National Native News Special Features

Today's feature on National Native news homesick elders die in nursing homes far away from their families. I'm Nelly more in Buffalo Alaska last year natives voiced concern that they need a nursing home of their own without such an institution they have to send their elders to facilities in Anchorage which amounts to condemning the old to isolation and the lonely deaths. John active prepared this report in 1994. The elders continue to die away from familiar surroundings family traditional foods and language so fierce a car a health aide enjoyed by luck and a privilege from Bethel said it best to Alaska's governor Walter Huichol during a Bethel radio talk show when she told him that some families place their elderly relatives in nursing homes in big cities like Anchorage and hours jet flight away. It could be a person to go to a nursing home in Anchorage and not go under and

cry. They keep our. Elders nursing home to have any real care. I think they should. They should care about them and make sure that nursing home care the right care argument instead of going in there like a piece of trash. Marie Mead a teacher in Anchorage visits elders in nursing homes there were up to 30 percent of the resident elderly in those homes are Alaska natives. Many of whom are from southwest Alaska she says they are hungry for their native foods. One time she brought some duck on one of her visits. A homemade mixture of shortening sugar and wild berries picked off the tundra. I looked at the elderly man I was on the school chair and I told him what it was and you know his face just lit up and

started asking for spoon and he's my littlest ladder going in and he's watching this whole thing and thinking Oh. You know they're just hungry for maybe food or drink Nikolai another teacher who lives in quick look up river from Bethel has a grandmother who is nearly 90 years old living in a nursing home in the big city. Her grandmother enjoys talking about picking berries fish camping attending Russian Orthodox Christmas and Easter services. Nicolai enjoys visiting her grandmother except when it's time to leave. She's quick look packing up her stuff and looking for her parka and wondering if my dad is going to leave us. She's very very homesick. Mari Mead has had similar experiences. Little or little that I used to follow me around she started to

panic when I was leaving and I was holding onto me and didn't want me to leave the work that had to pull her away. One Bethel elder has decided to take matters into her own hands. Former Judge Bethel elder Nora Green has deposited $50 of her own money and opened an account in a local bank to begin a savings account for the nursing home. There are people going in there and happy people. I'm tired about it. Second rate. Where we can do we can go in says grass roots involvement is one way for the people in this region to show that a nursing home is really important to them. Jean Pell Tola the chief executive officer of the Yukon Kuskokwim health Corp. agrees with people when they

talk about the need for the nursing home in southwest Alaska it's totally ridiculous that we don't have these services available for elders here within the region. For now there is only 50 dollars sitting in the bank. The state has paid for a feasibility study and a taskforce has been formed. The task at hand is to get these edges closer to home where perhaps they might live longer. Our story on elders in Bethel Alaska was produced in 1994 by John active national lead of news features are made possible by a co wanted Broadcast Corporation the country's first urban Native American radio station serving listeners in Alaska and throughout the nation. Public. Radio. International. Today's feature on National Native news a self-esteem program for young native man.

I'm Nelly Moore. The problems of Native American males have been well documented. High rates of substance abuse suicide and unemployment and Rapid City South Dakota. A group of native men from various tribes have formed a program they hope will be the beginning of a healing process. And this 1994 report high plains new service producer bobbery ha looks at the autopsy or fatherhood program. He is like a big brother program for Native American youth created by a group of Native American men in the Rapid City area to help kids avoid the problems many of the men faced while growing up. The sponsors activities like midnight alternative every Saturday and Sunday night the local YMCA opens its doors to native boys and girls. They play basketball lift weights or learn traditional dances. These programs give kids an alternative to the trouble they find out on the streets. The also sponsors talking circles the mentoring program places a youth in grade

6 through 12 with an adult Native American Ted standing soldiered is a soup and coordinator of the program. Each one of these mentors have experiences of drug alcohol. Our You know we even have a mentor who has been to Penn and has come out and decide to change his life and he wants to teach the younger kids that this is no way to go. He wants to share his experiences with them and say you know this is not the right road to take. People who have had substance abuse problems or have spent time in prison may seem a poor choice for role models. Sharon Richards as a recovering alcoholic and volunteer mentor whose son is active in the on the program Richards believes it's because of the success these mentors have had in fighting alcohol and drug abuse that makes them meaningful role models. A lot of the people that are working with children are in recovery or happening

recovery for a long time recovering from that. We were trying to be a role model and be able to say you know we want back what we have won before the people and we're going to start with us and we're going to teach our children. The mentor program not only helps the kids it also promotes healing for the mentors. Ben rod serves on the board of directors. There's a handful of us here who went back into the traditions went back to to find ourselves and it helped us to get through and to sobriety and to be drug free. And what has been born from that not only from just of the stuff you hear but it's kind of happening throughout the nation. On a recent nature hike about 20 participants retrace the steps of Sioux spiritual leader Black Elk because of the sacred nature of the four mile track to the top of Harney peak. One of the most spiritual places in the Black Hills recording

equipment is not allowed. The preservation of traditional ways and a renewed spirituality is a key element to the program. After the hike the kids and their mentors share a meal and talk. You can find them out there. So this 14 year old who will call Tom is from Rapid City even though rapid is a small town by major urban standards. It has big city problems. Like many kids his age Tom has been pressured to join a gang. He says his mentor has helped him deal with the pressure. So when you talk today trust helps you stay out of trouble in a mentor helps try to help you make a decision. Currently the demand for mentors exceeds the supply. Only 18 are available to

work with 100 kids. As the program develops the leaders want to organize ways to tackle the issues of substance abuse suicide and local high school dropout rates that have soared as high as 65 percent. But I'll tell you up the officials realize the work they do today is only the foundation for realizing their long term goal healing the Native American nation for National Native news. I'm Bob National Native news features are made possible by a co wanted Broadcast Corporation the country's first urban Native American radio station serving listeners in Alaska and throughout the nation. Public. Radio. International. Today's feature on National Native news aims celebrates this twenty seventh anniversary. I'm Nelly Moore the American Indian Movement ground the governing council and national board of directors celebrated their twenty seventh anniversary over the Labor Day

weekend in Minneapolis Minnesota. With me today is Vernon Belcourt national representative of ame who attended the ceremonies AME has long been active most often radical in Native American issues such as sovereignty and self-determination. What kind of issues is it working on today. Well the central issue of this conference of course was sovereignty self-determination or abuse of power. What's happening is tribal leaders who probably were corrupt to begin with not having the opportunities have all. Millions of dollars through the casino gaming operations seemingly don't want to give up the economic power and certainly don't want to give up political power so we see them stealing elections manipulating membership rolls and voter registration rolls and in fact stealing elections. So we see a lot of scoundrels hiding behind sovereignty I want to hand saying the states don't have jurisdiction which is correct.

On the other hand saying that the federal government doesn't have jurisdiction and that that fact that the state has jurisdiction. So we see these people going about trying to hide behind tribal sovereignty and it's something that we cannot tolerate it because it's a threat to all of us. What about some of the other issues that you're going to be dealing with. We reaffirmed our position on spiritual cultural rights to stop the scientific community and pot hunters who do it for profit from desecration of our sacred burial sites the X-Plane. Nation of a living people spiritual and cultural practices by wanna be. So we've taken a strong stand and we reaffirmed our strong position on these issues. You've also been involved lately in some Canadian issues. What are some of the hot spots there for natives. Of course we have the UP IN AMERICA times. Nova Scotia we have an intense struggle over fishing rights up there that we're trying to give support to. And of course at the

present time there's a real crisis up at the Shusha wop nation in British Columbia. It's just difficult to spread ourselves as thin as we have to and so obviously we're urging people throughout our bird on British Columbia and Alaska to get over there to support the people of the shoe shop nation who have taken a strong stand against Canadian encroachment into unseeded lands. It's a very clear issue. The government might argue that they have jurisdiction on so-called ceded lands oftentimes taken at the point of a bayonet. But they have absolutely no jurisdiction. Unseated lands do you know about how many members there are today. We don't have finals of membership cards and so as a movement I think that when people understand that the American Indian Movement is first a spiritual movement a religious rebirth based on traditional spiritual way of life values culture and secondly were a political

movement that we advocate for the rights of all tribes once they understand that and look through that distortion. The FBI campaigns to try to discredit and to divide and disrupt the American Indian moment. I think we'll find that literally tens of thousands of our people out there support our issues. They may not always want to support our tactics but if it weren't for the American Indian Movement in nineteen sixty eight right here in the Minneapolis community standing up and saying enough is enough. What about a great renaissance a rebirth of spiritual and cultural identity you know up until then things are pretty much on a downturn for indigenous people and of course the American Indian Movement woke everybody up and I think that is probably the major contribution we made not only to the president but to the future. So what do you say to people who say well you know radical part of the Native American community what do you say to that. When one is faced with radical conditions it requires radical

thinking and radical acts that bring about radical change that Garantie us as indigenous people future and our own sacred lands now called the Americas. Our guest today on national native news has been Vernon Belcourt of the American Indian Movement in Minneapolis for National Native news. I'm now a more national leader of news features are made possible by Cohen of Broadcast Corporation the country's first urban Native American radio station serving listeners in Alaska and throughout the nation. Public. Radio. International. Today's feature on National Native news. A look at cashed in. I'm Nelly more with the rise in popularity of world music more native bands are reaching broader audiences. Many Native Americans who grew up on pop rock jazz and country music are merging those influences with the music of their ancestors and are finding a market for their

work. One group leading the way is cashed in from northern Quebec. That is a big hit across Canada and the Indian country producer Mario Meral caught up with cashed in in New York last year. We have this report. Nick unleashed the new word for my people the song opens the debut album of cash Dean the musical duo from northern Quebec. They're singing in their native new language spoken by only about 10000 people across 10 any reservations along the St. Lawrence River. Nevertheless with this performance cash game has made its mark on the pop music scene in Canada. The album has sold over three hundred fifty thousand copies a lot of people have asked us why you choice to do it in our own land which because we can do it in me and we can sing in English and you can see me

in French also you know and people ask us why we chose to do it in our language. And for us it's not a choice you know it's just the natural way. Lauren the line is one of the co-founders of cash Dean. He says the unexpected success of their first album is a reflection of the universal themes cashed in deals with such as love and loneliness. Question formed over 10 years ago when volonte was playing folk rock. Songs in local clubs at the time cash games other founding member Claude McKenzie was playing Rolling Stones in Pink Floyd cover tunes in another band. They found common ground in the musical direction they wanted to take. Since then caching has played on observations across Canada as well as an auditorium as in big cities like Banku or Toronto and when a peg we are the first generation who've been in school and grow up in between to curate your so some time for the kids. It's not easy you know because you spend a lot of time with

with another culture and it's hard to deal with that kind of situation. But Florent volonte says despite the Rock n pop influences on their music traditional singers provide the foundation for their work. Music in new means spiritual things. You know the music by dreams for the traditional singer. And then they have a really you know and we have a lot of influence from elders and traditional music also. You know and we just try to keep the rhythm try to keep the spirit and put it in our own version you know. Louis Sharma is a traditional in new song attributed to Alexander Mackenzie the third

Claude Mackenzie's grandfather Alon says that as a native band many people have expectations of them in the things they should be singing about like the conditions of natives on the reservation with cash then lets the music do the talking. People with the emotion of the songs. We don't believe in politics. We live the live in you know our music and we hope we can bring something new and we hope we can help people. To be proud of what they are you know catch Dean's latest recording features two tracks produced by lobby Robertson formerly of the band and Peter Gabriel's drummer the new catchy single from their forthcoming album is called Chua to top and was featured on the soundtrack of the CPS by. Erica. Once the new album is released. Hope to do an extended tour of Canada and the United

States for National Native news on Monday in radio in New York. The national lead of news features are made possible by a co wanted Broadcast Corporation the country's first urban Native American radio station serving listeners in Alaska and throughout the nation. Public. Radio. International. Today's feature on National Native news assistant interior secretary Ada dir speaks out against budget cuts to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I'm Nelly Moore. Both the U.S. House and Senate have made drastic cuts to the a budget. Thursday ate a deer head of the bee I ate spoke out against the reductions. She's hoping to combine her efforts with those of tribal leaders descending on Washington to lobby Congress against cuts to native programs.

Well the bureau has been accused of inefficiency. The Air says the cuts it faces will directly affect Native Americans quality of life. In a telephone interview she outlined the impact she foresees in the private priority allocation. I don't know. The Senate is proposing cutting the pool of money by two hundred twenty five million or nearly 30 percent. This is going to wreak devastation upon those who are most in need. Overall we estimate and these are conservative figures that there will be approximately five thousand people that will lose their jobs as a result of the Congress budget decisions. The area office is under the Senate proposal over 15 million would have to be cut from the area office operations. Under the tightest cost control this means four hundred for additional employees would lose their jobs which is 52 percent of the office staff. So

in essence. These cuts will seriously impact the tribes will contribute to the deterioration of the quality of life and tribal communities. And I want to remind everyone that Indian people gave their lives their land and their resources for this country to prosper and to be native people deserve better. What about the argument that we've been hearing lately about what's called means testing and holding up funding for tribes based on how affluent they may be because they have gaming operations. I would point out that there are five hundred fifty four but really recognized tribes. There are only about 20 tribes that have gaming operations that are doing moderately well. There's a great myth out there that tribes are becoming wealthy from gaming. And that's not true. And this is an example to me means testing is an example of the double standard

that Indians are subjected to when the big corporations make money. It's applauded as success in the capitalistic system when tribes make money. It's a question and the truth is that very few tribes have been successful with B and those that have been represent only 1 percent population. These drastic cuts that we're seeing tonight of programs do you think this is the wave of the future. Well I certainly hope not. I would point out that the new Congress has a different political agenda and with these types of drastic cuts they are attempting to dismantle the government not just to downsize or to restructure. And again I would remind everybody that

Indian tribes ceded away millions of acres of land in the last century containing water minerals timber and other resources in the wealth of this country and built the sessions in India. People are at the bottom of the economic ladder and with these drastic cuts it will seriously peed all the life for all the families and people in the tribal communities and we need to be investing in health education and housing and helping people become productive positive contributors assistant interior secretary for Indian Affairs aid a dear. I'm now a more national leader of news features are made possible by a co want to Broadcast Corporation the country's first urban Native American radio station serving listeners in

Alaska and throughout the nation. This is National Native news we have help this week from Editor David Blanco our engineer and production assistant as Kevin Smith. With help from Nathan Marvel music by making hard for the Broadcast Corporation I Nelly more. Public. Radio. International.