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