Search Results for: our voices will be heard

Language

April 12, 2021 By Bob Petersen

This is a story that starts with someone who wanted to learn more about his language, Qeuchan. Along the way he ran across a name that’s not well known, a man who devoted his life to documenting Indigenous languages.

This is Trahant Reports.

Last week I interviewed Daniel Golding for Indian Country Today. He has a new film coming out this month on American Public Television, “Chasing Voices.” It’s the story of John Peabody Harrington. An ethnologist and linguist who spent more than fifty years conducting exhaustive research that preserved some 150 languages (including detailed notes with more than 1 million pages).

Daniel Golding:

I was involved years ago with language. I wanted to do master apprentice language learning to speak my language from my Quechan on language. I was doing that master apprentice stuff. And during my learning the language, I came across Harrington who had documented our creation story from a man named Joe Homer back in like the early 1900s, 1907, somewhere in there.”

“And so I just kind of researched him a little bit and I was kind of fascinated by his story. I thought it was just this really kind of interesting story of what he had done and the fact that nobody has really ever heard of him. He’s this eccentric linguist ethnographer who documented all these different languages over million pages of notes on over 150 different Native American languages.”

In the film Golding talks about how some tribes have used the collection to rebuild languages that could have been lost.

Or even compare notes. Imaging knowing how a language sounded in the 1920s and comparing that to what we hear today. That’s extraordinary information about a culture. Other tribes have used this collection to document sacred sites. Or even to make their case for federal recognition.

Golding says the amount of time that Harrington spent with elders is an important part of the story too. He did not just record the language as it’s supposed to be, but chronicled how people actually spoke it. He got the nuances right.

We hear the phrase a “dying language” all the time. And it’s true that many languages are losing fluency. But then again you never know when you’ll run into a million pages of notes that’s an unexpected bonus.

“I encourage everyone to make an effort to try and learn a little bit of your language. It’s such an important part of who we are as Native people.”

I am Mark Trahant.

Alcatraz is not an island. It’s an idea.

December 2, 2019 By Bob Petersen

Last month was the 50th anniversary of the occupation of Alcatraz. Why that anniversary? Well, as one of the leaders smartly declared at the time, “Alcatraz is not an island. It’s an idea’”
And so much of what we think of as the norm now, came out of that idea and the occupation.

Last month was the 50th anniversary of the occupation of Alcatraz. Why that anniversary? Well, as one of the leaders smartly declared at the time, “Alcatraz is not an island. It’s an idea’”

This is Trahant Reports.

The occupation began on Nov. 20, 1969 and lasted for 19 months.

The students said their purpose was “to better the lives of all Indian people”by making “known to the world that we have a right to use our land for our own benefit” and as an added twist, claimed Alcatraz “in the name of all American Indians by right of discovery.”

Today that legacy remains potent, a way for voices to be heard. Alcatraz was Standing Rock. Alcatraz was Idle No More. And, Alcatraz was a framework for many of the extraordinary public policy shifts that took place in the 1970s.

Richard Oakes, Akwesasne Mohawk, was a leader on the island and it was his phrase that Alcatraz was an idea.

And that idea started with a treaty — a right to claim unused federal property.

Some of the early ideas were inspiring. The island’s leaders set up a school, a clinic, and drew up plans for a major university and cultural center.

Before Alcatraz most people took for granted that states had full authority over all the people and that tribes were just an asterisk. But Alcatraz was a way of saying, “no, that’s not right.” Tribal citizens have rights in the Constitution that need to have an accounting. The federal policy of termination, for example, gave states primary authority over Native people. But by 1970 that policy had been rejected and replaced with clear support for tribal governments and sovereignty.

Another practical win from Alcatraz was the establishment of Native American studies programs at universities across the country. LaNada War Jack, Shoshone-Bannock, was a student at the University of California Berkeley and one of the leaders on the island. She had pressed the university to create a department of ethnic studies. Today Alcatraz is taught as history in the very classes that came about as a result of the occupation.

Fifty years is an interesting marker of time. So much of what we think of as the norm now, had its roots on that island. John Echohaw, Pawnee, is executive director of the Native American Rights Fund. That public interest law firm was founded after Alcatraz. As Echohawk recently said: Alcatraz “… is widely seen as a seminal event that reinvigorated tribes to organize in the face of a U.S. government steamrolling over their land, their rights and their identities … the occupation marked a pivotal moment.”

Or, as he said on the island last month, Alcatraz was “our civil rights movement.”

I am Mark Trahant.

Fixing Democracy

October 15, 2018 By Bob Petersen

What is a “democracy?”

This is Trahant Reports.

The Supreme Court last week let stand a court ruling that allows North Dakota to disenfranchise Native voters. State law requires a government-issued ID with a physical address in communities where there are no physical addresses. This changes the rules used in the primary election. So a voter who voted just a couple of months ago could be refused a ballot this time around.

No worries ruled the majority on the Supreme Court (and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit) there is plenty of time — a month — to fix the problem. Not that the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe won’t try. External affairs director Danielle Finn tweeted that plans are underway for an emergency addressing system.

Quote: “Why is it getting harder and harder for Native Americans to vote?” asks Standing Rock Chairman Mike Faith in a news release. “This law clearly discriminates against Native Americans in North Dakota. Our voices should be heard and they should be heard fairly at the polls, just like all other Americans.”

Indeed, Faith raises a higher standard. He says tribal citizens — even with post office boxes — live “in accordance with the law and treaties. But now all of a sudden they can’t vote.”

Power of treaties. Did you know: There are treaties that give tribal citizens the right to a delegate in the Congress?

Congress has had delegates since 1794. The first, James White of Ohio, wasn’t even sure he whether he would serve in the House or the Senate. But it was decided that he could be a an “envoy” to Congress. He would not be able to vote. But he could serve on committees, hire a staff, and be recognized in Congress.

Today there are six Delegates in Congress, representing Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

Indian Country should be included in this equation. The Navajo Nation, a geographic, political entity, that’s far larger and has more people than the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa or the Northern Mariana Islands.

Congress should have done this a long time ago. For example: In the Choctaw Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek of 1830 there was a provision for a “Delegate to Congress.”

Congress could make this happen with a simple, majority vote. It is not a Constitutional act.

Full authority or not, at least congressional delegates are there. Seated. At the table. Their very presence would be a reminder about the unique political status of tribal governments.

How could this work? Easy. Tribal nations with large populations should have a delegate. Perhaps smaller tribes could band together by region or language group and have a regional delegate. If population is the criteria, then there ought to be at least seven delegates. Proportional democracy.

Then every member of the nation — including tribal nations — would be have a say in this government.

I am Mark Trahant.

Re-Balancing Gender Politics

December 11, 2017 By Bob Petersen

Minnesota’s governor could make history by appointing state Rep. Peggy Flanagan to the U.S. Senate. She would be the first Native American woman in history to serve in Congress. She is currently a candidate for the state’s Lt. Gov. (Campaign photo)

There is an uncomfortable, even painful re-balancing going on across so much of society. The old world of male dominance is slowly coming to an end. Minnesota Senator Al Franken lost his office because of his own actions — and that broader change.

This is Trahant Reports.

Franken said as he resigned that he is aware that there is some irony in the fact that he is leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party.

This week that irony plays out. There is a special election in Alabama Tuesday where President Donald J. Trump and the official Republican machine have embraced candidate Roy Moore. The Washington Post reported about Moore’s sexual misconduct with multiple minors.

And Trump has been accused by at least sixteen women of sexual misconduct.

This is an important time in Congress. How does Congress, as an institution, handle abuse by its own members? The line needs to be sharp and absolute. Just last week four members from both parties have resigned, retired or are being investigated.

And to top it off Congress has an institutional problem. There’s a payoff system that was both secret and a way for powerful members to act with impunity.

Transparency is the only way out of this mess.

Yet Al Franken’s resignation remains a tough issue for many Democrats. Franken was the kind of senator that folks wanted, especially on issues involving American Indians and Alaska Natives.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton will appoint Franken’s replacement who then will have to run in a special election next year. The most likely pick is Lieutenant Governor Tina Flint Smith.. The appointment of Smith causes another problem: A Republican would automatically replace her as the Lt. Gov. That situation also presents challenges for any administration.

Two other names — both historic choices– are also possible, Reps. Ilhan Omar and Peggy Flanagan (White Earth Ojibwe).

Flanagan is currently running for Lt. Gov. But because of her deep experience in politics, Flanagan could hit the ground running. She already knows her way around Capitol Hill. Since this would be a short term gig, that’s critical. There is another reason why Flanagan should get the nod: Since 1789 there have been 12,244 people serving in Congress. Never has there been a Native woman. Not by election. Not by appointment. This would be a chance to start a new era, one where indigenous voices are heard.

I am Mark Trahant.