presence of military aircraft from this unit is a sad and insulting reminder of the slaughter of more than 300 American Aboriginals on December 29, 1890 when soldiers of the US 7th Cavalry gunned down more than 300 Aboriginal Minneconjou Lakota refugee children, women, infants and the elderly at what is now called Wounded Knee in South Dakota Indian Country. The military then left the bodies of their victims to decay unburied in the driving snow.

According to reports from Indigenous Rights Movement Radio host Wanblee this afternoon, Lakota resident Theresa TwoBulls was given less than 24 hours notice that three US Army 7th Cavalry helicopters would make a landing on the sacred burial grounds at Wounded Knee. As of this writing, the US military was confronted by angry but peaceful and steadfast community resistance. The Aboriginal people of the area have so far, according to reports from Lakota people on the ground, managed to prevent the aircraft from touching Indigenous ground.

For all American Aboriginals of the Americas, this is a sacred area. This is the place where the promise of a people died while fleeing from a genocidal US military unit hell-bent on liquidating the continent of its Indigenous population. There has never been any official apology offered for this massacre and the military awards bestowed upon the genocidal aggressors involved in this conflict still stand, as does a physical monument in honor of the US Army soldiers killed during Custer’s “last stand” against a defiant and united Indigenous resistance to their own demise.

The history of the US Army 7th Cavalry is important to understanding the level of violence used against Indigenous peoples. It is important to remember that after the US Seventh Cavalry officially ended the “Indian Wars” at home, they were then dispatched to do battle against Indigenous Filipinos struggling to maintain their hard-won national independence from the colonialist Spanish. In other words, the US War Department sent this very same unit to do overseas what was done here to the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. In this historical light, it is only logical for Indigenous peoples to assume that the Obama administration is attempting to make a political point out of this spectacle. We ask: What sort of message are you sending by insulting and humiliating a people already suffering from five centuries of continuous pro-Europocentric, anti-Indigenous genocide?

This domestic military action is a deliberate insult and an obvious message of ongoing colonialism, state-sponsored racism and apathetic Indigenous genocide to all Indigenous peoples across the Fourth World; to the whole of the Lakota/Dakota Nation; and to the Indigenous residents of Pine Ridge and Wounded Knee. The symbolism of dispatching the Seventh Cavalry to Wounded Knee in an attempt to land weapons of mass destruction on Aboriginal sacred ground tells us how little this government, and this particular administration, respects the people of Indian Country and our significant historical perspective as survivors of the racist Euro-settler xenophobic purges waged against the Indian in the Americas.

To make matters worse, this action comes on the heels of newly-passed legislation in Arizona state that requires law officers to racially-profile anyone they believe “looks”, “sounds” or “dresses” like an illegal immigrant, a thinly veiled “race law” that directly effects both our Indigenous sisters and brothers native to Occupied Mexico as well as the Native American population of Arizona in the United States. Given that most Indigenous peoples of the Americas share the same general physiotype and more often than not, similar Spanish last names, the passage of this guideline will without a doubt lead to widespread abuses against that state’s brown-skinned population. The legal door now opened, Texas and other states led by neo-confederate constituencies are moving to pass their own anti-immigrant/anti-Indigenous directives that will broadly effect anyone and everyone who could be perceived by the colonial European majority as a “foreign invader”.

The Obama administration has shown America and the world that they are no different than any other previous US government in their view that the American Indian on both sides of the US border is nothing more than a prop or a tool to be displayed only when it is useful to promote the “contemporary” 21st century neo-colonialist capitalist agenda. The Obama administration, an office headed by a man of African descent, has shamed itself and all those who have supported his candidacy in arrogantly dismissing the memory of our people interred at Wounded Knee by rubbing the military might of the historically anti-Indigenous 7th Cavalry in our faces by forcibly entering Indian Country in an attempt to land their machines of war on top of the bodies of our ancestral dead.

Clearly, the culture war against the American Indian is not over. Welcome to the new American century.

James ( Magaska) Swan AIM Black Hills South Dakota

Read the full report at Russell Means Freedom

EDITOR’S NOTE: We are happy that the Lakotah people stood up to the regime in Washington. But we don’t believe, as the author of the press release from AIM does, that the Washington regime is Euro-centric. Euro-Americans are being dispossessed by an open borders / cheap labor policy, just as Native peoples were and are dispossessed by having their borders and sovereignty wiped out. Indigenous and Mestizo and White populations alike are pawns in this strategy of the globalists to destroy all national identity. In the struggle for self-determination and freedom, we should be allies against the billionaire elite that wants to rule us under a false “democracy” and “multiculturalism.”

LAST DECEMBER, when Tennessee Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mount Juliet, said she would introduce legislation which would declare null and void any federal law the state deems unconstitutional, some people were horrified. Rep. Lynn was specifically targeting the health-care reform legislation that was pending at that time. But the reaction that many people had to her language was not an expression of their support for Obamacare.

Too many Americans hear the terms “states’ rights” or the word “nullification” and immediately think of racial prejudice, Jim Crow laws and school segregation. Honestly, if all I had to rely on was what I remember being taught in public school, I would probably tell you the history of it all went like this:

The theory of nullification was first invented in the 1800s’ by advocates of slavery. They used nullification of tarrifs as a test run in the 1820s. Of course, what they really had in mind was maintaining the institution of slavery against any possible attempt by the federal government to abolish it. Then America fought the Civil War in order to end slavery, but the ideas of states’ rights and nullification were later revived in the 1950s’ by belligerent white southerners in an attempt to block the racial integration of schools. The Civil Rights Movement started and the feds had to step in and force the southern states to treat everyone equally. THE END.

That’s a rough, abbreviated version of the narrative that was handed to me, but it gives you an idea of what many Americans think they know about states’ rights and nullification. Fortunately, thanks to people like Tom Woods, Thomas DiLorenzo, and many others, I know today that this was a gross misrepresentation of the classical liberal states’ rights tradition. Then again, (and it’s not my intention to be prideful here), I’m not like most Americans. And If you’re reading this, you probably aren’t either.

Civic Illiteracy

In 1798, Jefferson and Madison articulated the concepts of nullification and interposition in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions, which were passed in response to to the hated Alien and Sedition Acts. But the ideas which support nullification and interposition were actually expressed earlier during the ratifying convention of Virginia by the Federalists themselves!

Given the fact, however, that most Americans cannot even correctly name all three branches of our federal government, it’s probably a safe bet that they have never heard of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions or the fact that nullification was used to assist runaway slaves.

So should it really come as any surprise that many people in Tennessee recoiled in horror at Rep. Susan Lynn’s comments about nullification? Rep. Mike Turner of Tennessee’s 51st District responded with a sarcastic and condescending comment that probably expressed the sentiment of many Tennessee’s left-liberal elites:

“Susan Lynn is yearning for times gone by,” Turner said. “Maybe we could put the poor people back to sharecropping and slavery and let the people up at the big house have all the nice things. We’ve already had that fight about states’ rights.”

Lynn responded to Turner’s comment by saying:

“I can’t even imagine that’s a serious comment.”

Rep. Turner’s comments resemble some of the incredibly ignorant and / or vicious comments directed against today’s advocates of nullification that frequently appear in the bologoshpere. One particular blogpost I stumbled upon really embodies the either extremely ignorant or wholly deceptive attempt to associate today’s proponents of states’ rights and nullification with segregationists, white supremacists and domestic terrorists:

“Why is it that the extremist teabaggers are not called traitors even though they are basically calling for an overthrow of the democratically elected U.S. government? There latest stunt should seal it. They are calling for a long rejected theory called Nullification, and at least one treasonous..blogger and teabagger is pushing it.”

The Compromise of 1850 and How Abolitionists Used Nullification

In 1850, Congress compromised in order to hold the Union together against the divisive issue of slavery. Since the preservation of the Union (Northern control of the South’s economy), rather than the abolition of slavery was foremost in the minds of influential Republican bankers, manufacturers and heads of corporations, this compromise made perfect sense.

Part of this compromise was the passage of more stringent fugitive slave legislation that compelled citizens of all states to assist federal marshals and their deputies with the apprehension of suspected runaway slaves and brought all trials involving alleged fugitive slaves under federal jurisdiction. It included large fines for anyone who aided a slave in their escape, even by simply giving them food or shelter. The act also suspended habeas corpus and the right to a trial by jury for suspected slaves, and made their testimony non-admissible in court. The written testimony of the alleged slave’s master, on the other hand, which could be presented to the court by slave hunters, was given preferential treatment.

As would be expected, this new legislation outraged abolitionists, but also angered many citizens who were previously more apathetic. In 1851, 26 people in Syracuse, New York were arrested, charged and tried for freeing a runaway slave named William Henry (aka Jerry) who had been arrested under the Fugitive Slave Act. Among the 26 people tried was a U.S. Senator and the former Governor of New York! In an act of jury nullification, the trial resulted in only one conviction. “Jerry” was hidden in Syracuse for several days until he could safely escape into Canada.

The government of Wisconsin went even further and in 1854 officially declared the Fugitive Slave Act to be unconstitutional. The events that lead up to this monumental decision, which is a milestone in the history of the states’ rights tradition, is one of the best stories most Americans have never heard.

In 2006, H. Robert Baker, assistant professor of legal and constitutional history at Georgia State University wrote a book called, “The Rescue of Joshua Glover: A Fugitive Slave, the Constitution, and the Coming of the Civil War“. In its review of the book, The Journal of American History wrote:

“Terribly conflicted about race, Americans struggled mightily with a revolutionary heritage that sanctified liberty but also brooked compromise with slavery. Nevertheless, as The Rescue of Joshua Glover demonstrates, they maintained the principle that the people themselves were the last defenders of constitutional liberty…”

Joshua Glover was a slave in Missouri who managed to escape from his master. In 1854, with the help of the Underground Railroad, he made his way north, all the way to Wisconsin. There he found work at a mill in Racine, a community in which anti-slavery sentiment ran high. Unfortunately for Glover, his former master, B.S. Garland eventually managed to find out where Glover had taken up residence.

Accompanied by two US Marshals, the three of them took Glover by surprise. In spite of his resistance, Glover was subdued with a club and handcuffed. Thrown into a wagon, he was surreptitiously transported to Milwaukee, where he was thrown in jail. Glover’s abduction was discovered somehow or another, however, and in no time one hundred or so men landed by boat in Milwaukee.

The men marched towards the courthouse, which was adjacent to the jail, and crowds of people began to join their ranks or follow along as spectators. An abolitionist named Sherman Booth, who published a local daily newspaper there called the “Free Soil Democrat” rallied the supporters of the citizen army shouting:

“All freemen who are opposed to being made slaves or slave-catchers turn out to a meeting in the courthouse square at 2 o’clock!”

When the meeting at the courthouse adjourned, those who had assembled eventually resolved that Joshua Glover was entitled to at least two things: A writ of habeas corpus and a trial by jury. A local judge concurred and delivered the writ to the US Marshals at the jail. As might be expected, the federal officers rejected the writ as invalid. After all, federal law trumps state judicial authority, does it not?

The assembly of citizens from Racine and Milwaukee must have decided that such was not the case in this instance. In fearless defiance, they broke down the doors of the jail and freed Joshua Glover. In an act that probably would have filled Sheriff Mack with joy, had he been there, the Racine County Sheriff arrested Glover’s former slave master and the two US Marshals who had kidnapped him. They were charged with assault and put jail. In the meantime, the Underground Railroad assisted Joshua Glover as he crossed the border into Canada.

Although Glover escaped to freedom, it was not without a price. Glover’s former master, B.S. Garland was released on a writ of habeas corpus and in the long run would sue Sherman Booth, turning him financially upside down.

In the short run, Booth and two other men were arrested and indicted by a grand jury. While Booth maintained that he had never incited the crowd to liberate Glover or that had helped Glover escape in any way, he did not mince words either. Speaking in his own defense in front of the US Commissioner, he proclaimed:

“..I sympathize with the rescuers of Glover and rejoice at his escape. I rejoice that, in the first attempt of the slave-hunters to convert our jail into a slave-pen and our citizens into slave-catchers, they have signally failed, and that it has been decided by the spontaneous uprising and sovereign voice of the people, that no human being can be dragged into bondage from Milwaukee.”

According to his account of these events, Henry E. Legler wrote in 1898:

“Byron Paine made an argument in behalf of Booth that attracted attention all over the country. It was printed in pamphlet form and circulated on the streets of Boston by the thousands. Charles Sumner and Wendell Phillips wrote the author letters of hearty approval and commended his force of logic and able presentation of argument. This pamphlet is now excessively rare; but half a dozen copies are now known to exist.”

Judge Smith of the Wisconsin Supreme Court made the following declaration, that ought to inspire and motivate champions of the Tenth Amendment and state sovereignty today. Speaking not only for Wisconsin, but of all the states, he said that they would never accept the idea that:

“..an officer of the United States, armed with process to arrest a fugitive from service, is clothed with entire immunity from state authority; to commit whatever crime or outrage against the laws of the state; that their own high prerogative writ of habeas corpus shall be annulled, their authority defied, their officers resisted, the process of their own courts contemned, their territory invaded by federal force, the houses of their citizens searched, the sanctuary or their homes invaded, their streets and public places made the scenes of tumultuous and armed violence, and state sovereignty succumb—paralyzed and aghast—before the process of an officer unknown to the constitution and irresponsible to its sanctions. At least, such shall not become the degradation of Wisconsin, without meeting as stern remonstrance and resistance as I may be able to interpose, so long as her people impose upon me the duty of guarding their rights and liberties, and maintaining the dignity and sovereignty of their state.”

The United States Supreme court eventually reversed the action of the Wisconsin’s courts. Booth and one other man accused of helping to liberate Joshua Glover were found guilty. Both spent months in jail in addition to having to pay stiff fines. This was the price that was paid for Joshua Glover’s freedom.

Wisconsin Historical Marker

Rather than being deterred, however, Wisconsin, along with several other states, such as Connecticut (1854), Rhode Island (1854), Massachusetts (1855), Michigan (1855), Maine (1855 and 1857), and Kansas (1858) all went on to pass even more personal liberty legislation designed to neutralize federal enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.

It was no coincidence that the 1859 statement of the Wisconsin Supreme Court borrowed words directly from the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798:

“Resolved, That the government formed by the Constitution of the United States was not the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; but that, as in all other cases of compact among parties having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress.

Resolved, that the principle and construction contended for by the party which now rules in the councils of the nation, that the general government is the exclusive judge of the extent of the powers delegated to it, stop nothing short of despotism, since the discretion of those who administer the government, and not the Constitution, would be the measure of their powers; that the several states which formed that instrument, being sovereign and independent, have the unquestionable right to judge of its infractions; and that a positive defiance of those sovereignties, of all unauthorized acts done or attempted to be done under color of that instrument, is the rightful remedy.”

The End, or Just the Beginning?

Signpost up ahead

Few Americans have ever heard the heroic story of how the people of Wisconson and several other states stood up to the federal government’s tyrannical, unconstitutional slave laws with the help of their elected state officials.

Today state sovereignty and the Principles of 1798 are being invoked again, for a variety of reasons, just as they were invoked for a variety of reasons all throughout American history, in spite of what you may have been taught or are being told today.

States legislatures all over the Union today are standing up and re-asserting their sovereignty, which is guaranteed by the 10th Amendment. They are proposing and passing legislation which would nullify a whole host of unconstitutional federal laws including: The federally mandated national “REAL ID” card, restrictions on the use of Medical Marijuana, unconstitutional deployments of State National Guard units, federally mandated health insurance, unconstitutional regulations of state manufactured firearms and much more…

It is tragic that left-liberals have seemingly abandoned the classical liberal states’ rights tradition in favor of nationalism and the centralization of power. It is also shameful that they have made a concerted effort to associate nullification with slavery in the minds of average Americans. As Josh Eboch, State Chapter Coordinator for the Virginia Tenth Amendment Center observes:

“Of course, even though activists on the left supported nullification for Real ID and also for medical marijuana, those calling for state sovereignty with regard to health care will have to deal with the standard cries of racism and references to the Jim Crow…But just because nullification was used [unsuccessfully] in the past to deny rights to certain groups doesn’t mean it can’t be used to regain our rights today. In the end, ‘for desperate people whose freedoms are being systematically usurped by all three federal branches and both political parties, nullification may be the key to restoring our republic’.”

Derek Sheriff  is the state chapter coordinator for the Arizona Tenth Amendment Center

Read the full article at the Tenth Amendment Center

Reprinted from Indigenous Affairs. Published by the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs.

NATIVE COMMUNITIES, primarily in the western US, have been chronically exposed to low doses of radiation for over forty years. This exposure derives from the many nuclear activities on indigenous lands such as uranium mining and milling, uranium conversion and enrichment, and testing of nuclear weapons. More than one half of all US uranium deposits lie under reservation land. In the past, the Secretary of the Interior was authorized to lease tribal mineral resources for national defense purposes. In return for mining rights, the large energy consortiums have historically paid royalty fees and employed Indians in substandard working conditions.

Although native communities bear a disproportionate burden of risk from those activities compared to the general public, they are in many ways the least equipped communities to respond appropriately. Information on exposures and their health effects is often inadequate, incomplete, inaccessible and incomprehensible. The environmental consequences of uranium mining, atomic bomb testing and production, and radioactive waste disposal on or near reservation lands have often been disastrous. Estimates conclude that over 22,000,000 tons of mine tailings or waste by-products have been left at 24 locations in nine western states since the 1950s and that 220 acres of tailings have contaminated the Four Corners region alone. This article looks at the cases of two nations—the Western Shoshone and the Pauite-Shoshone of Ft. McDermitt.

The Western Shoshone Nation

Because of the long-term use of the Nevada Test Site (NTS), which is located on traditional Shoshone land, the Western Shoshone nation has become known as the most bombed nation on earth. The 928 American and 19 British nuclear explosions in Newe Sogobia have been classified by the Western Shoshone National Council (WSNC) as bombs rather than “tests.” The purpose of a bomb is to destroy while the idea of a test is to introduce something new. About 1,350 square miles of their total territory of about 43,000 square miles has been destroyed by hundreds of craters and tunnels, which are uncontrolled underground nuclear waste dumps, by nuclear bombs since 1951 when the bombing began. But no treaty, agreement, vote or sale exists that give the US permission to explode nuclear bombs on or under the Western Shoshone Nation. The Treaty of Ruby Valley of 1863, signed by representatives of the US and the Western Shoshone and ratified by the US Senate in 1866 and confirmed by President Grant in 1869, recognized Shoshone territorial sovereignty. The treaty did not transfer ownership rights and is till in effect. But through a variety of ethically and legally dubious methods, land was taken from the reservation. US authorities in the form of the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, Park Service, Fish and Wildlife, Atomic Energy Commission, Department of Defense, Department of Transportation, etc., control now approximately 90 per cent of the Shoshone land.

Environmental monitoring reports for the NTS from the 1950s until 1991 document substantial low level releases of radioactive iodine, strontium, cesium, plutonium and noble gases that have contaminated lands in Nevada and Utah. The Western Shoshone reservations, Duckwater and Ely are within a fifty-mile radius of the NTS and were more heavily contaminated. Residents reported unusual animal deaths, hair loss and gardens turning black. The health of the population still remains at high risk from cancers and birth defects. Despite these facts, the US government has now designated an area of the Western Shoshone Nation, known as Yucca Mountain, to become the final repository for the high level nuclear waste from the US nuclear industry. The Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that its scientific investigation of the site will be concluded by 2001, at a cost of $6.3 billion (year-of-expenditure dollars) and a repository could be opened by 2010. The DOE is no longer looking for another site. Although the tribe is very concerned about observed health and environmental effects, there are no official health studies under way, no offers to remedy environmental pollution, no programs for early detection of disease or disease surveillance in place.

In order to collect data on the effects of nuclear fallout from the NTS, WSNC started its own project in 1994. The main goal of the Western Shoshone Health Project is to provide data on the state of the land, soil, water, plants as well as the health of the people. This project is part of the Native American Health Network. Various organizations such as the Childhood Cancer Research Institute (CCRI) and Native Americans for a Clean Environment (NACE) work together in that network. They targeted the Western Shoshone and Paiute communities in the Great Basin among their highest priorities.

The overarching goal of the project is to begin proactive steps to correct the imbalance of risk by fostering a better understanding of radiation health issues among members of Native American communities to meet growing concerns about past and ongoing exposures. The communities will be empowered to obtain appropriate health protection and community controls for the future. A part of the project is the Training of Trainers program. This is a comprehensive, integrated program of training and technical assistance for the purpose of empowering native people to protect their communities and nations by arming them with an understanding of critical social and technical radiation issues directly affecting their health and environment. The program will create a unique partnership between researchers, health care providers and native communities by promoting a combination of indigenous thinking coupled with technical skills. The community trainers will take technical information, processes and techniques and translate them into a cost effective approach for the communities by developing education modules. The modules will be utilized by the community trainers for educating community members on the issues. Beyond this, the general research goal will be to use existing data resources to compile important information on off-site exposures for the communities, including those exposures to and from specific environmental or food chain pathways. Health scientists from the Center for Technology, Environment and Development (CENTED) at Clark University, Worcester, MA, are maintaining a dialogue with the community as their research is carried out so that they may benefit from local knowledge and experiences. For example, the Western Shoshones have indicated that mule deer, sheep, rabbits and pine nuts are main sources of subsistence for their people. As such, research on the up-take of radionuclides to these animals and roots are of much interest to them. They also mentioned several nuclear tests that they were particularly concerned about. Such community input will guide the scientists’ research, help to prioritize data collection and lead them to investigate other related issues of concern.

The Issue of the Ft. McDermitt Pauite-Shoshone–Background

The Quinn River Band of the northern Pauite originally inhabited the lands of the current Fort McDermitt Indian Reservation. As a result of the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934, the members of the tribe adopted a Constitution and Federal Corporate Charter, and became the federally recognized Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone Tribe. As for many other tribes, the adopting of an IRA Constitution and Corporate Charter was to terminate the Tribe’s traditional form of government and dispute resolution. It also established a republican form of government and court system. The IRA also imposed tribal laws codified in the Tribe’s constitution and federal Corporate Charter which tribal and federal officials neither take into consideration in their deliberations nor abide by. Furthermore, the IRA allowed the federal government more authority in intra- and intertribal affairs.

The tribe originally comprised a much larger land base, but a large part was taken away by dubious methods. Eventually, a Land Claims Commission was established to dictate monetary settlements, which many tribal members accepted. However, as many as two or three dozen of the more traditional families would not accept any monetary compensation, believing that by doing so they would be relinquishing their inherent rights as indigenous peoples. But because they did not accept the money, they did not become enrolled tribal members. At the reservation there are now approximately 400 enrolled members and about 300 unenrolled. The MRS Localization Process

Because of the desperate economic situation at Ft. McDermitt reservation, the Tribal Council was willing to participate. Participation in that process means access to $100,000 in the first phase and $200,000 in the Phase II-A for feasibility studies and education.

Research for a Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) for nuclear fuel has a very high priority for the DOE. The 23,681 MT (metric tons) of nuclear fuel in 1992 and its growth is a pressing problem. The Nuclear Waste Negotiator (NWN), a federal agency working closely with the DOE, but accountable only to the President and Congress, has to find one or even more sites where the radioactive material can be deposited for the next 30 or 40 years before final storage, possibly at Yucca Mountain Repository.

NWN’s first attempt to establish an MRS in Tennessee failed because of the opposition of the State, the Governor and inhabitants. That is why NWN is now looking for sovereign volunteers. In May of 1991, the NWN sent a letter of introduction to all state and territorial governors, Tribal and Business Council governors, Tribal and Business Council chairpersons, and presidents of Pueblos and Native American Nations (both federally recognized and unrecognized). In June, feasibility assessment grants from the NWN Fund were authorized through the DOE. The size of the grants are determined by tribal conditions. Phase II-A offers an additional $200,000 for continued education and feasibility studies. All nine of the Phase II-A applications were held by Native American Nations, therefore, if a MRS is to be sited, it will be on an Indian reservation. Phase II-B offers up to $2.8 million to continue feasibility studies and education outreach, to enter into formal negotiations, identify potential sites and commence an environmental assessment. One has to remember that a volunteer participant can drop out of the MRS process at any time and without any explanation. At the time of writing, the Mescalero Apache and the Tonkawa Tribe of Oklahoma have voted down the plans of their Tribe Councils. But with the carrot or the stick tactics, the Apache’s Tribe Council persuaded the tribe to a new and, for the Council successful vote. In this way, the pressure on the Ft. McDermitt Pauite-Shoshone will increase too. The tribal supporters of MRS expect $60,000-$70,000 per capita payments per year. But in spite of their poverty, most tribal members are unwilling to trade their land for money under the MRS arrangement. Tribal member Dennis Smartt said: “If I sell my land, I break my connection with my heritage and I can never get that back.” Many tribal members have complained about a lack of credible information concerning the MRS project, including outright fabrications put forth by DOE promoters. The result of a mail-in-survey which was organized by Citizen Alert shows that 77 per cent of tribal members are opposed to the project. Tribal members ousted four pro-MRS incumbents in the November 1993 election but the Tribal Council is still in favour of the MRS.

Grace Thorpe, who is the Sac and Fox Tribal Health Commissioner and daughter of the legendary athlete Jim Thorpe, stated to the National Congress of American Indians, “The nuclear waste issue is causing mental and possibly genocidal decisions regarding the future of our people. It is wrong to say that it is natural that we, as Native Americans, should accept radioactive waste on our lands, as the US Department of Energy has said. It is a perversion of our beliefs and an insult to our intelligence to say that we are natural stewards of these wastes.”

For further information, please contact:

Western Shoshone National Council (WSNC) P.O. Box 210 Indian Springs, NV 89018-0210 Phone/fax: 702-879-5203

Western Shoshone Health Project Citizen Alert Native American Program (CANAP) Attn. Virginia Sanchez P.O. Box 5339 Reno, NV 89513 Phone: 702-827-5511 Fax: 702-827-4299

Andreas Knudsen is a member of the IWGIA Danish National Group.

“The International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA) is an independent, international organization which supports indigenous peoples in their struggle against oppression.” IWGIA publishes Indigenous Affairs four times a year. Subscriptions in 1996 are US $30 for individuals and US $50 for institutions. Contact: International Secretariat, IWGIA, Fiolstraede 10, DK-1171, Copenhagen K, Denmark. E-mail IWGIA@login.dkuug.dk.

Read more at the Republic of Lakotah

And we should look at their wise words in a new light — perhaps a light that the World Council itself has not considered: all peoples — including Palestinians, Europeans, Africans, Indians, and all others — are indigenous peoples, and preserving each unique genetic and cultural heritage must be a sacred duty to all who care about the Earth.

We should consider adding to the Declaration the goal that nation-states must exist only to serve the self-determination of each people — with the goal of abolishing multinational empires. Globalization must not be allowed to reduce us all to the “equal” status of homogenized “workers,” slaves and peons on a global plantation. We are more than that, and our children deserve better.

World Council of Indigenous Peoples
Declaration of Principles

1. All human rights of indigenous people must be respected. No form of discrimination against indigenous people shall be allowed.

2. All indigenous peoples have the right to self-determination. By virtue of this right they can freely determine their political, economic, social, religious and cultural development, in agreement with the principles stated in this declaration.

3. Every nation-state within which indigenous peoples live shall recognize the population, territory and institutions belonging to said peoples.

4. The culture of indigenous peoples are part of mankind’s cultural patrimony.

5. The customs and usages of the indigenous peoples must be respected by the nation-states and recognized as a legitimate source of rights.

6. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine which person(s) or group(s) is (are) included in its population.

7. All indigenous peoples have the right to determine the form, structure and jurisdiction of their own institutions.

8. The institutions of indigenous peoples, like those of a nation-state, must conform to internationally recognized human rights, both individual and collective.

9. Indigenous peoples, and their individual members, have the right to participate in the political life of the nation-state in which they are located.

10. Indigenous peoples have inalienable rights over their traditional lands and resources. All lands and resources which have been usurped, or taken away without the free and knowledgeable consent of Indian peoples, shall be restored to them.

11. The rights of the indigenous peoples to their lands includes the soil, the subsoil, coastal economic zones all within the limits specified by international legislation.

12. All indigenous peoples have the right to freely use their natural wealth and resources in order to satisfy their needs, and, in agreement with principles 10 and 11 above.

13. No action or process shall be implemented which directly and/or indirectly would result in the destruction of land, air, water, glaciers, animal life, environment or natural resources, without the free and well informed consent of the affected indigenous peoples.

14. indigenous peoples will re-assume original rights over their material culture, including archeological zones, artifacts, designs and other artistic expressions.

15. All indigenous peoples have the right to be educated in their own language and to establish their own education institutions. Indian people’s languages shall be respected by nation-states in all dealings between them on the basis of equality and non-discrimination.

16. All treaties reached through agreement between indigenous peoples and representatives of the nation-states will have total validity before national and international law.

17. Indigenous peoples have the right, by virtue of their traditions, to freely travel across international boundaries, to conduct traditional activities and maintain family links.

18. Indigenous peoples and their designated authorities have the right to be consulted and to authorize the implementation of technological and scientific research conducted within their territories and the right to be informed about the results of such activities.

19. The aforementioned principles constitute the minimal rights to which indigenous peoples are entitled and must be complemented by all nation-states.

Read more at NativeVillage.com

FACED WITH a relentless campaign — the most recent salvo is from none other than the Washington Post — encouraging African-Americans to abandon their heritage when it comes to marriage and sexual relationships, some black folks have decided to stand up for the continued existence of black families. An organization has been formed to help African-Americans find potential mates in black communities around the globe, instead of caving in to the evident agenda of the billionaire-owned media. Historically, empires (from the Assyrians to the Spanish to the Empire of Dollars we have today) have always encouraged interracial relationships because they dilute the identities of their subject peoples — and such mixing eventually causes troublesome groups to disappear. (Of course, the empire’s spokesmen always say that they are motivated by things like “love” and “fairness” and “equality” and “diversity.”)

Well, the activist who goes by the name of African Diasporan doesn’t want his people to disappear. He’s started a Web site called African Diasporan Relationships, and here’s what he has to say:

‘Is dating and marriage between blacks throughout the African Diaspora the future of black relationships? In my opinion it is and here is the reason why: It is no secret that black men and women in America are having difficulties in recent years in terms of what we expect from one another, and dating prospects within our community. Indeed there have been numerous discussions held on the Internet, TV, in movies and magazines on this very subject. Typical in these debates will be statistics showing the number of African American men in prisons, the number of homosexuals in the African American community; single mothers raising children without the support of any male figure; the ratio of educated black women compared to that of educated black men; and arguments about the so-called shortage of black males.

‘In almost all of these debates, choosing to date different cultures is a proposed solution to the perceived shortage of desirable dating prospects in the African American community. By different cultures, the authors and participants of these debates are almost always referring to interracial dating. Whether it be whites, Hispanics, or Asians; the implication is that black people cannot find differences of beliefs and experience among our own. Nothing could be further from the truth! It is not necessary to go outside of the race to explore different cultures and attitudes towards dating, family, and male-female relations. Black people are literally all over the world. Occupying over 40 different countries in Africa alone, as well as countries in Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and Canada. Each country has its own unique culture, beliefs, and value system.

‘This Web site was created to celebrate these types of relationships, and to recognize the potential they have to strengthen black families throughout the world. The potential for learning more about black cultures and building strong black families is one I can personally testify to, as I am in an African Diasporan marriage. As an African American man, I have been married to a beautiful African woman (born in Europe) for the past ten years. This marriage has produced two beautiful children with African names and full knowledge of their heritage. The relationship has allowed us both to explore different foods, listen to different music, and to visit other countries. The potential and promise of African Diasporan relationships is that they allow black people to broaden their knowledge and experience of different cultures while simultaneously strengthening the bonds of black communities. African Diasporan relationships gives black people to opportunity to not only build bridges but to create communities. In short African Diasporan relationships are the future of black relationships….’

More and more people — African-Americans and many others — are realizing that surviving as a people in modern times takes active effort, not just unspoken hopes.

DENEEN L. BROWN  (pictured) writes recently in the establishment flagship Washington Post that black women should be encouraged to date and marry non-black men — but black activists are outraged. “It’s patronizing; it’s demeaning; and it can only lead to the decline and eventual disappearance of everything we love, and ultimately the end of ourselves,” according to one observer at the black-oriented African Generations. “Black women are our ultimate treasure. Every future member of our people must come from them. What is it that the Post is actually trying to do?”

The Washington Post — which is owned by the Meyer-Graham family with roots in the Middle East, not Africa — writes ‘So many black women are single… because they are stuck in the groove of a one-track song: sitting alone, waiting for that one “good” black man to come along and sweep them off their feet… Waiting. Talking to girlfriends. Waiting. Going out alone. Waiting. Going to work. Waiting. Waiting for a “good” black man, with the same education level to marry them…. Single black women with college degrees outnumber single black men with college degrees almost 3 to 1 in major urban areas such as Washington, according to a 2008 population survey by the U.S. Census Bureau. Given those numbers, any economist would advise them to start looking elsewhere. It’s Econ 101 for the single, educated black woman. “Black women are in market failure,” says writer Karyn Langhorne Folan. “The solution is to find a new market for your commodity. And in this case, we are the commodity and the new market is men of other races.”‘

Most observers contacted by this reporter see the Brown article as advocacy, not reportage.

A commenter who was censored from the Post‘s message board stated “If that isn’t a blatant call for the reduction of African-American numbers and the fracturing of the African community in the United States, I don’t know what is.”

One Black woman who admitted that she eventually chose to date outside her race admits it was a decision fraught with bad feelings — and worries about what will happen to her people: “Black women have been unwaveringly faithful to the idea of creating and preserving black families from the beginning of time — only to see black man after black man parade white woman after Asian woman after Hispanic woman on their arms — particularly prominent black men. It’s almost epidemic among them: anything but a black woman, and it is being mirrored among the general population of black men. Sad, very sad.”

A black physician feels that the Post — and the book they tout in the article — damage the integrity of the black community and families: “It is really a shame that a Harvard educated woman chose such a bad solution to a problem. It is a classic sign of self hate. The Black family has been under assault… The continued rebuilding of the Black family has to remain a priority. Other ethnic groups do this and we as African Americans whine about it. This book sends the wrong message to our children. How degrading this is! No other race of women are out touting relationships with men outside of their race…. As a single black male physician, I plan to marry a successful black woman and have successful black children. It will be a model to continue to show the world that you can be successful and not abandon your race.”

More from the Post article: ‘Tyler Perry cast a Latin man as the great love interest of black actress Taraji P. Henson in his recent movie, “I Can Do Bad All by Myself”; in “The Princess and the Frog” featuring Disney’s first black princess, the prince’s indeterminate racial origins inspired commentary; and there was the 2006 movie “Something New,” in which characters played by Simon Baker, who is white, and Sanaa Lathan, who is black, fall in love…. “Consider your options,” she says. Expand your horizons. Stop listening to your girlfriends. Forget about the brothers calling you a sellout.”‘

The online black nationalist newspaper African Generations distrusts the Post‘s motives, stating of the piece: “Stay aware, black man and woman, those people are trying to destroy black America…. Stay with your own and God will continue to do the rest. Don’t fall for their tricks. Trust in your creator. Love yourself; love your people.”

A Web site devoted to what they call the ‘African diaspora‘ also deplores the message being promoted at the Post, and offers an alternative:

‘In almost all of the debates focusing on the difficulties that black men and women in America have finding each other; choosing to date different cultures is ultimately the proposed solution to the perceived shortage of desirable dating prospects in our community. By different cultures, the authors and participants of these debates are almost always referring to interracial dating. Whether it be Caucasians, Hispanics/Latinos, or Asians; the implication is that black people can not find differences of beliefs and experience among our own. Nothing could be further from the truth! It is not necessary to go outside of the race to explore different cultures and attitudes towards dating, family, and male-female relations. Black people are literally all over the world. Occupying over 40 different countries in Africa alone, as well as countries in Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and Canada. Each country has its own unique culture, beliefs, and value system.

‘For those African American women who are frustrated with their current dating/marriage choices, and who want to explore other options, the more practical and beneficial solution would be to date black men and women from other countries. These relationships, which I’ve named “African Diasporan Relationships,” allow blacks to explore different foods, listen to different music, and to visit other countries. The potential and promise of African Diasporan relationships is that they create opportunities for black people to broaden their knowledge and experience of different cultures while simultaneously strengthening the bonds of black communities and families.’

One question that has not been raised publicly is why the billionaire owners of the Washington Post are taking this controversial position.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has several times discussed the long history of Afghanistan, referring to the many failed efforts by imperial powers to conquer it. The “tribal” organization of Afghanistan is the bane of empires; they can invade, but they cannot rule. They can disrupt and destroy, but they cannot build anything workable.

Most recently, Gates spoke to Maureen Dowd, the New York Times columnist. She asked what the U.S. should do to avoid the traps and pitfalls of past imperial projects in Afghanistan. Gates’ reply is fascinating. He said, “If we can re-empower the traditional local centers of authority, the tribal shuras and elders and things like that and put an overlay of human rights on that, isn’t that a step in the right direction?”

Amazing. In the 1980s, the U.S. funded jihadist resistance against the Soviet Union; now the U.S. is fighting jihadist resistance against the United States. As Dowd pointed out, the U.S. is caught in a historical contradiction — having created the very mess it is now trying to clean up.

The really fascinating thing about Gates’ comments, however, is how they shed light on another area of U.S. relations with “tribal” societies: The indigenous peoples of the Americas. The parallels are pretty clear, if we want to admit it. First, there is intervention based on using some elements of tribal societies against other elements and against the enemies of the United States. Then, there is the collapse of traditional governing structures. After that, there is the belated awareness that the traditional structures are needed to maintain social coherence and stability.

An article in the Times, just two days before Dowd’s column, reported the growing problem of gang violence on Pine Ridge. The article said, “5,000 young men from the Oglala Sioux tribe [are] involved with at least 39 gangs on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The gangs are being blamed for an increase in vandalism, theft, violence and fear that is altering the texture of life here and in other parts of American Indian territory.” It’s not only Pine Ridge: “The Navajo Nation in Arizona, for example, has identified 225 gang units, up from 75 in 1997.”

One response, not surprisingly, is a call for more police. That’s like the call for more troops to Afghanistan. But the article noted there are other voices at Pine Ridge: “Even as they seek to bolster policing, Pine Ridge leaders see their best long-term hope for fighting gangs in cultural revival.” The article quotes Melvyn Young Bear, an Oglala cultural liaison: “We’re trying to give an identity back to our youth. They are Lakota, and they have a lot to be proud of.”

One gang member at Pine Ridge told the reporter he “regretted not learning the Sioux language when he was young” and now wondered about his own future. He is “emerging as a tribal spiritual leader, working with youth groups to promote Native traditions.” He said he is participating in Oglala rituals and purifying sweat lodges.

How nice it would be if the United States had not first attacked traditional societies. But that is what happened, in the invasions, allotments, terminations, relocations, and other harmful actions to extend American empire across the lands of indigenous peoples. It is the history of America on this continent and in Afghanistan. The really fascinating thing about Gates’ comments is how they shed light on another area of U.S. relations with ‘tribal’ societies….

That’s the lesson for all indigenous peoples, on whatever continent, invaded by whatever power: spiritual restoration and self-determination.

Peter d’Errico is a consulting attorney on indigenous issues. D’Errico was a staff attorney in Dinebeiina Nahiilna Be Agaditahe Navajo Legal Services from 1968 to 1970. He taught legal studies at University of Massachusetts, Amherst until 2002.

Read the full article at the Colorado AIM Web site