DUTCH OVEN STEW

DUTCH OVEN STEW: MRS DORIS ALLISON; JACKSON MOVEMENT; THOMAS AND MIMI ARE MARRIED AND OTHER IDAHO NOTES; LUPUS; NATIVE MATTERS -- BLM, BIA, NATIVE BURIAL PROTECTION, AND TRADITIONAL MEDIATION EFFORTS AND TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY [HUNTER BEAR] AUGUST 20/21 AND SEPTEMBER 1 2004

NOTE BY HUNTER BEAR: SEPTEMBER 1 2004

This short obit of our dear friend and colleague, Mrs Doris Allison, is done
at the request of Bruce Hartford, intrepid webmaster of Civil Rights
Movement Veterans, http://www.crmvet.org/ Still very early in an Idaho
mountain morning, I've been up with my Bobcat/cat for several hours
listening, appropriately, to the soundtrack of Legends of the Fall.
________________________________________________________________

Mrs Doris Allison, life long civil rights activist at Jackson, Mississippi;
close friend of many decades; died at her home at Jackson on August 27,
2004. With her husband, Ben, who survives she is Godparent of my
grandson/son, Thomas, himself half Mississippi Choctaw of Red Water [Leake and Neshoba] roots. She lived virtually her entire life in Mississippi and, while I never quite had the courage to ask her precise age, I know she
almost reached 90. Consistently devoted to the Movement and its ideals and always to the sterling memory of Medgar Wiley Evers, her mind was as clear as a mountain stream all the way through. When Medgar became in 1954 the first NAACP Field Secretary in Mississippi, she played for him a key supportive role. In the turbulent beginning of the '60s, as heavy storm
clouds gathered over the Magnolia State, she became President of the Jackson Branch of the NAACP. On May 12, 1963, she joined Medgar and myself [Advisor, Jackson Youth Council of NAACP] in signing the "throw down the gauntlet" letter to all of the components of the Mississippi economic and political power structure -- which moved our Jackson Boycott Movement into the massive, nonviolent [and very, very bloodily attacked] Jackson Movement which numbered many, many thousands of youth and adult demonstrators. She was one of the first adults arrested during the mass phase of the Jackson Movement and a large photo on the front page of the Jackson Daily News shows Captain J.L. Ray seizing her and her picket sign on downtown Capitol Street, outside the embattled Woolworth store.

Over the many decades, she and Ben faithfully supported every Freedom
Movement in Mississippi. And she was also, I should personally add, a
generous and wonderful -- and legendary -- cook.

I recall an interesting colloquy between herself and Medgar as the storm
clouds were beginning to break into thunder and lightning in late May, 1963. The state newspapers were screaming constantly about "communism."

"What's all this communism business?" Mrs Allison asked Medgar.

He thought for a moment, then said, "It can mean taking from the rich and
giving to the poor."

"Sounds good to me," said she. But, of course, she formally remained --
with Ben -- a very good Catholic indeed.

With her passing, a beautiful mountain has now lifted 'way high into the Sky and Beyond. Her great courage, and that of Ben, will always be with us.

Hunter Gray/Hunter Bear [John R Salter, Jr] See my Jackson, Mississippi: An American Chronicle of Struggle and Schism, Krieger, 1987.

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR] Micmac /St. Francis Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk
www.hunterbear.org
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´
and Ohkwari'

In our Gray Hole, the ghosts often dance in the junipers and sage, on the
game trails, in the tributary canyons with the thick red maples, and on the
high windy ridges -- and they dance from within the very essence of our own inner being. They do this especially when the bright night moon shines down on the clean white snow that covers the valley and its surroundings. Then it is as bright as day -- but in an always soft and mysterious and
remembering way. [Hunter Bear]

JACKSON MOVEMENT 1962-63 [8/16/04] H

[Falling leaves or not, all your work and words, and those of the Allisons, Medgar Evers, Dr. King --all of the world's Freedom Fighters -- have sent inestimable energy into the universe. Your collective goodness will always go on and have power.
-- Alice M. Azure]

It is not easy to see the leaves fall -- whether they are dipped in blood or
yellowed by the many honorable years of great struggle.

Mrs Doris Allison, long-time Mississippi civil rights activist for virtually
all of her almost 90 years is profoundly ill at Jackson. Her husband, Ben,
also a life-long fighter for fine causes, is even a bit older than she.

I have just spoken at length with them.

We all worked closely together in some hideous and glorious crucibles. On
May 12, 1963, following extensive consultation in the Black community, we
prepared and sent this letter to all key components of the Magnolia economic and political power structure. See the letter at this Link on Lair of
Hunterbear http://www.hunterbear.org/a_piece_of__the_scrapbook.htm
Here, again from the same page on our website, is the situation in whose
increasingly bloody context we wrote:

"Throwing down the gauntlet to the Mississippi power structure: May 12,
1963. I made the motion before a special meeting of the Mississippi State
Board of NAACP Branches -- of which I was the only non-Black member --
which sought the broadening of the Jackson Boycott into a massive
non-violent protest movement. My motion was approved unanimously.
Following this, Medgar Evers and I went to my house at Tougaloo College and I then typed this individual letter many times: to Governor Ross R. Barnett, Mayor Allen C. Thompson, City Commission, Bankers Association, Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Jackson Association, Junior Chamber of Commerce, and the Mississippi Economic Council. Medgar and I signed each letter at that point and he left for Jackson to get Mrs. Doris Allison's signature. The power structure, dominated by the powerful White Citizens Council, stonewalled.

It brought in thousands of (white) " law enforcement officers " -- the many
hundreds of Jackson city police, the thousand member Jackson police
auxiliary, sheriffs and deputies and constables from every one of
Mississippi's 82 counties, the entire Mississippi Highway Patrol, and
finally the National Guard. Turning the State Fairgrounds into a gigantic
concentration camp, it arrested thousands of our people. Klan types poured into Jackson from the entire region. Medgar was murdered, I was almost killed, and now -- decades later -- Mrs. Doris Allison and I talk by phone at least once a week. My collected papers are held by the Mississippi State Department of Archives and History (as well as at State Historical Society of Wisconsin) and I am a Life Member of the august Mississippi State Historical Society."

Medgar signed the letter as Mississippi State NAACP Field Secretary, Mrs
Allison as President of the Jackson Branch of NAACP, and I signed as the
Advisor to the Jackson NAACP Youth Council. One month later, Medgar was
shot and killed from ambush. A week later, I [Chair of the Strategy
Committee of the Jackson Movement] was seriously wounded and nearly killed in a rigged auto wreck which also badly wounded and almost killed my passenger colleague, the Reverend Ed King. My car was destroyed.

Doris and Ben Allison, like our family, are Catholic. They are Godparents
of my grandson/son, Thomas.

We do not want these leaves to fall. The Allison need all our prayers and
good wishes.

Fraternally and In Solidarity -

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR] Micmac /St. Francis Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk

[Note by Hunter Bear: 8/16/04

The Save the World Business always enlists a very wide range of fine
troopers. And it always will. The types of courage are many indeed -- but
courage it always is as one and then many push into and finally through the
Darkness and to the Sun and on to the next Mountain. Sometimes this is
marked by high and blood-dimmed drama but often -- very often -- is
downright hard, tedious and grinding. And that for sure can be the toughest pull of all! I consider myself privileged to know many -- like the
members of this [BWB and some others] List and David McReynolds himself -- who exemplify committed flint under the pine needles. Hunter Bear

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From David McReynolds: 8/16/04

Often I wonder if the younger comrades in the movement have any idea of the heroism, the raw incredible heroism, above and beyond any reasonable call of duty, led those in the South. What a debt the Republic owes them. What an example they set. And what a grand accomplishment.

All leaves fall, but all seasons change, and new life springs from the
chill of autumn, the bleakness of winter.

As Catholics, you can find it easier to believe this, perhaps, than some of
us who aren't. But it is true all the same.

Peace,
David

You're right, Hunter, it certainly is not easy to see some leaves
fall. I've witnessed the loss of some of our elder activists here, and
realised with a pang of regret that I had not yet heard all the wisdom
they had to give. Maybe that's an impossible dream - some wisdom is not
easily transferable by words.
That is one of the values of this list, where elder activists (and i
don't necessarily use 'elder' as indicative of age) such as yourself,
Bill Mandel, Sam - and others who I apologise for forgetting in this
small example, can pass on to many people at a time, your accumulated
wisdom.

Steve Harvey [8/16/2004]

VARIOUS THINGS: TOM AND MIMI ARE MARRIED; NEW PHOTO OF ME; IDAHO NOTES; LUPUS; AND MORE [8/18/04] H

Big, Big Doings: Thomas [my grandson/son] and Mimi Chilinda [from Zambia] have just gotten married! Fine development.

Thomas has just taken a new photo of me which I much like and which will go on our Lair of Hunterbear website for the next several months. Consensus is that I look much better, certainly not wasting away, and gone is the haunted, desperate look of Lupus. We are making a few commentary
adjustments here and there on our Lair website -- which can be noted in due course by folks. If interested, the new photo can be seen at -

http://www.hunterbear.org/directory.htm

We intend to kill this Lupus. If I could do it with my Ruger Single Six .22
mag revolver -- or one of my lever action 45/70s [Marlin and Winchester] --
I would do so in a flash. Otherwise -- in addition to the medicine [most of
which I hate]-- good nutrition and much, much exercise and intensive
concentration may all combine to send it forever into the Canyon That Has No Bottom. Prayers and good thoughts are certainly welcome from the Four Directions. We do not accept the premise of the medics that I can expect neither cure nor meaningful remission.

I [and a family member or two] continue to walk regularly with Hunter
[Shelty] up into the steep hills that rise high immediately above our home.
It's demanding as hell but we keep at it. We live, of course, on the far
far upper edge of the Pocatello "frontier" and only a stone's toss to the
Bureau of Land Management border and the public lands. Great view of great mountains.

It is raining here and much more is scheduled. There was heavy snow last
winter and early spring -- and then rain through the spring and well into
this summer. Following a very brief dry spell, we now have much more coming down from the pleasantly dark skies. Flood warnings are out in the lower elevations -- Snake River and the much smaller Portneuf -- and reservoirs are filling fast.

It's starting into the 40s at night and one of our many trees, a Lombardy
Poplar [the historic Mormon tree in the Intermountain West], is losing some
leaves. Game -- deer, elk, moose, coyotes, cats et al -- is beginning to
move down from the higher elevations. Coyotes are doing much nearby howling at night.

The absolutely devastating Western drought is over in these parts -- and
some other regions. Fall is moving into Idaho.

And, of course, we all continue to vigorously support the very promising
grassroots populist campaign of Lin Whitworth which aims to take the Second Congressional seat presently held by right winger, Mike Simpson. [Long time labor activist Brother Whitworth is the grandfather of my youngest daughter's very special friend indeed, Cameron Evans, a staunch IBEW member.]

In the mountains of Eastern Idaho.

Nialetch/Onen

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR] Micmac /St. Francis Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk

[Hunter:
Your posts like yesterday's on the Bureau of Land Management and the
Bureau of Indian Affairs are truly educational to me and I am sure to many
non-Indians who simply lack or, in my case, have very outdated information on these matters. Bill Mandel 8/20/04]

FROM HUNTER BEAR

Thanks for your good note, Macdonald. BLM has not [in my awareness] stolen Indian land -- legally it could not if it wished because of the treaties
[Article 6, Section 2 of US Constitution and Native resistance as well] --
and, while BIA has certainly not been a consistently dependable advocate or fiscal trustee, it doesn't simply watch while land theft is attempted. The
recent Shoshone situation in Nevada was more complex than some indicated or were aware -- but BLM's lack of sensitivity and social response in that situation eventually left much to be desired and was obviously negative. But, on the whole, BLM -- not anti-Native at all -- has done a pretty solid job in regulating grazing, water, mineral development and maintaining genuine public lands over vast areas. It has no jurisdiction, of course, on the reservations. It can often become involved in many individual lease situations [grass, water etc], including occasionally non-trust Native ones. And it plays as significant role as it can -- and a generally effective one -- in keeping land "developers" and their projects at reasonable arm's length. This is not easy in settings where the Western towns are often mushrooming into big cities -- sometimes on an almost overnight basis. BLM, BIA, and the US Forest Service [we are quite close as well to the Caribou National Forest] are consistently under heavy fire by the Sagebrush Rebellion and anti-Native outfits and other assorted right wing crusades -- as well as by more insidious attack from the corporations et al.

Many of us, of course, want the tribal nations to regain all [temporarily]
lost sovereignty and secure full criminal and civil jurisdiction over their
lands and all people thereon.

Say hello to the Land of Flint for me.

As Ever - H
HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR] Micmac /St. Francis Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk

MORE NATIVE MATTERS -- BLM AND BIA, AND NATIVE BURIAL PROTECTION [8/18/04] H

Dear Macdonald:

Let me endeavour to respond.

Native treaties, always under pressure and often attack by corporate and
related interests, are -- as I said -- part of the "supreme law of the land"
[Article 6, Section 2, US Constitution] and tend to be [but not always]
upheld by the Federal courts, especially USSC, and certainly via Native
insistence and resistance.

Leases are now generally no more than 25 years -- instead of the 99 years
that they were once. Native tribal agreement is always required for any
lease of any Native trust land or Native natural resources thereon:
reservation or allotment.

Ranchers who lease via BLM lease only off-res and then only the grass and
the water. BLM, as I mentioned, has many running fights -- not with Indians on Indian lands but on non-Indian land with land developers and oil and mining outfits. [We have a good local friend who is a mining engineer with BLM and who watches those outfits very carefully.]

The US Bureau of Indian Affairs has within it many fine people -- a great
many of whom are Native staff and leadership -- and has changed greatly for the better since 1933 and the Roosevelt administration with its excellent BIA commissioner, John Collier. Since that period, the Bureau has gone up and down and down and up but most certainly cannot be dismissed in a cavalier fashion as being only interested in "hunting and fishing rights!" That is a totally inaccurate characterization. It does much good work on many critical fronts and many Natives don't want to see it go by the board but do feel it should be given cabinet status, there should more Native control, etc. [As I have mentioned, BIA hasn't always been a consistently effective advocate or fiscal trustee.] Many of us want to see, as I indicated earlier, Native self-determination and full sovereignty -- always
in the context of all treaty and related rights. [The 1975 Indian Education
and Self Determination Act enables tribal nations to contract with the
Federal government in such a fashion that the tribes, with government
funding, increasingly take over education, health, social welfare, criminal
justice. Increasingly utilized, this has worked well.]

There are a number of Native burial protection acts -- e.g., Native American
Graves and Repatriation Act of 1990 [Federal] as well as a plethora of state
protective laws. Some early state ground was broken and an important model created when Iowa developed and enforced a very strong protective mechanism for Native burials. In fact, I was one of the three on the all Indian committee which worked with the state archaeologist to develop this -- 1973-76 -- at which point I was a prof in Grad Program in Urban and Regional Planning at University of Iowa and UI's Advisor to the Native students. [The other two Native persons were Don Wanatee, Mesquakie; and Maria Thompson Pearson, Sioux.] Our proposed legislation was immediately passed and quickly signed into law by moderate Republican gov, Robert Ray. Anyway, Native burials and artifacts have much protection in the 'States.

But the fight on all of these Native rights fronts is never over, of
course -- any more than is the class struggle!

Yours, H
HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR] Micmac /St. Francis Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk
www.hunterbear.org
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´
and Ohkwari'

FROM HUNTER BEAR: Traditional Native Cultures and Peacemaking Blaze New Trails Today 8/21/04

Many of us indeed have long argued that there is far more basic unity in Native tribal nations -- and perhaps all Fourth World nations globally -- than in the "large" urban/industrial societies. In addition to being tribal nations [gemeinschaft, of which Tonnies wrote so well if ponderously], the respective Native societies are in many respects One Big Family. Still, given the normal human vulnerabilities and the very difficult external pressures to which tribal nations are subjected these days -- economic, Anglo cultural etc -- things can sometimes become stormy internally. [Look at a tribal election.]

Anyway, this is an encouraging policy development at Rocky Boy res. Actually, this very positive initiative -- which certainly makes excellent sense -- is not new at all. As the article in the Havre paper indicates, broad based and multi-faceted mediation was the general and traditional norm in the tribal cultures in the "old times" -- and has continued in a de facto local sense in a number of tribal settings. [Things tribally/culturally, I should add, are still essentially communalistic with the basic ethos being one of serving the community.] The Navajo Nation, now over a quarter million in population and on a formal res land base bigger than West Virginia and traditionally somewhat decentralized, has continued to practice these mediation techniques at the grassroots in many locales since ancient times. [Navajoland, within and around which I grew up, occupies a great big piece of northeastern Arizona and western New Mexico and slices of southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado.] However, a couple of years or so ago, the Navajo, who place a very significant cultural emphasis on harmony with the Cosmos, made this appealing system its formal tribal/national policy and it's been working well.

[But do be aware that Native people in the appropriate context can and will and do fight hard and effectively on many fronts for our natural rights!]

Attached to this post and the article from the Montana paper is an excerpt I made on a few lists recently dealing with Native sovereignty issues -- including a bit on criminal justice. H

Tribal court studies traditional justice approach of 'peacemaking'

By Krystal Spring/Havre Daily News/kspring@havredailynews.com [Montana]

ROCKY BOY AGENCY - The Chippewa Cree Tribal Court is attempting to resurrect the traditional justice method of peacemaking and mediation, a tool tribal officials say their elders used in the past.

"Peacemaking is something the tribe has historically done to mitigate disputes, and we're just looking to go back to those methods," said Duane Gopher, chief judge for the tribal court.

"Peacemaking on Rocky Boy," a three-day workshop beginning Tuesday at Stone Child College, aims to teach tribal members dispute resolution procedures - mediation tools that rely on the abilities of both disputing parties to reach their own resolution, with the assistance of a trained "peacemaker."

The workshop will be led by University of Montana adjunct professor Art Lusse, through the Division of Educational Research and Services at UM. It's funded through a federal grant DERS received from the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing project.

DERS has offered similar peacemaking workshops on the Crow, Northern Cheyenne, Salish and Kootenai, and Fort Peck reservations.

"We often refer to the workshops as an excavation," Lusse said. "These tribes used mediation a long, long time ago. We're trying to help them bring that back."

Tribal court officials said they're eager to find an approach to justice that's tailor-made to fit their tribe's needs.

"The traditional, western-style justice system does not work well for our people," said Walter Denny, a juvenile probation officer with the Chippewa Cree Tribal Court. "Mediation will hopefully allow us to resolve disputes and conflicts with the entire community's involvement, like our people have done in the past."

Lusse said traditional Native American justice was "horizontal" as opposed to the Anglo-European "vertical" system of justice. While a vertical system relies heavily on a power hierarchy, where decisions are dictated by a judge, a horizontal system incorporates basic fundamentals of mediation, focusing on problem solving and healing for both victim and offender. Lusse said vertical justice rarely makes an impact in helping to solve the underlying issues that initially caused the dispute.

"In horizontal justice, everyone is equal, everyone shares the problem and everyone works on the problem together to get it resolved," Lusse said. "Unlike courtroom cases, no one wins, no one loses."

Mediation is a type of restorative justice that can be applied in many contexts, from child custody cases to juvenile crimes. Tribal officials in Rocky Boy said they're anxious to find new ways to deal with youth offenders.

"This approach allows the juvenile offenders and the community to come together to resolve problems, making the situation better for the community as a whole," Lusse said.

Jodi Murie, a juvenile probation officer with the Chippewa Cree Tribal Court, said finding alternative sentences and ways of dealing with juvenile offenders may help youths find their identity and reconnect with the tribe, as the entire community becomes involved in the justice process.

"It's the whole, 'It takes an entire tribe to raise a child' philosophy," she said.

"Mediation will help us explore alternatives not available through the traditional litigation process," Gopher said. "It will allow us to work for a peaceful solution to problems, rather than a battle in court."

Gopher said both disputing parties must consent to mediation before it's used as an alternative to solving a dispute in court. Tribal court officials said they're hopeful tribal members will embrace the traditional justice method of the past.

"We're hopeful that mediation can become the first step in dealing with disputes," Denny said. "The court will always be there as a backup system."

Next week's workshop will be the first of three, teaching tribal participants the basic fundamentals of mediation. Those who complete the training are eligible to receive course credits from Stone Child College and national accreditation through the Association for Conflict Resolution.

Anyone is welcome to attend the mediation workshop, which begins Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. in Room 205 of Kennewash Hall at Stone Child College. For more information, call 395-4735.

QUICK SKETCH ON TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY: [Hunter Bear]

A Native tribal nation, like all nations, has inherent
sovereignty. Full sovereignty is the full and ultimate control by the
tribal nation of its land, its people, and its affairs. Much sovereignty
has been lost -- however temporarily -- by the tribal nations in both the
U.S. and Canada but some functional sovereignty does remain.

Native sovereignty has been badly eroded. In the United States, the
current situation is referred to as "residual" or "limited sovereignty" -- a
tribal nation has control over some dimensions but not over others. The
fight is always to preserve and to expand sovereignty. Sovereignty,
obviously, is power -- and protection and security -- and critical to
individual and societal well-being.

A Federally recognized tribe today in the U.S. has these powers in the
context of "limited" or "residual" sovereignty:

1] Tribes can govern themselves administratively and judicially -- under
the regulations of the Indian Reorganization Act [1934] and subject to the
Major Crimes Act [1885], Public Law 280 [1953] and the Indian Civil Rights
Act [1968.]

2] Tribes can tax their members and tax outside business enterprises
functioning on the reservation.

3] Tribes can handle domestic relations.

4] Tribes can apportion tribal property [e.g., homesites.]

5] Tribes can regulate inheritance.

6] Tribes can determine tribal membership.

Obviously this excludes much from "the full and ultimate control by the
tribal nation of its land, its people, and its affairs."

As just an example, let's look at the criminal justice situation on a
Federal Indian reservation today:

A tribe CAN arrest and prosecute an Indian who commits misdemeanor crimes
within the boundaries of the reservation.

A tribe CANNOT arrest and prosecute anyone who commits defined felony

Public Law 280 [1953] gives all felony jurisdiction to the state.

[PL-280, BTW, was part of the infamous "Termination Package" of the
reactionary 1950s and beyond which included, in addition to 280, formal
efforts to terminate treaty rights -- and although this was kept at arm's
length by most tribes and eventually ended and reversed as policy, played
hell with the Menominee and Klamath and a number of other affected nations.
Termination efforts included, too, the urban relocation scheme which
maneuvered tens of thousands of Native people into the cities with both
"the stick" and "pie in the sky" promises and dumped them there sans
Federal Indian benefits.]

In 1978, the US Supreme Court issued the Oliphant decision which prevents
tribes from prosecuting non-Indian offenders on its reservation.
Immediately following this, I had the interesting experience of spending a
day discussing Oliphant and its implications at a special
workshop for Navajo tribal police at Window Rock. [I handled the Criminal
Justice curriculum at Navajo Community College.] It was clear that massive
confusion was fast developing and that the only immediate solution was
cross-deputization of tribal police by state authorities. [The Navajo Nation
is bigger than the state of West Virginia and, in this case, Arizona, New
Mexico, Colorado, Utah are involved.] Cross-deputization in Indian country
generally came to pass quickly, enabling a cross-deputized tribal police
officer to arrest a non-Indian on the reservation -- but the non-Indian
would have to be turned over to state or Federal officers. Further, only
rarely was a state cross-deputized tribal officer able to arrest someone on
state jurisdiction.

If this was not confusing enough, the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1990 Duro
decision sought to prevent a tribe from arresting and prosecuting Indians
of other tribes on its reservation! This fast-developing and completely
bizarre twist led Congress to forthwith pass special "blocking" legislation
which was made permanent in 1992. Thus Duro has been effectively nullified.

And the January 21 2004 USSC decision -- Lara -- conclusively invalidated
Duro. But, unfortunately, it did not touch Oliphant.

This has led a great many of us to call for restoration of full Native civil
and criminal jurisdiction [ jurisdiction over everyone!] on the
reservations.

The completely tangled criminal justice jurisdictional situation on Federal
Indian reservations epitomizes the very complex mess in which most Native
people are caught up today.

Hunter Bear