Chief Phil Lane Jr. is a traditionally recognized Hereditary Chief and Elder. He is an enrolled member of the Ihanktonwan Dakota and Chickasaw Nations, and is a citizen of both Canada and the United States
Toni Jones is one of the 306 Nooksack who would lose tribal membership if disenrollment goes forward. She joined about a hundred others as they marched from Pioneer Square to the tribe’s lawyer’s office building.
“Ever since I was a little tiny girl, I’ve known that I (was) Nooksack, that’s who I am,” Jones said before marching. “That’s who I was raised to be, it’s in my blood.” She said the disenrollment is hard-hitting for her and her relatives. “It’s a deep hurt that is not explainable. It’s somebody trying to strip me away from what I’ve known, what I was born with.”
Description of the event happening this March 22, 2014.
Blues Music by Waylon Mendoza & Scatter Their Own. Art by Robert Upham of the Harlem Indian Project & Blue Pony Youth Program. Join us in honoring our Unsung Heroes & American Indian History through Ledger Art, Blues Music, Spoken Word and Poetry.
Beau Dick was born in Alert Bay on the Northern tip of Vancouver Island and was raised in the neighbouring Kwakwaka’wakw village of Kingcome Inlet. The isolation of the remote villages slowed down the processes of cultural destruction, which had devastated many other villages on the coast. Many of the Kwakwaka’wakw master artists, including Willie Seaweed, Charlie James, and Mungo Martin as well as Beau’s father Ben Dick and grandfather James Dick carried the art and culture through the period of cultural assimilation and transition to become among the first carvers to receive recognition as “name” artists beyond the cultural definition. They also carried the wealth of songs, dances, and ceremonial rites, which were passed on to the dedicated young artists such as Beau who was among the first artists of the modern era. Alert Bay remains a cultural centre as well as producing such noted artists as Wayne Alfred, Russell Smith, Bruce Alfred and Doug Cramner.
Beau’s first carving was a miniature totem pole based on the pole his father carved to commemorate the visit of King George XI. His father also carved the largest freestanding totem pole (173-feet) to commemorate Canada’s centennial in 1967.
Beau moved to Vancouver to complete high school. He became interested in painting and produced several large canvases in a naturalistic style representing Kwakwaka’wakw mythological figures and ceremonial dancers. He continued to carve and received several important commissions while still a young artist; he painted the dance screen for the Cape Mudge museum and was among the youngest artists chosen for the Legacy Exhibition.
The Legacy Exhibition (documented in the book The Legacy—Traditions and Innovation in Northwest Coast Indian Art by Peter Macnair) hosted by the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria (1972) was one of the first major exhibitions to focus on contemporary artists. The exhibition traveled until 1982. The exhibition and catalogue became a major resource for the growing collector base interested in contemporary Northwest Coast art. Beau exhibited two works, a Noohmahl (fool dancer) and a Tuxw’id or Kominicka mask both carved in the powerful tradition of the War Spirit Ceremony. These masks were instrumental in building the market for the more powerful and darker subjects of the Kwakwaka’wakw traditional ceremonies.
Beau is a prolific and respected artist. He was chosen to carve the large four way split transformation mask for the Canadian Pavilion at Expo ‘86 in Vancouver, British Columbia, now in the collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Hull, Quebec. He was also commissioned to carve a major eleven-figure pole by the City of Vancouver for Stanley Park.
Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, a 13 year old indigenous environmental activist from Boulder, Colorado, came into the world through the Aztec culture on his father’s side, and environmental activism on his mother’s side. His name was chosen by Aztec elders of Mexico based on the cosmology of the Aztec calendar and given to him when he was six weeks old in the Black Hills of South Dakota by elders Arvol Looking Horse and Xolotl Martinez. Xiuhtezcatl has been participating in ceremonies and Aztec dancing since he could walk, and is very connected with his culture. He grew up learning to respect and care for the Earth and all life upon it.
His deep connection with the Earth inspired him to become a voice for protecting the Earth at a young age, giving his first speech at a climate change rally when he was six years old (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6PrMybQzyQ).
He has remained vigilant in his work as he has watched the trees and forests he loves die from beetle infestation, eco-systems collapse, and species disappear, which are a direct result of our environmental and climate crises.
Xiuhtezcatl is the youth director of Earth Guardians, a non-profit environmental organization that is committed to protecting the water, air, earth, and atmosphere. He has organized many rallies, actions, demonstrations and events, and has spoken globally on many issues. Projects include organizing the largest US iMatter March in Denver in the spring of 2010 with over 2,000 young people.
Xiuhtezcatl has worked with Boulder City Council members, County Commissioners, senators and congresspeople, and has collaborated with over 50 environmental organizations. He has led and participated in many victories including getting pesticides out of Boulder’s city parks, achieving a fee for plastic bags, and containment of coal ash. He is currently working on helping fight for a statewide ban on fracking. He gives presentations on fracking in schools and at conferences nationally, and also has developed and shown a presentation called EARTH, teaching about practical changes all people can make to insure future generations a healthy habitable planet. His work on climate change has led him to become a youth plaintiff against the state of Colorado, and a federal plaintiff against the United States, filing law suits for not protecting the atmosphere.
In May, 2012, he went to Washington DC to meet with representatives from all three branches of government, working to garner support for the lawsuits and a Climate Recovery Plan based on NASA scientist James Hansen’s and Bill McKibben’s work. Over 80 members of Congress and the Congressional Progressive Caucus publicly supported the youth delegation.
Xiuhtezcatl was one of the youngest speakers at the Rio+20 United Nations Summit in Rio Brazil in June 2012. He spoke on UN panels and at many of the UN side events. He also had the honor of lighting the sacred fire with indigenous elders from Brazil (view at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd773X7erys).
Frustrated by the inaction of world leaders, he and two other young people intervened in the UN meetings so that the voices of children would be heard (view at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp-spJD3Bxc).
He is traveling and initiating International Earth Guardian Crews around the globe to fulfill the Earth Guardian mission, and these groups are now going strong in Africa, India, Australia, Brazil and Europe. He is regularly called upon to provide the youth perspective and voice on issues at conferences locally, nationally, and globally, bringing his message of hope, inspiration and the importance of acting now to avoid further damage to ecosystems.
Xiuhtezcatl is also a piano composer and has recorded his first album called “Journey”. His music was used in “Trust Colorado”, a short documentary featuring Xiuhtezcatl and filmed by Peter Gabriel’s organization, Witness. It won 2012 Best Environmental Film Documentary of the Year and is being shown in 100 cities world-wide. The documentary can be seen at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr-GUgpic5E
Xiuhtezcatl also writes and performs original message-driven rap music to inspire and educate his peers through performances. His group “Voice of Youth” filmed their first music video called: “Live as if our Future Matters”(view at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANrxvmHUuV0). He will be releasing his new music video “Be the Change” produced and filmed by HBO in December 2013.
Xiuhtezcatl continues to inspire youth and adults alike, encouraging people everywhere to become more aware and educated, and to work together to face the threats to our future from our environmental and climate crises. Xiuhtezcatl is a living example of one of his heroes, Mahatma Gandhi, and he truly reflects the change that he wants to see in the world.
Chief Arvol Looking Horse is the 19th generation keeper of the White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle and holds the responsibility of spiritual leader among the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota People. He holds an honorary Doctorate from the University of South Dakota, and travels and speaks extensively on peace, environmental and native rights issues. He has been the recipient of several awards, including the Wolf Award of Canada for his dedicated work for peace. A skilled horseman, he shares his knowledge with the youth on the long distance rides that take place in South Dakota throughout the year.
Tiokasin Ghosthorse is a celebrated activist who advocates for the indigenous rights of Native American and native people all over the world. He is from the Cheyenne River Lakota (Sioux) Nation of South Dakota, and is the host of First Voices Indigenous Radio on Pacifica Radio. Tiokasin has worked for many years pointing to how the ancient indigenous wisdom of his ancestors offers a unique perspective to the crises faced by our modern industrial civilization.
My heart is heavy, the Water of life – Mini Wic’oni is speaking to us through our ceremonies and many people having dreams. As I hear the Voices standing up against the destruction of Grandmother Earth, I realize we need stand in Unity to protect the Water of Life. The Gulf spill is still leaking, the biggest cancer on the face of the earth – Tar Sands, the black snake of the Pipelines to carry this cancer, giant dams, the underground spider webs of Fracking that can trigger giant shifts in the earth and the radiation of Fukashima spilling around Grandmother Earth in a silent blanket. We have no choice, because our Global communities are standing up stating “I will put my life on the line, because I will die anyway”.
My Grandmother told me of a time when water would be like gold, like many others heard in their young lives. Slowly these Prophecies came into our lives, we didn’t pay attention in our young days – because our back yards were not affected, back then it was the mining and farmers spraying chemicals. Even Countries that don’t use or want the pollution are now going to be affected, because now the poisons have become a Global giant destroying our sacred water. People are scrambling to find good water that is nowhere to be found in their communities. Our way of life through prayer is to prevent such hurtful disasters on behalf of our future generations; it is our responsibility. I ask all the Voices to stand together at this time in Unity. My prayers continue for all of you bringing attention to these Global Giants affecting us all as a whole and for the Global Giants to pay attention to their own children’s future.
In a Sacred Hoop of Life, where there is no ending and no beginning!
Ana-h’opta po
Hear my words!
Chief Arvol Looking Horse
19th Generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle
Welcome! It is an honor to contribute and give another voice to the “The First Peoples” of our world.
Make No Bones About It. * KAOS 89.3 FM
Sundays 4pm to 6 pm with your Host, Raven Redbone.Visit KAOS 89.3 FM @ www.kaosradio.org!
Make No Bones About It
Make No Bones About It- Sound Cloud
World Peace and Prayer Day 2013
Encouraging Words from our Elders
"I appreciate your work in giving voice to our peoples. Blessings to you." Grandmother Mona Polacca
Quote of the Month
Yes, our life energy must be a gift for our future. Your life, my life, everybody’s life must follow your given path. So pray or meditate. Follow your inner path and learn just how powerful you are and learn that you are a leader for your people, your family, your children, and the Mother Earth.
-Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Lakota
![My_heart_is_heavy[1]](https://ravenredbone.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/my_heart_is_heavy1.jpg)
Raven Redbone -Spinitron Weekly Playlist (If I play music that is)
