Two hundred and fifty years on, the US and its citizens are celebrating the Declaration of Independence. Hardly anyone reads it carefully. I’d ask you to. Read the thing. Because when you actually read the charges the colonists filed against the King of England – the facts, as they put it, submitted
EGYPT – Secrets were hidden within the Great Pyramid of Giza around 4500 years ago, the largest structure ever created by Early Man. As of…
Ignorance, arrogance or intimidation? First, let’s put the simple facts out there: in all of the legalese, questions of fairness, who is regulating who, what…
As the sun set on 2016, the world trembled in anticipation of what the Trump era of U.S. national politics would bring. Meanwhile at the…
There is probably no greater threat of extinction to Native peoples than the measure of those people by the irrelevant, scientifically false and prejudicial use…
Now that the NYPD has literally been caught on video choking a man to death for defying the most oppressive taxation scheme in the United…
On June 2, 2014, every “member” of the Seneca Nation of Indians (SNI) received a letter from his/her President announcing the launch of the Seneca Nation’s new Enhanced Tribal Identification Card (ETC) program.
There is little question that what the white man found when he washed up on our shores was a free and fearless people. But rather than learn our ways and study how a people could live without kings, queens, courts and prisons or slavery, discrimination and class warfare, the church – the very thing that created many of these institutions and practices – was relied upon to spread all of it to a free world.
The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) wrapped up its 13th session this week. Thousands of representatives of UN member states, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and Indigenous Peoples Organizations (IPOs) as well as approved participants from academia and the media. The latter was how I got in. For two weeks hundreds of speakers offered statements and interventions, many of them coming from the Native people of Turtle Island.
After spending the week in New York City attending the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and listening to dozens of speakers offering their…
Well, now that everyone can feel better about their battle and stance on unacceptable racism in the wake of giving the old “what’s for” to Donald Sterling, the racist owner of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, we can all go back to settling in with the institutional racism that keeps Daniel Snyder, the equally racist owner of the NFL’s Washington R-word, warm and safe at night. I know “spic,” “wetback,” chink” and the R-word still can appear in print but if the N-word can’t, then, in my book neither can the R-word.
On May 12, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) will begin its 13th session at the United Nations in New York City. The session will run for two weeks and cover a broad range of topics.
The event is not open to the public. Only confirmed and registered NGO and IPO representatives are allowed to participate. However, as a UN accredited member of the media, I will be there, too. Yeah, that’s right. Two Row Times columnist and radio show host John Kane will be there having the conversations that may or may not be welcome.
I have to begin my column this week by stating up front that I am Haudenosaunee. I support traditional governance based on the Kaianerehkowa and a culture grounded with the Ohenton Karihwatehkwen (Words Before All Else) and the Tiohateh (the Two Row Wampum). I must emphasize that it is traditional governance I support rather than “traditional government.”
As this column hits the press, thousands are gathering in Washington, DC to take a stand against the Keystone XL Pipeline. During a week that a decision was expected out of the Obama Administration on this issue, the Reject and Protect call to action will set up camp near the White House and tell the President to reject the pipeline. As it turns out, an announcement just came from the White House that the Administration has decided to kick the can on this decision for what seems like the tenth time.
During the past week I have had more conversations about “decolonization” than I have had in my whole life. As I mentioned in one of my Facebook conversations, I am not entirely comfortable with the expression.
