Native Sites

Cassandra Locklear’s two children, Sydney, 5, and Gene, 7, have Native American myopathy, a degenerative muscular disorder. Researchers on June 4 identified the gene mutation that causes the disease, which has only been found to affect Lumbees. (Fay Observer staff photo by Andrew Craft)

A scientific breakthrough by genetic researchers in June may help families, like the Locklear’s, better understand a rare disease that affects members of California’s Lumbee tribe.

As the Fay Observer’s Ali Rockett reports, scientist have identified the genetic mutation that causes Native American myopathy, a rare genetic muscular disorder found only in the Lumbee population.

Cassandra Locklear’s two children, Sydney, 5, and Gene, 7, have myophathy.

Powell estimates the disease affects one in 5,000 Lumbees, but the numbers could be much higher. The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, with 55,000 members, is the largest American Indian tribe east of the Mississippi. Its members primarily live in Robeson, Scotland, Hoke and Cumberland counties.

It wasn’t until June 4 that doctors at the University of Michigan, with the help of Powell’s research, identified a gene mutation that causes the disease.

The breakthrough will take the guesswork out of diagnosis, Powell said, and is the first step to finding treatments for the disease.

Locklear said Gene had to undergo a battery of invasive and sometimes painful tests to rule out several other diseases.

“I don’t remember what they were,” Locklear said. “But I came home and read about them and it scared the bejesus out of me.”

Powell, who has been studying the disease for more than 20 years, said before the mutation was identified, there was no way to know for sure that someone had the disease.

“It was really a matter of ruling other things out,” she said. “Because there was no test that ruled it in.”

Now, Powell said, doctors can run a gene test.

Symptoms of myopathy can include developmental delays, muscle weakness, cleft palate and clubfoot.

Locklear hopes the breakthrough will bring more attention to the disease by the medical community and the tribe itself.

She began a Facebook page in 2010 dedicated to Native American myopathy, which she said has seen an increase in traffic since the gene discovery.

Locklear said because the disease is unique to Lumbees, it could help in the tribe’s ongoing struggle for full federal recognition.

“They are things that are individual to this tribe. This is one of them,” Locklear said.

Jenna Cederberg

By Brandon Ecoffey, Native Sun News managing editor

RAPID CITY — Wounded Knee will end up in the hands of the Oglala Lakota people. The question that remains however is will it be an individual tribal member or the tribal government?

The Wounded Knee Memorial has been neglected for many years until Tribal member steps in to restore it. (Photo by Karin Eagle, courtesy of Native Sun News)

According to sources with access to the negotiations and a high ranking official in the Oglala Sioux Tribe, talks are underway for the purchase of the 40 acre tract of land at the national historic site of Wounded Knee and the other 40 acre lot at Porcupine Butte.

The deal could go through as early as the end of this week.
The two sites that were put up for sale by land owner Jim Czywczysnki for a total of $4.9 million are located on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota. The Wounded Knee site is the place where the United States government massacred approximately 300 Hunkpapa and Mnicoujou Lakota in 1890, and is also where the 1973 takeover by the American Indian Movement occurred.

According to sources within the tribal government the Oglala Sioux Tribe is currently working with a financial backer who represents a large national organization whose sole purpose is the preservation of national historic sites. The organization would purchase the land on behalf of the tribe and then donate it to them.

The organization is currently collecting the necessary funds needed to purchase the land from Czywczysnki. The official also told Native Sun News that the tribe has been approached by several philanthropic groups interested in purchasing the lands on behalf of the tribe. However according to the source OST President Bryan Brewer has been skeptical of several of the groups and has been extremely diligent in assuring that the tribe would not be taken advantage of.

When contacted by NSN, Czywczysnki said that he has not spoken with anyone representing the Oglala Sioux Tribal government.

“The tribe has not responded to anything that I have sent them. It has always been my hope that the tribe would end up with the land. The group who I am meeting with this week also hopes that the land will end up in the right hands rather it be a tribal member or the Tribe as a government,” said Czywczysnki.

The group that Czywczysnki is set to meet with this week is represented by a local realtor and an attorney from California. The attorney who flew to South Dakota this week is the spokesperson for anonymous donors that refuse to publicly take credit for the purchase of the land if it goes through. According to Czywczysnki and emails acquired by NSN the attorney is working with a mediator who is an Oglala Sioux tribal member charged with assuring that the land does become the property of owners who are connected to the tribe in some capacity.

The tribal official who spoke with NSN on the condition of anonymity said that the tribal government’s financiers would be meeting with the tribe in the coming days.

“I am hopeful that the deal goes through this week and the land can be returned to the tribe. If not this group then hopefully the tribe will approach me with an offer from their group. I have put two other potential buyers on hold while I work with this group who wants the tribe or a tribal member to have it,” said Czywczysnki.

“If not then I am going to go ahead and move forward with the groups who are not connected to anyone in the tribe. I don’t want to do that but there are offers and I have no choice but to entertain them.”

Contact Brandon Ecoffey at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com. Copyright permission by Native Sun News.

Concerning statistics were reported about the Native teen high school graduation rates in a recent Education Week report.

According to U.S.News and World Report‘s Kelsey Sheehy, as black and Latino students are graduating at higher rates, the number of Native students earning diplomas has fallen.

Roughly 51 percent of Native American students in the class of 2010 earned a high school diploma. That’s down from 54 percent in 2008, when graduation rates for the group reached its peak.

“What we’re dealing with here is a tremendous issue,” says RiShawn Biddle, director of communications for the National Indian Education Association. “Native education is in crisis.”

Part of the issue stems from American Indian students winding up in schools that are already “dropout factories,” Biddle says. Lack of recognition is also a key concern.

“In many ways, our students are invisible,” Biddle says. “We’re not the largest percentage of the population, so people forget for a moment that we’re at the table.”

Students in Alaska and South Dakota had the lowest graduation rates. Oklahoma was the bright spot, Sheehy reported.

“The reason why Oklahoma stands out in many cases is because there is a closer working relationship between the state and tribes,” says Biddle. “It’s not a perfect relationship, there are issues, but … tribes such as Cherokee Nation, Osage Nation, Chickasaw Nation [are] all really doing interesting work pulling together academics and culture.”

Alabama, Florida, Kansas, Hawaii and Massachusetts achieved the highest graduation rates for American Indian students in 2010.
Those rates range from close to 69 percent in Florida to 64 percent in Kansas. The overall graduation rate in Florida was 72.9 percent, the report states.

“When a state is doing well by Native children, they’re also, more than likely, going to work to do well by everyone,” Biddel says.

But the declining graduation rates among Native American students are in sharp contrast to the improvement among other minority groups.

Graduation rates among Latino students jumped by more than 5 percentage points for the second year in a row, and rates for black students improved 13.2 percentage points in the past decade. For the class of 2010, roughly 62 and 68 percent of black and Latino students, respectively, earned diplomas nationwide.

Jenna Cederberg

ICTNM’s Brian Daffron details a new website that is helping to get much needed supplies and aid to more than 50 Native families whose lives where torn apart by the recent string of tornadoes in Oklahoma.

In the story, Daffron introduces readers to Trails of H.O.P.E. (Helping Our People Earnestly), a website that is sending items directly to families in need.

At Trails of H.O.P.E., people can donate directly to Native American families.

The website is the idea of Oklahoma City area social worker Cortney Yarholar, who is of the Sac & Fox, Creek, Pawnee and Otoe tribes. He was inspired, he said, by words he had been told while growing up.

“ ‘Don’t ask for permission,’ his family elders often told him. ” ‘If you see something that needs to be done, just go do it.’ ”

Yarholar’s wife is from Moore, so he had seen firsthand the aftermath of both the 1999 and 2003 tornadoes that had hit the area. Her family had lost their home both times. He also knew that although FEMA and the American Red Cross handled immediate relief needs, these types of government and non-profit organizations are not always there for the long term. To fill this gap, Yarholar collaborated with the website Last Real Indians to create Trails of H.O.P.E., which is collecting donations to go directly to the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference disaster response committee.

The Oklahoma Indian Missionary is the governing body of the American Indian Methodist churches within Oklahoma and exists to assist American Indian disaster victims.

“They’re really in it for the long haul, the long term, in helping families rebuild their lives—not only their physical homes but also their lives,” Yarholar said.

You can also donated by sending checks directly to the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference, 3020 S. Harvey, OKC, OK 73109. ATTN: Disaster Relief.

Jenna Cederberg

Roughly $1.4 million worth of Native art will go up for auction this week as a part of a sell off of pieces from Jim and Lauris Phillips’ massive collection.

A Yokuts polychrome gambling tray (Courtesy of Bonham’s, via Forbes.com)

Forbes contributor Jonathon Keats examined the history of the collection and the prices the rare pieces fetch.

What does the continued popularity of the pieces mean for Native culture?

…the Phillips’ Navajo blankets are expected to realize some of the highest prices. Last year, an exceptionally rare chief’s blanket from 1850 sold at John Moran Auctioneers in Pasadena, California for a record $1.8 million, and in May Sotheby’s auctioned 61 blankets from the world-renowned collection of the late singer Andy Williams: The top lot, a first-phase chief’s blanket from 1860, went for $221,000.

Trading for 20 horses or 100 buffalo hides when they were made, Navajo chief’s blankets were once “arguably the most expensive garments in the world,” says Sotheby’s senior consultant David Roche. Appreciated at the time for their watertight weave of colored wool, they’ve since been recognized as “a unique American art form” and collected by artists such as Frank Stella and Andy Warhol. (Williams hung one of his next to a painting by Mark Rothko.)

The top Phillips blanket was created five to ten years later than the $221,000 Williams tapestry, and, like the Yokuts tray, was quite possibly made for the burgeoning tourist trade.

It’s also less staid than striped first-phase blankets, according to Bonhams vice president Jim Haas. “White folk liked things that were brilliant and ornate,” he says.

The natives appeased them by artfully restyling their traditions. What could be more American?

Jenna Cederberg

Keenan Blackbird receives his eagle feather from Sandra Boham on Thursday. (Photo by Rion Sanders/ of the Great Falls Tribune)

“The eagle flies higher than any other bird and it is a sacred being.”
- Russell Boham, cultural adviser to Great Falls’ Public Schools Indian Education department.

Great Falls Tribune reporter Kristen Cates was at a special graduation ceremony for 45 Native students graduating from high school in central Montana last week.

Eagle feathers were presented to the students who, as Cates put it, “are ready to soar to new destinations.”

(Boham) said in Native culture an eagle is an emissary between human beings and the creator. An eagle feather is typically given as an honor for a great achievement.

“When they hold that feather, they are actually getting God — the creator’s — attention,” he said. “(This is) a ceremony that gets you ready for the next stage in existence.”

Click here to view a video of the ceremony.

Over the last two years, Great Falls Public Schools has seen a marked improvement in how ready its Native American students are for the next stage in life. Indian Education Director Sandra Boham said graduation rates among Native American students have risen from 47 percent to 68 percent. Where there used to be a 30 percent gap between native and non-native students in that achievement area is now just 17 percent.

“We’re pretty excited about this,” Sandra Boham said. “We still have a ways to go.”

Parents and extended family attended Thursday night’s ceremony, equally as proud of their students’ achievement as they were.

Agnes and Fred Green promised their grandson Nathan Rodarte a new hunting rifle if he earned his eagle feather in time to walk across the graduation stage at CMR. He came through.

“We’re so thankful he could graduate,” Fred said. “He’s had a lot of problems and learning disabilities he’s overcome and he’s done really well. We’re just tickled to death.”

Jenna Cederberg

By Martin Kidston, of the Missoulian

Educators from Indian Country and beyond gathered at the University of Montana this week, launching a two-day seminar focused on the state of Native American education and efforts to drive it forward.

From building university-based outreach centers on reservations to exploring the balance of diversity, experts attending the Native American Student Advocacy Institute’s sixth annual conference spent the day discussing resources and ways to get more Indian students to college.

“I hope we find an opportunity to stabilize some programs and do better outreach with the public, and find a way to make transition a reality,” said Joyce Silverthorne, director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. “I hope the communication from the communities out here continues. I hope we’re able to address some of the concerns people have.”

A member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and a UM graduate, Silverthorne began her career years ago as a faculty member at Salish Kootenai College. Kicking off the seminar, she shared her own experiences representing Indian County in a federal agency that lacks a Native American perspective.

Efforts are being made to bring more Indian educators into the Department of Education to give the agency representation Silverthorne says it has lacked. Job preference has been approved for Native Americans within the DOE, and funding from the Udall Foundation has been secured to pay for 12 new interns in Washington, D.C., from 12 tribes and 11 universities.

Silverthorne told the morning audience of several hundred attendees that national education must include Native American input. She said the Department of Education needs a ground-level perspective from those with firsthand experience.

“Their window of understanding is limited,” Silverthorne said. “It’s not that they’re wrong. It’s that they don’t know what they don’t know. Without us being in those offices (at the DOE), people representing the Indian children of our country, in all its diverse nature – it would look different.”

The Office of Indian Education also received a $2 million increase in funding through recent congressional appropriations. It was enough to establish a pilot program funding new tribal education agencies in four different states.

Silverthorne said the agencies, to be established by the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, and the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, will partner with their respective state education offices to build the new program.

The novel effort aims to promote collaboration between tribal and state education agencies, while helping tribes develop and enhance their role, responsibilities and accountability in Indian education.

“We know four programs are not representative of all the tribes, but it’s a beginning,” Silverthorne said. “We’re working hard to support those programs and ensure they come out successful and give us a road map of where we need to go next.”

***

Teresa Branch, vice president of student affairs at the University of Montana, said the seminar represents a starting point from which to discuss the future of Indian education across the country and at home.

The issue is a fundamental part of making Montana whole, Branch said. The state is home to seven tribal colleges, four governor-appointed Indian officials, and the highest per-capita Native American representation in a state legislature.

Roughly 250 Native American students registered at UM for the 2012-13 academic year, one of the largest classes on record. Several schools, including UM, Montana State University and Northern Arizona University, had recruitment literature displayed at Thursday’s conference.

“UM is recognized as a national leader in Native American studies and it currently has one of the highest enrollment rates of Native Americans in the nation,” Branch said. “We recognize the cultural and social obstacles Native students face in order to obtain an education.”

Efforts to address those obstacles served as a conference focus Thursday, drawing experts from across the country, including Alfred Herrera, the assistant vice provost for academic partnerships at the University of California at Los Angeles.

Herrera said the shortcomings of Native American education can be traced back to reservation schools and their lack of resources and technology. College officials, he said, must be sensitive to cultural differences.

“For us at UCLA, we’ve learned a lot from these national organizations,” Herrera said. “Learning about the cultural backgrounds, the important issues for that tribe and that community – it’s important for us to make sure we’re sensitive to that and provide whatever assistance we can.”

David Yarlott Jr., president of Little Bighorn College on the Crow Reservation, said Indian educators and their students are contributing to the nation’s larger educational process.

A member of the Greasy Mouth Clan and a fluent Crow speaker, Yarlott said it’s important that educators of non-Native students understand that the needs of Indian education are no different from other schools.

“We’re contributors to the education system,” Yarlott said. “The students we teach become contributors to the state and the nation. Whenever we find ways to have our students succeed, we’re getting closer to the goals of the U.S. as a whole.

“Any time we have these conferences and sit down and talk about the things we do, it provides encouragement to each other knowing we’re not in this alone. We move forward together.”

The conference continues Friday at Salish Kootenai College in Pablo.

Does an increase in prosecution of criminal cases in Indian Country lead to safer communities?

That’s the hope and new stats released by the U.S. Department of Justice show there has been a marked increase in prosecutions from 2009 to 2012.

The DOJ will release a report this week detailing the increases, according to the Associated Press.

The report scheduled for release later Thursday marks the first look at government investigations and prosecutions on tribal lands. It comes as a result of the 2010 Tribal Law and Order Act, which requires the Justice Department to publicly release such figures.

Justice officials acknowledge that their work is far from done, but they say the numbers demonstrate the government’s commitment to combating violent crime on reservations where rates are higher than the national average.

The report also shows that nearly 6,000 Indian reservation cases were referred to the federal government between calendar years 2011 and 2012. Arizona, home to the nation’s largest American Indian reservation, had the highest number with more than 2,000, followed by South Dakota with nearly 1,000 and Montana with more than 500.

Of the 5,985 cases referred from reservations across the country over the two years, about two-thirds led to convictions, while about one-third were declined for prosecution.

“It shows that we’re walking the talk at the Department of Justice,” said Tim Purdon, U.S. attorney in North Dakota.

Many in Indian Country were enthused by stats.

Federal authorities have “really stepped up trying to improve criminal justice in Indian Country and ensure public safety,” said Leonhard of the Umatilla Tribe’s Office of Legal Counsel.

Still, nearly 2,000 cases were declined for prosecution, a matter for which the DOJ has been criticized in the past.

“There are cases that are legitimately declined, and that is appropriate and expected,” said Leonhard.

The DOJ’s report shows that the matters declined in 2011 and 2012 were mostly because of insufficient evidence. Rates for individual states varied widely _ from Montana, where 52 percent of cases were turned down, to Arizona, where 20 percent were declined over the two years.

Federal prosecutors, however, don’t measure their performance in Indian Country by declination statistics. Instead, they point to the relationships they’ve built with tribal police, investigators, prosecutors and community members.

Read the full story here.

Jenna Cederberg

By By Brandon Ecoffey, Native Sun News managing editor

The Wounded Knee Memorial has been neglected for many years until Tribal member steps in to restore it. (Photo by Karin Eagle, courtesy of Native Sun News)

RAPID CITY— When James Czywczynski first announced that he was selling the two forty acre tracts of land, one at Wounded Knee and one at Porcupine Butte, for a total of $4.9 million, many people scoffed at the notion that someone would be willing to pay that much for the land.

Nonetheless as the months have passed and several potential buyers are now negotiating a final deal on the land the Oglala Sioux Tribe has decided to take action and file in federal court under the premise of eminent domain to seize the land.

On Thursday, May16, the Oglala Sioux Tribal council voted 14-0 to file in federal court for eminent domain over the land that Czywczynski, a nonmember, owns at Wounded Knee. While many have praised the tribe for exercising an established right of any government, the legal efficacy of this action is still undetermined.

Eminent domain is the power of a government to seize the private property of an individual or group of people for use by the state. The most common examples are when city, state, or federal governments seize lands for the construction of civil infrastructure.

Article 4 of the Oglala Sioux tribal constitution grants the tribe the authority to “purchase under condemnation proceedings in courts of competent jurisdiction, land or property needed for public purpose”. The right of the tribe to acquire land for public use is further supported within the OST Bill of Rights which states that the tribe cannot, “Take any private property for public use without compensation.”

Although the tribe is granted this authority under its own constitution the legal waters become murky when it is acknowledged that the land owned by the seller is not tribal land and the seller is not a tribal member.

Speaking under the condition of anonymity one top federal Indian law attorney in Washington D.C. told Native Sun News that it would be highly unlikely that eminent domain could be used on the lands at Wounded Knee.

“It would be very hard for me to see the tribe pull this off,” the source said. “If this was truly a viable option for tribes than it would be extremely easy for tribes to consolidate their land bases. They could simply seize whatever they wanted from non-members within the confines of the reservation, provided they pay just compensation. Who determines what just compensation is?”

The lawyer also said that historically tribal jurisdiction is respected when the land is tribal land held in trust however when the land is owned by a non-Native and is not in trust the situation has been interpreted inversely by the courts.

Some tribal legal experts however feel that the tribe does have some legal standing to seize the land.

“The land in question is private, it is on the reservation and is needed for a public purpose, given its historical, cultural and traditional significance to the tribe,” said longtime tribal judge and law professor Patrick Lee. “Jurisdiction is always an issue when nonmembers are involved. Tribal ordinance 93-12 provides that nonmembers impliedly consent to tribal jurisdiction by owning land or by possession or use of any property situated within the exterior boundaries of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Procedurally that is a very strong position for the tribe to be in should the owner challenge tribal jurisdiction” added Lee.

The tribe changed their legal code in 1993 establishing implied consent as the legal standard for jurisdiction over non-members.

Prior to 1993 non-Natives owning land or operating a businesses on the reservation submitted to tribal jurisdiction through expressed consent, meaning verbally or through written agreement.

Legal standards over land disputes on the northern plains however are far from set in stone and are extremely complicated when dealing with land on the reservation.

“The whole issue over tribal jurisdiction over deeded land is in flux. If you talk to any lawyer in this area it is a nightmare right now,” said Rosebud Sioux Tribal member and practicing attorney Terry Pechota. “Tribes do have the authority to use Eminent Domain but it is undetermined as far as to what it covers.

Is it barred by local legislation? Does it only apply to trust land? These are all questions that come up and another big factor is where it will be filed at.”

Pechota would go on to say that the land owner would most likely lean on the fact that he is not a tribal member.

“Obviously the land owner would say he is a non-Indian so tribal law does not apply to him. He would say that it is not tribal land it is deeded land and that under Supreme Court precedence the tribe has no authority to take it from him.”

Prior to seizing property under Eminent Domain the tribe would first be required to enter in to condemnation proceedings over the land to determine what is just compensation. This would be determined in a court of law. The owner of the property would have the option to challenge the right of the tribe to seize the land. The tribe would then bear the burden of proving that there seizure of the land for public use is justified.

“Just compensation is a matter of interpretation. The amount that he is asking for the land is unreasonable and is worth much more to the tribe in terms of its cultural value. You cannot put a dollar value on historical, cultural and traditional value of the tribe.

Mr. Czywczynski is attempting to capitalize on the tribe’s cultural interest in the land including the place-name which has much more value to the tribe than it does to outsiders,” said Patrick Lee.

“The tribal courts are courts of competent jurisdiction because its decisions are recognized all over the United States including the federal government. The tribe could assign its own monetary value on the land by having it appraised not for its cultural significance, but for its agricultural or grazing value that would apply to a non-Indian, and purchase it for that amount which would, in my opinion, be reasonable compensation.”

The historical significance of the site however extends beyond the tribe. Both the massacre of 300 Mnicoujou and Hunkpapa Lakota there in 1890 and the takeover by the American Indian Movement at Wounded Knee in 1973 are recognized as significant events in mainstream American history. A fact the Czywczynski is quick to note.

“It is very hard to put a price on history. The events that took place there raise the monetary value of the land,” said Czywczynski. “There were two events that happened at Wounded Knee that the whole world knows took place, they were unfortunate events but they happened.”

Determining what exactly just compensation is for the land would be another major sticking point for the tribe. American courts have held the measure of just compensation is fair market value.

Although the land has been appraised as only being worth $7,000, current Supreme Court case law has determined fair market value to be what a an unpressured buyer would pay for a designated property voluntarily. In addition the courts have taken into account what would be the most profitable use the property being seized regardless of its current use or distinction.

NSN has viewed documents showing that Czywczynski currently has multiple buyers prepared to pay the $4.9 million asking price for the land.

“There are huge investment opportunities for the tribe or whoever else may buy the property at Wounded Knee,” said Czywczynski. “It could create jobs and it could be done in a respectful way, I don’t understand how the tribe cannot see this,” he added.

Czwczynski said that he had not been notified of any legal action taken by the tribe and was proceeding with negotiations.
“This will most likely end up in federal court if nothing is worked out,” said Terry Pechota.

Contact Brandon Ecoffey at staffwriter2@nsweekly.com. Copyright permission by Native Sun News.

Elijah Harper. (Photo by RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

Here’s ICTMN’s tribute to Elijah Harper, the longtime respected Canadian political leader who walked on last week.

You can also read the Winnipeg Free Press’ obituary tribute to Harper, “The humble man who said no.”

Cree leader Elijah Harper was to be laid to rest on Thursday morning, May 23, at the reserve where it all began, after hundreds lined up to pay respects earlier in the week as Harper lay in state at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away at the 12th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Grand Chief Edward John opened the meeting with a tribute to the leader, who was felled on Friday May 18 at age 64 by cardiac complications related to diabetes. (Related: Elijah Harper, Iconic Aboriginal Leader Who Scuttled Meech Accord, Walks On)

“In our lifetime there are those few who touch our hearts and minds in profound ways,” John said in a statement. “Today, as he is being laid to rest, I wish to acknowledge the passing of Elijah Harper, a distinguished and respected Indigenous leader and parliamentarian in Canada. We extend our deepest condolence to his family and friends.”

John went on to relate the history of the Red Sucker Lake First Nation former chief, who first survived the residential school system, then went on to be elected to the Manitoba Legislative Assembly and then, Parliament.

A funeral service was held for the legendary leader on Monday evening after people flooded the legislative building to bid farewell. A Manitoba flag was draped over Harper’s open casket, and an eagle-feather headdress had been placed on top. Portraits of the iconic leader were placed nearby in which he was holding an eagle feather. (Related: Elijah Harper Lies in State at Manitoba Legislature)

From the other side of Turtle Island, John recounted the watershed moment in history that brought Harper—and aboriginals—to national prominence.

“He will be remembered for that moment when he took a stand, with an eagle feather in his hand, in the Manitoba Legislature in 1990 as the lone voice to vote against the Meech Lake Accord, which proposed amendments to Canada’s constitution but which ignored Indigenous Peoples rights,” John aid in his statement. “With this decisive action he stopped the amendment from proceeding which already had the political support from the federal and provincial leaders and governments.”

Harper’s reason: “In his quiet and humble way, he said, ‘I stalled and killed it because I didn’t think it offered anything to the aboriginal people,’ ” John continued. “His stand helped propel indigenous issues to the top of Canada’s political agenda and into the public consciousness of Canadians.”

Harper was known for uttering the simple word “no” repeatedly at that infamous voting session. But it was merely an example of the underlying spirit that guided him, wrote Don Marks, a Canadian writer and a close friend of Harper.

“Elijah Harper is most famous for saying that one word and changing the course of Canadian history,” Marks wrote in the Winnipeg Free Press. “And for far too many people, this is all that Elijah will be known for. But for those of us who learned early on to listen more closely, this man, who was raised by his grandparents on a trapline in northern Manitoba, was one of the most eloquent, in large part by being succinct, political spokespersons of all time; white, red, yellow or black.”

Condolences poured in from around the country, and about 700 people attended his funeral on the evening of May 20. The official burial service was to be held on Thursday morning, May 23, at the Full Gospel Church in Red Sucker Lake.

Harper’s daughter, Holly Harper, told CBC News she was overwhelmed by all the support.

“To see all the people, just not aboriginal, but the non-natives as well. And all the different people that are coming. It’s great to see,” she told the network.

“He was my support. He was my rock,” she said. “We have a lot to live up to.”

Back at the United Nations, John’s closing words echoed hundreds of well-wishers, including many inspired by his deeds: “Today we bow our heads in gratitude.”

The most recent feature in Indian Country Today Media Network’s “Best Indian food of 2013″ details a rare delight once served abundantly by the Passamaquoddy people.

As Jackleen De La Harpe writes, it’s a dish that has some teeth to it.

In Indian country, frybread, Indian tacos, curly fries and pizza have become as “traditional” as the dancing and socializing of annual pow wows and celebrations.

Food is at the heart of most celebrations, and fast food, in many ways, has taken the place of local cooking. Yet in many regions, familiar foods are being quietly revived or have quietly endured—traditional dishes may include fish caught in the dip net (salmon), greens gathered by hand (milkweed), or dishes that rely on an ingredient that is hard to come by—such as corn soup, red chile stew or muskrat.

Many adults haven’t tried smothered muskrat but Hilda Lewis, a Passamaquoddy tribal member living in Maine, is hoping to change that – for her family at least.

. . . Lewis, Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point, tribal elder and former tribal council member, says traditional foods served at Indian Days include hulled corn soup and moose-meat chili or stew. And one dish that has almost disappeared—smothered muskrat.

The recipe is simple, she says. First, chop off the tail, then drop the entire muskrat into the pot of water with potatoes, onion and shredded carrot. When the meat is tender, the muskrat, sans tail, is served “with the teeth showing,” she adds. The potatoes and onions are heaped on top, hence, the term smothered.

Muskrat has fallen out of favor as a dish because there isn’t as much trapping being done, Lewis explains, which means the toughest trick when cooking a muskrat is getting a muskrat. The best way to do that may be to ask around to see if someone has a few in their freezer.

Muskrat, about the size of a mink, can weigh up to four pounds and has a rich golden-brown pelt and teeth a bit like a beaver. There isn’t much meat on a muskrat, Lewis says, but the flavor is good, like rabbit with an herbal taste.

. . .

Lewis has cooked muskrat for her sisters and their husbands, and this spring, she is thinking about introducing her grown children to muskrat. All four, who range in age from 31 to 52 years old, have never eaten muskrat, and she believes they will like it.

Read the rest of the story.

Jenna Cederberg

Delaware Tribe’s first female Chief Paula Pechonick was a retired judge and council trust board member when she was appointed. (Photo by Alyssa Nenemay/Char-Koosta)

A tribe working to rebuilt its nation under its first female chief traveled hundreds of miles seeking inspiration from the successful Confederated, Salish and Kootenai Tribe in Montana.

As Char-Koosta News reporter Alyssa Nenemay writes, the Delaware tribe located in Oklahoma traveled to the Flathead Reservation recently to meet with tribal officials there.

The Delaware, or as they were traditionally known “Lenape,” were among the first tribes to come in contact with Europeans in the 1600s. Forcefully relocated westward from their aboriginal territory along the Delaware River, the tribe’s historical relationship with the US Government is strained with war and resistance. The Delaware have received and lost federal recognition three times.

“We are survivors and adapters,” said Delaware representative Nate Young. “We’ve had a hard history but we’re trying to move forward. We’re looking for fresh ideas and that’s why we came here. We’re so impressed with everything the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes has been able to accomplish.”

Chief Paula Pechonick was recently appointed to lead the Delaware. She told Nenemay that “it’s time for women to step forward and take the lead, especially in these times. I really think Creator had a hand in me becoming the first female chief.”

During their two-day tour, the Delaware chief and tribal council members met with department heads to share ideas on how to expand on similar ventures, as well as learn how to establish and run new ones.

“Each tribe faces unique circumstance but we can all help each other to move forward,” said CSKT Chairman Joe Durglo. “I think we have some of the best staff in the country. They help us every day and I don’t know where we’d be without them.”

Jenna Cederberg

“Running Eagle Returning from a War Raid,” by Terrance Guardipee. (Courtesy of Terrance Guardipee)

Terrance Guardipee creates his art on pieces of the past. Checks, receipts stocks, WWII ration books all become his canvas.

In that way, Blackfeet artist has created a beautiful fusion of Native imagery and historical documents.

Missoulian reporter Cory Walsh talked with Guardipee about his inspiration and a new show he is showing in Kalispell, Mont.

Guardipee incorporates the documents from the 19th century, including maps of Montana, to explore the growth and change in the state at that time period, show where the Blackfeet Tribe protected its territories and relate the stories of ancient warriors.

The new Hockaday exhibit will have multiple images of Running Eagle, “one of the only women to become a warrior,” he said. While there’s a waterfall named after her in Glacier National Park, his work is way of spreading her story across the country.

In addition to Blackfeet figures, Guardipee uses traditional symbols in his work, such as lodge designs. He’s had the training and fully understands what they’re used for. A viewer could see an old photograph of a lodge and see the same, he said.

“It’s a great gift for me to have that knowledge, and share it with the greater world outside of the Blackfeet homeland,” he said.

From the start, he would do careful research and talk to people back home, who, he said, if he needed a fuller understanding of a particular subject.

He’s also always included a breakdown of the imagery in each piece so that viewers can understand and enjoy the symbols.

“I’m happy and I’m proud to share that with the public – the history and the culture of my tribe,” he said.

“The symbols, even though they’re ancient, the symbols still have the same power – personal power protection, tribal power protections, they still have great significance,” he said.

***

Guardipee graduated from the Institute of American Indian Art in Sante Fe, N.M., where he studied two-dimensional arts.

He said the experience was positive – there were members of tribes from all over the U.S., from the East Coast to Alaska, which gave him a broad view of Indian art outside his home.

The students were encouraged to experiment with abstract styles, but Guardipee said he honed his skills and stayed true to his heritage.

“I always stuck to who I was in terms of being a Blackfeet artist,” he said.

When Guardipee first transitioned into his map collage style, he gathered the documents from a few small antique stores. After he began showing his work, he met collectors looking to unload what he needed: “Original documents with dates on them to connect my drawings to the era,” he said.

The documents, which come from small towns up and down central Montana, are always authentic, Guardipee stressed.

“I do not use copies of the original documents. They’re all originals, they’re all one of a kind,” he said.

They’re typically from small towns up and down central Montana, and their use is a compliment, Guardipee said.

“It’s no disrespect to the state of Montana or these old businesses that I’m using their documents. It’s honoring those places. It’s keeping them alive,” he said.

For instance, he’s used numerous documents from Virginia City and often gets questions about whether it’s a Nevada reference.

“It’s a ghost town, but I’m keeping it alive and it’s going all over the country,” Guardipee said.

The documents can have great significance to the work as a whole, he said. Take the pieces that use World War II ration books.

“Those directly link my tribes’ ancient war history with modern warriors going overseas so those really connect,” he said.

In addition to his Hockaday exhibit, Guardipee has a busy schedule.

In the fall, he will have a show at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, which will all be ledger art based on Blackfeet culture. In 2007, he was the featured artist there.

He’ll also be showing his work at the Heard Museum of Native Cultures and Art in Phoenix, in addition to his regular circuit, which includes the Sante Fe Indian Art Market. He won top honors for his ledger art three years in a row at one point in his career.

One place you won’t find his work, though, is a gift shop. He doesn’t use prints in his collages, and doesn’t currently produce prints of his work – each piece is a one-off. He doesn’t frown on arists who sell reproductions, however.

“Mine’s a personal decision in terms of keeping my art rare, and special, and one of a kind,” he said, whether it’s only as big as a playing card or as large as a map.

By Vince Devlin, of the Missoulian:

Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Health Department Director Kevin Howlett. (Missoulian photo)

POLSON – You can look at the potential questions and problems facing many Indian people across the nation when it comes to the Affordable Health Care Act, and quickly check off all the ones that don’t apply on the Flathead Reservation.

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai people are a federally recognized tribe, so no problem there. Members can be enrolled in the tribe at birth, so children’s standing isn’t in question like it is for members of some tribes. There is no reservation residency requirement like ones that are posing problems for others.

When you’re done, Kevin Howlett says, just understand: The Affordable Health Care Act will still present issues locally, for many people of Indian descent.

Howlett, director of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Health Department, stresses that everyone currently eligible for tribal health care will continue to be eligible.

But those who aren’t enrolled members may be subject to tax liability if they don’t purchase insurance for coverage they already qualify for.

“I anticipate problems, not for tribal members who are being exempted, but I do think there will be issues for descendants who can and do receive health care from us,” Howlett says.

The law, as written, exempts enrolled tribal members from having to purchase health insurance.

“We have a lot of people who are not enrolled, for whatever reason,” Howlett says. “It’s really unclear” how the new law will affect them.

“We do know they’ll come to the tribes asking for answers,” Howlett says. “But we don’t have them.”

The 2013 Montana Legislature made things more difficult for Indians and non-Indians alike, Howlett says.

“Montana missed the boat,” he says. “It would have simplified things, but the Legislature failed to pass Medicaid expansion. Seventy-thousand more people would have been covered who now have to figure out how to enroll” for health care coverage.

“Montana also chose not to set up a state exchange, so we’ll be dealing with a federal exchange,” Howlett continues. “There will be a number of plans, but how do you access them? Where will they be? Washington, D.C.? Denver? I have no idea. It will be confusing. It’s confusing right now.”

The new law came with good things, Howlett says. The Indian Health Care Improvement Act was permanently reauthorized with its passage, there will be opportunities to provide expanded levels of care, and it gives tribal health departments the ability to create an additional revenue stream.

But right now, he says, the tribes aren’t getting the information from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services people will soon be seeking.

“We hear of things,” he says, but nothing concrete has “trickled its way out here yet. We’re just one of 555 tribes, and we’re up against the clock.”

That total doesn’t count more than 100 other tribes that aren’t federally recognized; their members are in no-man’s land when it comes to health care reform. Montana has one, the Little Shell, which has spent decades trying to gain federal recognition, to no avail and apparently due in large part to political in-fighting between rival factions within the tribe.

But the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are federally recognized. People are not required to live on the reservation to qualify for membership, nor are people banned from enrolling until they turn 18, things that are creating uncertainties for members of other tribes when it comes to the new law.

“If they figure out how to get exchanges available and accessible, it has the potential to do good things,” Howlett says of the health care overhaul. “But if you look at the clock, it’s tight. I’m concerned a lot of people are going to be really confused. It’s not just a Native issue, it’s a national issue.”

ICTMN’s Jorge Martin Melchor was on assignment last weekend at the 2013 AIGSA Fashion Show at Arizona State.

The event showcased a host of looks by Native designers. Melchor’s video gives a good look at the fashion show.

Gerard Begay, the fashion show’s organizer, said he started the event to show off the talents of Native American designers. “There’s a lot of Native American designers out there who aren’t recognized,” he said. He added that he also wanted to show non-Native people how Native culture is evolving. “I wanted to showcase that we are changing, we are constantly changing with today’s society,” he said.

The show is part of a weeklong celebration of Native culture at ASU.

Jenna Cederberg

Almost 330 people around the country have become members of the emerging Una Tribe, “mixed-blood tribe” being formed by a family in Eugene, Ore.

As KEZI.com reports, the Lake family there has already created a website and declaration of creation to attempt to get around blood quantum laws.

The Lake family who lives in Eugene says each family member has a fraction of their blood that is Native American. But that fraction of blood is not large enough to be considered a member of their ancestral tribes, so they’re starting their own tribe for people like them.

“I have been told my whole life that I’m Native American, both my father and my mother are Native American, all together I’m one-eigth,” said Richard Lake III, Una Tribe Founder.

That one-eighth tribal blood doesn’t allow Richard Lake III to be considered part of an ancestral tribe.

. . .

But one Klamath Tribe member says it takes more than a bit of Native American blood to be a part of a tribe.

“The ancestral memories of that are generations and generations of a single people living together sharing memories and developing language,” said Gordon Bettles, Klamath Tribe Member.

. . .

Even though they’re not recognized by the government or other tribes, the Una mixed blood tribe thinks in 10 years you’ll be hearing a lot about them.

“Our end goal is set up a reservation for our members to be able to live on or visit,” said Richard Lake III.

Jenna Cederberg

A 10-year-old boy accused of several crimes, including theft, will get a new hearing after a judge initially set bail in the case at $500,000 after protests from his outraged family.

The Missoulian’s Vince Devlin reports that Isaiah Shane Nasewytewa, the 10-year-old St. Ignatius boy who lives on the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana, is currently being held at the Reintegrating Youthful Offenders Correctional Facility.

His family has said they can’t pay that high of bail.

Court records indicate (Lake County Judge Kim) Christopher set bail at $500,000 last week specifically in hopes of ensuring the evaluation takes place.

The boy’s grandmother, Dorinda Buck of St. Ignatius, protested on social and in traditional media, saying such a high bail is usually reserved for adults charged with violent crimes. The family had come to court indicating they were prepared to post bond for the $50,000 bail sought by the Lake County Attorney’s Office.

Nasewytewa came before the court because of a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge for an alleged incident at his elementary school, but that triggered the re-filing of a felony theft and burglary charge from 2012 against the youngster.

Nasweytewa’s family has said the Wa He Lut Indian School in Olympia, Wash., is willing to take him.

“He’s losing steam (at the correctional facility),” said Buck, who indicated she had spoken to her grandson on the phone since he was transported to Galen after Thursday’s District Court hearing. “He said there’s nobody his own age in there. He feels lost – he’s just a little kid.”

Court documents indicate Nasewytewa was to be held until he could be seen for the evaluation at a Shodair Children’s Hospital, but his grandmother said there were no openings available before June 6. His caseworker has since found an opening at a Bozeman facility, but that’s not for another three weeks.

“They’re trying to get it expedited, find something sooner, but so far the earliest is May 22,” Buck said.

Jenna Cederberg

The term and the industry of “tribal tourism” is catching on around the state of Alaska.

File photo courtesty of Associated Press/Icy Strait Point) In this photo taken in May of 2005, a Tlingit dancer performs at the Native theater at Icy Strait Point in Hoonah Alaska.

One Native corporation at the forefront of offering adventures steeped in their cultural traditions has launched a service to help others do the same, according to Associated Press reporter Rachel D’Oro.

Huna Totem Corp. opened Alaska Native Voices on Wednesday. Huna Totem is the village Native corporation for Hoonah — a largely Tlingit community of 775 in southeast Alaska — and one of the front-runners of tribal tourism, a growing trend in Alaska and nationally.

Huna has turned the closure of the cannery there in the 1950s into a positive economic driver focused on sharing its heritage.

The corporation is entering the 10th year of operating its Icy Strait Point, a long-closed salmon cannery near Hoonah that was converted to a tourism complex with offerings that include Tlingit heritage performances and nearby attractions such as nature tram rides, whale watching tours and a mile-long zipline with a 1,300-foot vertical drop. Huna Totem also is entering its 13th year of providing cultural heritage guides to visitors of Alaska’s Glacier Bay.

The corporation’s new consulting business is available to Native groups as well as communities worldwide wanting to establish tourism around their own cultures, Alaska Native Voices director Mark McKernan said. The cost will vary, depending on the extent of services sought, he said.

. . .

Since opening in 2004, Icy Strait has drawn more than 1 million visitors. Another 135,000 cruise ship travelers are expected to stop there this year. For Hoonah, the enterprise has been lucrative, bringing an enormous boost in sales taxes and creating scores of jobs for locals, officials have said.

Alaska’s off-road villages lack the luxuries seen along the cruise ship routes, however, and most don’t have a designated visitor coordinator. But an increasing number of small communities are exploring ways to set up their own brands of Alaska Native tourism.

Jenna Cederberg

You’re going to want to take a look at this collection of ledger art created by Crow warriors in the late 1800s.

Crow artist Above George Thomas drew this portrait of Hot Dancers, wearing bustles and holding staffs, dated July 11, 1882. (Courtesy Montana State University Billings Library Barstow Collection)

Billings Gazette reporter Mary Pickett brings us the “remarkable story about . . creation and preservation” of how the art was saved by a curious Montana college professor.

BILLINGS, MONT. – Adrian Heidenreich stumbled onto the first clue of an extraordinary collection of Native American ledger art in a Billings Heights art gallery in 1968.

When he spotted a copy of a battle scene done in 1884 by a Crow artist, he was stunned.

“Oh my gosh, I have to have that,” he thought.

He learned that the original the copy had been made from was part of a collection of Indian art housed at the library at Eastern Montana College, now Montana State University Billings.

Although the original had been attributed to the last traditional Crow Chief Plenty Coups, the chief later said he did not draw it, but that the work was an accurate depiction of his experiences at a battle between Crow and Sioux warriors.

Full of action, the work simultaneously shows several events that happened minutes or hours apart.

A warrior, possibly Plenty Coups, stands left of center, firing a rifle at short range at two enemy warriors who are firing back in the midst of blue smoke shooting out of the rifle barrels.

The rest of the combatants ride brightly colored horses. A few have turned their horses and are riding away from the battle, holding up rifles and feathered staffs in a gesture indicating that they will return to fight again.

The ground is carpeted with hoof prints, illustrating that the battle had been intense and lasted a long time.

Heidenriech found the dynamic piece remarkable because he had recently come to Montana to teach Native American studies and was making friends with members of the Crow tribe.

He knew of other ledger art done at Fort Marion, Fla., by Cheyenne and other Indians imprisoned there in the 1870s.

But he didn’t know much about Crow ledger art except for pieces done by White Swan, a Custer scout.

When Heidenreich moved from Rocky Mountain College to Eastern Montana College to teach in 1977, he began research on the Charles H. Barstow Collection of Native American Ledger Art, which wasn’t widely known at the time.

“Pretty much forgotten about even by librarians,” Heidenreich, now a MSU Billings professor emeritus, said recently.

Since then, Heidenreich’s speeches and published research on the Barstow ledger art helped bring attention to the collection.

The remarkable collection has an equally remarkable story about its creation and preservation.

Made when Native American culture was suppressed, the fragile art has survived more than 130 years and several periods of obscurity.

Ledger art in the Barstow collection was done from 1879 to 1897 by Crow and Gros Ventre living on or visiting the Crow Reservation at a time when the Crows’ world was constricting and shifting away from a life centered around the buffalo.

The Gros Ventre artists featured in the collection actually were Hidatsa, who were related to the Crow. Early on, fur traders and federal Indian officials referred to the Hidatsa as Gros Ventre. Because Barstow documents call non-Crow artists in its collection “Gros Ventre,” that term will be used in this article.

Beginning in 1852, Crow lands shrank from more than 38 million acres across Eastern Montana down to the current 2.25 million acres, Heidenreich said.

By the 1880s, federal policy had shifted from campaigns to kill or starve Indians to those eradicating Indian culture and forcing them into white men’s way of life.

“You have to kill the Indian to save the man,” said Richard Henry Pratt, who started the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania to assimilate Native American children.

To that end, traditional Indian dances and Native religion were forbidden, Heidenreich said.

Even if Indians couldn’t do those things publicly, they continued to pass traditions down to their children through stories and art.

Army officers and Bureau of Indian Affairs bureaucrats on reservations and at places of incarceration such as Fort Marion, noticed Indians’ interest in art and gave them paper, pencils, crayons, ink and watercolors for them to capture images.

In 1878, two years after the Battle of the Little Big Horn, Charles H. Barstow was hired as the BIA’s chief clerk at Crow Agency, then located near the present-day town of Absarokee in Stillwater County.

Born in Massachusetts about 1850, Barstow supervised other clerks, kept accounts, took minutes of meetings and was acting agent when the agent was away, Heidenreich wrote in the catalog for the 1985 show of ledger art at the Yellowstone Art Center, now the Yellowstone Art Museum.

Barstow was among those encouraging Indians to illustrate events in their lives on business forms and sheets of lined and unlined paper from ledger books. Barstow wrote descriptions of what was being portrayed in each drawing and who the artist was.

Barstow’s family later would call his collection a “hobby,” but Heidenreich sees it much more than that.

“Barstow was genuinely interested in Indians” because he got to know the Crow during the nearly 20 years that he lived on the reservation.

Barstow was given the name “Pearcoppie,” which meant Hump Nose or Crooked Nose in Crow, because he had broken his nose years earlier.

Although he clearly admired most Crow he knew, every relationship wasn’t perfect.

Barstow kept a gun in a drawer in his office because he was afraid of one chief, Pretty Eagle, who had a strong, outspoken personality, Heidenreich said.

After retiring from the BIA, Barstow moved to Billings.

By the time he died in 1908, many of his personal possessions, including his Indian collection, had been sold off.

In 1930, a trunk that held some of Barstow’s ledger art was discovered in Roundup. The art came to the attention of Ruthann Wilbur Hines, the wife of an Eastern Montana Normal School professor. The school, now Montana State University Billings, bought the 66 pieces of art in the collection.

After tracking down relatives of Barstow to confirm the link between the artwork and him, Hines and others took some of the drawings to Pryor and showed them to Charlie Bird Hat, an old war chief. He went over the art work for more than an hour, reading them “as one would read a newspaper,” Hines wrote.

Bird Hat recognized both people and battles depicted in the works, including fights that happened near present-day Huntley, Joliet and Canyon Creek near Laurel.

Next, they visited the elderly Plenty Coups, who was watching a Memorial Day home-talent rodeo from a spring wagon.

Because some of the art works were attributed to Plenty Coups, the old chief was asked to put his thumb print on some of them.

Plenty Coups refused because he had not done the artwork, but confirmed that the events portrayed had happened to him.

A photo taken at the time shows Plenty Coups, wearing glasses and a cowboy hat, sitting in the front seat of a wagon while John Frost, a translator, holds one of the pieces of ledger art for the chief to examine.

Although the artists are all gone, they left a vibrant record of Native American culture in the 19th century.

Horses, carrying warriors into battle or racing bison across the plains, play a major role in several works in the Barstow collection.

That’s not surprising, Heidenreich said.

From the 1830s to 1850s, the Crow Tribe was the richest in horses in this region.

Artists colored horses different hues to indicated each horse had different qualities and personalities.

Indicating how close the Crow were to their hoses, Plenty Coups once said, “I know my horse’s heart and he knows mine.”

The style of art that Native Americans used on ledger paper came from earlier ways of preserving oral stories and experiences on teepees liners, buffalo robes, pictographs and petroglyphs, Heidenreich said.

The Barstow ledger art also depicts subjects not traditionally done earlier, including dancers and courtship rituals.

In general, men created those art forms while women did beading and porcupine quill work.

Most of the Barstow art was done by men who had been warriors, including Medicine Crow and Pretty Eagle, Heidenriech said.

Medicine Crow’s drawings make up almost half of the Barstow collection and are easy to pick out because of his signature — a raven flying over his head.

In addition to dramatic battle scenes, the collection includes colored drawings of groups of men and women, their clothing captured in detail.

The art remains so vibrant, emotionally charged and accessible that even after 45 years after seeing the battle scene in a local art gallery, Heidenreich still gets excited talking about ledger art.

Jenna Cederberg

The beauty of Native art is just one way to help boost Phoenix’s economy, the Navajo Post reported this week.

The Post cites a story by the examiner that details a recent study showing Native arts and culture generate $361.05 million for the local economic activity.

They can also purchase property and once it’s bought, through the US Department of Interior, they can request the Secretary’s Office of that purchased land and essentially turning into Tribal Trust Land, reported the examiner.

This is detailed out in 25 CFR under Land Acquisitions. In Phoenix, vacancies in the Camelback Corridor are interested in making use of Native American Culture in attracting more visitors to the Camelback Colonnade.

“The economic impact of arts and culture organizations on Arizona’s economy is comparable to that of major sporting events. Businesses need to understand how they will benefit from providing greater financial and other support.” said, Robert L. Lynch President and CEO of Americans for the Arts.

Lynch also explained the impact it could have, “Understanding and acknowledging the incredible economic impact of the nonprofit arts and culture, we must always remember their fundamental value. They foster beauty, creativity, originality, and vitality. The arts inspire us, sooth us, provoke us, involve us, and connect us. But they also create jobs and contribute to the economy.”

Money generated by tourism is another way to help boost the economy.

Arizona’s tribal lands produced direct spending of $310.5 million, plus indirect and induced impacts of $80.5 million, for a total economic impact of $391 million. Based on a study.

This created a total of 4,973 jobs on Arizona’s tribal lands.

According to the Terry School of Business, University of Georgia the buying power of Native American peoples will hit $30.4 billion dollars by the year 2016 and tribal businesses are tapping into that readily available financial source said, Terrance H. Booth.

Jenna Cederberg