Roll Call for New Diaries Series Group for DailyKos

( – promoted by navajo)

You have just received an invite to join this blog. Please leave a comment with your Daily Kos screen name and let us know you are signed up.

Thanks again for volunteering to help us focus attention on pro-active and preventative applications to improve current conditions on our Nation’s neediest reservations.

We will create a diary series devoted to bringing attention to conditions on our reservations and promoting long term solutions such as alternative energy, green housing, creating jobs, emergency responding plans, etc.

We have contacts now on:

Rosebud

cacamp (Carter Camp)

SarahLee

Pine Ridge

Autumn TwoBulls (not signed up yet here or Dkos)

Navajo

navajo (I don’t live there but have many contacts)

I believe some of you live near rezs, let us know.

It would be nice to eventually have a contact on each rez.

Check in below and feel free to tell us a little about yourself, maybe what state you live in and anything to help us develop an understanding of each other.

Group Name Ideas from 4Freedom:

First Response for First Americans

Americans Support Native Americans

Native Relief

Relief for Native Americans in Need

Helping to Right Centuries of Wrong for Native Americans

Native American Aid Network (NAAN)

The Honor Society for First Americans

Sharing and Caring for Native Americans

Aid for Native Neighbors

Native Aid

The Native American Relief Network (NARN)

We Will Not Forget Our Native Neighbors

Native American Response Network (NARN)

Network for Native American Need (NNAN)

Help Now for Native Americans

First American Relief Effort (FARE)

Emergency Relief for Native Americans (ERNA)

Help for Native Americans

Support for Our Native Brothers and Sisters

American Outreach to Native Americans (AONA)

Americans Reach Out to Native Americans (ARONA)

The Circle of Support for Native Americans (COSNA)

Native Peoples’ Need Network

First American Service Team (FAST)

Group Name Idea from Kimberley:

Serious Reservations

Group Name Idea from Aji:

Sacred Lands

Group Name Ideas from ParkRanger:

Renewing Reservations Netroots

Greening the Rez

Rez Green Energy Renewal Group

Rez Green Energy Group

Sacred Lands Renewal

Sacred Lands Netroots

Sacred Lands Green Energy Transformation

Sacred Lands Green Energy Renewal

Sacred Lands Green Energy Group

24 Comments

  1. I live in Maryland (obviously). I have been interested in Native American causes for a long time. I’ve donated money to the Fools Crow Foundation for years. That money has gone to paying for food and utilities mostly. However, my primary interests are in figuring out how to help the native americans become self-sufficient. I guess I’ve always been a “give a man a fish and he eats for a day…” kind of guy.

    Along those lines, I’m looking for ways to increase employment (with native-owned businesses preferable), using wind/solar to make them more energy independent, improve the schools so the kids become skilled adults, job training for adults, etc. A prerequisite for much of that is infrastructure improvements.

    Don’t know what I can do from here, but am willing to try.  

  2. Another Marylander, here.

    In my prior life, I was an emergency management specialist, working with tribal, federal, state and local government officials (and an occasional embassy) on a variety of policy and planning issues. Before that, I worked in the energy field as a geologist/geophysicist and mapping specialist.

    Have been told that I have some promise as a squeaky wheel.  Over a period of a decade, I helped advocacy groups promote legislation on Capitol Hill and hound  government agencies for accountability.  Currently looking for new dragons to slay. 😉

  3. I bet you can guess my state!  😉

    I am an attorney doing mostly commercial litigation.  If we want to set up a charity, I’m your girl…I’ve done the process before and get a good deal of help from the attorneys in our tax department.

  4. Born and raised in Germany, moved to Louisiana 30 years ago.

    I’ve been following all the diaries on dkos, unable to help and feeling very frustrated and disgusted with gov’t agencies not willing to do their job and leaving people to suffer. Pretty much the same feelings I had during Katrina when my son was turned away,at gun point, when he tried to get into Nola. I realized then we are on our own and it’s up to us to help each other. Our gov’t has turned its back on us.

    Been looking for a full time job for 2 years and gave up so now I’m in the process, however slow, to built my own business and hope to be financially more secure shortly.(Hell, I still have tarp on my roof from Gustav.It’s mosty blue and it keeps the water out. So it’s all good!)

    I agree, we need to take care of housing improvements first. Can we start a building fund?

    Whatever I can do please tell me.  

  5. Live in the San Francisco Bay Area as an assimilated Indian.

    My mother was part of the government’s boarding school program. Her story is the typical one of physical and mental abuse and erasing her culture.  She was taken away at early grade school age (my grandparents hid half their children in Inscription House canyon and gave the other half to the gov.)  My mother left the rez and married my white father.  

    You can take the girl outta the rez but you can’t take the rez outta the girl.

    I have many relatives on the rez and we visited them every summer.  My grandfather and uncle (now deceased) were medicine men and widely revered.  They lived traditionally and retained our culture.  I have many fond memories of them.

    I visit my cousins at least once a year on the rez.

    I have always been concerned about all tribes.  I am really pleased that we have kossacks cacamp and SarahLee in our group.  They will be important advisors.

    I’m pleased that we are starting this group and look forward to all the good things we can accomplish as the Netroots.

  6. Being a bit slow, I posted my info in the profile section, not here. Here’s what I added:

    At 68, my work to increase the peace continues. I have been actively involved in progressive politics since my teens. At present, I own a health food store, research health concerns, history, and politics, and am writing a book on self care.

    I live in Vermont with my son and husband, and am active in my local and state Democratic committees. I strongly support the work of Native American Netroots, and will help wherever I can.

  7. I live in Kitsap County, Washington. Kitsap County is one of the few places I know of in the U.S. that is named for a Native American, and it was so named in 1857, during a meeting to organize a county government. Originally it was named Slaughter County by the state legislature, but less than a year later, the residents of the area voted to rename it after Chief Kitsap of the Suquamish.

    I grew up in Berkeley, CA, and learned a fair amount in public schools in that city about the Native Americans of California; we did a year on California history and naturally the local Native American nations and how they lived were a significant part of that teaching. I moved up here to Washington state 11 1/2 years ago and have observed a fair amount about how our Indian peoples are treated here; ask some of our Native American nations about the great difficulties they have, to this day, in establishing their “credentials” for existing. Heck, ask the Makah about being hassled by white people for catching a whale. They have a treaty right to go whaling, the only Native nation in the lower 48 that does, and in recent years they have built a traditional whaling canoe and caught ONE whale. Oh, the outcry! I do not see these same white people protesting the ongoing Japanese whaling by hassling Japanese people or Japanese American people, yet people seemed to feel at the time that it was just fine to hassle Native Americans, whether or not those Native Americans were Makah or had gone whaling. So Native American issues have been much on my mind. Then there was the treatment of the Native American village site on the grounds where the DOT wanted to construct the pontoons for the Hood Canal replacement, and the huge outcry from locals about how the Native Americans were making too big of a deal about it. I would bet that if it were discovered to be a historic white settlement, that these same people would insist the pontoon building area be moved.

    Makes me ashamed to be white. So much of whites’ treatment of peoples of color does.

    And I have observed in traveling through Canada that their First Nations peoples are treated with far greater respect. I have never seen stop signs and other road signs in any Indian language in the U.S. but there they are right along the highway in the Yukon Territory.

    Our tiny little amount of Blackfeet ancestry has been a point of pride in our family since before I can remember; I do not know the name of my ancestress, but she was on my mother’s side, long long ago. I am still white because my Indian ancestry is nowhere near enough to claim anything else.

    I’ve been politically active since I counted my age in single digits. My folks took me to March on Washington to see Dr. King; I was three. I remember going to sit-ins with my mother in Berkeley. I remember helping to plant People’s Park. I remember holding mock elections with my mother’s sample ballot after she’d finished voting; we kids held secret elections by going into the closet to mark our votes on the ballot, all with the same pen, so that nobody would see who voted for what (all of this my idea, including the elections). I have never NOT been politically active that I remember.

    My first name is River, and I live in Kitsap County, thus the handle. There is actually no body of water called the Kitsap River.

  8. Greetings all.  I am Caddo and Seneca with a lot of French and misc. stuff mixed in, but live in Lakota Country – been a resident on the Rosebud since 1992.  

    This group interest me – but with a caveat.  There have been a lot of non-Indian groups organized to supposedly help Native Americans and thus there are websites and blogs deploring horrible conditions and poverty and pleading for help.  

    Well, yeah, help is frequently needed and I love that the folks on Daily Kos have stepped up to help so many with energy needs during this harsh winter.  But I want to tell you quite frankly – articles that reflect only the poverty and harshness – the bad parts of reservation life – make me hesitant to join in.  I am unwilling to discuss some of what I feel about it on a site that Google can search.

    Our kids here and on other reservations have access to the Internet.  They use it to research for school or their own knowledge just as we do.  I don’t want them searching and finding so little positive about their lives and their homes.  

    I love this country and I love the people and the many wonderful things people have taken the time to teach and show me.  There is much that is depressing and much that is beautiful beyond my abilities to describe.

    What I would love to be part of would be a group that searched out and found the positive and emphasized that.  If there is a group building energy efficient homes and we could highlight that story and maybe contribute to another home being built I would love it.  

    The Rosebud Sioux Tribe (RST) has an economic development program and sadly, I have not kept up on all of what they are doing so I might be willing to do a story on that – maybe feature a few of the folks they are helping. Maybe there is a grandmother selling quilts to help buy her propane.  Wouldn’t it be great to help sell a bunch for her?

    I think that somehow we should try to figure out how to tell the story of needs within a story of something being done – even one person at a time – to create longer term solutions.  

    Or maybe we figure out how to start a microlending project like focusing on Native American Communities.

    Just to be clear – I have no problem when there is a disaster like Cheyenne River suffered and hardship with winter fuel bills – asking for help for that and calling on folks to bug the hell out of the media for not covering it.  I am very proud of the work that has been done at Daily Kos on this and the help that has been provided.  As I wrote in a comment – word has gotten to me via our moccasin telegraph of how happy you all have made some people.  

    We could do a story on the Valandras and her business in St. Francis (she has a little gas station/convenience store there as well) – and of course give the LIHEAP offices on all the reservations can probably take donations for their emergency funds all year long. Once the weather is a little better, I would be happy to interview Eileen Shot at the Rosebud LIHEAP office about the needs her office meets (an bug her to help us get a way to make online contributions easier.)

    I really am so happy so many of you want to dig in and find a way to help.  Please understand that my hesitancy is a kind of confused one.  Suicide by our youth has been a growing problem.  I am not wise enough or connected enough to understand why that is or just what is going on [I’ve worked at home in a pretty isolated place for a long time and just started working out of an office in town this past Dec.] – but it would break my heart if I did anything that contributed to whatever it is that is creating that kind of despair.  They need to find hope for a beautiful future.  Knowing they are not alone or forgotten is one part of that – shining a light on the positive in their communities is another.

    I am rambling because I guess I am not clear in my own head about this.

  9. I’m Anishinabe. My people are from Saskatchewan. I live in Western Montana where I’m a retired pollster who teaches as an adjuct at a small rural community college. Among other things, I teach a couple of Indian courses (Indians of Montana, Indians of North America).

    I serve as a ceremonial leader (run sweats among other things) for the intertribal community here. I used to dance on the powwow circuit, but I’m a little old for that now and can no longer do it.  

    I’m an alcoholic with nearly 41 years of sobriety. I’m involved with sobriety sweats and talking circles.

    Migwitch.

  10. from Daily Kos using the same username as over there. Real name is Dennis, and I live near Des Moines, Iowa.

    I have donated to Pine Ridge for 3 years now during the winter, this time directly to a family through Autumn TwoBulls.

    I’ve been unemployed since last July, but doing what I can to help again this winter.

    Best,

    Dennis

  11. I feel so hopeful and uplifted from the strength and positive words in your comments.

    I will shortly be 62 and will have time to devote to the cause. I can offer skills of research and writing from my home.  I expect my financial situation to improve in a couple of months and could then help with phone calls. I have experience with graphic software from a job in the 80’s and 90’s.  I want to get PhotoShop and when I do that is a skill I could offer.

    I don’t want to step on any toes, but I have had a dream for many years of combining the best of our technology with the Native American spirituality and respect for the land. I love your idea of using solar energy and green buildings. My dream was that the homes be organic in design and materials — both beautiful, natural and practical.  There has been so much progress in those areas.

    I know this goes beyond your mission, but I would love to find a way to renew the land they live on so that they can support themselves financially and see beauty when they look around their homes and land. For example, I am into herbs, supplements and natural healing.  I’ve often wondered if they would be interested in growing and selling herbs.  Native Americans have much to offer for natural healing.

    There are famous people and foundations that might support these efforts. Robert Redford has been interested in Native American rights and the environment.  Bill Clinton has been working to support the enviroment with green initiatives.

    I would volunteer to research organizations and individuals that are possibilities for green building, materials, ideas and financial support if you are interested.

    I began college in forestry in the mid-60’s, but took a different path. The name ParkRanger just popped into my head when I signed up for DailyKos.  It reflects my desire for harmony and to protect and serve this beautiful earth.

    I’m so excited by the possibilities of this project! Thank you for this opportunity.

    Suzanne (ParkRanger at DKos)

     

  12. I was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. I currently live just outside of Denver and, until recently, telecommuted investigative and due diligence reports to a business intelligence firm back in Connecticut. Prior to that, I spend many years at Denver International Airport on Cargo Row in many different capacities and attended Colorado Aero Tech to become an A&P (aircraft mechanic).

    I believe my interest in, and sensitivity to, Native American issues arises from being Irish. I have a lot of empathy for the very complex relationship that American Indians have with this society and this country. I want to be there for people in grave peril because, frankly, I wish somebody had done it for my ancestors. And I want to be there to help people strengthen themselves and be in charge of their own future. On the other hand, I don’t ever want to represent assistance that threatens autonomy, culture and identity or corrodes self-confidence.

    But enough about me.

    I had a couple of other ideas to throw into the hat, for the name:

    Aurora Netroots American Indian Project

    Why Aurora? Because of its associations: spring, dawn, solar, wind, interconnected fields, beauty.

    Aurora Netroots Reservation Self-Reliance Project

    This one appeals to me because it indicates a clear respect and advocacy of sovereignty.

    Your mileage may vary. 😉

    Thank you all for allowing me to be a part of this.

  13. I’m a bi-lingual, bi-cultural expat in Germany, and while I mostly translate for a living, my real passion is teaching. Right now I teach English to German businesspeople (at a smaller Siemens company) two days a week. My favorite subject is intercultural awareness. But I have many, many other interests, as well: Alternative energy and everything to do with stopping the destruction of our environment, organic gardening (bio-dynamic principles), etc. etc.

    Many years ago I was told by a mystic that I have Native American blood in my veins. Well, I don’t know about that, but I have felt a kinship with our first inhabitants for as long as I can remember, though personally I’ve had very little direct experience (a little hard to do as I’ve spent more than half my life in Germany).

    I’m happy to contribute whatever skills I can to raising awareness about the incredibly rich Native American cultures, from which we can learn so much, and contributing my part to foster self-sufficiency on the reservations, e.g. help build small businesses and decent housing (I’ve done some research on Habitat for Humanity, for example and found a couple of interesting links, and this one, which could be helpful, but needs pretty quick action:

    Emphasizing and promoting the positive would be important to me, too. Having had my own addiction demons to cope with and conquer in the past, I have a great deal of empathy concerning that particular issue, as well, and understand how difficult it is to heal an injured and/or broken spirit. But it can be done, and I hope we can help make it happen.

    So my wish list is extremely long…

    Name for our group? I would love something like First Nations Netroots, without any mention of support or help, but I’ll defer to the wishes of our indigenous friends, of course. We all belong to the same family, and helping each other should be the norm, NOT the exception. This wonderful project could/will be a huge learning experience for all of us equally, if we are willing to embrace it all – the ups as well as the downs.

  14. ok Kat Loveland hehe. At any rate I am in AZ, don’t have any exciting past history to talk about but I want to help.

    I think maybe if we do a photo series with interviews from the people that live there and put it on youtube it could help, or even if someone has a camorder start going out and filming people on the rezzes and put them on youtube, make them go Viral and you will get a lot of attention.

    From a selfish standpoint I would love to go do a photo series and publish it but I am in AZ and would probably need some help to get out there. ( I am getting into photography and would love to do a story like this). I would love to do the video as well but I am sure that someone closer already has all the equipment.

    As far as the self sufficiency part, microloans rock as well as getting them hooked up on solar. I think the other important thing would me to have people that know trades like plumbing, electrician etc volunteer to go out and teach the trades to the Native Americans. That way they can maintain their own pipes etc.

    Just a thought.  

  15. The name should be something simple. Succinct.

    Native American Rights Clearinghouse.

    Oh, crap! that’s NARC.

    Kidding….

    Replace “Rights” with “Program” !

    NARP

    Native Americans Safety and Health.

    NASH

    I don’t really like acronyms, but the people will decide.  

  16. I was born and raised in Des Moines, Iowa

    When I was 16 I ran away from home and spent a lot of time in the West. That was my first exposure to the rez and the beginning of my knowledge of the lies I was taught as I grew up.

    In later years I became involved in learning and living Native American ways, primarily. It is truly a gift the Elders and other people that the Creator put in my path, I don’t believe I would be alive today if not for that.

    “God Is Red” and “Custer Died For Your Sins” was the beginning of an awakening and a journey that continues today.

    There is much more to my story, but for now enough.

    I am very enthused, excited, and passionate about being part of this group, a part of solutions.

    In December I left Iowa and moved to the Bay Area.

    My journey continues and I am grateful this is a part of it.  

  17. I live in New Jersey, and  work for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (my “day job”). I’m also very involved in the battle against the religious right’s revisionism of American history and other church/state separation issues.

    I became aware of what’s happening on the South Dakota reservations through a friend whose daughter is friends with a young filmmaker who’s currently making a documentary about Leonard Peltier. My friend asked me a few weeks ago if I would write something on the blogs about the rez’s, and, well, you all know what that started!!!

  18. finally got my username to work. Yes! Thanks, navajo…

    I’m in the Puget Sound area (Kirkland, east of Seattle and on the other side of Lake Washington). I’m semi-familiar with Washington state Native American issues in a hazy way (mother grew up on Yakima tribal lands in the early part of the 1900’s – in those days, it was “Yakima”, not “Yakama”), and have some limited grasp of California and Oregon’s historical background as regards Native Americans.

    Further info? Here’s on Dailykos’ About page for anyone who’s interested:

    exmearden, 51, is a writer, mother of three adult children, newly minted grandmother, and lifelong Pacific Northwesterner, aside from a brief habitation in LA and San Francisco in the early 1980’s. Her first memories of politics are pegged to family dinner discussions at a certain yellow formica table in a small coastal Oregon motel owned and operated by her “Kennedy Democrat” parents in the 1960’s.

    Once upon a time, exmearden had thoughts of becoming a professional golfer, a hermit driftwood sculptor, a CIA agent, a maritime attorney, or a civil war historian. Real life endeavors in advertising, property management, high school teaching, library research, a two-week stint as a an X-rated film projectionist, software trainer for the Air Force Reserve, and her subsequent two decades in the software industry persuaded her that alternative paths also offer a curious narrative.

    exmearden resides with most of the loves of her life – her two younger adult daughters, three pug-a-poos, and two pomeranians – in a suburb of the greater Seattle area, the city of her birth in 1958. Additionally, she lives with cardiac angiosarcoma and each month she goes on a five day “chemo” vacation hosted at the University of Washington Medical Center in liaison with Seattle Cancer Care Alliance.

     

  19. I am the director of ConsciousAlliance.org.  we are a

    501-c based in Boulder, Colorado that provides emergency food relief in reservation communities.  We have a full time food pantry in Pine Ridge managed by Floyd and Natalie Hand.  We also provide services in Lame Deer, Montana through Phillip whiteman, Jr. and Lynette Two Bulls.  We have a 7 year history, and have delivered over 1 million pounds of food (not all to res communities, we also did disaster relief during Hurricane Ike and Katrina and some to local food banks).  We raise funds working with rock bands and music festivals selling posters, and doing special fundraising events.  You can learn about us at    

    My KOS handle is the same as here:  Buffalo50  

    One comment I have, is to really work hard to educate Americans that the economic isolation of these northern plains reservations is a chronic crisis, and goes beyond just one blizzard event.

    Bob Titley

  20. I was told to come in by one of your friendly users.

    I have to say I don’t know much how to use it but it looks great!!

    I tried to post my first diary and had that mistake: java.sql.SQLException: Incorrect string value: ‘xE2x87x92One…’ for column ‘mainText’ at row 1

    What is wrong? 😉

    Apart from that here is an introduction to who we are.

    We are a group of people that decided to gather in one place all the help for South Dakota Reservations (mainly Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Crow Creek, Lower Brule and Cheyenne River). We are present in Facebook and Twitter and we are guiding people into their donations. We are not an organisation so we don’t take money. We go through charities and people and check if they are legit or scams. Little by little, we’re setting up a list of legit organisations – where it is safe to donate. We have people on the spot, living on the reservations that tell us who is efficient and who is not. We cooperate with the tribal leaders (Theresa Two Bulls and Joseph Brings Plenty for exemple).

    We inform as well on the latests news on the SD rez (mainly on Twitter – @SupportSDrez) and the latest scams to avoid, etc…On Facebook, we have a forum for people that want to meet up and organize collection points for their donations like clothing ().

    I saw you had a list of users to represent rez. If you want to, we can represent Pine Ridge, Lower Brule, Crow Creek and Cheyenne River. Some of us are living there. There are more infos on who we are (personally) on our Facebook group: ….

    If you have any query or concern about an org or listings of people to help, please feel free to contact us. We will check this for you!

  21. I live in Connecticut. I don’t know if I belong here other than by interest. My husband was supposed to have been part Cherokee, though not ever enrolled his family lived bin Kentucky and West Virginia. I work in a distance learning school, teaching high school online.

  22. I just got the chance to read these intros. It’s a nice and diverse group with many skills. Thank each and every one of you for your interest and desire to help my people. With some hard work and good cheer we can accomplish a lot. Carter

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