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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2015)
Why have a cultural center? - In their own words, from young and old alike The mission of the Siletz Tribal Arts and Heritage Society (STAHS) is to sup- port and promote the practice, conservation and restoration of the Tribal cultures of the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians. The current goal of STAHS is to build our Siletz Tribal Cultural Center with a museum, archival storage and library components. It will be located adjacent to and east of the Siletz Trial Community Center on Government Hill. At Culture Camp in July, STAHS Board Member Margo Hudson asked attendees: “Why is it important to have a Cultural Center?” Here are some of the answers from young and old alike. • • • • • • Teach our culture to those who were not involved and families that had lost their culture during termination. – Kay (73) An opportunity to teach the next gen- eration our ways and a great way for hands-on activities. It’s important to me because I love going to these types of things a lot and a culture center would make it possible. – Hunter (15) Display, preserve and teach our lan- guage, arts, crafts and traditional life arts; education space, archive space and display space. – Amy (51) It would be good to learn traditional crafts and ways of life, as most of what I seen is under lock and key. Education is a beautiful thing to share. – Everetta (Elder) I would like a culture center because our culture is fun. – Maddy (8) It means new stuff to learn because I want to learn new stuff. – Tyler (12) Frank, continued from page 1 The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the latest in a long line of distinguished awards that Frank has received in recogni- tion of his extraordinary contribution to Indian Country. They include the Com- mon Cause Award for Human Rights Efforts, the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism (past winners of which include President Jimmy Carter, former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, and author Norman Cousins), the American Indian Distinguished Service Award, the 2006 Wallace Stegner Award, and the Washington State Environmental Excel- lence Award. NCAI also recognized Frank with the Native American Leadership Award at its annual leadership awards banquet in 2011 for his lifelong dedication to preserve, protect and advance Tribal sovereignty, Native cultures and natural resource management. Joining Frank as this year’s recipients of the Medal of Freedom are baseball great Yogi Berra (posthumous), public servant Bonnie Carroll, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (posthumous), music producer Emilio Estefan, singer Gloria Estefan, Congressman Lee Hamilton, space pioneer Katherine G. Johnson, baseball great Willie Mays, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, conductor Itzhak Perlman, for- mer EPA Director William Ruckelshaus, theater composer Stephen Sondheim, film director Steven Spielberg, singer Barbra Streisand, singer James Taylor, and civil rights leader Minru Yasui (posthumous). 4 • Siletz News • • • • • It would provide our Native youth with more opportunities to learn our language and learn more about our people and history. – Terrell (15) To learn more about our culture and see what our tradition is. – Noah (8) It would be good for the youth to get in touch with our culture. – Tre (13) Provide a safe environment for youth to get in touch with their culture hands-on. Having a cultural center that’s open daily will give youth more time and opportunity to learn their Native ways. This is important because we are the future. We need to know our ways. We will be the ones to preserve our culture and pass it on to our children. – Savanna (17) • • • • • The place where I can learn and teach my family the ways of the Siletz Tribe. – Louie (9) A cultural center would provide every- one with a place to engage in activities that can teach everyone how to make regalia, beadwork, etc. The more edu- cated in cultural activities our youth through elderly, the stronger we are as a Tribe. It’s nice to know, learn and teach cultural activities to our lineage to keep these traditions carried on through many generations to come. – J (36) Cultural center is a good idea to edu- cate everyone – Nora A cultural center to me would mean somewhere to store and preserve our history and artifacts. It would • • • also mean we would be able to get everything that is ours from differ- ent museums. The center would be a place where young and old could go to learn about our history. – J (16) To me a cultural center is like a big museum but displaying a special thing, and it’s important to have them because people can learn more about other people’s lives. - Rylee (11) A culture center to me would mean teaching future generations and today’s generation about culture and history and keeping traditions alive, which is very important to youth. – Felisha (16) A culture center would be good for the Tribe to continue to carry on tradition for our future. – Two (39) Top shelf baskets – STAHS and the McKay Collection To conserve our Tribal cultures, the Siletz Tribal Arts and Heritage Society (STAHS) works with the Culture Depart- ment to identify and acquire materials that belong in the Siletz Tribal Cultural Center. These materials are then either purchased or donated. In Oct. 14, baskets attributed to Ida Bensell were purchased from the McKay Collection. They are now stored securely on the top shelf in our repository. These baskets will always be acces- sible for reference in our Siletz Tribal Cultural Center. Now we will always be able to learn from Ida. STAHS is the first nonprofit corporation chartered by the Siletz Tribe. If you would like to support its efforts, STAHS welcomes your tax-deductible financial donation. You also can donate appropriate mate- rials to the Siletz Tribal Cultural Center for a tax deduction and the security of knowing that the materials will be safely stored for our future generations. Send contributions to: Siletz Tribal Arts & Heritage Society Attn: Carlotta Lane, Treasurer P.O. Box 8 Siletz, OR 97380 National, continued from page 1 Conference participants attended breakout sessions to engage in meaningful dialogues with federal officials on critical topics ranging from health care to housing to climate change. From these sessions and throughout the day came announcements of several new key federal developments and initia- tives for Indian Country, including: • • • • • The Department of the Interior released new right-of-way regulations, which will give Native landowners greater control over the use and devel- opment of Tribal lands. The Department of Justice announced the first 10 Tribes to participate in the initial phase of the Tribal Access Pro- gram for National Crime Information. The Department of the Interior’s launch of Native One Stop, a web- site where Tribal citizens can locate important federal resources they may be eligible to receive. The Depar tment of Education released its agency consultation policy and also highlighted the release of the School Environment Listening Sessions Final Report. The Depar tment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) December 2015 • announced changes to the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative designed to make Tribes more competitive for this funding stream for neighborhood transformation. The appointment of Karen Diver (Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa) to serve as special assis- tant to the president for Native Ameri- can Affairs, White House Domestic Policy Council. President Obama wrapped up the landmark event with brief opening remarks. “When I ran for office, I pledged to build a true nation-to-nation relationship with you,” he said to the Tribal leaders in attendance. “What has started out as a campaign promise has now become a tradition.” He went on to share that “the success of our Native American communities is tied up with the success of America as a whole.” Obama then joined a roundtable discussion moderated by Jude Schimmel (Umatilla), a standout basketball player at the University of Louisville. The roundtable covered a number of topics important to Native youth, including the need for quality, culturally appropriate education; suicide prevention; food sovereignty; and the movement to eliminate racist sports mascots in schools. Querying President Obama were four Native youth: Blossom Johnson (Navajo), age 23; Tatiana Ticknor (Yup’ik/ Tlingit/Dena’ina), 16; Brayden White (St. Regis Mohawk), 21; and Philip Douglas (Seminole), 16. In closing the conference, Obama said of Native youth, “I want to be a partner with you to make sure that every possible door is opened to them.” About NCAI Founded in 1944, the National Con- gress of American Indians is the oldest, largest and most representative American Indian and Alaska Native organization in the country. NCAI advocates on behalf of Tribal governments and communities, promot- ing strong Tribal-federal government- to-government policies and a better understanding among the general public regarding American Indian and Alaska Native governments, people and rights. For more information, visit ncai.org.
