Issues

I Am Sorry That I Got Behind On Issues. But Sebastian's Life Came First. Dave

Here are some of the issues.
Native American man seeks return of stolen eagle feather
'They know how to come home,' says Montana man's aunt
By John Branton - July 22, 2009

When thieves stole sacred eagle feather dance regalia from David Yelloweyes' truck, they stole a spiritual connection that has been passed down through his family for 100 years or longer.
"Those feathers hold our spirits and our prayers," said Yelloweyes, who often travels the country and is active in Native American religious ceremonies. "When I dance, I use the eagle feather to send messages to the creator."
Yelloweyes has been doing everything he can to get the feathers back, so that the spiritual family connection won't be broken.
Before the theft, he'd given them to his son, Little Eagle Yelloweyes, 11, to continue that spiritual path, although the father still used them.
He's told neighbors, family members and friends, notified the news media, gone onto the Internet, even looked in parks and garbage cans.
"All I can do is pray," he said Wednesday afternoon. "The medicine in those feathers is very, very strong."
The multicolored feathered Mandan hat and other beaded garments were last seen in a large black hard-shell Samsonite suitcase that was strapped down in the bed of his pickup.
He'd backed his 1997 Ford into the driveway of some family members' home along a quiet residential street in Cascade Park about 11 p.m. Sunday.
Shortly after, someone broke into the locked cab of the truck, but left behind his wallet and cash, I-Phone, GPS unit and four rifles. A couple of neighbors said they heard a truck stop and leave. A smaller red suitcase also was taken.
If it was a random car prowl, Yelloweyes said, why weren't other neighbors hit, and why were only the feathers taken?
Perhaps it wasn't random. It's possible the thieves saw a Native American sticker on his truck's rear window before he arrived, and followed him to the Cascade Park home.
Native Americans may possess sacred eagle feathers, but that right does not extend to the public.
Sacred bald and golden eagle feathers are protected by strict federal laws, with prison terms as long as two years and fines up to $250,000 possible for some felony convictions, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Rewards are offered for tips that lead to arrests and convictions of those violating the laws regulating possession of feathers.
But eagle feather regalia can be worth thousands of dollars to unscrupulous dealers and collectors. Yelloweyes calls his priceless.
"I want to find them," Yelloweyes said. "I don't care if they dump them in my yard. I'll pay them to dump them in my yard."
Yelloweyes said he's part Northern Cheyenne from Lame Deer, Mont., where he's based, and part Lakota Sioux from South Dakota.
He performs sun dances as often as once a week at powwows and ceremonies around the country. He does it as a tradition, as a hobby and to win money in competitions.
He currently teachers martial arts in Clark County and is waiting here, hoping to recover his feathers.
"If I don't get my feathers back, I probably won't dance for a couple of years, and I've been doing this since I was a kid," he said.
He's hoping someone will return his stolen property, and said his religious beliefs predict a "miserable life" for anyone who keeps them.
And he got a ray of hope from an aunt.
"She told me not to worry, they'll come back home," he said. "They know how to come back home."
The case has been referred to detectives, said Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp.
Anyone who finds the feathers, or knows where they are, is asked to call 911 and refer to Vancouver Police Department report V-09-13533.

Please visit the articles web site to view a picture of his regalia at:
http://www.columbian.com/article/20090723/NEWS02/707239950/Native+American+man+seeks+return+of+stolen+eagle+feathers.

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Teresa Anahuy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews
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Native Inmates sent a message to the members of Native American Inmates Family Support Group.
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Subject: Your voices are needed - Spiritual and Legal Injustice - USP Coleman
Brothers in Coleman FL suffering Spiritual Injustice and legal Injustice
The issues:
1) We are being given River Rocks for our Sweat Ceremonies, these blow up and explode once heated. We have asked for the correct rocks, but we are told River Rocks will have to do. We feel we are being placed in extreme danger because of this.
*Why would the Administration put these brothers at risk in such a way??? What are they gaining by denying the brothers the correct rocks?
2) We are not maintained with a religious library like all other groups/minorities are, and have not had a library service since 2006.
*Which goes against Coleman USP's own policies!!
3) Natives are the only ones not established or maintained by Spiritual Advisors/ representatives apart from once a year. Any other group has a spiritual advisor, ministry, church etc, or civic groups once a week.
*We NEED to locate volunteers in the area to contact Administration on this ASAP. It is Administrations responsibility to ensure the religious/spiritual rights of these brothers are catered for, so why is nothing in place???
4) We are being denied the right to give to another brother a Sacred Feather at our Pow Wow's or just out of honor and respect.
*Why??? How can Adminstration justify this??
The brothers also have some issues regarding tobacco used for prayer, the amount they're supposed to have has been cut 90%.
You can contact the following:
Phone: 352-689-7000
Fax: 352-689-7012
E-mail address: CLP/EXECASSISTANT@BOP.GOV
Ask when Administration are going to provide the suitable rocks needed for ceremony?
Are they going to wait until a brother has been severely injured? Or worse? THEN will they take this seriously?
Ask why the Native brothers at FCC Coleman USP II are not receiving their religious, spiritual rights and legal rights as pertained in "The Native American Free Exercise of Religion Act of 1993", also in their "1040.04" (Non discrimination towards inmates policy), "1542.06" (Library services, inmate policy).
The more people on this the better, please let me know any feedback you may get.
Thank you.
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Please Contact Coleman USP II - my own email for reference purposes
Re: Native American Rights in Coleman FL
From: Nat'ane Nanacoke (natane-nanacoke@hotmail.com)
Sent: 27 July 2009 08:28:48
To: clp/execassistant@bop.gov
Good morning,
I am writing to you concerning the Native American Circle in Coleman USP II.
It appears the brothers are being given "River Rocks" for their Inipi ceremoy.
These rocks when heated, explode, which is highly dangerous. I have been informed that the brothers have asked repeatedly for the correct rocks for ceremony, not only have these rocks been refused, but administration feel "Exploding Rocks" should be satisfactory.
They are not.
Infact, I would go as far as to say they are an outright breech of their personal safety and civil rights.
Is there a logical explanation as to why the correct rocks are being denied? If you can provide clear USP policies/guidelines to support this, it would be helpful.
Suitable rocks must be provided for ceremony, to use River Rocks endangers every participant. I would hate for a brother to be seriously injured BEFORE this is taken seriously. Would the dept. give religious faiths "exploding candles" to use during their own religious services?
I think my point is clear.
The brothers there also inform me that they have no religious library (As all other minorities have). Infact these brothers have not had a library service since 2006. Is there any logical explanation for this? Pertaining clear policies/guidelines? I would like to see these guidelines.
I would also like to inquire as to why the Native Circle of brothers have no Spiritual Advisor/Representative, apart from once a year?
All other spiritual groups are facilitated per their religious requirements, why is it that the Native brothers are not?
Is this simply an issue regarding locating a Native American Spiritual Advisor to come into the facility? If so, I'm sure it would not take this amount of time, but if this is the reason the brothers are not catered for, please let me know and I will contact one and direct him to you asap.
Or, is this something to do with USP policies/guidelines? If so, please provide them.
Native American Inmates are by law, entitled to ceremony regularly, they are also entitled to a Spiritual Advisor. I hope we can work together in providing this, and to clear up all the other complaints listed in this email.
It also comes to my attention that the brothers are not permitted to give another brother a Sacred feather, which is part of our culture and traditions. Could you please provide me with the USP policie/guidelines regarding this issue? Also regarding why the tobacco amount brothers are allocated has been cut?
Thank you, I would be grateful.
Any help or insight you may be able to give me on these issues, would be appreciated.
With thanks,
Nat'ane Nana'coke
Native American Inmate Advocate

To all those tho wish to help on this:
Please write something similar, addressig all the concerns, please be polite at all times, also ask them to provide clear documentation to prove their actions. The reason I ask for this, is because I have been through all their guidelines and policies, and they are in severe breech of them.
I am grateful to anyone who helps out on this, thank you.
Nat'ane
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Obituary: Alison Bridges Gottfriedson, activist
Posted by: "Shirl4116@aol.com" Shirl4116@aol.com shirl4116
Sun Jul 26, 2009 5:24 am (PDT)

Obituary: Alison Bridges Gottfriedson, activist
Friday, July 24, 2009
"Alison Bridges Gottfriedson, nationally celebrated as a warrior for
Indian treaty rights, is mourned this week by Indian activists from around the
country following her sudden death July 18 from a stroke. She was 57.
Born Oct. 18, 1951, in Tacoma, Mrs. Gottfriedson for most of her life was
enrolled in the Puyallup Tribe and served two terms on the tribal council.
She recently changed her enrollment to the Squaxin Island Tribe.
Mrs. Gottfriedson was most famous for her activism on behalf of
treaty-fishing rights during the 1960s and '70s, literally becoming the poster child
for the movement when, as a young woman, she was photographed as a
Washington state game agent twisted her arms behind her during a 1970 raid on a
Puyallup riverbank fish encampment.
State officials at the time scoffed at the fish-ins on the banks of the
Puyallup and Nisqually rivers. But public sentiment was affected by the
spectacle of women, children such as Mrs. Gottfriedson, and her uncle, Billy
Frank Jr., arrested time and again for fishing. When Marlon Brando joined the
fish-ins, the movement was catapulted to national fame.
Carol Burns, a documentary film maker, captured the drama in her 1971 film
As Long as the Rivers Run. She remembered Mrs. Gottfriedson as a brave
young girl, who while slight in stature, never backed down. "It was not as
though she at some point decided to join the struggle," Burns said. "She was
born to it."
Before she was even 3 years old, Mrs. Gottfriedson was watching as her
father, Alvin Bridges, was arrested outside their home for fishing. She could
not know at the time that she, too, would be arrested over and over,
throughout her life, said Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually tribal elder and chairman
of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.
"She spent a lifetime, fighting for our rights, just time after time,
fishing and going to jail," Frank said. "She was just a rock, she was just
solid, and always there. She represented all of us tribal people that are now
free to fish, to dig clams, to dive and make a living on geoducks.""
Get the Story:
_Alison Bridges Gottfriedson fought for Indian treaty rights _
(http://64.38.12.138/my.asp?url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/obituaries/2009528
081_gottfriedson24m.html) (The Seattle Times 7/24)
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Carolyn Chambliss sent a message to the members of Stop Sacred Burial Mounds from becoming a Sam's Club.
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Subject: Thank You
Hello Everyone,
Please consider joining our sister cause to Save the Sacred Mounds with a benefit concert of contemporary n8ive performers:
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/321167/18623810?m=4e8742d9
No need to make donations, we only need your support, ideas and recruiting skills to build awareness. We will be organizing a ground breaking concert with an unprecedented line-up of native musicians and entertainers to help raise money for the cause and to build a n8ive heritage center, museum and national monument.
Thank you for your continued support and help. Your presence and recruiting efforts have given the movement real negotiating leverage and together we will not only Save the Sacred mounds but will help to restore them.
Respectfully,
Carolyn Chambliss
This message was intended for savethesacredsites@gmail.com
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U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) Daily Digest Bulletin

You have requested to receive a Daily Digest e-mail from U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
Message: 1
From: U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:09:13 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Tanimura & Antle Voluntarily Recalls One Lot of Romaine Lettuce Because of Possible Health Risk
Tanimura & Antle Voluntarily Recalls One Lot of Romaine Lettuce Because of Possible Health Risk
Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:41:00 -0500
Tanimura & Antle, Inc. of Salinas, Calif. is voluntarily recalling one lot of romaine lettuce because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. No illnesses have been reported to date, and the company is working with FDA to inform consumers of this recall.

Message: 2
From: U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:34:30 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Publix Issues Voluntary Recall on Publix Gourmet Peanut Mix Because of Possible Health Risk
Publix Issues Voluntary Recall on Publix Gourmet Peanut Mix Because of Possible Health Risk
Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:57:00 -0500
Publix Issues Voluntary Recall on Publix Gourmet Peanut Mix Because of Possible Health Risk
Firm Press Release: FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company.

Manage your FDA Subscriptions:
Questions about this service? support@govdelivery.com
Other inquiries? webmail@oc.fda.gov
This service is provided to you at no charge by U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
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From: Noel Boaz ntboaz@earthlink.net
Sent: Jul 2, 2009 3:02 PM
To: larry_echohawk@ios.doi.gov
Subject: D-Q University Re-Birth and Native American Health Education
Mr. Larry Echo Hawk
Assistant Secretary
Bureau of Indian Affairs
Washington, DC
Dear Assistant Secretary Echo Hawk,
My colleague Quanah Brightman of United Native Americans, who recently met with you, kindly forwarded me your e-mail address.
I would like to second his invitation to you to attend our Talking Circle at D-Q University in Davis, Califonia on August 10, 2009. We are trying to mobilize the Native American community and others in California and nationwide to support the re-birth of this important educational institution.
As a physician and medical school professor committed to improving Native American health education, my hope is that D-Q University can again one day provide the educational foundations for young Native Americans to become health care workers and doctors to serve indigenous communities. I have recently submitted with my colleague, Dr. Scott Obenshain, the attached proposal to the Bureau of Indian Education and Indian Health Service for a Native American Pre-Medical Institute that we believe would be well-sited at D-Q University. If I may provide further details, I would be pleased to do so.
Thank you for your interest, and I hope that you will be able to join us August 10th.
Sincerely,
Noel Boaz

Prof. Noel T. Boaz, Ph.D., M.D.
President
Integrative Centers for Science and Medicine
2640 Takelma Way
Ashland, OR 97520, U.S.A.
Tel 1-541-488-7926; Cell 1-541-646-2914 FAX 1-541-482-2989
noeltboaz@integrativemed.sci.org
http://www.integrativemedsci.org





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important RADIO SHOWS this week to share with you!
Hello everyone, from the mountain top in Montana!

There's A LOT going on this week in Indian country! Some really great work going on across Turtle Island by wonderful relatives helping on so many various issues. Hope you all got to tune in this morning to Robin Carneen and Tara Pretends Eagle with their live radio coverage on site at the vigil being held outside Lewisburg prison for Leonard Peltier's parole hearing. If not, listen to the saved archive at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/NAMAPAHH_Radio

NOW! the upcoming radio shows- -

TONIGHT on "Native Hoop-Neyom's View" show,

The Hoop is proud and honored to present Neyom will be interviewing Scott Frazier, a Santee and enrolled
Crow tribal elder from Montana. Scott Frazier is Executive Director of Project WET’s Native Waters and Indigenous People’s Liaison. They will be talking about Scotts recent trip to Russia
and his participation in the Moscow Presidential Summit.
the show will last for one hour.

The Hoop - BTR @ http://www.blogtalkradio.com/The-Hoop

Interview time is: 9pm eastern time
8pm central time
7pm mountain time
6pm west coast

__________________________________________________

THURSDAY MORNING - Tiokasin Ghosthorse, "FIRST VOICES INDIGENOUS RADIO" will do an interview with Jay Johnson-Castro Sr. Executive Director, Rio Grande International Studies Center. Jay will share with us about the recent decision to spray chemicals to kill plants near the Border Wall that hide the "bad guys" from view. However, the plan to spray these chemicals also hides some important facts (of course!) The chemicals they are planning to use (similar in type to the old "Agent Orange") may endanger wildlife, fresh water supplies, aquatic life and HUMANS! Other topics Jay has been actively involved in and may speak to during the interview include: border realities. (militarization, border wall, waivers of local, state, national and Congressional acts deconstitutionalizing the border, racial profiling by 287(g), Sheriff Joe Arpaio (Maricopa County, Phoenix), "for profit" immigrant internment camps, including innocent children, defoliating of the Rio Grande.

Tiokasin stated that this will be a shorter radio interview segment this week with Jay but a longer one is scheduled soon so that we can all hear more of the REAL truths about the Border Wall issues soon. Will let you know when Tiokasin schedules that next show with Jay.
Log in online and check out the show Thursday morning!

FIRST VOICES INDIGENOUS RADIO
Thursdays 1Oam-11am
http://www.FirstVoicesIndigenousRadio.org

Blessings to you all, and best wishes to all our hardworking relatives out there on the airwaves making headway on all the issues. BLESSINGS to you, each one, for the dedication!
Bluejay
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Iraqis sad about ancient Babylon relics ravaged by war
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/28/content_11788706.htm

www.chinaview.cn 2009-07-28 23:31:46 Print

by Ali Mossa and Jamal Hashim
BABYLON, BAGHDAD, July 28 (Xinhua) -- The famous Lion of Babylon is lying on the filthy ground and surrounded with barbed wire, more than six years after the U.S.-led invasion.
West of the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II, the palace of Saddam Hussein, which contains dozens of rooms, still boasts manuscripts which are glorifying the former president.
The place has become a resort for lovers and doves, as many of its doors and windows were looted after the collapse of the former regime.
Qadouri, an Iraqi who visited the ruins 11 years ago, told Xinhua sadly: "The occupation forces had no mercy for this ancient land which hosts significant sites of the human history. They parked their tanks and heavy armored vehicles with relics at Saddam Hussein's palace near the ruins of Babylon."
After being badly damaged by the Multi-National Forces in Iraq from 2003 to 2005, the world famous Babylon relics lie quite peacefully to greet a delegation from the World Trade Organization(WTO) joined by Iraqi local journalists earlier this week.
Hadi Gatie Mossa, an Iraqi archeologist, explained to the visitors about theatres and the King's palace which includes 200 rooms and large halls, along with bridges, marketplaces, temples, walls and towers.
Mossa said that after 2003, the U.S. and Polish troops at the site gave him a permission to visit the ruins. "I have to say that some of the soldiers were cooperative, but taking the ruins site as a military base was totally wrong and devastating."
Babylon is the capital of Babylonia, whose remains can be found near the city of Hilla, some 100 km south of Baghdad.
The city was officially recognized as one of the first civilizations on earth. However, all that remains of the ancient city is a mound of broken mud-brick buildings and debris in the fertile Mesopotamian plain between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Iraq.
Although it has been reconstructed, historical resources inform us that Babylon was at first a small town, which had sprung up by the beginning of the third millennium BC (the dawn of the dynasties).
The city is home to the famed Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of antiquity. The 4,000-year-old city became military "Camp Alpha" soon after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
The visit of the delegation was aimed at studying the possibility for the WTO to contribute to bringing the ancient city back to its normal position as one of the world's main historical sites.
The delegation and some Iraqi media workers who were allowed to join the trip entered the ruins from the ancient Ishtar Gate and walked through the Procession Avenue which is close to the palace of the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562 BC).
Earlier in the month, experts of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said that the U.S. troops and contractors inflicted considerable damage on the historic Iraqi site of Babylon, driving heavy machinery over sacred paths, bulldozing hilltops and digging trenches through one of the world' most important archaeological sites.
"We have also authenticated the damages in the ruins site which were made by the foreign troops and sent them to the UNESCO," said Mariam al-Omran, head of Antiquities Department in Babel Province.
A U.S. embassy statement said that the U.S. authorities contributed 700,000 dollars to save the ancient ruins of Babylon.
The sum was considered too little for help. "The contribution will not remove the negative impacts on the ruins by making the historical site a military base," Qadouri said commenting on the U.S. embassy statement.
Al-Omran said that the ruins need to be rehabilitated as quickly as possible, considering the U.S. embassy statement of helping to protect the ruins was "helpful but not enough."
"There is a need for the excavation teams to come back soon," she added.
Larry Morgan, an official in the WTO delegation said that his organization is endeavored to help the ancient ruins of Babylon to become once again a site that attracts international tourists as one the world's most important heritages.
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American Indian Movement Santa Barbara.
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Subject: TUNE IN today AIM TV! Channel 17
TUNE IN to AIM TV!
Our first show today at 5:30pm! Channel 17! Public Access Television
Below are tentative air times and schedule
(I don’t know why they use military time)
If you do not have cable, or you are out of the town you can, we will try to be posting show us on our website (http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.aimsb.org) or on youtube- contact us
if you want a show on DVD for $5.00 –
ALSO! We will be expanding in other areas, so if you live in Lompoc, Santa Maria, Simi Valley, and/or Los Angeles, contact us about expanding to your area.
aimsb@ymail.com
Special thanks to the Fund for Santa Barbara, SB Channels staff and the rest of the crazy, rowdy AIM SB Chapter!
AIM TV #1 “What is AIM?”
07/29/2009 Wednesday 17:30:00 (5:30pm)
08/12/2009 Wednesday 17:30:00 (5:30pm)
08/15/2009 Saturday 22:30:00 (10:30pm)
08/16/2009 Sunday 09:30:00 (9:30am)
08/19/2009 Wednesday 17:30:00 (5:30pm)
On this #1 episode, there are more dates scheduled after this but, I suspect you will be submitting a new one before those go to air. At that time, we will switch out the old one(s) and insert the new one.
AIMTV #2 – Facts and Fiction surrounding FIESTAS
Special guests Michael Cordero, Roberta Cordero, Roberta Weighill, Carla Alvarado
Date Day Start Time End Time Duration
08/02/2009 Sunday 09:30:00 (9:30am)
08/02/2009 Sunday 23:00:00 (11:00am)
08/03/2009 Monday 11:00:00 (11am)
08/04/2009 Tuesday 02:30:00 (2:30am) can't sleep?
08/05/2009 Wednesday 17:30: (5:30 pm)
08/06/2009 Thursday 20:00:00 (10:00 pm)
08/08/2009 Saturday 11:00:00 (11:00am)
08/09/2009 Sunday 09:30:00 (9:30 am)

Dates and times subject to change on the whim of the station…so when that happens click on this
calendar of programming
http://www.facebook.com/l/;www.sbchannels.tv/khxc/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=display&ref=17_Schedule
So watch the show and email us your comments (good or bad), and suggestions
We want to hear from you!
In the spirit of Resistance!
AIM SB
aimsb@ymail.com
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Sculpture destruction is 'hate crime' (Police are saying otherwise)
July 29, 2009
BISMARCK (UTN) - Tribes Technical College President David M. Gipp is calling on Bismarck authorities to condemn the destruction of an eagle sculpture that belongs to the city and report it as a hate crime.
The sculpture "Rising Eagle" was destroyed July 22 or 23 in Pioneer Park along Bismarck's River Road.
It was not a "random act of vandalism," wrote Gipp in letters to Bismarck Mayor John Warford and Paul Quist, Chairman of the Bismarck Parks and Recreation District board. "This action targeted Native Americans."
United Tribes Art-Art Marketing students created the ten-foot tall stylized golden eagle and its circular setting. It was one of five works on the theme of eagles commissioned in 2004 by the parks board for public areas along the Missouri River. The sculptures are public property, owned by the parks and recreation district.
This act was intended to "intimidate those who think it is wise public policy for our community to display public art that expresses the cultural diversity that exists within the community," wrote Gipp.
Eagle was hit with spray paint graffiti in August 2007, a short time prior to a dedication program that was attended by city and parks officials and the public.
All of the other sculptures have also been damaged to some degree. The damage to one in particular stood out for its racial tone.
The spherical work "Reflections," in Steamboat Park, was defaced in 2006 one day before its planned dedication. Upon the reflecting surface of its six-foot diameter stainless steel gazing ball was written a racial slur followed by an obscenity: "I didn't get my check this month. How about You? Mother _ _ _ _er!"
Because of that comment, clearly directed toward American Indians, Gipp wrote that the series of acts against the eagle sculptures constitutes "hate crime."
Gipp provided the definition of a hate crime used by the FBI: "a criminal offense committed against a person or property which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender's bias against the victim's race, religion, disability, ethnic origin, national origin, or sexual-orientation."
Gipp emphasized that the FBI definition includes crimes against property.
"This act should be reported by the police as a hate crime," he wrote. "If city police have not done that already, the city commission should prompt or direct them to do so."
"There should be no place in the Bismarck community for such violent acts," he wrote. "Left unchecked, they could lead to other acts of violence, not only against property but individual citizens."
Gipp recommended that action should be taken to protect the remaining eagle sculptures and that a reward be offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those who destroyed "Rising Eagle."
"This will underscore Bismarck's commitment to building a community that respects, values and protects diversity," he wrote.
As an attachment to his letters, Gipp provided a copy of the Fargo-Moorhead policy against hate crimes. He urged the adoption of a similar policy, to send a message "that the community as a whole, will not tolerate hate crimes in any manner."
Gipp wrote that the community expects its leaders to condemn such acts, press for solutions and work to prevent them from happening in the future.
"It should not be left only to Native Americans in our community to stand up for what is right. It must be a shared responsibility," he wrote.
Otherwise it calls into question the leadership of city officials. "The question is whether Bismarck is a city mature enough to accept the diversity within it," Gipp wrote.

Visit site for photos & to read 2 pdf files:
The Letter to City Commissioner
And the Fargo-Moorehead Hate Crime Plan file.


http://www.uttc.edu/news/story/072909_01.asp

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President of ND tribal college wants vandalism labeled as hate crime
July 29, 2009
BISMARCK - The president of United Tribes Technical College wants the destruction of a student-created sculpture labeled a hate crime.
Bismarck police say they have found nothing to indicate the case is anything more than vandalism, though they are continuing to investigate.
The eagle sculpture in a Bismarck park was taken from its supporting pipes and the inside of the surrounding walls broken in last week. Parks officials estimated the damage at $10,000.
United Tribes President David Gipp says he believes the vandalism was racially motivated because all five sculptures created by college art and art marketing students for the Bismarck Parks District have been vandalized over the years. He says some of the vandalism cases have included racial slurs and obscenities written in marker on the artworks.
http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/248135/


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Please make these contacts listed below, offer up your support for President of United Tribes Technical College:

President, Dr. David M. Gipp:
(701) 255-3285 ext. 1218
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Then please let the Mayor & Commissions of Parks & Recreation to treat these as hate crimes:

Bismark, ND Mayor, John Warford:
PO Box 5503
Bismark, ND
58506-5503
(701) 355-1300


Bismarck Parks and Recreation District President of the Board, Paul Quist:
bisparks@bisparks.org.



Thanks for all you do!
Many blessings,
Teresa Anahuy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews
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Protest Chevron – Join the Mobilization for Climate Justice!
August 15th, 2009
Richmond BART (16th St & MacDonald Avenue) 11:30am Festival/Rally, followed by 1pm March on Chevron oil refinery
Organized by the Mobilization for Climate Justice – West
Phone/email: 415 373 3825, mcjbay@gmail.com
Website: http://actforclimatejustice.org/west
Join us to protest:
• Chevron’s polluting oil refinery in Richmond • Chevron and oil industry expansions - killing people and the planet for profit • Chevron and Big Oil standing in the way of solutions to climate change
We invite you to join our alliance for this mobilization that will continue until Copenhagen, including international days of action on October 24 (called by 350.org) and November 30 (called by Mobilization for Climate Justice). We aim to localize the global fight for climate justice and support communities and local organizations that are fighting for climate justice where we live.
We believe that we, in the Bay Area and California, have the potential to create well organized, creative, and powerful mobilizations and actions that can help catalyze a mass climate justice movement to confront the root causes of climate change, and build the local leadership necessary for shaping local, state, national and global solutions. To realize this potential, we need your group’s participation.
FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION:
For the Saturday, August 15 mobilization at Chevron:
1) Action Agreement:
All participants are asked to agree to the following guidelines:
• Our actions will be nonviolent – respecting the safety and long-term resilience of local activists, their families and communities.
• Our action strategies and tactics will respect, and be shaped in dialogue with, local activists and organizations campaigning against Chevron.
• Our action strategy will embody tactics that make space for a diversity of participation, enhance opportunities to organize against the Chevron refinery in the years to come, and empower local community activists to embrace their leadership of the climate justice movement.
2) Climate Justice:
Our basis of unity for this action shall be a universal commitment to Climate Justice, including:
• Rejecting carbon-trading mechanisms, particularly those that allow corporations and wealthy countries to continue polluting by funding “clean development” projects in poor countries.
• Achieving low-carbon, community-based economies, without resorting to global markets-based schemes and false, corporate technologies such as nuclear power, biofuels and “clean coal”.
• Protecting the rights of those affected by the transition to a just energy economy, especially frontline communities and workers.
• Amplifying the voices of frontline community organizations fighting for environmental health and Climate Justice, against polluters such as Chevron.
Bali Principles of Climate Justice: http://cbecal.org/pdf/bali-principles.pdf

GOALS:
Our goals for this action include:
• Localize Climate Justice struggles, and situate the local struggle for Climate Justice within community-based organizing and priorities.
• Build awareness among local activists (especially youth) about the Climate Justice movement, as well as about both real and corporate solutions to the climate crisis.
• Build the capacity of local activists to participate in the Climate Justice movement, and in other struggles for social and environmental justice.
• Contribute to a broader definition of the Climate Justice movement, and contribute to the inclusion of the goals and aspirations of community-based organizations and workers in that movement.
• Re-energize and redefine mass-based, nonviolent direct action, and demonstrate its potency as a force for social change.
• Build towards later popular mobilizations for Climate Justice – including international days of action on October 24 (called by
350.org) and November 30 (called by Mobilization for Climate Justice) – and build a movement that will continue to fight for Climate Justice after those mobilizations have ended.
DEMANDS
OIL REDUCTION, NOT REFINERY EXPANSION! CAP THE CRUDE!
Instead of reducing oil production and shifting to sustainable industries, Chevron and other Big Oil corporations are expanding their refineries, pipelines and extraction projects to process dirtier, heavier crude oil from places like the Alberta Tar Sands. This massive expansion is destroying communities and ecosystems across North America, and if allowed to continue would derail any efforts to adequately reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Communities for a Better Environment recently released a study that found that, “a switch to heavy oil…. could double or triple greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. oil refineries”.
Richmond and Bay Area environmental and climate justice groups are leading a precedent-setting fight against this expansion. A fierce, local grassroots campaign has been fighting Chevron’s pushing, lying and bribing strategies to expand their Richmond refinery. After Chevron pushed their expansion plans through the (formerly
pro-Chevron) Richmond City council, environmental justice groups sued the city to stop the expansion and are demanding a “Crude Cap” that would monitor and prevent the refining of heavier, dirtier crude. Like the No Coal campaign, it’s time for the climate justice movement to step up and take on big oil and their deadly expansion plans .
It’s also time for the Chevron, and our society more generally, to move beyond fossil fuels – and to move beyond corporate-driven solutions to corporate-caused problems (such as nuclear power, biofuels, waste incineration and “clean coal”). We demand a rapid transition towards an economy based on environmental sustainability and social and environmental justice.
http://cbecal.org/campaigns/Chevron.html
CORPORATIONS OUT OF COPENHAGEN - OUR CLIMATE IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS!
We demand that Chevron and other corporate polluters stay out of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change – that corporate lobbyists be barred from participation, and thus prevented from further interfering in the development of climate stabilization strategies. To date, the UNFCCC meetings have had corporate lobbyists vastly outnumber representatives of governments and civil society groups – sometime as high as 4:1. Meanwhile, Indigenous Nations, frontline communities and the most impacted people from around the world are not allowed meaningful representation at the table. We demand that such corrupt international processes be stopped, and that sovereign Indigenous Nations and frontline communities be allowed leadership roles in developing a global climate strategy in the interest of people and planet. ant

Mobilization for Climate Justice West is a collaboration of:
Art in Action
Asian-Pacific Environmental Network
Bay Localize
Communities for a Better Environment
Direct Action to Stop the War
Earth First!
Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative
Forest Ethics
Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives
Global Exchange
Global Justice and Ecology Project
Greenpeace
Headrush
International Forum on Globalization
Justice in Nigeria Now!
Movement Generation
Rainforest Action Network
Richmond Progressive Alliance
Ruckus Society
Rising Tide North America
West County Toxics Coalition
350.org
United Native Americans
http://actforclimatejustice.org/west
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Please read my friend Paul's email underneath. I have saw his film and it is well done and should be viewed by all Canadians.
Peace...

Dear Friends
You have received this email because we have been in contact in the past regarding my film about the Security Prosperity Partnership - 'You, Me and the SPP: Trading Democracy for Corporate Rule'. If you do not wish to be on my SPP contact list please reply to paul@manlymedia.com with remove in the subject line and I will not send you anymore emails. In June I discovered that I had been blacklisted as a spammer for sending emails to this list and that the domain name for my film www(dot)youmespp(dot)com was also on a blacklist - please do not report this email as spam just reply with remove and I will not bother you again!

Now the reason for this email.

I’m working on booking a national tour for my film ‘You, Me and the SPP: Trading Democracy for Corporate Rule’ and I am looking for support in communities across Canada. I’m launching the tour with a screening on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on October 1st.

My tentative tour plan looks like this
October 1st Ottawa - Parliament Hill
October 2nd & 3rd Western Quebec
Oct 5-10 eastern Quebec and Maritimes (I'm screening in Charlottetown, Moncton and Halifax - August 10, 11 & 12)
October 11 - 18 Ontario
October 19 or 20 Winnipeg
October 20 - 27 Saskatchewan and Alberta (Edmonton is booked Oct 24th)
November - screenings in BC

I'm looking to do university screenings or class presentations during the day and community screenings in the evening where possible. If you know University professors who may be interested please let me know.

The tour is being co-sponsored by the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives are also sponsoring screenings. I am approaching the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC), unions and other organizations for financial, logistical and promotion support.

This film was funded through donations - $50 got your name in the credits (yes the credits are long!) No broadcasters were interested in commissioning and I received no funding from traditional sources. I made a 90 minute feature documentary with $60,000. Rice and beans, do it all yourself (almost) production style. No, I do not have a promotion and marketing budget! That’s why I’m asking for your help. I'm hoping that the national tour will help generate some press on this important issue as well as help educate many Canadians who know nothing about the SPP.

You can view the trailer on my site www.manlymedia.com or on my youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/canadiansnanaimo There are 21 other SPP related videos on the channel including the footage I shot of police provocateurs in Montebello in 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-WTc1kow&feature=channel_page

"Manly has created an extremely thorough introduction to a set of issues that will increasingly affect every Canadian. As the film progressed, I was shocked at my own ignorance about the SPP and TILMA and their implications and I am indebted to this film for the research and revelations it presents."
Mark Achbar – Manufacturing Consent, The Corporation

If you want to help me by suggesting venues, helping me make contacts, or by hosting a screening in your community let me know. Maybe you have a couch I can crash on or some rice and beans you can share – it’s all good.

I'm also fundraising for a bilingual version of the DVD and can ad your name to the credits of the new DVD master for individual contributions of $50 or more. If you want your organizations logo in the credits get in touch and we can discuss it.

If you are interested and able to help out with the tour in any way, please feel free to contact me directly. I hope to see you on tour.

Thanks
Paul Manly
paul@manlymedia.com
250 729-1254

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BFC's Exciting Partnerships & Projects Welcoming You

Buffalo Field Campaign
Yellowstone Bison
Update from the Field
July 30, 2009
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In this issue:
* Update from the Field
* Invitation: Workshop with BFC & Western Watersheds Project
* Mark Your Calendars: Wood Cut Week 9/14-20/09
* BFC Needs Two On-Demand Hot Water Heaters
* Last Words
* Kill Tally
* Important Links
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* Update from the Field

Buffalo Field Campaign spent last week at the Summer Outdoor Retailer's Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was the third Outdoor Retailer's (OR) Conference we've attendend and, thanks to the generosity of Patagonia, Klean Kanteen, and Osprey Backpacks, by far the most successful to date. Patagonia provided us with passes for the event and a table at their booth where we shared the bison's plight with hundreds of conference attendees and collected nearly a thousand postcards asking President Obama to protect wild bison on their year-round habitat, earned nearly $4,000 through a special fundraiser made possible by the generosity of Klean Kanteen, and hosted a spectacular event where we raffled high-quality gear from Osprey, Patagonia, and Klean Kanteen.
We are deeply grateful for the generosity of these three companies and their commitment to protecting the natural world. Klean Kanteen donated hundreds of limited edition "Let Buffalo Roam" stainless steel water bottles for the event and, they, Osprey and Patagonia made the bottles available at their booths in exchange for donations to BFC for the duration of the event.
BFC is selling the remainder of these eco-friendly water bottles on our web site. For more information and to get one of these limited edition bottles while they last, please visit this link.
We are deeply grateful to those of you who have sent donations in response to our announcement of the Earth Friends Challenge grant, but we have a long way to go if we are to meet the Earth Friends Challenge to raise $75,000 by year's end. With the number and amount of donations down in recent months, and with foundation grants on a sharp decline, the Earth Friends Challenge couldn't come at a better time. Many nonprofits have been forced to close their doors and countless others have had to scale back on their programs. Buffalo Field Campaign, accustomed to accomplishing a great deal on a shoestring budget and poised to achieve many of our goals for the bison, cannot afford to scale back now.
Please DONATE TODAY and help BFC meet the Challenge offered by the Earth Friends Wildlife Foundation.
For the Buffalo,
Dan Brister
Executive Director
Buffalo Field Campaign
------------------------------
* Invitation: Workshop with BFC & Western Watersheds Project
Western Watersheds Project (WWP) and Buffalo Field Campaign (BFC) are arranging a workshop for people who want to implement lasting, on-the-ground changes for buffalo. The intention of these efforts is to make the US Forest Service recognize bison as a wildlife species that they must maintain viability for under the requirements of the National Forest Management Act of 1976. By law the Forest Service is required to manage their lands for the viability of bison but they have not. The BLM and Fish and Wildlife Service manage lands that are within the habitat that should be available to bison as well. We intend to seek the same recognition from these agencies for bison.
Brian Ertz and Ken Cole will present a 2-day workshop where people will be taken to nearby grazing allotments and shown the very simple process of documenting damage inflicted on the allotment by livestock grazing. Once documented this information would be transmitted to the agency managing the land and WWP to gain legal standing on the allotment so that grazing decisions can be appealed then ultimately litigated.
WHEN: August 11 & 12, 10am
WHERE: BFC Headquarters, 14365 Hebgen Lake Road, West Yellowstone, Montana
We will meet at 10:00 am for an introduction and overview then head to a nearby grazing allotment. If you are interested in attending this workshop please contact Ken Cole at ken@westernwatersheds.org. Spread the word!
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* Mark Your Calendars: Wood Cut Week, Sept. 14-20
Join Buffalo Field Campaign in beautiful West Yellowstone the week of September 14-20, and help gather, stack and cut the wood that will keep volunteers warm and alive this coming field season. Room and board will be provided. Please contact Mike at mease@wildrockies.org
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* BFC Volunteer Cabin Needs Two On-Demand Hot Water Heaters
The BFC main cabin, which houses our volunteers, could use two on-demand hot water heaters in order to save energy and space. These energy efficient water heaters could shave 25% off our gas bill each month. Also they will allow us room to make another bathroom, so our volunteers don't have to form a waiting line to use our current one bathroom.
If you can help, please make a secure online donation and specify that it is for the water heaters, or send a check or money order (no cash please) to BFC-Maintenance, P.O. Box 957, West Yellowstone, MT 59758. If you have questions or would like more detail, please contact BFC Maintenance Coordinator Chip at 406-646-0070 or by email at maintenance@buffalofieldcampaign.org. Thank you!!
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* Last Words
"Without habitat, there is no wildlife. It's that simple."
~ Wildlife Habitat Canada.
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* Kill Tally
AMERICAN BISON ELIMINATED from the last wild population in the U.S.
2008-2009 Total: 22
2008-2009 Slaughter: 3
2008-2009 Hunt: 1
2008-2009 Quarantine: 0
2008-2009 Shot by Agents: 2
2008-2009 Highway Mortality: 16
2007-2008 Total: 1,631
Total Since 2000: 3,702*
*includes lethal government action, quarantine, hunts, highway mortalities
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Media & Outreach
Buffalo Field Campaign
P.O. Box 957
West Yellowstone, MT 59758
406-646-0070
bfc-media@wildrockies.org
http://www.buffalofieldcampaign.org
BFC is the only group working in the field every day
in defense of the last wild buffalo population in the U.S.
KEEP BFC ON THE FRONTLINES WITH A TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TODAY
Join Buffalo Field Campaign -- It's Free!
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Tribal leaders seek help with Indian gang activity
By KEN THOMAS (AP) – 53 minutes ago
WASHINGTON — American Indian communities are being overwhelmed by gang violence and drug trafficking, tribal leaders told lawmakers Thursday, appealing for help with problems more commonly found in big cities.
Tribal law enforcement officials, testifying before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, described severely undermanned police departments that must patrol reservations the size of small states, allowing gangs to thrive and turning reservations into hubs for drug distribution.
Drug traffickers have infiltrated gangs because the reservations are remote and undetected by law enforcement. Indian police forces, meanwhile, often lack jurisdiction or the resources to stop the trail of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines.
"There exists in Indian Country today the twin scourge of drug abuse and criminal gang activity," said Carmen Smith, police chief for the Warm Springs, Ore., Tribal Police Department. "These two menaces, left unchecked, will undermine the very fabric of Native American society."
At the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, 39 gangs have led to thousands of gang-related police calls. At the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, in eastern Washington state, two predominantly Mexican gangs and four tribal gangs battle for territory.
In the Navajo Nation, the 27,000 square-mile reservation that spans Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, 225 active gangs roam the reservation, swamping law enforcement.
"We need more officers and we need them now," said Hermis John Mousseau, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council at Pine Ridge. "We have 5,000 gang members, but we also have 45,000 scared law abiding people whose lives I have sworn to protect."
In South Dakota, Mousseau said his police department of 48 officers — 12 per shift — must patrol a reservation the size of Rhode Island. Many of their police calls are 50 to 60 miles apart, leaving their response time to an hour for even the most violent acts. Many calls go unanswered.
The cases are hardly routine. Pine Ridge has battled an influx of drugs from Minneapolis, Denver and Omaha, Neb., Mousseau said.
Brian Nissen, council member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, said gang activity has led to the rapes of young women and routine assaults between rival gangs.
Federal authorities are frequently reluctant to investigate and prosecute violent crimes inside the reservation, Nissen said, and tribal courts can only sentence someone to a year in jail if U.S. prosecutors decline to prosecute.
"These gangs are treating Indian reservations as safe havens to distribute drugs and perpetuate their violence," said Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., the committee's chairman.
Dorgan expressed hope that Congress will approve a bill this year to strengthen law enforcement in Indian Country.
Lawmakers are working on legislation that would improve coordination between the Justice Department, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal law enforcement, encourage more aggressive action by federal prosecutors on tribal reservations and allow tribal courts to punish offenders to up to three years in prison.
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

In peace & solidarity,
Tamra Brennan
www.NDNnews.com
www.protectsacredsites.org
www.protectbearbutte.com
PROTECT BEAR BUTTE!
"Providing news and information about Native American Issues & Causes"
"Helping to make a difference for our people in Indian Country, one day at a time. What will you do today to help make a difference?"

"Our sacred lands are all that remain keeping us connected to our place on Mother Earth, to our spirituality, our heritage and our lands; what’s left of them. If they take it all away, what will remain except a vague memory of a past so forgotten?" ......excerpt from One Nation, One Land, One People by Tamra Brennan, 2006
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The Day the President Turned Black
(But has he turned back?)
By Greg Palast Wednesday July 29, 2009
for The Huffington Post
He's in hot water now. For a moment, on national television, the President of the United States turned black!
Last week, when his buddy "Skip" Gates got busted for being Black in Boston, Barack Obama forgot his official role: to soothe America's conscience with the happy fairy tale that his election marked the end of racism in the USA.
Instead, Obama, the excruciatingly middle-of-the-road President, was seized by Barack the militant State Senator from the South Side of Chicago, who reminded us that cops bust Black guys for no goddamn good reason all the goddamn time.
I'm reminded that it was not so long ago that we watched the vicious gang-beating by Los Angeles cops of a defenseless, handcuffed, Rodney King, an African-American. King's beating was unusual only in that it was caught on videotape.
Yeah, I know: we've come a hell of a long way. Obama won, Jessie cried, Beyoncé has her own line of perfume and Tiger Woods plays where 30 years ago he couldn't eat lunch.
Good on them.

But what about Robert Pratt, Mr. President?
Pratt, a United Auto Workers member, has five kids and a mortgage payment of $1,100 a month on a house in Detroit worth no more than $40,000. The payment's astronomical because he pays 11% on his mortgage balance, double the national average interest rate. Now, on those crazy terms, he's sure to lose his house.
How did that happen? Pratt, whose story we've been tracking, was "steered" into a sub-prime loan by Countrywide Financial. "Steering" is the polite term for forcing folk into crappy loan terms. And not just any folk: Black folk, like Pratt. Over 60% of African-American mortgage applicants were (and ARE) steered into "sub-prime" predatory loans.
According to exhaustive studies by the Federal Reserve Board and the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), African Americans are 250% more likely to get a loan with an "exploding interest" clause than white borrowers - and notably, the higher the income and the better the credit rating of a Black borrower, the more likely the discrimination.
As an economist, I can tell you it's not a stretch to say that Obama's failure to deal with endemic racism in the finance system is killing off hope of the nation's economic recovery. The "exploding rate" attack centered on Black and Hispanic communities has, according to the CLR, caused 40.2 million homes to lose value due to their proximity to foreclosed properties.
Yet, not a peep from the Obama Administration about ending this Ku Klux lending practice which has laid waste Black neighborhoods and taken a hunk of White America's housing values with it.
Instead, Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is the honored guest of the Board of Directors of JP Morgan, owner of one of the most outrageous of the financial predators, Washington Mutual. Morgan/WaMu, with its racially-poisoned mortgage trickery, makes the Cambridge Police Department look like the NAACP.
(Indeed, Emanuel's host JP Morgan was sued last week by the NAACP for "systematic, institutionalized racism in making home mortgage loans.")
The cold truth is, financial attacks on the Black community continue as freely under Obama as under Bush, despite Obama's power to halt it instantly by banning loan-sharking as a condition of continued bail-outs for these banks. Obama has directed the FDIC to guarantee JP Morgan loans, saving the bank $3.1 billion this year. Obama has directed the FDIC to guarantee Mr. Pratt, uh, "hope."

And what about Thomas Johnson, Mr. President?
Johnson's a minister in Florida who lost his vote in 2000, alongside at least 94,000 others falsely accused of being felons without the right to vote. Most of the innocents accused and abused were Black, the minister included. I know, because I saw those state records with the carefully recorded "BLA" next to the voters' names.
I had an editor on the story, won't say his name because he was so typical, who asked me why Johnson, an African-American, didn't pound the table and DEMAND his ballot. Johnson's no Harvard professor in Boston with the President's phone number on his speed dial.
My extremely white editor, a Yale graduate, sitting in San Francisco, could not imagine what would happen if a dark-skinned Rev. Johnson had started making a scene in Alachua County, in the Deep Deep South. The Reverend was smart not to pull a "Skippy Gates" and lip-off at authority: just a couple months ago, Alachua cops 'Tased' an angry, but unarmed, Black man, then shot him dead with seven bullets.
Johnson's vote loss, you might say, was "so 2000." This is post-racial 2009. Bullshit. In last year's election, Florida went right back into the racially biased block-and-purge of Black voters, barring thousands from the ballot through new ID laws that would have made Jim Crow segregationists of the Fifties proud. (See the investigative report, "Block the Vote," by myself and Bobby Kennedy, from the October 2008 Rolling Stone).
Yet, the Obama Administration appears quite squeamish about taking down the nouvelle ballot-box Bull Connors.

Venom
What I'm saying is that the venom of structural racism in America continues to sicken us all, in our economy, in our voting stations, in our schools (don't get me started), our health care system, our ... well, you name it.
Yes, I joined the Hope Parade and voted for Obama, expecting just this one change: a direct attack on the remaining areas of official sanction of racist policies and practices. I'm still waiting. It was quite inspiring, last Thursday, to the see a Black man appear, if momentarily, behind the Presidential seal. Unfortunately, Obama's swift demand for equal justice under the law was provoked only when the whip came down on someone, like himself, whose professional and class status had, they presumed, made them exempt from the daily insults and assaults visited on their less privileged brothers.
So much was made of Gates' Harvard post that the issue seemed to be It's not right to cuff a dark-skinned man who's a HARVARD PROFESSOR." The race-neutral rules of class privilege had been violated.
What's missing in America - and in the Oval Office - is any hint of outrage at the endemic, systemic cruelties visited on Black Americans, like Pratt and Johnson, who lack a key to the Harvard Alumni Club.
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Greg Palast, an expert in finance and regulation, is the author of Armed Madhouse: Strange Tales and Sordid Secrets of a White House Gone Wild. His investigative reports for BBC Television and Democracy Now were recently released as a film on DVD: Palast Investigates: From 8-Mile to the Amazon, on the Trail of the Financial Marauders.

Sign up for his reports at www.GregPalast.com.