PRIDE IN YOUR WAY?

It's interesting that I have asked several people, including my own adult children, to compose an apology to the First Nations of the American Continent for the grossest atrocity, the biggest genocidal incident in the entire history of mankind, yet still no apologies are forth coming.

COMPASSION? MERCY? LOVE? PEACE ON EARTH TO ALL MEN? LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF?

Do WE, of European ancestry, who have all this innocent blood on our hands, or should I say IN the earth of "our" lands, feel that we have no reason to apologize because we didn't commit the acts of violence with our own hands? Are we really just too proud of the country we now call our own, we just can't truly admit that it wasn't really a "new world" that Columbus discovered, it's easier just to close our eyes and pretend it didn't happen because it isn't affecting US at this moment? Or maybe we are afraid we'll have to give something back if we admit the wrong. Maybe we are afraid of reality. Many of us are living in denial from day to day anyway, about lots of things in our lives that would make us uncomfortable if we faced them square on, maybe it's in our genes to do rotten things to people or allow them to do them to us, and just ignore it, pretend it isn't so bad, let it drift away into our busy lives.

Facing reality takes guts. Seeing things for what they REALLY are takes real courage. Acting upon reality, taking a stand, having honor, or apologizing for something our ancestors did to another group of people so we could have what we have now, takes people with eyes to see and hearts to feel. I'm not so sure how much heart is left us. Our ancestors were murderers. Those who weren't physically involved none-the-less did nothing to stop the tragedy. Justified by obtain and possess, justified by greed and selfishness, justified by a RELIGION that made any non-Christian a non-human being, good only as a slave or to be killed, all our pretty pilgrims can't possibly be butchers! They believed the lies and propaganda and hardened their hearts to the slaughter, rape, smallpox genocide of children, and the theft of almost all the land that belonged to another people. The hearts grew cold. We inherited those genes. If we cannot see how cold-hearted we have become, it's because we don't have eyes to see or ears to hear or hearts that feel.

An apology on this blog is the little effort we can make to alleviate the suffering of other human beings who suffered under the hands of our ancestors. Maybe if you'll take a little time from your busy schedule to THINK about these things and spend a few minutes of your life to write an apology from your heart, maybe your heart will be healed in the process. Maybe the process of the effort will create a closer identification with the suffering of others and increase compassion in this cold world. I can only offer you the vehicle. You need to make this a priority or not. I cannot do it for you.

On behalf of all First Nation peoples, I again ask you to share your sorrow, your feelings and your apology. Thank you.

HOW TO POST A COMMENT OR APOLOGY

PLEASE LOOK UNDER EACH POST. IN VERY SMALL PRINT, AND I HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THIS, THERE IS THE WORD 'COMMENT'. IN FRONT OF THAT WORD IS A NUMBER SPECIFYING THE NUMBER OF COMMENTS ON THAT PARTICULAR POST. CHOOSE A POST AND LEAVE YOUR COMMENT, OR LOOK FOR THE 'APOLOGY' POST, THE FIRST ONE ON THE LIST - AT THE BOTTOM, AND OPEN IT AND POST YOUR APOLOGY THERE. THAT WOULD BE GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANKS SO MUCH FOR SHARING YOUR HEARTS AND COMPASSION.
WHITE MORNINGSTAR

WHITE BUFFALO - PLEASE SIGN PETITION

The White Buffalo Prophecy tells of a time when a white buffalo calf would be born, and that birth would signal a time of Great Healing for All Nations. That white buffalo calf - the first of many - was born in Janesville, Wisconsin in 1994. Her name was Miracle.

The birth of a White Buffalo is a rare event. It occurs as the result of a recessive mutation that leaves the hair follicles without the dark pigment melanin.

Due to the remarkable appearance and rarity over the centuries, a White Buffalo became a powerful spirit in First Nation's plain cultures.

The legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman tells of a Great spirit appearing as a beautiful young woman, dressed in white buckskin, who presented a sacred pipe and knowledge as gifts to the Lakota People. On leaving the village, she turned into a White Buffalo Calf.

It is in the spirit of the White Bison Prophecy, that we call upon all peoples to join us in signing this petition supporting a US apology and healing for the widespread abuse of Native American children at the nearly 500 schools funded by the US government to assimilate Native.

PLEASE GO TO THIS WEBSITE AND SIGH THE PETITION
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Apology-For-Indian-School-Abuses

Magnificiently beautiful FIRST NATION MEN VIDEO!

I think you'll love this song while you're appreciating the magnificent beauty of these Indian Nation men. It breaks my heart to think of how many of these great human beings were destroyed needlessly and mercilessly. I'm so thankful we still have some of their culture and peoples among us. Enjoy!

American Indian slaves

Scholars long have known about the Indian slave trade, but the scattered nature of the sources deterred a systematic examination. Slavery was not unique to Europeans. Sadly, the institution of slavery is about as old as humanity. As for me, I come here to apologize to all slaves of all nations during all time frames of human existence, but specifically to our American Indian First Nation brothers and sisters. i apologize because there is nothing else I can do to set the wrong right. Someday, someway I hope their tears and angry will dry and go away. Meantime, I do my part by asking those of you who read this sentence, to offer up your own words of regret for the past actions of peoples who obviously did not think like we do today. Perhaps, in a few ways, the world is getting a little better. Maybe it is because the Dalai Lama has reminded us that first and foremost we are all ONE HUMAN FAMILY.

More on American Indian Slavery

No one had any conception of the trade's massive extent and that it played such a central role in the lives of early Americans and in the colonial economy.

Indian slavery complicates the narrative we have created of a white-black world, with Indians residing outside on a vaguely defined frontier. The Indian slave trade connects native and European history, so that plantations and Indian communities become entwined. We find planters making more money from slave trading than planting, and if we look more closely we find Indians not only enslaved on plantations but working as police forces to maintain those plantations and receiving substantial rewards for returning runaway slaves.

We are also learning a great deal more about American-Indian peoples. Most importantly we can now tell the stories - the tragedies - that befell so many who were killed in slaving wars or spent their days as slaves far from their homes. They and their peoples have been largely forgotten. The Natchez, Westo, Yamasee, Euchee, Yazoo and Tawasa are among the dozens of Indian peoples who fell victims to the slaving wars, with the survivors forced to join other native communities. These are tales that Indians themselves have not told: Just as the story of Indian slavery was excluded from the European past, it was largely forgotten (like a horrible nightmare no one wants to remember or talk about) in American-Indian traditions.

_______________________________Reference Book for a detailed study
The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670-1717 | Book Reviews
Published by EH.NET (April 2003)

Alan Gallay, The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South, 1670-1717. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. xviii + 444 pp. $45.00 (hardcover), ISBN: 0-300-08754-3.

Reviewed for EH.NET by Peter C. Mancall, Department of History, University of Southern California.

It comes as no surprise to state that slavery was a crucial part of the economy of the southeastern colonies of British North America. As historians and economists have long recognized, the enslavement of Africans imported from Africa or the West Indies was crucial for the development of plantation agriculture in the region. By 1708 individuals of African descent amounted to approximately one-half of the population of South Carolina, and by 1720 or so their numbers constituted two-thirds of the population. Their presence gave this region a unique demographic profile in the British North American colonies. That story, told brilliantly by the historian Peter Wood in his classic study from 1974 entitled Black Majority, has dominated scholars' understanding of forced labor in this area.

Allan Gallay, a professor of history at Western Washington University, has now complicated this narrative. During the same decades that Carolina became a stable province, its colonists looked to Native Americans to provide labor for them. Often this labor was coerced by nothing more than the lure of the market itself: Native Americans hunted whitetail deer for colonists or offered food to them in exchange for manufactured goods from Europe. But this free labor was not sufficient to satisfy colonists, who needed people to produce crops for export. English colonists recognized that selling captured Indians was doubly beneficial. By exporting captives to other parts of the Atlantic basin as slaves, Carolinians made a profit and removed individuals and groups who might have stood in the way of colonial expansion into the interior.

Gallay's book is more than a history of efforts by British (and other European) colonists to enslave and sell Native Americans and then, eventually, to bring that noxious commerce to its end. In fact, the vast majority of the book has little to do with the Indian slave trade itself. What Gallay offers here is a thorough, up-to-date, readable and engaging history of Carolina -- and much of the old southeast -- from approximately 1670 to 1717. There is much here on diplomacy and debates between colonists, including many details that reveal how difficult it was for Carolina's proprietors to maintain order in the nascent colony. Gallay's real insights about the local slave trade are primarily confined to the penultimate chapter in the book.

Yet the fact that Gallay, as the journalists' phrase has it, has buried his lead should not put off economists and historians who want to understand the colonial southeast. Quite the contrary: Gallay's mastery of the primary and secondary source literature provides readers with abundant information about crucial colonial politicians, traders, and missionaries. He makes readers realize that it is irresponsible to lump all Native peoples together under the heading "Indian." Some of those Native peoples, captured in war and sold into bondage, ended their lives far from their ancestral homes. Others, also Native, were crucial players in this trade, a part of the story that echoes John Thornton's analysis of the participation of some Africans in the Atlantic slave trade (see his Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400-1800, second edition, Cambridge University Press, 1998). Gallay provides a series of maps of the entire southeast, a great service to the many readers who will not know the location of particular indigenous nations. He shows where Indian slaves went and extracts valuable clues from the writings of perceptive observers and from legal codes -- some of them the product of northern colonists who came to fear southern Indian slaves and sought to prevent their continued importation. He recognizes the crucial role of conflict, especially the devastations of the Yamasee War that raged from 1714 to 1717. Further, Gallay writes with a sense of urgency that should be welcomed by readers who have grown tired of reading lightly revised dissertations that would have made better articles than full-length books.

Still, the part of the book that will be of most interest to economic historians will be the chapter in which Gallay provides some estimates for the number of Native American slaves. Gallay claims that "the drive to control Indian labor -- which extended to every nook and cranny of the South -- was inextricably connected to the growth of the plantations and that the trade in Indian slaves was at the center of the English empire's development in the American South. The trade in Indian slaves was the most important factor affecting the South in the period 1670 to 1715: its impact was felt from Arkansas to the Carolinas and south to the Florida Keys" (p. 7). He adds that the "Indian slave trade provided the strongest link between the South's many peoples in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries" (p. 9). These are bold claims that can only be supported by careful demonstration of the ways that the Indian slave trade worked and some quantitative evidence revealing the actual number of individuals captured and sold for their labor.

To his substantial credit, Gallay shows how the business operated and he makes a valiant effort to estimate the number of individuals enslaved. The evidence enables him to describe how individuals and even groups became ensnared. But it is less useful as a source for quantitative measures for the entire Indian slave trade. The most important numbers appear in a single table (on p. 299). Here Gallay carefully separates the number of slaves from various places or indigenous nations and estimates that from 1670 to 1715 there were between 24,000 and 51,000 Natives enslaved in the entire "South." The region includes Florida, which lost the most individuals to slavery, through the southeast to the lower Mississippi Valley. There were significant differences between the trade in Native slaves and the African slave trade. Gallay believes that the commerce in Indian bodies and labor "was akin more to the resale of Africans from the West Indies than to the African slave trade" (p. 314). But despite the differences in terms of final destinations and the scale of the trade, Gallay recognizes that slavery in this period in the Americas meant the same for Africans and Native Americans: "removal from their homes, denial of their rights and basic humanity, subjection to lifelong servitude, and the passage of slave status from mother to child" (p. 314).

The trade in Native slaves came to an end when colonists devoted more of their efforts to purchasing Africans. By the end of the 1710s the British came to realize that the capture and sale of Indian slaves was more difficult for them than participating in the transatlantic African slave trade. The enslavement of Indians was also a problem for the Spanish and French in the region. Yet though Gallay describes these other Europeans' attitudes towards the taking of captives and the use of forced labor, in the end this is primarily a book about the British and their ability to overcome internal divisions, ignore their earlier claims that they would avoid mistreating Indians, and embrace a system of labor exploitation that sent Native men, women, and children far from their homes. Later scholars might be able to provide more accurate measures of the scale of the trade, but Gallay's work will remain crucial for anyone who wants to know how the various peoples of the South interacted in the colonial period.

Peter C. Mancall, Professor of History at the University of Southern California and the President, from 2002 to 2004, of the Forum on European Expansion and Global Interaction, is the author (with Eric Hinderaker) of At the Edge of Empire:

SLAVES - Native Indians & African - Christian justifications

Few people realize that thousands if not millions of native peoples were forced into slavery. In my wildest imagination I cannot fathom how proclaimed Christians, persecuted themselves for their religious beliefs, wanting to find a place of freedom for themselves, can come to a land where other people have lived for thousands of years, and after accepting their help, then brutalize them, steal every stinking piece of decent land, rape, torture, kill all their buffalo, break all treaties made with them, and take their population from 100 million to one thousand in the largest genocide on the planet. So I went out on the internet to see what I could find, to see if there was some sort of explanation, some sort of decent excuse, but this is what I found.

The same thing that has been going on for 6000 years; interpreting written scripture from the Bible to fit your greedy desires! Whether its the Bible or the Koran or any
other book of "scripture" people with ulterior, less than "Christian" motives manage to twist the meaning, the definition to suit the moment at hand. Which is why more human beings have died in the name of religion than all the world wars put together. These genocides, these holocausts never end. ManKIND is just not very kind indeed!

COLUMBUS DAY QUESTIONS - Should we praise a genocidist

It seems that the Chinese are not the only ones who like to re-write history, or twist history to their benefit, or torture, or commit genocide against innocent human beings. Have we ever questioned why we celebrate Columbus Day? Have we ever considered what Columbus actually did (rape, pillage, steal, murder). Do we really want our national hero to be another "Hitler" type?

It's disgusting how the men in power put together these histories for future generations and leave out the little tidbits of information, like the biggest Holocaust of all time being committed on innocent people so invading Europeans could have "RELIGIOUS FREEDOM".

It's really sick, actually.

100 Million to 1000 - That I say is genocide!

Here is a list of a few of the original 500 First Nation inhabitants of the American Continents, in USA and Canada and Mexico. From 100 million to 1000 at the end of the 1800's, THAT I would call one of the largest Holocausts of all time. To find out more about these tribes, although most have been annihilated from the earth by European settlers, go to...
http://tolatsga.org/Compacts.html

FIRST NATION TRIBES

A
A'ananin (Aane), Abenaki (Abnaki, Abanaki, Abenaqui), Absaalooke (Absaroke), Achumawi (Achomawi), Acjachemen, Acoma, Agua Caliente, Adai, Ahtna (Atna), Ajachemen, Akimel O'odham, Akwaala (Akwala), Alabama-Coushatta, Aleut, Alutiiq, Algonquians (Algonkians), Algonquin (Algonkin), Alliklik, Alnobak (Alnôbak, Alnombak), Alsea (Älsé, Alseya), Andaste, Anishinaabe (Anishinabemowin, Anishnabay), Aniyunwiya, Antoniaño, Apache, Apalachee, Applegate, Apsaalooke (Apsaroke), Arapaho (Arapahoe), Arawak, Arikara, Assiniboine, Atakapa, Atikamekw, Atsina, Atsugewi (Atsuke), Araucano (Araucanian), Avoyel (Avoyelles), Ayisiyiniwok, Aymara, Aztec

B
Babine, Bannock, Barbareño, Bari, Bear River, Beaver, Bella Bella, Bella Coola, Beothuks (Betoukuag), Bidai, Biloxi, Black Carib, Blackfoot (Blackfeet), Blood Indians, Bora

C
Caddo (Caddoe), Cahita, Cahto, Cahuilla, Calapooya (Calapuya, Calapooia), Calusa (Caloosa), Carib, Carquin, Carrier, Caska, Catawba, Cathlamet, Cayuga, Cayuse, Celilo, Central Pomo, Chahta, Chalaque, Chappaquiddick (Chappaquiddic, Chappiquidic), Chawchila (Chawchilla), Chehalis, Chelan, Chemehuevi, Cheraw, Cheroenhaka (Cheroenkhaka, Cherokhaka), Cherokee, Chetco, Cheyenne (Cheyanne), Chickamaugan, Chickasaw, Chilcotin, Chilula-Wilkut, Chimariko, Chinook, Chinook Jargon, Chipewyan (Chipewyin), Chippewa, Chitimacha (Chitamacha), Chocheno, Choctaw, Cholon, Chontal de Tabasco (Chontal Maya), Choynimni (Choinimni), Chukchansi, Chumash, Clackamas (Clackama), Clallam, Clatskanie (Clatskanai), Clatsop, Cmique, Coastal Cree, Cochimi, Cochiti, Cocopa (Cocopah), Coeur d'Alene, Cofan, Columbia (Columbian), Colville, Comanche, Comcaac, Comox, Conestoga, Coos (Coosan), Copper River Athabaskan, Coquille, Cora, Coso, Costanoan, Coushatta, Cowichan, Cowlitz, Cree, Creek, Croatan (Croatoan), Crow, Cruzeño, Cuna, Cucupa (Cucapa), Cupeño (Cupa), Cupik (Cu'pik, Cuit)

D
Dakelh, Dakota, Dakubetede, Dawson, Deg Xinag (Deg Hit'an), Delaware, Dena'ina (Denaina), Dene, Dene Suline (Denesuline), Dene Tha, Diegueno, Dine (Dineh), Dogrib, Dohema (Dohma), Dumna, Dunne-za (Dane-zaa, Dunneza),

E
Eastern Inland Cree, Eastern Pomo, Eel River Athabascan, Eenou (Eeyou), Eskimo, Esselen, Etchemin (Etchimin), Euchee, Eudeve (Endeve), Excelen, Eyak

F
Fernandeno (Fernandeño), Flathead Salish, Fox

G
Gabrielino (Gabrieleño), Gae, Gaigwu, Galibi, Galice, Garifuna, Gashowu, Gitxsan (Gitksan), Gosiute (Goshute), Gros Ventre, Guarani, Guarijio (Guarijío), Gulf, Gwich'in (Gwichin, Gwitchin),

H
Haida, Haisla, Halkomelem (Halqomeylem), Hän (Han Hwech'in), Hanis, Hare, Hatteras, Haudenosaunee, Havasupai, Hawaiian, Heiltsuk, Heve, Hiaki, Hichiti (Hitchiti), Hidatsa, Hocak (Ho-Chunk, Hochunk), Holikachuk, Homalco, Hoopa, Hopi, Hopland Pomo, Hualapai, Huelel, Huichol, Huichun, Hupa, Huron

I
Illini (Illiniwek, Illinois), Inca, Ineseño (Inezeño), Ingalik (Ingalit), Innoko, Innu, Inuktitut (Inupiat, Inupiaq, Inupiatun), Iowa-Oto (Ioway), Iroquois Confederacy, Ishak, Isleño, Isleta, Itza Maya (Itzah), Iviatim, Iynu

J
James Bay Cree, Jemez, Juaneno (Juaneño), Juichun

K
Kabinapek, Kainai (Kainaiwa), Kalapuya (Kalapuyan, Kalapooya), Kalina (Kaliña), Kanenavish, Kanien'kehaka (Kanienkehaka), Kalispel, Kansa (Kanza, Kanze), Karankawa, Karkin, Karok (Karuk), Kashaya, Kaska, Kaskaskia, Kathlamet, Kato, Kaw, Kenaitze (Kenai), Keres (Keresan), Kichai, Kickapoo (Kikapu), Kiliwa (Kiliwi), Kiowa, Kiowa Apache, Kitanemuk, Kitsai, Klahoose, Klallam, Klamath-Modoc, Klatskanie (Klatskanai), Klatsop, Klickitat, Koasati, Kolchan, Konkow (Konkau), Konomihu, Kootenai (Ktunaxa, Kutenai), Koso, Koyukon, Kuitsh, Kulanapo (Kulanapan, Kulanapa), Kumeyaay (Kumiai), Kuna, Kupa, Kusan, Kuskokwim, Kutchin (Kootchin), Kwaiailk, Kwakiutl (Kwakwala), Kwalhioqua, Kwantlen, Kwapa (Kwapaw), Kwinault (Kwinayl)

L
Laguna, Lakhota (Lakota), Lakmiak (Lakmayut), Lassik, Laurentian (Lawrencian), Lecesem, Lenape (Lenni Lenape), Lillooet, Lipan Apache, Listiguj (Listuguj), Lnuk (L'nuk, L'nu'k, Lnu), Lokono, Loucheux (Loucheaux), Loup, Lower Chehalis, Lower Coquille, Lower Cowlitz, Lower Tanana, Lower Umpqua, Luckiamute (Lukiamute), Luiseño, Lumbee, Lummi, Lushootseed, Lutuamian

M
Macushi (Macusi), Mahican, Maidu, Maina (Mayna), Makah, Makushi, Maliseet (Maliceet, Malisit, Malisset), Mandan, Mapuche (Mapudungun, Mapudugan), Maricopa, Massachusett (Massachusetts), Massasoit (Massassoit, Mashpee), Mattabesic Mattole, Maumee, Matlatzinca, Mayan, Mayo, Mengwe, Menominee (Menomini), Mescalero-Chiricahua, Meskwaki (Mesquakie), Metis Creole, Miami-Illinois, Miccosukee, Michif, Micmac (Mi'gmaq), Migueleño, Mikasuki, Mi'kmaq (Mikmawisimk), Mingo, Minqua, Minsi, Minto, Miskito (Mosquito), Missouria, Miwok (Miwuk), Mixe, Mixtec (Mixteco, Mixteca), Mobilian Trade Jargon, Modoc, Mohave, Mohawk, Mohegan, Mohican, Mojave, Molale (Molalla, Molala), Monache (Mono), Montagnais, Montauk, Moosehide, Multnomah, Munsee (Munsie, Muncey, Muncie), Muskogee (Muscogee, Mvskoke), Musqueam, Mutsun

N
Nabesna, Nadot'en (Natoot'en, Natut'en), Nahane (Nahani, Nahanne), Nahuat, Nahuatl, Nakoda (Nakota), Nambe, Nanticoke, Nantucket, Narragansett, Naskapi, Nass-Gitxsan, Natchez, Natick, Naugutuck, Navajo (Navaho), Nawat, Nayhiyuwayin, Nde, Nee-me-poo, Nehiyaw (Nehiyawok), Netela, New Blackfoot, Newe, Nez Perce, Niantic, Nicola, Niitsipussin (Niitsitapi), Nimiipuu (Nimi'ipu), Nipmuc, Nisenan (Nishinam), Nisga'a (Nisgaa, Nishga), Nlaka'pamux (Nlakapamux), Nomlaki, Nooksack (Nooksak), Nootka (Nutka), Nootsak, Northeastern Pomo, Northern Carrier, Northern Cheyenne, Nottoway, Nuu-chaa-nulth (Nuuchahnulth), Nuxalk

O
Obispeño, Ocuilteco, Odawa, Ofo, Ogahpah (Ogaxpa), Ohlone, Ojibwa (Ojibway, Ojibwe, Ojibwemowin), Oji-Cree, Okanagan (Okanogan), Okwanuchu, Old Blackfoot, Omaha-Ponca, Oneida, Onondaga, O'ob No'ok (O:b No'ok), O'odham (Oodham), Opata, Osage, Otchipwe, Otoe, Ottawa

P
Pai, Paipai, Paiute, Palaihnihan (Palaihnih, Palahinihan), Palewyami, Palouse, Pamlico, Panamint, Papago-Pima, Pascua Yaqui, Passamaquoddy, Patuxet, Patwin, Paugussett (Paugusset), Pawnee, Peigan, Pend D'Oreille, Penobscot (Pentagoet), Pentlatch (Pentlach), Peoria, Pequot, Picuris, Piegan (Piikani), Pima, Pima Bajo, Pipil, Pit River, Plains Indian Sign Language, Pojoaque, Pomo (Pomoan), Ponca, Poospatuck (Poosepatuk, Poospatuk, Poosepatuck), Popoluca (Popoloca), Potawatomi (Pottawatomie, Potawatomie), Powhatan, Pueblo, Puget Sound Salish, Purisimeño, Putún

Q
Quapaw (Quapa), Quechan, Quechua, Quilcene, Quileute, Quinault, Quinnipiac (Quinnipiack), Quiripi

R
Raramuri, Red Indians, Restigouche, Rumsen, Runasimi

S
Saanich, Sac, Sahaptin, Salhulhtxw, Salinan, Salish, Samish, Sandia, Sanish (Sahnish), San Felipe, San Ildefonso, San Juan, Sanpoil, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santiam, Santo Domingo, Saponi, Sarcee (Sarsi), Sastean (Sasta), Satsop, Savannah, Sauk, Saulteaux, Schaghticoke (Scaticook), Sechelt, Secwepemc (Secwepmectsin), Sekani, Selkirk, Seminoles, Seneca, Seri, Serrano, Seshelt, Severn Ojibwe, Shanel, Shasta (Shastan), Shawnee (Shawano), Shinnecock, Shoshone (Shoshoni), Shuar, Shuswap, Siksika (Siksikawa), Siletz, Similkameen, Sinkiuse (Sincayuse), Sinkyone, Sioux, Siuslaw, Skagit, Skicin, S'Klallam, Skokomish, Skraeling, Skwamish, Slavey (Slave, Slavi), Sliammon (Sliamon), Sm'algyax, Snichim, Snohomish, Songish, Sooke, Souriquois (Sourquois), Southeastern Pomo, Southern Paiute, Spokane (Spokan), Squamish, Sqwxwu7mesh, Stadaconan, St'at'imcets (St'at'imc), Stockbridge, Sto:lo, Stoney, Straits Salish, Sugpiaq, Suquamish, Susquehannock, Suwal, Swampy Cree, Swinomish

T
Tabasco Chontal, Tachi (Tache), Taensa, Tahltan, Tagish, Tahcully, Taino, Takelma (Takilma), Takla, Taltushtuntude, Tamyen, Tanacross, Tanaina, Tanana, Tano, Taos, Tarahumara, Tataviam, Tauira (Tawira), Teguime, Tehachapi, Ten'a, Tenino, Tepehuano (Tepecano), Tequistlateco (Tequistlatec), Tesuque, Tetes-de-Boules, Tewa, Thompson, Tigua, Tillamook, Timbisha (Timbasha), Timucua, Tinde, Tinneh, Tiwa, Tjekan, Tlahuica (Tlahura), Tlatskanie (Tlatskanai), Tlatsop, Tlicho Dinne, Tlingit, Tohono O'odham, Tolowa, Tongva, Tonkawa, Towa, Tsalagi (Tsa-la-gi), Tsattine, Tsekani (Tsek'ehne), Tsetsehestahese, Tsetsaut, Tsilhqot'in (Tzilkotin), Tsimshian (Tsimpshian), Tsitsistas, Tsooke, Tsoyaha, Tsuu T'ina (Tsuutina), Tualatin, Tubar (Tubare), Tubatulabal, Takudh, Tulalip, Tumpisa (Tümbisha, Tumbisha), Tunica, Tupi, Tuscarora, Tutchone, Tutelo, Tututni, Tuwa'duqutsid, Twana, Twatwa (Twightwee)

U
Uchi (Uche, Uchee), Ukiah (Ukian, Uki, Ukia), Ukomnom, Umatilla, Unami, Unangan (Unangax), Unkechaug (Unquachog) Upper Chehalis, Upper Chinook, Upper Cowlitz, Upper Tanana, Upper Umpqua, Ute

V
Ventureño, Virginian Algonkin

W
Wailaki (Wailakki), Wailatpu (Waylatpu), Walapai, Walla Walla, Wampano, Wampanoag, Wanapam, Wanki (Wangki), Wappinger, Wappo, Warijio (Warihio, Warijío), Warm Springs, Wasco-Wishram, Washo (Washoe), Wazhazhe, Wea, Wenatchi (Wenatchee), Wendat, Weott, Western Pomo, Whilkut, White Clay People, Wichita (Witchita), Wikchamni, Willapa (Willopah), Winnebago, Wintu (Wintun), Wishram, Witsuwit'en (Witsuwiten), Wiyot (Wi'yot, Wishosk), Wolastoqewi (Wolastoqiyik), Wyandot (Wyandotte)

Y
Yakama (Yakima), Yanesha, Yaquina (Yakonan, Yakon), Yavapai, Yawelmani, Yaqui, Yinka Dene, Yneseño (Ynezeño), Yocot'an, Yokaia (Yakaya), Yokuts (Yokut, Yokutsan), Yoncalla (Yonkalla), Yowlumni, Ysleño, Ysleta del Sur, Yucatec Maya (Yucateco, Yucatan), Yuchi (Yuchee) Yuki (Yukian), Yuma, Yupik (Yu'pik, Yuit), Yurok (Yu'rok)

Z
Zapotec, Zia, Zimshian, Zoque, Zuni

WOUNDED KNEE - THE DARKEST HOUR

As an American, as a human being, as a member of the human family, it is impossible to watch this video, to become aware of what has happened to the first inhabitants of this land "discovered" by Europeans, this land that we gloat over, this land we refer to as the "land of the free". We came for religious freedoms, for space and land, we came to be free. All the things we wanted we took away from the original inhabitants, killing them in the name of Christianity, women, children, even all their buffalo (just to get rid of the Indians). Now we are here in this free land, how nice for us, how nice for everyone except the original inhabitants. How can anyone enjoy this freedom when we killed and maimed and stole and lied and beat and imprisoned and tore children away from the original inhabitants of this land? Obviously the government is never going to make this right for the First Nations. It is going to take a profound effort on the part of the citizens of all races of this land to stand up and say, "What the hell did our ancestors do here? Even now the people suffer greatly. It took 400 years just to receive a verbal apology! How can we ameliorate this horrendous act of injustice? Each person who reads this sentence must find his own way to improve the conditions and lives of the American Indian nations nearby. It is up to individuals to mend this wrong. It is up to people who call themselves Christians to take a stand, stand up and be counted, do something to mend this pain, anguish and suffering of our brothers and sisters.

Please watch this film clip.
Please enter your apology on this site.
Please do something to mend this pain and suffering and cure native hearts.

500 NATIONS PART 3

500 Nations is an eight part documentary on the Native Americans of North and Central America. It documents from pre-Columbian to the end of the 19th century. Much of the information comes from text, eyewitnesses, pictorials, and computer graphics. The series was hosted by Kevin Costner, and directed by Jack Leustig. It included the voice talents of narrator Gregory Harrison, Eric Schweig, Wes Studi, Edward James Olmos, and Patrick Stewart. "500 Nations tries to crystallize the sweeping events that reshaped North America- one of the largest and most pivotal stories in human history - a story we feel is widely unknown. Often painful, sometimes shocking, but in the end it is simply about understanding." Kevin Costner

500 NATIONS PART 2 - THE FULL HISTORY OF AMERICAN CONQUEST

500 Nations is an eight part documentary on the Native Americans of North and Central America. It documents from pre-Columbian to the end of the 19th century. Much of the information comes from text, eyewitnesses, pictorials, and computer graphics. The series was hosted by Kevin Costner, and directed by Jack Leustig. It included the voice talents of narrator Gregory Harrison, Eric Schweig, Wes Studi, Edward James Olmos, and Patrick Stewart. "500 Nations tries to crystallize the sweeping events that reshaped North America- one of the largest and most pivotal stories in human history - a story we feel is widely unknown. Often painful, sometimes shocking, but in the end it is simply about understanding." Kevin Costner

500 NATIONS video online PART 1

500 Nations is an eight part documentary on the Native Americans of North and Central America. It documents from pre-Columbian to the end of the 19th century. Much of the information comes from text, eyewitnesses, pictorials, and computer graphics. The series was hosted by Kevin Costner, and directed by Jack Leustig. It included the voice talents of narrator Gregory Harrison, Eric Schweig, Wes Studi, Edward James Olmos, and Patrick Stewart. "500 Nations tries to crystallize the sweeping events that reshaped North America- one of the largest and most pivotal stories in human history - a story we feel is widely unknown. Often painful, sometimes shocking, but in the end it is simply about understanding." Kevin Costner

Deception of Truth VIDEO

This is another example of broken promises to a native American group.

A documentary on the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the near destruction of their oral tradition by Christian missionaries and how a collection of photographs helped keep their sacred Native American tradition alive.

Please watch and post your apology on AN APOLOGY TO THE FIRST NATION blog. Thanks you!


Deception of Truth - The most popular videos are here

AIM Treaties Fulfillment - They can help!

A Brief History of the American Indian Movement
by Laura Waterman Wittstock and Elaine J. Salinas
In the 30 years of its formal history, the American Indian Movement (AIM) has given witness to a great many changes. We say formal history, because the movement existed for 500 years without a name. The leaders and members of today's AIM never fail to remember all of those who have traveled on before, having given their talent and their lives for the survival of the people.
At the core of the movement is Indian leadership under the direction of NeeGawNwayWeeDun, Clyde H. Bellecourt, and others. Making steady progress, the movement has transformed policy making into programs and organizations that have served Indian people in many communities. These policies have consistently been made in consultation with spiritual leaders and elders. The success of these efforts is indisputable, but perhaps even greater than the accomplishments is the vision defining what AIM stands for.
Indian people were never intended to survive the settlement of Europeans in the Western Hemisphere, our Turtle Island. With the strength of a spiritual base, AIM has been able to clearly articulate the claims of Native Nations and has had the will and intellect to put forth those claims.
The movement was founded to turn the attention of Indian people toward a renewal of spirituality which would impart the strength of resolve needed to reverse the ruinous policies of the United States, Canada, and other colonialist governments of Central and South America. At the heart of AIM is deep spirituality and a belief in the connectedness of all Indian people.
During the past thirty years, The American Indian Movement has organized communities and created opportunities for people across the Americas and Canada. AIM is headquartered in Minneapolis with chapters in many other cities, rural areas and Indian Nations.
AIM has repeatedly brought successful suit against the federal government for the protection of the rights of Native Nations guaranteed in treaties, sovereignty, the United States Constitution, and laws. The philosophy of self-determination upon which the movement is built is deeply rooted in traditional spirituality, culture, language and history. AIM develops partnerships to address the common needs of the people. Its first mandate is to ensure the fulfillment of treaties made with the United States. This is the clear and unwavering vision of The American Indian Movement.
more
http://www.aimovement.org/ggc/history.html

JOIN THE APOLOGY. USA FINALLY APOLOGIZES - NOW AMERICANS APOLOGIZE TOO!

European descendants, which are mostly white peoples, please put your regret down within this formal open apology blog. From one white human being to another, please join me in this effort to apologize to the peoples who lived on this continent long before our European ancestors took their land and killed off millions of their peoples, and wronged their children.

WATCH 500 NATIONS!
Directed by Kevin Cosner

From the author of this blog, White Morningstar. Let my hand be the first.

Here is my first apology to all 500 First Nation Tribes of these Americas:
With a completely European heritage, I am so terribly ashamed and haunted by what white CHRISTIAN Europeans did to other human beings in the name of their God, which obviously was just an excuse to steal other peoples lovely landscapes. Selfishness, greed, inhumanity, depreciation, defilement, and murder can never be justified against another human beings race, culture, sex, age, or religion. Look the world history over and find out that more murdering and atrocities have been done in the name of religion than all the world wars put together!!!!!!!!!! Sadly and terribly, we have NOT LEARNED. China did the same exact thing to Tibetans in 1959, only about 50 years after the American Indians were jailed for 23 years for "being an Indian" and wanting their own land and freedom. As someone on the bandwagon for a FREE TIBET, thinking what inhumane barbarians the Chinese are, I have just come to realize that WE, the white people, our ancestors, are the worst barbarians ever. The blood and bones of the first nations, the American Indians that fertilizes "our" gardens and supports the foundations of "our" American" homes, dooms us. We often say how lucky we are, how lucky we are that Columbus "discovered" America, how blessed to have this and that, to be prosperous, to have not had wars come on "our" land. How can anyone ENJOY these fruits of our labors, when millions of other human beings were brutally murdered, deprived of their land, not allowed to use their own languages, beat into becoming Christians! The diabolical acts of our forefathers cannot just be written out of history and ignored. We cannot pretend that it wasn't US, it wasn't our choice, it wasn't our fault. We are living on land that does not belong to us. We have taken every good parcel away and left the dry lands to the few First Nation Indians who managed to survive the holocaust of their nation. We continue to dam up the rivers that flow through their meager lands for white man's desires. Why is it that white man should always get the best of everything, why is it the white descendants of murderers should still be allowed to take more and more away from the people we have impoverished in their own lands? As for me, I say it is time for all people of every color to stand up for the right, to understand that human beings are ALL equal, that the color of skins has no bearing on the quality or intelligence or value of a human being. CLOSE YOUR EYES and realize, we are all one human family FIRST, before our skin color, before our culture, before our occupations, before our choice of religion, before anything else, WE ARE ONE HUMAN FAMILY FIRST. As for me, I want to apologize from a broken hearted place deep within me, to all the FIRST NATIONS IN THIS LAND.

If you're an American Indian, please accept this effort from the ancestors of European settlers who did you so damn wrong. If only we could turn back time, if only I could snap my fingers and bring back all your innocent and honored ancestors, if only I could put into reverse the horrendous acts against you, if only I could give you the most precious land in this nation. If only... To me, you are a glorious and magnificent people with a rich heritage and charming traditions. Your cultures are fantastic examples of living in harmony with nature, with animals. Your soul radiates up from the earth of this nation and I treasure this great spirit that still radiates in the faces of your peoples. I am white, but I love your race like a mother loves her own child. I wish I could do something to truly change things and make life good for your again. One person can do so little, but it is my hope that by starting this blog, one day your nation will see that there are thousands if not millions of white people who sorely regret the past acts of bad people against your nation. It is not one. It is not just me. Many people I know adore American Indians, their culture and religion. I know in time, they will find this blog and write their own apologies so that one day this bad blood between us will be healed.

Please past this along to others. Thank you.

USA steps up to officially apologize to American Indian population

AMERICA APOLOGIZES

Congress passed and President Obama signed a bill that included text that “apologizes … to all Native Peoples for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the United States.” Not only was news of the measure knocked from front pages by the health care debate and Tiger Woods, it was well-camouflaged within the 2010 defense appropriations bill.

Still, it is the first official apology offered by the United States for the long-running persecution of the first Americans. It follows in the tradition of federal apologies to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II, and to Native Hawaiians for U.S. involvement in the 1893 overthrow of their monarchy.
Included in the non-binding, bipartisan resolution was an expression of regret for a policy that even fewer non-Native Americans are aware of: “the forcible removal of Native children from their families to faraway boarding schools where their Native practices and languages were degraded and forbidden.”

Beginning in the 1870s, the federally funded system of government and religious schools eventually grew to some 500 institutions. Their official policy was to promote assimilation and effectively extinguish the cultures of Native Americans.

Many of these schools relied on a severe and often brutal program of military-style discipline and Christian indoctrination (with a whip!). U.S. officials forced more than 100,000 kids from their families, and many of them suffered years of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. If and when they returned home, they did so as strangers bearing Americanized names. Forced enrollment ended in the 1930s, and federal investigations and damning reports about the treatment of students brought greater scrutiny in the 1970s. Most of the schools were closed by the 1990s.

This official apology does not restore stolen lands or lives. Nor does it relieve the nightmares of mistreated boarding school alums. But it finally owns up to this country’s record of ill-conceived, bigoted, and often sadistic treatment of Native Americans. And perhaps, like any honorable apology should, it sets the stage for making amends.

Native American Apology Act

To acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies by the Federal Government regarding Indian tribes and offer an apology to all Native Peoples on behalf...

(Introduced in Senate)
SJ 14 IS
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. J. RES. 14
To acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies by the Federal Government regarding Indian tribes and offer an apology to all Native Peoples on behalf of the United States.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 30, 2009
Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself, Mr. INOUYE, Mr. BAUCUS, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. CRAPO, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. COBURN, Mr. HARKIN, Mr. LIEBERMAN, and Mr. TESTER) introduced the following joint resolution; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

JOINT RESOLUTION
To acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies by the Federal Government regarding Indian tribes and offer an apology to all Native Peoples on behalf of the United States.
Whereas the ancestors of today's Native Peoples inhabited the land of the present-day United States since time immemorial and for thousands of years before the arrival of people of European descent;
Whereas for millennia, Native Peoples have honored, protected, and stewarded this land we cherish;
Whereas Native Peoples are spiritual people with a deep and abiding belief in the Creator, and for millennia Native Peoples have maintained a powerful spiritual connection to this land, as evidenced by their customs and legends;
Whereas the arrival of Europeans in North America opened a new chapter in the history of Native Peoples;
Whereas while establishment of permanent European settlements in North America did stir conflict with nearby Indian tribes, peaceful and mutually beneficial interactions also took place;
Whereas the foundational English settlements in Jamestown, Virginia, and Plymouth, Massachusetts, owed their survival in large measure to the compassion and aid of Native Peoples in the vicinities of the settlements;
Whereas in the infancy of the United States, the founders of the Republic expressed their desire for a just relationship with the Indian tribes, as evidenced by the Northwest Ordinance enacted by Congress in 1787, which begins with the phrase, `The utmost good faith shall always be observed toward the Indians';
Whereas Indian tribes provided great assistance to the fledgling Republic as it strengthened and grew, including invaluable help to Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their epic journey from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Coast;
Whereas Native Peoples and non-Native settlers engaged in numerous armed conflicts in which unfortunately, both took innocent lives, including those of women and children;
Whereas the Federal Government violated many of the treaties ratified by Congress and other diplomatic agreements with Indian tribes;
Whereas the United States forced Indian tribes and their citizens to move away from their traditional homelands and onto federally established and controlled reservations, in accordance with such Acts as the Act of May 28, 1830 (4 Stat. 411, chapter 148) (commonly known as the `Indian Removal Act');
Whereas many Native Peoples suffered and perished--
(1) during the execution of the official Federal Government policy of forced removal, including the infamous Trail of Tears and Long Walk;
(2) during bloody armed confrontations and massacres, such as the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 and the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890; and
(3) on numerous Indian reservations;
Whereas the Federal Government condemned the traditions, beliefs, and customs of Native Peoples and endeavored to assimilate them by such policies as the redistribution of land under the Act of February 8, 1887 (25 U.S.C. 331; 24 Stat. 388, chapter 119) (commonly known as the `General Allotment Act'), and the forcible removal of Native children from their families to faraway boarding schools where their Native practices and languages were degraded and forbidden;
Whereas officials of the Federal Government and private United States citizens harmed Native Peoples by the unlawful acquisition of recognized tribal land and the theft of tribal resources and assets from recognized tribal land;
Whereas the policies of the Federal Government toward Indian tribes and the breaking of covenants with Indian tribes have contributed to the severe social ills and economic troubles in many Native communities today;
Whereas despite the wrongs committed against Native Peoples by the United States, Native Peoples have remained committed to the protection of this great land, as evidenced by the fact that, on a per capita basis, more Native Peoples have served in the United States Armed Forces and placed themselves in harm's way in defense of the United States in every major military conflict than any other ethnic group;
Whereas Indian tribes have actively influenced the public life of the United States by continued cooperation with Congress and the Department of the Interior, through the involvement of Native individuals in official Federal Government positions, and by leadership of their own sovereign Indian tribes;
Whereas Indian tribes are resilient and determined to preserve, develop, and transmit to future generations their unique cultural identities;
Whereas the National Museum of the American Indian was established within the Smithsonian Institution as a living memorial to Native Peoples and their traditions; and
Whereas Native Peoples are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and among those are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. RESOLUTION OF APOLOGY TO NATIVE PEOPLES OF THE UNITED STATES.
(a) Acknowledgment and Apology- The United States, acting through Congress--
(1) recognizes the special legal and political relationship Indian tribes have with the United States and the solemn covenant with the land we share;
(2) commends and honors Native Peoples for the thousands of years that they have stewarded and protected this land;
(3) recognizes that there have been years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies, and the breaking of covenants by the Federal Government regarding Indian tribes;
(4) apologizes on behalf of the people of the United States to all Native Peoples for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the United States;
(5) expresses its regret for the ramifications of former wrongs and its commitment to build on the positive relationships of the past and present to move toward a brighter future where all the people of this land live reconciled as brothers and sisters, and harmoniously steward and protect this land together;
(6) urges the President to acknowledge the wrongs of the United States against Indian tribes in the history of the United States in order to bring healing to this land; and
(7) commends the State governments that have begun reconciliation efforts with recognized Indian tribes located in their boundaries and encourages all State governments similarly to work toward reconciling relationships with Indian tribes within their boundaries.

(b) Disclaimer- Nothing in this Joint Resolution--

(1) authorizes or supports any claim against the United States; or
(2) serves as a settlement of any claim against the United States

Canada apologizes for residential school system

Canada apologizes for residential school system
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ryC74bbrEE

Brownback Applauds Passage of Native American
Apology Amendment to Indian Health Bill
Friday, February 15, 2008
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Sam Brownback today applauded passage of an amendment to the Indian Health Care Bill offering an official apology from the United States federal government to Native Americans. Senator Brownback has been calling for an apology since 2004.
"With this apology, the federal government can repair and improve our relationship with Native Americans," said Brownback. "While we cannot erase the past, this amendment hopefully helps heal the wounds that have divided America for too long."
The Indian Health Care Bill is being debated on the Senate floor this week. Brownback’s resolution, which had 13 co-sponsors, and passed tonight by voice vote as an amendment, recognizes the impact of destructive federal policies in the past toward Native Americans and is intended to facilitate reconciliation and healing.
Brownback continued, "Our nation’s relationship with the Native peoples of this land is an issue that is very important to the health of the United States. For too much of our history, Federal-Tribal relations have been marked by broken treaties, mistreatment, and dishonorable dealings. We can acknowledge our past failures, express sincere regrets, and establish a brighter future for all Americans.
"This amendment does not diminish the valiance of our American soldiers who fought bravely for their families in wars between the United States and a number of the Indian Tribes. Nor does this amendment cast the blame for the various battles on one side or another. What this apology does do is recognize and honor the importance of Native Americans to this land and to our nation – in the past and today – and offers this apology to Native peoples for the poor and painful choices our government sometimes made to disregard its solemn word. Hopefully, this apology will help restore the relationship between the United States and Native Americans."

A Long List of Broken Treaties, Lies, Coersion

A contract, or in this case a treaty, is only as good as the honor of the persons signing it. Go back through both sides of this history and you will see that at the onset the Indian "treaties" were doomed from the start since they were signed by Europeans who did not believe "your word is your bond", who rather would lie, steal, cheat or kill to get what they wanted. It all comes down to greed and riches. Everything that has happened to the native population of the American continents happened because of selfish greed. With a "Christian" religion backing them up and telling them that the only "good" people were Christian people, that apparently equated to it is fine to kill anyone who isn't Christian, forgetting altogether the teachings of Jesus Christ. There was a way to attain some of this land without doing what we did to the native population. There is no excuse, no possible defense for the crimes committed against the original inhabitants of this American Continent.

Apparently, even today, we are still willing to "break our word" by continuing to break promises and treaties made long ago IN EXCHANGE for land we wanted. Now we have the land, we want to renege on the promises and treaties. All in the name of hard times, of economic problems. What about the problems these broken promises cause the American Indian? I suppose politicians today are no different that the greedy Europeans of yesteryear. As long as it keeps them flush, as long as it doesn't ruffle their pocketbooks, as long as THEY GET WHAT THEY WANT, they really don't give a rat's ass what a broken treaty means for the American Indians. Nor do they care that it demonstrates that the word of the white man STILL CANNOT BE TRUSTED. Who cares? It won't get much public attention, it won't hurt our re-election, and like everything else we've demonstrated in the past, we will get what we want. AGAIN, just take it from the lowest, weakest group of people in the country! Why, because we have no damn integrity! Suggestion: If this makes you as mad as it does me, pick up the phone, pick up a pen and write to your congressmen and senators and the president of the United States for that matter. This dishonor MUST STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHECK OUT THIS INFORMATION REGARDING ALL THE BROKEN PROMISES AND TREATIES WE'VE MADE WITH THE INDIAN NATIONS OF THIS GREAT LAND, WHICH by the way, USED TO BE THEIRS!

The long series of land usurpation's that would gradually erode Native American territory began with the slash of a quill pen upon parchment; a seemingly innocuous sound, but one masking a hidden motive. Though the United States would employ the resources of its vast military in an effort to enforce its policy of containing the numerous tribes, each land cession was made "legal" by a simple piece of paper--a treaty. This was the weapon employed by a growing nation as it sought the most expedient means of securing its swelling boarders. The American government offered recompense, resettlement, and even trade to the states with which it was dealing in exchange for the lands it intended to occupy. To many Native Americans, however, selling the land was an alien concept. The land was elemental; it was as essential to life as air and could not be owned by anyone. To agree to "give up" all or even a percentage of the land seemed as absurd as selling the air. It was, however, through the treaty that the plight of the Native American began.

In theory, a treaty is a mutual compact between two nations. In practice, there was nothing mutual about the treaties authorizing land cessions--and all too often the re-compensatory provisions of such treaties were mitigated before the ink could dry. The treaty system dates to the colonial period. Native American nations signed compacts with the English, French, and Dutch settlers and eventually with the permanent colonies in the years before the American Revolution. After the French and Indian War, the English government sought to control colonial expansion into territories west of the Appalachian watershed. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was meant to define the boarders of colonial America, but it only alienated the colonists. When the colonies declared independence, they adopted a departmental system to deal with their Indian neighbors--three superintendents that answered to Congress.

To the United States, Native American nations were only de facto states. In the implementation of its diplomatic policy toward the Native American population, the United States assumed the role of an empire over a protectorate. This opened the door for segregation and near decimation of the Native American population. With its first treaty with an Indian state in 1778 (with the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware Indians) through the Treaty of Echota of 1835 (with the Cherokee in Georgia) the only policy has been removal. This is not to say that the treaties were one sided. In fact, the American government did provide re-compensatory provisions in exchange for title to Indian lands. Often a relocation allowance and future payments were given, as in the case of the controversial Treaty of Echota. However, subsequent acts of Congress and shifting political winds demuted many such provisions. Why then were these treaties signed?

Examining the major land cessions from 1784 to 1894, it is clear that nearly all of these treaties were forced on Native American nations. Most were negotiated after wars; as in the case of the Treaty of Greenville (1795), the Treaty of Fort Jackson (1814), and the Treaty of Fort Armstrong (1832). These wars were started by white settlers encroaching on Indian lands. Other treaties were brought about by the demands of the individual states, as with the Treaty of Echota. This treaty removed the Cherokee from their territory and resettled them in a designated Indian Territory in Oklahoma. They were forced out in a march that killed over 4000 Cherokee. Following the Civil War, those nations that had allied with the Confederacy (such as the Cherokee and Creek) were forced to give up more territory.

By 1890, nearly every Native American nation was reduced to a reservation. Those that were not relegated to this state were all but extinct. The consolidation of land was complete. Reservation life did have its degree of success. Many prospered. It was a hard road, but they managed to endure. Many more nations suffered for want of funds, suitable agricultural opportunities, and good leadership. Constant legal battles to retain what little lands that remained occupied the Cherokee, Comanche, and Creek nations. The forces of change were gathering strength, however. The last gasp of those seeking to destroy the Indian way of life was the Dawes General Allotment Act of 1887--which proposed to break up reservations into 160 acre plots. The motivation behind this legislation was the end of the concept of Native American states as nations and their assimilation into American culture. Those tribes that accepted this provision faced their own legal issues when the Curtis Act of 1898 attempted to dissolve their governments. Native sovereignty would have disappeared were it not for the efforts of John Collier, who, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, brought pressure on Congress to pass legislation that enumerated the rights of Native Americans. The result was the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the provisions of which restored native lands, provided better medical services to reservations, and encouraged the development of business opportunities. This sins of the past were not wiped clean, but finally the Native American nation was secured under the laws of the United States. With a renewed status, many nations went about the task of rebuilding a proud heritage that is so much a part of this nation...this nation of many nations.
MORE:
http://nativeamericanfirstnationshistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/long_chain_of_abuses

NO! More lies! More broken treaties in 2010! No!

Colorado Lawmakers Backing Away From Indian Treaty

Colorado lawmakers consider cutting funding for American Indian students at state college

DENVER January 15, 2010 (AP)

Colorado lawmakers are considering a bill that would cut $1.8 million in funding each year for Native American students attending Fort Lewis College in Durango and could violate a 99-year-old Indian treaty.

In 1911, as a condition of accepting thousands of acres of land in Hesperus in southwest Colorado, state lawmakers agreed to establish an institute of learning and all Native American students would be admitted tuition free.

Now, facing a budget crunch, Colorado lawmakers want to take some of that money away. See the full story http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=9573804

DO NOT GO AWAY. DIG THIS. THEY WANT TO BREAK THIS TREATY TO EDUCATE AMERICAN INDIANS JUST AS AMERICAN INDIANS BEGIN TO BLOOM. CHECK THIS OUT.

American Indian students rise above expectation

Friday, March 19, 2010

As anyone who has visited our schools knows, our kids learn the values of capitalism through an educational model that rewards excellence and punishes laziness. Our students make no pledges and take no oaths.

The American Indian Public Charter School in Oakland serves 200 students in grades six through eight, and its sister high school serves 100 students. Last year, 100 percent of our students were accepted to four-year colleges, including Stanford, MIT, Cornell and UC Berkeley. Our students' average SAT scores were 150 points above the national average. Oakland Unified School District's graduation rate is 51 percent.

On last year's state assessment, 100 percent of our eighth-grade students tested at or above grade level in language arts and Algebra I. By contrast, only 29 percent of eighth-grade students in Oakland schools tested at or above grade level in language arts, and just 24 percent tested proficient or advanced in Algebra I.

Read full story - http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/03/18/ED3P1CHUEO.DTL

The Famous Words of Chief Joseph, a great America hero!

We were taught to believe that the Great Spirit sees and hears everything, and that he never forgets, that hereafter he will give every man a spirit home according to his deserts; If he has been a good man, he will have a good home; if he has been a bad man, he will have a bad home. This I believe, and all my people believe the same.

I am tired of talk that comes to nothing It makes my heart sick when I remember all the good words and all the broken promises. There has been too much talking by men who had no right to talk.

It does not require many words to speak the truth.

If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace. Treat all men alike.Give them all the same law.Give them all an even chance to live and grow.All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it. Let me be a free man,free to travel, free to stop,free to work,free to trade where I choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers,free to think and talk and act for myself, and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty."

You might as well expect the rivers to run backward as that any man who was born free should be contented to be penned up and denied liberty to go where he pleases.

We are taught to believe that the Great Spirit sees and hears everything, and that he never forgets: that hereafter he will give every man a spirit-home according to his deserts.... This I believe, and all my people belive the same

Culture, Traditions, Dress = An interesting world! POW WOW Video!

To me, the most interesting thing about this world is the diversity of cultures, beliefs, customs, clothing, religious traditions, spiritual celebrations. If we were all nothing but properly dressed Europeans what a boring, dull, colorless world it would be. This lovely video gives us a peek at the fascinating First Nation tribal celebration dances at Pow Wow's. Had our forefathers wiped them off the face of the earth, all this and so much more would be lost forever. It is my wish, and I am sure millions of people, especially travelers, that all indigenous peoples around the world keep their traditions and cultures. If every culture goes western, all the wonder and exotic flavors on this earth will be a thing remembered only in storybooks. Please write your apology, feelings, encouragement for our First Nation peoples on this blog after viewing this video. May the moon shine upon you evermore.

American Indians gave us the magnificent appaloosa!

The rich and fascinating history of the Appaloosa breed is as unique as its colorful spotted coat patterns. The following is a brief, non-comprehensive overview. Additional historical information is available at Appaloosa Museum Site.

The Spanish introduced horses to Mexico in the 1500s. Following the Pueblo Revolt, horses rapidly spread throughout North America, reaching the Northwest around 1700. The Nez Perce tribe became excellent horsemen and breeders, creating large herds renowned for their strength, intelligence and beauty.
Prior to the introduction of the horse, the Nez Perce were sedentary fishers. Horses gave the tribes greater mobility and power, altering their culture forever. Soon, the Nez Perce were famous throughout the Northwest for their hunting skills and craftsmanship. These skills allowed the Nez Perce to trade for necessary goods and services.
With their superior horses they had little difficulty killing what buffalo they needed. Soon they began to use the Plains-type tipi in place of their old community houses…Heavy stone mortars and similar burdensome possessions were either discarded entirely, or left at the fishing spots for occasional use.

Famous explorer Meriwether Lewis was appropriately impressed with the breeding accomplishments of the Nez Perce, as noted in his diary entry from February 15, 1806.

Their horses appear to be of an excellent race; they are lofty, eligantly [sic] formed, active and durable…some of these horses are pided with large spots of white irregularly scattered and intermixed with black, brown, bey [sic] or some other dark color.

It is unknown how many of the Nez Perce’s horses were spotted, but a possible estimate is ten percent. Settlers coming into the area began to refer to these spotted horses as “A Palouse Horse”, as a reference to the Palouse River, which runs through Northern Idaho. Over time, the name evolved into “Palousey,” “Appalousey,” and finally “Appaloosa.”
In the mid-1800s, settlers flooded onto the Nez Perce reservation, and conflicts soon ensued read full story http://www.juntosociety.com/native/nezperce.htm


The Nez Perce War of 1877 resulted in their herds being dispersed..
http://www.appaloosa.com/Association/history.htm

Is an Apology enough? What more can we do?

Author's Note:

This article below was offered to the Canadian media as an exclusive piece last week, and was rejected or ignored by the following newspapers:

The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Montreal Gazette, The Toronto Star, The Ottawa Citizen, The Ottawa Sun, The Winnipeg Free Press, The Edmonton Sun, The Vancouver Sun, The Province, The Alberni Valley Times, The Epoch Times, and the Victoria Times Colonist:

Rend your hearts, and not your garments Joel 2:17

Imagine for a moment that your own child goes missing and never comes home. Years pass, and one day, the person responsible for your child's death is identified, but he evades arrest and imprisonment simply by issuing to you an "apology" for your loss. He even speaks of seeking "reconciliation" with you.

How would you feel?

Hold on to that feeling, and now multiply your loss by many thousands of children, and make the guilty person the government and churches of Canada. Do so, and you will have arrived in a human way at the Indian Residential Schools atrocity.

One of my former parishioners put it another way:

"What we did to those native children was an abomination, and abominations aren't resolved with words and money. We need to have our hearts torn in two and be changed. We've got to stand, ourselves, under the judgment of God."

I doubt that Stephen Harper would be satisfied with an apology if his own kids were hauled off and killed for being practicing Christians. Yet on June 11, 2008, he will stand up on our behalf and try to apologize to other nations for having exterminated their children.

The whole effort seems more than ludicrous, or obscene. One cannot, after all, apologize to the dead. But the truth is, the government's planned "apology" to native people is an enormous exercise in deception - primarily self-deception.

Do we even know the meaning of that easily uttered term, "apologize"?

It actually has a double meaning, according to the internet Dictionary: a) "an acknowledgment of regret for a fault or offense" and b) "a formal justification, defense or excuse for one's actions".

That is, in our vernacular understanding of the term, an "apology" can be a genuine regret for one's acts; but it can equally be a way to evade responsibility for one's acts, by justifying oneself before one's victim.

The legal understanding of the word, however, is more specific, and has nothing to do with regret: "apology" is defined simply as "a disclaimer of intentional error or offense".

A disclaimer.

Now, I'm assuming that the government of Canada relies on legal definitions - operating, as it claims, "under the rule of law" - rather than popularly understood ones. So we must realize that when the government and its Prime Minister uses the term "apology", its understanding of the word is the legal one: namely, "a disclaimer of intentional error or offense".

In other words, on June 11, Stephen Harper will issue to the world a disclaimer to the effect that the Indian Residential Schools were not an intentional offense.

It's not surprising that the Prime Minister will be making such an outrageous and unsupportable claim, since if he ever admitted that the residential schools were intentional, he'd be the first defendant in the dock at an international war crimes trial.

But more important, this effort by our government - and the churches it is protecting - to be absolved of their own crimes is taking place under the illusory pretense of making amends with native people, when its purpose is simply to legally exonerate itself of culpability for the deaths of thousands of children.

This, indeed, has been the norm for both church and state ever since the first lawsuit was launched by residential school survivors in February of 1996. An army of court scholars and legal experts has generated a mountain of "holocaust denial" at every level of Canadian society during the past dozen years, to convince the world that the daily death and torture at the residential schools was not intentional at all.

Such an "apologetic" agenda defies logic and common sense, as in the statements from the government's misnamed "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" scholars that, while evidence shows that residential school children were being buried "four or five to a grave", and that the death rate in these schools stayed constant at fifty percent for over forty years, these deaths were "not intended".

To believe that, one has to ignore the evidence of senior government officials like Dr. Peter Bryce, who found that children were regularly being "deliberately exposed to communicable diseases" in residential schools, and left to die untreated. The word Bryce used was "deliberately". How else, after all, do so many children die?

All of this legal hoop jumping and evasion of responsibility might make sense to the government, and pay the salaries of their intellectual mercenaries, but it does nothing to advance the cause of truth telling and humanity in Canada, and snuffs out the lives of our victims ever more quickly.

I know this all too well, having spent most of my waking hours for years as a counsellor, advocate and chronicler for many aboriginal survivors of the death camps we like to call residential schools. And what I've learned from such work is that we cannot come to grips with something that we don't understand.

The truth is, Euro-Canadian society still doesn't understand what these "schools" were, either at a "head" or a "heart" level. If one believes the officers of the churches and government, the residential schools "issue" is all about money and verbal gymnastics. Yet none of these officials, as far as I know, have broken down and wept in public over the deaths of so many innocent ones; nor have they even offered to return their remains to their families for a proper burial.

Oddly enough, the very same officials continually and glibly speak about "healing the past", without even knowing their own history, and about "solutions" to the "residential school problem", as if they understand what that problem is - not realizing that, to quote William Shakespeare, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."

For in truth, there is not now, nor has there ever been, an "Indian problem" in Canada. Rather, the problem is a "white" one. The problem is with us.

I won't point to collapsing eco-systems or troops in Afghanistan to prove this point. Nor need I pose the paradox of how educated men and women, with families of their own and a professed "Christian morality", could drive needles through infants' tongues at Indian residential schools, throw three year olds down stairs, sterilize healthy kids, and deliberately allow children to cough their lives away from tuberculosis, and then bury them in secret graves.

The evidence of the problem is more immediate, and far closer to home, in our continued segregation of aboriginal people into a lower standard of humanity that allows them to die at a rate fifteen times greater than other people of this country.

After all, if we Canadians are who we imagine ourselves to be - an enlightened society that "assimilated" native people into our ranks, and made them our equals - then why has not a single person ever been brought to trial for the death of a residential school child? Why is the disappearance of tens of thousands of native children in these schools not the subject of a major criminal investigation? And why is there an Indian Act, and not an Irish or an Italian Act?

Being, in reality, an unofficially apartheid society that operates, in practice, with two standards of justice - one for native people, and one for the rest of us - Canada can no more cure the legacy of the residential schools than it can stop chewing up the earth for short-term comfort and profit. At least, not this side of a fundamental moral and social revolution.

The fact that we are far from such a change struck home to me a few months ago when the the government's fraudulent "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" announced that, although criminal acts did indeed occur in the residential schools, there would be no criminal investigation of these schools: an unbelievably brazen subversion of justice that evoked not a murmur of protest in the media or among the good citizens and politicians of Canada.

Regardless of this, there are things that can be done to overcome the genocidal residential schools legacy, and do justice, for once, to the survivors.

Rather than issuing verbal and self-serving "apologies" which change nothing, or staging a sham "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" that has no power even to subpoena evidence, the government and all of us could take these kind of bold measures:

1. Declare an Official Nation-wide Day of Mourning for Residential School Victims, dead and living.

2. Fully disclose what happened in the residential schools - naming the crimes, the perpetrators, and the cover-up - by launching an International War Crimes Tribunal with the power to subpoena, arrest and prosecute those responsible.

3. Bring home the remains of all children who died in these schools for a proper burial, and establish public memorial sites for them.

4. Create National Aboriginal Holocaust Museums.

5. End federal tax exemption for the Catholic, Anglican and United Church of Canada, in accordance with the Nuremburg Legal Principles concerning organizations complicit in crimes against humanity.

6. Abolish the Indian Act and Indian and Northern Affairs.

7. Recognize indigenous sovereignty and return all stolen lands and resources to indigenous nations.

An Irish relative once told me that the way her country is evolving away from eight centuries of warfare is through a simple formula:

"First you remember; then you grieve; then you heal".

Instead of skipping the first two steps, as Mr. Harper and too many of our people are trying to do "apologetically", it is time that Canadians found the courage to truly remember and admit to the world what we did to the first peoples of this land, and grieve our actions in the manner of people who truly rend their own hearts and want to change.

Perhaps then "healing and reconciliation" can become something more than an overworked political catch-phrase.

Kevin Annett is a community minister in Vancouver who is the author of two books on Indian Residential Schools and an award-winning film maker.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=9066