Monthly Archives: February 2008
Native American programs in Genesee County search for students amidst complaints heritage is ignored
by RoNeisha Mullen | The Flint Journal
Thursday February 21, 2008, 4:21 PM
FLINT TWP. — Local Native American education programs are seeing declining numbers, a sad statement on families rejecting their heritage, some educators say.
“For so long, Native Americans had been taught to deny their culture because they’d be tormented,” said Jean Keen, a Native American specialist with the Carman-Ainsworth/Westwood Heights program.
“Now, we’re having a hard time getting them to embrace it. They don’t understand the point. Schools spend a lot of time chasing families they know are eligible.”
Such local programs are trying to find more students but that can be difficult in the face of the cultural apathy, not to mention declining Native American numbers.
“A lot of our students don’t know that they are of Native American heritage,” said Sue Diebel, a Carman-Ainsworth teacher who’s part of an advisory group over the program. “Tribes are becoming extinct because the older people are dying and the young people don’t know their culture.”
At least six districts in Genesee County have federally funded Native American education programs, offering free tutoring, after-school activities that focus on culture and awareness, and summer day camp.
The Carman-Ainsworth/Westwood program expects to see a drop of 30 students next school year, from about 525 to 495. That means a loss in cash for the program, which receives about $250 per student.
Keen is looking to reduce the $132,973 annual budget by $7,000.
In order to enroll, parents of students must verify their Indian heritage and youngsters must identify their tribe and family background.
According to the 2000 census, 6,870 people in Genesee County define themselves as at least part Native American. Flint Township was home to 556 of them.
Enrollment also is dropping for the Flint School District’s Native American program, but not necessarily over cultural issues, one official says.
“People are leaving public schools,” said Veda Balla, program officer of Indian Education for Flint. “Also, people of mixed ancestry are only reporting one race, which means we don’t know that they’re Native American because they didn’t report it.”
Balla who’s been with the district since 1992, said she’s had as many as 700 students enrolled in the program at one time. This year there are 311 and next year only 226 are expected.
Balla said she’s pretty good at scaling back, but “worse-case scenario I’d cut my own hours to save money.”
Proponents say those kind of reductions are too bad, given the obvious benefits of the program and one-on-one time that students get.
Antoinette Aubrey, parent member and chairwoman of the Carman/Westwood program, has three children in Westwood, including two in special education. Aubrey said the program helps her children academically.
“If you read something to him, he doesn’t comprehend it,” Aubrey said of her son who attends McMonagle Elementary.
“But if you put it in front of him and show it to him, he understands it better. He’s almost up to his grade because through the tutoring and this program, he gets the help he needs.”
Diebel said the after-school cultural programs can only introduce heritage, not teach it. She said parents should teach their children to embrace their culture.
“If you have even one drop of Native American blood take pride in that because those are the people who were here first,” Diebel said. “You are the ones who can keep what is left of your tribe alive.”
Cultural Council funds Native American program
Rochester – The Rochester Cultural Council has awarded $589 in funding to support the Native American Educational Outreach Project at the Robbins Museum of Archaeology, located at 17 Jackson St. in Middleborough.
Funding from the Rochester Cultural Council will cover the costs of transportation to and admission at the museum for local third-grade students and their teachers who wish to visit the Robbins Museum.
Exhibits at the museum cover over 10,000 years of Native American history and culture, and, according to Robbins Museum education liaison Mary Concannon, contextualize instruction on Massachusetts history, providing insight into and understanding of the dynamic role Native Americans have played in shaping our Commonwealth.
“The Robbins is the only museum dedicated to Native American history in Massachusetts,” Concannon said. “A key goal of our programming is to make our exhibits and educational materials relevant to students and easy-to-use by educators. So, if teachers want to book a tour, we will work with them to find a day and time that fits within their schedules and meets their learning goals.”
Visits are part of the Museum’s Artifacts and Archaeology program, and will include a tour of the museum, hands-on activities, and the opportunity for students to handle and analyze Native American artifacts. Information on how the Native American Educational Outreach Project connects to the Massachusetts Frameworks can be found at www.massarchaeology.org/foreducators.
The museum is open Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thursday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. To schedule a tour during these or other hours or for more information, contact the Robbins Museum Education Department at 508-947-9005 or e-mail to: education@massarchaeology.org
The Native American Educational Outreach Project has been funded by a grant from the A.D. Makepeace Fund of Wareham. The Middleborough Cultural Council is a local body supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. To learn more about the Robbins Museum go online to: www.massarcheology.org. Send inquiries to: info@massarcheology.org.
House to vote on proposed Native American Affairs Committee
SIOUX CITY — The proposed creation of a Commission on Native American Affairs is up for a vote in the Iowa House of Representatives after being unanimously approved by the House State Government Committee this week.
The commission aims to work with tribal governments, groups and members in the areas of human rights, access to justice, economic equality and the elimination of discrimination.
Gov. Chet Culver will appoint an 11-person committee with four people representing the land-holding tribes in Iowa: Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska and Ponca Tribe of Nebraska.
Of seven other appointed members, at least one must be a tribal member living on a tribal settlement or reservation in Iowa. Five members will serve two-year terms and six will serve four-year terms.
“There are over 115,000 Native Americans in Iowa, and they deserve the same respect and protections that other Iowans enjoy every day,” said Rep. Wes Whitead of Sioux City.
Whitead serves on the State Government Committee and supported the measure. The commission would be under the Department of Human Rights along with the commissions on African Americans, Latino Affairs and Asian and Pacific Islanders.
Appointment of members is set for completion by Sept. 1.
TSTC Powwow to highlight Native American culture
Texas State Technical College Waco
Reporter: Mary Drennon
Email Address: mary.drennon@tstc.edu
WACO) – Colorful costumes, social Native American dance and song and much more will be on tap this spring at Texas State Technical College Waco.
The Native American Student Association of TSTC will host the 2008 Waco Intertribal Powwow from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 8, in the gym of the Murray Watson Jr. Recreation Center on Campus Drive. The event is sponsored by the Four Winds Intertribal Society Inc.
The event is free and the public is invited to attend.
Highlights of the event include a traditional Gourd Dance with Head Gourd Dancer Bobby Cazares at noon and again at 5 p.m. Grand Entry will be 1 p.m. and again at 6 p.m. Ray Duncan will serve as Master of Ceremony, with Phil Stucker as Head Man and Rita Deer Sky as Head Lady. Drum group is Lodge Pole Singers and Arena Director is Steve Zavala.
There are no drugs, alcohol, firearms or pets allowed at the event. Spectators are welcome to bring lawn chairs, as seating will be limited.
Vendors or dancers interested in participating in the 2008 Powwow can contact Leah Williams via e-mail at waconasa@tstc.edu or call, toll-free, 800-792-8784, ext. 3622.
For more information, visit the NASA Club Web Site.
The return of Turok, a Native American comic-book hero
By Blaine Kyllo
Propaganda Games was formed three years ago by a group of former Electronic Arts staffers. Within months, it was acquired by Buena Vista Games, now Disney Interactive Studios. In an interview with the Georgia Straight at Propaganda’s Vancouver offices, general manager and vice president Josh Holmes said the company had been working on an original concept for a third-person action game, but scrapped it when it won the right to develop the new Turok video game for Touchstone, a Disney brand.
The first Turok game—1997′s Turok: Dinosaur Hunter for the Nintendo 64—was one of the earliest first-person shooters produced for console gaming systems. Turok first appeared in a 1954 comic book in a story by Gaylord DuBois, who was known for writing outdoor-adventure comics about such characters as Tarzan, Roy Rogers, and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. Turok changed over the years, depending on who was using him and for what purpose, but one thing has remained constant: Turok is a Native American.
“Reimagining is in vogue in entertainment today,” game director Joel Manners told the Straight. He cited Batman Begins and Battlestar Galactica as good examples of how characters have been reinvented. “There are really good stories that need to be retold in a way that is relevant to today,” Manners said. “There’s nothing irrelevant about dinosaurs,” which feature prominently in the new Turok game.
The development team was acutely aware that its protagonist was aboriginal. “It means a lot,” admitted Manners, “and it doesn’t mean anything.” The game, he explained, doesn’t make a point about heritage; it makes a point about heroism. In an effort to avoid clichés and stereotypes, Manners said, they simply treated the characters and the story with respect. “When you justify a character because of their heritage,” he said, “you have to be cautious.
“The fact that Turok is of one heritage or another is not important,” Manners continued. “He’s a hero. The heroism that he is displaying comes from his heritage, but it’s something anyone is capable of.”
Manners said the development group talked about other game genres in early meetings, but never seriously considered them. “The first-person perspective lends an intimacy. Having dinosaurs coming at you is central to the feeling of terror. It’s not as scary when you see creatures jumping on someone else.”
Propaganda, which increased its staff as it developed Turok, now employs about 150 people. Holmes said that in recent months, they’ve been organizing the company into two teams, and they’re already in preproduction on their next two titles, one of which is an action role-playing game. “We’d like to get to a point where we’ve got two games in production and one in concept,” he said. Propaganda won’t get much bigger than 200 employees, though, an optimal size for the studio, according to Holmes.
