The last major legs of the Great Plains/Great Prairie Sacred Sites Run 2008

Aug 19th, 2008 Posted in IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS | no comment »

The last major legs of the Great Plains/Great Prairie Sacred Sites Run 2008 will be in the Milwaukee Area: Labor Day weekend and the following weekend at Indian Summer Festival, Sept. 6-7.  Below is the schedule of WI events.  Fell free to pass on to your contacts.

Please join us for the Aztalan to Milwaukee Run/Walk on Labor Day weekend, Aug. 30 and 31, and Sept 1.  Then the following weekend, come find our SSR literature table Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 6-7) at Indian Summer Festival (ISF) at the lakefront and join us that Sunday morning Sept. 7 for the ceremonies: 8 AM at the Lake Park Mound (Locust St. and Lake Dr.); Walk/Run to Summerfest grounds at 9 AM and then at 10AM–Indian Summer religious service honoring sacred sites and Native harvests.

We have had a strong year of running; political work (especially with the Dakota and Crow Creek); good coverage in the Native press; and just enough money to do our work.  Check out all the good things at our Indian Summer Festival literature table; sign our petition for protection of sacred sites; come meet the runners and writers in Earth Keeper Voices for Native America; and join our work this autumn and next year for SSR 2009.

Late Summer/Autumn 2008 SSR schedule:

Aug 15, 16: Run honoring mounds of Montello, WI, and educational event

Labor Day weekend: Run/Walk from Aztalan State Park to Milwaukee:

Relay 20 miles per day with Milwaukee area Indigenous runners from Aztalan Mounds State Park, Aztalan, WI to Milwaukee Lake Park Mound.

Saturday August 30, at 7:00 AM the relay begins at Aztalan.

Sunday August 31, at 7:00 AM continue the run.

Monday September 1, 7:00 AM the run picks up and enters Milwaukee.

[Probable route: Hiway B from Aztalan, 16 miles to Oconomowoc (possible stop near Aurora Medical Center disturbed mound); highways to Waukesha, then to West Allis State Fair Park mound; and then 7 miles into Milwaukee.]

For exact times, routes, locations of circle gatherings, contact Ben Yahola: (414) 383-7072 or email at humoti@yahoo.com

Thurs. Sept. 4: “The Water Speaks” Conference: Native Perspectives on the Great Lakes, 6 AM to 4:30 PM; Discovery World, at Pier Wisconsin, Milwaukee lakefront. Look for SSR table.

Sat./Sun. Sept. 6, 7  Indian Summer Festival at Milwaukee’s lakefront (literature  table Sat. and Sunday, plus Sunday ceremony at 10 AM)

Sept. 20 Fall Equinox Gathering, Milwaukee, WI

Thurs., Sept. 18th-Sun. 21st: “Growing Food & Justice-for-All Initiative,” WI State Fairgrounds, Milwaukee, Wisconsin [Ben Yahola, presenter; Winona LaDuke also presents]

Oct 4 Honoring mounds in WI

Sacred Sites Run 2006-2010 and

Earth Keeper Voices of Native America (EKVNA)

c/o  Ben Yahola: (414) 383-7072 or email at humoti@yahoo.com

PETITION IN SUPPORT OF PAROLE OF LEONARD PELTIER

Aug 19th, 2008 Posted in GROUPS & ORGANIZATIONS | no comment »

PETITION IN SUPPORT OF PAROLE OF LEONARD PELTIER
Convicted in connection with the deaths on June 26, 1975, of Ronald Williams and Jack Coler, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Leonard Peltier remains imprisoned at the United States Penitentiary in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, despite proof that he was convicted on the basis of fabricated and suppressed evidence, as well as coerced testimony. In fact, the court record clearly shows that government prosecutors have long held that they do not know who killed Mr. Coler and Mr. Williams and, according to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals: “…Much of the government’s behavior at the Pine Ridge Reservation and its prosecution of Mr. Peltier is to be condemned. The government withheld evidence. It intimidated witnesses. These facts are not disputed.” In spite of these facts, Mr. Peltier has served more than 30 years in prison.

After careful consideration of the facts in Mr. Peltier’s case, we have concluded that Leonard Peltier does not represent a risk to the public. First, Mr. Peltier has no prior convictions and has advocated for non-violence throughout his prison term. Furthermore, Mr. Peltier has been a model prisoner. He has received excellent evaluations from his work supervisors on a regular basis. He continues to mentor young Native prisoners, encouraging them to lead clean and sober lives. He has used his time productively, disciplining himself to be a talented painter and an expressive writer. Although Mr. Peltier maintains that he did not kill the agents, he has openly expressed remorse and sadness over their deaths.

Most admirably, Mr. Peltier contributes regular support to those in need. He donates his paintings to charities including battered women’s shelters, half way houses, alcohol and drug treatment programs, and Native American scholarship funds. He also coordinates an annual gift drive for the children of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservationa successful program that, in 2006, expanded to include other reservations throughout the country.

Leonard Peltier is widely recognized in the human rights community for his good deeds and in turn has won several human rights awards including the North Star Frederick Douglas Award; Federation of Labour (Ontario, Canada) Humanist of the Year Award; Human Rights Commission of Spain International Human Rights Prize; and 2004 Silver Arrow Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2004, 2006 and again in 2007, Mr. Peltier also was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr. Peltier is now over 60 years of age—a great-grandfather—and suffers from partial blindness, diabetes, a heart condition, and high blood pressure.

Rather than presenting a threat to the public, Mr. Peltier’s release would help to heal a wound that has long impeded better relations between the federal government and American Indians.

Mr. Peltier deserves to be reunited with his family and allowed to live the remaining years of his life in peace.

We, the undersigned, support justice and human rights for all people of all nations; recognize that the U.S. courts, by their decisions, have recognized the undisputed misconduct in Peltier’s case, yet have failed to take corrective action; determine the U.S. government’s handling of the Peltier case as a clear abuse of the legal standards of American justice; and do hereby call for justice for Leonard Peltier in the form of an immediate grant of parole.

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Wastewin Gonzalez

Aug 19th, 2008 Posted in IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS | no comment »

This Article from StarTribune.com has been sent to you by MarthaFastHorse.
*Please note, the sender’s identity has not been verified.

The full Article, with any associated images and links can be viewed here.
Victim’s mother, police disagree on who’s to blame for death
CHAO XIONG, Star Tribune

A young Twin Cities woman died early Saturday in a murky incident marked by contradictions and questions.
Shakopee police said the 23-year-old woman, identified by her family as Wastewin Gonzalez, died after she was apparently struck by a car about 5 a.m. in the 5000 block of Tinta Lane in Shakopee. The driver fled the scene and was arrested about 10:20 a.m. at St. Francis Regional Medical Center in Shakopee, where Gonzalez had been transported and later died.
Gonzalez’s mother, Juanita Espinosa of Minneapolis, provided a different account. According to Espinosa, Gonzalez was at a house party with the driver, whom she’d been dating since June, when gunshots rang out. The driver made Gonzalez enter the home, thinking he was the target of the gunshots and could distract the shooters by driving away. Gonzalez got out of the house, ran to the car, fell and suffered a fatal brain injury, her mother said.
Espinosa said the coroner told her that there were no signs of impact with a car. “I don’t blame him one bit,” she said of the driver. “He didn’t do anything to hurt my daughter.”
The driver, a 26-year-old man from Redwood Falls, is in the Scott County jail on suspicion of criminal vehicular operation and fourth-degree DWI, police said.
Police Sgt. Lynn Lipinski called Espinosa’s information about the nature of her daughter’s injury unsubstantiated. “We do not have that information,” Lipinski said.
Espinosa said her daughter has a titanium plate in her neck from a previous car accident that made her especially vulnerable.
Lipinski also said it’s unclear if shots were fired. “People at the scene were uncooperative with us,” she said.
Espinosa described her daughter as an activist in the American Indian community. She had taken a year off from the urban teachers’ program at Minneapolis Community and Technical College to have her daughter, Juanita Rosario Vargas, now 1, and had planned to return to school next week and to graduate this December, Espinosa said.
“She was an absolutely incredible, alive human being,” Espinosa said. “She was really happy. She was in a relationship where she finally felt loved.”
Chao Xiong • 612-673-4391

Wastewin Gonzalez, born 3/12/85, returned to Spirit on 8/16/08.

Aug 19th, 2008 Posted in OBITUARIES | no comment »

WAKE
Tuesday, August 19 11AM
Minneapolis American Indian Center
1530 Franklin Avenue
The family asks that visitors please respect Our Ways by attending the wake and services free of drugs and alcohol.

BURIAL
Wastewin’s life and Return to Spirit will be honored on Wednesday, August 20th at the Minneapolis American Indian Center, 1530 Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis. Exact times will be posted soon on this site.

Donations to help defray expenses may be sent to any Bremer Bank in the name of WASTEWIN GONZALEZ MEMORIAL FUND. Thank you.