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O'siyo Brothers and Sister!
This issue's "Native Justice" article
infuriated my half-side, Janet, and it should make every reader as
angry. If there has never been an article before that adequately
demonstrated American justice is really "Just Us", this one does. Put it
and The Lovely Janet's editorial below on your "must read" list for this
issue.
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This week's "Justice" story demonstrates eloquently that the current
application of "corrections" by the tribes and the US Government reeks
of unfairness and injustice.
If the tribes are sovereign, make their own laws and manage their own
courts and corrections, offenders should be subject to those laws just
as a US citizen visiting another country is subject to that country's
laws. Crimes perpetrated on Indian land should be subject to Indian law,
and all violators, regardless of their national origin, subject to
incarceration in tribal facilities.
A US citizen prosecuted in another country for breaking their laws isn't
retried and repunished in the US after serving whatever sentence that
country imposes - and certainly presumption of guilt isn't reinforced by
the guilty sentence and evidence uncovered in the other country's
courts!
Just as the US cannot dictate to neighboring countries how their
corrections systems must be run - so it cannot dictate terms to the
tribes - IF the tribes are truly sovereign and IF their land is truly
their own.
If the tribes are not truly sovereign, and their lands are truly not
their own - and if tribal people truly enjoy dual US/tribal citizenship,
then they should also enjoy ALL the rights of a US citizen when facing
arrest and trial, even in "Indian Country" which is under the management
and protection of US government.
The court decisions listed at the end speak for themselves. The US
courts, administration and legislative branches have gone about "cherry
picking" degrees of sovereignty for tribes and their citizens, granting
those that benefit the US, and denying those that might benefit tribes.
It's cynical, hypocritical, and should embarrass every citizen in this
country for permitting this practice to go on.
+/// Janet Smith
owlstar@bellsouth.net
/*/+ P. O. Box 672168 OwlStar Trading Post
+ / * Marietta, GA 30008, U.S.A.
http://www.owlstar.com
* + jewelry, music, flags, herbs
Dohiyi Ani Oginalii
Gary Smith (*,*)
wotanging@bellsouth.net
P. O. Box 672168 (`-') gars@nanews.org
Marietta, GA 30006, U.S.A. ===w=w===
http://www.nanews.org
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CONTENTS LIST OF ARTICLES IN
VOLUME 15, ISSUE 006
FOR ARTICLES GOT TO
WOTANGING IKCHE-Native American News
Editorial Section: . Parallel, Unequal Justice
- Lawmakers Address Problems Facing American Indians
- State Of The Tribal Nations
- Natives Have Their Day At New Mexico Legislature
- Senate Kills Bear Butte Zoning Bill
- Schaghticoke Challenges Cason's Legal Authority
- Justice Settles Cibola County Voting Rights Claim
- Pesticide Exposure Prevents Breastfeeding
- Woodrow Keeble Honored In Ceremony At UND Arena
- SWO Tribal Chair Statement Honoring W.W. Keeble
- Restoring Dignity To Sitting Bull
- Honor Sought For Navajo Code Talkers
- Tribal Members Face Harassment On Sacred Peaks
- Snowbowl Waits For Ruling On Snowmaking
- Couple First To Get Loan To Build On Tribal Land
- Native American Trackers To Step Up Border Role
- Solar Tower Site Pre-Feasibility Underway
- NA Energy Group Acquires More Oil & Gas Leases
- No Charges In Case Of Threats At U Of Illinois
- Mike Wise: Illinois Still On The Offensive
- Giago: Writing Helped Heal Wounds Of Abuse
- Jodi Rave: A Stitch Over Time
- Yellow Bird: Prarie Rose, Meadowlark, Choke Cherry
- Newcomb: Anti-Indian Rhetoric In The 21st Century
- Jodi Rave: Eskimos Dance The Dance
- Girl Makes Hockey History, Singing Anthem In Cree
- Passport Restrictions Fly In Face Of Tradition
- Congress Of Aboriginal Peoples Suspends OMAA
- Ontario Attacks Aboriginal And Treaty Rights
- Province Holding Secret Meetings In Caledonia
- Onkwehonwe Youth Fearless And Restless
- Friendship Centre Loses Two Money Sources
- Residential School Legal-Fee Dispute Continues
- Family Sues Police Over Teen's Shooting Death
- BIA Settles Lawsuit Over Suicide At Yakama Jail
- Tribes Pursue Rights In Court
- Two Teens Arrested For Blackfeet Stabbing Death
- Native Justice -- Parallel, Unequal Justice
- Rustywire: Wahoo
- Del "Abe" Jones Poem: Veterans Day
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Along the U.S.-Mexico border, the
body count continues to pile up daily. Meanwhile, the Minutemen patrol
the U.S.-Mexico border and shameless politicians find it easy to
denounce illegal immigration as the cause of all the nation's problems -
including linking it with "the war on terror."
Amidst all the clatter, the only views not being heard are the ones that
matter most. Thus here, we bring you a truly historic column,
featuring the views of those that have come before us to these lands:
American Indians:"Too bad WE didn't
think of insisting that European arrivals speak OUR language. We'd all
be speaking Ojibwemowin right now."
--- Patty Loew, Assoc. Prof., UW-Madison
"In an important and emphatic way, the indigenous peoples of the
Americas are reclaiming their continent, whether with the ballot, by
boat, by air, or on foot. Let us call it repatriation on the march."
--- Shirley Hill Witt, Coauthor, El Indio Jesus |