Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
April 15, 2014
Page 9
Confederated Tribes launch Facebook page
The Confederated Tribes
of War m Springs has
launched an official
Facebook page:
w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m /
CTWSO
Tribal members and the
public are encouraged to
“like” the page to receive
updates from the tribal gov-
ernment.
Postings will include offi-
cial tribal office closures, elec-
tion dates, other events that
the tribal government is spe-
cifically involved in and up-
dates from tribal enterprises.
One of the priorities of
the Twenty-Sixth Tribal
Council is to improve com-
munications to tribal mem-
bership.
“We feel that it is neces-
sary to create an official pres-
ence on Facebook as so
many tribal members utilize
this social media site,” said
Tribal Chair man Austin
Greene Jr.
As the tribe continues
work to update the tribal
website, the Facebook page
provides a means of quickly
communicating with tribal
membership.
Ultimately, social media
A thank you
My fellow tribal members,
I am writing this letter of
gratitude to the various de-
partments that assisted me
in this stage of my life. Let
me start by thanking my fam-
ily members, my ullas,
kuthlas, tillas and pushas.
Most of them gone now but
not forgotten. Also to my
aunts and uncles, sisters and
brothers, nieces and neph-
ews and grandchildren. I
count my cousins as broth-
ers and sisters.
A special thank you to my
surviving children Jamey,
Davis, Brandi, Arnold,
Renee and Eliza, for their
unconditional love, though I
had little to do with their
upbringing.
Rest in peace Lucinda,
Mavis and Martina Marie,
and all my relations who
have gone on to be with our
numerous grandchildren, my
own children included in this
count. God bless you, Mom,
a debt to you that can never
be paid in this lifetime.
The real reason I’m writ-
ing this is to raise awareness
that the departments I men-
tioned were all instrumental
in this different way of life
that I live today. The arrest-
ing officers led to my court
hearings. The judges led to my
probation, counseling and
CFS, which in turn led me to
honestly seek a self-sufficient
life. This led me to the Voca-
tional Rehabilitation program.
I truly applied myself to
complying with all the stipu-
lations asked of me by all
these departments, and found
employment, a home (an
apartment), and transporta-
tion. Those are secondary to
the personal peace of mind
and stable family life that de-
veloped with better choices,
choosing to abstain from ad-
diction that destroyed my in-
tegrity and interest in a
healthy lifestyle. A thousand
pardons to those that I hurt
in my drunk-n-drugged stu-
por.
I bear no excuses for my
behavior. Being under the in-
fluence of any mind altering
substance leaves no room for
excuses. But please forgive
me for any shame, hurt or
disgrace I may have caused.
Only by the grace of our
Creator am I able to humble
myself and live one day at a
time.
I can never turn back time
and relive the past, nor pre-
dict what tomorrow may
bring. This I learned from my
brothers and sisters in recov-
ery.
I stand corrected, La-
Wat-La-Wat,
Davis
Stwyer Sr.
Guest opinion
America’s unjust efforts to preserve white privilege
by Tom Ehrich
TUBA CITY, Ariz. - As I
pass through the Navajo Na-
tion on my 4,000-mile drive
across America, I catch a dis-
turbing glimpse of a white-
power insurgency happening
in all regions.
White settlement of the
Southwest meant dislodging
the native population at gun-
point. U.S. Ar my troops
slaughtered the Navajo at
will. Whites broke one treaty
after another, then forced the
Navajo in 1864 onto a “Long
Walk” of 300 miles away
from their tribal lands. When
a pregnant Navajo woman
came to childbirth, an impa-
tient Army soldier simply shot
her.
The Navajo were allowed
to return four years later to
a much-diminished territory
set aside for them. Today the
Navajo Nation is the largest
tribal reservation in the U.S.
It has significant autonomy,
including its own judicial, law
enforcement and social ser-
vice systems. But the Navajo
remain under Washington’s
thumb. Poverty is every-
where.
I read the history and feel
shame and compassion. The
“cowboys and Indians” games
we played as children in Indi-
ana, informed by TV shows
like “The Lone Ranger,” now
seem utterly ignorant. The
real story was gruesome and
unjust.
I had a similar reaction
when I moved to the South
and discovered how whites
there had savaged Native
Americans, enslaved millions
of Africans, then terrorized
former slaves and their de-
scendants for over a century.
Hearing those stories and
seeing daily evidence that, as
Faulkner said of the South,
“the past isn’t even past,”
forced me to see my life up
North differently. I grew up
benefiting from segregation
in Indiana. I never questioned
why my city had an all-black
high school, or why the clubs
and honors at my integrated
high school were reserved for
whites.
Not long ago I drove
through Topeka, Kan., which
gave us Brown v. Board of
Education, and heard on pub-
lic radio a supposedly learned
conversation about the pos-
sible overturning of Brown
v. Board and a resumption of
legal segregation.
No wonder the politics of
Kansas are so ugly and the
Christian fundamentalism so
virulent. So are the politics
and religion of the South, of
Arizona and across the coun-
try. In some places, whites
seem to be on a mission to
preser ve the benefits of
white privilege, even if that
means gun violence, police
brutality, unfair sentencing,
and the languishing of urban
schools.
They treat immigrants of
color as if they were indolent
invaders intent on destroying
the “American way of life,”
rather than the latest to be-
lieve the promise of liberty
and opportunity.
Like a white government
breaking promises to Native
Americans, politicians serving
angry whites chip away at the
job gains of blacks and His-
panics, shred a social safety
net that benefits people of
color, cripple immigration
House votes to reauthorize NAHASDA
The Republican-led U.S.
House of Representatives
voted 297 to 98 this week to
pass H.R.360, a bill to reau-
thorize the Native American
Housing Assistance and Self
Determination Act.
NAHASDA first became
law in 1996 to give tribes
greater control over federal
housing funds but it expired
in September 2013. Indian
Country has been pushing
hard for a renewal to ensure
the success of critical pro-
grams.
Members from both sides
of the aisle spoke in favor of
the bill during debate yester-
day. But 95 Republicans voted
against it although none of
them came to the floor to
explain their objections.
Of the three Democrats
that voted no, only Rep.
Maxine Waters (D-California)
offered a public explanation.
She raised concerns about
the citizenship status of the
Freedmen, who are the de-
woman.
The Nation has both a
newspaper and a radio sta-
tion which operate their own
Facebook pages. The Spilyay
Tymoo focuses on local news
while KWSO 91.9FM fo-
cuses daily events, news and
programming.
State lawmakers may urge
Corps to lower Celilo Lake
Letter to the editor
Creator.
Now I would like to thank
the Police Department and
tribal court system, including
the Probation Department.
Thank you Warm Springs
Community Counseling, espe-
cially Guy W., Annie K.,
Peggy P., Charlotte P., and the
front desk staff.
Their patience and under-
standing remained unwaver-
ing. Thank you also to the
Children and Family Services
and Family Preser vation,
Shon H., Mavis K., Allie J.,
and John C.
I would also like to thank
the Vocational Rehabilitation
staff, Gayleen, Marcia, Jackie,
Jolene, Sharon and Mona for
their assistance in the devel-
opment of my independence.
I didn’t intentionally leave
my dear mother out. She is
the rock in our family. She
and Jimmy Wesley Sr. made
a lifetime of sacrifices to raise
sites will be used to drive
traffic back to the tribal
website.
“In addition to addressing
the need for increased com-
munication, we also hope it
can be a tool to get feedback
from tribal members as well,”
said Evaline Patt, Vice Chair-
scendants of African slaves
once held within the Chero-
kee Nation.
Section 801 of the reau-
thorization of NAHASDA
(2008) prevents the tribe from
receiving housing funds if the
Freedmen are disenrolled.
At one point, the Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban
Development withheld about
$33 million after the Chero-
kee Nation Supreme Court
supported the removal of the
descendants.
and systematically deny vot-
ing rights to nonwhites.
(Tom Ehrich is a writer, church
consultant and Episcopal priest
based in New York. He is the presi-
dent of Morning Walk Media and
publisher of Fresh Day online
magazine. This guest opinion is
printed here at the suggestion of
Ricky Graybael.)
Oregon House Joint
Memorial 15 urges the
U.S. Army Corps of En-
gineers to provide a pre-
liminary statement of fea-
sibility for temporarily
lowering Lake Celilo to re-
veal Celilo Falls.
Under the proposal,
the falls would be revealed
for a certain amount of
time, and then flooded
again.
Before the construc-
tion of The Dalles dam,
an estimated 15-20 mil-
lion salmon passed
through the falls every
year, making it one of
the greatest fishing sites
in North America.
HJM 15
This Joint Memorial
has passed both the Or-
egon House and Senate,
and set for a hearing this
Thursday, April 16.
Here is the text of Or-
egon House Joint Memo-
rial 15:
To the Commanding
General and Chief of
Engineers of the United
States Army Corps of
Engineers and the Com-
mander and District En-
gineer of the United
States Army Corps of
Engineers, Portland Dis-
trict:
We, your memorialists,
the Seventy-eighth Legis-
lative Assembly of the
State of Oregon, in legis-
lative session assembled,
respectfully represent as
follows:
Whereas Celilo Falls
was inundated on March
10, 1957, by the rising
waters of Lake Celilo due
to the commencement of
operations of The Dalles
Dam; and
Whereas Celilo Falls
has not been seen since
that day in 1957; and
Whereas a 2008 survey
completed by the United
States Army Corps of En-
gineers revealed that many
features of Celilo Falls re-
main intact under the wa-
ters of Lake Celilo; now,
therefore,
Be It Resolved by the
Legislative Assembly of
the State of Oregon:
(1) The United States
Army Corps of Engineers
is respectfully requested to
provide to the Governor
of the State of Oregon
and the Legislative Assem-
bly of the State of Or-
egon, by December 31,
2015, a preliminary state-
ment of feasibility for low-
ering Lake Celilo to a level
sufficient to reveal Celilo
Falls for one period last-
ing one to two weeks, at a
time of year to be selected
by the United States Army
Corps of Engineers, that
would occur between
January 1, 2016, and Janu-
ary 1, 2020.
(2) A copy of this me-
morial shall be sent to the
Commanding General and
Chief of Engineers of the
United States Army Corps
of Engineers and the
Commander and District
Engineer of the United
States Ar my Corps of
Engineers, Portland Dis-
trict.