Tag: native american
Sen. Warren Apologizes For Claiming Native American Ancestry

Sen. Warren Apologizes For Claiming Native American Ancestry

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

President Donald Trump hoped to derail Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s political ambitions when he mocked her as “Pocahontas” for saying that she has some Native American heritage — instead, the Massachusetts senator has been surging in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, competing with Sen. Bernie Sanders for the #2 spot in some recent polls. And Warren, appearing at a Native American conference in Sioux City, Iowa on Monday, acknowledged that she has “made mistakes” but welcomed an opportunity to address Native American concerns.

“Like anyone who is being honest with themselves, I know that I have made mistakes,” Warren said at the forum. “I am sorry for harm I have caused. I have listened, and I have learned a lot — and I am grateful for the many conversations that we’ve had together.”

Warren added, “It is a great honor to be able to partner with Indian country, and that is what I’ve tried to do as a senator. And that’s what I promise I will do as president of the United States of America.”

Last week, Warren released policy proposals to help Native Americans.

#EndorseThis: Radio Host Refers To Elizabeth Warren With Stereotypical ‘War Whoops’

#EndorseThis: Radio Host Refers To Elizabeth Warren With Stereotypical ‘War Whoops’

Donald Trump rallies are no strangers to controversy, and yesterday’s appearance in Bangor, Maine with Governor Paul LePage promised to have a healthy dose of cringe-worthy remarks for internet columnists to enthusiastically snarl about. Cue Howie Carr, the conservative Boston talk-radio host, who introduced LePage and referred to Elizabeth Warren by placing his hand on his mouth in a stereotypical Native American “war whoop.”

As Carr later wrote in his Boston Herald column, “I was speaking extemporaneously when I free-associated Fauxchohantas’ name, and suddenly a war whoop seemed appropriate for the occasion.” Trump, he says, advised him not to apologize.

The presumptive Republican nominee and several of his surrogates have attacked Warren over formerly listing herself as a minority on the Association of American Law Schools directory when she was a professor and for being promoted as a Native American at Harvard Law School. A genealogist indicated that she might be 1/32 Native American, but the Washington Post “Fact Checker” blog found that the evidence was essentially inconclusive. Trump surrogate and erstwhile Warren Senate opponent Scott Brown called for a DNA test Monday, but even with current technology, it would be highly difficult (if not impossible) to trace Warren’s Native American ancestry using this method.

The controversy over Native American heritage actually began in the 2012 Warren-Brown race. Brown staffers were also filmed doing “war whoops” at the time. During the race, Warren stated that she had never received advantage from referring to herself as Native American.

Elizabeth Warren has recently come out swinging for Hillary Clinton, and she has been attacking Trump in speeches, interviews, and Twitter posts for months. Today, she tweeted about a new J.K. Rowling story that takes place in a wizarding school in Massachusetts:

Photo: YouTube/Victoria Applegate

Controversial Friar Who Evangelized California To Be Made A Saint

Controversial Friar Who Evangelized California To Be Made A Saint

dpa, (TNS)

VATICAN CITY — Friar Junipero Serra, an 18th century Franciscan who brought Christianity to California and is accused by Native American groups of colonial crimes, will be made a saint, the Vatican said Wednesday.

The decision was taken by Pope Francis in a Tuesday meeting with the head of the Vatican’s saint-making department, Cardinal Angelo Amato, a statement said.

The move had long been expected. Francis announced sainthood plans for Serra in January, and said he would personally preside over his canonization mass during a September 23 visit to Washington, part of a trip taking him to Cuba and the United States.

On Saturday, speaking at a U.S. seminary in Rome, the pontiff hailed Serra as “a tireless missionary,” and as “one of the founding fathers of the United States,” as well as a “special patron of the Hispanic people of the country.”

He added that the friar had “defended the indigenous peoples against abuses by the colonizers.”

Serra was born in Spain in 1713 and died in Mexico in 1784. He founded the first nine Catholic missions in modern-day California, which was at the time ruled by the Spanish.

Native American activists consider him an accomplice in the brutalities committed by Spanish invaders. The Catholic Church strongly rejects such accusations.

The group Mexica Movement held protests against the planned canonization on Saturday, outside the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Citlalli Anahuac, a member of the organization, told local TV network KABC channel 7 that “to canonize Junipero Serra is to canonize the genocide against us, as indigenous people.”

She added: “His job was to kill the indigenous people, who we were as a people, and instead revive us as Christians.”

Photo: Wally Gobetz via Flickr

Billy Frank Jr., Nisqually Elder Who Fought For Treaty Rights, Dies At 83

Billy Frank Jr., Nisqually Elder Who Fought For Treaty Rights, Dies At 83

By Craig Welch, The Seattle Times

SEATTLE — Billy Frank Jr., a Nisqually elder and fisherman who served for more than half a century as the charismatic voice of Northwest tribes fighting to exercise their treaty rights, died early Monday, tribal officials and his family confirmed Monday.

Frank was 83.

“We are all stunned and not prepared for this,” said W. Ron Allen, Jamestown S’Klallam tribal chairman, who has worked with Frank since the early 1980s. “He was bigger than life. It’s a very sad day for all of us.”

Frank was first arrested for salmon fishing as a boy in 1945. He was beaten and jailed repeatedly as he and others staged “fish ins” demanding the right to collect Chinook and other salmon in their historical waters, as guaranteed under treaties when they ceded land to settlers in the 19th century. By the time celebrities like Marlon Brando showed up on the Nisqually River to assist them in 1964, the salmon wars had raged for decades.

In 1974, U.S. District Judge George Boldt affirmed the tribes’ right to half of the fish harvest — and the nation’s obligation to honor the old treaties. In 1993, another court decision extended that affirmation to the harvest of shellfish.

By then Frank already had become one of the nation’s most eloquent and influential tribal champions.

He fought in Olympia and Washington, D.C., to protect forests and salmon streams from excessive timber harvest and development. He battled in court, in endless public meetings and in private conversations with anyone who would listen. With his soft voice, strong handshake and endless stories, he disarmed senators and presidents.

“He wanted all these tribes to understand that if they worked together we could do anything,” his son, Willie Frank, said.

Gov. Jay Inslee called Frank not just a tribal leader but a state leader.

“We can’t overstate how long-lasting his legacy will be,” Inslee said in an interview. “He pushed the state when he needed to push the state. And he reminded the state when it needed reminding. His legacy is going to be with us for generations. My grandkids are going to benefit from his work.”

Steve Robinson, who worked side-by-side with Frank for 30 years, serving as his spokesman and writer starting in the mid-1980s, said Frank would never hesitate to do battle over what he believed. But he also had the instincts and skills of a diplomat.

Frank more than anyone else, Robinson said, could convince people that the way to prosperity was through a healthy environment, because Frank believed it. Robinson called “the greatest man I’ve ever known.”

“When he walked into the room, he just had such a power and presence,” Robinson said. “We would have visitors from Russia, Asia, South America, and he’d delight them all. He’d travel to Barrow or Kamchatka and kids would line up to see him. But he was always humble. He knew no strangers and hugged everybody.”

Pat Stevenson, the environmental manager for the Stillaguamish Tribe, said Frank was selfless, rather than focused on his own accomplishments, and always used words like “we” and “us” and “the tribes.”

“He was there to make it better for everybody,” Stevenson said.

Frank was a fighter to the very end, said his son, who woke his father around 6 a.m. Monday to get ready for another meeting.

Frank showered and dressed but when Willie went back to check in, his father was hunched over in bed.

“I asked him every day if he was feeling good, but he would never tell me if he wasn’t,” Willie said. “He wouldn’t want people to worry about him.”

Photo via Flickr