AIM Support Group of Ohio & N. KentuckyUpdates and Announcements
Saturday, September 06, 2003Date: Thu, 04 Sep 2003 From: "Regina Landeros-Thomas" OCNAA_Gina@hotmail.com Subject: Fwd: Spirit Walk Please see the following. Hope to see many of you there. - Gina Regina C. Landeros-Thomas Ohio Center for Native American Affairs OCNAA_Gina@hotmail.com Be advised: The Native American Indian Center of Central Ohio (NAICCO), located at 67 East Innis Avenue, Columbus, OH 43207, Phone 614.443.6120. Will be hosting an open house on Sunday, September 7, 2003 at 1:00 p. m. NAICCO is lending its support to help raise awareness of the "Spirit Walk", and show its dedication to promoting the issues which the Seven Fires Foundation is promoting. Please join us in welcoming and supporting the walkers. A community event, including presentations by the walkers, storytelling and drumming is free and open to the public. A community meal will follow. For more information contact NAICCO at 614.443.6120. ****************************************************************************** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SPIRIT WALK 2003 - 1700 Mile Walk to Raise Awareness and Funding for the Preservation of Lakota Language and Culture is a Race Against Time Time is running out for the Lakota Nation. Their language, once the most widely spoken Native language in North America, is now in danger of becoming extinct. On July 11th, a group of concerned people will take the first steps of a 1700 mile journey they call "Spirit Walk" to help raise donations for The Seven Fires Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the Lakota people preserve their culture and language by bringing elders and children together to teach their native language. Besides raising money, the goal for the Spirit Walk, according to John LaFountaine, President of the Board of Directors, is to show the world "what the Lakota people have given to this Nation and to humanity and the desperate situation in which their culture, their language and their way of living is at risk right now." Less than 25% of the Lakota population currently speak or understand their native tongue and fewer than that are fluent. The Oglala Lakota College predicts that within the next generation more than 90% of the population will no longer be able to speak or understand Lakota at all. The Seven Fires Foundation believes that the imminent loss of the Lakota language has important consequences for the Lakota Nation both today and in the future. Once a culture loses its language, the loss of its cherished cultural ways is often not far behind. The impact of this on a culture is devastating. With the right support, The Lakota language has a realistic chance for long-term survival due to the available documentation and the fact that there are still people alive who speak the original language. Because most of these people are elders, the time to act is now. There are over 100,000 people in the Lakota Nation and the majority of them live in areas on and off reservations near the Sacred Black Hills of South Dakota. With the bicentennial celebration of Lewis and Clarke?s western expedition beginning this year, awareness is growing about the current challenges facing the Lakota and other tribes whose way of life was vastly changed by the opening of the western passage 200 years ago. The Spirit Walk starts on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Porcupine, South Dakota and will travel through Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia before landing in Washington D. C. in late September where the organizers will meet with government representatives and request assistance for all programs that preserve Lakota and other indigenous cultures in the United States. The walkers plan to average 20-30 miles per day, stopping in communities to share their message of hope through storytelling and music. Seven Fires Foundation is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide humanitarian services and preserve the ancient traditions for the generations to come. A vital part of this mission is to extend supportive services, by helping to raise support, for children, traditional medicine people and traditional cultures in need. For more information, call 541-347-7801. posted by Webmaster@ AIM Support 4:19 PM
Thursday, September 04, 2003From "Leonard Peltier Defense Committee" info@leonardpeltier.org Date Wed, 3 Sep 2003 11:19 PM Subject Stop Hunt's Execution Henry Lee Hunt's new execution date is now scheduled for September 12. We ask you to take the time to visit the following Web site and take action on behalf of Mr. Hunt. http://www.PetitionOnline.com/bs5q5341/ Henry Hunt had a stay from the North Carolina Supreme Court, to hear his appellate arguments about whether the indictment form used in his murder trial violated the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, when his execution set for last January 24. These same arguments could empty N.C. death row if the conviction was overturned, since all death row prisoners are convicted and sentenced on short- form indictments. Last month the court refused to overturn Hunt's conviction, saying the "short- form" indictment that listed the charges against him was fair, but the aggravating factors that warranted the death penalty were not. Henry Lee Hunt is a Lumbee Indian with 58 years, arrested in Raleigh. He was sentenced to death on December 1985 in Robeson County for the murders of Jackie Ransom and Larry Jones. Henry Lee Hunt has consistently maintained his innocence. Hunt's lawyers said new information undermined the state's case for his guilt. That information included Hunt's passing 2 recent lie-detector tests in which he denied killing Ransom and Jones. It also included the mysterious appearance of an affidavit said to be from one of the actual killers, kept secret for 14 years, purporting to clear Hunt. They also argued that prosecutors improperly withheld information that undercut Hunt's alleged motive for the 2nd murder. And Lumberton police discarded investigative files that might have pointed to someone else as the killer. If this execution is carried out, Henry Lee Hunt will be the first American Indian to be executed in North Carolina since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977. ACT NOW !!!! Because Henry Lee Hunt has not had right to a fair trial, Because there is serious doubts about his guilt, Because the death penalty is barbaric. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe, send a blank message to lpdc-on@mail-list.com To unsubscribe, send a blank message to lpdc-off@mail-list.com To change your email address, send a message to lpdc-change@mail-list.com with your old address in the Subject: line posted by Webmaster@ AIM Support 10:33 AM
posted by Webmaster@ AIM Support 10:31 AM
Tuesday, September 02, 2003American Indian Movement Support Group of Indiana statement After walking over 1,100 miles through the heat of Indiana and being greeted by Governor O'Bannon via a letter the 7 Fires Foundation Spirit Walkers along with the A.I.M. Support Group of Indiana went to a powwow in Tipton Indiana. This powwow was the 43rd Annual Tecumseh Lodge Pow Wow, as we arrived at the powwow we sent word at the front gate that the walkers were coming and that they wanted to ask if they could speak about the walk and do a small presentation. After trying to pin down Ray Kappmeyer word finally got to him, we were told that they would not allow them to speak or even have a blanket dance for them because in their words "As an organization we can not and would not support anything political or religious". After speaking to the Arena Director, we were told that we would be able to speak after the evenings Grand Entry. We went to the MC table as asked by the Arena Director where once again we were told that they were not going to allow us to speak, because if they did they would have to let everyone that wanted to speak say something and it would cut into their, the Boy Scouts, time. I want to thank the Arena Director for doing everything he did in trying to get us a spot to speak, but at last the powers that be would not allow us to even bring education to the crowd. This is the largest powwow we have ever attended in the state of Indiana. We found it sad that a hobbyist powwow is better attended than a traditional Native event, we found it even sadder that while the boy scouts are happy to make money off of playing indian that they don't even understand the first thing about who we are and what we are about. We will not be attending this "powwow" ever again. Not only did they not extend native hospitality, Hoosier hospitality was also lacking. As of September 2, 2003 we the American Indian Movement Support Group of Indiana are going to boycott the Annual Tecumseh Lodge Pow Wow held in Tipton Indiana. We are asking that all native people in the state of Indiana to stand up and let your voices be heard, we will not stand for hobbyist making money off of our culture and treat native people as just a way of filling their pockets. -- Please do not reply to this letter. All letters of support will be filed. Please distribute widely. AIM Indiana Support Group Albert Runningwolf (Chairperson) 1148 Main St. Brookville, IN. 47012 Ph: 765-647-4947 FAX: 765-647-5362 posted by Webmaster@ AIM Support 2:13 PM Last updated:
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