American Indian/Alaska Native – Attack The System

Calling the Native Youth Movement and American Indian Movement! The National Post reports that The Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a think tank, predicts a possibly grim future for the Canadian Nation State due to unrest among Natives. The reason is a recipe of factors that are trigger points for unrest and insurrection: a high percentage of disadvantaged youths coupled with vulnerable infrastructure. We've seen this same recipe recently in the Arab Spring uprising as explained by William Lind in his article…

A Native American tribe is doing exactly the opposite of what you'd think they'd do: they're kicking people out of the tribe, huge numbers of them, including people whose ancestors without question were part of the tribe.

Listen to the episode here....

Above is an interesting piece on This American Life about tribes that are purging their membership rolls.

http://youtu.be/apztpA6H6-U

Arming Sisters

On Sunday I was in Eugene, Oregon for the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference where I participated on a panel with Cascadian Bioregionalists which included the makers of Occupied Cascadia and a representative from the Portland State University Cascadia Branch. Unfortunately, Xhopakelxhit from Coast Salish territory in British Columbia was unable to make it; she was supposed to be on our panel, too.

Namgis hereditary chief Beau Dick has broken a copper shield to shame the Canadian government and draw attention to environmental issues in the region that threaten Native people. Among my tribe, the Tlingit, we call such copper shields Tináa and all along the Pacific Northwest they are a symbol of wealth and status. To break or cut Tináa is a display of power.

By Nahaan (son of Sherman Roger Alexander)
February 05, 2013
Tuesday AM

Letter of Support for Roger Alexander, Haida Hunter, Fisher, Gatherer, and Furrier.

"I'm not saying that any of this is your fault, or even any of your grandparents did any of it. I'm saying it happened, and it happened on your people's watch. You're the one who benefited from it.

From Wikipedia

On This Day: In 1870 the Marias Massacre (also known as the Baker Massacre) occurred. It is a little-known massacre of Piegan Blackfeet Indians by the United States Army which took place in Montana. The Marias Massacre occurred in the context of massive white American westward expansion. The Army received a scouting report that a group of Piegans, led by Mountain Chief, was camped along the Marias River.