NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL GENOCIDE * Congress Still Refuses To Listen To Us !

If you haven't read it yet, go to
http://www.littlecrowtradingpost.com/culturalgenocide.htm

The public hearing on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) scheduled for Thursday Feb. 26, 2009 was canceled. Small business owners were scheduled to testify about the devastating effects that this law has on American businesses, including ours. Once again, these members of Congress have proved that they DON'T CARE if businesses are being forced into bankruptcy by the inadvertent effects of this legislation (HR4040). So you can be certain that NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL GENOCIDE caused by this law isn't even on their radar screen!

If this law isn't amended quickly, it will begin keeping many of our children out of the powwow arena, effectively forcing assimilation on us once again. We've talked to several vendors who have already stopped making children's regalia since the Feb. 10 effective date. We're only making a few items now, and will be forced to stop making all childrens regalia by August, unless this law is amended.

If you think you have a hard time finding regalia items for your kids & grandkids now, just wait until 500 new "Consumer Protection Police" are hired to lurk around festivals, powwows, rodeos and craft fairs looking for violators. Several State Attorney Generals have already voiced their intent to vigorously prosecute offenders. Does your state have an Attorney General who is hostile towards Indians? How about powerful anti-Indian lobbyist groups? I shudder in anger to think that government agents will once again be allowed to arrest Indians for doing what our families have done for thousands of years - making moccasins & traditional items for the children in their community. The "stay" on testing requirements is only temporary, and those in Congress who refuse to amend the law are counting on us to give up by the time new regulations kick in during Aug. 2009

Millions of dollars in inventory is now illegal to sell, deepening bank losses needlessly, while making our children no safer. Millions of pre-1985 childrens books are headed to the landfill. Lower income children are going without needed clothing, because Goodwill & resale stores have removed kids clothing from the shelves to avoid criminal prosecution & fines. Your church needs to contact an attorney before holding a craft sale! This CAN'T be America, but it IS!! Congress DID pass this outrageous law!!!! This is NOT a joke. SNOPES doesn't have the whole story. The legal opinions are in agreement, this law is bad for business! It's bad for America! It's bad for Indians!

We need to make them stop ignoring us!! Get on your phone and start calling! We'll start posting phone numbers here so that you can call and make your voices heard. LETS HIT THEM WITH SUCH PUBLIC OUTRAGE THAT THEY CAN'T IGNORE US! WE ARE AMERICA!

If anyone wants to read the CPSIA law for themselves (HR4040), you can download the PDF at the official U.S. gov website http://www.cpsc.gov

How do you like being treated like we don't matter? WELL, WE DO MATTER! THIS IS OUR COUNTRY! WE ARE AMERICA! It's time for us to really RAISE HELL and make Congress pay attention to us! Let's hit them with such a public outcry from the Native American community - enrolled and non-enrolled, that Congress realizes the Indian wars are NOT over!

Congress doesn't realize HOW MANY Indians there REALLY ARE in America today - they only count those who are members of federally-recognized tribes. WE ARE REACHING OUT TO ALL OF THE NON-FEDERALLY ENROLLED PEOPLE OF NATIVE DESCENT ACROSS AMERICA. You know who you are. Make your voice heard and help save what is left of the cultures that our ancestors died trying to preserve. YOU DO COUNT!!

I've taken this posting from Rick Woldenberg's blog (with permission). Rick runs a business making award-winning educational products. His blog follows:

Friday, February 27, 2009

CPSIA – The Cancelled Hearings, What to Do

Having had a few hours to mull the cancellation of the hearings on CPSIA by the Subcommittee on Regulations and Healthcare of the House Committee on Small Business, I conclude that we need to flex our muscles if we want to stay in the game. This shameful display of partisan politics (lest we call it some form of “religious” zeal) is a real demonstration of the tyranny that confronts us. It’s all the more shocking that it took place at the supposedly non-partisan House Committee on Small Business – they should be EMBARRASSED (shamed, really). To me, it’s impossible to deny that our voices are being INTENTIONALLY kept off the record, and worse still, powerful people are attempting to undermine YOU with slander and marginalization. We CANNOT allow this to go on.

What we need to do is to start calling the offices of the Small Business Committee (202-225-4038, ask for Erik Lieberman and leave a message if necessary on his voicemail) to inquire about why the hearings on the CPSIA were cancelled. We should tell them that the law is killing our small businesses, that we cannot comply with it, that it’s too complex and unrelated to safety risks and needs to be changed. Tell them that this is not all about crafters and dirt bikes – it’s about American small businesses trying to survive in a Depression! The hearings were essential to air out these issues. Ask for a response.

You should feel free to call more than once. Get an answer. Make them listen to you. It turns out that you matter!

You may also call other members of this Committee to express your dismay. You can see the committee list at http://www.house.gov/smbiz/democrats/members.htm. If you happen to live in the district of one of the members of the Committee or better yet, one of the Subcommittee members (http://www.house.gov/smbiz/democrats/subcommittees.htm), please scream even louder. We need to be heard, REALLY HEARD.

You should get everyone at your company, everyone in your family, all your friends, customers, suppliers, neighbors, fraternity brothers, your minister and the guy who sells you stamps at the Post Office, to call about this issue. We need to BURN their phone lines over the CPSIA.

We got this far by demanding to be heard, as a group. It’s time to turn on the jets and go harder now. Go get ‘em, let them hear your voice!!!

Rick

Day Ohn Day 5K - Tulsa Indian Club

Tulsa Indian Club is pleased to announce that this years Day Ohn Day 5k run has been selected to be a part of the 2009 Tulsa Running Club Race Series. If you have any family of the competitive flavor please inform them that they can earn TRC racing points by participating on May 23rd.

For more info about the tulsa running club 2009 Race series please go to www.tulsarunningclub.com. Ah-ho!

Tulsa Indian Club Inc. www.tulsapowwow.org tici@tulsapowwow.org

Black Hills PowWow Rapid City SD Oct 9-11

Black Hills Powwow
He Sapa Wacipi Na Oskate
October 9, 10, 11, 2009

Rushmore Plaza Civic Center; Rapid City, South Dakota
Phone: (605) 341-0925
Website: http://www.blackhillspowwow.com
Contact Ira Taken Alive, Secretary, Black HIlls Powwow Association

Chilocco Alumni Reunion Jun 11-13 Tulsa

Chilocco National Alumni Association will hold its annual reunion on June 11, 12, 13 & 14, 2009 at the Cherokee Casino and Resort, Tulsa, OK.

There will be a golf tournament on Friday, June 12, 2009. We need participants and donors. Golf registration fee is $80 per person or $320 per team of 4. Fee covers green fee, cart, prize fund, and lunch. Individuals will be assigned to a tem on first paid entry basis. Partial teams will receive assigned player.

Any Chilocco alumni, former students, former employees and open to all Indian Seniors ages 55 plus. Tournament will be held at the Cherokee Hills Golf Club, Catoosa, OK 8:00 a.m. Shotgun start. 4 person team Scramble - Men, Women or Mixed. Tournment Director is Charley Johnson, P.O. Box 531, Bixby, OK 74008. Telephone (918) 366-6158; cell No. (918) 812-8603, e-mail johnson6158@olp.net.

Events at the reunion will be a social on Thursday night, Pow-wow on Friday night;
Veterans breakfast on Saturday morning; Banquet and dance Saturday night; Church Service on Sunday. Registration contact for reunion is Emma Jean Falling, telephone No. (918) 266-1626.
Early registration is encouraged. Deadline date is May 16, 2009.

2009 Miss Indian Oklahoma City Competition

Now Accepting Applications for the
2009 Miss Indian Oklahoma City Competition & Performance
Friday March 27, 2009 6:30 PM
Destiny Christian Center 3801 SE 29th St. Del City, OK

Mistress of Ceremonies: Cherokee Ballard, OKC TV Celebrity

Entertainment By Vocalist: Jolyn Carla Rose
Educator & Former Miss Cherokee, Miss Indian Oklahoma
& Former Miss Indian USA

For details go to: www.missindianokc.org

For Application Packet please contact Shirley Wapskineh swapskineh@sbcglobal.net Or 405.632.5227

Tornado Outbreak in Oklahoma Feb 10

There was an awful outbreak of tornadoes today throughout the center of Oklahoma, running roughly north & south along I-35 out of Dallas. We can get tornadoes here every month of the year. But a deadly outbreak like today is rare, since February is normally our coldest month - when I actually put on a coat.

There's a lot of damage on the NW end of the Oklahoma City metro area, where it tore up a neighborhood, shopping centers and sent the roof of a Target store flying into a Chucky Cheese restaurant. There was even more substantial damage (and deaths) during the night down by Ada, about halfway between Oklahoma City and Dallas. The death toll for this storm system is at least 8 so far, but search & rescue efforts continue throughout the night and after daylight. The death toll may rise after daylight.

The neighborhood where my elderly folks live was also hit overnight, as the line of storms traveled up I-44 over the Oklahoma state line into Missouri. The garage of a house a couple of blocks away was destroyed, and the roof of a nearby apartment building was torn off. They're okay though, thank God.

We had some bad storms near us that destroyed several buildings in Pawnee County, but haven't heard of injuries in our area. I'll have to keep trying to get in touch with some friends in other areas hit to see if they're okay. We just had wildfires here a few days ago, but luckily nobody was killed this time.

Oklahoma can be a really tough place to live - but the people here are some of the best. It's not uncommon for an Okie to risk their life to save a stranger, like after the bombing of the Murrah Federal Bulding in Oklahoma City. I used to laugh when easterners coming to Oklahoma asked if we still had "Cowboy & Indian" problems. LOL I'd tell them "Custer caused a lot of trouble here, but he got what he had coming." And then asked them what kind of horse they wanted me to bring for them to ride when I picked them up at the airport in Tulsa. LOL

Sonny & I went to a Storm Spotter Training class last week. This was just a short evening class, but we'll go to a 2-day class later on. I went through storm spotter training over 30 years ago after I passed my "Ham" license (Amateur Radio) test. Storm spotters aren't the same as storm chasers. Those chaser folks are frickin crazy! Spotters watch the skies and make radio reports of the behavior of severe storms as they cycle up & down, fall apart & reorganize, so that warnings can be issued as fast as possible if they start to drop a funnel. A single extra minute of warning saves lives.

I worked communications with Red Cross Disaster Services in Springfield MO (an hour north of the Oklahoma state line) back when I was attending Missouri State University 30 years ago. Running a mock airplane crash scenario with emergency personnel and Ham Radio operators really helped rescue & recovery efforts when a tornado tore a 7 mile path through the city a year later. I was with my young daughter & her friend at an indoor racquet & pool club when the storm hit. The girls were only toddlers, but they still remember me stuffing them into the steel lockers to keep them safe. Luckily the funnel was disrupted by a huge highway overpass just before it hit the indoor club.

The 2-meter frequency range (+-146 Mhz) provides clear communications during a major disaster, when all other communication avenues are likely to be wiped out. CB radios are useless because tornadoes put out harmonics at the same frequency range as CB's operate. Land lines are often the first to go. Cell phone towers are knocked out by 100 mph winds, and cell phones don't have the power needed to skip signals off a repeater 50 miles away like a short-wave radio.

It's a common problem for emergency services to be unable to talk to each other during a major disaster. So having "Ham" radio operators posted everywhere (disaster sites, hospitals, police stations, fire & rescue stations) can be a real lifesaver - quite literally. I let my Amateur license expire several years ago, thinking I was living in the city, I was too old to go chasing storms anymore, etc. But since we've moved to my husband's "home rez" six years ago, I've come to realize that I really should get my license back. You only have to pass the written electronic theory & regulation test these days. Back when I got my original license in 1978-79(?), you had to be able to "copy" 13 words a minute in Morse Code.

The major storm prediction center (National Weather Service) is down by OU in Norman, in the south part of the HUGE Oklahoma City metro area. It's probably 120 miles from us, so their Doppler radar can't see what's going on at the ground level up here nearly as well as closer areas, because of the curvature of the earth. The National Weather Service has to depend on trained weather spotters this far away to tell them exactly what's going on. Although we're out here in the middle of nowhere, we're in a perfect position to watch for storms moving NE into the Osage reservation, which is much more highly populated.

I've been trying to locate grants to help pay for storm warning sirens for our tribal village & community. We're so far from a town that we're totally without services like rural water, fire protection or cable tv. We have satellite tv & satellite internet, because we can't get anything else out here. Without them, we would be virtually cut off from the outside world - that's exactly what happens when a storm hits, we lose everything. Last time our internet satellite was knocked out, it was a week before we could get someone to drive up from Oklahoma City to fix it - despite paying for 48 hour service.

On the other hand, being so remote isn't such a bad thing sometimes, when you consider the rising crime rates in the cities. Nobody really bothers us out here, since it's clearly an Indian community with the tribe's name on the water tower out by the highway. It's not unlike a gated neighborhood in the city - we know who belongs here and who doesn't. I've run off strangers sitting in unidentified cars or driving through the village. I don't know if they are looking for someone to serve papers or what. But unless they identify themselves as law enforcement, I tell them they're trespassing on Indian trust land, and tell them to "get the". Occasionally a curious tourist will drive into the tribal village off the highway. The sight of an expensive RV driving through the village is always fodder for jokes. My elderly neighbor across the street will poke her head out the front door and say "I supposed those are YOUR friends" LOL Everyone knows everyone elses business here - they know if you had beans for dinner. Aaaayyyyeee

CPSIA - NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL GENOCIDE

My MAIN priority at this time is fighting the CPSIA of 2008 - the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (HR4040). This new law that went into effect on Feb. 10, 2009, is the equivalent of Cultural Genocide for Native Americans. It requires testing for lead and other chemicals in all items for children under age 13, which can be extremely expensive, destructive, impractical and is largely UNNECESSARY. It was enacted in response to lead-tainted toys imported by big box importers, but is so poorly written it threatens to wreck the American economy even further. This law is based on knee-jerk political reaction, not science.

It's effects on Native American material culture and the participation of our children in cultural and religious rites is simply incomprehensible. I don't believe it's the intent of Congress to cause the granny making kids moccasins to slink around "underground" to sell her wares like the sleezeball who sells eagle feathers. But the effect of this law is the same. Despite the fact that jingle cones may contain nothing more than tin (Sn) and lead-free paint, I won't be making any medicine dresses for little girls until I can be sure there isn't a trace of lead somewhere in the zipper or cones or fancy fabrics typically used on dresses.

Although a "stay of execution" er uh, stay of testing was issue until Feb. 10 2010, the law is still in force and any violation can result in enormous fines and felony prosecution with 5 years imprisonment. A recent Forbes article equated the law to USING A BAZOOKA TO KILL A GNAT. Given the anti-Indian sentiment by some state Attorney Generals, we're not taking any chances at this time. If Congress doesn't amend the law to be reasonable, we'll organize a class action lawsuit to challenge it.

You can read about it at out website page at http://www.littlecrowtradingpost.com/culturalgenocide.htm

Issues Involving Native American Culture

After many requests, I'm finally setting up a blog for our customers and website followers. Our website is at http://www.littlecrowtradingpost.com

I'll post issues which affect Native Americans, talk about powwows, help newcomers to the powwow world find others in their area, and give web tourists an insight into life in a contemporary tribal community.