From April 20-22, 2021, EARTHDAY.ORG will have its second Earth Day Live digital event. Together, we can prevent the coming disasters of climate change and environmental destruction. Together, we can Restore Our Earth!

Take public transit, biking, or walking when possible – it is good for your health, your wallet, and Mother Earth. Support companies driven by sustainability and committed to transparency throughout the supply chain. Have a good mind! Hold yourself accountable! Take a personal inventory of your own impact on the planet.

FIND A DIGITAL EARTH DAY EVENT
https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2021/

Monadnock Earth Day Film Festival 4/22 – 4/24
This free online event will feature films and host panel discussions to celebrate and cultivate a more resilient world.
https://monadnockfood.coop/co-op-updates/earthfestival/

LIVE FILM SCREENING, ARTISTS SHOWCASE AND INTERACTIVE COMEDY SHOW 4/22/2021 17:00 https://www.cya.live/event/12251

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Iroquois Nationals lacrosse star Randy Staats was angry at first, but he now says an international snub of his team only fuelled his desire to play on the world stage.

Three years ago, the International Olympic Committee granted World Lacrosse, the international federation, provisional recognition. That’s a step toward inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, scheduled to take place in Los Angeles.

But to make the Olympics, the Iroquois Nationals, strong competitors in other international venues, will have to prove to the International Olympic Committee that they represent a sovereign nation distinct from Canada or the United States.

Lacrosse players from the six First Nations that make up the Haudenosaunee Confederacy compete not for Canada or the U.S. — the settler states where their nations are nested — but for their confederacy.

Men’s lacrosse has recently been added to the World Games, an international competition often considered an audition for sports seeking inclusion in the Olympics.

Even though the Iroquois Nationals finished in third place at the 2018 World Lacrosse Championships, they were not initially included in the top eight teams selected to compete at the 2022 World Games.

“I thought it was a mistake at first,” Staats recalls. “I was frustrated, I was upset. It actually kind of helped me, in a way, personally, because it allowed me to have confidence to voice my opinion.”

It seems Staats, 28, was destined to be a lacrosse player. “I was born with a stick in my cradle,” he says with a laugh.

As a Mohawk growing up in Six Nations of the Grand River in southern Ontario, the game was passed down to him through the generations by his elders.

Staats’ father, uncles and grandfather all played. “[It] just goes to show, in our culture, what it means. You enter this earth with a wooden stick and when you leave this earth you have a wooden stick in your casket.”

A tweet from Staats about the World Games sparked attention, leading to an outcry, says teammate Brendan Bomberry, also a Mohawk from Six Nations.

“We really saw the power of social media and the power of our voices that, if we speak up, we can make a difference and that was really awesome to see.”

The resulting uproar and the voluntary withdrawal by Ireland Lacrosse’s Senior National Team from the international competition caused World Lacrosse and the International World Games Association to reverse their decision and include the Iroquois Nationals in the coming 2022 World Games.

It was a recognition of the central place the Iroquois team holds in the lacrosse sphere.
The Irish lacrosse association saw that it was important for the Iroquois team to be there as the originators of the game and they stepped back, says Leo Nolan, executive director of the Iroquois Nationals. “It was a magnanimous gesture on their part to do that.”

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy views lacrosse as a gift from the Creator.

“We have a modern version now, but the medicine game was originally given to us by the Creator to help us heal spiritually, physically, mentally,” says Nolan, a Mohawk who grew up on the Onondaga Nation.

“It’s an integral part of our culture, of our lifestyle, of our way of dealing with adverse things that happen sometimes in our lives, so it’s a good way of helping us deal with everyday life struggles and stresses. The game, of course, has changed dramatically from those times, but we continue to hold that very close to us.”

While the Haudenosaunee are considered the originators and stewards of the game, many First Nations played a version of lacrosse.

Many cite the early ball games known as baggataway and tewaarathon as forerunners of the modern version. In those times, hundreds of Indigenous players might compete on a field stretching kilometres, with games lasting days.

The ball was originally made of wood and later deerskin filled with fur. Deer sinew was used for stick netting.

The name “crosse” or “la crosse” was coined by French Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf in 1637 based on his observations of a game.

In the 1860s, standardized lacrosse rules were developed by Montreal dentist William George Beers, an avid promoter of the game who also exchanged the traditional deerskin ball for a hard rubber one.

In 1867, the National Lacrosse Association was formed and Beers later published a guide and rulebook titled “Lacrosse: The National Game of Canada.” Among the rules: “No Indian must play in a match for a white club, unless previously agreed upon.”

The National Lacrosse Association became an amateur organization in 1880, with Indigenous players barred from championship competition.

Don Morrow, a professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Western University who studies the history of sport in Canada, has written that implicit in this practice was the assumption that Indians had an unfair advantage because of their skill and, very likely, “the perception of them as racially inferior.”

“Thus, the group that was leaned on when (the modern game) was in its infancy, was summarily dismissed — except for exhibition matches and the showcase tours — once the institution of lacrosse was able to stand by itself.”

As a result, Indigenous teams

played one another but were not allowed to compete for a Canadian title, says historian Allan Downey, author of “The Creator’s Game” and a professor in the history department and Indigenous studies program at McMaster University in Hamilton.

“It had the effect of limiting, if not almost eliminating, the right of the Haudenosaunee to represent themselves as a sovereign nation, as a team in, not only Canadian championship classifications, but also in international competitions.”

Downey sees the developments as an appropriation of the Indigenous game to shape a distinctly Canadian identity.

Two teams — the Mohawk Indians and the Winnipeg Shamrocks — competed for Canada at the 1904 Summer Olympic Games in St. Louis, with Winnipeg winning the gold medal. Lacrosse was also featured at the 1908 Games, but it was relegated to demonstration status at a handful of future Olympics.

The birth of the Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team, initially as a one-time venture in the 1980s, marked a path toward change. The team strived to become part of the International Lacrosse Federation, a forerunner of the World Lacrosse Championship.

The federation didn’t know the team or the confederacy’s history, Downey says. “So the question becomes immediately: what do you mean you’re a sovereign nation? How can you prove that you’re a sovereign nation?”

For the Iroquois Nationals, the path back to the Olympics involves being competitive enough to qualify, forming a national Olympic committee and applying for recognition by the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC is built upon the recognition of nation-states, and Indigenous sovereignty challenges the autonomy of those states, Downey says. The Iroquois Nationals will have to convince the IOC that they represent a sovereign nation that can compete on that basis, he said.

“So, there needs to be a reworking of the political process for their recognition and I’m hopeful that that will take place but it’s not going to be without a long difficult struggle.”

The only other option would be to compete under the IOC flag, rather than the Haudenosaunee flag, which defeats the purpose, Downey says.

The decision on the Iroquois’ National Olympic Committee application for the 2028 Games is scheduled to be made in 2024.

“We basically have to sell the IOC on our international experience, our international standing, our sovereignty, and the good things that’ll happen if we’re there playing lacrosse, the game we originated,” Nolan said.

The team is “very optimistic” about the prospect, he added.

“We think it’d be a great gesture, a great symbolic step for Indigenous communities — not just us, not just American and Alaska natives, or First Nations folks — but for Indigenous communities around the world.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2021.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/iroquois-lacrosse-team-aims-to-make-olympic-competition-under-its-own-flag/ar-BB1ey4qK

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Brooke Leboeuf, Art Director | thek.art | March 30, 2021

BUFFALO, N.Y., — K Art, 808 Main St., Buffalo, a Native American-owned commercial gallery that solely showcases the artwork of national-level Native contemporary artists, announces the details for its newest exhibitions. Set to open Friday, April 30, 2021, in K Art’s 2,000 square-foot gallery space, Brought to Light: The Epidemic of Violence against Native and Indigenous Women addresses devastating statistics of violence. Compared to any other group, Native American women in the United States are more than twice as likely to experience violence; 84% of Native women have experienced violence in their lifetime. In 2016 alone, there were 5,712 known incidences of murdered or missing Native women. Canada has categorized this human rights crisis as genocide and has undergone a national inquiry into murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.

Brought to Light brings together five Native artists: Natalie Ball; Luzene Hill; Sonya Kellihercombs; Jodi Lynn Maracle; and Julia Rose Sutherland. In different ways, their works address the trauma, violence, and loss of identity that result from systemic racism, sexism, and the ingrained history of colonialism in North America. These artists seek to bring an epidemic out of the shadows and into mainstream consciousness; and, in doing so, create new spaces of discourse and understanding about indigeneity.

New works have been created specifically for Brought to Light. Luzene Hill’s new site-specific work presents three numbers:1492, 574, and 6956. The first identifies the year a massive wave of invasions into the Americas began. The second is the number of federally recognized Native nations currently in the United States. The third focuses on the average number of reported Native American women sexually assaulted each year in the United States, based on data over twelve years. Sonya Kelliher-Combs will show new work created for her ongoing series, A Million Tears, which initially debuted at The North Atlantic House in Denmark. The series was created in response to the many painful accounts she has heard of abuse. The works speak about pain, fear, anger, loss of innocence, and the impact of this injustice on the sense of self, family, and community. Photo-documentation will be shown of Julia Rose Sutherland’s performance piece done at Silo City, Buffalo, NY, which gave remembrance and gratitude and sought to raise public awareness about the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women in North America. Artists Natalie Ball and Jodi Lynn Maracle relate to trauma more indirectly as they delve into questions of power and identity. Also included is a work by Natalie Ball, created at the prestigious Crow’s Shadow Institute for Art in Oregon, which addresses the abuse of identity through simplified narratives, and reclamation of that identity through new visual language. Jodi Lynn Maracle will create new works that utilize Haudenosaunee material, language, and techniques, such as hand tanning deer hides and corn husk twining, in conversation with soundscapes, projections, video, and performance to interrogate questions of place, power, erasure, and story-making.

K Art is also pleased to announce that it will be expanding into the field of artist representation and has signed its first artist, G. Peter Jemison. To celebrate the occasion, K Art will be showcasing a solo exhibition of work by Jemison, titled Orenda. Orenda will feature a survey of work covering the last 15 years of Peter’s impressive, decades-long career. Widely shown and collected, Jemison’s works are rooted in the framework of Native American history, culture, and iconography. Known for his naturalistic paintings and series of works done on brown paper bags, his art embodies orenda, the traditional Iroquois belief that every living thing and every part of creation contains a spiritual force. His paintings, videos, and mixed media works have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the U.S., the U.K., and Germany. Jemison’s work is in numerous private and museum collections, including the Whitney Museum of American Art. In October of 2021, Jemison will be featured in a show at MOMA PS1.

About K Art

Located in Buffalo, New York’s Allentown historic district as an integral element of the K Haus, a design, art, and tech-centric space, K Art is the first Native American-owned commercial art gallery with a primary programmatic focus on national-level Native American contemporary artists. Founded and owned by Dave Kimelberg, an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians (Bear Clan), K Art’s mission is to elevate cutting-edge Native contemporary artists. K Art’s Art Director Brooke Leboeuf leads the curation of solo and group exhibitions on a rotating basis within the gallery’s 2,000 square feet of space. For more information, visit thek.art.

Source:

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/k-art-announces-two-new-exhibitions-301259039.html

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Local agency that works to promote understanding and respect honored Community Heroes March 19-20.

Submitted by Rebecca Vogt, Roswell Park | March 18, 2021

HIGHLIGHTS

• Seneca researcher leads Roswell Park’s Center for Indigenous Cancer Research
• Awardees embodied the mission of the organization during the pandemic
• Dr. Haring advocates for health and well-being of Indigenous communities

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is proud to announce Rodney Haring, PhD, MSW, Director of the Center for Indigenous Cancer Research was honored with a Community Hero Award from the National Federation for Just Communities of Western New York (NFJC WNY).

Traditionally a luncheon, the organization re-imagined their annual event into an awards ceremony to honor and recognize “Community Heroes” who tackled the numerous challenges that faced our community in 2020. Each awardee was picked based on the impact they’ve had in our region and how it reflects the mission of the NFJC.

Shortly before COVID-19 gripped our nation and the world, Dr. Haring announced the launch of the CICR — the first initiative of its kind in the Northeast. Since then, he and his team have been pivotal in disseminating critical information to communities far and wide. Dr. Haring has hosted several webinars and a fireside chat alongside international cancer experts to focus on the unique concerns tribes and Indigenous nations faced as they coped with the pandemic. In late 2020, he was named to the national COVID-19 Prevention Network’s Native Expert Panel, a role in which he works to ensure diversity and culturally appropriate communication in COVID vaccine clinical trials.

The award ceremony appeared on WGRZ-TV Channel 2 on Friday, March 19th. Ja:goh Dr. Haring!

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Research shows that language revitalization is a key empowerment tool for Native American communities. The methods for creating fluent speakers of Native American languages are well-tested and effective. All involve immersing language learners in their language, whether in one-on-one master-apprentice relationships, in language-nest intergenerational settings, or in immersion preschools.

In Window Rock, Arizona, American Indian children who began school in Dine (Navajo) and learned English as a second language performed almost two grade levels above their peers who started school in English.

In Hilo, Hawai’i, children who attended Hawaiian immersion schools had a zero percent dropout rate and a much higher level of college attendance than their non-immersion-school peers.

Across the country, where Native American children know their language, they are more likely to use their education and talents to enrich their communities.

In 1990, the U.S. government recognized the harm of previous federal policies by passing the Native American Languages Act. That law established a federal policy to preserve, protect, and promote Native American rights to use, practice, and develop Native American languages.

In 2006 the Congress unanimously passed the Esther Martinez Native American Language Preservation Act; full funding of that legislation would add $10 million more to such efforts. But with 562 federally recognized tribes and many non-recognized indigenous communities with urgent language needs, much more funding is needed.

With this issue, the organization Cultural Survival is embarking on a campaign to save critically endangered Native American languages. The objective is to raise national awareness about what is at stake in a way that leads to a major expansion of the number of foundations, individuals, tribal casinos, tribal governments, corporations, and other donors who lend financial support to the revitalization efforts of tribal communities.

As Program Council Co-Chair Richard Grounds says, “Revitalizing Native American languages is the most critical issue in Indian Country today. We can wait five years for a road or a new school, but if we do not act now, our elders will pass on and our languages will be gone.”

There is a role for all supporters in this campaign: Become a language advocate. Raise the profile of the issue by talking about it with people you know. If you are a member of a tribal community, learn your language and do all you can to ensure that others learn it and use it. Author Ellen L. Lutz authored this article, our thanks and appreciation go out to her.

A quote from Agwadeyësta’ Do:gë:h’s website, “When Elders speak to others in our language, we can see and hear their happiness. When the youth speak our language, it generates a sense of joy and makes all of us happy. If using our language brings more happiness to the community, then let’s all do more of that.”

Language learning can be a lot of fun. Of course it has its’ challenges but we have to stay focused, remain positive, and encourage each other. Maybe we could all start our own little language nests in our homes. Perhaps we can ‘retire’ some of those common English phrases and vow to use Onöndowa’ga:’ Gawë:nö’ instead. For example:

Sadö’gweta? (Are you well?)

Detgye:i (I’m all right)

Hënödögwe:ta sawaji:yä’? (How is your family?)

Gajö’se:ne (I’ve come to visit) – the list is endless …

Just remember – every single word spoken is a positive step forward. Talk to those who are learning, they have set the standard for the rest of us and have quite a story to share with you. Their experiences and model will move you.

Nya:wëh for your time and consideration. Ë:sgënö’gëög (offering of peace and health)

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Submitted by Marilyn Anderson

For Christians Easter is the celebration of the Resurrection – a new life, a new beginning. For all of us it means that it’s time to get ready to plant our gardens and get ready for summer – a new beginning. Many of us have had our Covid vaccinations and we are beginning to experience the new normal of life. It’s a time of rebirth and repentance – changing our way of life. By now we have had our fill of jellybeans, chocolate, and ham and so it’s time to shed our winter weight and get ready for summer!

One of the hymns that we love to sing in church is Amazing Grace. It was written in the 1700’s by an Englishman named John Newton who was a slave trader-turned-abolitionist. The word “grace” means God’s unconditional love and so as you hear the lyrics you can understand the revelation that John Newtown experienced. He made such a major change in his life and it was all due to God’s grace. He changed his way of life!

Please continue to pray for those in our communities who are affected by drug or alcohol abuse, those who are struggling with illness and those who are mourning the loss of a loved one. We all need healing. At Four Corners we are experiencing new life – our new pastor, Holly Brittain. She is a down to earth lady who brings to us her life stories and enthusiasm for her faith. Come and join us for coffee at 8:30 a.m. and service at 9am on Sunday morning.

Peace.

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By Jeddy Johnson | Mar 25, 2021 | Reprinted from wkbw.com

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — After a brief intermission, Karen King, the executive director of the Erie County Commission on the Status of Women is ready to revamp the trailblazing women of WNY monument project.

“We are in a full fundraising mode right now. We hope to continue to receive contributions from foundations, but we do hope to enter into the next phase which will include the creation of a steering committee and then the process of soliciting proposal from artists,” King said.

The project will feature a statue of three women who have made significant contributions to our area. Louise Bethune, the first professional woman architect in the United States and the designer of Hotel Lafayette. Mary Talbert, a renowned humans and civil rights leader and Geraldine Green, an educator and member of the Seneca nation.

The three icon ladies will placed in front of the Erie County Public Library. A location that King says is significant to them all.

“Well of course Louise Bethunbeing the architect of the Lafyette Hotel and the Lafayette Hotel being close to the library is significant. But also, the Talbert family owned property on that area. And of course, with Green being a member of the Seneca nation, all of this land belonged to Native Americans.”

King is hoping these statues will empower the present and future women of Western New York.

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By Melissa Holmes | March 31, 2021 | Reprinted from wgrz.com

IRVING, N.Y. — The old saying goes, ‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ But Nicole Seneca believes ‘It takes a tribe.’

Together Nicole and her husband JC Seneca have 6 children. They adopted their youngest daughter in 2018. But over the years, they’ve cared for countless others through fostering and also through kinship.

“We’re just here to help in whatever way we can. We’ve had kids for a day. We’ve had kids forever,” said Nicole.

Through her experiences, Nicole discovered distinct differences between foster families and kinship. She said when foster parents take children who are not related to them into their homes, they’re provided with training, stipends and other support from the agencies or county. But with kinship, which is preferred on the Seneca Nation through the Indian Children Welfare Act, adults care for younger relatives, sometimes suddenly and without notice, and they often have no help at all.

“Kinship on it’s own is really good for ensuring a child maintains their culture and identity, however it kind of leaves us hanging. There are no supports with it. They don’t receive stipends or financial assistance. They don’t receive support that foster parents do,” said Nicole. “So what I’ve noticed is that people need support. They need to be helped. So that’s kind of what I do. I fill in the gaps.”

Nicole does that through the organization she launched in 2018 called “It Takes a Tribe.”

Not only does she fundraise to take the children on outings like tubing, the zoo, and Bandits games for a little fun and normalcy, but she also gratefully accepts donated items, food, school supplies and gifts, and then distributes them.

She’s had a Girl Scout troop donate boxes of diapers, and an anonymous couple deliver two truckloads of non-perishable foods, promising more.

“I’m not even sure how they found us. They both were like, ‘we just want to help. We’re just working for God and we felt this was a really good place to do that and to put our energy,” said Nicole.

Nicole said she’s overwhelmed by the kindness from the community, and touched by handmade items. A woman from Potsdam knitted hats, mittens and scarves, and a sewing circle led by one of the Nation elders made quilts and pillowcases.

“I gave [a boy] a pillow and he went running to his foster mom and said, ‘I have never had a brand new pillow ever.'”

It’s the little things that so many people might take for granted that can truly make a difference to the children helped by Nicole and her organization “It Takes a Tribe.”

“I hope and I know that they feel like their community loves them,” she said.

If you’d like to donate to “It Takes a Tribe,” or learn more about the organization, check out their Facebook page.

To nominate a person or group to be featured as a “Good Neighbor” on Channel 2, send an email with details to Melissa.Holmes@wgrz.com.

Source:

https://www.wgrz.com/article/life/people/good-neighbors/good-neighbors-it-takes-a-tribe-seneca-nation-foster-children/71-d75eba3b-b796-4729-b4f4-a90e0799b180

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