Monday, March 25, 2019

Welcome to Flicker's DrumBeat




Dear Friends

Welcome to LUTEA's first Blog.  Flicker's Drumbeat.  The sacred Flicker for many California Indigenous communities drums out the heartbeat of Mother Earth's seasons.  Many times I would suspect the Flicker is our timekeeper and reminding us to keep our schedules aligned with our Great Mother Earth's.
It is an honor to launch this blog page in support of an Indigenous approach and perspective in service work and healing work LUTEA facilitates and advocates.
In addition, LUTEA seeks to influence ethical History,  Arts and Culture of the Earth's Indigenous peoples and communities across the Globe.
It is the interest of the LUTEA Board of Directors that our present service work generates within Del Norte and Siskiyou Counties of Northern California.  We also have plans to venture service into Curry County Oregon and Jacksonville Oregon.  However, we are all made up of Indigenous ancestors and connections that take us across the globe as well as we have colleagues and associates that have the expertise and wisdom of aboriginal cultures we wish to feature, to honor and to share that can enhance all lives.
We've moved from Siskiyou County to Del Norte County and continue to bring our service Wellness Groups and Healing Talking Circles. We also will like to offer wisdom and inspiration with Indigenous Artists and musicians, and Elders.  As well as the interconnected aspects of all life from the Eyes and Voice of Indigenous Peoples.
We are calling this Spring's Blog series a Time to Bloom, as LUTEA is Nelumbo Lutea the largest Indigenous North American Wildflower Lotus and all life when living a good life, Hinaak Towis Hennak .. Blooms.
We are introducing a monthly podcast Our Ancient Lands https://anchor.fm/our-ancient-lands and if anyone that is an Indigenous (a cultural advocate for your own Indigenous heritage) artist or musician would like to promote and share your work please contact us for a feature spot for a future segment in our series.
Also if anyone has questions on Indigenous subject matter and would like us to illuminate in an episode please contact us.
We are excited to reach out to muyye ma 'inniiko, All Our Relations.


Diveena Marcus, Ph.D. Indigenous Studies
LUTEA Executive Director
https://www.facebook.com/lutea.org/
www.lutea.org


Spring 2019 "A Time to Bloom"

Blessings on this Day, Spring Equinox!  For most Indigenous Cultures this is the beginning of the new year based within Mother Earth's timing/changing and growth.  Thank you for visiting us here on Flicker's Drumbeat!   We are grateful to our sacred Flicker to drum into our memories the awakening of new life and potential blessings.  I am so happy to post information and a direct link to Our Ancient Lands Podcast Series. https://anchor.fm/our-ancient-lands/episodes/The-Longest-Walk-Indigenous-Sovereignty-with-Michael-Lane-March-2019-e3gra9
 The main topic until July this year is to feature Indigenous Scholar and Activist Michael Lane and his Longest Walk Journey from Alcatraz Island to Washington D.C. The walk began in 1978 by the intent of the AIM movement to give attention to the concerns within Indian Lands and the Indigenous condition.  Michael Lane contact, scholar and activist was a walker back in 1978 and he is walking once again this year.  There are several topics in the interview that for many people are not familiar and if there are aspects of the interview that you wish to further explore please let us know so that we can cast clarity on the issues and concerns as well as some of the historical legislative doctrines and Acts of Congress that are mentioned.  You can find more information by visiting the Longest Walk website http://www.longestwalk.us/ as well as their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/longestwalkwsc/.

The Ten Points of the Longest Walk
1. Support Indian Children: Or as Michael states Indigenous Children
2. Honoring Indigenous Women
3. Strengthen Inherent Indigenous Sovereignty
4. Create an Environmental Covenant
5. Repeal Public Law 280 and overturn the Plenary Power Doctrine
6. Land and Waters Clean Up Protection
7. Treaties, Lands and Customary Responsibilities
8. Strengthen and Assert Spiritual Freedom
9. Indigenous Knowledge
10. Just Transition
11. Alcohol and other Drugs

All of these topics are articulated in greater detail on the Censored News Blog spot https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2019/02/longest-walk-2019-11-point-plan.html

Their schedule is posted on Censored news https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2019/02/longest-walk-2019-route-schedule.html?m=1. If you are along their route helping support them with food and water would be so valuable as well as walking with them. Micheal is not asking for this but I know in doing such work supporting them in any way you are also walking with them. You are also in the ceremonial effort and active prayer by doing so. Thank you!

Monday, March 18, 2019

Why is the term "Indigenous Sovereignty" so confusing?

Dear Friends,
I recently held another conversation/interview with Micheal Lane, Indigenous scholar, and activist as he continues to walk and sometimes run across our nation within an active processional prayer to honor and remember the value within several aspects of Indigenous sovereignty.  This conversation will be aired in a couple of weeks on Our Ancient Lands podcast series.  Michael is participating along with many Indigenous peoples from Indigenous nations in our United States as well as non-Indigenous people who are joining to support this procession.

Why do I not use the typical Native American/American/Alaska Native,  terminology?

1. Indigenous people originate from the lands that define us.  We do not consider ourselves Indians.  Our peoples resided upon our homelands and many of us still do so.  Our regions hold original names for our peoples for thousands of years long before foreign encounters.  Though they have been renamed without any consciousness of the history or value of their significance within the region.
The "Indian" term was addressed for the Taino peoples in the Caribean who made up the Cuban ancestral population at the 1492 event.  Columbus's desire was to sail into East India and bring back merchandise to Queen Isabella of Spain.  Thus he purposely named the inhabitants "Indians" and the ignorant terminology has remained.  I personally believe this was an arrogant and lazy approach of the colonizers.  As such behavior leads me to devise there was no interest to educate themselves of the ancient peoples of this land.

2. Such terminology perpetuates distancing from 'us to them'.  If the people were referred to as their own nation it would be acknowledging them as a sovereign nation with respect.  Columbus was representing Spain (as he was commissioned by the Spanish Queen and a sovereign nation).  His first observation of the Indigenous Taino people where they were different and not European thus not eloquent or sophisticated to be his equals.  Relationships take time to develop and first glance impressions do not give us the complete picture of what we are seeing.  Columbus was also a slave merchant trader and this outlook on Indigenous peoples who he enslaved and sold was biased and established when he encountered the Taino peoples.  In fact, he took 500 of the Taino back to Queen Isabella in Spain as a gift and to boost his slave mercantile efforts.*  However, for Isabella, it was not in her interests.

As a scholar, I work very hard not to utilize the term Native American nor American Indian.  North America that is now termed was a continent of many sovereign peoples who independently governed themselves with the ancient (and I use the term "ancient" to define the many thousands of years of learning to live with respect and governance) understanding of sovereignty.  Not one Indigenous nation on the North American continent had the desire to take over all the lands from East to West and instill a dictatorial premise for all to have to live by. I am not stating there were conflicts in the earlier times but many were resolved before the colonial intent arrived.

I also do not refer to indigenous communities as "Tribes", that is another term that separates the peoples.  They did not refer to themselves as a tribe.  "Tribe" is another term of exclusivity now frequented in popular culture.  It has also been a term referring to people who were savage and undeveloped from a "civilized" gaze.

As we are all given a chance to learn and discover (with the access to social media and technology), we now know civilizations were built on knowledge and wisdom, technologies and philosophies taken (stolen) from Indigenous peoples and never given reference or acknowledgment of the advanced consciousness that they held or still do hold. Instead, the indigenous were enslaved and stripped of their rights and ownership of all they possessed.  Their knowledge was gleaned or literally wiped from the face of the region to ensure there is no trace. Thus establishing the dominance of the oppressive barbaric aggression of the newcomers.  We see this repeated throughout history within all the regions of the Earth by those that do not respect sovereignty but honor and respect dictatorship and colonization.  We also see this in research and new age circles that take from indigenous peoples with no referencing to establish their validity nor for the use of respectful authorships. All that is taken is made their own.

Why is indigenous sovereignty so confusing?

1.  The present consciousness has little concept of Indigenous.  Most of our commodities are foreign, there is very little utilized in the modern culture from the residing regions.  Most of us are not from the regions we live but say we are from where we live because we were born there or lived there as a child or moved there, yet have little understanding of the land itself or the history of its origins.  There is little interest or time taken in finding out or trying to learn about the region.  Much of indigenous environmental life has been killed or destroyed so the comforts and privileged needs are satisfied for the newcomers.

2. The actions of dominance and its demands have no consciousness of sovereignty.

In dictionary.com the definition of indigenous is: originating in and characteristic of a particular region or country; native (often followed by to): the plants indigenous to Canada; the indigenous peoples of southern Africa.

If people have been living in a region for thousands of years, there is no need to rebuild the region to make it a landscape that looks like one in Europe or India or Japan, etc when such areas were left behind.  That is what has been done in the civilized world and that is why we are now facing many concerns on many different levels.  If we go to another's lands we are there to visit and to learn from them.  We may even take up the language and try to have some kind of interaction and relationship.  If we go to the land and use all the resources and make them only available for what we have in our lives and disregard the importance of what has been offered through the local resources then there is no interaction nor relationship but rather terrorism enacted upon the environment.

Sovereignty is knowing that all peoples have a right to live and govern how they live through their own cultural heritage and beliefs.  Especially the people who still live upon their own homelands.

Indigenous people throughout the world, are praying to the Creators and all who can hear that the lands, the children, the spiritual beliefs and practices of their heritage can be respected in today's world by acknowledging how important it is for us all.

Those that can hear and wish to pray for all our ancestors as we are all indigenous from some region of our earth, please join us in reclaiming sovereignty for all peoples. (Peoples includes mineral, plant, animal, and human peoples)

Ka Molis!

*https://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/983