Smoke signals., November 01, 2023, Page 17, Image 17

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NOVEMBER 1, 2023
17
NATIVE
AMERICAN
WATCHLIST
Watchlist: <The Osage murders and
8Killers of the Flower Moon9 =
(Editor9s note: It is estimated that there are approximately 149
billion videos on YouTube, and the number continues to grow.
Grand Ronde Tribal member and Social Media/Digital Journalist
Kamiah Koch sifts through those myriad videos twice a month to
recommend a worthwhile Indigenous video to watch. Follow her
bimonthly recommendations and enjoy!)
By Kamiah Koch
Social media/digital journalist
November 2023
Greetings from the Elder Activity Center
Upcoming Events:
÷
Craft days at the Elder Activity Center on Nov. 2, 7 and 28
Come make gifts for the holidays!
÷
Shopping trips Nov. 1 and 15. The bus leaves at 9 a.m.
÷
Art Therapy at the EAC at 1 p.m. Nov. 14.
÷
Elder Thanksgiving boxes will be handed out from 11 a.m. to
1 p.m. Nov. 17 to those who signed up. If you missed the sign
up, you can get food boxes from the food pantry on Satur-
day, Nov. 19.
÷
Elder bowling and pizza Nov. 13. The bus will leave at 11
a.m.
÷
Elder bazaar at the EAC from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Dec. 8.
÷
Bingo with the Nutrition Program at 1 p.m. Nov. 16.
÷
Christmas bazaar in Lincoln City on Nov. 3. The bus leaves at
9 a.m.
÷
<Price is Right= at the casino. Call 503-879-2233 to be placed
on the drawing list.
÷
Chair massages on Nov. 1 and 13. If interested, call 503-879-
2233 to pick a time slot.
News from your Committee:
÷
Saturday bingo at EAC on Nov. 11 and 25, Dec. 9 and 23.
÷
Come join us for the Elder Christmas Party on Dec. 16, start-
ing at 11 a.m. We hope to see you all there!
Important Dates:
11/19 40th Restora-
tion Celebration
at Spirit Mountain
Casino
11/10 Offices closed
11/20-11/24 Offices
closed
12/2-12/3 Elder
Committee Bazaar at
Chachalu
On Friday, Oct. 20, <Killers of the Flower Moon= premiered in the
United States. Directed by Martin Scorsese, the movie is based on true
events and follows members of the Osage Nation after oil was discovered
on their reservation in 1920. Shortly after the Osage received their
wealth from the oil, the murders began.
Before the movie, investigative journalist David Grann wrote a book
about the murders. In 2017, CBS Sunday Morning featured an interview
with him to discuss the story. On Wednesday, Oct. 11, CBS pulled the
video from its archive as the movie adaptation premiered.
<Most white settlers saw the ground as being rocky and infertile,=
Grann says. <And then lo and behold, this land turned out to be sitting
above the largest oil deposits in the United States.=
The video narrator describes that overnight, the Osage went from
being some of the poorest people in America to the richest people per
capita in the world.
<The U.S. government, however, didn9t let the Osage control that
money and each 8ward9 3 as the Osage were called 3 was assigned a
white guardian,= the video says. <Supposedly to protect the Osage from
mismanagement of their newfound wealth, but the law actually just
invited abuse.=
While Grann was researching his book, he found an old document
where a guardian was listed and beneath were the names of the Osage
wards. According to Grann, next to each Osage name was the word
<dead.=
Greed drove the guardians to commit terrible crimes against the
Osage, whether it was skimming, manipulating or murdering them to
steal their fortune.
In the book, William K. Hale, a powerful guardian in Osage County,
instructed his nephew, Ernest Burkhart, to marry an Osage woman
named Mollie Kyle. Afterward, her family members began dying suspi-
ciously and Mollie begins to believe she is being deliberately poisoned.
<When I began researching this story I thought of it as a traditional
mystery - a 8who done it?9 = Grann says. <By the end, I realized it wasn9t
a 8who done it?9 It was a 8who didn9t do it?9 So many people were a part
of this.=
You can watch more about Mollie Burkhart9s story and the <Killers
of the Flower Moon= at www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYllsqLcgik. n