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Washita
Jul 1, 2008 15:55:47 GMT -5
Post by biggordie on Jul 1, 2008 15:55:47 GMT -5
Another valuable insight from a contributor who has many, and who is largely ignored.
Gordie
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Post by biggordie on Jun 19, 2008 9:09:48 GMT -5
Anyone who might be interested in owning one of these beautiful examples of NDN art, can find one for auction at eBay store WWolst12store. The current high bid is just under 170 dollars, and the auction ends in 10 hours and some odd minutes.
The only "mar" is that the silk "handle"is broken, but the vendor says that these are usually not found on the bags anyway. The size is, if I recall correctly, about seven and a half inches square, although it is not actually square, being slightly longer than wide. It is beaded both sides, and is offered as Woodland Indian, Iroquois. It is really beautiful.
I almost put on a bid, but it would have messed up my trip budget for next year..........
Gordie
PS - There is a McClellan saddle listed on the same site, for any horse people out there who might want to emulate the troopers of 1876. It appears to be in relatively good shape.
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Post by biggordie on Jun 16, 2008 17:20:22 GMT -5
gary: I don't know if this is your guy, but you might try www.askart.comGordie
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Post by biggordie on Jun 16, 2008 12:00:32 GMT -5
Thanks for the info/update. You are certainly correct about the media attention. Please continue to keep us all informed, clw.
Nature sure is a mother.......in more ways than one.
Gordie
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Post by biggordie on Jun 15, 2008 9:37:03 GMT -5
crawman:
I thought I recognized the accent. Good on ya, mate!! I remember thinking, when I saw your PM on TV, that our government should do likewise.
Gordie
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Post by biggordie on Jun 12, 2008 9:44:44 GMT -5
Thank you clw.
For those of you who might be interested - the first of the residential schools was founded in the 1870s and the last one was closed in 1996. Many of the structures were quite substantia. Some and have been converted to regular schools, some to NDN healing centers, and some to resorts operated by the local ndn peoples.
The government of Canada had entered into negotiations with representatives of the survivors, agreement was reached, and the settlement package mentioned in my previous post was passed by the parliament in 2005. It amounted to two billion dollars. The apology was seen as a necessary step in the healing process - by both "sides."
I'm sure that the "we didn't do it, so why should we have to apologize or pay" sentiment is not unknown in Canada, and I am not trying to hold us up as a model or as an example of what should be done. Our history is rife with racial problems for which we have apologized [and paid out settlements]. While we were the terminus of the Underground Railroad, and accepted runaway slaves and immigrants with only a minimum of discrimination, we also required Chinese men to pay a head tax to enter the country [and forbade women], interred Canadians of Japanese descent during WWII [and confiscated their property, never to be returned], and at one time refused to allow ships bearing East Indians to dock.
The government has apologized for all of this, at various times, and reparations have been legislated and paid. I think there may still be some negotiations with some Chinese descendants.
I think that part of the problem in the USA, if I may be allowed to comment, is that whatever settlement might be proposed could be seen as adding to the national deficit and debt - which it undoubtedly would, since your current government operates functional and structural deficits. In Canada, we have run surpluses for several years, and that two billion dollar settlement did not mean either additional taxes or a larger deficit. If the USA were to arrive at a commensurate sum for its past shortcomings and sins, God only knows how large it would be , and it might be that that amount, plus the fact that it would be seen as deleterious to the economy, is what causes the Congress to hesitate. We are also re-negotiating existing treaties with First Nations [several have been finalized] which also leads to more settlements in terms of cash, land and rights.
I don't know, of course - in the USA it may simply be a case of the powerful exercising one of the prerogatives of the powerful.
Gordie
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Post by biggordie on Jun 11, 2008 16:55:10 GMT -5
For more than a hundred years, the government of Canada funded residential schools for Indian children, which schools were operated by four major churches across Canada [with the exception of Newfoundland, which only joined Canada in 1949, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island]. It is estimated that more than 150,000 First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children were forceably removed from their homes and sent to these schools. Many suffered abuse, physical and sexual, and all were forbidden to speak their native languages, to practice their own religions, or to do anything remotely connected with their cultures.
The stated reason for these abductions was to assimilate these children into the culture of the majority - the white majority. The "experiment" failed miserably, although nobody in authority seemed to notice for over a hundred years. The result was fractured families, decimated communities, the loss of the matriarchal society which had prevailed, NDN children being adopted out to white families, substance abuse, "lost" people in the tenderloins of big cities, where they were neither NDN nor white and etc etc etc. The effects of the abuse are still being felt by thousands and it is estimated that there are now about 80,000 survivors of the residential school program. Many did not survive. Most never returned to their original communities. Suicides became just as frequent as they were predictable.
The program was disbanded several years ago, and a few years ago, the government reached an agreement with an association representing the survivors on a compensation package, the details of which are likely available somewhere on line.
Today, 11 June 2008, the Prime Minister of Canada rose in the House of Commons to apologize to the the First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples, especially those directly affected by the Indian Residential School Program for the failure of governments to recognize the wrongness of it all, for permitting the excesses to continue for so long, and for all of it, in detail and in toto. This apology, offered on behalf of Canada and all Canadians, was witnessed by aboriginal leaders seated in the well of the floor of the House, and was echoed by the leaders of the major political parties. The aboriginal leaders were allowed to speak, and several of them took advantage of the opportunity [the Rules of the House were suspended for the nonce].
Many First Nations people crowded the galleries of the Commons, and were allowed to applaud, yell, and even to beat a drum - all of which are normally forbidden [and for which I was once thrown out - 1969]. There were TV monitors installed outside the Parliament Buildings and a crowd of hundreds, perhaps thousands, was party to the goings-on inside, live as they went on. It was not uncommon to see tears being wiped from eyes, NDNs and members of parliament, as the speeches progressed - of course, being a manly man, I did not weep at all
It was a historical event. Aboriginal people gathered all across the country to watch the proceedings, from coast to coast, and I watched from my little attic, lending my applause to the rest.
Gordie
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Post by biggordie on Jun 10, 2008 17:16:07 GMT -5
Not to nitpick, but Yellowstone was designated as a National Park in 1873 or 1874 - before the LBH fights, at any rate.
I'll join Ms Ecoffey in a) hoping that Obama gets elected and b) that he or someone can lift the Pine Ridge people who need lifting out of their current straits.
I am a Canadian, so I have no horse in the race; but I think that it's about time somebody addressed the problems of both reservation and non-reservation NDNs. Most of the governments in Canada, federal and provincial, have made significant starts in the right direction, although I must admit that it is much easier to deal with the reserve bands than with the "free roamers" who have left the reserves, and find themselves at sea in the cities.
Not all of these latter people need any assistance from anybody, but a significant number of them do.
Gordie
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Post by biggordie on Jun 10, 2008 9:11:31 GMT -5
Please do. I am sure that others besides me will be interested. Thanks.
Gordie
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Post by biggordie on Jun 9, 2008 16:25:49 GMT -5
And you were right. McMurtry fessed up [somewhere] but most of his readers had no idea of whom he was talking about.
Gordie
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Post by biggordie on Jun 4, 2008 19:43:29 GMT -5
Dietmar:
Ich verstehe. Viele danke.*
Gordie
* gives me a chance to use my very limited vocabulary......
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Post by biggordie on Jun 4, 2008 10:09:27 GMT -5
Diane and Dietmar:
That being the case, BITTE do not consider shutting it down. That will merely drive those of us who are interested in the Little Horn fights to another forum where that subject can be discussed, or where facets of it can be ridiculed at leisure.
There is much too much very good information there to have it simply locked up and the key thrown away.
Gordie
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Post by biggordie on Jun 2, 2008 8:59:26 GMT -5
Thanks to both of you, particularly Dietmar, for having the foresight to envision the danger of losing this information and photographs should the other board disappear. Diane - you are to be commended for the hard work involved. Dietmar as well. It;s easy for me to say "Keep Slugging Away!!" since I don't have to do any of the slugging.
I'm joining strictly for the Friday dances.
Gordie
ps I sincerely hope that you have taken steps to preserve my posts on the Info site, since I would hate to have to make everything up again!!!
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