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WOTANGING IKCHE- NATIVE AMERICAN NEWS VOLUME 15, ISSUE 021 Distributed by Gary Night Owl EDITORIAL CONTENTS LIST ELDER QUOTE OF THE WEEK

EDITORIAL By: Gary Smith

O'siyo Brothers and Sister! This issue contains several articles that point to disparities that most Indians know all to well, and most non-Indians ignore or categorically deny. This ignore or deny scenario is especially prevalent in the one place charged with providing care - the government. (For those who don't know better, this isn't Indian Welfare - it's fulfillment of treaty obligations.) Among Alaska natives, the 20-to-29 age group had the most suicides, 39 percent of the total. Natives ages 10 to 19 make up just 20 percent of the state population in that age group, but accounted for 61 percent of its suicides. Suicide among natives is commonly linked with depression and mental illness, which often goes untreated in rural areas, as well as with alcoholism and cultural and economic stress. The infant mortality rate among Native Americans in the South Dakota is more than twice the rate for non-Indians. The rates of deaths from accidents and diabetes also are higher for Native Americans, as is the rate of diagnosis of new cancers and deaths from cancer. The report did not associate industrial dumps and untreated water on many reservations with these dismal truths, but common sense tells you there has to be some connection. Indian farmers and ranchers have sought balance in the way they and other ethnicities are treated by the USDA through the courts. Their lawsuit maintains that thousands of Indian farmers and ranchers were not given the same opportunities for farm loans and disaster assistance that white producers routinely received. The plaintiffs also note that USDA dismantled its system for processing civil-rights claims in the mid-1980s, and has failed to adequately consider complaints of discrimination since then. Keep in mind the above facts culled from articles below are in addition to the billions of dollars stolen from the Indian Trust Fund and stolen or grossly unfair royalty agreements forced on Indians throughout the past century. Indian Nations must come together and stand as one or this sort of institutional Indian-bashing will continue. To this day the dominant society plays one tribe against another. To this day, that divide and conquer crap works. Part of this is long embedded enmities. Part of it is greed. In a few words, "Get Over It!" Band together and stand strong or stand alone and perish. 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 021 FOR ARTICLES GOT TO WOTANGING IKCHE-Native American News Editorial Section: . Tribes Must Band Together - Suicide Too Common Among Alaska Native Villages - Troubling Data Reaffirms Gap In Indian Health Care - Many Indian Account Holders Would Lose Rights - Interior Pressed On Historical Accounting Plan - Tribes Seek Controversial Water Rights Settlement - Wanted: Old Tollbooths For Use By Seneca Nation - Shellfish Growers, Tribes Reach Deal - Indian Farmers Sue The Usda - Sacred Lands, Sewer Snow - Indian Land Rights-Of-Way Study Issued - Pope Benedict Ignoring Religious Oppression - Giago: Standing Ground Against 'Dropout Nation' - Jodi Rave: Navajo Family Takes Woman Challenge - Yellow Bird: Indians Dance To A Different Drum - Jodi Rave: Disenrollment And The National Media - Giago: Rich Tribes Still Not Helping Poor Ones - Opinion: The Indian Wars And Homeland Security - Brazil Indigenous Groups Fault Pope Talk - Chiapas News Summary - Aboriginal Group Plans First Nation Justice Forum - Children In Care Victims Of More Than Poverty - Delivering 'Framed' John Graham - Column Of The Americas: Elusive Bars Of Justice - Native Justice -- Reservation Crime Levels Tragic - Rustywire: The Field - Verse: Hawaiian Book Of Days - John Berry Poem: Work-A-Day - Upcoming Events

FOR ARTICLES GO TO WOTANGING IKCHE-Native American News

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"Some of you will go on to colleges off of the reservation and other will take advantage of the fantastic opportunities afforded you through the 36 Indian owned and operated colleges on the many Indian nations in this country. Colleges like Oglala Lakota College, Dine' College, Sinte Gleska University, and Sitting Bull College are now at your very doorstep and these great colleges are probably America's best kept secret." "Right here in Indian country you will find great educators like Tom Short Bull of Oglala Lakota College, Jeanine Pease, Gwen Shunatona, and one of my idols of all time, Lionel Bordeaux of Sinte Gleska University. These are Native leaders that have paved the way for you to be able to get a college degree on your Native lands." ---Tim Giago, Oglala Lakota

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CONTACT: Please send all submissions, subscription requests, questions or comments for this newsletter to Gary Night Owl at gars@nanews.org . Website: Wotanging Ikche-Native American News ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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