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National Native American Healing Through Art Center

Thinking Out Of The Box: What’s Your Thoughts?

The National American Indian Healing Through the Arts Center

DRAFT

Concept paper

Elizabeth Belcourt, MSW

Art therapy is a mental health profession that uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals of all ages. It is based on the belief that the creative process involved in artistic self-expression helps people to resolve conflicts and problems, develop interpersonal skills, manage behavior, reduce stress, increase self-esteem and self-awareness, and achieve insight.

Art therapy integrates the fields of human development, visual art (drawing, painting, sculpture, and other art forms), and the creative process with models of counseling and psychotherapy. Art therapy is used with children, adolescents, adults, older adults, groups, and families to assess and treat the following: anxiety, depression, and other mental and emotional problems and disorders; substance abuse and other addictions; family and relationship issues; abuse and domestic violence; social and emotional difficulties related to disability and illness; trauma and loss; physical, cognitive, and neurological problems; and psychosocial difficulties related to medical illness. Art therapy programs are found in a number of settings including hospitals, clinics, public and community agencies, wellness centers, educational institutions, businesses, and private practices.

Art therapists are master’s level professionals who hold a degree in art therapy or a related field. Educational requirements include: theories of art therapy, counseling, and psychotherapy; ethics and standards of practice; assessment and evaluation; individual, group, and family techniques; human and creative development; multicultural issues; research methods; and practicum experiences in clinical, community, and/or other settings. Art therapists are skilled in the application of a variety of art modalities (drawing, painting, sculpture, and other media) for assessment and treatment.

NOTE: this excerpt is from arttherapy.org, the website of the American Art Therapy Association

Introduction American Indians are challenged today with finding health and healthy lifestyles. We are impacted by significant health disparities, where poverty, poor health, early death, and inadequate healthcare delivery prevail. Mental health services are no exception. The following is reported by the Indian Health Service:

□ The American Indian and Alaska Native people have long experienced lower health status when compared with other Americans. Lower life expectancy and the disproportionate disease burden exist perhaps because of inadequate education, disproportionate poverty, discrimination in the delivery of health services, and cultural differences. These are broad quality of life issues rooted in economic adversity and poor social conditions.

□ American Indians and Alaska Natives born today have a life expectancy that is 2.4 years less than the U.S. all races population (74.5 years to 76.9 years, respectively; 1999-2001 rates), and American Indian and Alaska Native infants die at a rate of 8.5 per every 1,000 live births, as compared to 6.8 per 1,000 for the U.S. all races population (2000-2002 rates).

□ American Indians and Alaska Natives die at higher rates than other Americans from tuberculosis (600% higher), alcoholism (510% higher), motor vehicle crashes (229% higher), diabetes (189% higher), unintentional injuries (152% higher), homicide (61% higher) and suicide (62% higher). (Rates adjusted for misreporting of Indian race on state death certificates; 2000-2002 rates.) Many of the leading causes of death for American Indians have a foundation in the mental/behavioral health of the individual Indian person. Our people have experienced historical trauma related to National Indian Policy (i.e. assimilation era, reservation era, boarding school era, relocation etc.). We continue to suffer from a high incidence of alcoholism and substance abuse which can be often connected to a loss of identity, the breakdown of the Indian family, poverty and hopelessness. A large percentage of American Indians in Montana are living below the 200 percent (200%) poverty level. Up to 33 percent (33%) of all AI employed on the reservation live 100% below the poverty level. Unemployment rates reach as high as 70% on most of the reservations.

Purpose The National Healing Center: Healing through the Arts is an organization that will promote healing with integrity and culture based approach utilizing the art form of Native American people. Historically Native American art form has metaphorically and symbolically represents the culture, identity, and spiritually. It conveys our basic value and belief systems. As part of our healing through the art we will identify who we are as Indian people and address the historical trauma that has taken place throughout the centuries, and is current in our daily lives today.

The National Healing Center will be a resource center for Native American Indians to learn about our historical trauma and with healing through the arts, address the trauma that continues to plague our lives with Alcoholism, Drug Addiction, Mental Health, Physical Health, Emotional Health and Spiritual Health issues, in our present daily living. The National Healing Center is for Native American children, adults and families. Through the resource center we will have a foundation that will bring together our resources, our own healers in the field of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, and professionals across the board to address the best practices approach in our traditional and cultural practices to enhance the longevity of our people. We will develop a national network of professionals, traditional healers and cultural specialists to create a network for Indian people to access what is needed to help their communities address wellness and health.

Our resource is our cultural and traditional ways, and by working with the contemporary art forms, traditional art forms, we will provide a safe environment to express our thoughts and feelings without criticism. We will provide support to develop community healing centers to address how our cultural practices are a key to our health and well being.

Through a collaborative group process we will develop a strategic plan, guided by our cultural principles we will develop a vision statement, mission statement and goals and objectives for the next five years. With our strategic plan we bring together our collective thoughts and prayers to help our Native American children and families. We will address the impact of alcoholism on our people, and how historically it has affected Indian people today and how we can bring hope to our people with our intact cultural and spiritual practices. From our traditional and cultural practices and utilizing the healing through art concepts, we will develop a culturally relevant framework and best practices to enhance our well being and address present trauma and heal through art and performing art as a way to express our feelings.

Broken Treaties Our broken treaties plague our lives today, with the introduction of the fire water that pierced our people’s lives with chaos and confusion. Genocide lies, and thievery are the tricks of the white man to us and our ancestors. We are a strong spirited people and have endured throughout three thousand years on our land, and with the plague of alcoholism we will see that with our culture and traditions brought back to us, we can conquer the impact of alcoholism by fighting for our ways that lead us to ourselves, to help our generations to come. We are not lost, we are here and we will always be here. Our elders are our future; our youth bring us hope that we will be a strong nation once again. The broken treaties can not break our spirit, they only reflect the men who made the promises and told the lies so they could have our land. But we are connected to our land, our mother earth; we have given her our hopes for one day, living in harmony again. We are living the way we know how; we are survivors of the storm that blew through our territories, and left us a disaster, leaving no trace of the footsteps that were once imprinted on the ground. Everyday, we endure hardship, poverty, disease, alcoholism, drug addiction, child abuse and neglect. Our families are in pain, our families cry out for help to the Indian Health Service and government, but they do not hear our cry for help. We can only comfort one another with our stories to share, to hear our own voices of the past that once were and still are so powerful and healing. Our voices are still here, and our traditions, values and spirituality are all still here within ourselves.

Basic Concepts An opening prayer of the Sun Dance of the Teton Sioux depicts the hope for our Indian community. The words of the song represent the will to survive:

“Grandfather, a voice I am going to send, hear me, all over the universe, a voice I’m going to send, hear me, Grandfather, I will live. I have said it.”

The voice of continuation and struggle in life despite the obstacles and health disparities, multiple disorders, and social problems our families have endured throughout the century is important in the natural healing process. Our spirit gives us the strength to overcome each problem within our complex world.

A Laguna Pueblo medicine song’s words in the “Hexagon” also bring a message to the people.

“I add my breath to your breath, that our days may be long on the Earth; that the days of our people may be long; that we shall be one person; that we may finish our roads together. May Oshrats bless you with life”

With these powerful songs and words, they teach us to “build resilience and facilitate recovery”, (SAMHSA’s mission), in our lives. Historically Indian people have made strides to maintain our cultural values, norms and beliefs and this brings great hope for our future, our youth and our families.

These words from different Native American cultures bring significant meaning to our lives today. “Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for American Indian and Alaska Native adolescents.” The words from our elders and passed down in our culture have significant meaning and messages for our Indian youth today.

Native American Traditional Philosophies have in common, a unique view of Humankind in relationship with the World. One of the greatest gifts from our Ancestor Nations is an interdependent/respectful/powerful/and unlimited “World View”. When we come to understand and begin to live from the value that: “All life is indeed sacred” and we are part of the “web of sacredness”, our potential becomes unlimited. Our Ancestor’s taught that humility and power and responsibility go hand and hand. They taught that all perceptions of the World are unique and valid. Our perceptions/our values/ create a different reality for each individual/each tribe/ each culture/ and each nation; yet all were to be respected and valued.” With an increased awareness of the cultural oppression resulting in historical trauma, and with traditional and spiritual development in the healing process, the reclaiming of our heritage and destiny in reviving our natural cultural practices in our future, with our youth.

Native American youth have unmet cultural needs. Strengthening cultural identity, belonging, relationship, “traditional role” and historical meaningfulness are important for Native American youth. As a result of historical trauma the sacred hoop (of Native World) is broken, and the results for Native peoples are:

□ Loss of homeland
□ Loss of identity
□ Loss of culture through losses of: language, extended-family system, tribal value system, tribal traditions, traditional educational methods, role models, healing methods, ceremonies, a natural world order, dignity, power, safety, sovereignty, destiny, and a spiritual way of life.

The loss of self-worth resulting in: anger, fear, humiliation, shame, isolation, depression, hopelessness, powerlessness, apathy, denial, rage, violence, illness, multi-generational grief, distrust, self and cultural-hate, and suicide, and internalized-oppression ( a belief in the attitudes/ and false labeling of Native Americans) The goal of having a conference on historical trauma addressing the underlying issues of drugs and alcohol, juvenile delinquency, mental health disorders, child abuse and neglect and it’s impact on youth in the suicide prevention aspect will be a benefit to the youth and their families.

To achieve a better future for Native American children and youth, we need to understand and explain effective strategies to strengthen and sustain healthy families and communities. One cannot talk about strategies to promote the mental health and well-being of Native American children and youth without engaging in a discussion about the serious impact of both colonization and the boarding school experience on Native American families and children. The chaotic conditions that exist within many Native American communities are commonly traced back to colonization and the boarding school experience, which are both known to have actively and intentionally suppressed Native American knowledge and cultural values. In particular, boarding schools interfered with the Native American family structure and its cultural foundation. The experience has been both highly disruptive and responsible for creating a generation of individuals who, having been removed from their families, often no longer understood what it meant to be part of their family of origin, let alone how to create a healthy family of their own. It should come as no surprise that the day-to-day existence of many Native American children and youth is frequently marked by shame, uncertainty and significant stress. The problems associated with colonization in Native Americans communities; destruction of self-respect and self-esteem; disruption of family life resulting in problems related to alcohol, drug, and substance abuse, as well as physical, sexual and emotional abuse; and suicide.

Our policy makers need to acknowledge the historical context and continuing impact of colonization on Native American Peoples, and with the numerous government reports echoing a solemn commitment to support initiatives that promote the health and well-being of Native American peoples. In many jurisdictions significant resources have been invested in supporting innovative strategies and recent reports indicate there is some progress in terms of improvements in health status. Nonetheless, the disintegration of the family continues to plague many Native Americans communities with serious impact on the community at large, as well as the physical and mental health and well being of children and youth.

Biography

Personal Information, Education and Work History My name is Samuel F. English, and I am an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians at Turtle Mountain North Dakota. I am also a descendant of the Redlake Band of Chippewa Indians, Redlake, Minnesota through my father. I was born in Phoenix Arizona and have spent most of my life in the southwest, having lived the past forty year in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I am divorced with four children and twelve grandchildren. My four children are also enrolled members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians.

My high school graduation date was 1960. For the next several years of my life I attended college in Oklahoma and Colorado, without the success of graduation. I took my first drink of alcohol in Colorado at the age of fourteen. I drank for the next twenty five years of my life which resulted in a disease called alcoholism. This illness took its toll on my life. My college careers were interrupted by my drinking alcohol, my jobs for the next eighteen years of my life, which were excellent in terms of providing me with access to Indian Affairs and upward mobility, were gone for alcohol. I worked for the National Indian Youth Council, three and half years, Indian Health Service out of Rockville, Maryland office, one year, Bureau of Indian Affairs, initially for three and half years, my first employment from which I resigned attempting college again, then married with one child and resulting in my dropping out of college as the BIA would not give me a college scholarship. But since us Indian people were deemed to have good assets such as great assets such as great manual dexterity, no brain power. I had to accept a BIA relocation program out to Oakland, California to study electronics, which by the way was a farce of a program. I remained with my family for about three and a half years. It was out in California where I again enrolled at the University of San Francisco, after finishing the BIA program. My wife worked, and then I entered the realm of American Indian Affairs through the Oakland Indian Center. I found it exciting as I had known somewhat of the dreaded tragedy of American Indian history. But I had very limited knowledge of it. It was my involvement there and attending the University of San Francisco that I began orientating myself of the affairs of Indian people, both urban and reservation. By listening to those wise speakers, reading Indian newspapers, reading books that were now becoming available by Indian authors, such as Vine Deloria, Jr., and sitting in on Indian discussions at the Indian Center. Alcohol was becoming a detriment at this point of my life; I had noticed but did not quit drinking. It was out there that I became employed by the National Indian Youth Council, an organization incorporated in 1961 by American Indian youth people, college students and graduates, those with higher education degrees. I was amazed by their accomplishments and their knowledge of their tribal identities, language, spirituality, family, things that I didn’t have, except for family. I was overwhelmed by their accomplishments and there I was, at the age of 26 and still a college student. I spent the next three and a half years with them, eventually moving their office to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where I was terminated in the latter of 1971. I was then hired by Indian Health Service, out of central office in Rockville, Maryland, to work in the office of Dr. Lionel Demontigny. I was there for several years, did a lot of traveling nationally, including to Alaska, promoting Indian self-determination initiatives such as controlling their own health destinies (which I considered a failed project as one can easy envision by our present lack of first world health operations, instead of fourth world programs that barely exist for we people. I attended tribal leader conferences, working for the Indian Health Service gave me access to the tribal/government relationship, that relationship I think to be no better today.

I was then terminated from the Indian Health Service in latter of 1973 due to my alcoholism and my personal support of the American Indian Movement and its takeover of the BIA central office in Washington, D.C. To this day, I still am in total support of American Indian people. My alcoholism had taken over my life at this point, causing a divorce. I had three children from that marriage and I abandoned them. Primarily the marriage was over but my abandonment of my children still haunts me to this day, even though I continue to work on my recovery and my sobriety of twenty seven years later in an international/national fellowship of recovering alcoholics. I have forgiven myself and other but the pain will remain forever.

I drank after my termination from the Indian Health Service for the next eight years of my life. I did experience sobriety for several months and did get employment with the office of human rights, city of Albuquerque, New Mexico for about a year and then was accepted by the BIA for employment in the office of tribal operations. It was an upward mobility slot of training, beginning in Anadarko, Oklahoma and ending up in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Again I was terminated due to my alcoholism. By then, the disease of alcoholism was prominent in my life. I needed to drink on a daily basis, and although I was not a continuous drinker, I was a binge drinker, of drinking about seven to twelve days at a time, then sober up, or go to treatment, which I attended eighteen times, in five different states before I reached sobriety over a period of eight years.

Today, I am an American Indian artist. I have 27 years of sobriety and I am 66 years old. Although I have never returned to complete a college career, I did apply and was accepted to Harvard, back in about 1975, to work on a master’s degree. They accepted my past work history to qualify me for a four year degree, it was a full paid adventure. I declined for by then I knew that alcohol was a major liability in my life and I didn’t feel that I could accept another set back, especially one from Harvard. I knew that I would drink again on this program causing a termination of me at some point, this I could not take anymore, spiritually, mentally or physically. My sobriety date is December 1981, I took my last drink, went to a meeting as I had done many times before and introduced myself, “my name is Sam English, I am an alcoholic”. Something for me changed that night and I knew it, but the struggle was just beginning, one day at a time, staying sober. My life long goal of being an artist quickly entered my thoughts the first month of sobriety and I knew that decision time had arrived, to work for a living earning a wage which I was prepared to do, to the extent of sweeping streets or, become an artist. I chose the artist career. I had wanted to be an artist ever since I could remember; now the time arrived.

I am a spiritual man, I believe in a higher power, a creator if you may and it’s many good spirits. I had believed in this concept even through the darkest days of my drinking alcohol even though at times I spurned the belief, but then realized quickly what I had thought and asked to be forgiven by the creator. Whatever I believed still works for me today, for the journey of sobriety, the career as an artist had been a tough one. I have suffered many hardships but the threat of drinking again never entered my thoughts only to trudge forward and continue to believe.

My art career was also many times tough, but also very exiting. I had to train myself to paint as I am a self taught artist. I had to listen and learn from the many artist friends of mine, one whose name is Mr. Hank Gobin of the northwest. He was a former administrator of the American Indian Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico. When we met, I was a practicing full time artist. I never forgot his advice. What I didn’t know about being an artist was that painting was only a small facet of the career. I had to learn how to sell my art, market my art, run a gallery, become a responsible accountant, be a teacher, and a listener. But most of all, I had to learn to choose a style and technique indigenous to me. One where people could see my art, somewhere in the world and say that is a Sam English piece, I would recognize it anywhere. I have heard that from collectors of my art. I have heard that from American Indian people, American Indian artists and I have to say that it is an amazement to be, a gift. I have worked hard in the art business, many ups and probably more downs, but I continue to survive. We have been most fortunate to b e selected by the many tribes, federal government agencies, non-profits, to do the art work for their poster prints. There are almost 90 prints since 1981 when I first entered the art world. Now we are in the process of publishing a table top art book with those poster prints dedicating this book to American Indian people. The book should be out by the end of the February and information can be accessed by logging onto samenglishart.com. Along the journey of the art world this has been my recovery from alcoholism. I aided in starting an American Indian A.A. meeting, 26 years ago and it still continues. We are initiated by Indian A.A. convention coming up on 16 years this May. We used Indian sober A.A. members from around the country to speak and we usually have in attendance from three to four hundred, mostly Indian people from the southwest and other parts of the country. We also initiated an “Indians in sobriety camp out” approximately 23 years ago that journey throughout the southwest during the summer, having campouts. We have A.A. meetings, sweat lodges, talking circles, an Indian dance on Saturday nights for social dancing, not contest dancing, showing off or other white oriented events. We try to emphasize Indian integrity for our culture. I speak around the country at conferences. I do art workshops for the Indian Youth, adults, elders and we have painted bill boards for Indian communities, and have done an assortment of art initiatives that I hope emphasize the importance of sobriety and not drinking alcohol/drugs but to have healthy living, healthy eating habits to combat diseases such as diabetes. This is so prevalent in our communities, with now the onslaught of cancer issues, we stress the importance of American Indian integrity, to grow up to be somebody, someone. We need to have a college educated resource for our people, seeking economic development, upgrading our educational systems which now at the present are probably the lowest on the rating of education pole. And the lack of proper health care initiatives, the issue of health disparities, we have now at best we get third or fourth rate care with very little interest in our health which was part of the treaties our people signed. Tribal corruption is at an all time high, we people seem to forget what our primary responsibility is, for the people. Why is it we are left out of everything good this country has to offer, the economy, the political system, why we don’t vote? I think and feel that we American Indian people live in abject poverty with no hope, yet there is hope but it is totally dependent on us to take responsibility to upgrade our Indian lives and our communities well being. We are not those names they gave us, barbarians and savages. We are legitimate people, put her by the creator. We have gifts of value for our people, on of the most valued gifts is to take care of the land, the water, the animals, life, and mother earth, let us begin to become human again.
GREAT NEWS FOR SAM ENGLISH
The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts announces that Sam
English, noted Indian artist and activist, has been awarded its
Lifetime Achievement Award.
“This award, given since 1994, recognizes the best of native
artists, the way they’ve shared their art with their own communities
and other communities. The honoree’s life exemplifies more than just
being an artist, which is a big part of why Sam was chosen. He has
used his art to communicate who he is and how he stands in the world,”
said Bruce Bernstein, Executive Director of SWAIA.
An awards dinner will be held June 4 in Santa Fe, NM. Several
hundred people will attend. The program will include a short biography
of Sam, and Sam will be asked to speak. Sam will be presented with a
small statue, designed by a SWAIA artist, to commemorate the honor.
Sam also will be recognized on Aug. 22, at noon, at the Indian Market.

Good News for Indian Country in the Stimulus Package!

Thursday, January 29, 2009 Amnesty International Press Release – Good News for Indian Country in the Stimulus Package! Amnesty International Welcomes House Stimulus Funding for Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Service; Urges Senate to Follow Suit —- Funds ‘Critical for Improving the Failing Systems,’ Organization Says, Emphasizing Support for Survivors of Sexual Violence Contact: Wende Gozan at 212-633-4247 or Renata Rendón at 202-544-0200 x251 (Washington DC) – Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) today applauded a landmark portion of the House economic stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which funds critical functions of both the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and Indian Health Service (IHS). The human rights organization called these funds a crucial building block that could eventually help address alarmingly high levels of violent crime in Indian Country including the widespread sexual violence against Native American and Alaska Native women. The Senate Appropriations Committee also reported out its version of the legislation yesterday, with funding in the amount of $545 million for IHS and $572 million for BIA. The organization applauded the addition of this critical funding and urged the full Senate to support current funding levels in the final legislation. “Over the past year Congress has made an unprecedented effort to address violent crime affecting tribal communities across the United States,” said Larry Cox, executive director of AIUSA. “These funds are critical for improving the failing systems that facilitate high levels of rape of Native women. Chronic underfunding of law enforcement agencies and health service providers has had a significant impact on the ability of the BIA and IHS to respond to crimes of sexual violence. The House must be applauded for taking this long-overdue step.” The House economic stimulus package includes a substantial $550 million of federal funding to the IHS. These funds are to modernize aging hospitals and health clinics, purchase equipment and related services and make technology upgrades to improve healthcare for underserved rural populations. Currently the average per capita health expenditure for Native Americans is less than half that for non-Natives in the United States. Since the launch of its 2007 report, Maze of Injustice: the failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA, AIUSA has advocated extensively for funds to improve health care and law enforcement in Indian Country, and will continue to do so in 2009. Funding for the BIA has been set at $500 million, which would address repair and replacement of detention centers, schools, roads, dams, bridges and employee housing. While upgrading detention centers would have an obvious impact for law enforcement officials, repairing roads could also improve officers’ access to rural communities. “The BIA and IHS should work with tribal communities to ensure that part of this funding is used to train law enforcement officers to respond quickly and appropriately to victims of sexual violence,” said Renata Rendón, government relations director for AIUSA. “In addition, Indian Health Service facilities need trained sexual assault nurse examiners to administer rape kits and secure evidence needed for prosecution. This is the only way to end the brutal cycle of impunity that allows crimes of sexual violence to flourish.” Amnesty International found Native American and Alaska Native women are 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than women in the United States in general and more than one in three Native women will be raped in their lifetimes, yet the United States government has created a complex maze of tribal, state and federal jurisdictions that often allows perpetrators to rape with impunity — and in some cases effectively creates jurisdictional vacuums that encourage assaults. Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries who campaign for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied. # # # For more information, please visit http://www.amnestyusa.org.

Report Cyberbullying and Online Sexual Predators

Smart moves

Following are tips from the National Assn. of School Psychologists on protecting your kids online, even if your own online skills lag behind theirs.

* Keep computers in easily viewable places, such as the family room or kitchen.

* Talk regularly with your children about the online activities in which they are involved and Internet etiquette in general. Children should know the rule that many adults have learned from painful experience: Do not say online what you would not say in person.

* Encourage children to be self-protective. Remind them that anything they say on the Internet or in phone text messages can be shared with others and misused. Ask them to consider if they want what they are saying and doing broadly disseminated. If not, they probably should not say or post it.

* Be specific about the risks of cyber-bullying and their need to tell you if something that bothers them occurs.

* Respect for adolescents’ privacy is important. But tell children that you may review their online communications if you have reason for concern.

* Set clear expectations for responsible online behavior and phone use and consequences for violating those expectations.

* Consider establishing a parent-child Internet use contract.

* Consider installing parental-control filtering software or tracking programs but do not rely solely on these tools.

* Be aware of warning signs that might indicate your son or daughter is being bullied, such as reluctance to use the computer, a change in the child’s behavior and mood, or reluctance to go to school.

* Document the bullying.

* Be equally alert to the possibility that your child could be bullying others online, even if unintentionally.

* Understand current local laws and your school policies. Work with your school to develop policies if they don’t exist.

* If you have concerns, contact your child’s school to enlist the help of the school psychologist, school counselor, principal or resource officer.

* File a complaint with the website, Internet service provider or cellphone company if you learn of problematic behavior.

* Contact police if the cyber-bullying includes threats.

The Congressionally mandated CyberTipline is a reporting mechanism for cases of child sexual exploitation including child pornography, online enticement of children for sex acts, molestation of children outside the family, sex tourism of children, child victims of prostitution, and unsolicited obscene material sent to a child. Reports may be made 24-hours per day, 7 days per week online at http://www.cybertipline.com or by calling 1-800-843-5678.

Response to SEXUAL OFFENDER RAPE!

I HAVE LINKED UNDER THE BLOGROLL A DC CRISIS LINE IF YOU CLICK ON ANY LINK under THE BLOGROLL YOU WILL FIND HELP FOR A CRISIS LINE OR CALL US AT 1-800-236-7660.

Boarding Schools

Assimilation policies also took the form of mandatory boarding schools, with devastating consequences that continue to reverberate today through out Indian Country. It is believed that the prevalence of Indian-on-Indian domestic and sexual violence in Native communities is rooted in the forced removal of Indian children from their homes and from their families and Tribes into religious and government-operated boarding schools.  I must add that some of the boarding schools were run by the military, for instance the Fort Totten Boarding School in North Dakota. This boarding school had grey nuns from Canada that were established on site and housed children from the age of five, forcibly taken from their families. The school it self is still standing today. Under the school is dirt sellers with bars where children were placed in solitary confinement.  Twenty inch paths from dorm to classrooms were patrolled by military on horseback carrying crops to keep children on the beaten path. Apache women had their garments adapted  (skirts) made wide and large, to attempt to hide their children from agents.

From 1879 through the 1950s,  more that 300 boarding schools across the county taught lessons of self hate, domestic and sexual abuse, gender stereotypes and patriarchal norms to Native children forced or coerced into attending the schools.

Children attending the boarding schools were not permitted to see their families, speak their own language, or follow their cultural practices or traditional religion, the children were expected to  stay for a minimum of four years.

It is believed thst the prevalence of Indian-on-Indian domestic and sexual assault in Native communities is rooted in the forced removal of Indian from their homes and from their families and tribes and into religious snd government-operated boarding schools. -Felix S. Cohen

Felix Solomon Cohen (July 3, 1907 – October 19, 1953) was a lawyer and scholar who made a lasting mark on legal philosophy and fundamentally shaped federal Indian law and policy.

Cohen was the drafter of the centerpiece legislation of this era, the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. In 1939 he became Chief of the Indian Law Survey, an effort to compile the federal laws and treaties regarding American Indians. The resulting book, published in 1941 as The Handbook of Federal Indian Law.

The trauma suffered from boarding school survivors is expressed today in substance abuse,  suicide, domestic violence,  pedophelia, sexual assault, and being passed on to further generations.

ALLEGED INCIDENTS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING REPORTED IN THE U.S. WASHINGTON

PEOPLE …PLEASE DON’T ALLOW YOUR SILENCE COMMIT THESE CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY

ADVANCE FOR RELEASE AT 9:00 A.M. EST Bureau of Justice Statistics THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009 Sheila Jerusalem 202-616-3227 http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs After hours: 202-598-3570 MORE THAN 1,200 ALLEGED INCIDENTS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING REPORTED IN THE U.S. WASHINGTON – In the first 21 months of operation, the Human Trafficking Reporting System (HTRS) recorded information on more than 1,200 alleged incidents of human trafficking, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. The HTRS contains data collected by 38 federally funded human trafficking task forces on alleged incidents of human trafficking that occurred between January 1, 2007, and September 30, 2008. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), and its reauthorizations in 2003, 2005, and 2008 define a human trafficking victim as a person induced to perform labor or a commercial sex act through force, fraud, or coercion. Any person under age 18 who performs a commercial sex act is considered a victim of human trafficking, regardless of whether force, fraud, or coercion was present. Most (83 percent) of the reported human trafficking incidents involved allegations of sex trafficking. Labor trafficking accounted for 12 percent of incidents, and other or unknown forms of human trafficking made up the remaining five percent. About a third (32 percent) of the 1,229 alleged human trafficking incidents involved sex trafficking of children. More than a quarter of alleged sex trafficking incidents contained multiple victims, and nearly half of labor trafficking incidents had more than one victim. Labor trafficking incidents were more likely to involve more than one suspect (47 percent), compared to sex trafficking incidents (37 percent). As of September 30, 2008, less than 10 percent of the 1,229 alleged incidents had been confirmed as human trafficking. To be confirmed in the HTRS, the case must have led to an arrest and been subsequently confirmed by law enforcement, or the victims must have received a special non-immigrant Visa classification, as provided under the 2000 TVPA. Over 90 percent of victims in both alleged and confirmed human trafficking incidents were female. Nearly 40 percent of victims in alleged and confirmed labor trafficking incidents were male, while almost all (99%) victims in alleged and confirmed sex trafficking incidents were female. Hispanic victims comprised the largest share (37 percent) of alleged sex trafficking victims and more than half (56 percent) of alleged labor trafficking victims. Asians made up 10 percent of alleged sex trafficking victims, compared to 31 percent of labor trafficking victims. Approximately two-thirds of victims in alleged human trafficking incidents were age 17 or younger (27 percent) or age 18 to 24 (38 percent). Sex trafficking victims tended to be younger (71 percent were under age 25) and labor trafficking victims tended to be older (almost 70 percent were age 25 or older). Slightly more than half of all victims in alleged human trafficking incidents were U.S. citizens. U.S. citizens accounted for 63 percent of sex trafficking victims, compared to four percent of labor trafficking victims. Nearly eight in 10 human trafficking suspects were male. A fifth of sex trafficking suspects were female, compared to about a third of labor trafficking suspects. Nearly two-thirds of sex trafficking suspects were under age 35, while nearly two-thirds of labor trafficking suspects were age 35 or older. U.S. citizens accounted for 66 percent of suspects in alleged incidents. Nearly three-quarters of sex trafficking suspects and a third of labor trafficking suspects were U.S. citizens. The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 (P.L. 109-164) requires the submission of biennial reports on human trafficking using available data from state and local authorities. In response to this requirement, the Department of Justice (DOJ) funded the creation of the HTRS, which was designed by the Institute of Race and Justice at Northeastern University (NEU) and the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute (UI). The HTRS is updated monthly. The data in this report represent the status of each case as of September 30, 2008. The report, Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2007-08 (NCJ 224526), was written by BJS statisticians Tracey Kyckelhahn, Allen J. Beck, and Thomas H. Cohen. Following publication, the report can be found at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cshti08.htm. For additional information about the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ statistical reports and programs, please visit the BJS Web site at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs. The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey L. Sedgwick, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims. OJP has five component bureaus: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; and the Office for Victims of Crime. In addition, OJP has two program offices: the Community Capacity Development Office, which incorporates the Weed and Seed strategy, and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). More information can be found at http://www.ojp.gov.

To: I want to die help me do it….and my son died I want to die.

First of all, your life is sacred. You are created by God and you have a purpose in this circle of life. LOVE YOURSELF…WRAP YOUR ARMS AROUND YOUR SELF!

The whole world relates the color red or crimson to love. In you is your blood that the creator has colored love.

When you awaken in the morning the creator colors the dawn with crimson his message is today ” I LOVE YOU!”

Native American people believe that during one days time referred to as a red day, is a life time. Each moment is precious and every breath is a gift. The night is called a blue day every dream a gift.

Your children are not your own, you do not own them, they are a gift. I lost a son at three years old his name was Parris Lee Laverdure. His Indian name is Giimiiwaan (rain). He is connected to me through umbilical, his spirit is always beside me. His gift to me is this uderstanding and the time he graced me with his presense will live in me as precious and I am grateful to the creator for this gift. Your son is there with you your greif he feels. You must continue to be a strong mother to him so that he can be happy to enjoy his relatives in that place that is veiled by human eyes. Believe that you will see him again and today do what you would have done for him for another son not of your own.

The Creator God in the dusk of the upcoming blue day will remind you that you are loved in the crimson that graces us as human beings.

Letter to Change Government

Dear Mr. President and V.C. Mr. Biden:

My real name in English is Standing in the Moonlight my English name is Julienne Xene Laverdure Cross.
I am a human being. I have suffered a great deal in my life. I was at Mission School and went to Boarding Schools. It is because of poverty that my sons all joined the Army so they could attend College. The U.S. Government has left us with a mortgage in Federal Student Loans to attend college. I am an enrolled tribal member as half Indian my son’s as a fourth. I must ask you to see that the Native American census and blood quantum police at the Department of Interior correct that injustice and quantify exactly what blood degree I am, correct the genocide. My grandfather, Whapishtikwaan, arranged marriages to keep our blood pure. Research of our family tree I am actually seven eighth’s Anishnaabe, (Ojibwe-Chippewa), is not historically original but interpreted translated by non-Indian priest and conquistadors. I am of the Algonquin Family. My band the Turtle Mountain Plains Pembina Band in Belcourt, North Dakota had enrolled Metis and Cree in the mid 1900’s for the purpose of Health, Education and Welfare. Now we are 33.000 strong and we live on a 12 x 7 reservation. You cannot have anymore of our land. I will be first to stand up in front of your guns if you try, this is my word and I honor my words. Indian people have a hard time trusting and if you know your history, it is understandable only action can justify all the many wrongs done to us. The trust responsibility to tribes has been negligent in many ways including, Health, Education and Welfare

I traveled across the United States recently. I saw immigrants of all races owning their own homes and businesses. Indian people cannot go to banks for home loans and business loans. We have frequently gone to banks to obtain 184 loans under the Bureau of Indian Affairs; the microscope of credit is abundant and overwhelming. I could have all my taxes paid to the federal government and state, medical bills paid, not defaulted on my student loans and an issue exemption is always presented by bank loan providers. HUD keeps us oppressed and is not culturally conducive to our way of life. NAHASDA must jump through the hoops of The Department of Interior where I as a human being am under the category of a natural resource .The recent scandal at the Department of Interior needs to be seriously scrutinized and restructured. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on a bathroom can build a National Native American Healing Center with Culture and Art. Misuse of monies allocated to Tribes needs scrutiny, justice served to the Native American people by ousting the old, and amending the out dated laws that deny us our rights to self-governance and determination. No Committee’s please they are impudent. There are people that can talk the talk but walking the talk and applying action are two different things. We as Indian people do not get the federal monies allocated to us by the U.S. Government because of misuse at a United Sates Federal Government Level as in monies laundered on behalf of Native Americans that never reach Indian County because of bathrooms of the Department of Interior. They themselves have neglected their responsibility to our roads and our people are dying from their neglect.

Crimes and our authority to apply tribal law needs to be applicable on our level. We can no longer subject our people to the States. Many of our people suffer from historical trauma. Many of our people are sitting in prisons with mental health issues that need healing through identity empowerment in a traditional manor. Assimilation has perpetrated a reflection in the mirror that is disfigured, ostracized and unworthy of life, an interior paradigm of self.  Because of poverty, substance abuse and mental health father’s and mother’s are in prison for their inability to support their children. Boarding schools, mission schools, relocation, Catholicism, ignorance, discrimination, bias, perpetrated by Church and State is penetrating a beautiful way of life struggling to re cooperate. When kill the Indian in the child is applied, the result is broken families and communities. Our struggle every day is working to put in place our traditional beliefs; where equality of gender balances, children, elders, women, men, community, and extends to all tribes and the earth is all of our priority. Every day I work with domestic violence, sexual assault, substance abuse and pain. I am an artist who cannot paint but see the beauty everyday and a Nation that has no history because we wrote our history in the earth and in our language. North American history prior 1942 destroyed by the cities, and assimilation. Our elders are dying our language is the history of North America. We have been major contributors to the world and we have one day of recognition I ask for a month. Our discrimination perpetrated by the history taught in schools that begin with Columbus the message is savages, red beasts, pagans; this is where I read who I am, at mission school. Ignorance, the reason that in the twentieth century, I can read on a blog site and I quote from a New York blogger recently, “I thought reservations were like zoos”. I cried when I witnessed my son at a Christmas program portrayed Native American contribution historically to Wisconsin. I am, first of all, a Native American it is the foundation from which I live. I have a site I developed to help Victims of Crime at https://xene.wordpress.com.

Whether or not we agree or disagree the importance of listening and hearing our voices on a National Level continue to make the world aware of the injustices we as Turtle Island’s inherent speaker’s and owner’s of her well being. The United States Government is fraudulent. The United States Constitution does not apply the codes or rule of law to Sovereign Nations, the principles are not applied. No treaty honored to the Indigenous of Turtle Island. What happens will enlighten a world profoundly ignorant of the injustices that Governments have subjected us to as human beings and continue to deny their roles in the continued oppression and genocide.
In my many years of life I have not met one Native American born inhuman and without great heart and passion for life as well as great compassion for all creatures gracious of the wonderment of the natural world. I believe INDIAN PEOPLE ARE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE ON EARTH….IT’S AT OUR CORE.

From the first day conquistadors set foot on our Island we have harbored and protected them; the result is diseases that inflict us today such as substance abuse, violence, sexual abuse, childhood diseases, diabetes, suicide, a result of historical trauma and chemicals unnatural to us before 1942. Chemicals, deviant foreign cultural behaviors unnatural to our existence prior invasion and our inability to conceive or evolve to handle them physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually continue to cycle spun by poverty, ostracism, discrimination, denial not of our own, ignorance, bias, hatred and prejudice. Governments do not want the world to know they used sacred entities like the Catholic Papal Bull and Constitutions to lawfully commit crimes against Native Americans like murder, germ warfare, torture, on a people and children pure in heart to fulfill their greed and invoke manifest destiny. Who has given you the divine right to subject human beings to concentration camps or bury them dismembered in mass graves in Canada at Mission Schools, “live children born from children fathered by priest thrown in graves”? Why are there still Indian boarding schools in the United States when we can have our own schools? Why must most of our people live on a poverty diet that kills us early? Why are you still killing our brothers and sisters the wolf, the buffalo, the Eagle, the winged animals and the water animals? Why can I not cross the border of Canada to participate in ceremonies inherent to us without border patrol going through my sacred instruments? Why do I need a passport when I cannot afford one? Is not a tribal enrollment I.D. number, social security number, and the tattoo between my eyes a testament to survival of boarding school enough to testify that I love my mother the earth and mean no human being any harm. I am not a pagan I believe in God. The spirit of my creator is in all living life, from the stars to the grain of sand. We are all servants of each other and our importance is equal. A generation apart Native People lived to be way over one hundred years old today many die before their forty-five.

Wis. mayor charged with plotting tryst with child

DINESH RAMDE , Star Tribune

RACINE, Wis. – Prosecutors charged Racine Mayor Gary Becker with six felonies Thursday, alleging that the 51-year-old tried to arrange a sexual encounter with a minor. At least one city official has called on Becker to resign. The charges include attempted second-degree sexual assault of a child under 16 and possession of child pornography. Becker waived his preliminary hearing in Racine County Circuit Court on Thursday afternoon. Racine County Circuit Judge Stephen Simanek set his arraignment for Feb. 10. The mayor, who is married and has two children, also was charged with child enticement, use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, attempt exposing a child to harmful material and misconduct in office. He was arrested Tuesday at a Milwaukee-area mall following a two-week investigation by the state Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation. City workers who helped Becker fix a problem with his personal computer found pornography files on it and alerted Racine police before Christmas, a criminal complaint said. Police passed the case on to state investigators to avoid a conflict of interest. District Attorney Michael Nieskes said during a news conference after the court hearing that investigators also found records of 1,800 sexually explicit chats on Becker’s computer. Becker was elected mayor in 2003 and ran unopposed for re-election in 2007. The Democrat had previously served two terms as a city alderman. A female who answered the phone at Becker’s home Thursday declined to comment. Common Council President David Maack, who has been serving as acting mayor, told The Associated Press on Thursday that Becker should step down. “I think it would be in the best interest of the city and himself to resign his position,” Maack said. “He has some very serious charges he needs to devote his time and energy to, and the city of Racine doesn’t need this cloud hanging over its head.”
The Common Council can remove Becker from office before he is convicted with votes from 12 of the city’s 15 aldermen, city attorney Rob Weber said. Becker was released from jail Wednesday after a relative posted his $165,000 cash bond. Simanek reduced his bond to $10,000 Thursday. Racine is Wisconsin’s fifth largest city, with about 80,000 residents. It sits on Lake Michigan about 30 miles south of Milwaukee. ___ Associated Press writer Gretchen Ehlke contributed to this report from Milwaukee.