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Sedona Sweat Lodge deaths prompt
legislation to restrict Native American practices off reservation
By Howard Fischer - January 21, 2010
PHOENIX -- A Native American lawmaker wants want to regulate who can
engage in traditional practices off the reservation for profit.
The measure crafted by Sen. Albert Hale, D-Window Rock, would require
the Arizona Department of Health Service regulate individuals or
businesses that charge people to participate in what are claimed to be
"traditional and authentic Native American practices.' Violators would
be subject to yet-to-be-determined civil penalties.
Hale said the measure is a direct outgrowth of the incident last October
in Sedona when three people died after participating in what was billed
by its promoter as a traditional sweat lodge ceremony. Participants paid
up to $10,000 for the experience.
The senator said SB 1164, if it becomes law, would preclude that. He
called what happened in Sedona "a perversion of our traditional ways.'
But Hale said the proposal would go farther, regulating what anyone
could call a "Native American' practice, at least for pay.
"The dominant society has taken all that we have: our land, our water,
our language,' said Hale, a member of the Navajo nation.
"Now they're trying to take our way of life,' he continued. "And I think
it has to stop at some point.'
That also was the sentiment of Joe Shirley, president of the Navajo
Nation.
"For too long, I believe, our ways of life, our ceremonies, even our
sacred stories, our culture has been abused, misused, misunderstood,'
Shirley said. "We need to be respected, our ways cannot be abused.'
Hale's legislation directs the health department to craft rules in
consultation with the Arizona Commission of Indian Affairs on what
outsiders -- people who are not members of a tribe -- can do or claim
about their commercial practices.
How broad those restrictions would be remains unclear. For example, Hale
sidestepped questions of whether someone who is not an Indian could
conduct a "sweat,' for money, as long as there was no claim that it was
being done exactly in line with traditional Native practices.
"Those nuances will have to be worked out in the regulations,' Hale
said. But he said the measure is designed to deal with how an event is
advertised to the public rather than how it actually is conducted.
He was less clear, though, whether individuals could be charged with
breaking state law for conducting their interpretation of Native
American ceremonies.
"That's a possibility,' he said. "Any time you develop state laws there
has to be enforcement.'
He said what he wants is no different than saying only someone who is
trained as a Catholic priest can conduct mass. Hale said he envisions
the rules to say that certain ceremonies can be conducted off the
reservation only if the person has been cleared by the proper Native
religious leaders "to be knowledgeable and certified in that area.'
"And if you're not, then you run that contrary to law,' he said.
Hale's measure, though, would not restrict what Native Americans can do,
not only on reservation property but also off Indian lands. It would
apply only to those who are not Native American, a test Hale said exists
under federal regulations of being at least one-quarter Indian.
Hale, who is an attorney, acknowledged that the legislation could be
seen as an effort to copyright Native American practices, with the state
as the ultimate enforcer. He said, though, that will "all be sorted out'
as the measure goes through the process.
One open question is whether new laws are needed -- at least if the aim
is simply to regulate how commercial events can be advertised.
Assistant Attorney General Robert Zumoff said existing consumer fraud
laws "make it unlawful to make false and deceptive statement in
connection with the sale or advertising of most goods or services.'
Zumoff said he could not comment on specific situations like the
advertising for that Sedona sweat lodge event. But he said the fact of
charging for an event -- as opposed to something done for free -- likely
makes it subject to consumer fraud laws.
For that reason, he said the example of someone pretending to be a
Catholic priest probably would not be illegal, even if someone were to
pass the plate during the ceremony for donations.
Lee Benson writer for Deseret News
apologizes.
Jan 16, 2010
"To the Ute Indian Tribe Historical Society; the Utah
Rock Art Research Association; Forrest Cuch, executive director of the
Utah Division of Indian Affairs; my friend Tom Lovell; and all others
who know way more about American Indians and ancient drawings than I do:
I am sorry for offending you.
Please accept my apology.
That was my target with the Nine Mile rock art column. But I missed.
I missed badly and, instead, scored a direct hit on a past and a culture
standing innocently off to the side.
Sacred history should be respected even by the ignorant, which in
this case is me.
By Lee Benson
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, Jan. 7, 2010 11:57 p.m. MST
Ancient sketches graffiti or art? NEWS FLASH FROM
Nine Mile Canyon: A team of archaeologists and linguists have finally
after years of painstaking study and, coincidentally, on the eve of
their multimillion- dollar government grant running out successfully
translated a key pictograph known as the Great Hunt Panel in what has
been called America's longest and oldest art gallery.
What was long thought to be drawings of bighorn sheep and human hunters
holding bows and arrows actually translates in English to: ANYONE CAUGHT
DRAWING . ON THESE ROCKS WILL BE FINED.
It turns out, according J to this translation, that the Anasazi, Fremont
.' and, later, the Ute Indians. . that inhabited Nine Mile Canyon long
before it was known as Nine Mile Canyon had a problem doodling on their
beautiful surroundings. This prompted their chiefs and the
environmentalists . among them to draw the line, as it were.
Another pictograph nearby translates to: RESPECT WHERE YOU LIVE, AND
WHERE YOU LIVE WILL RESPECT YOU! I'm making all this up, of course, but
the announcement this week from the State Capitol of an agreement
hammered out after months and years of discussion among numerous public
and private agencies, including apparently everyone but the BCS, which
protects the rock artwork in Nine Mile Canyon from natural gas
developers gave me pause when I saw some photos of the endangered rock
artwork.
What's the big deal? I found myself thinking. If any of this gets lost
we can put some third graders to work on nearby unmarked rocks.
I am aware that such thinking constitutes blasphemy among lovers of
ancient Indian pictographs, so let me quickly apologize to them for not
seeing what they are seeing and not appreciating what they are
appreciating.
But I am only being honest here. I am one of .the worst artists in the
world and I could draw sheep on roller skates and men with no necks as
well as the ones on those rocks. Maybe better.
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I am not beholding beauty. C.M.
Russell did not do this.
This isn't to suggest the images shouldn't be protected. Age deserves
its deference. There is a point when one man's graffiti becomes another
man's historic marker.
Although there is also no doubt that timing is everything. Carve your
initials or scratch out a drawing tomorrow in the rocks in Nine Mile
Canyon; or anywhere on public land for that matter, and you're going to
jail.
But 200 years from now, no matter if you carved "Go Lakers!" it will be
a national treasure.
Just what would the Fremonts, Anasazis or ancient Utes who did the
drawings in Nine Mile Canyon have to say on the subject if they were
still among us and had been invited to attend the big announcement at
the State Capitol?
I'm saying it's highly possible that they would be tryif\g hard to keep
a straight face while poking each other in the ribs.
Anasazi 1 to Fremont 2:, "I did that one while 1was drunk."
Fremont 3 to Anasazi 4: "I got grounded three moons for that one."
Ute 1 to Ute 2: "That doesn't even look like a bighorn."
Wise old Anasazi (I know, that's redundant) environmentalist (wearing
horrified look): "We tried our darndest to leave no trace and they're
remembering us for this!?"
Ute 3 to Ute 4: "You mean to tell me that this natural gas you speak of
was right below our feet and we could have used it to cook all our meals
and heat all our abodes and never have had to gather firewood? AYEEEEE!"
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the art gallery that is Nine Mile Canyon was the
ancients' equivalent of the Louvre . Or maybe it was the reason they
left. .
Lee Benson's column runs Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Please
send email to benson@desnews .com
COMMENT:
By Phillip Gottfredson
Racist's are Blind to Racism
Regarding the above article by Lee Benson, I have
long advocated that racism in Utah has become institutionalized,
although many disagree because they don't understand what that means.
Institutional racism (also known as structural
racism, state racism or systemic racism) is racial discrimination by
governments, corporations, religions, or educational institutions or
other large organizations with the power to influence the lives of many
individuals. Stokely Carmichael is credited for coining the phrase
institutional racism in the late 1960s. He defined the term as "the
collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and
professional service to people because of their colour, culture or
ethnic origin".
Maulana Karenga argued that racism constituted
the destruction of culture, language, religion and human possibility,
and that the effects of racism were "the morally monstrous destruction
of human possibility involved redefining African humanity to the world,
poisoning past, present and future relations with others who only know
us through this stereotyping and thus damaging the truly human relations
among peoples." (source Wikipedia)
I recall the '60's and '70's well as the country
slowly awakened to the term "racism" and it's meaning. Living in Utah at
the time I was in my 20's attending Brigham Young University. Black's
were not allowed in the LDS church at the time, and Indian people were,
well, those who lived on the reservation and it was the consensus of the
predominate Mormon society in which I lived that we were superior to any
outside of our own race, and religion. In fact it was a rare
occasion to see people within our closed society that was other than
white. Consequently, it was normal for anyone to use racist terms and
mock of those who were different than us. And certainly our schools
never taught us about racism. Like most other places in the US it was a
term we seldom heard much less understood.
That was some 40 years ago, and here we are in the
year 2010 and still some of us just don't get it. Lee Benson probably
thought he was only joking around and didn't realize how his demandingly
innocent comments would offend so many people. Ignorant of Indian
Culture and more so of the definition of racism, he inadvertently
exposed his own bias. The most important lesson learned from the Martin
Luther King Movement is that Racist's are blind to racism.
Remember that discrimination has to be taught. Children learn to
discriminate from their family, friends, church and schools. And if you read the comment made about his article
online at:
http://www.deseretnews.com/user/comments/705356988/Ancient-sketches-graffiti-or-art.html
you will see what I mean.
As disturbing to me is that the Deseret News is
owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
that they would endorse Benson's article by printing it. And considering
that thousands of American Indian people are members of the LDS church I
can only imagine how they must feel. Well this gives us some idea of how
one member of the Ute tribe took it:
RESPONSE TO LEE BENSON’S “ANCIENT SKETCHES
GRAFFITI OR ART?
”Shame on you, Lee Benson for your ignorance.
Let’s take the scribbles in the book of Mormon many hold so tight; the
letters mean nothing to someone who doesn’t understand English. Does it
mean it’s worthless?
It’s people like you that have made recognition
of the Rock Writings in Nine Mile a straight up battle.
The writings weren’t put their as art, but as
messages for whoever follows. That’s where things get misunderstood,
calling the messages art. The so called, “Hunting Scene” in Nine Mile
Canyon depicts a battle that happened, not hunting. All the animals
depict people. In many of the Ute writings, we are depicted as horses,
because we were the first to acquire the horse from the Spanish.
And your comment, “I did that one while I was
drunk,” many of our People drink, because of their oppression; lose of
land, culture and way of life. White People drink, too.
Native People have been here thousands of years before the Europeans
came. The rock writings talk about time before us.
If Picasso’s art were left up to you, just
because it doesn’t look like art to your small mind; it would have been
gone ages ago. Our Ute People would say your articles and words you put
in print, sound like you did them when you were drunk, too. Just being
honest."
Larry Cesspooch (Whitebelly),
Ute Indian Tribe Historical Society
Another person wrote:
Mary Jane Cummings | 7:19 p.m. Jan. 10, 2010
Mr. Benson, I belive you expressed your actual
thoughts and feelings. Unfortunately, there are a lot of other people in
this country that express similar types of feeling about things they
have not thoroughly researched, which is destructive because it
certainly turns people off, makes them defensive, and causes them to not
really hear what you are saying or else to misinterpret it. If you don't
understand what the big deal is about rock art, might it be better to
interview and get to know the people who think differently about rock
art? I suggest that your church newspaper employer send you to actually
go meet up with some descendents of the rock art people and report back
what you learned.
A non-Native person wrote:
John in St. George | 9:14 a.m. Jan. 9, 2010
The rock art sites are sacred to the native
people. I can't believe that your newspaper allowed this column to be
published. I believe that you should be fired because of your bigoted
and racial statements. I feel sorry for you and those that feel as you
do. I'm glad I do not subscribe to the Deseret News.
Ten Events of the Decade
By Brenda Norrell - January 01, 2010
Indigenous Peoples made history throughout this decade, struggling to
protect Mother Earth, resisting colonization and exposing genocide. In
the movements to resist oppression and protect the sacred, Native people
carved out their place in history. Here are ten of those events:
Five Navajo women were arrested as they brought the Sundance Tree in at
Big Mountain on Navajoland. Then, the Sundance grounds were destroyed at
Big Mountain by BIA, Hopi Rangers and Apache County officers, who put
the Sundance Tree through a wood chipper. Navajos resisting relocation
at Big Mountain also joined Hopi and Lakota in New York and addressed
stockholders of Lehman Brothers, demanding a halt to Peabody Coal's
mining on Black Mesa.
Lakota protected the remains of the Ghost Dancers
from excavations at the Stronghold. The Ghost Dancers fled there from
the Massacre of Wounded Knee, to the Stronghold in the Badlands on Pine
Ridge, S.D. It was also here that the US seized Lakota lands and
displaced families for a bombing range during WW II. Also in this
decade, Lakotas faced off with the Lewis and Clark Expedition in
Chamberlain, S.D., demanding the Expedition halt, because Lewis and
Clark were harbingers of genocide for American Indians.
Kahentinetha Horn and Katenies, publisher and editor
of Mohawk Nation News, Mohawk grandmothers beaten by Canadian border
guards. Kahentinetha suffered a heart attack, induced by border agents
in a stresshold and is now recovering. Katenies is now in jail,
resisting the colonizers court system in Canada.
--Solidarity between Native Americans in the United States and the
Zapatistas Subcomandante Marcos and the Comandantes, solidified when the
Zapatistas came to Sonora, Mexico, near the Arizona border, and were
hosted by the O'odham, Yaqui, Kumeyaay and other Indian Nations along
the northern border of Mexico.
--The Indigenous Border Summits of the Americas, 2006
and 2007, brought together Indigenous Peoples from the northern and
southern borders to document human rights abuses for the United Nations.
Mohawk Warriors led the resistance by speaking out against the arrest of
Indigenous Peoples, a federal spy tower and construction of the border
wall, all on Tohono O'odham land.
--The struggle to protect American Indian sacred
places: From gold mining on Mount Tenabo on Western Shoshone land,
coal-fired power plants on Navajoland and snow made from sewage water on
San Francisco Peaks, to biker bars at Bear Butte, Native Americans
struggled throughout the decade to protect Mother Earth. Havasupai and
Acoma Pueblo hosted forums to halt uranium mining in the Southwest.
--The passing of great Native American leaders and
pathmakers, including Floyd Westerman and Roberta Blackgoat, and the
rise of the mediums of video, music and the Internet to tell stories and
document the facts. During the collapse of the mainstream media, these
mediums exposed atrocities, including the assassinations of Indigenous
mining activists, and inspired action, including the Indigenous
Environmental Network's actions for climate change in Copenhagen.
--Indigenous women rising to the forefront to speak
out against border oppression, US colonization, oppression by elected
tribal governments and the truth about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
From Big Mountain on Navajoland to the O'odham on the border in the
south to the Mohawks on the border at the north, Indigenous women's
words were flames of truth.
--Humanitarian aid at the border: Even now when faced
with arrest and prosecution, volunteers continue to put out water for
the dying and rescue migrants dying in the Sonoran Desert.
--The sovereign self: The rise in resistance to
oppression, based on personal sovereignty, in the collective movement
for justice, dignity and autonomy.
Quotes of the Decade: Lewis and Clark and Genocide
By Brenda Norrell - January 02, 2010
CHAMBERLAIN, S.D.(2004) The American lie of Lewis and Clark unraveled as
Lakota, Ponca and Kiowa told re-enactors to turn back downriver or face
the consequences.
"What they wrote down was a blueprint for the genocide of my people. You
are re-enacting something ugly, evil and hateful," Carter Camp, Ponca,
told the Discovery Expedition camped on the Missouri River.
"You are re-enacting the coming of death to our people," Camp told the
expedition, while seated in a circle with Indian elders and Lewis and
Clark re-enactors, on the banks of the Missouri River.
"You are re-enacting genocide." Deb White Plume of Pine Ridge gave the
expedition a symbolic blanket of small pox.
Floyd Hand, among four bands of Lakota here, told the expedition, "We
are the descendants of Red Cloud and Crazy Horse." "I did not come here
in peace." Hand said they would not smoke the pipe today and if the
expedition continues up the Missouri River, the families of the
expedition members would suffer the spiritual consequences of small pox.
Referring to the tribal governments who welcomed the expedition, Hand
said those tribal governments reflect the same type thinking as the
re-enactors and are not the voice of the grassroots people. "The tribal
governments are not a voice for us. They are imitating us, like you are
imitating Lewis and Clark."
"We want you to turn around and go home," Alex White Plume, Lakota from
Pine Ridge, told the expedition. White Plume said Lakota are here on
this land for a reason. "We were put here by the spirits." He said the
Lakota never lost their language or ceremonies and now they are making
these requests: Lakota want their territory back, their treaties to be
honored and to be able to continue their healing ways.
White Plume said many Indian people have become assimilated and
colonized.
"We pray for our own colonized people. We say they are in a prison in
the white man's world.
"The state of South Dakota is the most racist state and South Dakota
condones this kind of behavior. We want you to know, it has to end
here."
Russell Means said Lewis and Clark, like the myth of Columbus, are apart
of the great American lie. And there are many parts to the great
American lie. "Even the casino Indians are not rich, that is another
falsehood. They don't ever see cash," Means said, adding that the money
goes to investors and also to the state, which is illegal. Means said
Indians can't even start a business on tribal land without waiting an
average of eight years, and then it is only if the paperwork isn't lost.
"What you are perpetuating is part of the big lie," Means told the
re-enactors. Means said Indians have 40 percent of the nation's natural
resources on their lands, yet they are kept in concentration camps
called reservations and not allowed to participate. "This is our river,"
Means said of the Missouri River running past. He pointed out the water
is being used by farmers, cities and power plants without the permission
of Indian people.
"They don't honor anything. This is an insult to our integrity." Read
article:
http://www.unobserver.com/printen.php?
