This Statement was written on behalf of The Native Youth Sexual Health Network, on 10 May 2012 at the Eleventh Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 7-18 May 2012 regarding Agenda Item 4: Report on the expert group meeting: combating violence against indigenous women and girls, article 22 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

I am here on behalf of The Native Youth Sexual Health Network, an organization that works across the United States and Canada on all issues of sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice by and for Indigenous youth.

We would like to congratulate Chief Ed John on his appointment as Chair to the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and look forward to working with you for the advancement of the rights of Indigenous youth and women. We thank you and all the Permanent Forum members as well as our allies, brothers, and sisters in this room for the support you have shown towards us and other Indigenous youth for our participation during this 11th session.

The Native Youth Sexual Health Network affirms the importance of taking a culturally safe, rights-based approach of sexual and reproductive health as an integral part of ending violence against Indigenous women and girls.  We reclaim healthy sexuality as a central part of ending sexual violence, as well as all other forms of violence. As taught by Mohawk midwife Katsi Cook; “Woman Is The First Environment”.

We wish to remind those present that the ongoing, widespread shaming and blaming of sexuality today is directly linked to the underlying philosophy and legal framework of the Doctrine of Discovery, which in turn creates the structural conditions that lead to violence against Indigenous women and girls.  Instead, we call for the reclamation of Indigenous understandings of gender and sexuality fluidity.  Such understandings are rooted in self-determination and cultural practices; including coming of age ceremonies and rites of passage, which affirm the traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples over our own bodies and related control of our own reproductive health.

In accordance with article 7 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and as recommended by the Report of the Expert Group Meeting on combating Violence against Indigenous Women and Girls, we call for greater investigation of the links between increasing rates of suicide and inadequate supports given to young women facing situations of violence.  Supporting self-determination in experiences of violence means empowering women to make their own decisions. We also recommend particular focus be given to the high rates of suicide among young Two-Spirit and transgendered women as forms of violence that are currently being overlooked. The self-determined gender expression of Indigenous Peoples, for example, the freedom to identify as Two-Spirit, is something to be celebrated - not criminalized.

Incarceration of Indigenous women in the prison system is a particular threat to the foundation of  reproductive health and justice for Indigenous women and girls. The incarceration of our bodies is the incarceration of our reproductive health, such as the unacceptable practice of shackling women who are incarcerated during pregnancy, labor and birth. Such control sets the stage for the further violations of the rights of Indigenous women.

The increasing rates of incarceration require immediate action as they are a continued form of institutional and structural violence from the state. We agree with the findings of the EGM report that highlight the need for increased support of Indigenous systems of justice.  However we are concerned with the over policing and under protection of Indigenous peoples when state police systems and criminal justice are involved, and often directly responsible for violence.

Therefore, we support the submission to the Committee on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) from Indigenous women from the Vancouver Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and the Native Women’s Association of Canada which highlights the over 800 missing and murdered Indigenous women across Canada and calls for a UN inquiry under CEDAW’s optional protocol into these cases, which have gone under- or un-investigated for far too long.  Furthermore, we denounce the provincial Missing Women’s Inquiry in British Columbia which denied the full, equal, and effective participation of Indigenous women who experience violence while allowing authorities responsible for the lack of due process to be overrepresented.

Similarly we support the Violence Against Women Re-Authorization Act (VAWA) currently before Congress in the United States, and that it be passed with the full inclusion of tribal provisions, which calls for the self-determination of Indigenous communities over the decisions of justice on violence that happens on tribal lands.  In this regard, we support the attached joint submission to the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Prof. James Anaya, entitled, “Self-Determination and Self-Government: Using the UN Declaration to End Violence Against Native Women” by the Indian Law Resource Center, the National Congress of American Indians Task Force on Violence Against Women, the National Indigenous Women’s Resources Centre, Inc. and Clan Star, Inc. The enactment of tribal provisions in VAWA is sound practice that supports self-determination through restoring of Tribal jurisdiction including over non-Indigenous peoples and the rights of Indigenous women through implementation of the UN Declaration.

We also call for recognition of the need for a broader definition of the expansion of what is considered ‘violence’ pertaining to Indigenous peoples.

For example, a central driving force of the HIV epidemic for Indigenous women includes new forms of colonial manifestations of violence. As identified in paragraph 25 of the Expert Group Meeting, there is a need to address disproportionately higher rates of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections in women and girls.  In fact, there is minimal culturally specific HIV/AIDS support and resources for Indigenous women and youth that supports a harm reduction approach. There is still a need to reduce stigma and fear; while the global epidemic of HIV/AIDS rates are decreasing, these rates are increasing for Indigenous peoples, specifically Indigenous women.

As read by our sister Andrea Carmen and submitted by the International Indian Treaty Council, we affirm the 2nd report and declaration of “Our Health, Life and Defense of Our Lands, Rights and Future Generations” from the 2nd Indigenous Women’s Reproductive and Environmental Health gathering in Alaska in April 2012 in which we were also a participating organization. This report includes particular concerns around environmental violence and how it relates to increased sexual violence and the overall assault to our Mother Earth through resource extractive industries.

One particular aspect of environmental violence that affects the overall health and well-being of Indigenous women and future generations is inadequate access and culturally unsafe reproductive health services and resources for Indigenous women. Due to the lack of appropriate options, conditions are created for increased experiences of violence within the industrialized medical system. This can include a lack of access to traditional and ceremonial services such as traditional midwifery.

In closing, we recommend that the Permanent Forum work with other UN bodies and mechanisms that work on sexual and reproductive rights and health to apply this set of rights specifically to Indigenous peoples, with particular attention to young Indigenous women and girls. We call upon UN agencies, states and Indigenous peoples to advance the sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice of Indigenous peoples – this is not an issue that is the sole responsibility of Indigenous women and girls.  If woman is indeed the first environment, then this is everyone’s responsibility.

Thank you. 

I was told by those old ones
that every song has a special time and a place where its sang
this is our song
and this our time
they used to say the only good indian is a dead indian
i must be a no good at being indian
cuz I feel alive and kicking
we are the bastard reject children of manifest destiny
the offspring of fornicating aimsters
raised by our grandparents who told us
not to confuse being warriors with gangsters
the edward curtis groupies get jazzed by anyone fitting the bill
and America gets jazzed by every Bury My Heart at Walmart film
here i stand before you
this crowd of nations
this life of sanctions
an awkward patience
like five hundred BIA buildings vs. a fathers' unfiltered hate
right next to the IHS building with a two and a half week wait.
a cinderblock battlefield where few are left standing
and the people its failing, its' marginalized estate.
i am armed to the teeth with words from the ivory tower
and those good indians told me its borrowed power if...
if i talk loud enough
if i talk clear enough
that i would be heard
that for some talking is singing
that for some singing is praying
but i guess that depends on who is doing the talking
and i guess that depends on who is doing the listening
...so understand me in english,
you have been robbed of your tongues
the taproot of thought
in the middle of resisting
the language got caught
and she only shows her face during ceremony
like she's ashamed of her scars
like what she has to say is never really heard. at all.
and the violence she knows is enough to never sing again
but i killed the cameraman and stripped him of his lense.
i photographed the body and asked him to forgive.
forgive me as i cut out your tongue
forgive me as i put you in this powdered wig
forgive me when i put your body in a museum
forgive me of all my sins
for not being a good indian
the balls of your forefathers will be traded for whiskey
to fuel the molotov cocktails to be tossed at your cities
and the breasts of your mothers severed and bloody
will be sold to the freak show for the revelers money
your children will witness their whole world collapse
as kidnapped siblings must erase names off maps
so forgive me of all my sins
for not being a good indian
i was taught better than that
i have more respect than that
there is no history book with my story
there is no newspaper to give me my glory
because no one has heard this language in years
cept kokopelli, dream catchers and a trail of beers
my voice is a small pox blanket
that spreads like fire on the prairie
infecting both fist and hatchet
in the spirit of fucking crazy

This poem is republished with permission from Ryan Red Corn from 1491s and Buffalo Nickel

Many young youth of color have been targeted by po'lice brutality and internalized racism. The "see a n*$#@a, kill a n#%!&a" way of thinking has many of our communities terrorized by our own kind. Then add racist police brutality and now we have a nation saturated with blood thanks to the hateful, hypocritical, thieves that this nation has called our honorable rulers.

To bring my people here as slaves, noting that we are second-class, and to make it lawful to hunt us down and colonize our minds into the "n#!%a mentality" has been one of the european's greatest accomplishments.

Travon Martin's case is all the more difficult because in amerikkkas' eye's Ron Zimmerman is REALLY a hero for killing this young black man. 

His bail was a slap on the wrist (his bail was later revoked, not because of Travon's murder, but for lying to a judge about his finances). How many innocent blacks and others of color that have been slaughtered just for being a person of color? let the "other" media tell you, the ku klux klan have only killed 3,400+ blacks in this country. No mention of the massacre of my Native brothers, the original owners of this land, nor any mention of my brown comrades that because of racist, false boarders are forced to jeopardize their lives and leave their families for a slice of amerikkkan pie. 

All of their blood seeps thru the seductive hands of amerikkka, so it is safe to say this land and it's "rulers" have consumed the lives and spirits of MILLIONS! There are no REAL laws to protect the citizens of color here in this country, because WE are all suspects. 

Laws like "stand your ground", "stop and frisk" and  "justifiable homicide" were not meant to make us safer, but to control people of color by threatening death to those that resist and attempt to resurrect the people. We also have a lot of community terrorists that looks like us, act like us, because it IS our own folks! Why is our black an brown folks dying behind red or blue, when we are fighting for more green from the whytes to live like human beings? We have street soldiers who will kill innocent children, mothers and fathers and brag about their contributions to such internalized destruction on facebook! To get shot at in the western addition is all too common, whether you are a "gang member" or not.

My neighbor, Taz is NOT in a gang, she helps out in tha hood, and takes care of her family, but Tuesday night, she, and another neighbor got their windows shot out (no one was hurt) and I myself just bumped my knee trying to duck. This is not the way anyone should be living! And if we are not being threatened with gunfire, we are being threatened with evictions left and right because the internalized "overseers", would rather get a manicure than to see if the tenants' paperwork is done correctly! We as the "peoples' people" are in a helluva fix and fight.

And it is really sad to see members in the community act worse than the po'lice, or in some cases worst than the ruthless "rulers" themselves.

Tucson's Mexican American Studies Director Sean Arce Speaks at Mission High on the Banning of Ethnic Studies in Arizona..

We arrive at Mission High School with POOR Magazine family to witness and take part in an event called "No History is Illegal". Sean Arce, fired from his job as director of the Tucson school district's Mexican American Studies program, was about to speak on the banning of ethnic studies in Arizona.

As we enter Mission High School, which looks like an old church or mission built by Spanish colonizers, I wonder in my mind of the Ohlone people whose land was stolen, and remember a story that a friend of mine once shared of how the Spaniards would always build their Catholic churches on sacred land Natives used for their ceremonies.

I remember in high school in my US history class, my teacher telling the class that Native people were savages and that the Europeans brought civilization to the Americas.

I would raise my hand and say it was a lie that Indigenous people were savages. I would say that Indigenous people were well organized, and we were great civilizations and that the Pyramids were living proof. After this comment she gave me a referral and sent me to see the counselor.

I always failed US History, and World Cultures, but I was blessed to have mentors around me outside of school, who spoke of the histories that are not written in books, from the migrante struggle to street knowledge.

The event "No History is Illegal" was held in the library of Mission High, a perfect place for the conversation that was about to take place. I notice a beautiful piece art done by students, hanging on the wall. The piece art was a symbol and recognition of the diversity of cultures.

The moderator started to introduce the speakers:

Sean Arce, former Director, Mexican American Studies Program, Tucson Unified School District. Sean Arce was fired in April when the school district decided to dismantle the program.  Maestro Sean Arce said one of the major reasons Arizona is coming after ethnic studies is because, if we know who WE really are as people, we will start loving ourselves, instead killing ourselves.

Marcela Itzél Ortega, 11th Grade Student, ARISE High School.  “Ethnic studies have not only empowered me as Xicana, but also as a woman,” said Marcela Itzél Ortega. Marcela also spoke about how ARISE High School did a Teach-In Day about what’s happening in Arizona, watching documentaries like “Precious Knowledge” and creating theatre skits about the banning of books in Arizona.  “You need to know where you come from, to know where you going,” she also said.

Flor Burruel, Student Activist, Pima Community College, Arizona (via Skype).  Flor spoke on the ongoing resistance in Arizona, the actions they have executed, and how they are planning to keep the resistance and struggle going for a fair education for all Arizona students.

Roger Alvarado, Spokesperson of SFSU’s Third World Liberation Front.  Roger shared knowledge on past struggles and resistance done by students and oppressed people, here and in the world.

“You need to know where you came from, to know where you going.”  These words bounce of the walls in that library at Mission High, echoed by people who are resisting by any means, resisting attempts by white supremacy to erase, forget, ignore, sweep under the rug, beat the brown out of us, or lynch or the pride we carry inside our hearts....

But like our ancestors have done over hundreds of years, Resist Resist Resist….

El infierno de lo que tuvo que pasar Doña Bertha Figueroa en el sistema de asistencia médica en los Estados Unidos

Espanol sigue/ Scroll down for English

Hay Doctores que aman mas al dinero que a los Humanos.

Digo esto porque en el hospital Kaiser, hay un doctor se supone que es el major espesialista y el unico que tiene el hospital Kaiser en Norte California.

!Si el major pero en sacarle dinero a la jente que tanto trabajo le cuesta  reunir una cantidad grande de dinero por  amor a sus seres queridos ! Y por la salud de ellos para que esten bien, digo esto por la injustisia que se cometio con doña Bertha Figueroa.  

Ella  estaba pagando aseguransa en el hospital Kaiser pensando que su vida estaria asegurada por ellos. Pero lamentable mente su vida estubo en peligrio por Doctores que trabajan ahi, pero el mas peligroso es el doctor Maung Myint.En mayo del 2011 doña Bertha se sentia upoco mal y fue al hospital Kaiser penado en lo major para su salud , al prinsipio todo pasesia normal la mandaron a haserse examen de sangre y de orin.

Segun el doctor  Maung Myint , los rinones de ella estaban mal porque trabajaban el 20 %, estan trabajando muy poco. Y le bamos a haser un somograma para confirmar dijo el Doctor  Maung. Myint . Cuando los resultados ya estaban listos el doctor dijo que pensaba que doña  Bertha tenia piedras en los dos riñones y que nesesitaba que le isieran un tomograma  para estar seguros de que era lo que tenia en los riñones . Despues que  selo isieron, Le dijeron  nesesitaban mas dinero y ella tubo que dor 500 mas y le isieron otro sonograma que duro aproximada mente una hora y  los doctores le dijeron que no pudieron detectar bien  ,pero despues de 2 semanas   el Doctor Maung  Myint  le dijo a doña Bertha que nesesitaba sacar las piedras o quebrarselas sin  siquiera estar seguros de lo que en realidad ella tenia .Programaron la sirujia y despuesde aberle hecho la sirujia  los doctores  simplemente le dijeron fiate  que no encontramos piedras en tus riñones pero te metimos unas mangeritas en los tuvos de tus riñones ya que estan muy serados y por eso vas a tener mucho dolor.

Pero  cuando le isieron la sirujia  le pusieron sondas en las partes intimas y lo peor fue que le sacaron con tanta fuersa que le rompieron una parte del recto y pore so ella  tenia mucho dolor, Estaba siempre acostada  pues no podia estar de pie. Pero el doctor que la opero le dijo que ese dolor se trataba alo major de emorroides y  la mando con un espesialista de emorroidesPero la sorpresa de doña Bertha es que no hera emorroides  el doctor Maung le rompio porque le galo muy fuerte y  por esa rason ella no aguantaba pararse tenia  mucho dolor y por error de ese doctor a doña Bertha  nesesitaba una  hoperasion  en el recto el sirujano del emorroides le dijotengo  que sacar parte del intestino y ponerte pegamento y todo ba ser rapido dijo el espesialista en emorroides  pero nesesitaba 2,000 dolares para pagar la sirujia  y ella ya abia pagado 2,000 por la hoperacion anterior mas 500 que ella ya abia dado era demasiado dinero para ella. Pero  el doctor del emorroides le dijo boy aber si puedo aser algo por usted porque como no fue error sullo ,El error es de ellos dijo ese doctor , hera error de los doctores del hospital Kaiser .y ellos los sabian  por eso el hospital pago  esos 2,000 al rirujano que tubo que aserle la sirujia  que  ella ni lo nesesitaba y yo me inmajino que ni siquiera la primera hoperasion ella nesesitaba solo que ellos querian dinero . querian practicar con ella esa sirujia  por eso que el hospital pago  aseptando  su culpa y antes que lo demandaran major pagaron Pero eso no quita el daño que le hisieron a doña  Berha

Pues ella sufria tenia que aguantar el dolor como de parto todos los dias y las que somos madres sabemos el dolor tan orrible de parto que yo no aguantaria ni un dia y ella tubo que aguantar mas de un mes  el dolor y tambien la precocupasion porque para esta fecha el doctor le dijo que sus riñones estaban trabajando el 15 %.

Y lo major es que fuera a Davis cercas de Sacramento para un trasplante porque sus riñones ya no tenian fuersa para trabajar. Y ella fue a rejistrarse le isieron barias preguntas para saber si calificaba y esto fue como en febrero y para el 15 de abril empesar las dialysis. Quisas en julio  ya hay un donante para el trasplante le dijo el doctor  pero ella tubo una sita en abril y estaba demasiado deprimida su esposo pidio la opinion de otro doctor pero le dijeron que alli en el Kaiser no hay mas espesialistas que el doctor Maung Pero lo raro es que los doctores del trasplante le preguntaban si sus pies estaban inchados en la noche o en la mañana pero eso no pasava, pero la dijeron que si pasaba pero ella no quireia decir.

Ella estaba sustada porque le dijeron que el trasplante no es seguro y que areglara sus cosas, ella  tubo miedo pues  no abia resibido otra  hopinion de otro doctor ,su esposo y su familia desidieron buscar otra opinoion pero no aqui en los Estados Unidos sino en mexico pero ella tenia miedo porque pensaba que aqui estaban los mejores espesialistas pero su esposo lo abia desidido y se fueron a Mexico les explico alos doctores de alla lo que le havian dicho aqui .Luego el doctor en Mexico le dijo no es mi etica poner en mal a ningun doctor pero yo te beo muy bien y no creo que estes enferma dijo y le iso un sonograma  y le dijo yo sabia que no era nada serio tienes un pequeño problema que no es grave es solo una berruga tu no gueles como las personas que bienen grabes su cuerpo se siente a yerro biejopero pero traeere  a dos doctores mas para berificar y nesesito aserte un examen de sangre paraber si no tienes diabetes y despues de eso te boy a dar un tratamiento para tus rinones porque le encontre mucho potasi y ademas tienes un poco de anemia tus globules rojos estan un poco bajos pero bamos a empesar a curarlos  eso es todo tu no nesitas   dialysis dijo el doctor en Mexico ,pero nesesito saber que pastilles estas tomando? Solo bitaminas contesto ella. Las bitanminas no hayudan nada. Ella dijo poreso  yo me siento cansada   y otra cosa que me hisieron los doctores en USA esque mis riñones no trabajaban y para alludarme  me dejaron una bolsa que la andaba en larrodilla con el orin y era demaciado doloroso dijo doña bertha  el Doctor  en mexico dijo lo siento pero ellos son que te enfermaron a si hisieron con una señora ase dos semanas ella le metio una demanda ol hospital kaiser porque higual no tenia nada dijo el Doctor .

Pero dona bertha no iso ninguna demanda porque como  dise Dios en la Biblia  dejame a mi las cosas y yo are la bengansa y ella tubo miedo pero ella cuenta su historia  para  que la gente no balla con ese doctor y ademas los sintomas de los rinones es la inchason en la cara y los pies cansansio mal olor del cuerpo y el horin a fierro oxidado y ella no tuvo nada de esos sintomas.

Ingles Sigue/English Follows

The hell that Mrs. Bertha Figueroa had to endure in the Health Care system in the United States of AmeriKKKa

There are doctors who love money more than humans.

I say this because in the hospital Kaiser, there is a doctor who supposedly is the best specialist and the only one that Northern California Kaiser has.

Yes! The best, but in making money from people that work so hard to pay for his services.I say this for the injustice that was committed with Mrs. Bertha Figueroa. She was paying insurance for the hospital of Kaiser thinking that her life would be insured by them and her life would “thrive” with them.

But her life was in dangers by the doctors that worked there, but the most dangerous doctor was Maung Myint. In May of 2011 Mrs.Figueroa was feeling a little ill nothing too serious but she felt it was time to get health insurance and she decided to go with Kaiser thinking for the best for her health. In the beginning everything seemed normal they sent her to get a blood and urine test, the norm for a physical.

According to Dr. Myint, her kidneys seemed to not be doing so well and it looked like they were working at 20% of their full potential. They decided to do a sonogram to confirm this. When the results arrived the doctor said that Mrs. Figueroa had kidney stones and since she was very new to her insurance her deductable wouldn’t cover the costs completely. She would need to pay out of pocket which came out to 500 dollars. They did another sonogram on her to confirm his findings. From there the doctors said they couldn’t detect the kidney stones strangely enough, but was sure she had kidney stones.

Two weeks passed by and Dr.Myint told Mrs. Figueroa that she needed to get the kidney stones removed. They performed the procedure, which entitled shoving tubes up her intimate parts. After she awake in much discomfort, the doctor told her some bad news, he did not find any stones in her kidneys. Since he didn’t find any stones without her permission he decided to insert these tubes that led up to her kidneys. These tubes were for air to get in and perhaps help and make her kidneys start working again since they were in a shriveled state. The discomfort she would feel would be normal, and nothing serious.

As the days progressed she did feel discomfort, but she also felt discomfort around her anus. She would later find out this pain was caused by the doctors when they shoved tubes up her intimate parts for the kidney stone procedure. They had taken out the tubes with such force that it caused a tear in her rectum and from that she was in a lot of pain. She would only be in bed since it hurt for her to stand. She went to get this checked, and she was told it was probably just a case of hemorrhoids. She was sent home with a cream to take care of it, but back home she still felt sharp pain. It got to the point that she was afraid to eat since it was so painful to go to the bathroom, and the cream only made it much worse.

She went back and told the doctors she was in too much pain, so they then took her to a hemorrhoids specialists. But to the surprise of Mrs. Bertha it wasn’t hemorrhoids. The Doctor had caused a tear and this was the reason she was in so much pain, not hemorrhoids. For this error of that doctor Mrs. Bertha needed a procedure to immediately fix that. The only problem was that she would need once again to pay out of her pocket and this time it would be 2,000 dollars to pay for this procedure. From having to pay 2,000 for this procedure plus 500 for the past procedure, it was too much money for her. She told them she could not pay the 2,000 dollars. They tried to convince her to het this procedure since she couldn’t be just walking with this tear, but Mrs.Figueroa told them she didn’t have a choice she didn’t have money to pay for it. The doctors than  told her that they would find out a way to pay for it in realist it was something that they had caused and were at fault for. The procedure was done and Kaiser paid.

Even though she went through that she was still in pain from the tubes that were put in that led to her kidneys for air to reach them. Well she suffered and had to withstand the excruciating pain everyday. For about a month she had to withstand that pain, she would tell the doctors she couldn’t handle the pain. Painkillers weren’t even helping with the pain. They decided to finally take them out after a month, but in the end it didn’t help and instead she was told that her kidneys were now working at 15% of their full potential.  

Since her kidneys were getting weaker, she was told to go to Davis close to Sacramento. There she would start the process of dialysis and for a kidney transplant. She went in February to start the process where she was asked many questions to see if she qualified for a kidney. From there she was told that they were to put her on dialysis come April and hopefully by July a donor would come.

She started to get really depressed, and her husband tried to ask for a different opinion from a different doctor. He felt that she couldn’t be as sick as the doctors were claiming she was, she didn’t show it physically or showed any traits of a very ill person. Kaiser told them that there was only one specialist in Kaiser and that was Dr. Myint.

The strange thing from this was that the doctor would ask her if she would feel her feet swell up at night or in the morning, but her feet would never swell up which would confuse her. Especially when the doctor would keep telling her that it was happening but she didn’t want to tell him. Aside from that he would tell her that he was sure that she was feeling exhausted though the day and it hurt her eyes when she watched television. Her responses were always no, because she didn’t feel any symptoms he was telling her. He would say that why was she too afraid to tell him the truth. She knew she didn’t fell those symptoms, but the more the doctor drilled it in her head, she suddenly started to feel like she was feeling like he told her she was supposed to be feeling. 

The doctor told her told her that the kidney transplant surgery had a risk of death and it would be good if she started getting her personal matters resolved if she had any. From moment on she was afraid for her life, and was yet to receive another opinion from a different doctor. Her husband and her family decided to look for another opinion but not in the United States but in Mexico. She was scared to go to Mexico because she thought the US had the best health care. Her husband decided that she would go, and seek an opinion from a doctor down there.

In Mexico she told the doctors what the Kaiser doctors had told her. Upon finishing the doctor told her that from what he could see physically she looked fine and not in need of dialysis let alone a transplant. He than told her it wasn’t ethically proper for him to talk bad about a doctor being a doctor himself, but he had heard too many Kaiser horror stories not to speak his mind. In any case he said to be sure he said they would do tests and see if she did indeed need a kidney transplant.

The results came back and there was something wrong with her kidneys but it wasn’t as serious as it was claimed before. It was a minor kidney condition where treated with medication it would get better, and she didn’t need a kidney transplant. 

Before leaving and having a huge weight lifted off her shoulders and stress turn to relief, the doctor told her of another patient who went through a similar situation. Just like they brainwashed you into feeling very ill, she too went through that. She on the other hand did take legal action with Kaiser from lying to her saying she was very ill.

Mrs. Figueroa is not taking legal action, because like God said in the bible “Leave your problems to me and I will resolve them.” She was very scared for that moment in her life, she has decided to tell her story so that others don’t go through that process of lies and false treatments.

Espanol sigue/ Scroll down for English

28, Junio, 2012

Hoy dia se esta queriendo adueñar de los paises

Asiendo golpe de estado en muchos paises, por ejemplo en Honduras y en Guatemala y en otros paises que no voy a mensionar aqui. Y lo mas resiente que hiso fue en Paraguay el 22 de Junio del 2012. Lo logro despues de 23 intentos que no lo habia logrado desde el  29 de Junio del 2011.

Lugo fue quitado de la oficina por acusación en la parte del parlamento por un "ensayo político"

Agentina,  Brasil, y Uruguay los sosios de Paraguay del bloque de Mercado comun rejional dijeron que quisas Lugo balla al encuentro como  un imbitado de onor  es  el acuerdo  de Argentina,  Brasil, y Chile. 

Segun los ligesladores Lugo fue sentensiado a dejar el cargo segun  la camara alta  de los legisladores.Y Benesuela dijo que iba interrumpir la benta de petrolio en ese pais, Tambien El Reino Unido dijo que abriria sus puertas de la embajada en el Paraguay.Y todo esto desperto el rechaso general de los mandatarios de Latino America  y el señor Federico  Fanco el presidente segun el congreso  rechaso  la expulsion del Reino Unido. 

Pero esto no se bale poner a un nuevo presidente sin que la gente lo eliga , y no creo que la gente este de acuerdo la forma en que lo isieron porque  mucha gente no sabe como y porque fue.

Que lo distituyeron a Lugo y muchos simpatisantes  de lugo que estaban en la plasa del congreso cuando supieron que sus presidente abia sido destituido enpesaron a protestar y poreso la policia los alejo con gases lagrimojinos  para segun ellos ebitar trajedias.

Pues a Lugo lo  responsabilisaban por la muerte de 7 campesinos y 10 polisias  y desenas de personas eridas segun porque  el presidente Lugo ordeno al egersito a desalojar a unos campesinos biolentamente.

Y por eso lo distituyeron a pesar que llebaba 3 años y 10 meses en el poder y tenia que entregar la presidensia el 15 de agosto.

El congreso desidio destituirlo apesar que en el senado tubo 39 botos a fabor y 4 en sontra y en la camara baja tubo 73 votos a su fabor y un encontra el presidente  Fernando lugo se despido de la Presidensia presidensia  abandonandola

Y en seguidas tomo posesion el vise presidente Federico Franco ahunque Venezuela el Ecuador y Argentina / Bolibia no reconosen al nuebo presidente. Costa Rica le ofresio asilo al ex presidente, segun es lo que disen pero deberian de explicar major las cosas y desir la berdad.

Y todo esto fue hecho por Monsanto.

Ingles Sigue/English Follows

June 28, 2012 

Today I found out that Monsanto is a group of people that are taking over everything and starting to be owners of what the land produces.

Today they are starting to invade countries.

 Creating military coups in many countries, for example in Honduras and in Guatemala and in other countries that I will not mention here.  This was recently done in Paraguay June 22, 2012. They achieved after 23 intents that they weren’t able to since June 29, 2011.

Lugo was removed from office through impeachment on the part of parliament through a "political trial".

Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay the neighbors of Paraguay and the block of common regional Market said that perhaps Lugo should see the encounter as an invitation of honor.

According to the legislators, Lugo was sentenced to leaving his high position in office. Venezuela than said that it would interrupt the sale of oil in that country.  Also the United Kingdom said that it would open its doors of the embassy in Paraguay. And all this awoke the rebuttal of the general proxies of Latin America and Mister Federico Fanco the president, as it seems of the congress refused the expulsion of the United Kingdom.

But this is not fair, to put new president without the people’s choice, and I do not believe that the people are in agreement with this because many do not know why and how this happened.

When Lugo was impeached, many sympathizers of Lugo that were in the Congress’ square got word that their President had been impeached, started to protest. The police had to throw gas bombs at them since according to them, it would keep from violence escalading.

Well Lugo was held responsible for the death of 7 peasants and 10 policemen and dozens of people, since supposedly President Lugo ordered the military to displace some farmers violently.

And that’s why he was impeached to even though he had three years and ten months in power and he had to hand over the presidency August 15.

The congress decided to dismiss it even though the senate had 39 votes for and 4 against him and in the lower table he had 73 votes to his favor and one against him. President Fernando Lugo dismissed himself of the Presidency abandoning it.

Following Lugo, Vice President Federico Franco took over. Even Venezuela, Ecuador, and Argentina / Bolivia do not recognize the new president. Costa Rica offered sanctuary to the former president, is what they say but they should explain major things and tell the truth.

Indigenous Peoples Media Project on the beat with Cedar Firesong Robideau. She discusses issues relating to two-spirits, reproductice justice, decolonization, and reclaiming traditions...

(R.E. Spect is from Zimbabwe, Africa)

Lyrics:

The revolution shall not be televised

As the liberation of mind

With equality of frame in oness

Pureness is the voice that speaks in anthems of truth

Determined

Inspiring

Soulful

Able deeper beneath the core

An essence breath marked for cleaner hope

Clearer melody of light

As word spreads life

Dedicated to all those who painted the portrait of disabled history from scholars to artists

Now we continue with the brush of light & paint our voices

Let the light shine

From deep beneath the soul

Let the voice speak

Be heard like a shining star

Strive on

You’re the light that shines x4

My soul’s anthem to survival struggle in the movement

Absorbed fractures of inconvenience that birthed pure resistance

Marching through the journey of reality by the roadside

A thousand whispers echoed

Tears a catalyst elevating growth against stains rooted in ignorance

Their eyes once shackled I behind the bars of self doubt as a child of humanity

Now the light within revolves equality yesterday’s footprints

Of them opened windows that conversated liberating dialect in its deepest form

Dedicated is an open mind sweeping torn pages dust

Blisters of tears that bled through the palms of these hands

Now the thousand voices become the currency of purpose

With the grip of needle weaving reason

Word will speak elevating sense in streams of ink

Letting this voice be heard let it be heard

Like an emblem of hope arresting every darkness

Embroided in weaker mindsets fear and hatred of what not underst

Let the light shine

From deep beneath the soul

Let the voice speak

Be heard like a shining star

Strive on

You’re the light that shines x4

Lets raise our hands to the great work the strengthenig disability movement

We’re thankful to those who kept the struggle alive overcoming challenges 

Our voice is now heard today expressing our hearts and minds using  krip-hop

History movers & shakers sculptured the landscape of the elevating path

Toiling with uncensored passion persistence immunisation of thought

From negative factors & elements puncturing the walls of oness

Existence let breathing torch lavitate this book authoring relaying steps to progression

Empowering hidden scriptures burned in silence turned alliance

Needle and thread of knowledge of the divine infinitely the weaving hand

Ambilical cord to pureness of hearts crotched to the face of true freedom

Heartbeat of expression insripted on the page of brotherhood

The movement hand in hand with ever revolving minds gleaming lights

Unshackling bondage tangled within shadows diecepting in

Articulating untamed tongued rebuke to unmanared ignorance

Light shining within the core of the  inner soul

Thousand harmonies echoing armour a kiss of strength infinitely paints

A fountain overflowing in depth resistence the breath of oness

Let the light shine

From deep beneath the soul

Let the voice speak

Be heard like a shining star

Keep on

You’re the light that shines x4

God I thank you for the gift of life

Hear my voice as I sing I thank you

(Photo: POOR Magazine family (With Vivian fighting for the rights of all of us poor families in Amerikkka)

In 2006 after nearly four years being homeless and living five years in public housing in Oakland, CA, I moved with my children from East Oakland to the University Avenue Cooperative Homes (UACH) in Berkeley, CA, a non-profit affordable housing cooperative that was founded by low-income Berkeley residents in 1982 with a tenant-run Board of Directors. UACH was an affordable housing cooperative with HUD funding that requires only 30% rent cost. This allowed me to have the sole ability to afford a place to live with my children, even at times when I may be unemployed. I felt secure with this housing and although I was not crazy about The John Stewart Company managing UACH, the on-site manager has always been good with all of us tenants at UACH.

In addition, UACH was a cooperative that we were supposed to be paying into with ‘shares’ as part-owner of the co-op, however this program is no longer in existence as of July 1st, 2012. Why? UACH had quietly been ‘sold’ to a Berkeley-based non-profit organization called ‘Resources for Community Development’ (RCD), who has already began to change everything in a very arbitrary way. At the end of the day, it is really not in the best interest of the tenants at UACH at all.

In October 2011, when I received a formal letter from The John Stewart Company, saying that UACH’s 20-year HUD funding was going to expire and that they would be offering us tenants the option of being given a Section-8 voucher. Me and the other tenants didn’t know nor hear anything about RCD purchasing our housing cooperative until the transaction was already done. RCD quietly bought UACH in January 2012. All of us UACH tenants would not find out about the RCD buy-out until RCD sent us a letter around June 1st, inviting us to attend a ‘meet and greet’ meeting with them at our housing site on June 16th.

At the June 16th meeting, (which was not much of a ‘greet’), representatives from RCD addressed us tenants with a very passive-aggressive approach, telling everyone who was in attendance that they (RCD) had to make a very quick decision by both July 1st and 25th to get ‘tax credits’ from the Government/HUD to rehabilitate all of the housing infrastructure at UACH. They also told us that our original lease is no longer valid, that UACH, who obviously went defunct, as University Homes Incorporated went belly-up after they were unable to come up with money to pay back a 1.8 million dollar balloon loan that UACH had since 1982. A representative from the City of Berkeley was in attendance, doing his best to convince us that this transition was a great opportunity for us. What he didn’t tell us is that the City of Berkeley only pays $1.00 a year for the parcel our housing cooperative sets on. RCD also told us that we would have to deal with UACH to get back any of our ‘shares’.

How can any of the UACH tenants get back their ‘shares’ (money that tenants invested into UACH, as everyone was told that they were ‘part owners’ when they moved in, including me…) when UACH no longer exists? We also were told that we would have to pay a ‘new deposit’ as well. We were also told that there would be a lot of construction done on all of the UACH units with some units needing more work, so we would be temporarily displaced out of our units for any amount of time from 15 days to 4 months. However, I heard that it would be more like 6 months. Also, all of us tenants, who would be temporarily displaced would be required to live in semi-sleezy hotels along San Pablo Avenue and still have to pay full rent costs, which my rent is nearly market-rate these days. In addition, our tenant-run Board of Directors was forced to dissolve. We have lost all of our cooperative tenant rights now. We were also told by RCD that we are no longer a ‘cooperative’ any more. We are now just ‘tenants’.

This has become a nightmare for me and many other tenants at UACH. We feel disenfranchised and disrespected, not being given due process in a timely manner, so that we would be more informed on this issue. I feel like I have been hit in the face with hot oil. I am also very concerned about some of the other tenants; very elderly communities who have lived here for many years and the severely disabled communities who are unable to physically hold and/or read the letters and continuous 72-hour notices RCD keep taping to our door knobs. Many of us tenants find RCD’s continuous ‘visits’ to our units invasive. I suspect that RCD might be violating ADA laws, as many tenants were not present on that Saturday morning on June 16th, with only ten of us present at that meeting. There are over 140 tenants living at UACH in Berkeley.

RCD, UACH, The John Stewart Company and the City of Berkeley are keeping everything secret from the media. RCD claims that the dissolution of UACH in Berkeley is not connected to the recent issue with Berkeley Housing Authority’s co-ops being bought out. RCD is one of the local Bay Area-based non-profit housing development companies that is setting a new trend in the way affordable housing is defined. I work in Berkeley as an Advocate, helping very low-income communities with housing resources and I can truly say that RCD, along with The John Stewart Company and Affordable Housing Associates make it very difficult to house very low-income communities.

RCD has set a ‘minimum income’ requirement at nearly all of their housing sites with rent costs starting out at over $750.00 a month. This excludes most poor communities, who are unable to afford that type of rent cost on very limited income. This is not affordable housing. I do not know what other rabbits RCD will pull out of their hat next, as they have shown disregard for us tenants at UACH, many who have lived here since it was built in 1982. Berkeley is definitely on a trend of GENTRIFICATION and CLASS GENOCIDE, making all of their so-called affordable housing ‘unaffordable’, inadvertently discriminating on low-income communities of color with forced displacement through draconian policies to profiteer on, such as the recently proposed ‘Sit & Lie’ law in a so-called liberal city (Berkeley). I do not feel welcomed here anymore… Affordable housing in Berkeley is nothing but a myth of ‘lies in disguise’.

Tuesday, June 18, 2002

It was a day like any other –I curved my body into a half circle and twisted sideways between the wobbly steering wheel and the broken drivers seat. I breathed a short-lived sigh of relief, I was in……The car that is , better known to some as …the hooptie, the clunker… the tank- it didn’t matter what you called it – it was ours, we had wheels and being that some family members are disabled – and we had far distances to travel - cars were a necessity– but back to today – today we needed to travel to Marin County – San Rafael to be exact – to do an outreach workshop with The Canal Community Center –The Canal was peopled with mostly migrante trabadores residing in a minute yet beautiful raza barrio known as The Canal district of San Rafael – one of the few very low-income communities in the whole County of Marin- we should know we were one of the poor folk who used to reside there-

After a successful day of outreach and training we "slid" back into the car and headed South on 101 towards San Francisco. The Sun, sky and hills collaborated to form the impenetrable beauty of Marin County. The shocking unrealness of the sky and water became even more clear as we started up the incline leaving Marin City, mostly because if you exceed 45 miles an hour our entire car and its contents begin to violently shake ….

And then… we were there – facing the red steel, black and blue asphalt framed by a bright green expanse of bay.. The Golden Gate Bridge – we sailed across feeling light and momentarily happy until we got close to the toll – oh my god, fear set in- We didn’t have enough for the Bridge toll. Dee and I looked nervously at each other – emptying the contents of our backpacks and bags in tandem. "Well, " Dee proclaimed, "tell them that you don’t have the toll – they will probably just issue a ticket like the Bay Bridge does.."

"Excuse me – we don’t have the toll- " I said to the lady in the toll booth, she looked at me and an odd look of confusion and anger filled her face.

"What do you mean you don’t have the toll?"

"Just what I said, I don’t have the toll.."

"Well I am very sorry but that is not acceptable, everyone has to pay or you don’t get across" and then she looked at me like now I would produce the $3.00 I really must have

"So what do you want me to do?"

" I already told you miss- you need to pay the toll"

We continued to go back and forth like this for a few more minutes until Dee lost patience in the idiocy of the interchange. "Look, we said we don’t have the toll, what do we do now?"

"Well I don’t know, I will have to call my supervisor and you will have to drive over there and talk to a police officer"

A police officer??!! – would this whole thing end up being one of our worst ‘Driving While Poor’ nightmares yet. I scanned my mind for warrants and/or unpaid citations. Was our registration current? I just paid for my insurance. I think its ok ….

"you gals will need to wait here for awhile while we sort this out", this time some police or sheriff like character was loudly yelling into the car. We became truly scared and angry . Were we to be arrested for three dollars ? What would we or could we do and how could we prove to this man that what we had done nothing wrong other than be poor and drive over the Golden Gate Bridge?

"What the Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation Board are doing is trying to force the poor people and working poor out of Marin County," stated John Ortega, the Acting Director of Canal Human and Economic Development Association.

Last month Dee Gray assigned a team of PNN reporters to cover the proposed toll hike of the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as a proposed toll for pedestrians and bicycle riders. The tolls are being rationalized in the mainstream media and by the Bridge board of directors as the way to pay for increased costs of Bridge upkeep and to underwrite public transportation. Due to the fact that we had had first-hand experience with the racist, classist policies of the Golden Gate Bridge we had a feeling the whole story wasn’t being told

We began our media organizing with multiple calls to several agencies that we have worked with in the low-income Canal district and Marin City areas of Marin County to get there feelings on the impact that a bridge toll would have on low-income commuters. The response was clear, in a telephone interview with PNN media intern Ace Tafoya, John Ortega was adamant, "Marin County is one of the most affluent counties in the country. They want to drive out the poor people,". In Marin County, 6.9% of the population are below the poverty level, communities of color make up 16% and persons over 65 years old are 13.5% of the total populace.

Byron Allen, a former resident of Marin City warns, "They (poor people) can’t afford the hike. It’s gonna be an economic impact to them because of their economic disadvantage." Many families of Marin County often share living quarters just to survive month to month. "These people who live in these areas don’t make enough money to handle that increase. This just isn’t right," Bryon Allen says shaking his head in disbelief.

Our next step was to report and "support" at one of the first public information meetings held by The Golden Gate Bridge highway and transportation district which unlike the Bay Bridge and Richmond Bridges is not a public entity supported by sales tax and managed by Caltrans, but rather in the trend of other public spaces and places has become a business with a good ole fashioned profit margin and board of directors.

Armed with a few thought provoking hand-made signs saying things like; Stop Economic Apartheid and Stop making decisions based on rich white folkThe PNN crew of Ace Tafoya, Joseph Bolden, Ashley Adams, Tiny and myself arrived at the San Rafael Community Center on a bright afternoon in June.

The room was large and airy with high redwood beam ceilings and a wall of sliding glass doors. At each corner was an easel with pie charts, graphs and vague statements about "The Cost of Bridge Upkeep" etc. Standing awkwardly in front of each flow chart were a few older men wearing ill-fitting sports jackets.

Dee motioned to start with one of the men in the left-hand corner, " Excuse me, can we ask you a few questions?"

" Sure" he stated pleasantly

" What is your name, what is your position?"

" I am Stanley smith, I am on the Board of Directors for the Bridge"

"So can you just tell us, in the planning of this increase have you thought at all about the impact on poor people?

He smiled again, "We thought of the impact on everyone, Sure of course we have, its how we’re paying to keep the bridge up. We have to keep the bridge there and obviously we haven’t raised any tolls in eleven years, its like when your bread, milk goes up, unfortunately that happens and we just have to raise a toll: because of the security, seismic retrofit, the maintenance of the bridge itself."

"What about the state taking over the bridge; what do you think of that idea?", Dee asked.

Mr. Smith chuckled and shook his head lightly at his own inside joke, "I would recommend anybody who wants the state to take over the bridge - go commute on the Bay Bridge for one week and then come back to Golden Gate Bridge and see if they still want the state to take it over. The Bay Bridge is not a well run bridge. Look every morning on your television the commute is backed up to Portland Oregon maybe. That’s being facetious but ever since we put the Fast Track in we’ve haven’t had a jam-up, look how the Bay Bridge Fast Track went - its just terrible. But we have exceptionally talented people running the bridge so that would be-I say the difference."

"So your saying part of this increase is to cover those exceptional people salaries?"

"Of course part of it is to cover salaries-yes, but the majority of it is gonna go for the maintenance of the bridge"

Mr. Smith went on to relate that he also believed that all those bicycle riders with their $300 hats and $600 bikes could easily afford a toll and that he wishes he could institute a sliding scale toll for poor folks but he wasn’t sure how to do it. We thanked Mr. Smith and moved on to join another very heated conversation.

"All those people, the whole board of directors and no one ever pays to go across the bridge. For the rest of their lives every board director gets a free pass." Dressed in work-pants and loose t-shirt, with the remnants of wood chips still clinging to his boots stood one Bob Dahlgren, public citizen, a new breed of activist which the PNN crew encountered at the Bridge hearings- "contractor as activist" He continued in a clear loud voice, " If that’s not a conflict of interest, I don’t know what is…"

Dee interjected "Board of directors of what?"

Bob answered, " The Golden Gate Bridge District"

"That’s not true", The man that Bob was directing his comments to was wearing one of those odd polyester/nylon jackets, giving him the slight impression of a ship captain , he forced a stiff smile towards Bob and continued, " board Members have free passes to cross the Golden Gate Bridge while they are members of the board of directors, not for the rest of their life."

Dee looked towards Bob again, "Why do you have a problem with that?"

"I don’t believe there’s a set policy, we’ve asked Jane Tarrentino, The Secretary of the Bridge District for the written policy about when the bridge (vote) passes or revoked, who they were given out to and we got no response. The fact is it took us approximately two months to get a Freedom Of Information Act results, there were over 1500 names listed of people that get to go across the bridge for free for the rest of their life."

While Bob was talking – The red jacketed man, who we later discovered was the Bridge Manager, backed himself out of our half-circle. We went on to ask Bob what he thought the impact of these bridge tolls would be on the low-income residents of Marin County

"That I believe is the biggest problem. The so-called Fast Track,program is the only thing they say is available for low-income commuters but of course you have to have a credit card and $35 dollars in your bank account, and when that drops to $30 dollars you are out of the system, plus Fast Track is a privately run company – and we have been unable to get any information on them- " He shook his head in disbelief, " I find it a shame this whole thing… You know-it’s a beautiful bridge, it has a lot to offer but if Cal Trans can run business and keep things under budget – I don’t understand why the Golden Gate Bridge District can’t"

Dee told Bob how she had asked Mr. Smith about the lower fare idea for low-income folks

Bob replied emphatically "There will never be a lower fare, it would only happen if they were backed up against the wall. This thing ( the Golden Gate Bridge) is a revenue maker and strictly revenue.

After speaking to Bob we were all collectively upset and discouraged. We sought out the Bridge manager, who seemed to be standing as far away from us as he could without actually leaving the room. He did not deny or confirm that there would be any special program put in place for low-income commuters, nor that the buses would be affected, rather he continued to state that, " The Board is always happy to listen to feedback from the community on any problems with the Bridge or the public transportation system, and.." he said this next comment while pointing us all in the direction of one of the feedback tables in the room, " if you have want to express your opinion, I would suggest you fill out a comment form, bureaucracies like us pay a lot of attention to paperwork"

After a few more strange minutes in that room, The PNN crew gathered up our Stop Economic Apartheid signs and sidled out. We drove out of the community center parking lot leaving the purple-brown mountains of San Rafael behind us, heading towards San Francisco and……The Golden Gate Bridge..!

"Hey Joe, Ace, Ashley…..do you have a dollar I can borrow?"

To find out about the upcoming finance committee and or meeting of the board of directors call the Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation Board at (415) 455-2000

GENTRIFUKATION TOURS

“R”

US

 (Aburgesamiento Gira

“Somos”

Nosotros)

“Coming to a Displaced, Dismantled, Redeveloped Neighborhood Near You”

“Viniendo a  un desplazamiento, Desmantelado, Barrio Rediseñado Cerca de Tí”

I humbly accept the journalism fellowship on poverty (which means  $4,000. blud-stained dollaz for POOR Magazine so we can pay our looming insurance bill and keep our "papers" (501 (c) 3) etc.).. but in my acceptance I stand always with humility and love for all the houseless mamaz and babies living in our card-board motels, cars, and shelter beds, my PIC-plantation housed brothers and sisters "inside" for poverty kkkrimes like mine, my brothers and sisters who recycle, panhandle, and struggle and my brothers and sisters caught in the kriminalized jaws of these false borders that surround Pachamama, I stand wit my indigenous ancestors removed and displaced and i stand wit all peoples in poverty ALWAYS silenced in the kkkorporate and not really independent media...and i stand wit my mama dee- strong black indian wombyn for without whom there would be no me-

Big love to my Prensa POBRE and Bay View Newspaper famlia...who made this possible wit philanthro-pimp assisting... Mary Ratcliff, Sandra Estafan, Anna Kirsch, Vinia Park Castro, Carina Lomeli love n support from Tony Robles, Silencio Muteado, Leroy Moore, Vivian Thorp, , Bruce Allison and every Po' person who keeps on keeping on everyday in Amerikkka No Matta Wut!

Stay Tuned for the media series on poor families in resistance in Amerikkka

Winners of the Journalism Fellowship on Poverty

Marguerite Casey Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the foundation’s Journalism Fellowship on Poverty, which aims to increase the public’s and policymakers’ understanding of poverty through journalism. Winners will produce at least one in-depth story or short series illustrating how language, culture and race influence public attitudes and policy about poor people. Three recipients were chosen from among many outstanding applications:

Fellowship Recipients:

• Pam Dempsey – Urbana, IL
•   Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia – San Francisco, CA

Scholarship Recipient:

• Holly Martinez – Renton, WA

Fellows will each receive a stipend of $4,000 and up to $1,000 for travel costs; Scholars will each receive a stipend of $1,000 and up to $800 for travel. Check back here for links to the winners’ stories as they are published.

“Journalists can have a significant impact on changing the public narrative about poor people. It is our hope that these fellowships and scholarships will help put the issues of families and poverty front and center in the public debate and elevate the voices of families in policymaking,” said Luz Vega-Marquis, president and CEO of Marguerite Casey Foundation.

Krip-Hop Nation (KHN): Wow I've been dying for this interview to blow it way open. I love your music/lyrics and always loved all kinds of music. Tell us your love of music and why Metal?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): Hey man, first of all thank you and secondly, I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to get back to you. I’m kind of a slacker at times. My love of music and why Metal? I think my love of music is probably the same as everyone else’s. It’s sort of an amazing intangible feeling inside. A portal to other dimensions of thought and perspective… I suppose Metal is one of my favorites because it’s deep, dark and rich with controversy. I like anything that begs a question and doesn’t settle for the very first answer. I guess Rock n Roll & Metal will always be that for me.

KHN: Have you ever saw another Metal artist that is a wheelchair user like you and tell us about the Metal community and their outlook on disability.

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): No I haven’t and other than reading a few magazines each month or what I see on the internet, I don’t think I know a whole lot about the “Metal Community”. I mean, don’t get me wrong; I’ve definitely considered myself a Metal head for more than 20 years but I’ve never been too keen on clique or cults.

KHN: Your lyrics are very political like in the song, Pacify that I FUCKING love. Tells us your process of writing lyrics.

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): Man, sometimes shit just pisses ya off and you need to vent. By putting it into lyrics, I can vent to a larger audience and possibly make a difference in someone’s life.

KHN: What are your views on the political environment we live in like their recent occupied movement?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): Shit’s all fucked up and ass backwards in this crazy world. Unfortunately greed and power rule the day and what’s left are the scraps we nibble on. We’re an infestation and probably should be terminated. I mean, some people are okay I guess but most are foul. Fuck! I’m one of them. We’re a generally selfish species by nature. Few would be truly gifted and or enlightened enough to lead us in the right direction. I’ve yet to see one enter the political landscape in my lifetime. Who knows, maybe someday? Most likely, a truly enlightened person is smart enough to stay out of politics ☺

KNH: I remember that you sent me a video years ago and when I saw it I was like why is this ain't on MTV. What are your thoughts about this bling bling music industry and your goals?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): Man, I’m thirty-six years old and since I was probably fourteen or fifteen, MTV has sucked ass! It’s the same with all corporate owned bullshit. It’s one big regurgitated, piece of shit, advertisement after another. I’m not talking about the commercials… I’m talking about the actual programming. It’s all the same rehashed, recycled sales pitch after another. It’s rare you’ll ever see anything truly inspiring on a channel like MTV.

KHN: How long has the band been together and do you ever think about doing a solo CD?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): King Snyder’s been together for over ten years. I’ve got some solo stuff out there. It’s from back in 2000. Check out BirdSkull on Soundcloud - http://soundcloud.com/baker1975/sets/birdskull

KHN: Have you wrote a song about being disabled in this industry and if not, will you?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): Not specifically but I’m sure many of my lyrics have been influenced by it in small ways here and there. It’s a part of my life so it’s bound to have influenced the way I express myself creatively.

KHN: Will we ever see a physically disabled woman in Metal?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): Who knows…? I’m sure there’s a disabled chick out there somewhere, screaming her balls off into a mic or rippin’ solos on a badass Gibson Les Paul. I’d be down with that.

KHN: Krip-Hop Nation would love to do a combo mix track of Metal and Hip-Hop all by artists with disabilities. What do you think about that?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): Thanks to you, it’s already in the works. Wait till you hear some of this shit we’re cooking up. Gonna blow yo mind!

KHN: There is always this talk about how violent Metal & Hip-Hop are. What are your thoughts about that?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): Sure some of its violent. Some of the greatest Metal & Hip-Hop ever created is the absolute definition of violence. We’re a violent species. That’s why Hip-Hop & Metal is some of the best music available. It’s the most honest.

KHN: Give us a story about discrimination toward you and the band because of your disability?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): I’d have to make one up… It’s never happened.

KHN: Do you see Black people in the local Metal community there?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): Man, people are people. Questions like that are not important. A better way for me to answer what I think you’re asking is; that I believe all people should be welcome everywhere!

KHN: What are the goals of the group this year?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): Have fun, make music, and have fun ☺

KHN: Are you looking for a record contract deal or do you feel comfortable being independent?
Bradford Baker (King Snyder): I didn’t think actual record companies still existed.

KHN: Do people with disabilities come to your shows?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): Everyone has some sort of disability. So therefore, yes. Everyone with a disability comes to our shows.

KHN: What are your future projects and how can people contact u?

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): As of right now, I suppose that http://www.facebook.com/kingsnyder is probably the easiest way to get a hold of us. All of our future endeavors will be reported there on a regular basis.

KHN: Give us some off the head Metal/Krip-Hop lyrics.

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): I got my eye on the prize like a tiger on a blood diamond… Give me five seconds that you’ll never want back… Everything I give is like crack… Splash! The fluid between us… The energy, the synergy, the mastermind, first breath of life… Take a walk in my shoes… Size seven Adidas!

KHN: Any last words:

Bradford Baker (King Snyder): BOOM! There ya go bro! Better late than never.

Inter-Dependence Radio on PNN Featuring Chief Teish, Luis J. Rodriguez and Luz Calvo

PoorNewsNetwork (PNN) will air a special one hour Healing the Hood Radio sho tomorrow, thursday, July 5th 8-9 am -on KPFA 94.1fm (www.kpfa.org) featuring medicine and healing words from author and community scholar Luis J Rodriguez, teacher and decolonizer Luz Calvo and Yoruba teacher and Chief Luisah Teish - as well as poetry and poverty scholarship from Lisa Tiny Gray-Garcia, Silencio Muteado, Queenandi XSheba and Mark G - please tune in - if u miss this broadcast - you can hear it by streaming on-line at kpfa.org or PNN will podcast it on www.poormagazine.org/radio -

If u like PNN's powerful poor peoples-led radio and would like to hear PNN radio have a full hour sho on the Morning Mi after 15 years of working tirelessly as poor peoples in struggle for our communities in poverty that are NEVER heard) please send an email to veronica@kpfa.org and andrew@kpfa.org and please cc-deeandtiny@gmail.com -so we can ensure it really gets heard-

This sho is in honor of Healing the Hood weekend which will take place this Saturday and Sunday (see below) - A calendar of book signing and readings featuring Luis Rodriguez and his new book “It Calls You Back” plus Bay Area premiere Film Screening of Rushing Waters, Rising Dreams: How the Arts are Transforming a Community (Community Co-presenter Cine+Mas Latino Film Festival) is available at this link

Espanol sigue/ Scroll down for English

Julio 2012

Yo veo que como hay cosas buenas tambien hay cosas malas.

Desde hace mucho tiempo en esta ciudad a existido el Colegio de La ciudad. Beneficia  a mucha gente que venimos a este pais sin saber el idioma. Por eso, todo se hace mas dificil en el trabajo, en las tiendas y en otros lados.

Pero no solo beneficia a los inmigrantes.Tambien a los jovenes que por una o otra razon an dejado sus estudios pero despues quieren seguir estudiando. El Colegio de La Cuidad es muy importante porque es como un camino para llegar a la meta.

Es como un hogar de huerfanos  que no tienen a donde ir y se refuhian alli. 

Me duele que quieran cerrar sus puertas y quitar a todo el personal, como ejemplo los maestros cada dia hay menos.  Pero yo pienso que si nos unimos, los estudiantes y los miembros de la comunidades marchas y manifestaciones alo mejor logramos que no cierren la puertas, porque es lo unico que tenemos.

 Hace dos semanas se reunieron mas de 350 personas en el centro LGBT de una asamblea de emergencia para salvar el colegio de la Ciudad.

Desde hace cinco años que el Colegio esta sufriendo recortes tras recortes. Un ejemplo quitando los fondos estatales desenas  de millones de dollares an sido quitados de los programas y el salario de los maestros, y ademas an recortado dias de clases, los recortes que hacen afectan cada dia a las personas.

Me siento desesperada por lo que quieren hacer pues me parece que es puro rasizmo y no porque no haya dinero. Pues como hay dinero para la guerra y otras cosas malas que no benefician a nadie, ni siquera a la ciudad, mucho menos al pais. Yo siempre pense y pienso que el saber es mas y vale mas que todo lo demas. Porque entre mas ignorante avemos mas problemas tendremos y entre mas sabios avemos en el mundo, mejores personas vamos a hacer y mejor sera el pais,  pero si cierran el colegio de San Francisco, que aprendisaje abra?

 Me duele que lo quieran hacer porque los inmigrantes en este pais necesitamos aprender a hablar el idioma ingles. Porque somos mas los inmigrantes que trabajamos en restaurantes Oteles o Construccion o en cualquier cosa y si no sabemos ingles sera mas difícil para todos.

Le pido a Dios que no cierren el colegio, gracias.

Ingles Sigue/English Follows

This letter is what I emailed to "School of Natural Wonder: Vision Quests - Wilderness Rites of Passage". I encourage everyone who thinks that selling our ceremonies is ok to go to their site and leave them a message. (www.schoolofnaturalwonder.org)

To: "School of Natural Wonder: Vision Quests - Wilderness Rites of Passage".

My husband and I are both Native American elders. An ad for the vision quests you run showed up on an Indigenous news website I was reading. I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt here that you don't understand how disrespectful what you are doing is to traditional Native American people.

A bit of contextual history for you: It was illegal for Native Americans to conduct our ceremonies and/or pray in our traditional ways until 1978 when the American Indian Freedom of Religion Act was passed by the federal government of the United States. It was illegal for us to pray and conduct our ceremonies before that time. Prior to that time through the early 1950s, Native American children were stolen from their families and taken to mostly Christian run boarding schools. They were abused in every way children can be abused and many were murdered in these schools. The same happened in Canada and tens of thousands of graves of these children are being recovered there now due to activism by Native people and our allies. These children were beaten for speaking their language, for praying in their ways, and for attempting to do traditional ceremonies.

Fast forward to the early 1980s, just a few years after the NA Freedom of Religion Act was passed, to the New Age Movement. This was the beginning of non-Native New Age people learning about our ceremonies. Some of them were people who we thought were trusted allies who then went on to sell our ceremonies to people who have what one spiritual leader called "leaky vessels". We have seen so many non-Native "leaders" and "experts" selling our ceremonies and we find it to be more than offensive and disrespectful. These actions are a violation to Native traditions.

Traditionally, Native American medicine people, ceremony leaders and holy people do not advertise their skills. There is no monetary charge. Yes, there is an exchange and oftentimes that exchange is money, but there is no set fee. Our medicine people and holy people do not advertise what they do. There are ways that people find out within the community, both Native and non-Native, but there are certainly no ads or websites like yours. Our medicine people and ceremony leaders have earned the right to do what they do through years and years of learning. To be one of these special people is an honor, a duty, and a profound responsibility. It is not something taken on lightly.

The only comparison I can make is if one of us decided to pretend to be a Catholic priest, to take confession, to give mass, to give communion. Obviously these actions would be extremely disrespectful. How do you think the Catholic Church would react to that?

I encourage you to think about what you are doing. You are not honoring Native American people. At the very least, you should seriously consider taking out the words "vision quest" and "purification lodge" and using other language. What you are doing is extremely offensive to us. Please stop.

Sincerely,
Pennie Opal Plant

This declaration was made by the International Indigenous Women's Reproductive and Environmental Health Initiative, who just released the 2nd Declaration for "HEALTH, LIFE AND DEFENSE OF OUR LANDS, RIGHTS AND FUTURE GENERATIONS" and that was affirmed by consensus April 29th, 2012 in Chickaloon Native Village, Alaska

We, Indigenous women from North America, Latin America, the Arctic and the Pacific, gathered April 27th - 29th, 2012 at the 2nd INTERNATIONAL INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S ENVIRONMENTAL AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SYMPOSIUM, at the Yah Ne Dah Ah Tribal School, Chickaloon Native Village in Alaska.  

We express our heartfelt thanks to the Native Village of Chickaloon and the Ya Ne Dah Ah Tribal School for their warm hospitality. We heard their stories, songs and language and learned about the devastating environmental, cultural, and social impacts of coal mining by the US Navy in Chickaloon traditional lands from 1914 to 1922.   We stand in strong solidarity with Chickaloon Village’s current fight to prevent new coal mining in their traditional lands which would drastically impact the health of the children, the environment and Community as a whole.

We thank the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues for recognizing the 1st International Indigenous Women’s Symposium on Environmental and Reproductive Health at its 10th session, and receiving the report of the 2nd Symposium at this session.  We also thank the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples James Anaya for visiting the 2nd Symposium in conjunction with his US Country Visit on April 28th, 2012, and for his commitment to include the concerns expressed by participants his report to the UN Human Rights Council.      

We have shared our stories and the experiences of our Peoples.  We express our collective outrage that current federal and international laws permit industry, military and all levels of government to knowingly produce, release, store, transport, export, import and dump hazardous chemicals and radioactive materials, and expand contaminating activities such as fossil fuel development, hydraulic fracturing, uranium mining and milling, introduction of genetically modified seeds and animals, bio-fuel production and high-pesticide agriculture.

As Indigenous mothers and grandmothers, youth and elders, traditional healers, tribal leaders, human rights and environmental activists, we express our profound concern for the life and health of our communities, children, ecosystems and Mother Earth due to the proliferation of environmental toxins. 

In response, we affirm, and reaffirm, the following:

1) We steadfastly reaffirm the 1st “DECLARATION FOR HEALTH, LIFE AND DEFENSE OF OUR LANDS, RIGHTS AND FUTURE GENERATIONS” adopted by consensus at the International Indigenous Women’s Symposium in Alamo, California on July 1st, 2010. This can be found at http://www.nativeyouthsexualhealth.com/july12010.pdf

2)  We acknowledge the sacredness of the life-giving force of our birthing places.   Many are under attack from toxic contamination, extractive industries and other industrial processes.  These include salmon spawning, caribou and moose birthing places, as well as women’s wombs.  

3)  Our health and well-being, lands and resources including air and water, languages, cultures, traditional foods and subsistence, sovereignty and self-determination, life and security of person, free prior and informed consent and the transmission of traditional knowledge and teachings to our future generations are inherent and inalienable human rights.  They are affirmed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international standards, and must be upheld, respected and fully implemented by States, UN bodies, corporations and Indigenous Peoples of the world.    

4)  Our bodies are sacred places that must be protected, honored and kept free of harmful contaminants so that new generations of our Nations are born strong and healthy.  The right to self-determination for Indigenous Peoples includes our Indigenous identities, our sexualities and our reproductive health for the future of our Nations.

5) The detrimental health effects of toxic contaminants on Indigenous women are well documented, and are affirmed through testimonies presented in this Symposium.  These include high levels of toxics in Indigenous women’s breast milk, placental cord blood, blood serum and body fat infertility, miscarriages, premature births, premature menopause, early menses, reproductive system cancers, decreased lactation and  inability to produce healthy children. This causes severe psychological, relational, emotional and economic damage to mothers, families and communities.

6)  Environmental toxins also have severe negative impacts on the health and development of our children and unborn generations.  Many toxic chemicals impair the endocrine and immune systems in utero, affecting health and reproductive capacity of future generations.   The intellectual and neurological development of our children are also affected, impacting their ability to retain and pass on our culture, ceremonies, stories, languages and songs.

7)  The individual and collective impacts of intergenerational trauma and the legacy of removal and violence are passed on to future generations.  Intergenerational trauma amplifies and reinforces impacts of extractive industry, military and environmental degradation in our communities.  Addressing intergenerational trauma is a core component of rebuilding reproductive health for our communities.

8)  Environmental contaminants causing disease, birth defects and death are deliberately released into the environment  because they are toxic to living things (i.e. pesticides), or as a result of industrial or military processes that are judged by States and corporations to pose an “acceptable risk” and “allowable harm.”  States and corporations deny “provable” impacts despite the clear evidence that they cause a range of serious health and reproductive impacts which disproportionately affect Indigenous women and children.   This constitutes “environmental violence” by States and corporations and must be identified as such by Indigenous Peoples and human rights bodies.

9)  Environmental contamination infringes on the cultural practices of Indigenous Peoples including women’s coming of age, rites of passage and other ceremonies for the continuation of life.  The use of pesticides on materials used for baskets and cradle boards has resulted in increased rates of cancer for basket makers.  Plants, herbs, and traditional medicines vital to Indigenous Peoples’ maternal and child health are often outlawed, prohibited, contaminated or are becoming extinct.

10)  Land privatization, corporatization and militarization divides our collective land bases, facilitating resource extraction, displacement, forced removal and environmental contamination, impacting Indigenous women’s economic, cultural and social practices and reproductive health.    

11) We recognize the links between our concerns and struggles.  Coal mining contaminates water and decimates fish, wildlife and traditional medicines.  Burning coal is also a primary source of mercury emissions and climate change, affecting Indigenous communities globally.  Pesticides used in Mexico and other countries contaminate Indigenous communities at the source of exposure, and then enters the environment and food chain, traveling to the Arctic and concentrating in traditional food, bodies, and breast milk. Likewise, introduction of extractive industries near our communities often results in increased levels of sexual exploitation and violence for our Indigenous women and girls.

12)  We will continue to use our own languages and ways of knowing.  Our understandings cannot always be expressed in the language of modern science and law.  Our Peoples, especially our traditional knowledge holders, spiritual leaders and elders are the experts.  We affirm their teachings that we are now in a time that will determine our survival, depending on the choices we make.

13) We affirm the use of our own Indigenous justice and legal systems, including Treaty-Based justice systems to hold those accountable for environmental violence.

14) We recognize the importance of continuing to educate our own Peoples and communities about the links between reproductive health, environmental contaminants and their human rights as affirmed in the UN Declaration, Nation-to-Nation Treaties and other international standards.  When Indigenous communities understand these links, they become active participants in resisting environmental violence and violations of their rights.

15) We firmly denounce the continued impunity of States and corporations for the environmental violence they carry out or permit affecting Indigenous Peoples ecosystems, traditional foods, health, well-being and ways of life.  

16) While we recognize the impacts and tragedies that have occurred as a result of environmental violence, we also celebrate our struggles, victories and our continued strength, resilience and resistance.  

Based on these shared understandings, we adopt by consensus this 2nd DECLARATION for the Health, Survival and Defense of OUR LANDS, OUR RIGHTS and our FUTURE GENERATIONS and make the following recommendations:
 

That Indigenous Peoples, Nations and Communities:

1)  Identify and document the disproportionate impacts of environmental toxins on Indigenous women and children as "environmental violence" for which States and corporations can be held accountable.

2) Provide community capacity-building and training linking reproductive and environmental health and human rights.

3)  Maintain, support, strengthen and assert traditional systems of law, community organization, decision-making, leadership and representation.

That States and their subsidiary governments (Territories, provinces/states, municipal etc.): 

1) Fully implement and uphold, without qualification, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including Article 29 regarding the right of Indigenous Peoples to the protection of their environments and the State obligation to ensure free prior and informed consent regarding hazardous materials. We also call for the full and unqualified implementation of Articles 23 and 24 affirming our collective rights to health and use of traditional medicines.

2)  Eliminate the production and use of pesticides, industrial chemicals and toxic by-products that disrupt the endocrine system, affect learning and neurological development, cause cancers and other illnesses, undermine women’s reproductive and maternal health, contaminate lands, waters and traditional food sources and affect any aspect of the health and development of our future generations.

3) Take responsibility for effective and immediate clean-up of contaminated sites created by activities which they permitted or approved in collaboration and coordination with impacted Indigenous Peoples.

4) Implement programs to restore the health of Indigenous Peoples, including women and children who have been negatively impacted by environmental toxins, including their export and import in collaboration and coordination with the affected Indigenous Peoples including Indigenous women.

5)  Immediately cease the practice of exporting and importing banned pesticides, toxic wastes and other chemicals in particular from the United States.  .

6) Implement and mandate culturally relevant gender based analysis in all impact statements regarding mining and other industries, also ensuring FPIC.

7)  Recognize the knowledge and practices of Indigenous women’s health, birthing, traditional midwifery, and the use of Indigenous medicinal knowledge on equal footing with other health systems and methods, and the right of Indigenous healers to protect and use this knowledge as they so choose.

8) Prosecute companies and hold military accountable for the full extent of their violations to the rights of Indigenous Peoples pertaining to the contamination of lands, territories and resources, and respect Indigenous Peoples’ legal and judicial systems in accordance with Article 27 of the UN Declaration in their efforts to hold government and corporations accountable.

9) We call in particular upon Canada and the United States to implement the recommendations made in 2007, 2008 and 2012 by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) calling upon them to take appropriate legislative measures to prevent the transnational corporations they license from negatively impacting the rights of Indigenous outside Canada and the United States.

Recommendations to the United Nations System and International processes:

1)  That the Permanent Forum 11th session in its half-day session on food sovereignty consider the direct links between food sovereignty, environmental violence and reproductive health and the specific impacts to Indigenous women, children and unborn generations.

2)  That the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples address reproductive and environmental health, and  receive the report of the 3rd symposium to be  held in 2014 in the autonomous region of Nicaragua.

3)  That effective, transparent international mechanisms be established to ensure accountability, redress and restitution with the full participation of affected Indigenous Peoples and for UN Human rights bodies to dedicate particular attention to the matter of environmental violence.  

4) That the World Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20, 2012) reaffirm the “precautionary approach as an alternative to the models of “risk assessment” and “management” of toxic chemicals and pesticides, and recognize and support sustainable agricultural methods and practices used traditionally by Indigenous Peoples.

5) That UN Conventions and national laws which permit the  export, transport and import of banned pesticides, wastes and other toxics without the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous Peoples and communities who may be impacted be immediately reviewed  and revised

6) That the United Nations, its agencies and members ensure that Human Rights principles and standards are mainstreamed in all international standard-setting processes addressing environment and development, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.  

7) That the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other UN bodies and mechanisms focus attention and collect information from Indigenous Peoples, in particular Indigenous women, on the links between environmental contamination and reproductive health and  recommend effective solutions and remedies at the international level.

8) We endorse the “Indigenous Mothers Against Mercury” open letter’s recommendations calling for strong language in the new legally-binding International Treaty on Mercury, to “halt emissions of mercury into the environment from all sources, including the burning of coal,” and “to ensure the full, formal and effective participation of Indigenous Peoples, including Indigenous women.”  We also recommend that the Permanent Forum at its 11th session call upon States and the UN Environmental Program to incorporate the recognition of Indigenous Peoples and in the operative text of the Treaty.

Cross Cutting

1) We recommend that States, UN agencies and Indigenous Peoples affirm and utilize the Precautionary Principle, recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ traditional knowledge about the effects of chronic pollution as well as the social stressors caused by development and industry that impact and divide communities.  These include increased mental health concerns, violence against Indigenous women, children, and families, sexually transmitted infections including HIV, incarceration, child removal and suicide.

2) We reiterate our support for a moratorium on new fossil fuel exploration, processing and extraction, as the first step towards the full phase-out of fossil fuels with a just transition to sustainable energy and the protection of our Peoples and ecosystems from the devastating impacts of climate change.

3) We call upon Indigenous, National and International processes to respect the traditional knowledge of Indigenous women regarding sustainable development, environmental protection, cultural practices, food production and health and to include their full and effective participation as leaders and experts in all levels of decision-making on these matters.

Conclusion

We commit to continue our work and fulfill our responsibilities to our children and the generations still to come. We commit to reclaim our wellness as Indigenous women and Peoples. We reaffirm that our children have a right to be born healthy and to live in a clean environment, and that in order to heal our Peoples and Mother Earth, we have to continue to heal ourselves, tell our stories and be who we are.

“We are like a strong river that rises and falls, is always connected and will never stop flowing.”

Affirmed by consensus of the participants in the Symposium on April 29th, 2012:

1. Alice Skenandore – Midwife, Wise Women Gathering Place, LCO Ojibwe, Wisconsin, USA
2. Alyssa Macy – International Indian Treaty Council, Warm Spring Tribe, Oregon , USA
3. Andrea Carmen - International Indian Treaty Council, Yaqui Nation, Mexico, USA
4. Aurelia Espinoza Buitimea – Traditional healer, curandera and midwife, Jittoa Bat Natika Weria, Yaqui Nation, Sonora Mexico
5. Blanch Okboak – Teller Traditional Council, Inupiat, Alaska
6. Brandy Standifer – Village of Tyonek Tribal Member, Tyonek, Alaska
7. Camille Gemmill – Youth Representative, Gwich’in Nation, Alaska
8. Charlotte Jane Kava -  Inupiat, St. Lawrence Island, Native Village of Savoonga, Alaska
9. Danika Littlechild – International Indian Treaty Council, Ermineskin Cree Nation, Canada
10. Donna Miranda-Begay – Chairwoman, Tubatulabal Tribe, California, USA
11. Edda Moreno – Centro para la Autonomía y Desarrollo de los Pueblos Miskitu, Nicaragua
12. Elvia Beltran Villeda - Red Indigena de Turismo de México, Pueblo Hnahnu, Mexico
13. Emily (Funny) Murray – Elim Students Against Uranium, Inupiaq, Elim, Alaska
14. Erin Konsmo - Native Youth Sexual Health Network, Metis Nation of Alberta,  Canada
15. Enei Begay – Black Mesa Water Coalition, Dine, Arizona, USA
16. Faith Gemmill - California Indian Environmental Alliance, International Indian Treaty  Council, REDOIL, Arctic Village, Gwich’in, Alaska and Pit River, Wintu California, USA
17. Faustina Buitimea Gotogopicio – Tradtional healer, curandera, Yaqui Nation, Sonora Mexico
18. Harriett Penayah – Elder, Native Village of Savoonga, St. Lawrence Island, Yupik, Alaska
19. Hinewirangi Kohu –Te Rau Aroha, Maori Women’s Centers, Aotearoa (New Zealand)
20. Jackie Warledo - International Indian Treaty Council, Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, USA
21. Janet Mitchell – Inupiaq, Kivalina City Council, Alaska
22. Janet Daniels – Elder, Chickaloon Native Village, Chickaloon, Alaska
23. Jeannette Corbiere Lavel – Native Women’s Association of Canada, Anishnabe Nation, Canada
24. Jessica Danforth - Native Youth Sexual Health Network, Mohawk Nation, USA and Canada
25. Judy Hughes – National Aboriginal Health Organization, Metis Nation of Alberta, Canada
26. Julia Dorris – Traditional Council of Kalskag, Yupik, Alaska
27. Kandi Mossett – Indigenous Environmental Network, Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, USA
28. Kari L. Shaginoff - International Indian Treaty Council, Ya Ne Dah Ah Tribal School, Chickaloon, Alaska
29. Karla Brollier – Alaska Community Action on Toxics, Ahtna-Cantwell, Alaska
30. Kathy Sanchez – Tewa Women United, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, USA
31. Lisa Wade – Chickaloon Village Health Director,  Chickaloon, Alaska
32. Manuela Victoria Barrientos Carbajal – Chirapaq, Community of Hualia, Peru
33. Maria Berenice Sandez Lozada – Di sunga a Nana Shimjai, Nahua-Otomi, Mexico
34. Marian Naranjo - Honor Our Pueblo Existence, Santa Clara Pueblo, New Mexico, USA
35. Martha Itta -  Inupiaq, Tribal Administrator, Native Village of Nuiqsut, Alaska
36. Maudilia López Cardona - Frente de Defensa Miguelense, Mam Maya, Guatemala
37. Melina Laboucan-Massimo – Lubicon Cree First Nation, Canada
38. Monique Sonoquie - California Indian Basket Weavers Alliance, Chumash, California, USA
39. Norma Chickalusion – Village of Tyonek Tribal Member, Tyonek, Alaska
40. Patricia Wade – Editor Chickaloon News, Chickaloon, Alaska
41. Pauline Kohler – Aleknagik Traditional Council, Yupik, Alaska
42. Penny Westing – Chickaloon Village Traditional Council Secretary, Chickaloon, Alaska
43. Princess Lucaj – Gwich’in Steering Committee, Gwich’in, Alaska
44. Rita Blumenstein – Traditional Healer, Yupik, Chefornak, Alaska
45. Rosemary Ahtuangaruk – Inupaiq, Native Villate of Nuiqsut, Alaska
46. Samantha Englishoe – Alaska Community Action on Toxics, Tlingit, Gwichin
47. Sewa Carmen – Chickaloon Village Youth Representative, Chickaloon, Alaska
48. Shawna Larson – Chickaloon Village Traditional Council Member, Chickaloon, Alaska
49. Sondra Stuart – Chickaloon Village Tribal Citizen, Chickaloon, Alaska
50. Susie Booshu – Native Village of Gambell, Yupik, Alaska
51. Viola Waghiyi – Native Village of Savoonga, St. Lawrence  Island, Yupik, Alaska
52. Xiomara Ownes – Traditional Healer, Tlingit, Athabascan, Alaska

The artwork is provided by Erin Konsmo.