Collaborative Action Blog Part 12 ( The Spoken Word ) ;-)

 Tan si to ALL MY RELATION...

I am sitting here listening to one of my favorite CD's by Cree Summer...'Street Faerrie"...and the track playing is called Curious White Boy ( none the less....;-) )...I went to myspace, and one of my Native sisters blasted the news below...as I read...I started to laugh, since the song and the below...it just all seems to flow together...also had I met with the Chairman of American Indian Tv last Thursday...the meeting went well, and you know what...BELIEVE THIS...the NDN is coming once again...he never left...he's not going to...and the sooner this country get's a grip on that...the better we all be off...

It is amazing how long it takes for someone...to think...hmmmm their is an untapped market...as to demographics, and what the American Indian can provide as to MEDIA contant...let me just be clear... all of the below  will give you a glimpse of CONTENT, 
this goverment is considering "appologizing" and Leonard Peltier...which is still in prison...has been nominated FIFE as in 5 TIMES for the Nobel Prize...if someone were to actually consider producing a true Network of American Indian Content...from beginning to the end of time itself...WE CAN PROVIDE...anything one could possibly think of...it's simply a matter of someone finally saying...let's DO IT...none the less, know this too, if you are at all spiritually connected to a higher sense of awareness, and pocess the depth of a soul...then you must also realize that the prophecies are playing themselves out IN LIVING COLOR...

WAKE UP EVERYBODY Recess is O V E R ! Besides...going GREEN...and contemplating BLUE...

we are def. seeing RED!   Yours Truly WayOFTheSpirit aka so many names so little time!
Naheo!

 

An overdue apology to First Nations
By ANDREW HANON

"Remorse is the punishment of crime; repentence, its expiation. The former appertains to a tormented conscience; the latter to a soul changed for the better.
"

- Joseph Joubert

More than a century after the crimes began, it looks like the federal government will finally own up to its murderous campaign against native people.


Federal Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl announced last week that on June 11, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will rise in the House of Commons and formally apologize for the native residential school system.


Presumably, the apology will be similar to the one issued on Feb. 12 by Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for similar programs aimed at obliterating Aborigine language and culture, resulting in "profound grief and loss" among its first people.


Rudd did not equivocate.


"As prime minister of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the government of Australia, I am sorry. On behalf of the parliament of Australia, I am sorry," he said. "For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say, sorry.
"

Let's hope Harper has the spine to do the same.


Every time I write about residential schools, I hear from people who can't understand what the fuss is all about. The government of Canada has nothing to be sorry for, they say. It's just another way of exploiting our collective guilt, they argue.


One particularly dense ingnoramus ended his "we've-been-held-hostage-by-Indians-long-enough" rant by stabbing his finger into the table and bellowing, "I don't know what they're complaining about. We taught those people to read.
"

We also took an estimated 150,000 native children from their homes and taught them that their parents were evil, that the values and beliefs they held were demonic.


Completely contrary to biblical teaching, we forced them to worship Jesus and made following their grandparents' traditions a crime.


We punished them for speaking anything other than English or French. We raised them in a cold, prison-like atmosphere, devoid of affection or nurturing.


We beat them for disobedience or undisciplined behaviour. We made thousands of children sexual playthings for hundreds of pedophiles working within the system.



We kept the children in crowded, cramped quarters, where they were exposed to deadly diseases like tuberculosis. Then when we were finished debasing, humiliating and abusing them, we sent them home to raise families.


They had learned their lessons well. Everything we taught them - anger, self-loathing, sexual dysfunction and physical abuse - was passed along to the next generation.


Residential schools were some of the key components in the federal government's answer to what officials called the "Indian Question." They were responsible for ruining individuals' lives, destroying families and undermining the fabric of entire communities.


Of the few who have even heard of residential schools, the vast majority steadfastly refuse to believe the horrors that went on inside them.


Maybe, when the prime minister rises in the house on June 11, the state of denial will finally end.

Really, there's only one thing to be said about next month's apology to First Nations: What the hell took so long?

Have all the news delivered to your door 7 days a week.

SOURCE:http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lndob2lzbGVvbmFyZHBlbHRpZXIuaW5mby9tZWRpYXJlbGVhc2UyMDA4MDUxOC5odG0=

Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fargo, North Dakota

Leonard Peltier is a Five-Time Nobel Nominee

American Indian activist Leonard Peltier has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the fifth consecutive year. The fact that Peltier has earned the distinction of a Nobel nomination every year since 2004 is especially remarkable - Peltier has been an inmate in the United States federal prison system since 1976.



Peltier's conviction in the killing of two FBI agents in South Dakota has long been internationally decried as one of the most blatant injustices in recent United States legal history. In the aftermath of his trial, federal prosecutors were openly excoriated for having manufactured evidence against Peltier, for having withheld exculpatory evidence, and also for having coerced witnesses into giving false testimony. Lynn Crooks, Assistant Special Prosecutor in Peltier's trial, admitted to a federal judge that "the government does not know who killed its agents, nor do we know what participation Leonard Peltier may have had in it.

"

And yet Leonard Peltier has remained a prisoner for more than 32 years. Fifty five United States Senators and Congressional Representatives (including Democrats and Republicans) have filed an appeal brief demanding that Peltier receive a new trial. Amnesty International has repeatedly called for Peltier's immediate release from prison, governments from all over the world have passed resolutions insisting that Peltier be released, and a large contingent of distinguished human rights advocates have been very outspoken in their strong support for Peltier - including four people who have already received the Nobel Peace Prize: Mikhail Gorbachev (1990), the 14th Dalai Lama (1989), Archbishop Desmond Tutu (1984), and Mother Teresa (1979).



It is not Peltier's status as a political prisoner, however, that has earned him the honor of five Nobel nominations. The basis for Peltier's nominations has been his own remarkable success in furthering the causes of peace and human rights. Despite more than three decades of unjust incarceration, Peltier has worked tirelessly on a multitude of efforts to help other people achieve a more dignified and humane existence. While the Nobel Committee in Oslo (Norway) requests that letters of nomination not be made public, it is nonetheless widely known that Leonard Peltier has facilitated numerous significant donations to a wide variety of charities and human rights organizations.



Peltier is, of course, not financially wealthy - but he is an accomplished painter. Often expending his meager prison commissary account funds on art supplies such as paints, brushes, and canvas, he produces works of art which are subsequently donated and auctioned. Peltier has also worked to establish assistance programs for many underprivileged groups, and he has helped in other ways to fund a multitude of efforts from scholarships for Native students to shelters for victims of domestic violence. It is difficult to determine precisely the sum total of donations and contributions that Peltier has helped to facilitate, Peltier refuses to boast about his humanitarian work and many of his projects have not been made public. It is estimated, however, that the contributions resulting from Peltier's work extend into the millions of dollars.



Peltier's long record of human rights advocacy involves more than raising money. He has written a great deal while in prison, consistently taking advantage of every opportunity to encourage people not to harbor resentments, to take care of the environment, and to treat each other with love and respect. It is no small irony that a person treated in such an inhumane way should so strongly advocate the humane treatment of others, that a person so financially impoverished should help raise such extraordinary amounts of money for others, that a person with such just cause for bitterness and resentment should encourage forgiveness, and that a person imprisoned should be one of America's strongest advocates for freedom.



Peltier's 1999 book Prison Writings: My Life is My Sundance (Saint Martin's Press) continues to be a best seller on many lists. It is fitting that Leonard Peltier's own words (from his book) should conclude this press release: "We are in this together - the rich, the poor, the red, the white, the black, the brown, and the yellow. We are all one family of humankind. We share responsibility for our Mother Earth and for all those who live and breathe upon her. I believe our work will be unfinished until not one human being is hungry or battered, not a single person is forced to die in war, not one innocent languishes imprisoned, and no one is persecuted for his or her beliefs. I believe in the good in humankind. I believe that the good can prevail, but only with great effort. And that effort is ours, each of ours, yours and mine....Never cease in the fight for peace, justice, and equality for all people. Be persistent in all that you do and don't allow anyone to sway you from your conscience.

"

For more information about the content of this press release, media correspondents are encouraged to speak with the Leonard Peltier media contact person at 701-412-4617.



For more information about Leonard Peltier's case, about his humanitarian work, or about his works of art, please contact his defense committee at this address:

Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee
P.O.

Box 7488
Fargo, North Dakota 58106
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd2hvaXNsZW9uYXJkcGVsdGllci5pbmZvLw==

Write to Leonard Peltier at this address:

Leonard Peltier # 89637-132
USP Lewisburg
PO BOX 1000
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania 17837

Released on 18 May 2008