News from the Nations

ONEIDA INDIAN NATION RELEASES POLL DATA ON WASHINGTON NAME CHANGE

ONEIDA NATION HOMELANDS (NY) (October 16, 2013) The Oneida Indian Nation released in-depth public opinion survey research showing that if the Washington NFL team stops using a racial slur as its name, then the vast majority of Washington-area residents (73%) say the move will either not weaken their support for the team, or would actually strengthen their support.

The polling also shows that an overwhelming majority of respondents (77%) believe that Washington team owner Dan Snyder should meet face-to-face with Native Americans who have expressed concerns about the use of the R-word slur as the NFL team’s name.

Defenders of the Washington team’s offensive name have repeatedly referenced another poll that is nearly a decade old to bolster their position. This newly-released, updated information provides an important and timely snapshot of where the public actually stands on the issue of a name change for the NFL’s Washington franchise.

Most poll respondents (59%) say Native Americans have a right to feel offended by the term “redskins” and 44% say that when they learn the term is defined as “offensive” by the dictionary, they are more likely to support changing the team name. Additionally, most people (66%) say that if Snyder meets with Native American leaders, he should not refer to them as “redskins” because the term is inappropriate.

The Oneida Indian Nation has conducted public opinion polling as a part of its national “Change the Mascot” campaign. This first installment of polling data was conducted by SurveyUSA, which surveyed men and women residing in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

SurveyUSA has an unmatched track record of accuracy over twenty years of polling and conducts more local polling than any other research firm in the United States. Year after year, analysts rank SurveyUSA at or near the top of America’s most accurate pollsters.

To view the poll results and data go to http://www.changethemascot.org.

NWAC CELEBRATES THE OFFICIAL OPENING OF THE WALKING WITH OUR SISTERS EXHIBIT

Vamps from Akwesasne Artists in Exhibit

October 2, 2013 (Ottawa, ON) - The Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) celebrates the official opening of the Walking With Our Sisters exhibit which begins its journey today in Edmonton, AB.

Walking With Our Sisters is a commemorative art installation project that honours the lives of missing and murdered Indigenous Women of Canada and the United States. The moccasin tops are also known as ‘uppers’ or ‘vamps’ and are the portion of the moccasin that is usually adorned with beaded images, on top of the foot. Each pair of unfinished moccasins represents the unfinished life of a missing or murdered Indigenous woman or girl.

More than a year ago, Métis artist Christi Belcourt, issued a general call out to the public to collect 600 vamps in honour of the more than 600 known cases of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls in Canada. By the due date, 1,700 vamp pairs had been received, created by 1,200 artists from all over the world.

NWAC and its Board of Directors offer their heartfelt congratulations to Ms. Belcourt, all the beaders, as well as to the countless volunteers and communities that are going to host this traveling exhibit in the years to come. NWAC Interim President Dawn Lavell Harvard added, “NWAC staff as well as several affiliate members, including the Ontario Native Women’s Association, participated in this creative and inspiring project by starting their own beading groups and submitting several dozen vamps. It has been a wonderful healing and powerful endeavor for us all and we wish this exhibit a safe journey as it tours.”

For more information on the Walking With Our Sisters project and the exhibit tour please visit http://walkingwithoursisters.ca/.

NCAI RELEASES REPORT ON HISTORY AND LEGACY OF WASHINGTON’S HARMFUL “INDIAN” SPORTS MASCOT

Washington, DC – Just days after President Obama joined the growing chorus of those calling for the Washington NFL Team to consider changing its name, the team’s leadership justified the use of their “Indian” mascot as a central part of the team’s “history and legacy.” A new report released today by the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), titled Ending the Legacy Of Racism in Sports & the Era of Harmful “Indian” Sports Mascots also outlines the team’s ugly and racist legacy, while highlighting the harmful impact of negative stereotypes on Native peoples.

The report details the position of NCAI. The following is a statement released by NCAI’s Executive Director Jacqueline Pata along with the report:

“The report NCAI has released today provides the history of an overwhelming movement to end the era of harmful “Indian” mascots – including the fact that Native peoples have fought these mascots since 1963 and no professional sports team has established a new ‘Indian’ mascot since 1964.

There is one thing that we can agree with the Washington football team about - the name ‘Redsk*ns’ is a reflection of the team’s legacy and history. Unfortunately, the team’s legacy and history is an ugly one, rooted in racism and discrimination, including the origins of the team’s name. It is becoming more and more obvious that the team’s legacy on racial equality is to remain on the wrong side of history for as long as possible.

The team’s original owner, George Preston Marshall, named the team the ‘Redsk*ns’ in 1932, just months before he led a 13-year league wide ban on African American players in the NFL. Nearly 30 years after the race-based name was chosen, Marshall was forced by the league to hire the team’s first black player in 1962. He was the last NFL owner to do so.

We’ve released this report and have a firm position on this issue because the welfare and future of our youth is at stake. We are working every day to ensure they are able to grow up and thrive in healthy, supportive communities. Removing these harmful mascots is just one part of our effort to encourage our children to achieve their greatest potential.

We’re focused on their future; these mascots keep society focused on the negative stereotypes of the past.

NCAI calls on the NFL, other professional sports leagues, and all associated businesses to end the era of harmful ‘Indian’ mascots.”

The report details a range of issues: the harm stereotypes have on Native Youth and the overwhelming support for ending harmful mascots by organizations, tribal governments, the NCAA, high schools, community groups, and individuals. The report also reviews in depth the well-documented legacy of racism in the Washington football team’s history, including factual rebuttals to the Washington football team’s false claims that NCAI leadership at one point endorsed the use of the “Redsk*ns” mascot.

The report points to the fact that harmful “Indian” mascots exist while Native peoples remain targets of hate crime higher than any other groups, citing Department of Justice analysis that “American Indians are more likely than people of other races to experience violence at the hands of someone of a different race.” The report also reviews in-depth studies that show the harm negative stereotypes and “Indian” sports mascots have on Native youth. The rate of suicide is highest for Native young people at 18 percent, twice the rate of the next highest of 8.4 percent among non-Hispanic white youth.

In the report, NCAI calls on the NFL, MLB, and NHL to address harmful mascots that profit from marketing harmful stereotypes, “Each of these professional sports businesses attempt to establish a story of honoring Native peoples through the names or mascots; however, each one—be it through logos or traditions — diminishes the place, status, and humanity of contemporary Native citizens. What is true about many of the brand origin stories is that team owners during the birth of these brands hoped to gain financially from mocking Native identity. As a result, these businesses perpetuated racial and political inequity. Those who have kept their logos and brands, continue to do so.”

The full report can be found on http://www.ncai.org.

JACKSON RANCHERIA BAND OF MIWUK INDIANS ESTABLISHES HIGHEST MINIMUM WAGE IN US

JACKSON, CALIFORNIA – In a historic act for any sovereign government, Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians announced that hourly employees on the 1,500 acre reservation in Amador County, California will soon be paid the highest minimum wage in the United States. Starting in 2014, the minimum wage will be raised to $10.60 an hour, which is higher than any local, state, or tribal government.

“While the federal government struggles with a government shutdown our Tribe has invested its resources cautiously and kept a balanced budget. Now we are able to share the results of those decisions with our hardworking employees,”

said Tribal Chairman Adam Dalton.

Jackson Rancheria is the largest employer in Amador County, and provides its employees a living wage along with dental, vision and medical care as well as retirement benefits. The wage increase will impact approximately 1,135 employees and could cost Jackson Rancheria up to $5 million annually.

The announcement comes just a few weeks after California passed legislation to increase its minimum wage from $8 an hour to $10 an hour by July 2016. As a sovereign government with primary jurisdiction over the reservation, Jackson Rancheria was not required to comply with California’s increase, but did so to thank its employees for their loyalty and hard work.