A debate over a longstanding parade tradition in Needham, Mass., has flared anew.

Each Fourth of July, the town’s parade features Fred Muzi, retired owner of Muzi Ford, dressed in a feather headdress with his skin painted red, riding bareback on a horse, according to Katrina Ballard in a Boston Globe story. (The Needham Times takes a look at the issue, too.)

“We do know this is a tradition many people in Needham enjoy and find harmless, and it does seem like Mr. Muzi has the best intention,” said Emily Rothman, who with her husband, Greg Banks, spoke to Ballard for the story. “However, when people paint their skin to look like individuals of another race for entertainment purposes, it’s off base.”

The two wrote letters to the local paper and called Linda Morceau, chief of the Chappiquiddic tribe based in Cape Cod.

As Ballard reports:

Muzi, 79, said he has been dressing up to ride in the parade every year since 1957. He said he admires Native American culture, and he bought his Indian-made costume at Garden of the Gods National Park in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“I try to be authentic as possible,” Muzi said in an interview. “If the crowd didn’t like me, I certainly wouldn’t be there.”

Muzi said he has heard complaints from townspeople in the form of letters to the local paper three times before, but he said each letter was followed by dozens defending him. The Needham Exchange Club asks him back to the parade every year, he added.

“There are no good reasons for someone that is not Native American to dress up as though they are Native American,” said Morceau, a substance abuse and family councilor at Peaceful Gathering Place in Wareham. “The only group of people that are still open season for being made fun of that way are Native Americans. We need to step up and say this is offensive.”

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Chappiquiddic Tribe, Cultural insensitivity, Fourth of July, Gwen Florio, Native American identity, Native American news, Needham, Needham Exchange Club

An oil spill in Michigan that’s sending oil into the Kalamazoo River has raised alarm among aboriginal leaders in Canada.

Those leaders say the 840,000-galllon spill is further evidence that British Columbia should nix a proposed pipeline from the Alberta tar sands to British Columbia, according this Canadian Press report.

Enbridge, based in Calgary, wants to build the pipeline that would end in the coastal community of Kitimat. But as Canadian Press reports:

But Enbridge’s affiliate, Enbridge Energy Partners LP of Houston, is responsible for the Michigan spill and a B.C. First Nations coalition says it’s further proof why the proposed Northern Gateway project should be scrapped.

Coastal First Nations executive director Art Sterritt says despite Enbridge’s claim that the Northern Gateway project will be a model of safety, such a spill could happen in B.C.

Sterritt is recently returned from visiting scene of the disastrous British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

And Coastal First Nations president Gerald Amos tells Canadian Press that such a spill in British Columbia would be devastating to First Nations peoples heavily dependent upon marine resources.

Gwen Florio

Tags: Alberta tar sands, Art Sterritt, BP, British Columbia, British Petroleum, buffalo post, Coatal First Nations, Enbridge, Enbridge Energy Partners LP, First Nations, Gerald Amox, Gulf oil spill, Gwen Florio, Kalamazoo oil spill, Kalamazoo River, Native American news, Northern Gateway

Here’s the story from the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal:

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., will visit Pine Ridge on Aug. 7 at the invitation of Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, D-S.D., to attend a powwow and discuss housing issues with Oglala Sioux Tribe officials.

Franken is a member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee and also sits on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which has authority over tribal housing programs. Herseth Sandlin issued the invitation to Franken for the Pine Ridge visit after the two discussed Native American housing issues.

Herseth Sandlin also will host a field hearing of the House Natural Resources Committee on Aug. 6 in Eagle Butte. Tribal leaders will testify at the hearing, which will focus on education, school facilities, Native languages and other issues.

Franken will not be able to attend that meeting, Herseth Sandlin’s staffers said.

Tags: Banking Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, buffalo post, Gwen Florio, House Natural Resources Committee, Native American news, Oglala Sioux Tribe, Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Sen. Al Franken, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs

A judge has thrown out the confession of a man accused of a fatal shooting during the opening day of the Lakota Nation Invitational last year.

The incident that cast a pall over the famed basketball tournament (see previous post, here).

The ruling by Seventh Circuit Judge Thomas Trimble came in the case of Simon Torres, 20, who was scheduled to go on trial next week for first-degree murder, according to this story by Andrea J. Cook of the Rapid City (S.D.) Journal.

The Dec. 16 shooting outside the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center took the life of Shane Bordeaux, 20.

Cook reports that Torres’ confession came after being interviewed for about an hour and 40 minutes. Although he was given a Miranda warning and did not request a lawyer, he repeatedly said he wanted to stop the interview. The judge found that indicated he wished to uphold his right to remain silent

Attorneys say they may now need to locate additional witnesses, which could delay the trial.

Gwen Florio

Tags: basketball, buffalo post, Gwen Florio, Lakota Nation Invitational, Native American news, Rushmore Plaza Civic Center, Seventh Circuit Judge Thomas Trimble

Well, this story is just sad as sad can be. Oakland’s Hintil Kuu Ca preschool, started for Native American children, is on a list of preschools to be eliminated as California tries to cope with its deficit.

The school has a long history, according to this Oakland Tribune story by Katy Murphy.

Almost 40 years ago, a group of Native American mothers founded Hintil Kuu Ca, which means “The Indian children’s place,” to help their young children succeed in a strange, new urban environment. Many of them had recently moved to Oakland with their families from reservations and were caught between worlds. Some children were dropping out of elementary school, said Agnes Tso, who has taught at Hintil since 1981.

“The parents started the school because they were really concerned about their kids not having a place,” she said. “I think they were just lost.”

Hintil now serves mostly non-Native American children; about 15 of its 90 preschool and school-age students are American Indian. Guevara asserts that the center is an important resource for the community, and that it’s the only urban childhood development center in California with an American Indian cultural focus.

Teacher Shirley Guevara says that other teachers, along with parents and Native leaders, are seeking grants and asking Indian casinos for helping in keeping the school open.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, California budget crisis, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gwen Florio, Hintil Kuu Ca, Native American education, Native American news, Oakland, Urban Indians

Mark Trahant is a Kaiser Media Fellow examining the Indian Health Service and its relevance to the national health care reform debate. He is a member of Idaho’s Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and writes from Fort Hall, Idaho. Comment at www.marktrahant.com. His new book is “The Last Great Battle of the Indian Wars,” the story of Sen. Henry Jackson and Forrest Gerard.

(Material for this column was originally published in December and March.)

Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said: “If you’ve been in government a long time, as I have been, then the most exciting thing you encounter in government is competence. Why is this exciting? Because it’s rare.” When I read the quote, even today, I can hear the late New York senator’s voice booming, his last word full with extra punctuation.

Today, I’m excited for the government. Health care reform should bring nutrition to a starving Indian health system. And, if the next test for health care reform is execution, then the government might be on the right course. President Barack Obama used his authority to give Dr. Donald Berwick a recess appointment to head the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services.

This is a choice that exceeds Moynihan’s rareness of competency. Berwick represents the ideal, the one person you think could help the government, the people and the medical profession come together around the idea of excellent health care. Last December, at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement conference I watched hundreds of professionals cheer on Berwick as they would a rock star. This is a doctor who’s willing to talk about what’s really important to people. “Health care has no intrinsic value at all. None, health does. Joy does. Peace does,” he said in December. “The best hospital bed is empty. The best CT scan is the one we don’t need. The best doctor’s visit is the one we don’t need.”

Imagine that. Doctors we don’t need.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Alaska Native Medical Center, buffalo post, Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Donald Berwick, Garrett Hardin, Health care reform, Indian Health Service, Mark Trahant, Medicaid, Medicare, Native American news, President Barack Obama, Science magazine, Southcentral Foundation, Tragedy of the Commons

This story is just too good to abbreviate. It’s by Matt Joyce of the Associated Press. Here’s the whole thing. Enjoy!

SHERIDAN, Wyo. (AP) — Summer has brought another season of Indian Relay racing to the northern Rockies and high plains, sending tribal teams in motion across the region as they haul their horses in search of reservation jackpots, rodeo purses and bragging rights.

Paying tribute to their cultural reverence for horses, horsemanship and bravery, Native Americans speed bareback around a track, then jump from one mount to the next amid a jumbled mass of rearing steeds.

Think horse racing with pit stops.

“It’s a lifestyle really,” said Jostin Lawrence, co-owner of an Indian Relay team from the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, Mont. “We’re always on the road. If we’re not on the road, we’re with our horses.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Blackfeet Nation, buffalo post, Crow Nation, Garryowen, Indian Relay races, Lodge Grass, Native American news, Sheridan Indian Relay, Sheridan WYO Rodeo, Shoshone-Bannock Relay Association

Here’s the Associated Press story:

LIMA, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man who claimed that his American Indian ancestry makes him exempt from city nuisance laws has been ordered to clean up two homes that have fallen into disrepair.

A judge told William Bowersock on Thursday that he has 30 days to take care of the properties in Lima.

The judge rejected Bowersock’s argument that he had seceded from the local government and formed his own Indian reservation, thereby making him exempt from the city’s property code.

Bowersock says he thinks the city is singling him out and using selective enforcement of property codes to harass him.

Judge Richard Warren said city officials have given Bowersock years to address the nuisance problem and that the rights of the city and Bowersock’s neighbors must be protected.

Tags: buffalo post, Gwen Florio, Indian reservation, Native American ancestry, Native American news

Elouise Cobell, lead plaintiff in the Indian trust lawsuit representing the interests of hundreds of thousands of Native Americans, issued the following statement concerning last night’s U.S. Senate rejection of the $3.4 billion settlement in that case (see post here):

Elouise Cobell (AP photo)

BROWNING, Mont., July 23 — On July 1, 2010, the House of Representatives passed HR4899 – Disaster/War Supplemental Appropriations. It included legislation to approve the Cobell v. Salazar individual Indian trust settlement. Late last night, however, the Senate stripped from HR 4899 all domestic spending provisions, including our settlement legislation, notwithstanding that the domestic spending provisions are fully paid for. The stripped version of the bill returns to the House for further consideration. This is the second time in two months that the Senate has failed to act on settlement legislation although it is fully paid-for and had been expected to pass if put to a vote.

As a result of Senate action, legislative approval of our settlement, once again, is in the capable hands of House leadership, which steadfastly has supported us since settlement with the government was reached on December 7, 2009. We have great confidence in Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer and believe that they will continue to ensure that 500,000 individual Indians finally are provided justice that is long overdue. We are depending on them.

Rob Capriccioso of Indian Country Today has this story about Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s criticism of Republicans who helped ax the settlement – and also about the response from Republicans, notably Wyoming Republican John Barrasso, the most vocal opponent of some of the settlement’s provisions.

That story mentions that hopes for eventual approval are not dead, as does this piece by the Blog of Legal Times (aka BLT).

That piece reiterates that the most recent deadline – there have been many, with many delays – for congressional approval of the settlement is Aug. 6.

As always, stay tuned.

Gwen Florio

Tags: buffalo post, Cobell v. Salazar, Elouise Cobell, Gwen Florio, Indian trust case, Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. John Barrasso, U.S. Senate