INTRODUCTIONS

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"It is a native tradition to sit in a circle and talk-to share what is in your heart."

-- John Peters (Slow Turtle), WAMPANOAG

The talking circle is also a listening circle. The talking circle allows one person to talk at a time for as long as they need to talk. So much can be gained by listening. Is it a coincidence that the Creator gave us one mouth and two ears? The power of the circle allows the heart to be shared with each other. What we share with each other also heals each other. When we talk about our pain in the circle, it is distributed to the circle, and we are free of the pain. The talking circle works because when the people form a circle, the Great Mystery is in the center.

My Creator, give me the courage to share, and the courage to listen!

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AIAN Population as a Percentage of

the Total Population: 2000 and 2010

AIAN refers to American Indian and Alaska Native.

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Sources: Census 2000 and 2010 Census

American Indian and Alaska Native alone or in combination• 2000; 4,119,301 =

1.5% of US population

• 2013; 5,220,579 = 1.2% of US population (US Census)

Washington State American

Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent,

2013 (a) 1.9% (US Census)

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Federally recognized tribes  

Q: How many Federally recognized Tribal Nations in the United States?

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Q: How many federally recognized Indian tribes are there in Washington State?

There are 29 federally recognized tribes in Washington.

As of May 2013, 566 Native American tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United StatesFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome-SIDS• Native American tribes have received much needed attention from the

medical field due to the increasing infant mortality rate among their people, while the American nation sees this demographic overall on the decline. The infant mortality rate of American Indians and Native Alaskans is 8.6 for every 1,000 live births. This is greater than the average infant mortality rate of all ages of 6.9, all measured in 2005. Native American infants suffer from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome at double the rate of their white counterparts. For congenital malformations and low birth weight, Native Americans infants suffer at a ratio of 1.3 to non-Hispanic whites. Low birth weight in was observed in 7.3% of births in 2005. Also notable is the fact that as the age of the birth mother increases, the ratio of Native American infant mortality to non-Hispanic white infant mortality increases. 6

Reports by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction reveal that Native American students in grades nine through 12 dropped out of high school at a rate of 11.5 percent during the 2007-2008 school year. That was the highest out of five racial groups surveyed ;

• American Indian,• Asian/Pacific Islander• Black• Hispanic• white

This is 2.5 % higher than the group with the second-highest dropout rate.

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Our Relatives, Our Loved Ones, Our Children

Ambrose’s Journey

Myron Wanna

Moriah Thomps

on

Delia Whitma

n

9http://www.littlehoop.edu/content/index.php/component/content/article/9-cccc/320-student-dakota-stories

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4i7c2kbEuQ8&feature=player_embedded

The mask I wear, the tears in the rain, the unsung song, the silent story never told. Do you see me, do you recognize them,can you hear it, will you listen to me? S.R.NIX

"If anyone has children, they better teach their children to follow the traditions that we're leaving behind because it is later than we think with all that's going on."

-- Juanita Centeno, CHUMASH

The habits, attitudes, and beliefs that carry the human through the trials of life are developed at a very young age. If we are taught respect at a very young age, the odds are we'll be respectful throughout our whole lives. If we are taught to dance at a young age, we'll dance our whole lives. If we are taught to sing the traditional songs while we are young, we'll sing those songs throughout our whole lives. And who do we drum and sing songs to? Our children. This is how we keep it going.

Great Spirit, I ask today, help me, teach me, to teach the children the Old Ways!

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What Does That Mean, Real Indian?

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I Can’t, but We Can

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"We begin by letting the Powers know that we are willing to be their servants to others." -- Fools Crow, LAKOTA

There are certain prayers or actions we can take that will call the Powers. The Powers can only work through the people. The Powers are always waiting to express themselves through people that are ready. Every person born, is born with a purpose. They have a song to sing. They have a mission to accomplish. Every true purpose will always be about serving the Creator and helping others. When we let the Powers know that we are ready to serve the people, the Powers get excited because they can now do things to help the people, and make things better for them. The decision is powerful because it turns an idea into action.

Great Spirit, the greatest joy or feeling that I have ever experienced is when you are using me to help the people, the feeling of giving, the feeling of being your channel. Today, let me have that feeling of giving. Use me as You will. 13

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You have wandered away from your teachings. You must concentrate on your spiritual teachings...Don't be sidetracked." Henry Quick Bear, LAKOTA

Why are the Elders always telling us to know The culture and listen to the teachings? When we go off track, why do the Elders say, return to the teachings? The teachings tell us how to live in harmony with the Laws and principles of the Great Spirit. Living means life – a good life, a happy life. Many of us have grown up without the teachings and the culture, that is why we don't know how to live. To improve on relationships, to treat our children with honor, and to respect our Elders, we need to live by the old teachings again. Great Spirit, today, show me how to live.

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Recently I read the American Heritage Magazine (July-August 1998) article on the "New Indian Country." The article mentions our revolts various nations have made over the many white men - and Native caused issues. Without saying so, it makes us out to be an Indian raiding party, mindlessly killing homesteaders from a John Ford movie.  And that made me wonder..."What does being Native American mean?"To me it isn't just going to pow wows, watching the dancers, wearing buckskin dresses and letting the steady drum beat restart my heart, my soul. It's more.  My great-grandfather, Chief Bear Hunter, Chief of his own Shoshoni Band, was Bear Clan, as was my Grandmother. I, too, am Bear. It's not just wearing my bear claw necklace and choker every day to honor my Grandmother, my clan. It's more. The eagle and hawk feathers I have were given to my Grandmother by Nez Perce Chief Joseph in 1876 for her acts of bravery against the Blackfeet. It's not just wearing these same eagle or hawk feathers every day, going to the grocery store, in honor of my grandmother, my people the Eastern Shoshoni.  It's more. Most Indians today wear the white clothing of JC Penny and not our Native ribbon shirts and calico dresses."Being Indian is not just what clothes are being worn or not worn."It's more.  I speak to my blood Shoshoni grandmother Annie Yellow Hawk every day even though we burned her body atop an ancient burial scaffold 36 years ago.Then, in 1960, she was 100 years old. Still, being Indian, is more. Daily my prayers are made before a 150-year-old buffalo medicine skull, and my words are by the Creator. "I know the Creator is in my heart, my spirit."But, it's more. Although I am Shoshoni, I was raised on the Nez Perce rez. Besides my real grandmother, five Nez Perce grandmothers also raised me. Their teachings are with me now, and yet, it's more.  Today, totally disabled, I live in the Megalopolis of Denver and not on the reservation. I walk between the white and red worlds, as we all do.  Being Indian is more!  .   15

What does it mean? American Indian/Native American!

The white culture sees us with a bit of awe, sheathed in leather and eagle feathers, as something from the not so recent past. We see ourselves in limbo, not knowing where to stand:  by the graves of our ancestors or wearing suit and tie in some corporate meeting.And, if at the meeting, are we red, or are we white?  To me being Native American is more than feathers, reservations, buffalo skulls, bear claws, belief in the spirit world of the sky walkers, red or white, being raised by grandmothers, clans, old beliefs and pow wows. I am a living being raised from the red clay of Mother Earth.  "Her spirit is in my breast. Her breath, in my lungs."My heart beats as her heart beats to the ceremonial drum. As a people we are more complicated than whites. Our heritage made us that way.“edited”.  We were the first footprints on this continentThat is our heritage.  A thousand boarding school nuns can't beat that out of us, or cut it out as our braided hair hit the school floor.We are as different from the white race, as Oriental is from African.Being different doesn't make us less. We are equal as anyone. Yes we are Indian.  "We are Native American."No clothing or schooling or place of residence will ever take that away. My people's blood seeped back into Mother Earth in 1863 at the Battle of Bear River. 

My grandmother's eyes saw the death of her father, the chief, on that day --"a good day to be Reborn. A good day to be Indian"

That is what makes me who I am today. Nothing will ever take it away! 

JoAnn White Eagle Thornton, Colorado 16

"If those bad words come, I let them come in one ear and go out the other. I never let them come out of my mouth. If a bad word comes in your ear and then comes out of your mouth, it will go someplace and hurt somebody. If I did that, that hurt would come back twice as hard on me."

-- Wallace Black Elk, LAKOTA

What do we do with temptations when they come? What do we do when we hear gossip? What do we do when we hear bad things? If we hear these things and pass them on we will not only hurt the other person, but we will do harm to ourselves. We must be careful not to hurt others. Whatever we sow we will simultaneously reap for ourselves. We must be accountable for our own actions.

Great Spirit, today, let no words come from my lips that would hurt another

The Most powerful and Deadly Weapons of destruction are free and available to everyone…..WORDS. The words you speak to your children will either instill Love, Acceptance, Hope & Dreams or fear, anxiety, despair and limitations. The words you speak to your children are the soil, from which they draw their individual, familial, communal, & traditional identity. The most powerful and nutritious food available to feed our children's Spirit & Heart is WORDS. Choose your WORDS wisely. --S.R.Nix Tsimshian, Haida, & Cherokee 17

Elder’s Meditation

"Men and women have an equal responsibility to restore the strength of the family, which is the foundation of all cultures."

-- Haida Gwaii Traditional Circle of Elders

The family is the heartbeat of strength of the culture. The grandfathers and grandmothers taught their children; they in turn had children who taught their children. If the family isn't taught the culture, then the children become adults, and the adults become the grandfathers and grandmothers, and the result is the culture becomes lost. This is how language is lost; this is how dances are lost; this is how knowledge is lost. We need to listen to our Elders, today, before it's too late. Great Spirit, teach me the culture so I can teach the children

18Lost a Library

http://www.atrhealingcircle.com/sowing-the-seeds-of-recoveryMarty Curtis

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• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWGtx1Ee4gA

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Ralph Burns of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Shares a Story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWRd0TFL3v4&list=PLE18268D27C839A19&index=3

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I Can’t, but We Can

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"When we become hollow bones there is no limit to what the Higher Powers can do in and through us in spiritual things." -- Frank Fools Crow, LAKOTA

If we want to be of maximum use to the Creator, we must ready ourselves to do so. if we are to become a channel for His purposes, we must prepare ourselves to do so. If we have resentment, fear, selfishness, or anger, we are not hollow bones. We must be rid of these things. We must change ourselves. We must ask for forgiveness for ourselves and forgive our brothers and sisters. We must keep our insides clean. We cannot use our power in a good way when we have blockages such as hate, judgment, and envy. When we are free of these things the Higher Powers can use us beyond our wildest imagination. Then we can really help ourselves and help our people. Only when we are hollow bones can we have an effect on the world.

Oh Great Spirit, remove from me the things that block my usefulness to You. Remove from my day all thinking that is out of harmony with Your ways. Grant me Your peace and allow me to function as a hollow bone

Resources & Events around Indian Country of the Northwest Washington State Office of Indian Affairs; http://www.goia.wa.gov/Tribal Journeys, Annual Canoe Celebration; http://tribaljourneys.wordpress.comOJJDP Tribal Youth Programs; http://www.tribalyouthprogram.orgCowlitz Tribe; http://cowlitz.org/eventsNorthwest Pow-Wows; http://calendar.powwows.com/Northwest Native Events; https://en-gb.facebook.com/MMSpinningwind

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